Sovereignty And Salvation: The Hand & Heart Of God

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.