Last Sunday, we began looking at the topic of God’s sovereignty which talks about the preeminence, power, and authority of God. Today we will be speaking on the Sovereignty of God and Salvation: The Hand and Heart of God. Studying the doctrine of sovereignty helps us to make sense of evil and what is going on in the world today. The passage we will begin with today and other verses we will look at not only teach us about God’s hand in history but also His hand and heart towards us and all of creation.
Scripture reading:
Praise the LORD! Praise Him, you servants of the LORD, Praise the name of the LORD. Blessed be the name of the LORD From this time on and forever. From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of the LORD is to be praised. The LORD is high above all nations; His glory is above the heavens. Who is like the LORD our God, Who is enthroned on high, who looks far down to the heavens and the earth? He raises the poor from the dust, He lifts the needy from the garbage heap to seat them with noblemen, With the noblemen of His people. He has the infertile woman live in the house as a joyful mother of children. Praise the LORD! (Psalm 113:1-9 NASB)
Who is like the Lord our God, who is enthroned on high? Let’s look at:
The Hand of God in Creation
As we said last Sunday, God is an omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent Sovereign who knows every outcome of every possible decision (Matt 11:11-24) and event in history before it happens because He sees the past, present, and future at the same time. There is no limit to His power or knowledge and though He exists outside of time, space, and matter He is fully present in creation.
The question is, if God is fully engaged with His creation, if He works everything according to His perfect plan then what about human free will? If God predetermines everything - down to directing every molecule and every human decision, then why do I need to do anything about anything? If He knows what I will ask Him even before I come to Him then why would I even need to pray for anything? Who cares what I do or how I live since it's all been planned out by God already? If God has already predestined some to heaven and others to hell, then why bother evangelizing the lost? People have been wrestling with this question for centuries.
Before the 4th century AD, The early church fathers battled against the influences of the Stoics, Neoplatonists, Gnostics, and Manachaens - who held that every miniscule event in the universe was controlled or predetermined by the gods. Human free will was “fated free will” meaning that divine beings control humans in every aspect of life yet humans were still culpable for their decisions. These groups believed that the whole being is so corrupted by the flesh that no one was able to choose the divine unless they were first divinely infused from the Spirit.
The Gnostics held that spirit is good and flesh is evil and that humans are born evil and imprisoned in a physical body. They taught that God offered the message of salvation to every human equally, however, only the predetermined elect were empowered by God to accept the invitation. In other words, the gnostic god had to regenerate a person before that person was able to believe. It was the early church fathers who condemned these teachings because it robbed humans of free choice, self determination and the universal opportunity for salvation.
What did the early church fathers believe? They believed that God is like a sovereign king that controls his country while allowing people to make their own decisions in life. They believed that God knows how everything will play out in history and even people’s contrary choices that go against His will can’t change His master plan which has been foreordained in eternity past. The early church fathers didn’t see God’s sovereignty as pre-ordaining or micromanaging every human decision or everything that happens in the natural world. They held that God created and upholds the natural laws that govern the universe 24/7 and if and when He desires, He can overrule them. If God decided not to uphold these natural laws we would cease to exist.
Clement of Rome said:
The heavens, revolving under His government, are subject to Him in peace. Day and night run the course appointed by Him, in no wise hindering each other. The sun and moon, with the companies of the stars, roll on in harmony according to His command, within their prescribed limits, and without any deviation. The fruitful earth, according to His will, brings forth food in abundance, at the proper seasons, for man and beast and all the living beings upon it, never hesitating, nor changing any of the ordinances which He has fixed.
So how do we reconcile God’s sovereignty and free will? The late Tim Keller said that we often see God’s sovereignty and free will from opposing perspectives. Either we have free will and are responsible for our choices and the future, or everything is determined and the future is set so our decisions don’t matter.
However, the Bible makes it clear that you and I are free will agents and that our choices do matter. No one can force you to make certain choices and even when you and I do make bad decisions and there are negative consequences, God can work through them to bring about His plan.” God gives everyone the freedom to choose life or death. He honors and blesses those who choose to trust and obey Him but condemns those who refuse His ways and His grace. Even if you believe that God must enable us to make that choice, He calls and encourages us to make good choices.
Origin of Alexandria said it this way:
God doesn't coerce people but invites them to choose the good because God wants willing lovers.
John Lennox said:
Even though we have certain limitations that does not relieve mankind of the responsibility of seeking after God (Acts 17:26–27).
In other words, even though God is absolutely sovereign and we are mortal and imperfect, it doesn’t diminish our moral responsibilities. God not only foreknows what billions of people around the world are going to choose, He takes those countless decisions and events that happen every moment of everyday and works through them to bring about His predetermined plan.
I once read about God’s sovereignty and free will, described as people living on a huge cruise ship. Once it leaves the port, people are living their lives, making their decisions, being responsible for those decisions, affecting what’s going on in the ship, but it doesn’t change the ship's destination. When the ship arrives at its port, everyone will stand before the Lord to give an account for their lives.
One question often raised about sovereignty: “Is God’s foreknowledge causative?” I believe the answer is no. It's simply perfect knowledge of the outcome of every possible contingency and decision. For example, if I see a car traveling at 200 kilometers per hour towards a brick wall I know in advance that (without any miraculous intervention) there is going to be disastrous results. The fact that I know the outcome in advance does not cause the accident.
God doesn’t predetermine or cause people to sin. He foreknows these actions, anticipates them, and knows the outcome. For example, God didn’t cause Adam and Eve to sin - they chose to sin against God’s command and were responsible for their decision and the subsequent Fall of the human race. God didn’t cause the Fall to happen just like He doesn’t predetermine that a man or woman will be raped, or a child molested. That is a heinous thought and completely goes against the character and nature of God. As a Sovereign, good God, He is not the originator of evil but allows people to make evil choices. We are free will agents who make good and bad decisions every single day - decisions that bring us closer to or take us further away from God. We are so limited in knowledge so we only see the tiniest sliver of the million contingencies involved in the hand of God. But we can trust the hand of God in creation when we know:
2. The Heart of God for Creation
Hebrews 2:10 says:
For it was fitting that He, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.
God is so powerful and preeminent that nothing, not humankind's sin or Satan’s schemes will ever derail His predetermined plan to bring many sons to glory. In the midst of a rebellious planet, filled with people who want nothing to do with God or His plan, He works out His purposes and plans. God does this all the time, He does it everyday. He’s not worried or fretting over people’s decisions or world events because to Him, the nations are a drop in the bucket, like a speck of dust on the scales (Isa 40:15).
In many passages throughout the Scriptures, the concepts of foreknowledge and predestination occur in close proximity. Choices are recorded but we see them from God’s perspective and see how because of His great love and mercy, He will redeem even the dumbest decisions made by frail, imperfect human beings. And no matter what events take place now until the end of time, God’s good and perfect plan of redemption will continue to unfold just as He has foreordained.
One of the major questions raised is: “If God knows something beforehand, or if God predestines it, what implication does this have for the involvement, responsibility, and moral status of those people affected by the happening?” For example in Peter’s address to the people at Pentecost he says of Jesus:
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 2:23).
The crucifixion was, therefore, foreknown by God and occurred according to His set purpose; and yet those who chose to put Him to death were morally responsible for this act.
Another example concerning God’s foreknowledge is found in Matthew 11:20-24. Jesus said:
Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. (Matt 11:20–24).
This statement makes it clear that Jesus not only knew what would have happened in Tyre and Sidon, and even in Sodom centuries earlier, but that they would have repented and turned to God had they witnessed His miracles.
How did the early church fathers view foreknowledge and predestination when it came to salvation? They interpreted predestination as dependent upon foreknowledge. In other words, God chose persons, elected them for salvation based upon His foreknowledge of future human choices.
The Scriptures tell us that God desires that all would be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Tim 2:4). However, Jesus knew where people’s hearts were concerning salvation. Though His invitation was open to all, He knew who would believe in Him and who would reject Him. He said to the people in Luke’s gospel:
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! (Luke 13:34)
And, in John 3:16 Jesus said:
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
On one hand “whoever believes” may come. On the other hand, Jesus says:
No one can come to me unless the Father who sent Me draws him, [giving him the desire to come to Me]; (John 6:44a).
Clearly, there is something called “divine sovereignty” and there is something called “human free agency.” We are responsible creatures who make moral choices. People can come to Jesus and are capable of doing so but when people don’t come to Him, it grieves Him (Exo 18:23, 32, 33:11; Luke 19:41). When Jesus looked out over Jerusalem He wept because He knew their end. The Greek says He cried loudly expressing uncontainable, audible grief.
Will everyone go to heaven because it’s God’s desire? Tim Keller said,
Even though the Lord loves His creation and He is good to all, Jesus’s teaching about the reality of hell makes it clear that not everyone will be saved.
God is willing but not everyone will respond. He continually calls those who are in His family and those still outside His family to come.
How is this topic of God’s sovereignty relevant for us today? If you go to the extreme regarding God’s sovereignty and think that everything has already been predetermined you can easily become passive and indifferent towards life and the people around you. “If God wants something to happen it will happen, no matter what I do.” If God pre-determines who goes to heaven and who doesn’t as the Gnostics held, it doesn’t matter what or how I pray or whether or not I share the gospel with my friends, family, or neighbors. God controls every circumstance and decision (which is the teaching of the Stoics. This is called fatalism.
However, if you believe that everything in life is dependent on your choices (or the choices of others) and that any single decision has the potential to determine your whole future you will be paralyzed with fear. We can and must make choices, knowing that even if we make a wrong decision, all is not lost and God is still in control. We can trust in God’s faithfulness and His ability to set us back on the right course and redeem situations.
Understanding God's hand in and heart for creation means I can make a decision to seek God and know that I will find Him. If I haven’t yet made my peace with God, it means I can call on the name of the Lord and be saved this day. As a Christian, it means I can face this day and the future with courage, knowing that my heavenly Father sees the future and will direct my steps if I ask Him to. It means that when I share the gospel in obedience to His Word, I can trust the Holy Spirit to convict people of sin, righteousness, and judgment, that people have the freedom to choose or reject Christ, and that it isn’t up to me to save them.
If I understand God’s hand in and heart towards creation, I can choose to trust Him to rule over my life and remain under His protection. I know that He loves me and only wants the best for me and that His plan for my life is good and perfect. Our decisions matter and we are responsible for them. God is all-powerful yet tells us to choose life and not death this day. What will we choose?
