Dial In with Jonny Ardavanis - Attributes of God - God's Sovereignty

Episode Date: July 27, 2021

Dial In with Jonny Ardavanis: Attributes of GodIn this episode Jonny discusses the Sovereignty of GodWatch VideosVisit the Website Follow on InstagramFollow on Twitter

Hey guys, my name is Johnny Artavanis and this is Dial In. In this episode we continue to look at the attributes of God and we're highlighting God's sovereignty. Let's dial in. Last week we looked at who God is as a holy king, that there are none like him. God's holiness isn't just one attribute of God. It really defines for us the rest of God's attributes. God's love is a holy love. His justice is a holy justice. This makes more sense when we understand that God's holiness is not just his moral purity, but is the attribute that uniquely sets God apart from all others. In this episode, as we continue to consider God's otherness, that he is unlike you and I, we will look to the attribute that God himself promotes as the supreme attribute that makes him unlike all others. In Isaiah 46 verse 9, God says,

Okay, so God says, there are none like me. That's God's holiness. That's how set apart and other he is than anyone or anything. Now the question is, what is the first way here that God differentiates himself from you and I? Well, it's in verse 10. He says, I declare the end from the beginning and from ancient times things which have not yet been done,

saying my purpose will be established and I will accomplish all my good pleasure. Now listen here. When God declares his otherness, he declares his sovereignty. Verse 10, he declares the end from the beginning and he accomplishes all his purposes. This is God's sovereignty. This is the ultimate reality in the universe that God rules and reigns. Now, this verse functions for us as a definition of sovereignty, but let's look at some other passages to help us get greater definition there.

Job 42, verse 2, I know that you can do all things and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. Psalm 115, verse 3, But our God is in the heavens. He does whatever he pleases. God's sovereignty means that God is the boss, that not only does he possess authority to rule and reign over every person and everything in all of creation, but he has the wisdom and the power to exercise that authority at all times. His sovereignty, as we saw in Isaiah 46 verses 9 and 10, means that God accomplishes all of his purposes and

his plans and everything that happens is a part of his purpose and plan. He is never surprised. He is never caught off guard. He has never had to adapt or revise or call an audible. He has never had to adapt or revise or call in audible. He has never panicked. God has never felt hurried or rushed. He is like a grand composer orchestrating all things according to the symphony of his perfect plan for his glory and our good. And the reason that God knows the future is not because he has a crystal ball, but because he plans the future. He is not observing what will pass. He is ordaining what will come to pass. And far from God being self-deprecating about his sovereignty, God continually highlights and amplifies his love for the fact that he rules and reigns. R.C. Sproul says that God's favorite attribute about himself is his sovereignty.

And if you were God, it would be yours too. Not only that, but God's sovereignty is necessary for any of God's other attributes to have any value to us. If God were loving but not sovereign, his love for us would not be as value to us. If God were loving but not sovereign, his love for us would not be as precious to us. If God were wise but unable to execute his wisdom, then what good would his wisdom be to us? If he was good but not sovereign, how would he be able to implement the realities

that he seeks to bring about? So God's sovereignty brings great value to us and meaning to his other attributes. And on a more foundational level, if God is not sovereign, God is not God. Now that we have defined God's sovereignty, that he rules and reigns, I want to describe God's sovereignty in detail seven realms or arenas where God exercises his sovereignty. God's sovereignty is not allocated to the corners of scripture, but runs like a steel cable throughout it. So instead of continuing to explain it, I want God's word to speak for God. And here are seven realms where God exercises his sovereignty. And then briefly, we will conclude with how this

affects the way we live under the sun. Number one, God is sovereign over nature. In the story of Jonah, fish, plants, and worms all do the bidding of God. Jonah is swallowed by a great fish according to the plan of God. The fish spits up Jonah according to the plan of God. God grows a plant to give Jonah shade according to the will of God. A worm eats the plant according to the will of God. This is how God works. In Matthew 10, sparrows are in the hand of God. And Jesus says, does one of them fall to the ground without me knowing? In Job 37 verse 6, God is the one who says to the snow, I love this, fall on the earth and to the rain, shower, be a mighty downpour. It says in Job, lightning is in the hand of God. Not only that, but wind is in

the hand of God. In Mark 4, Jesus gets up and he rebukes the wind and says to the sea, hush, be still. And the wind died down and became perfectly calm. Not only is lightning and wind in the hand of God, so are the stars. Psalm 147 verse 4 says that he counts the number of the stars and he gives names to all of them. God is in complete sovereign control over all of nature, not only over the great beast of the field or the stars in the sky, but on the molecular and atomic level, there is not one particle of dust that is outside the purposes of God. R.C. Sproul says that there are no maverick molecules. So number one, God is sovereign over nature. Number two, God is sovereign over the nations. I love the beginning verses of the book of Daniel.

In Daniel 1 verse 1, it says, In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem and besieged it. This is the world's report. This is how the newspapers would read. But then there's verse two. It says that the Lord gave Jehoiakim, king of Judah, into Nebuchadnezzar's hand. This is God's report. This is God's doing. The exile was not outside the purposes of God. He was using human means to accomplish his purpose for the

nation of Israel. God does this over and over again throughout history because under the banner of nations, all kings, rulers, presidents, and prime ministers are under the sovereign rule of God. Proverbs 21 verse 1, the king's heart is like a channel of water in the hand of the Lord. He turns it wherever he wishes. Proverbs 16, 33, The lot is cast into the lap, but every decision is from the Lord. Meaning that every ruler for all of world history has made decisions in accordance with the perfect plan and will of God. Remember that God's sovereignty does not negate human responsibility, but like a cable throughout the scriptures,

we know that God is in sovereign control over the nations. This president was elected by God and the next president will be elected by God. Number one, God is sovereign over nature. Number two, nations. And number three, God is sovereign over evil. God is not the author of evil, but he certainly allows it to accomplish his purposes. Sin is not out of control to God. God allows and gives people over to their sin, as we see in Romans 1, to accomplish his purposes. In Genesis 50, verse 20, when Joseph comes face to face with his brothers, years after they had sold him into slavery, Joseph doesn't say, you unbelievable jerks, you hatched a wicked and evil plan. And if it wasn't for God stepping into this bad situation and redeeming this horrible

scenario, we would all be toast. No, he says this, what you meant for evil, God meant for good. I love that the scripture does not say what you meant for evil. God turned into good. Now he says what you meant for evil. God meant for good. God had a purpose here. Some people might ask, where was God on nine 11? Why didn't he stop the plane? If he is all powerful and all knowing and all good. The answer is God wasn't on vacation. He was exactly where he was on 910 in complete control. Amos three verse six says, is a trumpet blown in a city and the people are not afraid. Does disaster come to a city unless the Lord has done it? God is not hamstrung by evil. He isn't shackled. There are no gaps in

his sovereignty. Maybe this is discomforting to you to hear that God is sovereign even over evil. But let me tell you that there is no comfort in suffering or in evil unless God is sovereign over it because we can trust that he is working out his plan, even when we cannot connect the dots. Number four, God is sovereign over time. From cradle to coffin, God is absolutely sovereign over every single second, every moment. The timing of every sunrise and every sunset is not left to chance, but according to the perfect plan of God. God is the one who not only commands the morning as we see in Job, but is the one who numbers how many mornings you will have on this earth. Psalm 139 verse 16 says that all of the days were written in your book before one of them

came to be. This is because God is sovereign over time. James chapter 4 verses 13 through 15. Instead, you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that. If the Lord wills, if it's according to his sovereign plan. In Psalm 90, verse 3, the psalmist Moses says, you turn man back into dust and say, return, O children of men. The reason we die is because God returns us to the source of our origin. He made Adam from the dust and returns us to the dust because he is sovereign over our days and of our time. Number five, God is sovereign over salvation.

The cross of Jesus Christ wasn't God's plan B. It was the plan from the very beginning. Ephesians 1 verse 4 says that he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, meaning he knew that Jesus was going to die. Ephesians 1 11, he predestined us according to his purpose, who works all things after the counsel of his will. There is no savior unless God is sovereign. Acts 4 verses 27 and 28 detail for us that it wasn't the power of Herod or Pontius Pilate or the Gentiles that sent Jesus to the cross. It was ultimately God himself that sent God to the cross. And not

only was the cross predetermined by God, those who would respond in faith to the message of the cross were predetermined and fixed by God. I don't know where the debate is here. Man is responsible to believe, choose, trust, and follow, but God is absolutely sovereign over salvation. These are twin truths that go hand in hand in scripture, not in opposition to each other, but in harmony. Jesus says in John 6, verse 37, all that the Father gives to me will come to me,

and him who comes to me. I will not cast out. Salvation is a gift from God. John chapter six, verse 44. No one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws them and I will raise them up on the last day. John chapter six, verse 65. This is why I told you, Jesus says, that no one can come to me unless it is granted to him by my father. Salvation is a sovereign gift of God. And those who respond in faith have been chosen by God to do so. Number six, God is sovereign over evangelism. Compounding on the previous point, if God is sovereign in salvation, he is also sovereign in our faithful evangelism to proclaim the message of the gospel to the lost.

In Acts 13, verse 48, it says, as many had been appointed to eternal life believed, we share Christ, we proclaim the gospel, and as many as had been appointed to eternal life will believe. C.H. Spurgeon once was asked if he could reconcile the truths of human responsibility with God's sovereignty. And he said, I wouldn't try to reconcile those realities. He replied, I don't try to reconcile friends because this is the point we're trying to grasp in the Bible.

Divine sovereignty and human responsibility are not enemies. They are not uneasy neighbors. J.I. Packer says they are not an endless state of cold war with each other. They are friends and they work together. And J.I. Packer says in evangelism, in the sovereignty of God, this quote that I love, he says so far from making evangelism in the sovereignty of God, this quote that I love, he says, so far from

making evangelism pointless, the sovereignty of God in grace is the one thing that prevents evangelism from being pointless for it creates the possibility. Indeed, the certainty that evangelism will be fruitful. So number one, God is sovereign over nature. Number two, nations. Number three, evil. Number four, time. Number five, salvation. Number six, evangelism. And seventh and finally, God is sovereign over suffering. Every summer I run a camp for thousands of students and hundreds of churches. And although my time with them is limited, I weekly hear the stories of great suffering that many have gone through in their life. Suffering is not a foreign subject to many of you listening, and what comforts the minds of Christians is that God is sovereign even in

their suffering. If God were not sovereign, then our suffering would be pointless, and we would have no hope in the midst of great trials. But because God is sovereign, we can suffering would be pointless and we would have no hope in the midst of great trials. But because God is sovereign, we can know that he is composing a masterful symphony for his glory and consequently for our good. And because God has power over our suffering, he is the one who can also redeem our suffering. Spurgeon says that 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's God's children, that sovereignty has ordained their afflictions, that

sovereignty overrules them, and that sovereignty will sanctify them all. God is absolutely sovereign over even our suffering. And we see one of the clearest demonstrations of this in the book of Job, where God allows and permits Job's suffering. And we can cry out with Job, though he slay me, I will hope in him. We see this also in Exodus chapter 4, 11, where the Lord says to Moses, who has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute or deaf or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? We see this in 1 sovereign hand of God. Thus, we can trust that he knows our pain and even more that our suffering is not meaningless. He is a kind, loving doctor curing the infirmities of our hearts, and sometimes medicine and procedures are painful, but they are always done for a good

reason to God because God is working for our good. And in second Corinthians four 17, we see that momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison. You and I might not always know why God is doing what he is doing, but I do know that he loves me and that he loves you and that I am called according to his purpose, even when I can't connect the dots. I love what Corrie ten Boom writes in this poem. She says, my life is but a weaving between the Lord and me. I may not choose the colors.

He knows what they should be. For he can view the pattern upon the upper side, while I can see it only on this underside. Sometimes he weaveth sorrow, which seems strange to me, but I will trust his judgment and work on faithfully. Tis he who fills the shuttle and he knows what is best. So I shall weave in earnest, leaving to him the rest. Not till the loom is silent and the shuttles cease to fly shall God unroll the canvas and explain the reason why. The dark threads are as needed in the weaver's skillful hand as the threads of gold and silver in the pattern he has planned.

We don't know why God does what he does, but we know that he is sovereign. Ultimately, the Bible is a book about Jesus. And we see the greatest demonstration of the sovereignty of God at the cross of Jesus Christ, where at the appointed hour, the greatest evil in human history would occur to the sinless sufferer, Jesus Christ. He did so willingly so that those who believe in him could possess the greatest comfort of calling the sovereign king of the universe father. And our father, our God, is not aloof and distant in his sovereignty. We see in John 11 that Jesus weeps at the grave of Lazarus. He knew that he was going to raise Lazarus

from the dead. So then the question is, why did he weep? Well, Jesus weeps because we do not have a high priest that cannot sympathize with our weaknesses. He weeps because he cares, because he feels what we feel. He weeps because he feels the sorrow of those who are his, because he is clothed with compassion towards those who do suffer. He is not indifferent or apathetic. He is a compassionate and sovereign savior. So quickly, how should we respond to God's sovereignty? Well, three words. Number one, gratitude. Gratitude that he is in complete control over our lives. Trust because not only is God sovereign, he is also good and loving.

And thirdly, boldness. That if God is sovereign and he tells us to go into the world and make disciples, then doing so is not based on our communicative ability or human eloquence or gifting or experience, but rather because a sovereign God has appointed and predetermined that those who would hear the gospel would respond in faith. Aren't you thankful that God is sovereign? Stay dialed in.