Chapter 1.9
The Sovereignty
Of God
The
sovereignty of God means
He
can do with whatever He creates,
for
His own pleasure.
World
proclaims
The world proclaims that you are speaking in an unknown
tongue when you speak of the Sovereignty of God; there is no Creator, there is
no great design. There is only the
supremacy of the people who take counsel among themselves and will accomplish
whatever they set their minds to do.
God laugh
as He confuses their plans.[1]
God Proclaims
Our
God proclaims He owes His existence to no other; He is without origin. His existence has no beginning and is without
end. He is dependent upon nothing and is
self-sufficient and self-existent and exists only by His Sovereign will. Man cannot possibly comprehend this.
He proclaims there is NOT a
host of lesser gods of whom He is supreme. There is only one God The “oneness” of God is
unique and requires we worship and serve Him ONLY[2]. He will be exalted and will reign over the earth, and He will judge the world with equality[3]. He will regulate
the outcome of man’s FREE WILL decisions to the most exact order and
direct them to their proper end.
He proclaims that the
arrogant man will be humbled and hide himself from God’s majesty on The Day of the Lord[4]
and it’s coming soon. We are commanded
to love God only and to Serve God only.[5]
Omnipotent
God is ALL powerful; nothing is too hard for Him. His plans cannot be thwarted. Nothing is impossible to Him He is
omnipotent.[6]
Omnipresent
God is ALL present; everywhere at
once. He cannot be contained in heaven or in earth. He is ALL present in the everyday life of each
person, all the time
Omnipresent foot notes[7].
Omniscient
God is ALL knowing; He sees us wherever we are and what we
are doing and know the motives in our heart for our actions. He knows the names of the stars and sees
what’s happening in Hell.[8]
Immutable
His nature is changeless or unchangeable, nothing can be added to
or subtracted from what He has created. He does not take back what He has said, His
word is firm and His gifts are forever. [9]
I can remember sitting under a Pastor who
started changing his mind on a number of different subjects, leaving me
scratching my head. I was following a
man who was blown about by different doctrines, and even preached on doctrines
that he did not embrace only because his domination required it. I find it reassuring to study with a Pastor who is firm
in what he believes. Unchangeable.
Sovereign
The word “sovereign” or “sovereignty” does
not appear in the King James Version of the Bible, but was inserted into later
translations to amplify the character of God’s name.
He just speaks and it happens, the breath of His
mouth is His will. God is
the possessor of everything; He is the ruler, the King of Kings and the Lord of
Lords. Grabbing a few verses from the
Bible, we can quickly see that God does what He wants to and nothing can
prevent Him from accomplishing what He intends to do, both in Heaven and in
Earth.[10]
God’s Will
By the will of God all things came into existence; by His
wisdom, understanding, knowledge and His breath. Jehovah alone is God and it’s by our Faith
in Him that we believe that by His will, all things were created.[11]
Free Will vs: Gods Sovereignty
Question: Does God’s Sovereignty violate our FREE WILL, by Him “choosing us” to be redeemed from
hell fire and damnation? Does He just
choose some and not others?
Answer; NO, ALL men
are spiritually dead and unresponsive to God’s word and Laws. The Holy Spirit sows the seed in the spirit of ALL men and those whose spirit has fertile
soil are drawn to God.
“God’s will” is for ALL to come, But Most won’t. [12]
The Book says in
a parable, that a farmer (The Holy Spirit) went out to
sow his seed and as He was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and
the birds (Satan) came and ate it up.
Some fell on rocky places (hardness of the heart),
where it did not have much soil. It
sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the
plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed
fell among thorns (cares of the world), which grew up and choked the
plants. Still other seed fell on good
soil, where it produced a crop; a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.
[13]
God’s will is NOT being done on earth. If it was, ALL would
be saved and sin would be no more. We
have Free Will which means our life is “Decision Driven” and seeking out
His Word guides our decisions. Man is
not a robot that’s been preprogrammed; He is a free moral agent. God’s Sovereignty is a comfort for the
believer, just knowing He is in control of our lives.[14]
Sovereignty
Exception
There are some
things that God cannot do.
He cannot lie
He cannot change His nature
He cannot change His laws.
He cannot break His covenants.[15]
God is the Possessor
God
is the possessor of heaven and earth and everything that’s in it. He does with His creations as He pleases and
no one can hold back His hand.[16]
He makes Kings and Presidents.
God
gives a kingdom to whoever he wants to.
He does not respect a man’s position in life nor can He be bribed with
vows or promises. He puts men in power
and removes them He can raise up an arrogant narcissistic
tycoon (Trump) or a common peanut farmer (Carter) to be the President of the United States of America. He makes and reshapes men to serve His purposes and ultimate end. He opens doors that no man can shut and shuts
doors that no man can open.[17]
It’s in the Book
Sin Rabbit Trail
Did God create sin? When
God created man with Free Will, they had the capacity to do the
greatest good or the greatest evil.
The definition of sin is “a missing of the mark”. If God created the Color white and its
perfection value was 1000, then 999 would fall
short, missing the mark. When Adam
and Eve
disobeyed God, they missed the mark,
bringing evil, sin into the world.[18]
Are we Victims?
The comedian Flip Wilson coined the phrase “The Devil made me do it”. To some degree we see mankind as a victim of
“impersonal forces”. We take no
responsibility for our actions because man perceives Satan as in control of
what happens on earth and God as in control of the heavens. It’s CHECKMATE; this concept is partly because of the
scriptures, but there’s more, it is God that uses evil men to HIS
own end.
God referred to Israel’s enemy,
King Nebuchadnezzar as “His servant”. He used
him to defeat Israel, to bring His chosen people back to Him, to get them to LISTEN to His word. We have the same problem today. We just don’t LISTEN to the word of God. The word LISTEN
appears 135 times in the
New Testament. In the letters to the
seven churches of Revelation, the word, HEAR appears 7 times. Seven
is the Biblical number for completeness.
We really do not have the excuse of blaming the Devil for our lot in
life, because God’s word has already revealed his deceptions. We just don’t
listen, we just don’t hear.
Satan is the God of
this age, ruling it with
malevolent spirits, but God is the possessor of the earth and the heavens and guides
the results of ALL our decisions to the fullness of His
ultimate end.[19]
Why doesn’t God just fix it?
If God is Sovereign, then WHY doesn’t He just get rid of sin and
sickness and
evil and
death and
suffering and
trouble and
trials and
temptation and
CRAP?
WHY doesn’t God just save everybody? WHY do the wicked prosper? WHY can’t I get a better job? WHERE was God during the holocaust of His
people? WHERE was God when my grandson died? Is God unaware or unconcerned about what
happens to His children, does He not take notice?
If God is Sovereign and in charge of everything in life, then
what I do really doesn’t matter. WHAT HAPPENS IS JUST NOT MY FAULT. Are
we just pre-programmed robots or do we possess FREE
WILL? It can’t be both.[20] READ ON
Where were you God?
The question always is; where was God when something bad
happened? This question must be answered
in order to understand God’s Sovereignty.
Listen for a minute to what God allowed to happen to His people during
the beginning of the Church Age.
Men of Faith
were; made fun of, flogged, chained, put in
prison, sawed into and killed. They put
on sheep and goat skins like animals so as to hide in the pastures and wandered
in the desert and mountains and even took refuge in holes in the ground. [21]
Where was God?
Why did He deliver Peter from death, but not Stephen? He rescued some from prison and allowed
others to be killed. Why Lord? Moses’ prayer to live was not heard by God
and he died for just one act of disobedience and King Hezekiah’s prayer was
answered and he lived[22]. What’s up with that? God gives wealth to some and not to others.[23]
That’s just not
fair. He accepted Abel’s
offering, but not Cain’s; they both gave of what they had; what gives?[24]
God doesn’t love everybody, He HATES some people! I know
you don’t want to hear that, but He hated Esau and loved Jacob.[25] He even called Judas who would betray Him,
His Friend.[26]
I don’t get it. Abraham’s blessing not on the first born,
Ishmael was passed over, blessing instead the last born Isaac. Ephraim the youngest received the blessing
instead of Manasseh, the first born.[27]
Now that’s just
not tradition. When Jesus was born; lowly uneducated
shepherds and pagan wise men received the announcement of His birth; not the
religious Sanhedrin, nor the scribes or governmental leaders. Go figure.
What’s
the Answer?
The
Answer is: God is Sovereign; He will have mercy and compassion on
whoever He pleases and His ways can’t be reasoned out.[28]
If we could figure out God’s ways, then
He wouldn’t be God. Life is about HIM, His mercy, His love, His grace and His plan. We want to believe God is in Control, but
sometimes our pain is so great, it over-rides our faith. Still we must trust God beyond our ability to
comprehend. God takes notice of when a
lowly sparrow falls to the earth, how much more does He takes notice of us that
were made in His own image.[29]
God is the Puppet Master and pulls all the strings. He desires
that we not catch a cold by going out into the snow without a coat, but He allows it so we might receive a lesson.
He is the guiding “UNMOVED MOVER”, desiring the best for us, but allowing something somewhat
less, because in the end, it will be worth it.[30] Where was God when all the bad stuff happened?
He was right there guiding HIS PLAN to the fullness of its ultimate end. He neither slumbers nor sleeps.[31]
God is out of sight and out of mind. We make too much of man and not enough of
God. We have conflict with God based of
our accumulated knowledge and our life experiences; what we need to do is go
back to trusting Him like when we were children, trusting our daddy. By faith we
follow the path that God has placed in front of us. We truly cannot fathom the mysteries of God; His
thoughts are higher than our thoughts and His ways are past finding out.[32] It requires FAITH in the things we hope for, but cannot
see. Where else can we turn; Christ
alone has the words of eternal life and is the Holy one of God.
Jesus Christ put the cookies on the lower shelf where all of us could
get to them when He simply said, "I am the way and the truth and the life; no one
can come to the Father but through me”. [33]
Trust
It
all boils down to one thing, do you trust that God is good or not? Does your faith fall apart like a house of
cards when you are tested or does it stand firm? Is His
Grace sufficient for you or are you not sure?
If you really trust God, then that’s the comfort you will get on this side
of heaven. Those who know the name of
God will trust in Him.[34]
The
fool hath said in his heart, there is no God.[35]
David’s
Song
The best description of God’s
Sovereignty is written in a song by King David; a man after God’s
own heart. He says God knows our
thoughts and our words even before we speak them. He sees where we go, when we lie down and when
we get up.
David says where ever he is, there God is too. He acknowledges that God knew him before he
was ever knit together in the secret of his mother’s womb. He ends by asking God to “search him” for
anything that would offend Him and lead him out of it. SELAH
Psalms 139:1-24 – David
describes God’s Sovereignty
1
O LORD,
You have searched me and
You know me.
2
You
know when I sit and when I rise;
You perceive my thoughts from afar.
3
You
discern my going out and my lying down;
You are familiar with all my ways.
4
Before a word is on my tongue
You know it completely, O LORD.
5
You
hem me in--behind and before;
You have laid Your hand upon me.
6
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too
lofty for me to attain.
7
Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Where
can I flee from Your
presence?
8
If I go up to the heavens,
You are there;
if
I make my bed in the depths,
You are there.
9
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if
I settle on the far side of the sea,
10
even there Your
hand will guide me,
Your right hand will hold me fast.
11
If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night
around me,"
12
even the darkness will not be dark to You; the night will shine like the day, for
darkness is as light to You.
13
For You
created my inmost being;
You knit me together in my mother's womb.
14
I praise You
because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Your works are wonderful, I know that full
well.
15
My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in the secret place. When
I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
16
Your
eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in Your book
before one of them came to be.
17
How precious to me are Your thoughts, O God!
How
vast is the sum of them!
18
Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I
am still with You.
23
SEARCH ME, O God, and know my heart;
TEST
ME and know my anxious thoughts.
24
See if there
is any offensive way in me, and
LEAD
ME in the way everlasting. NIV
It’s in the Book
[1] Psalms 2:2-4 - Men say
God is not in control – God just laughs --
Genesis 11:6-7 – God confuses their plans and then laughs
[2] Deuteronomy 6:4 – Only on
God -- Deuteronomy 32:39 – There is not another God -- 2 Kings
[3] Psalms 99:1-2 – God
reigns in the heavens over the nations -- Psalms 46:10 – God will be exalted in
the earth.
[4] Psalms 98:9 – Isaiah
2:10-11 – The arrogant man will hide from God’s majesty. -- God will judge the
earth
[5] Mark
[6] Genesis
[7] Acts
[8] Job 12:13 – He has
wisdom, knowledge and power -- Genesis
[9] Isaiah 40:28 – He is
everlasting -- Malachi 3:6 – He cannot change -- James
[10] 1 Chronicles 29:11 –
Everything belongs to God -- Psalms 50:10 – He owns the cattle on a thousand
hills -- 1 Timothy
[11] Isa 44:6 – He is the
beginning and the end. -- Revelation 1:8 – He was and is and always will be. --
Proverbs 3:19-20 – God’s Wisdom, Understanding and Knowledge -- Psalms 33:9 -
God just speaks and His will happens -- Job 26:13 – He breathed and it
was -- Psalms 33:6 – His Breath is His Will -- Isaiah 42:5 – He gives breath to
man -- Job 38:4 – He created the foundations of the earth -- Jonah 1:9 – God
created the sea and land -- Isaiah 45:12 – He created the earth, the heavens
and man -- Revelation 4:11 – He willed it into existence. -- Isaiah 66:2 –
God’s hand made it all -- Hebrews 11:3 – By our faith we believe it was God
alone
[12] John
[13] Matthew 13:3-8 –Satan
tries to destroy the good seed
[14] Proverbs 3:5-6 – Trust
God – Acknowledge Him – He will direct you.
[15] Titus 1:2 – God cannot
lie -- Malachi 3:6 He does not change -- James
[16] Isaiah 54:5 – He is God
of the whole world -- Genesis 14:18-19 – God owns it all -- Genesis
[17] Romans 9:21 – He makes
men according to His purpose and end. -- Isaiah 64:8 – We are the work of His
hand -- Jerimiah 18:4 – God reshapes us as He pleases. -- Daniel
[18] Romans
[19] Jude 6 – The angles left
heaven to follow Satan -- 2 Corinthians 4:4 – Satan blinds the mind of the
unbelievers -- Jeremiah 25:3-4 – My people don’t listen -- Jeremiah 25:8-9 – OK
–I’m going to get your attention --
[20] Romans
[21] Hebrews
[22] 2 Kings 20:1-5 – God
answers Hezekiah’s prayer but not Moses -- Deuteronomy
[23] Deuteronomy
[24] Genesis 4:4-5 – God
accepted Abel’s offering but not Cain’s because of the attitude of their
hearts.
[25] Romans
[26] Matthew 26:49-50 – Jesus
called Judas His friend
[27] Genesis 48:14 – Ephraim
received the blessing not Manasseh
[28] Romans
[29] Matthew
[30] Psalms 89:14 God goes
before us and is fair and just.-- Psalms 77:19 – We follow footprints that we
cannot see -- Matthew
[31] Psalms 121:4 – God
neither slumbers nor sleeps
[32] Romans
[33] John 14:6 – I am the way,
the truth and the life, no one can come to the Father but through me
[34] Psalm 9:10 - Those who know your name trust in you,
[35] Psalm 14:1 - Only fools say in their hearts,
“There is no God.”
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