The Sovereignty of God

Introduction: Comments and Questions

 Come with hearts prepared (confess sin and ask the Holy Spirit
for grace in order to see texts clearly)
 This is a much debated subjected throughout the course of church
history (5 primary views). With me you will get one view and it is
the most predominant one in 2000 years. But not the only one that is
accepted within evangelical orthodox church.
 Set aside as best you can what you think God should be like in
regard to sovereignty and study from Scripture what it says God is
like in regard to sovereignty
 Study for yourself. Be good Bereans (Acts 17:11) take these
notes and put them against the Scriptures and allow the Spirit to
teach and guide you into all truth. Be good hermeneuts!
Introduction: Comments and Questions
Why are we going through this study now?
 The sovereignty of God and the plan of the Bible go hand in hand.
In order to understand the plan we must have a good grounding in
God’s sovereignty.
 The interest and discussion that was generated in our last men’s
study session.
 Is God sovereign in our redemption?
 If so do we have free will?
 What does it mean that we God’s elects?
 How does the foreknowledge of God match up with our human
responsibility?
 Does God choose us or do we choose God?
 Sovereignty of God
This is a functional idea about God’s
 Ruling
 Reigning
 Ownership
It brings together the attributes as these are the things that make Him
sovereign. God is good, wise, holy and these things come to bear as He
rules, leads and governs.
Definition: God plans and carries out His perfect will as He alone knows
is best, over all that is in heaven and earth, and He does so without failure
or defeat.
Sovereignty is a statement about God’s CONTROL over all things in His
PLAN and His EXECTUING that plan.
How wide? - over all heaven and earth
How successful is God in this plan? - without failure or defeat
 Scriptural support for the sovereignty of God
This is the summary song that Moses gives to the people from God,
when they go after other gods and they will then I want them to
know who I AM.
Deuteronomy 32:39:
See now that I myself am He!
There is no god besides me.
I put to death and I bring to life,
I have wounded and I will heal,
and no one can deliver out of my hand.
The rest of the verses state that whatever comes against God He will
defeat it.

Notice in verse 39 a “Feature” of God’s rulership

Spectrum verses: The two sides of the spectrum are announced and
God is in control of both edges of the extremes and obviously
everything in between. God is alpha and omega, in all moments
Deuteronomy 32:39
Look at the parallelism in the verses:
Puts to death
Gives life
Who wounds
And heals
We often like to think of God’s sovereignty in terms of One who
gives life and One who heals. However in these verses we also
learn that God is the One who puts to death and He is the One
who wounds. God is saying I rule over both edges.
This is often not taught in our evangelical churches today and
therefore there is a need to go slow and let this sink in.
It is imperative that we take people back to God’s word!
1 Samuel 2
This is the prayer of Hannah as she dedicates Samuel to the Lord.
Remember Hannah was barren and promised that if God gave her a
son she would give him back to the Lord.
READ 1 Samuel 2:1-7 for the context and verses 6-7
1 Samuel 2:6-7: (Her song of thanksgiving to the Lord)
The Lord gives both death and life;
he brings some down to the grave but raises others up.
The Lord makes some poor and others rich;
he brings some down and lifts others up.
The Lord brings both:
Death
Life

Down to the grave

Raises others up (reference to resurrection)
The Lord makes:
Poor
Rich (Deuteronomy 8:17-18)
Brings down
Lifts up
Just think of this in terms of those who are poor. What poor person
out there could God not snap His fingers and provide for them?
Which must mean that God purposely chooses not to give what He
could give in order that they be poor.
Isn’t God in control of both poor and rich?
Well move that over to life and death. Every single death that
occurs is ordained by God. If anyone dies couldn’t God sustain
them an hour, day, week or even a year longer.
Reader’s Digest story of guy killed one night driving car from a
stray bullet shot on a lake
Anyone who is killed, could God not stop the bullet, the car or the
bomb.
Illustration: The Communist that tries to kill the Vietnamese man
who will not deny Christ
Doesn’t God govern over all things?
Every person that is conceived God does it and every person who
dies God ordains it.
Isn’t that what the sovereignty of God means based on these verses
in the Bible?
Do an internal check of your own heart right now and see if you are
pushing back against this truth!
Why is this so hard for us to accept about God? Discuss as a group
Isaiah 45:5-7 (What is the theme “I AM GOD”)
"I am the LORD, and there is no other;
Besides Me there is no God
I will gird you, (Cyrus) though you have not known Me;

That men may know from the rising to the setting of the sun
That there is no one besides Me.

I am the LORD, and there is no other,

The One forming light and creating darkness,
Causing well-being and creating calamity;
I am the LORD who does all these.

Introduction: We can see that from these verses it is clear that God is
distinguishing Himself as the one and only God and there in no other
besides Himself. As a matter of fact this is what constitutes God
being God.
By the way as part of the historical background Isaiah is talking
about King Cyrus in these verses who is going to be used of God.
I am God and there is no other:
the One who forms light
and creates darkness
The verb for create is “bara” in the Hebrew and can only be
attributed throughout the Scriptures as something that God Himself
does and does alone.
The word for darkness is “raah” in the Hebrew and is the most
severe word in the OT for evil and destruction.
Amos 3:6 “…If a calamity occurs in a city has not the LORD done
it?” (Isaiah 31:2 - disaster is the word for “raah”)
Here again we have a spectrum of light and darkness
God is the subject of the verb “bara”
God causes:
 Well being - this is the word “shallom” in the Hebrew and means
to make whole and everything is right.
 Ironically the strongest verb bara (create) is matched up with the
strongest noun (calamity)
 And the weaker verb “causes” is matched up with the noun,
which is well-being
Put this together in our study of the sovereignty of God.
 God creates evil but He is in no way evil Himself. Let me even
go further in this thought process in the Bible, God ordains sin and
yet is in no does He sin in doing so. God is the primary cause of
good and evil. (Job 1-2)
 Isaiah 45:5-7 (Hebrew parallelism)
Forming light
Creating darkness
Causing well being
Creating calamity

I AM THE LORD WHO DOES ALL THESE

 1 John 1:5 This is the message we have heard from Him and
announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness
at all.
 Psalm 5:4 For You are not a God who takes pleasure in
wickedness; No evil dwells with You.
 The Spectrum of God’s Sovereignty

And everything
in between

Death Life
Wound Heal
Down to grave Raise up
Make Poor Make Rich
Forms Light Creates Calamity
Daniel 4 (One of strongest statements on sovereignty)
The words of King Nebuchadnezzar who was a pagan king.
Daniel 4:29-30
‘Twelve months later he was walking on the roof of the royal palace
of Babylon.
The king reflected and said, 'Is this not Babylon the great, which I
myself have built as a royal residence by the might of my power and
for the glory of my majesty?’
Daniel 4:32
and you will be driven away from mankind, and your dwelling place
will be with the beasts of the field You will be given grass to eat like
cattle, and seven periods of time will pass over you until you
recognize that the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind and
bestows it on whomever He wishes.’
Conclusion: God say to Nebuchadnezzar you are king at this
moment but God gives the kingdoms of the world to those He
chooses
But then after seven years of eating grass, his beard growing and
fingernails not being cut, his reason returns.
Daniel 4:34-35
But at the end of that period, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes
toward heaven and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the
Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever;

For His dominion is an everlasting dominion,

And His kingdom endures from generation to generation.
All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing,
But He does according to His will in the host of heaven
And among the inhabitants of earth;
And no one can ward off His hand (Rom.9, Jer.18)
Or say to Him, 'What have You done?’

Discuss with the group - What does this mean?

King N. talks about the dominion of God being everlasting as
compared with his which is temporal
The phrase “are nothing compared to Him”(cross ref:Isaiah 40)
Doesn’t this mean:
That they add nothing to God even with all their power and prowess
and might.
The nations do not add or take away from the all sufficiency of God.
In context it means that they are able to do nothing in terms of being
able to accomplish their own will in lieu of God’s will. (Eph.1:11)
Daniel 4:35 - No one can keep God from accomplishing His good a
pleasing will.
No one can question His wisdom, justice and authority!
Psalm 135:5-6
For I know that the LORD is great
And that our Lord is above all gods.
Whatever the LORD pleases, He does,
In heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deeps.

What in this verse distinguishes God?

Answer - God does whatever He pleases

How wide is the sovereignty of God? And How deep?

There are no qualifications to these statements. Such as, God can

only do this as long as human beings are stubborn in their hearts.

Psalm 115:3
But our God is in the heavens;
He does whatever He pleases.
Proverbs 21:1
The king's heart is like channels of water in the hand of the LORD;
He turns it wherever He wishes. (Think about this when you are in a
situation where someone else has control)
Illustration: Bruce Ware’s house for sale
Remember the 10 plagues that God sent against the Egyptian people
via His servant Moses. Wouldn’t you think that after all these
hardships the people of Egypt would hate and want to kill the
Israelites? But look what happened.

Exodus 12:35-36
Now the sons of Israel had done according to the word of Moses,
for they had requested from the Egyptians articles of silver and
articles of gold, and clothing;
and the LORD had given the people favor in the sight of the
Egyptians, so that they let them have their request. Thus they
plundered the Egyptians.
Romans 9:11
for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything
good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to His choice would
stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls,
The foundation for this is God does what He pleases
Romans 9:14
If God loved Jacob based on what Jacob did and He didn’t love
Esau because there was something about Esau, then you remove
the grounds for the complaint in verse 14.
The only reason verse 14 makes sense is because someone would
read it and think this looks unjust.
Illustration:
R.C. Sproul - “the locust of astonishment”
We worry about the problem of evil but this is not a problem
for God, we all deserve condemnation.
No matter how bad someone may suffer in this life, it is pale in
comparison to what we actually do deserve.
From God’s perspective the problem isn’t evil the problem is
goodness. How can God show kindness to those who do not
deserve it.
Marvel, marvel in the fact that God chooses to show His mercy.
God is in control of everything in life. And may we never
question the justice of God in anything He may please to do.
Proverbs 16:33 - The lot is cast into the lap, But its every decision
is from the LORD.
Matthew 6:26 - Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And
not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will.
(NKJV)
Proverbs 19:21 - Many plans are in a man's heart, But the counsel
of the LORD will stand.
Isaiah 46:10 - Declaring the end from the beginning,
And from ancient times things which have not been done,
Saying, 'My purpose will be established,
And I will accomplish all My good pleasure';
Jeremiah 32:27 - Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh; is
anything too difficult for Me?”
Genesis 18:14 - “Is anything too difficult for the LORD?…”
 Two kinds of issues
Mechanical - How does divine sovereignty, God’s control over
everything that happens mesh with human freedom?
How does this work that we are free and yet God is in control of
everything?
Unless you hold the belief that there is no human freedom in
Scripture
Very few over the course of church history have argued for the
view above
Moral issue - How can it be that if God is sovereign and in
control of everything that He could hold us accountable for evil?
And God Himself is always praise worthy, we get all the blame
and God gets the praise, so how can this be?
Judg. 9:23 Then God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the
men of Shechem; and the men of Shechem dealt treacherously with
Abimelech,

1Sam. 16:14 ¶ Now the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and
an evil spirit from the LORD terrorized him.
1Sam. 16:15 Saul’s servants then said to him, “Behold now, an evil
spirit from God is terrorizing you.
1Sam. 16:16 “Let our lord now command your servants who are
before you. Let them seek a man who is a skillful player on the harp;
and it shall come about when the evil spirit from God is on you, that
he shall play the harp with his hand, and you will be well.”
1Sam. 16:23 So it came about whenever the evil spirit from God
came to Saul, David would take the harp and play it with his hand;
and Saul would be refreshed and be well, and the evil spirit would
depart from him.
1Sam. 18:10 ¶ Now it came about on the next day that an evil spirit
from God came mightily upon Saul, and he raved in the midst of the
house, while David was playing the harp with his hand, as usual; and
a spear was in Saul’s hand.

1Sam. 19:9 Now there was an evil spirit from the LORD on Saul as
he was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand, and David was
playing the harp with his hand.
1Kings 22:20 “The LORD said, ‘Who will entice Ahab to go up and
fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ And one said this while another said that.
1Kings 22:21 “Then a spirit came forward and stood before the
LORD and said, ‘I will entice him.’
1Kings 22:22 “The LORD said to him, ‘How?’ And he said, ‘I will
go out and be a deceiving spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’
Then He said, ‘You are to entice him and also prevail. Go and do
so.’
1Kings 22:23 “Now therefore, behold, the LORD has put a
deceiving spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets; and the
LORD has proclaimed disaster against you.”

2Th. 2:11 For this reason God will send upon them a deluding
influence so that they will believe what is false,