Well, I have been asked and given
the wonderful privilege of speaking to you on the sovereignty of
God. And so as you have your Bibles,
I invite you to turn with me to the book of Psalms, to Psalm
103. As I walked into the sanctuary
today, R.C. asked me, he said, will you be
preaching on Romans 1136? And I said, well, I will if you
want me to, but I have a different text that is in my heart You
know, Spurgeon used to say he would go into a study on Saturday
evenings to determine what to preach, and he said wherever
he opened his Bible, every verse was crying out, preach me, preach
me. Put me in your notebook. Take
me to church with you. Don't listen to the other verses. So I think we understand what
Spurgeon was saying. So my heart has been married
to Psalm 103 and verse 19 for this occasion. So I want you
to have it in front of you because we will spend our time together,
I trust, expounding what this glorious verse has to say. The title of this message is
Our Sovereign God. Psalm 103, I want to read just
this one verse, verse 19. The inerrant, the inspired, and
the infallible Word of the living God reads, the Lord has established
His throne in the heavens, and His sovereignty rules over all. I well remember that day in seminary. When Dr. Sproul addressed us
with that raspy, gravelly voice, men, the doctrine of the sovereignty
of God is God's favorite doctrine. And then he added, pause, punch,
and it would be your favorite doctrine if you were God. And he explained to us that the
sovereignty of God means very simply that God is in charge
and that God is in control of all things. The sovereignty of
God is the foundational truth that upholds all Christian theology. It is the bedrock doctrine of
all doctrines. It is the atlas that upholds
all other truths, namely that God is and that God reigns. A. W. Pink writes that the sovereignty
of God is, quote, the foundation of all Christian theology, the
center of gravity in the system of Christian truth. It is the
sun, Pink says, around which all of the other planets circle. Pink adds that the sovereignty
of God is very simply this, God is God, not merely in name, but
in reality. Any other picture of God is but
a distorted caricature of who He really is. Any other image
of God, of a dethroned deity, is such an idol that has been
raised up, the fact is the sovereignty of God is the very central truth
of His being, that God is and that God reigns. It is the Godness
of God. Virtually every preacher and
every great theologian down through the annals of history who have
been mightily used by God, have been those men who have been
champions of the sovereignty of God. Jonathan Edwards writes,
quote, absolute sovereignty is what I love to ascribe to God.
God's sovereignty has ever appeared to me a great part of His glory. It has often been my delight
to approach God and adore Him as sovereign God. Edwards went on to say, those
who have received salvation are to attribute it to sovereign
grace alone, and to give all the praise to Him who makes them
to differ from others. John Piper is right when he calls
the sovereignty of God the continental divide of all theology. It is what separates the men
from the boys. One drop of water on one side
of this mountain ridge flows into an ocean of man-centered
religion, man-centered ministry, man-centered worship, and man-centered
evangelism. But one drop of truth on this
side of this continental divide flows into an ocean of God-centered
living, God-centered worship, God-centered evangelism, God-centered
missions. The continental divide is the
truth that God is absolutely sovereign. It is the determinative
factor in our ministries. I want us to look in this session
today at verse 19. The Lord has established His
throne in the heavens, and His sovereignty rules over all. You will note that verse 19,
let me just give you the big picture of Psalm 103. And verse
19 is in the emphatic position. Everything in this psalm has
built upwards to this knockout punch of a statement. The psalm
begins in the first two verses as it ends in the last three
verses with bookends of praise for God. Bless the Lord, O my
soul, and all that is within me. Bless His holy name. Bless
the Lord, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits. These are
the bookends around this psalm, and everything in between, from
verses 3 through 19, are the reasons for which we are to rise
up and to bless the name of the Lord. In other words, our doxology
must be built upon a firm theology. And beginning in verse 3 and
running through verse 19, David lays out for us the reasons why
every one of us, every moment of every day, should rise up
and sing the doxology to God. Because everything about God
is great. He's great in His power. He's great in His promises. He's
great in His… every aspect of His being. But as he now comes
to verse 19, it is as if David lifts up his hands and seeks
to magnify God as high as he possibly can. and announces and
declares to us this very absolute sovereignty of Almighty God. This is the Mount Everest of
this psalm. This is the Mount Everest of
Christian theology. This is the Mount Everest, the
high ground of truth. As we look at verse 19, I want
to give you three main headings. as we work our way through this
text. I want you to note with me first the establishment of
God's sovereignty. Notice how verse 19 begins, the
Lord has established His throne in the heavens. Who has established
God's sovereignty? Who has given to Him supreme
authority? And the answer is, no one has
given to God's sovereignty. There has been no church council,
there has been no deliberation outside of God's self that has
put the crown upon His head, the diadem of sovereignty. No, what we see here is that
God Himself has established His own throne in the heavens. God's
sovereignty is derived from His own nature. God's sovereignty
is intrinsic to His own being. He does not derive sovereignty
from anyone else or from anything else. Rather, God's sovereignty
arises up from within Himself. God has sworn by Himself and
has established His own sovereignty. He identifies Himself to us in
verse 19 as the Lord. Please note, all capital letters
signifying that this is Jehovah, Yahweh, who has established His
throne. This name, this title that God
has chosen for Himself means that God is self-existent, self-sufficient. independent, autonomous, not
dependent upon anyone or anything, but that the entire universe
finds its dependence in Him. That He is the creator, the sustainer,
the maintainer of all that there is. that He is the God who is
lacking in nothing. He is immutable, the God who
was and who is and who shall be forever. I am who I am. This is the God who has established
His throne in the heavens. Stephen Charnock, the great Puritan,
writes that this established sovereignty of God originally
resided in His own nature. He did not derive it by birth
or commission. God is the sole cause of His
own kingdom and of His own sovereignty. Would you note the word established?
It is this self-sufficient, sovereign God who has established His own
throne. This word established means to
erect, to set up, to prepare, to ordain, to fix. God has fixed and God has ordained. His own throne in the heavens,
and it will never be moved, and God will never be impeached from
His throne of sovereignty. When we come to the end of the
Bible in Revelation chapter 4, John is caught up into the heavens,
and as soon as he enters into heaven, the very first object
that John sees is the throne. And everything in heaven is measured
by its proximity to the throne. God is on the throne. The twenty-four
elders are around the throne. There are cherubim under and
over the throne. There is fire coming out from
the throne. There is praise going to the
throne. There is the primacy and the
centrality of the throne in heaven. This God has established His
throne. Would you note that He has established
His throne? It is not a round table that
God has established. for others to come and sit with
Him and to debate the issues of providence. He has not established
a pew in which God would sit and listen to others dictate
to Him. God has not established a chair
by which He merely passively watches and observes the unfolding
of human history. God has not established a bed
for God to rest and to sleep No, God has established in the
heavens a throne, and it is upon this throne that God is seated,
and every moment of every day, God presides. God governs. God directs. God ordains. God fixes. The Lord has established
His throne, and it should be of note in the heavens. That
is to say, God's throne is above all the thrones of this world.
His throne is above the throne of the Babylonians and the Chaldeans
and the Canaanites and the Egyptians. The throne of God is above every
other power and every other seat of authority in this world. Every
power is subject to this throne that is established in the heavens.
He is the Most High God. He is exalted above all the peoples,
Psalm 99 verse 2. God has no equal. God has no
peer. God is above all. Isaiah said, I saw the Lord sitting
on a throne, lofty and exalted, meaning high and lifted up. God is towering in the transcendence
of His sovereignty. God is elevated, highest ranking,
highest standing. He is supreme over all. This is the establishment of
God's throne in the heavens. And every person, every group,
every church, every ministry, every nation, every continent
is in subjection to this throne. What is spoken from this throne
must dominate our lives. The critical issue in every decision
and in every ministry is what does this sovereign God say? Every knee will bow before this
throne. Every life will appear before
this throne. Every soul will give an answer
to this throne, the establishment of God's sovereignty. And it
is fixed, and it is standing, and it shall endure throughout
all of the ages to come. Kings come and they go. Kingdoms
rise and they fall. But this is the fixed point in
the universe. God has established His throne
in the heavens. I want you to note second, as
we look at verse 19, not only the establishment of God's sovereignty
But secondly, the exercise of God's sovereignty. It is one
thing to reign, another thing to rule. It is one thing to possess
sovereignty. It is another matter to exercise
sovereignty. I want you to note that God is
no mere figurehead who has been propped up upon His throne. Note,
this God who has established His throne in the heavens, the
text says, His sovereignty rules over all. This word, rules, means
to exercise the functions of a monarch. It means to determine
the destiny and the route of all that is under His purview. Sovereignty is an attribute of
deity without which God would not be God. The word sovereignty
means above or superior to all others, chief, greatest, supreme,
supreme in power, rank, and authority, holding the position of ruler
and despot. independent of all others. It is this chief position of
the preeminence of God's sovereignty that the psalmist declares again
and again and again. It is the ringing note of the
psalter. Psalm 93, verse 1, the Lord reigns. Psalm 96, verse 10, say to the
nations, the Lord reigns. Our message is not, smile, something
good will happen to you today. Our message is, the Lord reigns. God is, and God reigns. Psalm 97 verse 1, the Lord reigns. Psalm 99 verse 1, the Lord reigns. This is what God does as God. This is at the top of God's job
description, if you will. It is to govern and manage and
sustain and rule and overrule the entirety of the universe. Let me flesh this out a little
bit more. His sovereignty rules over all. Please note, if you
would, the exclusivity of God's rule. This is not a shared sovereignty. God is not a co-regent. There
are no separation and balances of powers in heaven. This does
not say that Satan reigns as many today would have us believe,
where they see a demon behind every bush. And as one person
told me who came out of such a movement, that we were led
to believe in the sovereignty of Satan. No, the God of this age and the
Prince of this world is, as Martin Luther once said, the devil is
God's devil. Please note, this does not say
the Lord and Satan rule, as if there is a dualism here and a
cosmic tug of war between two equal parties. This does not
say circumstances rule, as the deist would have us to believe,
that God has created everything out of nothing and now sits back
with His arms folded and watches passively the unfolding of the
events of this world. and is a mere spectator of what
takes place here and will come back at the end and sort everything
out. No, this does not say circumstances rule. This says the God who has
established His throne in the heavens, this is the God who
rules. Please note it does not say man
rules. That would be humanism. This
does not say God and man rules. That would be synergism. This
does not say good luck and blind fate rule. That would be fatalism. The alignment of the planets,
good karma, bad karma. There's nothing of such pagan
myths in this text. This is pure, unadulterated truth,
as Dr. Sproul has said, the unvarnished
truth. His sovereignty dominates and
controls all by primary and secondary causes. 1 Timothy 6 verse 15
says, He who is the blessed and only
sovereign, the King of kings and the Lord of lords. No, the
Lord exclusively reigns. Would you please note, secondly,
the constancy of His reign? Would you note the verb tense
here? His sovereignty rules, present tense overall. This does
not say that God once ruled at the beginning, in a time when
Israel was created and the Red Sea was parted and Jordan River
was backed up and Daniel's lion den saw the invisible hand of
God. Once back then, God reigned but
not now. To the contrary, 24-7, 24 hours
a day, seven days a week, God does always rule. Please note this does not say
God will rule, as if God's rule will not begin until the time
of the second coming of Jesus Christ. It's not that we're here
just trying to hold the fort while Satan is reigning until
Christ can come back. No, this says right now the Lord
reigns. He reigns constantly. There is
never a time, never a moment, but that God is occupying the
throne and with total omniscience and full omnipotence, sovereignly
governing and appointing all things. We know that God causes
all things to work together for good. Also would you note that
this reign of God Note the activity of it. The Lord reigns. I want to say again, He's not
a mere passive observer and only periodically intervening into
the affairs of history, but God does actively, intentionally,
purposely reign on an ongoing basis. Ephesians 1 verse 11,
let us hear it again. God works. all things according
to the counsel of His will. Let us drink deeply from this
well the eternal decree of God from before the foundation of
the world, that God is a working God every moment of every day."
This implies the irresistibility of His reign. There can be no
successful opposition to this reign. This is no empty announcement
of sovereignty. This is the declaration and the
proclamation and the exaltation of raw, sheer, irresistible sovereignty. Psalm 115 verse 3, but our God
is in the heavens. He does whatever He pleases. Psalm 135 verse 6, whatever the
Lord pleases, He does in heaven and in earth and in the seas
and in all the deeps. In heaven, on earth, and even
under the earth. God does sovereignly reign. Daniel 4 verse 35, all of the
inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing. But He does according
to His will in the host of heaven. and no one can ward off His hand
or say to Him, what hast thou done? This is the exercise of
God's sovereignty. He exercises it effortlessly,
freely, independently, without any consultation from lesser
powers. Isaiah 6 verse 9. I am God and
there is no other. I am God and there is no one
like me. So what defines God and separates
Him from Baal and Nebo and the other pagan gods? What marks
the one true living God? It is this that follows. Listen
to this. Declaring the end from the beginning,
meaning God stands at the beginning. He declares the end, and every
step that leads back to the beginning, it is all foreordained by God. That is the true God. And from
ancient times, things which have not been done, saying, my purpose
will be established, and I will accomplish all my good pleasure. Truly I have spoken. Truly I
will bring it to pass. I have planned it. Surely I will
do it." That is God. That is the God whom we worship.
That is the God whom we trust. That is the God whom we serve,
the free and full reign of God's supreme authority. Does this
have an effect on our ministries? Does this have an effect on what
we sing in church, how we approach this God? Does this set the tone
for the life of the church? Should this affect our preaching?
Should this have influence on our teaching? What does this
have to say about our evangelism? What does this have to say about
world missions? This says that we should be those
who are constantly and continually championing the godness of God. I want you to note finally the
extent of God's sovereignty. We have seen the establishment
of it, and we have seen the exercise of it. But note at the end of
verse 19 the extent of it. This is so vitally important. Are there jurisdiction limits
on His sovereignty? Are there boundaries that are
placed on His sovereignty? Is God sovereign in certain spaces
of time and not sovereign in other realms? This makes such
a bold statement, and His sovereignty rules over all. If He did not rule over all,
He would not be sovereign. There are no restrictions to
God's sovereignty, save His works working in perfect consistency
with His own attributes. There are no designated areas
that are off limits to His rule. God reigns over all peoples and
over all things. God reigns in all places and
at all times. There is no person, no event,
no circumstance, no molecule, no atom outside the dominion
of His sovereignty. God reigns over heaven and the
earth and hell. God reigns over things that are
seen and unseen. God reigns over things that are
animate and inanimate. God reigns over things that are
natural and supernatural. I want you to think with me,
under this heading, the extent of God's sovereignty. God's sovereignty
is over all the nations. Is that a good message for us
to hear in these days, in which it seems among the chaos of the
nations that this world is about to self-implode and to destruct? But God says in Isaiah 40, verse
15, behold, the nations are like a drop in a bucket. Collectively,
cumulative, all of the nations have been squeezed out of an
eyedropper. They are regarded as a speck
of dust on the scales. Behold, He lifts up the islands
like fine dust. All the nations are as nothing
before Him." Meaning they bring about no alteration to His eternal
purposes. They bring about no change to
His plan A from before the foundation of the world. God will never
reroute His plans to plan B or C or D or E. All the nations
are as nothing before Him. They are regarded by Him as less
than nothing and meaningless. The psalmist says the Lord nullifies
the counsel of the nations. He frustrates the plans of the
peoples. The counsel of the Lord stands
forever. The plans of His heart from generation
to generation. to generation. His sovereignty
is over all of the rulers of this world. They are all subject
to do His bidding. Daniel 4.25, the Most High is
ruler over the realm of mankind and bestows it on whomever He
wishes. Dr. Sproul is absolutely correct. This president has been appointed
by God. The last president was appointed
by God. And once they're in office, Proverbs
21, verse 1, the heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord. Like rivers of water, he channels
it whichever way he wills. He is Lord and sovereign over
circumstances. The lot is cast into the lap,
but its every turning up is from the Lord. There is not a sparrow
that falls apart from the Lord. Every hair on our head is numbered. Every appointment is a divine
appointment. Every step has been fixed by
God. The steps of a righteous man
are ordained by the Lord, and he delights in his way. Though
he falls, he shall not be hurled headlong, because the Lord is
the one who holds his hand. The Lord is sovereign over our
successes and failures. Proverbs 21 says, the horse is
prepared for the day of battle, but victory belongs to the Lord. We should have a strong national
defense. We should arm ourselves for self-protection. But ultimately, the victory is
from the Lord. Promotion comes not from the
east or the west, from the south. It comes from the north, where
God is. Some boast in chariots and some
in horses, but we will boast in the name of the Lord. God
is sovereign over decision making. Proverbs says, the plans of the
heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from
the Lord. Proverbs says, many plans are in a man's heart, but
the counsel of the Lord will stand. God is sovereign over
the number of days that we have here upon the earth. The psalmist
says in your book, they were all written, the days that were
ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them. All
of the days that you and I will spend here upon the earth have
already been fixed and ordained by God and recorded in His eternal
decree. George Whitefield said, we are
invincible until our work for God is done. God is sovereign
over human hearts. The book of Acts records that
a woman named Lydia from the city of Thyatira was listening
to Paul, and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things
spoken by Paul. The Lord opened her heart. That heart had been locked shut. That heart had been bound by
sin and by Satan. And in a moment, God opened that
heart. The very same word, just a footnote,
is used later in this chapter when they came and arrested Paul
and Cyrus and threw them into the Philippian jail. And in the
middle of the night, as Paul and Silas were singing hymns
to God, God sent an earthquake. You remember that? And the doors
were opened. Very same word that is used earlier
with Lydia's heart. Her heart was a prison house
of sin. Her heart was bound by her sinful
nature. Until in that moment of sovereign
regeneration, God opened her heart. God is sovereign over
the new birth. John 1 verse 13 says that we
are born, referring to being born from above, to be born again. Remember, a woman came up to
George Whitefield and said, why do you keep telling us we must
be born again? He said, dear woman, because
you must be born again. So how are we born again? And
it begs the question, what did you do to bring about your physical
birth? John writes in his prologue,
who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor
of the will of man, but of God. That is monergistic regeneration,
my friend. There is only one active agent
in our new birth, and that is the operation of the free mercy
of our sovereign God in heaven. God is sovereign over repentance.
God must grant repentance. God is sovereign over saving
faith. Jesus is the author and perfecter
of faith. Who authored saving faith within
you? Who turns your heart to Christ
that you might believe upon Him? Jesus is the author and perfecter,
Acts 13, 48, as many as has been appointed to eternal life believed. Let me ask you three questions.
Number one, which comes first, believing or being appointed
to eternal life? According to this text, first
we are appointed to eternal life, and then we believe there's a
cause and effect relationship. The cause is the appointment
by God. The effect is the exercise of
faith by man. Second question, do any more
believe? As many as were appointed to
eternal life believed. The answer is no more believe. Third question, do any less believe? And the answer again is no. Only
those sovereignly, royally appointed by God in eternity past are those
who within time believe. God is sovereign over human wills.
So, then it does not depend upon the man who wills, or upon the
man who runs, but upon God who has mercy. God is sovereign over
church growth. Acts 2 47, and the Lord was adding
to their number, day by day, those who were being saved. Jesus
said, I will build my church. I will not build your church,
and you will not build my church. I will build my church. and the
gates of Hades shall not prevail against it." That is a statement
of the extent of the sovereignty of Almighty God to build His
church. God is sovereign over worldly
wisdom. First Corinthians, God says,
I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the cleverness
of the clever I will set aside. Has not God made foolish the
wisdom of the world. God is sovereign over His enemies.
You remember in Acts chapter 9, Saul of Tarsus with letters
in hand, public enemy number one of God and of Christ and
the church, with letters in hand is on that Damascus road to go
and apprehend the Christians and to bring them back to Jerusalem
to stand trial and perhaps, like Stephen, to be stoned to death.
And he was on that Damascus road. The light came shining out of
heaven, and it knocked Saul of Tarsus off his high horse. And in a moment, Lord, what will
you have me to do? That has been a microcosm of
every conversion and every regeneration in the history of mankind. It is the sovereignty of God,
even over His enemies, that His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
and it will move forward. and he is sovereign over human
destinies. Does not the potter have a right
over the clay to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable
use and another for common? What if God, although willing
to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured
with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction?
And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels
of mercy which He prepared beforehand for glory." This is the extent
of God's sovereignty. It is a total sovereignty. It is a total and complete sovereignty
over heaven, over earth, over hell, over every person in every
place, in every generation. This is the God whom we must
preach. This is the God whose name we
lift high. This is the God who must have
the place of preeminence in every one of our worship services.
This is the God that we announce to our lost neighbors and to
the ends of the earth. Say to the nations, the Lord
reigns. Beloved, this is the continental
divide of theology. This is what separates a man-centered
worldview from a God-centered, Reformed worldview. One has man
in the center, or Satan in the center, or God and man in the
center, or circumstances in the center, or random events in the
center. But this other has the triune
God, eternal Father, eternal Son, eternal Spirit. who from
before the foundation of the world established their sovereignty
in the heavens, and they rule over all. One of the great Bible teachers
of a few decades ago was Donald Gray Barnhouse, 10th Presbyterian,
Philadelphia. Dr. Barnhouse was a young man
in the ministry, had been a graduate of Princeton, and was invited
to come back to chapel that he might preach before the distinguished
faculty and student body. It was a very imposing assignment
for young Barnhouse. And as he stood into the pulpit
to preach, he was very aware that on the front row was one
of the most brilliant minds in all of Christendom, Dr. Robert
Dick Wilson, a man who was said to be fluent in fifteen Semitic
languages. And as he preached the Word of
God that day, he was faithful to God. He was aware of his professor's
presence. And at the end of the message,
as he came down out of the pulpit, Dr. Wilson came up to him and
said, young man, I will not hear you preach again. For Barnhouse, that took all
of the wind out of his sails. He thought, why? What have I
done to fail? And then the professor said this.
I always come to hear my boys preach one time, and all I want
to know is, are they a big Godder or a small Godder? Are they a
small Godder? and cannot believe in the inerrancy
of Scripture? Are they a small Godder and discount
providence? Are they a small Godder and say
that God cannot perform miracles? Are they a small Godder that
God is subject to the whims of the times? Or is God a big Godder
who has established His throne in the heavens, whose sovereignty
reigns over all? You, young man, are a big Godder. and God's blessing will be upon
your ministry. I want to ask you the diagnostic
question. Are you a big Godder? Do you
believe that God has sovereignly created all that there is, that
He has spoken and has come to pass, and that God is governing
the affairs of this world? Do you believe that God is sovereign
over every human life, every human heart, every human will,
every human destiny, the building of the church, the expanse of
His kingdom? Do you believe that God undertakes
His own cause here upon the earth and guarantees the success of
the advancement of the gospel of Jesus Christ? If so, the smile
of God is upon your ministry. because God will honor the man
and honor the woman who honors the glory of His throne and of
His name. May the Lord give us renewed
confidence that the throne is occupied, and it is this sovereign
God who is enthroned and who reigns. May every decision of
our ministry, may every launching of works that we do for God,
may we say that from Him and through Him and to Him are all
things. To God be the glory forever and
ever. Amen. Let us pray. Father, there is a shock and awe in our hearts
this morning. As we behold again in pages of
Scripture this truth which you have recorded so long ago, we are filled with wonder, astonishment,
amazement. We are overwhelmed and bewildered
by this. But you and you alone have established
and fixed and ordained Your throne in the heavens, and that Your sovereignty totally,
completely, fully, and freely rules over the entirety and totality
of all that You have created. We are humbled by this. We are
brought to our knees by this. And yet, we know that You open
a door that no man closes, and that You set before us open doors
for ministry. And God plus one makes a majority.
Would you encourage and fortify our hearts and our faith at this
time as we gather in this conference that no matter how desperate
or difficult the hour may be where we serve, You alone remain
God, and You continue to be at work within us both to will and
to work for Your good pleasure? we rise up to bless Your most
holy name, that You are the blessed and only Sovereign, the King
of kings and the Lord of lords. That is declared in this house
this day. And may all of Your people rejoice
and fear that You are God, and there is no other. In Jesus'
name we pray. Amen.