TEXT: Psalm 93

SUBJECT: Sovereignty of God #1: Introduction to Sovereignty

Today, with God’s blessing, we’ll begin a short series on of The Sovereignty of God. I emphasize the word, short, because after a few weeks, we will have barely scratched the surface. It’s not that I intend to be shallow, but the subject is so deep no one—not even the most brilliant, learned, and sincere man has ever plumbed the depths of Divine Sovereignty. Paul said,

When Job was speaking out-of-turn, his friend (though himself an ignoramus) called him on it—

Psalm 145:3 sums up the sovereignty of God as well as any other verse,

When it comes to Divine sovereignty, we’re in over our heads. But that’s all right; the Lord is with us there in the bottomless mysteries. And He wants us to study His sovereignty, to think about it, to trust it, and most of all—to celebrate it.

The goal of our study is worship—not knowledge. Knowledge is not the end, but the means. We study God and His ways—not so we can know them, but so we can rejoice in them with

The Prophet tells us to "Behold your God!"—to look and stare at the One whose glory causes the Seraphim to cover the eyes. And not just look at Him, but celebrate Him and His Sovereign Majesty.

May God give us the Vision, for Christ’ sake. Amen.

What is the sovereignty of God? Some of you know this very well, but others may be a little fuzzy about it. The sovereignty of God simply means,

This means—unlike you and me—God is not the victim of circumstances or subject to anything outside of Himself. Nor is there any weakness in Himself to hinder His rule. King Nebuchadnezzar, a powerful man himself, said,

The Bible calls the Lord a King. But don’t ever equate His kingship with any other. They’re like models, but He’s the real thing. When I was a boy, I enjoyed making model ships. I made an aircraft carrier; it was about foot long and weighed a few ounces. But a few months ago, I boarded the USS Hornet (docked in Alameda) and found out the Real Thing is a lot more impressive than the model!

So think of the mightiest human king (or other leader), Nebuchadnezzar, Alexander the Great, Augustus Caesar, Napoleon Bonaparte, Adolf Hitler. Think of the power they wielded, the batters they won, the destruction they wrought, the tribute they received.

And then remember, they’re the plastic models; God is the Aircraft Carrier!

The sovereignty of God, then, means God Rules.

When you read of how Josef Stalin ruled the Soviet Union, you get the idea that he was probably not a good man. And you’re right; he wasn’t. His vicious rule was the outgrowth of his wicked character.

The same is true of God: His rule is consistent with His character. God is holy, just, wise, and merciful (among other things). And He rules accordingly.

Many Christians are nervous about the sovereignty of God or His absolute rule. If they submit to it—they fear—He might make a mess of things! They won’t use these words, of course, but that’s how they feel.

But think about it: Who would you rather have in charge? Are you wise enough to work things out better than He is? Is it better to trust the good intentions of government? Or the professions? Or the educators? Or the "experts"?

Aren’t the best of these men still men—limited in knowledge and corrupted by sin?

Maybe it’s not His rule that bothers people so much as His absolute rule. Maybe power should be divvied up between God and men. But, does human wisdom add anything to Divine wisdom? Or, rather, does it take away from His wisdom?

Do rat droppings add to the taste of your tuna? Does strychnine improve the quality of your drinking water? If it were an option—which it isn’t—why would you want God to rule in a lesser way than He does?

I understand the unbeliever. An absolute God scares him. Why? Because he is God’s enemy and must fall to Him in time. You understand why a weak Poland hated the great power of Nazi Germany.

But for Christians? The Great Power of God is on our side!

If you’re a believer, don’t worry about God’s sovereignty. It’s as good as He is. But if you’re not,

Reformed theology tells us that the extent of God’s rule is both universal and eternal. That’s a fancy way of saying, God rules everything all the time. Not some things most of the time—but everything is in His active control. At all times.

In the verse I mentioned a few minutes ago, King Nebuchadnezzar confessed God’s lordship over heaven and earth. This means both humans and superhumans—angels, demons, and so on. Not to mention things we lump together under nature—animals, plants, water, rocks, you name it!

I won’t labor this last point. But you do remember, don’t you, that God made a donkey talk to a man—and win the argument! He withered a fig tree; He calmed the waves; He brought water out of the rock, and so on. Absolute control over everything. That is the Sovereignty of God!

But one thing hasn’t been dealt with at all, at least not with any care: the things in hell—Satan, demons, and damned men. Surely, they rebel against God? Of course they do. But not successfully.

Satan cannot act against Job without asking permission. Can you picture that? The god of this world, a Great Red Dragon, a hungry lion, coming to the Lord with hand in hand! Please? With sugar on top?

As for the others? Philippians 2 says,

To sum it up, Psalm 103:19,

Is He Head of the Church? Yes, but not only the Church. Is He The Prince of the Kings of the earth? Yes, but not only their Prince. Is He the Head of every man? Yes, but not only man. He is Lord of all. Always.

How does the sovereignty of God square with natural laws (like gravity) and the free actions of men?

The first one is easy to answer: natural law is another word for Providence. If God Himself is orderly and made the world for our use and comfort, why would you expect Him to make gravity work one day and not the next? Could you imagine the confusion it would cause us? Walking on the floor today, on the ceiling tomorrow? Putting down a glass of water only to have it fly up into your face?

The second question is a lot harder. Does God control us? Yes He does. But are we His robots or puppets? No, we’re not. Does that mean He only partially controls us? No, His control is absolute. Yet, somehow or other, we’re still free. That is, we act of our own.

Theologians call this concurrence. That means we work together. Not that we do 50% and God does 50%. But we do 100% and God does 100%. God wills me to kiss my wife on the lips, but He doesn’t force me to do it. I like it too!

When it comes to sinning, things get stickier. Theologians often call this God’s Permissive Will. When I curse, it’s not that God wants me to curse, commands me to, or forces me into it against my will. No, He only permits me to do it. Why would He do that?

Nobody can say. It’s a great mystery, but one the Bible teaches. We know this because—in the greatest sin of all—God both forbade it and permitted it, Acts 2:23,

Do I understand all this? No. And neither do you. But that’s all right. I don’t have to. God never commands me to systematize His Word. He tells me to believe it.

Absolute Sovereignty and Human Freedom seem to contradict each other. One day, a wise guy called his pastor on it. "How do you reconcile God’s Sovereignty and Man’s Responsibility?" That would stump most pastors, but this man chose the wrong pastor to ask. It was Charles Spurgeon?

That’s a feeble attempt to explain the doctrine of God’s Sovereignty. I know many things were left out and I wonder how many things were left out that I didn’t know? And never will?

Let me close now with one more question. How should you feel about the sovereignty of God?

Pretty good!

Why should you feel that way?

Because the God who’s on top of everything at all times loves you. He says He does; He proves it every day with a million blessings you never notice; but, most of all, He proved it by the Cross. The God who loved you so much to die for you, is Lord of All!

Knowing that should make you feel way above average!

Because of His loving Sovereignty, you can trust Him even when things aren’t going the way you wish they were. Do you see why? Because they’re going the way He wants them to! He who knows what’s best and has the power to bring it about.

This includes terrible suffering. If I were in charge of the world, I’d abolish it. If I did, the world wouldn’t have the pain it does. But what else wouldn’t it have? That’s something to think about. A sinless world wouldn’t have any pain—and wouldn’t need any. But a world in sin? It would be far worse without suffering.

Because of His loving Sovereignty, you can hope in Him for the future. Remorse is fear of the past, but worry is fear of the future—what it holds, the bad things that might happen and probably will. Some people are tied in knot over the future—the future of the world, of the United States of the Church—or smaller things, like whether you’ll keep your job or not or whether the tests will come back positive or negative.

We all worry, but there’s no reason to do—not for the believer, I mean. Why? Because God controls the future as firmly as He does the past and present. He will take everything in it—the joys the sorrows, the birth and deaths, the marriages and the divorces—and turn them all to His Glory and your Good. He promises to do that. And because He’s sovereign, He can keep His Word.