Our Sovereign God
I came across a couple of children’s prayers this week.
Johnny had been misbehaving and was sent to his room. He emerged a couple minutes later and informed his mother that he had thought things over and had even said a little prayer. The mother was very happy and said, “If you asked God to help you not misbehave, He will help you.” To which Johnny replied, “Oh, I didn’t ask Him for help with that, I asked Him to help you put up with me.”
A little girl, dressed in her Sunday best, was running as fast as she could, trying not to be late for Sunday School. As she ran she prayed, “Dear Lord, please don’t let me be late!” As she was running and praying, she tripped on a curb and fell, getting her clothes dirty and tearing her dress. She got up, brushed herself off, and started running again. This time she prayed a little bit differently: “Dear Lord, please don’t let me be late…but don’t shove me either.”
This girl understood our topic for today very clearly. She knew that God is in control of everything!
The word “sovereign” is both a noun and verb. As a verb it means, “to rule,” and as a noun it means “king” or “absolute ruler.” To say that God is sovereign is to say that God is in charge of the entire universe all the time. The Westminster Confession puts it like this: “He ordains whatsoever comes to pass.”
In a nutshell, God’s sovereignty means that He is absolutely free to do as He pleases and to demonstrate His absolute control over the actions of all His creatures. Or, to put it another way, He permits, for reasons known only to Himself, people to act contrary to His revealed will, but He never allows them to act against His sovereign will.
This is seen clearly in the following verses:
“Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.” (Proverbs 19:21)
“Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it?” (Lamentations 3:37)
“You ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.’” (James 4:15)
“I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted.” (Job 42:2)
“Our God is in heaven; He does whatever pleases Him.” (Psalm 115:3)
What Sovereignty Is
Let me give you 5 practical truths related to God’s sovereignty.
The sovereignty of God is a very humbling doctrine. Sovereignty reminds us that God is God and we are not.
It’s an exalting doctrine because it gives us a big view of God. Many of us struggle because our view of God is too small.
It’s also a mysterious doctrine because it brings us face to face with the problem of evil and free will. If God is sovereign, why is there evil in the universe? If humans have free will, how can God be in control? These questions have been debated for centuries and perhaps I’ll preach on them in the future. For our purposes this morning, suffice it to say that God is sovereign and you and I are fully responsible for all the choices we make.
It’s a clarifying doctrine because it teaches that there is no such thing as luck, chance, fate or coincidence. You can have God or chance, but you can’t have both. It reminds me of the cowboy who applied for health insurance. The agent asked him if he had had any accidents during the previous year. The cowboy replied, “No. But I was bitten by a rattlesnake, and a horse kicked me in the ribs. That laid me up for awhile.” The agent said, “Weren’t those accidents?” “No,” replied the cowboy, “They did it on purpose.” He recognized that there is no such thing as an “accident.” How about you? Do you believe that some things catch God by surprise?
Finally, this is an empowering doctrine. Since God is in charge, no mere human can intimidate you. You can live your life with boldness and confidence, without fearing anyone or anything. Since God is sovereign, we can trust Him with our lives.
A Press Release
I want to read part of a press release to you this morning. Please turn in your Bible to Daniel 4, where we find one of the few chapters in Scripture written by someone considered to be on the outside he was neither a Christian nor a Jew.
If you recall from a couple weeks ago, Nebuchadnezzar was the guy who led the Babylonian army to Jerusalem and conquered it. This all took place during the time of Jeremiah the prophet. Once Jerusalem was destroyed, and many people were deported to Babylon, Jeremiah sat down with tears in his eyes and wrote the book of Lamentations. Now, we come to the Book of Daniel. The events of this book take place in Babylon and describe how God’s people fared in this foreign country.
In Chapter 4 the King decides to clear up some vicious rumors that have been circulating in his kingdom about some events surrounding a very tough time in his life.
The King with the impossible name learned the truth about God’s sovereignty the hard way. He wanted the whole world to know what God had done for him. Specifically, he wanted to explain why the mightiest man in the world was now worshipping the God of a small, conquered nation. Look at verses 2-3: “It is my pleasure to tell you about the miraculous signs and wonders that the Most High God has performed for me. How great are His signs, how mighty His wonders! His kingdom is an eternal kingdom; His dominion endures from generation to generation.”
He then describes how his life was going in verse 4 he was “contented and prosperous.” He had the four things that everyone in the world desires:
Palace
Peace
Prosperity
Power
Outwardly, everything was going great. And then, like what happened in chapter 2, Nebuchadnezzar had another dream. Another nightmare pounced on him. Verse 5 says that he was afraid and terrified. Even though he has everything, he is fearful and can’t sleep. He first calls in his wise guys who can’t figure out the meaning of the dream and then, he remembers the “dream-buster,” Daniel.
A Weird Dream
His dream was of a vast tree that stretched to the sky and was visible to the ends of the earth. The birds rested on the branches and animals found shade on the ground. In the barren desert-like landscape of Babylon, which today is Iraq, a tree like this would have been a magnificent sight. It was the grandest tree the world had ever seen Nebuchadnezzar was probably thinking, “That’s just like me.”
The dream turns to a nightmare just then as he sees a messenger from heaven come down and give orders to have the tree chopped down in verse 14. Interestingly, the stump is to remain and be allowed to live. Then, the fatal words: “Let him be drenched with the dew of heaven, and let him live with the animals…let him be changed from that of a man and let him be given the mind of an animal, till seven times pass by for him.” (4:15-16)
Nezzar (that’s what he’s called in a Veggie Tale video!) is starting to break out into a cold sweat. He then hears this pronouncement in verse 17: “…the holy ones declare the verdict, so that the living may know that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes…”
The King, like us, needed a lesson in God’s sovereignty. It is God, not a man who is in control. God is in charge of everything.
Daniel, who must have had a good relationship with the King, is greatly perplexed when he hears the dream. Daniel tells the King in no uncertain terms that he is the tree and that he will be driven away from his people, to live with the wild animals. He would even eat grass like a cow! He is told in verse 24 that this will last seven years until he “…acknowledges that the Most High is sovereign…” Daniel then pleads with him to renounce his sins and to do what is right.
As we learned last week, God always warns us before He sends judgment. Nezzar had one year to turn his life around but he didn’t. And then, one day, as he was walking on the roof of his royal palace, surveying his beautiful city, pride flooded his heart and spilled out of his mouth in verse 30: “Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?” He started mooing like a cow almost immediately when he heard a voice from heaven say in verse 32: “…Seven times will pass by for you until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone He wishes.”
One moment he was a bright, handsome, thriving man with a sharp mind. And then, because of his arrogance, he was reduced to an animal. He was probably so ugly that the people must have been repulsed by his appearance. He was no doubt covered with slime as he scratched his filthy, tangled hair with his claw-like nails.
I heard recently about a man who desperately wanted to work at a zoo and answered an ad to be a veterinarian assistant. When he went to the zoo office, he was told that the position had already been filled. He was really bummed out and was starting to leave when the receptionist suddenly became very secretive, whispered to him to sit down and got up and locked the door.
She then told them that they had an opening their gorilla had recently died and the zoo had no more money to buy a new one. So she offered him a chance to be the zoo’s monkey for a month. He readily agreed because he needed the money.
The monkey suit was hot and made him itch in places he could not reach but he enjoyed his new job. He’d perform for the kids by beating his chest and eating bananas. Days turned into weeks and he became the star of the zoo. One day, while swinging on the rope in his cage, he went higher and higher as the kids cheered him on. At the top of his swing, he took one hand off the rope to beat his chest and landed with a thud into the neighboring cage the cage of a Siberian Tiger!
All the kids rushed to the next cage and began yelling, “Mommy, mommy, monkey with tiger.” The tiger woke up and stretched. He went over to the gorilla and sniffed him. The gorilla didn’t move. The man in the monkey suit began to whisper, “Good kitty, nice kitty, don’t hurt me kitty” while trying to figure out a way to get out of the cage. The tiger then pounced on him and put his front paws on the gorilla’s shoulders, pinning him to the ground.
At this point, the man began to scream, “Help! Help! I am a man in a monkey suit and I’m about to be eaten.” A little boy said, “Mommy, mommy, monkey talks.” The Siberian tiger came closer to the monkey and whispered, “Shut up! Are you trying to get us both fired?”
You know, there’s a little bit of gorilla in all of us. God made Nebuchadnezzar become outwardly what he already was in his heart he was filled with pride and acting like an animal. You might not look like an animal, but have you ever looked in the mirror and wondered, “What’s happening to me?” You might look attractive on the outside but some sinful, ugly, prideful behavior is eating you up on the inside. You don’t like the animal you see in there. This beast is affecting your relationship with God, your marriage, your friendships, your kids, your service in the church, and your career
Friend, do you want to become beautiful again? Do you want that beast to go away? Then, you need to do what Nezzar eventually did.
Do you see the recurring theme in this chapter? God is determined to teach each of us about His sovereignty that He is God and we are not.
Taming the Beast
Sometimes God has to put someone on their knees for an extended period of time in order to get their attention. I want you to notice something here. King Nezzar chewed his cud for 7 long years and ate grass pie until he “raised his eyes toward heaven” in verse 34. We might say that he had a paradigm shift he started to see things differently. Instead of saying “me and mine,” he started to say “He and His.” Immediately after this, his sanity was restored and he praised the Most High by honoring and glorifying the One who lives forever.
As someone has said,
- He looked up
- He woke up
- He spoke up
If we want to tame the beast within, we must keep raising our eyes to heaven. We must look up so we can wake up in order to speak up. If we don’t, we’d better look out! When I raise my eyes to heaven, what do I see? I see the Most High! Verses 34-37 give us six fast facts about our Sovereign God.
-He rules and reigns eternally. Verse 34b: “His dominion is an eternal dominion; His kingdom endures from generation to generation.”
-He is greater than the greatest. Verse 35a: “All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing.”
-He does whatever He pleases. Verse 35b: “He does as He pleases with the powers of Heaven and the peoples of the earth.”
- He defends Himself to no one. Verse 35c: “No one can hold back His hand or say to Him, ‘What have you done?’”
-He never makes any mistakes. Verse 37b: “Because everything He does is right and all His ways are just.”
-He deflates those who are puffed up. Verse 37c: “And those who walk in pride He is able to humble.”
Dropping to our Knees
Friends, understanding God’s sovereignty causes us to focus on Him, not ourselves. Our response should be to fall at His feet and to give Him everything we are and everything we own. Pride is not the sole possession of the powerful, the rich, or the famous. It controls each of us if we’re not careful. David Jeremiah says that of all the personal and church problems he has seen in his years of ministry, most of them are the result of pride.
Pride creeps into our lives in subtle ways.
-When we do something bad, we are quick to blame others. When we do something good, we want to take all the credit. That’s pride.
-When we magnify our accomplishments and minimize our errors while magnifying the sins of others and minimizing their accomplishments. That’s pride.
-When we put our needs and concerns ahead of others. That’s pride.
-When we’d rather live our life our way, instead of God’s way. That’s pride.
As we wrap up this message, let me see if I can help you flesh out this important doctrine of God’s sovereignty. As we’ve been thinking about God’s rule and power, it would be easy to just nod in doctrinal agreement without really thinking about how it should impact our life. I can think of at least two action steps.
-Renounce your sins and do right. This is what Daniel urged the King to do in verse 27. This word means, “to separate or make a division” between yourself and sin. Nebuchadnezzar was given 12 months to repent I don’t know how long you have!
-Submit to His Lordship and Leadership. Totally and irrevocably submit to His lordship in your life. Worship Him by giving Him everything you own. Ask Him to take down that monument of pride to your own abilities and talents. Give Him your fears and insecurities. Ask Him to control your checkbook. Tell Him that you’re willing to do anything and go anywhere at any time in response to His leading.
Theodore Roosevelt is considered by many to be one of our greatest presidents. He knew how to keep himself small. Some nights, before going to bed, Roosevelt and his friend the naturalist William Beebe, would go out and look at the skies, searching for a tiny patch of light near the constellation of Pegasus. When they would find it, they would chant together: “This is the spiral galaxy of Andromeda. It’s as large as our Milky Way. It is one of a hundred million galaxies. It consists of one hundred billion suns, each larger than our sun.” Then Roosevelt would turn to his buddy and say, “Now I think we are small enough. Let’s get some sleep.”
C.S. Lewis has said, “The proud man always looks down; as long as you look down, you can’t see what’s above you.”
Like the little girl who believed that God pushed her to the ground while she was running to Sunday School God will either push us to our knees or we can choose to do it voluntarily.
Philippians 2:10-11 says, “That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
In order to help you tame the “beast” within, and to help you put into practice your submission to the Lordship and Leadership of our Sovereign God, I’m going to ask you to kneel right now. This might be a bit awkward to do, but if you’d like to demonstrate your commitment to God’s sovereignty in your life, why don’t you drop to your knees right now as we pray this prayer of surrender to God?
If you are not able to kneel because of physical difficulties, bow in your heart to God as we pray.
O Most High, I kneel before you and raise my eyes toward heaven. I bless and honor you. Your rule is everlasting and your kingdom is eternal. All the people of the earth, including me, are nothing compared to you. You have the power to do as you please. No one can hold back your hand or say to you, “What have you done?”
Please tame the beast within me. I renounce my sins and repent of the way I have been living. I surrender myself to your Kingship and to your Leadership in my life.
I now praise, exalt, and honor you, the King of Heaven, and my Sovereign God, because everything you do is right and your ways are just and you are able to humble those who walk in pride.
I pray this prayer though Jesus Christ, my Lord. Amen.
