The Attributes of God Steve Lawson
Trinity Bible Church, Men's study, 2/3/22
LESSON 4. The SOVEREIGNTY of God
Psalm 103:19 "The Lord has established His throne in the heavens, and His _____________ rules over all!"
MESSAGE INTRODUCTION
Resounding throughout the pages of Scripture is the proclamation that God is ________! To say that God is sovereign is to ascribe to Him a rule and authority that transcends space and time, leaving nothing outside its scope. In this lesson, Lawson examines the ________ and ________ of God's sovereign rule, showing how a biblical understanding of this topic can change the way we view the progress of history, the events of the present world, and the circumstances of our own lives.
REVIEW OF VIDEO
I. The God Who Reigns
a. God's sovereignty refers to His right to rule, ___________, and preside over all things.
I. One who is sovereign is supreme in rank, power, and authority.
ii. The Scriptures repeatedly attest to God's matchless rule, especially in the enthronement psalms, which resound with the theme that the Lord reigns.
b. God's sovereignty communicates His power over His enemies.
I. Many Christians live as if the ________ is sovereign, fearing the effects of his power and malice in their lives.
ii. However, though Satan's power is greater than ours, it is nothing compared to the might of our Sovereign Lord.
c. God's sovereignty establishes His power over our circumstances.
I. Our future does not rest in the hands of men.
ii. Our destiny does not depend upon blind chance.
iii. Rather, God is actively involved in our lives, directing them according to His holy _____________.
d. God's reign is not limited to past or future events; it also permeates our ________ situations.
e. God's reign is not limited to earth, but is ________ in scope.
II. God's Eternal Purposes
a. God's sovereign rule extends back to eternity.
b. Ephesians 1:11 articulates God's eternal sovereignty in salvation, that Christians are "predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will."
I. The counsel of God refers to the inter-Trinitarian deliberation that preceded the creation of the universe.
ii. The will of God refers to His divine decisions and desires, which encompass and establish each aspect of our lives.
iii. The purpose of God refers to His divine determination to carry out His righteous will.
iv. God's act of predestination guarantees that His sovereign will is brought about in totality.
III. Areas of Divine Sovereignty
a. God's sovereignty ___________ creation.
I. Everything that exists has God as its source.
ii. All things belong to God and exist for His glory.
iii. Plants, creatures, and the forces of nature are under God's complete control (Psalm 33:6–9).
b. God's sovereignty ___________ providence.
I. Rather than simply create things and set them in motion, God orders and directs human affairs.
ii. In all circumstances, God is at work for His glory and the good of His people (Romans 8:28).
c. God's sovereignty __________ salvation.
I. God predestines His people for salvation based on His eternal purposes, not His simple foreknowledge of human actions and decisions (Ephesians 1:3–7).
ii. God's choice of His elect was made by Himself and for His glory.
Study Questions
1. Because the devil is stronger than we are, Christians are wise to fear him.
a. True b. False
2. Because God is sovereign, which of the following statements is FALSE? ___
a. The future ultimately does not rest in human hands.
b. God's rule includes the past, present, and future.
c. Humans determine the path of their own lives.
d. A Christian's destiny does not depend on luck, fate or chance.
3. Before the creation of the world, God chose to save certain individuals according to ___.
a. His foreknowledge of those who would respond positively to the gospel
b. The kind intention of His will
c. Each individual's future works of love
d. Their belonging to a faithful church
Discussion Questions
1. Explain the following:
A. God's sovereignty is EXCLUSIVE.
B. God's sovereignty is ALL-INCLUSIVE.
C. God's sovereignty is IRRESISTIBLE.
F.
God is sovereign in CREATION.
G.
God is sovereign in PROVIDENCE:
He is sovereign over the NATURAL world
He is sovereign over NATIONS and world affairs
He is sovereign over all of MY personal affairs
H. God is sovereign in SALVATION.
2. God sovereignly ordains every _________, adversity and affliction of His redeemed people. How should this fact affect us?
3. Over what issues or circumstances have you found it difficult to __________ to God's sovereignty? Why?
4. How should the fact of God's sovereignty impact our daily __________ ?
Your COMMENTS and QUESTIONS regarding God's sovereignty?
Explain how the Scripture writers view God's sovereignty in each of the following passages:
Psalm 71:5. For You have been my hope, O Sovereign Lord, my confidence since my ________.
Psalm 71:16. I will come and proclaim Your mighty ________, O Sovereign Lord.
Psalm 73:28. But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign Lord my _______.
Psalm 103:19. The Lord has established His throne in the heavens, and His sovereignty rules over ____!
Psalm 140:7. O Sovereign Lord, my strong deliverer, who shields my head in the day of ________
Psalm 141:8. But my eyes are fixed on You, O Sovereign Lord; in You I take ________.
Isaiah 40:10. See, the Sovereign Lord comes with ________, and His arm rules for him.
Jeremiah 32:17. Ah, Sovereign Lord, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great ________ and outstretched arm. Nothing is too _______ for You!
Ezekiel 34:31. "You My sheep, the sheep of My ____________; and I am your God," declares the Sovereign Lord.
Daniel 4:17 . . . know that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone He _________ and sets over them the lowliest of men.
Habakkuk 3:19. The Sovereign Lord is my strength; He makes my feet like the feet of a deer, He enables me to go on the ____________.
Acts 4:24. When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. "Sovereign Lord," they said, "You made the Heaven and the earth and the sea, and ________________ in them!
1 Timothy 6:15-16. He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen.
QUOTES
Arthur Pink: Here then is a sure resting-place for the heart. Our lives are neither the product of blind fate nor the result of capricious chance, but every detail of them was ordained from all eternity, and is now ordered by the living and reigning God!
Being infinitely elevated above the highest creature, He is the Most High, Lord of Heaven and earth. Subject to none, influenced by none, absolutely independent; God does as He pleases, only as He pleases, always as He pleases. Divine sovereignty means that God is God in fact, as well as in name, that He is on the Throne of the universe, directing all things, and working all things after the counsel of His own will!
William Carey: God has sovereign right to dispose of us as He pleases. We ought to acquiesce in all that God does with us and to us.
Arthur Pink: Nothing in all the vast universe can come to pass otherwise than God has eternally purposed. Here is a foundation for faith. Here is a resting place for the intellect. Here is an anchor for the soul, both sure and steadfast. It is not blind fate, unbridled evil, man or Devil, but the Lord Almighty who is ruling the world, ruling it according to His own good pleasure and for His own eternal glory!
Abraham Kuyper: There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: "Mine!"
Jerry Bridges: This is the essence of God's sovereignty —His absolute independence to do as He pleases and His absolute control over the actions of all His creatures. No creature, person, or empire can either thwart His will or act outside the bounds of His will.
Arthur Pink: Divine sovereignty is not the sovereignty of a tyrannical despot—but the exercised pleasure of One who is infinitely wise and good!
Because God is infinitely wise—He cannot err.
Because He is infinitely righteous—He will not do wrong.
Don Fortner: A God who does not rule all things absolutely is no God at all—but only a weak, frustrated, defeated idol, carved from one of the trees in the dark forest of man's depraved imagination! "Our God is in Heaven; He does whatever pleases Him!" Psalm 115:3
Arthur Pink: To say that God is sovereign is to declare that He is the Almighty, the Possessor of all power in Heaven and earth, so that none can defeat His counsels, thwart His purpose, or resist His will. The sovereignty of the God of Scripture is absolute, irresistible, and infinite!
Charles Spurgeon: 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 has ordained their afflictions,
that Sovereignty overrules them, and
that Sovereignty will sanctify them all.
OUR CHALLENGE: We must humbly submit to God's sovereignty in every area of our lives.
Revelation 19:6. Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns!
LESSON 4. The SOVEREIGNTY of God (addendum)
How do we harmonize these two Scripture truths?
1. God's Absolute Sovereignty
2. Man's Total Responsibility
WCF: "God from all eternity did, by the most wise and holy counsel of his own will, freely and unchangeably ordain whatever comes to pass; yet so as thereby neither is God the author of sin . . . the sinfulness thereof proceeds only from the creature, and not from God, who, being most holy and righteous, neither is nor can be the author or approver of sin."
The worst sin, the greatest crime, ever committed is the murder of the Son of God!
Acts 2:23 "This man was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.
Acts 4:27-28 "For truly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur."
Our finite minds cannot reconcile/harmonize them.
Scripture teaches BOTH as parallel truths, and we must be content to fully believe each of them!
We must not deny or ignore one of these Scripture truths, in order to have a logical theological system.
This is one of the many apparent paradoxes in Scripture.
Many Scripture truths are beyond human reason.
Because we are so sinfully proud, we find it hard to receive Scripture truths that we cannot fully understand.
Even though our puny finite minds cannot reconcile/harmonize this apparent paradox, we must believe both Scripture truths with all our heart.
Isaiah 55:8-9 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the Lord. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts!"
The WILLs of God
Deuteronomy 29:29, "The SECRET things belong to the Lord our God, but the things REVEALED belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law."
SECRET will of God REVEALED will of God
DECRETIVE will of God PRECEPTIVE will of God
God's will of PURPOSE God's will of COMMAND
God's will of purpose is always done.
God's will of command is often left undone.
God's will of purpose cannot be thwarted, for this would mean His dethronement.
God's will of command is often violated, for men are in rebellion against Him.
Scriptural examples of:
The SECRET will of God
The DECRETIVE will of God
God's will of PURPOSE
Job 23:13-14 "But he stands alone, and who can oppose him? He does whatever he pleases. He carries out his decree against me, and many such plans he still has in store."
Psalm 33:10-11 "The Lord foils the plans of the nations; he thwarts the purposes of the peoples. But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations."
Proverbs 16:9 "In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps."
Proverbs 19:21 "Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails."
Isaiah 14:24 The Lord Almighty has sworn, "Surely, as I have planned, so it will be, and as I have purposed, so it will stand."
Isaiah 14:26-27 "This is the plan determined for the whole world; this is the hand stretched out over all nations. For the Lord Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?"
Isaiah 46:10-11 "I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please. From the east I summon a bird of prey; from a far-off land, a man to fulfill my purpose. What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do."
Lamentations 3:37-38 Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come?
Matthew 10:29 "Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father."
Ephesians 1:11 "In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will"
Ephesians 3:11 "according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Hebrews 6:17 Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath.