The Sovereignty of God: Session 1 – God’s Sovereignty, Our Security

Notes:

God’s Sovereignty, Our Security    See Session Slides Here

Who controls what happens on earth? Quotations. Some Christians say…

1) Satan. They say that at the fall Adam gave all dominion and authority over to Satan. But God never gave His world to man. Adam was a steward only. Satan is called the god of this world because the world is duped into doing his will. But God never gave him control. The earth belongs to God.

2) Man. Some claim man ‘was created on terms of equality with God, and he could stand in God’s presence without any consciousness of inferiority. He made us the same class of being that He is Himself. He lived on terms equal with God’. Another: ‘God’s reason for creating Adam was His desire to reproduce Himself. He was not a little like God or almost like God. He was not subordinate to God even.’ This is close to blasphemy.

3) God’s Laws. Others believe the world and God are governed by laws. The more you discover the laws the more you will manipulate things in your favour. God cannot act outside his laws. E.g. the laws of faith, confession, prayer.

4) God. God either rules or is ruled. If His will is subject to, or can be thwarted by, Satan or man then He is not God. But the Bible teaches that He is sovereign, Psa.115:3; Psa.135:6; Eph.1:11.

  • God is sovereign, i.e. God is God. It is He who determines the course of history, nations and life according to His will. He sets the boundaries, determines the limits and ordains the outcome, 2 Chron.20:6.
  • Nothing honours God more, as it affirms His rights as Creator over His creatures.
  • And nothing is more humbling and reveals our faith more than our attitude to the sovereignty of God.
  • God’s sovereignty is not popular. But to challenge it is to challenge the Godhood of God.
  • Yet it is challenged! Some have said that praying, ‘If it be your will’ is a faith-killer. The problem is that we will let God be anything but God. We prefer role reversal, Isa.29:16; Isa.10:15.
  • The Bible teaches truth from 2 perspectives: God’s and ours. It’s not a matter of one being right and the other wrong. But our perspective is very limited. God’s perspective is perfect.

4 truths concerning God’s sovereignty which will support us through life:

1) We know nothing can happen unless God allows it, Matt.10:29; Gen 45:8. Our disappointments are sometimes His appointments.

2) Faith requires us to submit to God’s purposes, even when we don’t understand them, Isa.55:8-9; Rom.11:33; Matt.20:15; Job 33:13.

3) When God allows us to pass through difficult times we can trust Him for grace for each situation.

4) He will make all things work for our good, Rom.8:28. As a workman uses different tools to achieve his purpose, so He can even use the wicked for His purposes, Hab.1:12. This doesn’t make Him the author of sin.

God is sovereign in His timing. We trust God when His promises do not seem to be fulfilled, Psa.39:9. 1 Pet.5:7. Our lives are in God’s hands, Psa.33:18.

Spurgeon said, ‘There is no attribute of God more comforting to his children than the doctrine of Divine Sovereignty. Under the most adverse circumstances, in the most severe troubles, they believe that Sovereignty hath ordained their afflictions, that Sovereignty overrules them, and that Sovereignty will sanctify them all. There is nothing for which the children of God ought more earnestly to contend than the dominion of their Master over all creation, the kingship of God over all the works of His own hands, the throne of God, and His right to sit upon that throne.’


# Answers to this quiz are found in the notes above. Click on quiz to commence. Only correct spelling is recognised. A minimum 70%  correct is required to advance to the next session.