It's so terrifying that God will unleash the fury
that many will face the mountains and rocks,
fall on us and hide us from the face of him
who is seated on the throne.
The wrath of the Lamb, as the Revelation says.
Man is in utter rebellion against God.
Who can deny it?
And countless other things we have not mentioned here.
It's in all of us.
And who really is in control?
God or the devil?
Does God fail to accomplish his purposes
because of evident human rebellion?
Put this back on.
So how do we account for the sheer quantity of evil
and calamities in the world?
Many Christians want to take God off the hook
for evil and calamities.
And they rightly see that sin vandalizes God's good creation.
Sin affects creation itself.
Like putting graffiti on a beautiful painting in the Louvre.
God is not only the king, he is the judge.
People recognize that.
And many women will one day give an account
before the judgment seat of Christ.
And with this we must all agree.
But in arguing of how to understand evil in the world,
some want to say God cannot prevent evil
because that would destroy our freedom
to choose good and evil.
He just kind of rolls the dice and hopes for the best.
And humans have the power to choose good and evil.
And because it's up to us,
he can clean up the mess afterward,
but he is helpless to prevent it.
Our freedom is so valuable
that he's willing to pay the price of human suffering.
And God cannot prevent evil.
After the tsunami in Southeast Asia,
a Christian was asked this,
whether God had anything to do with a disaster.
No, he replied.
This question has to do with geology, not theology.
So putting aside the profound theological statement
that person's making in that statement,
I want to say the scripture has much to say to us
about this topic.
And the scripture appears to cut in a different direction
than that statement.
Isaiah 45, verse 7,
The same God who is good,
in which there is no darkness,
says to the people,
I form the light and create darkness.
I bring prosperity and create disaster.
I, the Lord, do all these things.
And Daniel 4, 35,
up here,
says,
All the inhabitants of the earth
are accounted as nothing,
and he does according to his will
among the hosts of heaven
and among the inhabitants of the earth,
and none can stay his hand or say to him,
What have you done?
In the midst of severe misfortune,
including winds which swept in
and caused the collapse of a house,
killing all the young inside,
Job refused to curse God.
He says,
Shall we accept good from God and not trouble?
In surveying the ruins of Jerusalem,
Jeremiah asked,
Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
that both calamities and good things come?
So in the scripture,
when suffering happens,
I think pastorally the writers of scripture
want to draw our attention to God's sovereignty.
The disciples asked Jesus,
Who sinned,
this blind man or his parents?
Jesus answered,
Neither,
but that the works of God
might be displayed in him.
So we know the creation is cursed
because sin creates disabilities
like blindness.
God created everything and called it good.
There was no blindness before sin.
But this man's blindness was no accident,
according to Jesus.
He was born blind
because God had a purpose for this man,
that he would have a chance to glorify him
through his suffering.
And one of the priceless truths,
the pillow we can lay our heads on at night,
is the truth of God's sovereignty.
All things are under God's rule and control,
and nothing happens without his direction or permission.
God doesn't work some things out,
but all things out,
according to the counsel of his will.
And this is good news for us,
that God controls every molecule,
atom,
even the smallest subatomic particle
unseen by the most powerful microscope on earth.
Something that the human eye has never seen,
God is in control of those things.
From the forces of nature, we'll see,
to the rise and fall of nations,
over good and evil,
even the deeply painful events in our lives.
God is in control.
And so this means your suffering is not meaningless.
We will see.
And Christian, though you can't see it now,
one day you will see
that God is working out these painful things for our good.
And my hope and prayer is that
by the end of our time together,
we will see God's sovereignty
as the bedrock of our trust,
and God's sovereignty would lead us to rest
in the fatherly hand of God.
So let's begin with,
what do we mean when we say sovereignty of God?
Well, a sovereign is a ruler, a lord.
To discuss the sovereignty of God
is to discuss his lordship, his kingship.
A.W. Tozer defines it as,
God's sovereignty is the attribute
by which he rules his entire creation.
And to be sovereign,
God must be all-knowing, all-powerful,
and absolutely free.
The word Yahweh in the Old Testament
expresses this sovereign rule.
The name revealed to Moses at the burning bush.
I am who I am.
He depends on no one.
He always was and always will be.
And the word Lord, Yahweh,
is found 7,000 times in the Old Testament.
He is the King of kings,
the Lord of lords,
the great, the mighty, and the awesome God.
Psalm 115, verse 3,
Our God is in the heavens.
He does all that he pleases.
And the prefix omni means all.
So he is omnipotent.
He is all-powerful.
Omniscient.
He knows everything.
You combine all the knowledge
by all the people at Yale,
and it is comparable to a kindergarten reading lesson
compared to what God knows.
He knows everything there is to know.
Omnipresent.
Scripture says he's everywhere.
You go 36,000 feet to the bottom of the ocean,
God is there,
if you aren't crushed by the pressure.
So we see this as the premise of God in the Exodus.
It was God, not Pharaoh,
who reigns over all things.
Exodus 3, verse 19 to 20,
But I know that the king of Egypt
will not let you go
unless compelled by a mighty hand,
so I will stretch out my hand
and strike Egypt
with all the wonders that I will do in it.
After that, he will let you go.
The sovereignty of God means
God as a king is in control of the world.
He is in control of Pharaoh.
And to what purpose does God exercise his sovereignty?
Well, God tells the Israelites in the Exodus,
So that the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord
when I stretch out my hand against Egypt
to bring out the people of Israel from among them.
God does everything for his own glory.
So think of God speaking to Isaiah,
Bring my sons from afar
and my daughters from the ends of the earth,
everyone who is called by my name,
whom I created for my glory.
We have been created to display the glory of God.
Like a master painter
whose canvas is the entire universe,
he governs every detail to bring himself glory.
And one day the earth will be filled
with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea,
as Sabaccic says.
So how does the scripture portray
the sovereignty of God?
So we'll begin with the macro
and then we'll narrow down to the micro
as it hits closer to home.
So first, God is sovereign
over the decisions of nations.
Over the decisions of nations.
Proverbs 21, verse 1.
The king's heart is a stream of water
in the hand of the Lord.
He turns it wherever he will.
He controls kings.
He has unlimited power.
He has the power to summon a king
to pound swiftly and destroy another nation.
And that's precisely what he did
when he summoned Cyrus and Isaiah
to crush Babylon.
Isaiah 46.
I am God and there is no other.
I am God and there's none like me,
declaring the end from the beginning.
And from ancient times,
things not yet done,
saying,
My counsel shall stand
and I will accomplish all my purpose.
Calling a bird of prey from the east,
a man of my counsel from a far country.
I have spoken and I will bring it to pass.
I have purposed and I will do it.
And that bird of prey that God is referring to
is him summoning Cyrus, the king of Persia,
to abruptly and swiftly conquer Babylon
and liberate the Jews from captivity.
God is sovereign over the very fortunes of nations
over Syria and Babylon and Persia.
He is sovereign over Russian tanks coming into Ukraine.
He is sovereign over Vladimir Putin and Zelensky.
He is sovereign over China and Taiwan,
over North Korea and South Korea, Lithuania.
He is sovereign over the elections in the United States,
the polar bears and the penguins in Antarctica.
He reigns supreme as the king over all the nations
and his purposes always prevail.
When he stretches out his hand,
there is none to turn him back
because there is no one over him and beside him.
So we see God is sovereign over the decisions of nations.
And second, God is sovereign over calamities,
over calamities.
We saw this previously in Job's life.
And also besides that,
who sent the flood during Noah's time?
God is not making a point of meteorology, but theology.
Genesis 6, verse 17,
I'm about to cover the earth with a flood
that will destroy every living thing that breathes.
Everything on earth will die.
God wants them to know ahead of time
who sends the storm.
He is the God of the storm.
He judges sin.
And he will send the storm to judge the nations.
He is sovereign even over calamities.
Who sent the plagues in Egypt?
In Exodus 9,
God brings a terrible hailstorm upon the Egyptians,
but he leaves one area untouched,
the land of Goshen,
where the Israelites lived.
He makes distinctions in the plagues
through natural events.
And for what purpose?
Again, God says,
the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord.
He does it so that they know
that he is king in control,
even of nature itself.
And at his word,
the sun stood still so Joshua could win the battle.
According to Genesis,
he sends famine.
The disciples said to Jesus,
what kind of man is this?
Even the winds in the sea obey him.
God is in control of the weather,
even over calamities.
And do you remember that terrifying episode
of the sons of Korah in the book of Numbers?
Do you remember the sons of Korah
were rebellious men,
challenging the authority of Moses and Aaron
as God's appointed leaders?
And Moses in number 16 says,
if they die a natural death,
then the Lord has not sent me.
But if the Lord opens up the earth
and swallows them up
with everything that belongs to them
and they go alive into the realm of the dead,
then you will know that these men
have treated the Lord with contempt.
And what happened?
As soon as Moses was done talking,
the earth split open and swallowed them up
and the earth closed over them.
What an awesome and mighty God.
He can send the earthquake
to swallow up rebels.
And we can say with the psalmist,
be still and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations.
I will be exalted in the earth.
And God reveals himself in nature
so that we will know his power.
And God is sovereign even over calamities.
Wow.
God is not only sovereign over calamities
and nations,
God is sovereign even over circumstances,
even if evil is being done to us.
You recall that well-known passage
in Joseph's life,
at the end of his life,
in Genesis 50, verse 20?
As for you,
you meant evil against me,
but God meant it for good.
To bring it that many people
should be kept alive as they are today.
You meant evil against me,
but God meant it for good.
Joseph had been sold into slavery
because of his malice and hatred.
Was a heinous evil done to Joseph?
Yes.
Yes, it was.
It was very evil.
Was God sovereign over those circumstances?
Yes.
God was sovereign.
And what was God's purpose?
That the people should be kept alive.
Ultimately, God is preserving the line of Abraham.
Right?
And all the nations of the earth
would be blessed through the line of Abraham.
Through Joseph's suffering,
God keeps his promises.
And think for a moment with me.
Think of Joseph's life.
An innocent man,
even if unwise,
with his rainbow coat,
who was loved by his father, Jacob,
stripped of his rainbow coat,
betrayed by his brothers
for 20 pieces of silver,
falsely accused by Potiphar's wife
and thrown into a pit with criminals.
But through his suffering,
he saves his people from death.
Through his suffering,
God ultimately delivers his people from famine.
And Joseph takes a Gentile bride
and he is exalted at the right hand of Pharaoh.
And his brothers bow down before him.
And he intercedes before Pharaoh
on behalf of his family.
And ultimately,
he will extend kindness and forgiveness
to those who betrayed him.
Through Joseph's life,
suffering and exaltation in Egypt,
God, he keeps his promises.
Now, does that story sound familiar to you at all?
Does that ring an echo
of a greater story in the Bible?
And God will actually orchestrate Joseph's life
to be a shadow of the greater Messiah
who would come to rescue his people.
Not from famine,
but from God's white-hot judgment against sin.
And Jesus, fully God and fully man,
was rejected.
Even though he had committed no evil,
he never sinned.
Not even for a millisecond.
Jesus was betrayed for 30 pieces of silver,
falsely accused,
and suffered at the hands of Pontius Pilate,
stripped of his robe,
and crucified next to two criminals,
and then was raised to the right hand of the Father
and now intercedes for us
to deliver us from death and judgment,
taking for himself a bride from the nations.
That sounds like Joseph's life.
Not one-to-one,
but there are echoes
of how Joseph was a signpost for Christ.
Now, were the details of Joseph's life an accident?
Well, clearly not.
Clearly not.
If you've been at Trinity long enough,
you've heard Christ preach from the Old Testament.
And examples like this abound.
And for those who came to the biblical theology class
last year,
you know that this is called typology.
And typologies are shadows in the Old Testament
wherein Christ is the reality.
And this is the hermeneutical framework
that the apostles used in the New Testament
to interpret events and people
and foreshadowing the work of Christ and the Messiah.
And this way of interpreting the Old Testament
assumes that God is sovereign over all of history,
even the small details.
And God isn't just controlled generally,
but meticulously controlled.
And the supreme example of this
is the cross of Christ.
Jesus' death is a result of events outside his control,
even when evil is done to him.
God superintends every detail
precisely for his glory.
Everything that happened on Good Friday
was a fulfillment of Scripture, wasn't it?
Peter says as much while preaching in Jerusalem
after the resurrection.
Acts 2.
This Jesus delivered up to the,
according to the definite plan
and fuller knowledge of God,
you crucified and killed
by the hands of lawless men.
So according to Peter,
was a heinous evil done to Jesus?
Yes.
The Lord of glory was crucified
and killed by the hands of lawless men.
An innocent man was condemned.
A heinous evil
was God's sovereign over those circumstances.
Yes.
He was delivered up to the definite plan
and fuller knowledge of God,
according to Peter.
So the cross was not plan B
after human beings messed it up
according to our sin,
but it was God's plan A.
The cross was God's plan
from eternity past.
Revelation says,
in the mind of God,
the lamb was slain
from the foundation of the world.
But he accomplishes his purpose
through the hands of the sinful mob
who yelled,
crucify him,
crucify him.
So we were in that crowd.
We sinned with them.
We wanted to crucify the Lord of glory,
but through the sinful acts
of men and women,
God accomplishes his plan of redemption.
Just like in Joseph's life.
The precise details,
in Matthew chapter 26,
will say,
all this has taken place
so that the scriptures
might be fulfilled.
The precise details
were fulfilling the scriptures.
Judas, a close friend,
betrayed by Jesus,
fulfilled Psalm 41.
The Pharisees selling Jesus
for 30 pieces of silver.
And then Judas,
using that to buy a field,
God then moves Judas
to return the blood money
in fulfillment of the prophecy
in Jeremiah and Zechariah,
as Matthew tells us.
So all the precise details,
we can go to Isaiah 53.
He was pierced for our transgression.
He was crushed for our iniquities.
All the details
are precisely,
sovereignly ordained by God.
And all the attributes of God
meet at the cross.
The supremacy of his grace.
The supremacy of his kindness
towards sinners.
The supremacy of his holiness
and wrath against sin.
Both are there.
As Jesus, the Lamb of God,
hangs as our substitute,
the line of Judah
shows his supreme strength.
And the king is crucified
willingly.
Nothing external held him there,
but he willingly laid his life down
and was condemned
and submitting himself
to the Father.
And so,
God is sovereign
even over circumstances,
even if evil
is being done to us.
And in no way
does that diminish
human responsibility
for sin and evil.
And so D.A. Carson
makes this point.
God is absolutely sovereign.
Yet his sovereignty
does not diminish
human responsibility
and accountability.
Human beings
are morally responsible creatures.
Yet this fact
in no way jeopardizes
the sovereignty of God.
At Calvary,
all Christians
have to concede
the truth
of these two statements
or they give up
their claim
to be Christians.
So we must affirm them both.
God's sovereign
over the cross
and the evil
that was being done to Christ.
That's what
D.A. Carson is saying.
So he's sovereign
over circumstances.
Even if evil
is being done to us,
I want to take a moment
and see if there are
any questions
before we continue.
Does that make sense?
When you're talking
about all his attributes,
the only thing
that I would beg
to differ
is that all his attributes
are his attributes
because of his holiness.
His holiness
is not an attribute.
His holiness
encompasses
everything that he is.
he's completely
and wholly
other.
That's why
his omniscience
is other.
His sovereignty
is other.
It's the highest
form
of omniscience.
That's good.
It's not
another attribute.
evil.
We talk about
the simplicity
of God.
So the simplicity
is all his attributes
are one
and there's no division
within God.
He's not like
he's half holy
and he's half loving.
No, he's all holy.
He's all loving.
He's all rapture.
He's all love.
And so
I would say
his attributes
all kind of overlap
with each other.
His power, right?
He's powerfully loving.
He's powerfully
strong.
I know what you mean.
So we have to keep
that in mind.
He doesn't have
division within himself.
The simplicity of God.
Yeah, Matt.
A comment.
D.A. Carson
seems to me
to be echoing
something from
the Westminster
Catechism
about God
determines all
things that happen
yet in such a way
that doesn't
make him the author
of evil
or
violating
human freedom
or establishes
human freedom.
Something
maybe
such a conflict.
Yes.
And we're going to get
to man's responsibility
toward the end.
But
that is
the two
truths
that the Bible
gives to us.
Sovereignty
and responsibility.
Right.
And Carson
is a different
Carson quote.
Yes.
Carson.
So
there may be
some people
who can put
those together
logically.
You know,
I can't.
And so I,
you know,
I'm left with
what appears
to be a paradox.
But
that's okay.
You know,
science,
there are paradoxes.
Yes.
There are paradoxes.
It's not surprising
that I don't understand
God.
Join the club.
God is one.
God is three.
Three and one.
My puny mind
doesn't understand
that.
I mean,
I'm not going to
understand how
and Spurgeon said
there's not one line,
there's two lines
and you have to
look at them both.
And I think
the moment you
take one side
and make it
the whole thing,
that's when you
run into error.
You have to keep
them both in tension
to be,
to really keep
in tension
what the Bible
keeps in tension.
Yeah.
So he's sovereign
over nations.
He's sovereign
over calamities.
He's sovereign
over circumstances
even if evil
is being done
to us.
Now,
that's a hard
truth
and
that also
gives us
I think
that the
battlefield
of faith
when evil
is being done
to us
is in the mind.
Right?
We have to keep
three truths
in tension
together in our minds.
God is good,
God is for me,
and God is sovereign.
God is good,
God is for me,
God is sovereign.
You have to keep
those three things
in your minds
when we suffer
unjustly from others.
I think the moment
you take God's
sovereignty out of it,
God is good
in God's form,
but he's not really
sovereign,
and that's kind
of cold comfort.
You know,
God is really
powerless to help
you in your
struggles,
in your weakness.
But the scripture
presents those
three things
in unity together,
and I think
that's where
the battlefield
happens in our minds
as we try to
hold God's sovereignty
and his goodness
together.
So point number four,
point number four,
he is not only
sovereign over
our circumstances,
he is also
sovereign over
our decisions.
And we see that
in the decision
that Joseph's
brother made
to sell him
into slavery.
And the decision
to crucify the
Lord of glory
was according
to the definite
plan and foreknowledge
of God.
God is sovereign
even over the
hearts of sinful
men and women.
Proverbs 16,
verse 9,
the heart of man
plans his way,
but the Lord
establishes his steps.
And so even in that
verse,
you can see that
human beings have
freedom to make
their own decisions,
right?
The heart of man
plans his way,
but at the same time,
our choices are
under the sovereign
determination of God.
The Lord
establishes his steps.
Can that
Proverbs 16,
9 apply to
a cartel drug dealer?
Yes, it could.
Yes.
God is sovereign
over our decisions.
And we're going to see
that that does not
diminish the drug
dealer's responsibility
and accountability
toward God.
Yes.
So point number
five,
God is sovereign
not only our
decisions,
but God is sovereign
over our salvation.
Now,
when God
determines to bring
someone to faith
to Christ,
he cannot fail.
Now,
I suppose this is
where we must draw
our daggers.
As Charles Simeon
once said to his
friend John Wesley,
but before you
draw out your dagger,
let's consider together
God's sovereignty
in this area.
I'm convinced
if you are a Christian,
we all recognize
in our hearts
that God is sovereign.
And I don't need
to persuade you
that this is true.
How do I know that?
You're like,
Tyler,
you don't know me.
I'm actually
a really staunch
anti-sovereign type.
Well,
friend,
have you ever
thanked God
for your conversion?
Yes,
of course.
But why would
you do that?
Do you pat yourself
on the back
because you are
smarter,
more intelligent
than other people
who refuse to believe?
Not for a moment
would you ever say that.
Instead,
you give God glory.
You realize
that you once
were foolish,
blind,
and could not see,
but then you say
with Paul,
but by the grace
of God,
I am what I am.
And although
you have labored
hard for Christ,
you can say,
though it was not I,
but the grace of God
that is with me.
You give God glory
for your salvation.
But there's a second
thing that you do
that shows that you
believe that God
is sovereign.
And what is that?
Well,
you pray,
don't you?
You pray for the salvation
for someone
who has a hard heart,
a family member
who has rejected
the gospel
so many times.
Well,
what do you pray for
for that person?
Do you pray
that God gives them
eyes to see
and ears to hear?
That God removes
their heart of stone?
That God would
show himself to them?
I think all these prayers
acknowledge at a heart level
that God is in control
and he is powerful
to save by his grace.
And we understand that
at a heart level
when we are on our knees
before the throne of grace,
we cry out to God
and we recognize
that God is sovereign.
And so before we draw
our daggers,
listen to this conversation
between Charles Simeon
and John Wesley.
And two godly men
who are on opposite sides
of this.
And John Wesley
had this conversation
in his diary
with Charles Simeon.
Simeon said,
Sir,
I understand that you
were called an Arminian
and I have sometimes
been called a Calvinist
and so I suppose
we are to draw daggers.
But before I consent
to begin the combat,
with your permission,
I will ask you
a few questions.
Sir,
do you feel yourself
a depraved creature,
so depraved
that you would never
have thought of turning
to God
if God had not first
put it into your heart?
Yes,
says Wesley,
I believe that indeed.
Simeon says,
Sir,
do you utterly despair
of recommending yourself
to God
by anything you can do
and look for salvation
solely through the blood
and righteousness of Christ?
Yes,
Wesley said,
solely through Christ.
But sir,
suppose you were first
saved by Christ,
are you not somehow now
or afterward
to save yourself
by your own works?
No,
Wesley said.
Simeon continues,
What,
then are you to be upheld
every hour
and every moment
by God
as much as an infant
in its mother's arms?
Yes,
altogether,
Wesley says.
And this is all your hope
in the grace and mercy
of God
to preserve you
unto his heavenly kingdom?
Yes,
I have no hope,
but in him,
Wesley says.
Then sir,
Simeon continues,
with your leave,
I will put up my dagger again
for this is all my Calvinism.
This is my election,
my justification by faith,
my final perseverance.
It is in substance
all that I hold
and I hold it
and therefore,
if you please,
instead of searching out
terms and phrases
to be ground of contention
between us,
we will cordially unite
in those things
where we agree.
And that's a spirit
I think we all should have
as we encounter
our brothers and sisters
who differ with us
on this.
That's what we ultimately
agree on
is that God gets glory,
we depend on him
every single day,
and that there's nothing
in us that God saw
that wanted him
to save us.
It is God's mercy
and love alone.
And I think we all
can agree on this.
That is the heart
of a Christian.
And that's the spirit
I want to proceed
in this conversation.
What's at stake here,
I don't want it
to be definitions,
but I want us to see
that God is to be relied
upon every moment
and he is to get glory.
So, 2 Thessalonians 2,
verses 13 to 14 says,
But we are always
to give thanks to God
for you, brothers,
beloved by the Lord.
Why?
Because God chose you
as the first for us
to be saved
through sanctification
by the Spirit
and belief in the truth.
So, God chooses those
to be saved
through belief
in the truth.
And some call this
irresistible grace.
God the Father
chose certain individuals
to be saved
based on his sovereign
good pleasure.
Christ would say,
No one comes to me
unless the Father
who sent me draws him.
All the Father gives me
will come to me.
So, Jesus is saying,
You can't come to me
unless the Father
first draws you.
You have the golden chain
of salvation
in Romans 8.
The golden chain
of redemption.
So, those whom
he predestined,
he called.
And those whom he called,
he justified.
And those whom he justified,
he glorified.
So, the golden chain,
those chains cannot be broken.
If God has predestined you,
you will be glorified
according to Paul
in Romans 8.
And the Scripture
which emphatically teaches
that God is sovereign
over salvation
and that his sovereign
determination
is decisive
is Romans 9.
Romans 9, verse 15.
For he says to Moses,
I will have mercy
on whom I have mercy
and I will have compassion
on whom I have compassion.
So then,
it depends not on human will
or exertion
but on God
who has mercy.
For the Scripture says to Pharaoh,
For this very purpose
I have raised you up
that I might show
my power in you
and that my name
might be proclaimed
in all the earth.
So then,
he has mercy
on whomever he wills
and he hardens
whomever he wills.
And verse 21,
Has the potter
no right over the clay
to make out of the same lump
some vessels
for honorable use
and another
for dishonorable use?
What if God,
desiring to show his wrath
and to make known
his power,
has endured
with much patience
vessels of wrath
prepared for destruction
in order to make known
the riches of his glory
for vessels of mercy
which he has prepared
beforehand for glory?
So ethnicity
in Romans 9
or family heritage
is not decisive.
That's the point
that Paul is making.
Your ancestors,
your mom
or your grandmother,
right,
that doesn't determine
whether you're a Christian.
God's mercy is decisive.
And I was telling Jonathan
there's an old southern song
called
God Ain't Never Had a Grandchild.
It goes something like this,
God Ain't Never Had a Grandchild,
Only a Child Will Do.
If you're not a joint heir,
then you ain't going there.
No cousin, niece, or nephew
will be among the chosen few.
God Ain't Never Had a Grandchild,
Only a Child Will Do.
And what a richly edifying song.
But what they're saying
is what Romans 9 is saying,
is that your ethnicity
or family heritage
is not decisive.
God's sovereign decision
to save
and to show mercy
is decisive.
And Romans 9
is not a popular truth,
but it says
He created the wicked
for the day of wrath.
You can go back
in your Bible,
Romans 9,
make sure it's there
after this.
So to our finite minds,
admittedly,
this sounds absurd.
How can God be sovereign
over salvation
if He is a judge
and who will condemn
those who do not believe?
How does that make sense?
And Paul anticipates
this complaint
in Romans 9.
You will say to me then,
why does God still find fault?
For who can resist His will?
And Paul responds
not by a comprehensive explanation
of how these two things
work together,
but he rebukes
the spirit of the question.
But who are you,
O man,
to answer back to God?
We have no right
to find fault
in God's ways.
Our part is to acknowledge
these facts
and worship God
and His righteousness
as both sovereign king
and judge.
And we see
that there's no part
of the universe
that exceeds God's authority
and that includes
those whom He calls
to be His.
The Lord alone
will be exalted
before that great
white throne.
And we will say with Him,
why have you shown me mercy?
Nothing in me
caused me to be here,
but your grace alone.
And He will get
all the glory for that.
So I want to stop there
and ask questions.
Feel free.
If you have a question
in your mind,
throw it out for the group.
So I'm just,
so I think these are
really difficult things
for humanity,
for people like me.
Everything you said,
I believe,
is true.
But how do you respond
to the person who
isn't just arguing
for the sake of arguing,
isn't just trying
to pinpoint,
isn't just intellectualizing
and like,
well,
it doesn't make sense
or it's not fair.
But the person
whose heart
is really torn
about these things.
Like the person
who's genuinely,
yeah,
feeling this isn't fair
or,
like how do you
respond to that person?
Like,
everything you said
is true,
but I'm thinking about
how's that going to land
with someone
who's really struggling
with this,
not someone who just
wants to check off
the doctrinal box.
I just wondered.
I completely agree
and it depends
on the heart
of that person.
Is it an intellectual
problem?
Is it maybe
a past history
of abuse?
Like,
are you saying
God is sovereign
over what happened
to me when I was a child?
How is God good
in that?
How is he sovereign
over that?
And I think those,
depending on where
they are,
those are two
different answers.
Well,
I think that's
what I'm getting at.
The person
who's really suffering
or has,
you know,
so I have a history
of childhood abuse.
I had to work
really hard
to get through that
in a way
that maintained
my faith
in a good God.
So,
that's,
I think that's
the person I think.
Yeah.
I will say,
I would go back
to the cross
and
someone said,
you know,
we,
sometimes
we don't know
why he does
certain things,
but we know
that it's not
because he doesn't
care about us.
That much we can
say for sure.
Because at the heart
of the cross,
we see that he does
care for us.
And he did give us
his own son.
He will give us
all things.
And I don't know
if we can answer
the question of why,
which I think
people want to know
why did this happen
to me when I was
younger.
And,
of course,
Christians are to
lament and to
weep at those
who are weeping
and there's true
injustice and evil.
God's sovereignty
provides comfort
and patience
in tribulation
knowing that
these are not
random acts
outside of God's
control.
And he does
have some...
Say it again?
I have a full
view in faithfulness.
That's what God
says in his word.
I was in rehab
six times,
three rehabs,
two heart attacks,
16 months
in a homeless
shelter,
molested by my
dad,
my uncle,
raised with
hardcore porno,
my father beat
my mom.
It's like I never
questioned God.
I never said why.
I never questioned.
I just knew that
he was working.
And then finally
my eyes were opened
up and there he is.
Yeah.
You know,
you find out that
when God is the
only thing you have,
you find out that
God is the only
thing you need.
Mm-hmm.
You know?
And it's because
him,
because in my
natural state,
I hate God.
He drove me to
the cross.
Mm-hmm.
Nobody is
sincerely looking
for God.
Nobody.
Mm-hmm.
They all hate God.
No matter how
it looks outside.
You know,
you can get this
close to God
and end up in hell.
And it looks like
he's really wanting
to find God.
But no.
God is sovereign.
You're not going
to make it.
Yeah.
God knows who
are his.
And his
sovereignty,
to your point,
we can look back
and this is the
doctrine of providence,
which we'll get to
in future weeks.
Sovereignty is
God's attribute,
but providence
looks backwards
and sees how
our lives
were orchestrated
for our good.
I think
Flavel said
providence is like
the Hebrew alphabet.
It's read backwards.
So you have to
go backwards
and see.
I remember that.
You have
horrible circumstances
in your life.
If you're a Christian,
you can look back
on those things
and see how God
was orchestrating
events to bring
you to himself.
Oh, Jesus
had a great life
on earth.
Yeah.
No,
man of sorrows.
Look at Paul.
When he came
to Christianity,
he lost everything.
Everything.
And he was raised
in a male culture.
He had the education.
He had the money.
He had the reputation
and he came to Christ,
beaten, robbed,
jailed, shipwrecked.
I mean,
he lost everything.
You know?
It's not a fun walk.
Yeah.
But he gained Christ.
Yeah.
So,
I'll take that math
right there.
It's all worth it.
Yeah.
It's all worth it.
And God's sovereignty
is,
it is,
it is a mystery
and I think
most things in the...
Sorry,
Amos,
go ahead.
I just want to add
maybe,
it's a bit,
a bit cliche,
but I think
that there's
greater glory
in different testimonies
all pointing
to the same
holiness of God.
And everybody
had identical
testimonies
of like,
we all had
idyllic childhood
and then
came to Christ
and then died.
Like,
if everybody's testimony
was identical,
I think it would say
less about God
than...
I was long schooled
and raised in Nebraska.
Which,
I've been saying
that there's,
that those,
that that also
demonstrates God's power.
But it's,
but there's
greater testimony
in the diversity
of stories
that people bring.
That,
you know,
it's kind of like
the all,
all nations,
all races,
all walks of life.
But our stories
all melt into
one story,
his story,
of what he's doing
in history for us
and for his glory.
My story doesn't
mean anything.
You know,
I'm saying it's a story.
No matter how bad
it is,
it means nothing.
It's his story.
His utter
sovereignty
and my utter
dependence on him.
That's the story.
And that's what
Dorothy Sayers said
in the 40s.
He says,
the drama of Christianity
is in the doctrine.
Crossing the Red Sea.
The prophets of Baal
and Mount Carmel.
The cross.
All the miracles.
Man,
what drama.
You can't even make
a movie like this.
You know?
And,
again,
this is hard
to keep
in our minds
at once.
But,
the challenge
of most truths
in the scripture
is that
there are tensions
and we have to keep
them both
in our minds
at the same time.
And those who
aren't comfortable
living in that tension
tend to shirk
one for the other
and that
is where
you get
error.
I think the
intellectual
part of this,
the objection is,
look,
if God commands
that we believe
or to obey
the gospel,
then that must
somehow imply
the moral ability
to do so.
How can God
command something
if we have
no ability
to follow
that command?
that is the part
where I think
people have
a hard time with.
And there's
something
that makes sense.
That's a logical
argument that makes
sense.
I think the answer
that I can see
is that
the command
to obey
is given
but we always
act in accordance
with our nature.
I think that's
the answer
that scripture
gives us.
We have
complete freedom
to choose
what is in our
hearts.
But we always
choose sin
apart from God's
grace.
In our natural
estate,
we always
choose sin.
And
that's what
our hearts love.
And you get that
in the language
of being slaves
to sin.
you get that
in Genesis
even from the
beginning.
You had
the fall
of Adam
and then
right after
the fall
who comes
next?
Cain.
And you have
Cain's line
of murderers.
But then you have
Seth,
the appointed line,
the heir
of God's
promises
and you see
that Seth's line
are recipients
of God's grace.
grace.
And so you have
those in our
natural estate
apart from God's
grace,
we are slaves
to sin.
Paul says that
right in Ephesians
2.
You were slaves
to the prince of
the power of the
air,
but God rich in
mercy has made
you alive with
Christ.
So this state,
we always act in
accordance with
our nature.
God gives us
the commands,
but we never
choose Christ
apart from
the Spirit's
intervening grace
in our lives.
So we must
emphatically say
that man's
responsibility
cannot be
minimized
and that we
are responsible
for the choices
we make.
Yeah,
I'm sorry,
I just want to
add something
here.
I think,
I mean,
you were kind
of camped out
in Romans 9
a little bit
here,
which is good.
And the end
of Romans 9,
I think,
gives us
life,
it's like we
get to the
edge of this
mystery,
and then we're
all like,
wow,
like,
we're at the
edge of a
real mystery
here,
and God
says,
basically,
this far
and no
further,
but then we
go on and
try to explain
it,
which is,
we just can't
help it,
right?
We go on to
apply our human
reason to try
to make it
make sense.
And I think
a helpful thing
to do,
back to Laura's
question,
is to ask
ourselves,
why did God
put this,
if we have
the scripture
he intended
us to have,
I think most
of us believe
that,
what is the
point of
Romans 9?
Like,
what,
why is he
telling us
as much as
he is telling
us?
What question
is God
trying to
answer in
this particular
passage?
And one
thing we know
for sure is
not to give
us answers
that are going
to satisfy our
human reason.
like,
he could,
he,
well,
it's a debate
whether he
could do that
at all,
but he's
definitely not
done it.
And so,
when we're
chasing our
tails,
trying to
figure out,
make it all
work,
what are we
missing?
realizing,
why is God
telling us,
if you think
you had a
hand in
your,
like,
if you
think,
you know,
there's 8%
where you
stepped up to
the line and
made a good
choice,
and he's
saying,
no,
you didn't,
what are we
supposed to
take away
from that?
because we
can miss
that most
obvious thing,
and I think
that can
become,
if not a
bomb,
it can
become a
more livable
thing that we
walk away and
say,
God's trying to
tell us all
something,
and we
want to argue
about how it
fits in the
human categories,
when we all
are all sitting
here agreeing,
Jesus is fully
man,
fully God at
the same time,
there,
pop goes the
weasel,
I mean,
you did the
Trinity last
week,
it's like,
all we're
doing is
observing the
inner workings
of biological
reality that we
haven't even the
first clue how
it works,
you know,
and I think,
just if I just
make it one step
further in
Romans,
God's bringing
Jewish believers
together and
Gentile believers
together,
humanly speaking,
it's like a
miraculous thing
that's happening,
and guess what,
they hate each
other,
guess what,
half of them
are like,
well our Bible
tells us we
have to do
this,
and the
Gentiles are
like,
no we don't,
Paul's on our
side,
blah,
and the
context is,
believers have
their daggers
out,
and he's like,
hey,
none of y'all
can be,
I think,
some of why
we're told
that salvation
is not of
us,
is to allow
a platform
actually for
unity,
ironically,
because once
we acknowledge
that we're
only here
because of
an intervention
of God
and a
supernatural
miracle in
our hearts
to open
our eyes,
how can I
turn to
some guy
that's like,
okay,
but we have
to really
hang on to
some of the
things God
said in the
Old Testament
in this way,
well,
okay,
great,
because if
you believe
that,
it's sin
for you
not to
do it.
Like,
the context
that Paul's
dropping
these hard
truths,
I feel like
if we miss
some of the
purpose,
and there
are other
places that
touch on
God's
sovereignty
and salvation,
and we
always have
to ask
ourselves,
why is
God revealing
this at
this time
to these
people in
this place?
Because if
we go down
the road
of trying
to figure
this out,
at the
expense of
actually sitting
there and
humbly saying,
can we receive
what God's
actually trying
to say in
this passage,
we're off
track.
Yeah,
if I can.
Yeah,
I agree.
It doesn't
make someone
feel better
who had a
three-year-old
worn behind a
dumpster to a
drug addict.
You know,
to me,
the harder
questions are,
what about,
like,
it's one thing
to say as
Christians,
God's at
work in my
trials,
God's at
work in my
suffering,
like,
this is to
refine my
character.
What about a
three-year-old
who's born to
two godless
drug addicts
and gets
raped a hundred
times and
dies at 15
and had no,
like,
we have to,
if that doesn't
humble us and
insult our
conversation here,
we're off
track again.
Yeah,
yeah,
no,
thank you,
brother,
appreciate that.
It's,
the sovereignty
of God is
not a dagger
for us to
hit each other
with,
it's a pillow
to put our
heads on at
night.
problem.
Why does
God tell us
to do something
that we have
no ability
to do?
Because he
shows us,
like,
we can't keep
the Ten
Commandments,
I break them
every day,
so what is
the result?
You run to
Jesus.
He kept it.
God shows me
that I can't
keep his law
every day,
but he shows
me every day
somebody kept
it for me.
Yeah,
that's good.
That's it.
That's the
answer.
Jesus did
it all.
Instead of
me trying
and trying
and failing
and failing,
but little
by little,
he's conforming
me to his
image,
and I trust
him.
It's trust,
yeah,
amen,
brother.
Trust,
to underline
the mystery
here,
and then we'll
get into some
application before
we close,
you know,
we see this
all over the
place,
right?
The Spirit
sanctifies us
through diligent
self-discipline.
Who lives
your Christian
life?
You or the
Spirit?
Well,
Philippians 2,
verse 12,
work out your
salvation with
fear and
trembling,
but it's God
who's at work
in you,
both willing to
work for his
good pleasure.
How does that
work?
I have no idea.
I don't think
Paul understood
completely.
He's saying,
look,
the Spirit
works in you,
but work your
salvation out with
fear and
trembling.
Paul,
another part,
it says,
if you sow,
you will reap.
But then another
part,
it says,
well,
it doesn't
really depend
on human
exertion or
trying hard,
it just depends
on God's
mercy.
And so,
these tensions
are all over
the place in
the New Testament.
And let's go
into some
application before
we close.
So how does
God's sovereignty
help us in our
sorrow?
Well,
again,
we talk about
the three things
keeping in your
mind at once.
God is good,
God is for me,
and God is
sovereign.
And that's the
battlefield in your
mind to keep
those things
together.
I love what
Elizabeth Elliot
said,
a woman well
acquainted with
suffering.
She said,
I'm convinced
that there is
nothing that can
happen to me in
this life that
is not precisely
designed by a
sovereign Lord to
give me the
opportunity to
learn to know
him.
And so what
she's saying is
suffering is not
random,
but even if
others mean
evil against me,
it's an opportunity
for me to know
the Lord.
He means it for
my good.
So how does
the Baptist
faith and message
put it this way?
God as Father
reigns with
providential care
over his
universe,
his creatures,
and the flow of
the stream of
human history
according to the
purposes of his
grace.
So God reigns
with providential
care for us.
how does God's
sovereignty,
I'll throw this
out here,
how does God's
sovereignty help
us in our
decision making
as we battle
tough decisions
in our future?
How does that
help us?
You know,
he has our
good in his
mind.
And his
glory.
Yeah.
So some of you
who are facing
tough decisions,
God's sovereignty
helps us to have
peace in our
decision making.
If God wasn't
sovereign, I mean,
we should be more
anxious than we
actually are.
Can you imagine?
Can you imagine
the uncertainty
of each decision
we make?
Did you not have
your quiet time
this morning?
Man, you better
be careful.
The sovereignty
of God helps us
to have rest
in our decision
making.
and that doesn't
diminish, again,
human responsibility
to choose
each day to
follow Christ.
And the last
thing, how does
God's sovereignty
help our evangelism?
Because some
say, well, doesn't
that just kill
evangelism?
What's the point
of evangelizing if
God is sovereign,
he's going to save
anyone who he
decides to save?
And of course,
the gospel invitation
can and often
is resisted
and rejected,
but God's sovereignty
tells us God
can save anyone,
even the most
hard-hearted person.
And that should
make us bold.
The first reaction
of your parents
when you share
the gospel with
them is contempt
for God.
Such a reaction
should not surprise
us, because no
heart is too hard
for the grace of
God.
And I think
Luther had it
right, and
then we'll end
in prayer.
It leaves no doubt
who is in charge
and all these
skirmishes that
we face in our
life.
Though this world
with devils
filled should
threaten to undo
us, we will not
fear, for God
has willed his
truth to triumph
through us.
The prince of
darkness grim,
we tremble not
for him.
His rage we
can't endure,
but for lo,
his doom is
sure, one little
word shall follow
him.
Amen, brothers
and sisters.
Let's pray.
Father in heaven,
we thank you for
the time together
and your word.
Lord, I do
pray that you
would help us
to live in the
mystery, help us
to humble us,
Lord, before your
throne, to give us
confidence and
assurance that you
are working out all
things for our good,
for those who love
you and are calling
according to your
purpose.
Father, we give you
all praise and
thanks.
May you get the
honor and glory
forever and ever.
In Jesus' name,
Amen.