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“The Sovereignty of God”

Allen Dvorak
03/09/25 - Sun PM

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Scripture reading this evening will be Psalm 47.

Psalm 47.

I'm, excuse me, I'll be reading out the new King James Version.

Oh, clap your hands, all you peoples, shout to God with the voice of triumph, for the Lord Most High is awesome.

He is a great king over all the earth.

He will subdue the peoples under us and the nations under our feet.

He will choose our inheritance for us, the excellence of Jacob, whom he loves.

God has gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet.

Sing praises to God.

Sing praises.

Sing praises to our King.

Sing praises, for God is the King of all the earth.

Sing praises with understanding.

God reigns over the nations.

God sits on His holy throne.

The princes of the people have gathered together, the people of the God of Abraham, for the shields of the earth belong to God.

He is greatly exalted.

A number of years ago, there was a campaign for Twix candy bars.

I really like Twix candy bars and I like their campaign.

The campaign with various commercials went kind of like this.

An individual would be asked a question.

That they really didn't want to answer because it was a loaded question.

Honey, does this make me look fat?

Or they had said something and then realized that it was.

Totally inappropriate or something.

And so, they would immediately, you know, cram the Twix candy bar in their mouth and begin chewing as though, well, I can't say anything right now, you know, I'm, I'm protected.

Well, I'm suggesting to you tonight that that's something you can use.

Not Twix candy bars.

But I'm gonna give you a get out of jail free card like the Twix candy bar would allow you to avoid the responsibility of answering a question or taking the consequences of what you had said.

And it's very simple.

You just say it was divine sovereignty.

And that just ends the discussion.

It was divine sovereignty.

And so, husbands, if you accidentally say the wrong thing and your wife begins to give you that look, just say it was divine sovereignty.

I'm not responsible.

Or perhaps you forgot Mother's Day, I'm warning you ahead of time, or maybe a birthday, an important birthday, just say it was divine sovereignty.

It wasn't me.

I was destined to do that.

And young people, it'll work for you too.

Because a lot of times when parents say to kids, what were you thinking?

Why did you do that?

What's the response that we sometimes give?

I don't know.

Scratch that.

From now on, it's, it's divine sovereignty, OK?

And I'm kidding, don't do that.

But Divine sovereignty will work just as well, maybe even better than Twix candy bars.

Now, someone says, well, how does divine sovereignty get me out of the hot seat if I've said something or done something that, that I don't want to have to answer for?

Well, let me give you the reason for that, and it's a quotation from, uh, and I believe his uh name is pronounced Lorraine Bettner, but he is quoted in a book by Spencer called Tulip.

Spencer is an advocate of Calvinism, and he quotes Bettner.

Here's what Bettner says, Everything.

was infallibly determined and immutably fixed, can't be changed by God from the beginning.

And all that happens in time is but the accomplishment of what was ordained in eternity.

See how that works?

You can't be blamed for saying something unkind to your wife.

It was divine sovereignty.

It's already been determined before the world began, and you, if you forgot the birthday, it's because God determined that you were gonna forget that birthday.

To get out of jail free card.

You're not responsible.

Everything that happens has been ordained in eternity and cannot be changed.

Divine sovereignty.

What is sovereignty?

Well, the Oxford, the concise Oxford English Dictionary says that sovereignty means supreme power or authority.

To give a little bit more elaborate definition, sovereignty means what a sovereign has, namely control over his kingdom.

God's sovereignty, the idea that God is in control of the whole universe, Geyser says, is a doctrine clearly taught in the Bible.

And so God has power.

He's in control of the whole universe.

Now, I hear people say that sometimes we need to remember that God's in control.

Be careful.

With what you're saying, because some people would use the same language, only they mean what Lorraine Bettner says, not what the Bible says.

We'll develop that more, but let me give you another definition.

The meaning of sovereignty could be summed up in this way.

To be sovereign is to possess supreme power and authority, so that one is in complete control and can accomplish whatever he pleases.

Donald Trump is not.

A sovereign Because he is limited by the Constitution, whether he likes it or not, he is.

He doesn't have complete control.

There are checks and balances in the government that would restrict him from doing certain things.

He is not a sovereign according to the definition that we're looking at, but God is.

And he is sovereign over all that he has created.

Divine sovereignty refers to the power of God over all His creation.

We began a discussion of Calvinism, and I intend over the months of the rest of this year to talk more about the main tenets of Calvinism with the idea of identifying them and showing how they are not uh biblical concepts.

And uh Calvinism teaches that divine sovereignty is essentially responsible for God's choosing and not choosing election and reprobation of all mankind.

When we talked about Calvinism, when I introduced it, I suggested to you the acronym of pilot.

No, that's backwards.

It's tulip.

You have to go from the bottom here to go up.

And the reason it's in that order is because the foundation doctrine for those five main tenants, total inherited depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, perseverance of the saints, all of them stem from the first doctrine and that's total inherited depravity.

But undergirding the whole system.

is the concept of the sovereignty of God.

And so it's important that we understand what the Bible teaches about God's sovereignty and for that matter, man's free will, and that's what we'll be talking about this evening.

The doctrine of unconditional election.

is based on a misunderstanding of divine sovereignty.

The thinking goes like this.

If salvation were available to all, and the gospel, uh, the great commission is go and preach the gospel to every creature, make disciples of all the nations.

If salvation were available to all, and some men could choose to reject the gospel offer of salvation, the Calvinistic way of thinking is that the sovereignty of God would be negated.

If God Want everybody to be saved.

And some could choose not to be saved by rejecting the gospel call.

Then God's not sovereign.

He's not in complete control.

People are able to thwart God's will.

And so you can begin to see perhaps already how the sovereignty of God is an important doctrine for the uh systematic theology of Calvinism.

A proper understanding of divine sovereignty does not contradict the idea of conditional election.

And I want you to look at the you that is up on the screen, unconditional election.

What we said in the first lesson on Calvinism is that Calvinism teaches that God before anything had been created.

God had already decided he had chosen already those who would be saved, and of course, by implication, also those who would be lost.

If you weren't chosen to be saved, then obviously you're going to be lost.

There are only two alternatives there.

And so that election was unconditional.

God didn't look forward to see how you would behave or how I would behave or anybody would behave.

He simply chose various individuals independent of their works.

Or their character or anything that they might accomplish in their lives, God chose certain to be saved and others to be lost by implication.

Unconditional election.

But what I'm saying to you tonight is that if we understand the divine sovereignty correctly according to the way the Bible talks, there's no contradiction with the idea that God chose those who would be saved on a conditional basis.

Now, we still have to clarify the nature of God's choice, but that it was unconditional.

is not biblical.

And so we'll develop that as, as we go along.

God decided who would be saved in the beginning.

He decided that everyone who would believe in His Son and be conformed to the image of his son would be saved.

And whether or not we're in that group of saved people is a choice that we make, that we have to make.

For some religious people, however, The doctrine of divine sovereignty means that everything that happens does so because God ordered it to be so.

I hasten to point out, of course, that like pre-millennialism, which has more flavors than Ben and Jerry's ice cream, so Calvinism has people who are uh not all exactly on the same page.

But Calvinists typically believe that God, in order to be sovereign, he must control everything that happens.

One writer says it this way, this is the fellow I mentioned earlier, the author of the book Tulip, in which he defends, explains, and defends Calvinism.

He says man may connive and scheme following the counter plan of their god Satan, but they cannot bring to pass so much as one act contrary to the will and plan of God, who fordained all of history from the largest event to the most insignificant.

Everything you will do tomorrow, according to this view, God's already determined it.

Kind of makes you feel a little bit like a robot, doesn't it?

Or a computer that's been programmed.

I want to bring up the quote that we looked at a little bit earlier.

Bettner says everything was infallibly determined and immutably fixed by God from the beginning.

You can't change your life from the way that God has determined that it's, it's going to happen and all that happens in time is but the accomplishment of what was ordained in eternity.

Now, surely you are already beginning to think about some of the consequences of that idea.

For instance, When Debbie and I went to Florida College, I thought I chose her to be my wife.

Turns out the Calvinist says that God had determined that I was going to be married to Deb before I was ever born for.

She was born before the world was ever created.

Oh, I'm so tempted to make a comment here, but I got into trouble this morning.

I'm going to preserve my safety this evening.

But I thought I was in control.

I thought I was the one who said, not that one, that one.

Turns out, according to the Calvinists, God had already decided that Debbie and I would be married and that we would have uh 2 children, 23 sons.

We foolishly thought that our 2nd son was gonna be named Amber Renee.

Turned out his name is Jonathan Martin.

But that also had apparently been determined before we were ever born before the world was created.

So, the choice of a spouse is not your choice.

God's already determined that, uh, economic decisions and families, all that's been arranged by God.

Someone says, well, that seems, it seems like you're taking a look at those quotes again.

There's no wiggle room here.

That's exactly what they're saying.

Everything in your life has already been predetermined and cannot be changed.

Everything What about my sin?

If I violate God's law, did God determine that, that I would do that?

Did he decide that that's what I was going to do?

Not anticipating what I might do, but determining what I would do, and that's what that doctrine says.

I'm not being unfair to them.

I wanted you to hear from the Calvinist viewpoint what they understand about God's Power his sovereignty.

Does the Bible teach this?

And the answer is no.

In 1 Chronicles chapter 29 verse 11, The scripture says, yours, oh Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty for all that is in the heavens, and in the earth is yours.

Yours is the kingdom, oh Lord, and you are exalted as head above all.

Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all.

In your hand our power and might, and in your hand, it is to make great and to give strength to all.

God is sovereign.

And we'll look at a number of passages that will confirm that very point.

But what is it that the Bible teaches about God's sovereignty?

Some disturbed a little bit by the extreme predestination that uh we saw in these quotes just a moment ago.

Some in response to Calvinists uh view of divine sovereignty, they would deny that God is presently sovereign over all things.

And so they would argue that uh he will be sovereign in the future, but right now he's not, and I think that's an unbiblical position to take.

And I'll try to support that.

They argue Satan is identified as the prince of the power of the air in Ephesians 2 and 2.

He's identified as the ruler of this world in the Gospel of John.

How can that be if God is sovereign, if he's in control of everything?

What does that leave for Satan?

How do we reconcile those kinds of statements about Satan with a God who is indeed sovereign in complete control.

Of the creation.

Well, first of all, I would argue that we don't need to deny the sovereignty of God.

The Bible clearly teaches that truth.

I'm gonna just suggest a few passages, we could spend the rest of the evening and my sermon would be timeless.

To borrow a little bit from this morning.

We could spend the rest of the evening putting together passages that affirm the power, the control, the sovereignty of God.

But just a handful here, Psalm 47 2, for the Lord, the Most Highest to be feared, a great king over all the earth, for God is the king of all the earth, sing praises with the psalm.

Psalm verse 7 says, In the 33th Psalm verse 3, that the Lord is a great God and a great king above all gods.

The superlative statements, God's not in the group.

He is above all.

In 2 Chronicles 20 and 6.

Oh Lord, God of our fathers, the king says, are you not God in heaven?

You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations.

In your hand are power and might, so that none is able to withstand you.

Again, just plain statements of God's sovereignty.

Isaiah the prophet in chapter 14 and verse 24 beginning, says the Lord of hosts has sworn, as I have planned, so shall it be, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand that I will break the Assyrian in my land, and on my mountains trample him.

Underfoot, and his yoke shall depart from them and his burden from their shoulder.

This is the purpose that is purposed concerning the whole earth, and this is the hand that is stretched out over all the nations, for the Lord of hosts has purposed and who will annul it?

His hand is stretched out and who will turn it back.

If God decides he's going to do something, who's going to stop him?

Job makes that statement in his conversation with his friends.

The friends make the same statement.

They believe in the sovereignty of God, uh, despite other uh errors in their thinking.

And then in 1 Timothy 6:15.

Which he will display at the proper time.

He who is the blessed and only sovereign, the king of kings and Lord of lords.

In the 93th Psalm and in verse 3, the Psalmist said, our God is in the heavens.

He does all that he pleases.

He is sovereign.

But the Bible also teaches that you and I and all other human beings have free will.

I want to share with you a quote from the book Predestination and Free Will.

On the one hand, the author's right, we believe that God made us morally responsible beings with the ability to make meaningful moral decisions, and they parse that sentence carefully as you'll see as we go into some of this.

God made us morally responsible beings with the ability to make meaningful decisions.

Then if we were not able to make meaningful decisions, then why Scripture exhort us to turn from evil things or to lead godly lives.

If we were not responsible for freely choosing our actions, then how could God justly reward or punish us for them?

That is for uh our actions.

I think that those are good questions, and they're questions that I have asked those who would defend the idea of Calvinism.

Every invitation to obey the Lord's commands is an admission that God man rather, has the ability to choose his path, that he has free will.

We could illustrate that, I guess in the Old Testament by looking at the fact that God set before his people decisions, options, choices.

In Deuteronomy 11:26, see, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse.

The blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord, your God, but turn aside from the way that I am commanding you today to go after other gods that you have not known.

Well, wait a minute.

He just gave two options.

Do people really have a, uh, uh, an ability to choose one or the other or were those decisions made for us by God before the world began?

That's the Calvinist view incidentally, as you already understand.

After the people had left the wilderness wandering and they'd entered into the land, Joshua had helped them conquer the land as the leader of the people after Moses.

And then at the end of Joshua's life, he says in chapter 24 verse 15, and if it is In your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve.

Either the gods your father served in the region beyond the river or the gods of the Amorites and whose land you dwell.

But as for me in my house, we will make the decision that God has already made for us.

I'm sorry.

That's a different version.

I'm reading from the ESV that says, but as for me in my house, we will serve the Lord.

Joshua said, we're making our decision.

And we've decided to serve the Lord.

There are other passages that operate along the same kind of argument, that is, there are invitations extended to mankind.

Matthew the 11th chapter comes to mind.

You may have already thought of this passage where Jesus says, Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy lady.

How many people would that be?

Well, that would be all of us, wouldn't it?

At some point in our lives, all of us are laden and are laboring and are heavy laden with our sins.

Come, Jesus says, all of you, what a cruel invitation if Calvinism is correct and most of humanity can't make that choice, even if we wanted to.

Of course, they argue we don't because of our corrupted nature.

Later in Jesus' life, he would look over the city of Jerusalem.

And say, oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones, those who are sent to it.

How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing.

I would have gathered you, I would have protected you, provided for you, you didn't want to.

Well, wait a minute.

Calvinism says that the people didn't really have a choice.

That Jesus can say, I would have done this for you, but the fact of the matter is, it had already been predetermined by God that those people were gonna reject Jesus. Predetermined.

I didn't say that it wouldn't happen.

I said God had given them no other choice, didn't have free will to make that choice.

Jesus says, you could have, I would have provided for you.

There's a term that I really don't use very often.

I don't think any of us do.

It's the word antenemy.

JI Packer in his book Evangelism and the sovereignty of God describes the meaning of antinomy.

It's when you've got two truths.

Both with evidence that they are true, but there seems to be some difficulty in believing both things at the same time.

And that's where people find themselves when they look at what the Bible says about divine sovereignty and what the Bible says about man's free will.

How can God be sovereign and have control over his whole creation if in fact, I can do what I want to do?

Does that not destroy the sovereignty of God?

That's The difficulty that people wrestle with.

Packer writes, it is an apparent incompatibility between two apparent truths, and antinomy.

An antinoy exists when a pair of principles stand side by side, seemingly irreconcilable, yet both undeniable.

There are cogent reasons for believing each of them, each rests on clear and solid evidence, but it is a mystery.

To you, how they can be squared with each other.

How do they harmonize?

You see that each must be true on its own, but you do not see how they can both be true together.

And I've already suggested that God is sovereign and the Bible teaches that, and that man has free will and the Bible teaches that.

How do we reconcile these two things that at least to the Calvinistic mind seems to be irreconcilable.

Can God be sovereign?

If man chooses to act contrary to his will.

And the Calvinist shouts, no.

If you can act against God's will, then God's not sovereign.

He doesn't have complete control.

You are in control, at least of that particular part, your corner of the universe.

Another quotation that helped define some of these things.

There's a fundamental difficulty in the notion of an omnipotent God creating men with free will.

For if men's wills are really free, this must mean that even God cannot control them.

That is, that God is no longer omnipotent.

Well, I don't agree with that statement, but it's pretty clear.

If you can make a decision that God doesn't want you to make, then God's not in control.

He's not omnipotent.

You can thwart his will.

Karl F. H. Henry in his book God, Revelation, and Authority says this.

To be morally responsible, man needs only the capacity for choice, not the freedom of contrary choice.

At the bottom, I've got a box and it says, what?

Because that makes no sense at all.

Oh, you have a choice, but your choice is this one option right here.

Well, what other option do I have?

You don't have any other options.

Well, that's a different kind of choice then, isn't it?

That kind of sounds like I'm pretty much determined to go that one way.

So he continues, human, human beings voluntarily choose to do what they do.

The fact that God has ordained for ordained human choices, and that his decree renders human actions certain.

Does not therefore negate human choice.

You know what that is?

That is the assertion with tongue in cheek that man has freedom of choice when he really doesn't, because he only has one choice he can make.

That's a nothing doctrine.

It doesn't even make good sense.

If God has control of all things, why would man ever sin?

Oh, it means that God's determined that he'll sin.

God makes him sin.

Well, that raises a whole plethora of questions.

Like for instance, is it just for God to send me to a place of eternal torment if in fact, God is the one who made me sin and he condemns me to eternal torment on the basis of those sins.

Parent puts a cake on the table.

And children gather around, you know, oh, that looks so good.

It's got icing on it.

I love that kind of icing.

And the parent says, Yeah, go ahead, get you a piece of cake.

And of course, children being obedient, uh, they get pieces of cake and then the parent says, What?

You're eating the cake?

Shame on you.

Line up.

I'm gonna spank every one of you.

Well, you'd begin to wonder if that parent's got all of the marbles rolling around in the same direction.

And yet that's what the Calvinist says about God.

And you know the answer to that?

When you say, well, that sounds to me like God's not a just God, you don't have the right as a human being to question God. Really?

You mean I can't understand from the scriptures even what justice is, what holiness is, what fairness is?

Can he even make Man, can man even make his own choices?

Again, quoting Bettner from another source, God so controls the thoughts and wills of men that they freely and willingly do what he has planned for them to do.

So you have a choice, but you know what, you're gonna always make the choice that God wants you to make.

Cause it's been preordained what choice you will make.

Oh, that's foolishness.

We need to understand that the Bible speaks of God's will in more than one sense.

And I'm gonna suggest to you a couple of different senses.

But the idea that these guys, these Calvinists are presenting is that man has freedom of choice, but he willingly always chooses what God wants him to choose.

So when you sin, if you sin, You made the choice that God wanted you to to make, because God's sovereign, he's in control of everything.

Thus Calvinists pay lip service to man's free will, but in actuality, they deny it.

You are a robot.

You've been programmed by God before the world began, and there's nothing you can do about it.

I titled the last sermon out of my hands.

Because that's exactly what Calvinism says.

It says that your salvation is out of your hands.

It's God from beginning to end, and you virtually have very little to do with it.

And you can see that as we've laid out this idea of sovereignty.

The scriptures speak of God's will in the sense of this is the decree of God.

This is what God says is going to happen, and there are plenty of passages that affirm that when God decides to do something, that's what's going to happen.

Uh, Psalm 33 and verse 11, the counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations.

We already looked at Isaiah 14:13 to 27, verse 27 says, for the Lord of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it?

His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back?

Do you and I have any problem accepting the idea that God is omnipotent?

He is the Almighty God, and if he decides to do something, he has the power to do it.

I don't have any problem with them.

I don't think you do either.

Isaiah 46 and 212, declaring the end from the beginning, God does, and from ancient times, things not yet done saying, my counsel shall stand and I will accomplish all my purpose.

What we do understand from the scriptures, passages like Ephesians chapter one, is that God uh decided on a plan of redemption and he brought it to fruition and it was going to happen because he is the Almighty God.

He is a sovereign God.

Paul describes that plan, at least in some detail in Romans 219.

Verses 25 to 22.

He says, and we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose.

God had a purpose before the foundation of the world.

For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined, what did he predestined them to do or be, to be conformed to the image of his son.

In order that he might be the first born, Jesus, that is, among many brothers, and those whom he predestined, he also called, that's part of the process, and those whom he called, he also justified, and those whom he justified, he also glorified.

That's past tense.

He also glorified.

Is he not talking about the future for us?

It is so certain that it is going to happen when a sovereign God decides that's what's going to happen.

That it's past tense already in a sense.

He talks about it as though already having been accomplished.

I understand.

I'm not saying what the Calvinists say about your life and my life.

For all of the things that happen in this world.

What I am saying is that God had a plan.

And he decided what that plan was going to be and how it was going to be carried out and God's will.

Will happen.

Alan Turner in his book The Christian Calvinism said whatever God proposes and Himself carries out and himself carries out will in fact happen.

I believe that's an accurate statement based on some of the things we've read so far.

But sometimes when we talk about the will of God, we need to understand that we're talking about God's will in a different sense.

I can read in my Bible, the will of God, meaning those precepts that God wants me to follow.

This is God's will.

This is his law.

This is what he wants me to do with my life.

Hebrews 23 29:23, for you have need of endurance so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what is promised.

Mm, you mean I, it's possible that I don't do the will of God?

Oh, absolutely.

Here's God's laying out the, the, the way he wants me to behave, but I have the right to choose not to do that.

And in fact, Jesus says in Matthew 22:23, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

Listen to me.

If Everybody has to do what God wants them to do His will, then all people will be saved.

Cause that's what Jesus said.

Those who do the will of God are the ones who are gonna enter into heaven.

But of course in that same periccope Jesus is saying that there'll be people who will not enter heaven.

Just another problem with this whole view of the divine sovereignty.

Passage in 24 Peter verse 3 chapter 3 and verse 9.

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

Depending on who you think Peter is speaking about, whether he's speaking about the Christians to whom he is writing there, the Christians that are spread out perhaps over 5 different Roman provinces, or whether you think he's talking about mankind.

He's talking about mankind.

And why would anybody be lost if God wants His will is that everybody comes to repentance.

In 1 Timothy 2 and 33, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

That's what God wants.

So why won't it happen?

We're told it's not going to happen.

We're told that there's 2 roads and most people are following the road that leads to destruction.

There are very few, Jesus was asked at one time, how many are going to be saved?

Few are going to be saved.

I don't understand that.

God wants all people to be saved.

Well, that's his desire.

But you and I have the choice.

The ability to decide whether we will follow his preceptive will, whether we'll follow his commands, his instructions.

Man's free will allows him to choose to obey or disobey God's perceptive will.

His will in that sense, as the word is used in that sense, doesn't force man to act in any particular way.

We can choose And so as a result, there are things that happened that God neither purposes or desires. What?

How can God be sovereign if things happen that he doesn't really want to happen?

Well, man's sins are in this category.

If I understand the Old Testament prophets and even the New Testament writings correctly, Isaiah said in verse 60 chapter 65 verse 12, God said, I will destin you to the sword, and all of you shall bow down to the slaughter because when I called, you did not answer.

When I spoke, you did not listen, but you did what was evil in my eyes and chose what I did not delight in.

So here were people who did things that God did not delight in.

God called them and they were able to say no.

Reject the call.

That doesn't sound like the description.

Of God's sovereignty that we read earlier.

And then let's put a little bit of icing on the cake here.

Jeremiah 19:5 and have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire has burnt offerings to Baal.

Jeremiah is talking about the sins of the people, which I did not command or decree, nor did it come into my mind.

God said, I never wanted that.

But you're doing it How does that work with the sovereignty of God?

Well, I want to conclude here, but I wanna make a statement here very quickly about my intentions.

I would like to have talked this evening about the sovereignty of God and prophecy.

Because I think there are some interesting precepts that we need to wrestle with, but I'm going to leave that for, no, I'll just go ahead and do it tonight.

Just kidding.

I'm gonna leave that for another sermon.

So we'll talk more about God's sovereignty and particularly with respect to prophecy.

If God says something's going to happen way off in the future, is he not going to have to determine how people are going to behave in order for that purpose to happen?

Well, we need to talk about that, but time doesn't permit that this evening.

And I'm probably gonna let Ian discuss that.

There is, of course, a sense in which everything that happens is under the control of God.

Even those things that are contrary to his perceptive, I may have perceptive, but preceptive will.

Because he permits them to take place.

If God wants He can make all of us do exactly what he wants.

I believe he has that power.

That's part of being sovereign.

But God chose to allow us.

To demonstrate our love.

Our gratitude.

In obedience to his will, if we choose to do so.

The fact of the divine sovereignty, I, I hope you realize this is critical to our salvation.

This isn't some esoteric discussion about, well, OK, God's sovereign, you know, let the Calvinists fight about that.

Listen to me, our confidence in the promises of God rests upon the sovereignty of God.

What good are promises if the one who made them is incapable of fulfilling them?

In keeping them.

If God says, I'm going to give eternal life to those who are conformed to the image of my son, do you care whether God can fulfill that promise?

Of course we do.

Why else would we be here this evening?

Why else would we order our lives the way that we do?

Our prayer life depends upon the sovereignty of God.

Why pray if there's no one listening who has the power and authority to answer our requests?

If God doesn't have the power to, to answer our prayers, and, and I know there's the, the, the, there are other factors here we could talk about Providence, we're gonna do that.

But just the bottom line is, can God do anything about what you're asking for in prayer?

Why would we pray otherwise if we didn't believe?

And a sovereign God.

Here's what I want you to take away from this study of divine sovereignty besides the fact that I don't know when to shut up.

The Bible clearly teaches both the sovereignty of God.

And the free will of man.

And because God is sovereign, because he has control of his creation, God will carry out his purposes, and no one can thwart his plan.

God has set forth his desired will for mankind.

We have it revealed to us by the Holy Spirit.

But every individual has to choose whether to submit to that will or not.

And Jesus said, the ones who will enter the kingdom of heaven are the ones who do the will of the Father who is in heaven.

The final judgment's going to occur.

It's part of God's plan.

It's part of his purpose.

We're going to stand before Christ and give an account for the things done in the body, whether good or evil.

And it doesn't make any difference what choices we make.

We cannot escape that appointment.

It's going to happen.

Because God is sovereign.

It's part of God's decreed of will.

He has decreed that's an event that will take place.

And so neither Satan Nor evil men can act with ultimate impunity.

They are going to have to give account just as we will.

Well, I want you to remember these two passages, 2 Peter 3:9, 1 Peter Timothy rather 2 verses 3 and 4, if you wanna get the whole sentence.

This is good and it is pleasing in the sight of God, our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

God has provided a way for you and me.

To be saved, to have fellowship with God for eternity.

But the decision is ours.

The choice is ours.

God will not force us.

If we choose to be disobedient and rebellious, he will allow that to happen.

But then we'll have to give account for our decision on the day of judgment.

What decision But choice Are you making?

Have you decided?

To submit to the will of God.

To make that choice as opposed to rebellion and sin.

If we can assist you in obedience to the gospel this evening, we certainly want to do so, and we're going to stand and sing to encourage you if you need to do that this evening.

Come to the front and we'll help you.