Enjoy the Attributes of God – Session 8

The Sovereignty of God

Reading: Daniel 4: 34-37

AUDIO

Lecture Handout

Handout – Session 8

Lesson Notes

We’re going to be discussing a huge topic tonight – the sovereignty of God, but in order to do so, we need to first discuss a few additional attributes of God

• God’s Will
  • Grudem, “God’s will is that attribute of God whereby He approves and determines to bring about every action necessary for the existence and activity of Himself and all cretaion.”
  • Ephesians 1:11 – He works all things according to the counsel of His will
  • God created all things by His will – Revelation 4: 11
  • God’s will controls our lives – James 4: 13-15
  • God’s Necessary Will vs. God’s Free Will
    • God’s necessary will = everything God must will according to His own nature
      • I AM WHO I AM
      • Telling truth, being just, being holy
      • God can’t will anything contrary to His nature
    • God’s free will = all things God decided to will but wasn’t required to will by His nature
      • Creating the universe and everything associated with that
      • Redemption of sinful mankind through Jesus Christ
    • God’s Secret Will vs God’s Revealed Will
      • Deuteronomy 29: 29 – the secret things of God
      • God keeps many things from us – how He governs the universe and decides everything that will happen
      • He reveals what we need to know to obey His will – commands, precepts, standards – what’s in the Bible, the commands of Jesus
• God’s Freedom
  • Grudem, “God’s freedom is that attribute of God whereby he does whatever he pleases.”
  • Nothing in creation can hinder God from doing His will
  • God isn’t constrained by anything outside of Himself and is free to do whatever He wishes – Psalm 115: 1-3
    • That doesn’t make Him arbitrary, tyrannical, or chaotic – because He cannot wish something contrary to His nature and His nature is good, holy, righteous, just, merciful, patient, gracious, etc.
  • Like Job, we often want to know why God did or permitted something – and we often simply won’t know
    • We can say that it was God’s totally free will, working in a manner consistent with His nature, and hopefully find contentment in that
• God’s Power (Omnipotence)
  • God has unlimited, unrestricted power – all our power derives from Him
  • Not simply God’s power, it’s God’s power to rule
  • Grudem, “God’s omnipotence means that God is able to do all his holy will”
  • God is able to perform anything consistent with His nature as God
    • Jeremiah 32: 17, 27 – nothing is too hard for God
    • Matthew 19: 26 – with God all things are possible
    • Psalm 115: 3 – God does all that He pleases
  • God cannot will or do anything that would deny His character
    • God can’t lie – Titus 1:2, Hebrews 6: 18
    • God cannot tempt or be tempted – James 1: 13
    • He cannot cease to exist or stop being God
    • These “limitations” don’t diminish His power – if  God could do these things, He would actually have less power
  • God has the power, but thankfully, He also has the wisdom and the goodness!
    • So we can humble ourselves before God, revel in His power
    • The basis of our faith and hope in Him
    • He truly can do anything!!!
  • God’s exercise of power over creation is called “sovereignty”
• God’s Sovereignty
  • An exciting, complicated, glorious, complex, and even controversial topic!
  • 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.” This includes…
    • God’s planning – the shape of the world and all human history
    • His extent – He rules over all that’s in heaven and earth
    • His guaranteed success – He is without failure or defeat
  • Two major issues Christians have wrestled with for centuries
    • What is the relationship between God’s sovereignty and mankind’s free will and accountability for sin?
    • What is the relationship between God’s sovereignty and the existence of evil? Is He responsible for evil? Does He control evil? Or does He bear no responsibility whatsoever?
  • Many Bible passages provide insight on God’s sovereignty
    • Deuteronomy 32: 39 – God kills and makes alive, none like Him
    • Isaiah 45: 5-7 – God creates well-being and calamity
    • Proverbs 16: 4- “The Lord has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble.“
    • Proverbs 21: 1 – “The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever He will.” – we see that in Exodus with the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart leading to disaster for Egypt and the display of God’s glory for the world to know
    • Job – where Satan inflicts great suffering but must get God’s permission and Job accuses God, but God rather than denying emphasizes His transcendence
  • Answering these issues in a way that’s biblically faithful and aggirms and reconciles God’s attributes of being all-powerful, all-knowing, all-good, ever-present, etc. is challenging!
    • 2 primary approaches in biblically-faithful Protestant thought
    • Arminianism and Calvinism – we don’t have time to unpack these in a manner that remotely does them justice!
    • Classic Arminian view is that while God is responsible for a major portion of the events of the world, there are parts over which we have been given control
      • God creates a world of free creatures who can choose good or evil and He can’t or doesn’t control that choice – this is to enable love, worship, and all the good we’re capable of, but opens the door for all the evil we’re capable of
      • We are completely free to make any choice at any time for any reason or no reason at all
      • This absolves God of responsibility for evil – it’s all our fault and provides a satisfying amount of freedom
      • However, it’s difficult to reconcile with the perfect k nowledge, power, and will of God
    • Classic Calvinist view is that God’s sovereign control is comprehensive over all things
      • Yet humans exert real freedom and responsibility
      • We have “freedom of inclination” – at the moment we make a choice we aren’t really free to make any other choice because the choice we make is the one we most want to do then
        • Which means God can shape our “most want to” as He wills, yet we’re still choosing for ourselves
        • This won’t satisfy everyoine, but it makes sense to me – I used to do the same with my kids
      • Our freedom and accountability and God’s sovereign control both appear to be taught in Scripture
        • Joseph – Genesis 45: 4-8, 50: 20
        • Who put Christ on the cross? – Acts 2: 23
      • In this view, God is in control, but man is free and therefore responsible and accountable for evil
      • God does not cause evil and does not tempt us to evil, but permits evil and He does what He does for His glory
      • Satan is a free moral agent who does evil, but ultimately God has control over Satan. God is in no way responsible for Satan’s evil which will be destroyed eventually, but He puts limits and boundaries on it
  • Think about which approach you find most faithful to the teaching of the Bible and all we’ve learned through these 8 weeks
    • I encourage you to read, study, and pray about this in more depth
    • Both perspectives are represented in this room by great Christians I love and respect and that’s OK with me
    • Regardless of whether you’re more one or the other, what is the impact on how you’re to live your life as a disciple of Jesus Christ or your accountability before God? I can’t think of any!
    • As you study and strive to be faithful to God’s Word and live in obedience to His commands, I can live with you having a different conception of your freedom of will or the agency of evil.
    • As long as you don’t accuse God of committing evil or having incomplete power or knowledge, you’re OK in my book!
    • I strive to keep LRBC a big enough tent to accommodate those more Arminian and those more Calvinistic on this question, as does the SBC at large, because Southern Baptists historically come in both varieties

Closing Praise & Prayer

1 Chronicles 29: 10-13 – God’s power, might, and riches

David Prays in the Assembly

Therefore David blessed the LORD in the presence of all the assembly. And David said: “Blessed are you, O LORD, the God of Israel our father, forever and ever. Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O LORD, and you are exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name.