Divine Sovereignty

Q: What does the Bible say about divine sovereignty?

The Bible asserts that God is absolutely sovereign, doing whatever He pleases in His creation. The doctrine of divine sovereignty is foundational in Scripture, illustrating that God has the authority and power to act as He wills. For instance, Psalm 115:3 declares, 'Our God is in the heavens; he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.' This underscores that God is not only sovereign over heaven but also over all earth and its inhabitants. Scripture repeatedly emphasizes that there is no aspect of life outside God's control, reinforcing the belief that all occurrences are orchestrated according to His divine purpose.

Q: How do we know God's sovereignty is true?

God's sovereignty is affirmed throughout the Bible in both Old and New Testaments. The sovereignty of God is consistently affirmed across various scriptural texts. Isaiah 14:24 states, 'The Lord of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely, as I have thought, so shall it come to pass.' This passage emphasizes that God’s purposes cannot be thwarted by anyone. In addition, Romans 9:16 emphasizes that salvation and mercy are determined by God’s will alone. These passages, among many others, illustrate that God’s sovereignty is a biblical doctrine, essential to understanding His nature and actions in the world.

Q: Why is God's sovereignty important for Christians?

God's sovereignty provides comfort and assurance that He is in control of all circumstances. Belief in God's sovereignty is essential for Christians as it provides profound comfort during trials and uncertainties. Knowing that God is in control means that our suffering has purpose and that He works all things for our good (Romans 8:28). This doctrine assures believers that no matter how difficult life may become, God reigns supreme, and His plans will ultimately be fulfilled. For believers, this is a source of tremendous peace and strength, affirming that their lives are under the meticulous care of a sovereign God.

Matthew the 20th chapter. Normally, I would be preparing to sort of kick off our conference on Sunday, either Sunday morning or Sunday evening, preaching a message in some way relating to the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace, and particularly emphasizing the doctrines of God's free grace. But as you know, I'm not going to be here Sunday. And so I am thankful that tonight in God's providence we have come to this text of scripture here in Matthew chapter 20 and verse 15. Matthew 20 and verse 15. This will be my text this evening. I promised you when we started our study in Matthew that I would take it quickly in a paragraph or a chapter at a time. I'm taking my word back tonight. I'm going to take a text, and I want to deal with this subject, divine sovereignty. Listen to what our Lord says.

Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? That's the question that the Son of God puts to his disciples and to us in this parable. Is it not lawful for God Almighty to do what he will with his own. Now, there is no attribute of God more comforting and delightful to the children of God than that of divine sovereignty.

No doctrine in the Bible is more important and no doctrine in the Bible is more blessed than the doctrine of God's absolute sovereignty. Under the most adverse circumstances, in the most severe trouble. When carrying our heaviest burdens, we believe and are sure that our trials come from God, are controlled by God, and shall be sanctified by our God to our souls' eternal good. And so our souls are comforted, even in the midst of great difficulty and sorrow, by the fact that our God rules everywhere and all things. There's no doctrine in the Bible more basic, more practical, more fundamental, more absolutely essential to our faith than the doctrine of God's sovereignty.

It is essential to the very character of God. To declare that God is sovereign is simply to declare that he is God. Now, that's such an important statement. It's so simple, but it's so very important. It is no less criminal and no less blasphemous to deny God's holiness, his justice, his omnipotence, or his truth, or even to deny his being, than it is to deny his sovereignty. To say that God is sovereign is to say that God is God.

To deny that God is sovereign is to deny that He's God. Do you understand that? Those who deny God's sovereignty deny that God is. Those who deny that God is sovereign declare that God is in reality of no consequence, that God is in reality irrelevant, that God really doesn't have any input or any influence or any power over this world which he has made.

Now don't allow anyone, I know that when you try to witness to folks and you talk to them about the message of God's grace or you give them one of our tracts or bulletin or take Somebody comes along and says, well, you folks count. Y'all get your doctrine from the Puritans. You get your doctrine from the Reformers. Don't allow anyone to suggest that our doctrine is merely a point of logic or an old out-of-date religious system dug out of the books of old Reformers, Puritans, and theologians. We believe what we do because we believe God, and hear me now, those who do not believe This message of God's sovereignty do not believe God. They do not know our God.

The scriptures are abundantly clear. Our doctrine is based upon and arises from the plain statements of Holy Scripture. Our doctrine is logical. Yes, sir, it is. But we don't base our doctrine on logic. Our doctrine has a basis in historical records, so that the church in its history has always held to these truths. Our doctrine we look upon and find in the creeds and confessions of Christianity throughout the ages, but we do not base our doctrine upon historical facts or historical documents. Our doctrine arises from and is based upon the plain statements of Holy Scripture.

I'll give you this challenge. If I cannot demonstrate to you, if I cannot demonstrate to you that what I am preaching to you tonight in every point is plainly stated in the Word of God, don't hear a word I say. I'll go further than that. Don't hear another thing I ever say.

Is that plain enough? This doctrine arises from the plain statements of Holy Scripture. I believe God, and I believe God as he is revealed in Holy Scripture. If you have a Bible in your hand and you can read, and you all do and you all can, it will be no difficulty at all for you, if you're interested, to see that the things I'm preaching tonight come right out of the Word of God himself. These things don't come out of Calvin's works or Gill's works or Spurgeon's works. They come right out of Holy Scripture. I recommend that you read and study other men. I recommend that you read and study the theologians. I recommend that you read and study the commentaries of good men.

But do not base your faith upon my faith or upon their faith. Base your faith upon the Word of God. Now, let's see what it says. I believe that God is absolutely universally sovereign because this book says it is. Let's look and see. Turn to Psalm 115. We're going to look at some real familiar scripture, but scripture that ought to be familiar to everybody is so, so totally ignored by this religious world. Psalm 115 in verse 3. Our God is in the heaven.

He hath done whatsoever He hath pleased." Where? Everywhere. When? Always. Our God's in the heavens. He's unmoved and unmovable. He hath done always whatsoever He hath pleased. No exceptions anywhere. Let's look and see. Psalm 135 verse 6. Psalmist David takes up this very same thing. Psalm 135 verse 6. Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did he in heaven, and in the earth, in the seas, and in all places.

We're talking about God now, not a man. We're talking about God, not a figment of your imagination. We're talking about God, not a little peanut idol. We're talking about God Almighty. He does and always has done and always shall do whatever he pleases in heaven, in the earth, in the sea, and in hell itself. He rules everywhere. Everywhere.

Look in Isaiah 14. Isaiah chapter 14. This is, in my opinion, one of the clearest, strongest, most comforting, most soul-cheering statements of God's sovereignty to be found in all the Bible. It is found right in the context of Satan's ambitious pride, in which he said, I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, and I will be like the most high.

Oh, God must surely be terrified now. Oh, no, no, no. His throne doesn't even change. He sits still in the serenity of total sovereignty, and this is what he says with regard to Satan's boast. Verse 24. The Lord of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely, as I have thought. What a word! As I have thought, so shall it come to pass. As I have purposed, so shall it stand.

Doesn't matter what Satan does. Look at verse 26. This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth, and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations, for the Lord of both hath purposed, and who shall disacknowledge? His hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back? Look in Isaiah 45. Isaiah 45 and verse 7. Well, let's stop over at chapter 40 on the way. Isaiah chapter 40, here the prophet is describing for us the message that God gave him to declare.

And the word that God gave him to declare is that all flesh is grass and behold your God. Behold your God, who describes himself like this in verse 13. Who hath directed the spirit of the Lord? Our being his counselor hath taught him. with whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and showed to him the way of understanding.

Behold, the nations, all the nations, are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance. Behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing. Verse 17. All nations before him are nothing. And they accounted to him as less than nothing in vanity. To whom were you likened, God? Or what likeness were you comparing to him? Verse 22. It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are his grasshoppers, that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in. Verse 25. To whom then were you likened, me?

Or shall I be equal, saith the holy walk. Lift up your eyes on high and behold who hath created these things that bringeth out their host by number. He calleth them all by name by the greatness of his might. For he is strong in power and not one faith. This is our God. Look at chapter 45 of Isaiah. Isaiah 45 and verse 7.

I don't care what interpretation you put on these words. I don't care what you make light and darkness to be. I don't care what you make peace and evil to be. The statement is a declaration of God's total sovereignty. Look at what it says. I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create evil. I the Lord do all these things. Now you can put any interpretation you want to on the words. The word is a statement of God's sovereignty. He makes light and creates darkness. He makes peace and creates evil. Everything comes to pass by His decree, by His will, by His purpose, and by His hand.

Look in chapter 46 of Isaiah, verse 10. Declaring the end from the beginning. and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure." In Daniel chapter 4, the prophet Nebuchadnezzar speaks these words that are recorded by the prophet Daniel, none can stay in his hand, saying to him, What doest thou?

You ever try to hold back the hand of a man who's stronger than you? He's going about either to strike you or to do something with his hand and you start to hold it back and you just can't hold it back. But you put a little resistance there. None's going to stay God's hand. Nobody's going to slap nut on this and say, what are you doing? He's sovereign. He has his way in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. He's sovereign. God has his way in the whirlwind. The scriptures declare his sovereignty in plainest terms in Romans chapter 9. Romans the ninth chapter.

And again, I will say concerning this, what I said concerning Isaiah 45, 7. Somebody comes along and says, well, this is talking about the nation of Israel. Okay, make it talk about the nation of Israel. I don't care. Somebody says, this is just talking about Jacob and Esau. Okay, make it all about just Jacob and Esau. Now, you'd miss the boat, but you'd make it that.

The passage is talking about God's election and God's people and God's grace to vessels of mercy. But you make it say anything you want to say, it's still a declaration of God's sovereignty. Read what it says in verse 11. For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand not of works, but of him that calleth. It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.

For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. And I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hearten.

Thou wilt save in unto me. Well, why does he find fault? If I had a nickel for every time some babbling Arminian had said that to me, I'd be a rich man. Well, why does he find fault? It's God's offering and God's purpose is accomplished everywhere in all things. Why does he find fault with anything?

For who hath resisted his will? Nay, but O man. It's as though Paul were saying, Oh, you fool. Oh man, who art thou that replies against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor? What if God, willing to show his wrath and make his power known, endure with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to disruption? and that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy which he had aforeprepared unto glory, even us whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles."

So the statements of Scripture are abundantly clear. God Almighty is absolutely sovereign. That cannot be disputed. God is sovereign in the creation of the world. He is sovereign in his providential rule of the world, and he is sovereign in the exercise of his saving mercy and grace in Jesus Christ. He has mercy on whom he will have mercy.

Secondly, I believe that salvation is of the Lord, because that's exactly what the language of the Bible says. Jonah 2 verse 9, salvation is of the Lord. What does that mean? It means exactly what you think it does. It means salvation is God's doing. Salvation is God's gift. Salvation is God's work.

He planned it. He purchased it. He performs it. He preserves it. He perfects it. And he'll have the praise of it. The salvation of the righteous is of the Lord. God himself has penned his glory to the saving of his people. He has done all these things for us. He's chosen us, blessed us, called us, redeemed us, sealed us, sanctified us, so that we might be to the praise of the glory of His grace. So that God has pinned the glory of His being on the salvation of His people.

Thirdly, I believe what men commonly nickname Calvinism. I don't like to use that term much. because I believe a whole lot more than John Calvin did about some things, and Calvin was in great error concerning things about which I cannot and will not go along with him. But men have nicknamed us Calvinists and nicknamed our doctrine Calvinism because those five grand old gospel truths commonly called Calvinism are despised by men.

The reason we are called Baptists is as a denomination, as a group of people, is because our enemies took the name Baptist, and they said, well, those folks insist on people being baptized as believers. We were first called Anabaptists, that is, re-baptizers, because we insisted that believers alone be baptized, and that those who were baptized are sprinkled as infants, once they're converted, must themselves be baptized and immersed in the name of Christ. And so we were known as Baptists, and we finally took the name, said, okay, we're proud of it. And we are by the sneer of the unbelieving, by the ridicule and the hiss of the Arminian freewill worksmonger called Calvinist. You fellas are Calvinists. I had a Campbellite, young Campbellite preacher come over here one time. He said, I don't guess you'll mind if I call you a Calvinist, will you? I said, no, as long as you don't mind if I call you a Campbellite.

That's because the doctrine is named after the man who most famously represents it. But the doctrine is not Calvinism in reality. The doctrine is not Reformation doctrine, not in reality. The doctrine is not Puritan doctrine, not in reality. The doctrine was established in the Word of God long before any of those men ever existed. We believe the doctrines of grace, these five glorious truths, because they're clearly set forth in Scripture. Total depravity.

Does the Word of God teach that? Let's just look at one text of scripture for each of these things, so we won't spend the whole evening here. Look at Jeremiah chapter 9. Jeremiah chapter 9. Total depravity. That simply means that man by nature and in the essence of his being, at heart, in the core of his being, in the core of his being, is utterly corrupt and depraved. Jeremiah chapter 17 and verse 9, the heart, yours and mine, yours and mine, everybody's heart, the heart of man, the heart of man, Jeremiah 17, 9 is deceitful, deceitful above all things. You think politicians are crooked? Get a look at your heart. You think, you think this business man, that business man's deceitful? Get a look at your heart. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately needed. Desperately needed.

I talked with Jack Shanks last night. He was a little distressed. They caught two teenage boys in their church buildings trying to burn the place down, and one of the fathers had just left Jack's, and he came over and told Jack, he said, He said, my boy is really a good boy, he just got in the wrong crowd. And Jack said, man, your boy is a devil at heart. He's a devil at heart. What makes him do what he does?

And the fact is, that's what we all are by nature. The heart, not a heart, the heart. The heart of mankind is deceitful above all things. Who can know it? Nobody does. The Word of God clearly, unmistakably teaches the doctrine then of total depravity and of unconditional election as well. Listen to what our Lord said in John chapter 15 and verse 16. John 15 verse 16. I could spend a lot of time here, but I've got to, I want to get to a specific point here in a minute. In John 15 verse 16, the Lord Jesus is speaking to his disciples.

And he says to these men, you have not chosen me, but I have chosen you. That language couldn't be much plainer than that, could it? Does the Bible teach election? Let's hear what the Savior said. You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you. Are we saved by our choice or by God's choice? Hear what the Bible says. You've not chosen me, but I have chosen you and ordained you that you should go and bring forth much fruit and that your fruit should remain.

The Bible clearly teaches the doctrine of limited atonement. Look in Isaiah chapter 53, Isaiah 53. Now let me remind you of a basic hermeneutic principle that honesty compels us to exercise. When you want to know what the Word of God teaches on a specific subject, go to the place in the Bible where that subject is taught.

You want to know for whom did Christ die? Read those passages of scripture that describe the death of Christ. You want to know for whom was atonement made? Read those passages of scripture relating to the sacrificial atonement of our Lord Jesus Christ. Here in Isaiah chapter 53, the most prominent passage in the Old Testament dealing with the atonement, the Lord God says concerning His Son, our Savior, He was taken from prison and from judgment, and who shall declare His generation?

For He was cut off out of the land of the living, get it now, For the transgression of my people was he stricken. For whose transgression? The transgression of my people. For what reason? To put away their sins. How did he do it? By the sacrifice of himself. And so our Lord Jesus, in his sacrifice, made an effectual atonement for a specific people. He says, I laid down my life for the sheep. He died for those same people for whom he prayed. And he says specifically that he refuses to pray for some, but he prays for those whom the Father has given him from the foundation of the world. Well, does the Bible teach the doctrine of irresistible grace? Does it plainly say it, or is that just something we've developed as a point of logic?

Listen to Psalm 110, verse 3. The Psalm is talking about the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of glory, who has ascended up into heaven, having finished the work of redemption. And the Father says to the Son in verse 1, Set thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool.

He doesn't say, sit at my right hand, and we'll hope, may be pretty pleased, your enemies will be your footstool. He should just sit down right here. There, everybody's going to bow to you. Everybody is going to bow to you. Your enemies will become your footstool, either seeking your mercy or crushed under the rod of your wrath. The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion. Rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. Now look at verse three. All right. Not those who shall be your people, thy people. Those who already are your people. Father, we were His before He came into the world. The Father gave us to Him. We were His by virtue of His redeeming work. He bought us.

Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power. The Holy Spirit comes and makes them willing and they come to Him by irresistible grace. What about the perseverance of the saints? Is it true that God's elect shall persevere until the end? Without question it is. This is what God says.

I've given to them eternal life and they shall never perish. No possibility. No matter who opposes them. No matter who comes against us. Those to whom God has given eternal life shall never perish. They're kept by the power of God. Now these great old gospel truths cannot be gainsaver. Let the religious world of rebels against God hoot and holler all they want to.

Bear the stand. Write on the pages of Holy Scripture, written in simple English, so that anybody who cares to read the Bible can discover these things written in the Word of God. I don't care what translation you get. I don't care which one you get. Go find any translation of the scriptures you want to. Even those translations that are most horribly distorted, plainly declare the things that I set before you this evening. The Word of God declares these truths in unmistakably clear language.

So basic and so clear are they that they cannot be denied. You might ask, well, Don, why do we insist upon these things with such dogmatic tenacity? Why is it that we draw these lines and say these things cannot be denied, these things we must uphold, these things all believers must embrace? How can you be so dogmatic? Number one, they're written in this book. That's how to be so dogmatic.

I'm not talking to you about some theory. I'm not talking to you about speculation. You bear me witness. Most of you have been listening to me preach three times a week for 15 years. I don't stand here and talk to you about what I think the Bible says.

I'm telling you exactly what the book of God says. I know these things are so, and I insist upon them because God has written them in His Word. Secondly, as I said earlier, the Lord God has penned His glory to these things. In the first chapter of Ephesians, the Apostle Paul describes the whole work of grace considered from heaven's viewpoint. He tells us how that God planned it, how that God, by the blood of his Son, has purchased it, and how that God, by the power of his Spirit, performs it in us and preserves it for us and in us. And then he says, he's done this, that we should be to the praise of his glory. so that God has penned the revelation of His glory upon the salvation of His people according to the riches of His grace in Christ. And secondly, or thirdly rather, we are dogmatically, tenaciously insistent upon these truths because they're vital to the gospel. Vital to the gospel. I do not suggest that a man or a woman must have a clear understanding of the doctrines of grace as we set them forth, these marvelous five points of grace, then a person must be able to recite those things, give the wide wherefore of it.

But I'm telling you this, nobody who believes God denies these truths. Nobody. It's not possible. It's not possible. A man or woman who looks up to heaven and says, God cannot, or God is trying. Ron asked me about this Sunday. We were chatting a little bit.

Folks say God's trying. No, God doesn't try. God doesn't try. God who tries might fail. God does. You understand the difference? God just does. And whatever God does is done. But a person who looks up in heaven and says, well, God wants, but He can't. God tried, but He failed. God willed, but somehow His will is not accomplished, doesn't know God.

Sovereignty is essential to the character of God. It's as essential to the character of God as is His holiness. Now somebody comes along and says, well, you certainly recognize that a man must believe that God is holy in order to be saved. No, he doesn't have to. have a clear enunciation and a clear theological grasp of God's holiness, who does?

But a man who denies that God is holy doesn't know God. You understand what I'm saying? And a man who denies that God is sovereign doesn't know God. What about this matter of total depravity? It is vital. A person must recognize that he's dead and utterly incapable of saving himself, or he'll never trust the Savior.

The Lord Jesus Christ has told us of God's unconditional election, and we recognize that salvation must be by God's choice, and that God's choice was made from eternity, and that God's choice made from eternity is an unalterable choice of His people unto life. The Lord Jesus Christ, in his redeeming work, has either redeemed his people from their sins, or he's a miserable failure, in which case he's not God. The Holy Spirit, when he calls, calls sinners by irresistible power and causes them to come to Christ, or else he's not God. And those who are saved by God's grace are saved forever. Now then, let's look back here at this text in Matthew 20 and verse 15 again. Here our Savior asserts his right as God's Savior.

Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? In the parable he is asserting that all things belong to God. It's all together up to Him. He can give some blessings to some and some to others, give all blessings to all, or He can give no blessings to anyone. It's all together up to Him. It's His. It's His.

Give me your attention and give me the liberty of dividing God's blessings and His gifts into five categories, and I'll wrap this up. And I'll show you plainly from the Scriptures and experience that God gives his gifts to men and women sovereignly. First, his gifts may be considered as temporal blessings. Oh, how men set their hearts on temporal blessings. But all temporal blessings are the gifts of God sovereignly bestowed upon men and women as God sees fit. Personal traits and abilities are given by God to men severally as he will. Sometimes people look at a young man, young woman, and say, well, you know, mama's smart, daddy's smart. Boy, that kid's going to be real smart. No. Hey, be nice. Look at mama and daddy. had a tough time in school. Mama, she had a tough time in school. Those kids all have a tough way to go. Oh no, sometimes the smartest kids come from there.

God gives his gifts as he will. Some folks are given strong physical constitutions. Some folks are given very weak physical constitutions. Some folks are given great abilities mechanically, others great abilities musically, others great abilities athletically, others have no abilities, these things like whatever. But God gives them as he will, as he will. Mental powers, God gives to whom he will. Earthly conditions, God distributes as he will.

We have been privileged in this land, in this society, to enjoy the bounty of God's creation. The bounty of God's creation. Some here have had to struggle, and now have a little measure of comfort. And I know some who've had considerable measures of comfort, and now have to struggle.

Because God gives the power to make rich, and God takes it away. It's His doing. It's altogether His doing. I know men who work hard, who work hard just to scratch out a living. I mean they work hard to scratch out a living. And I know other fellas who don't seem to have to work at all to make a fortune. How?

God does. God does. Don't set your heart on anything. God raises up and God casts down. God exalts and God abases. God gives help. God gives sickness, God gives life, and God brings death as He will. Do you understand that? Secondly, all the gifts of God's saving grace are bestowed upon sinners in this world according to God's sovereign purpose.

In Matthew chapter 11, our Lord Jesus describes how the gospel has come to some and hidden from others, and He said, Lord of heaven and earth, for thou hast hid these things from the wise and people. Now you listen to me a minute. It's our responsibility as the saints of God to devote ourselves to the proclamation and furtherance of the gospel of God's free grace.

But don't ever get frustrated because folks don't hear, or folks don't see, or folks don't respond. To some folks, God hides the truth, and they can't see it. Ron, you'd never see it if God had hidden it to you. You'd never see it, never understand it. You understand that? To others, he reveals it.

Our Lord Jesus came into this world and He took not on Him the nature of angels, and He took not hold of the seed of Adam, but He took on Him the seed of Abraham. He passed by everyone else and took hold of the seed of Abraham to save the seed of Abraham, His covenant people. The illustrations of God's sovereignty and the gifts of His grace are as bountiful as the pages of Holy Scripture.

I don't know of anyone ever standing up and defending the devil and saying God hadn't done right by the devil. But if there was anyone who had a reason to argue about God's sovereignty, it'd be Satan. And the demons of hell whom God has reserved in chains of darkness under the day of everlasting judgment, and he has given them no mercy, he's given them no grace, he sent no preacher to them, he's offered no terms of peace to them, he says you're dead forever.

And to the elect angels, he's preserved them. And nobody argues about that because they're not involved. God chose Israel, the fewest of all people, and selected that nation, the least of all nations. And for thousands of years, he left the whole Gentile world in utter darkness, paganism, idolatry, and superstition. He passed by the rest of the world and gave his word, his prophets, his ordinances, his oracles, only to Israel. But nobody gets upset with that. Nobody bothers about that because it doesn't involve them.

In Acts chapter 16, we read how that God, the Holy Spirit, would not allow Paul and Barnabas to carry the gospel to some, but he sent them to others. I travel around the world and folks ask me all the time, Why on earth has God been pleased to establish a gospel church in a little place like Danville, Kentucky? And in our town with millions of people all around us, we can't find a place to worship God where the gospel is preached. And my response is because God's pleased to send the light of the gospel where he will.

That's right. Don't ever cease to be astonished that he planted the light of truth in your presence. Don't ever cease to marvel at that. The Word of God is preached week after week, month after month, year after year, generation after generation. You know, give the same message under the same circumstances. Because God calls so.

I used to go to church with a friend of mine. His name was Tommy. He and I were buddies from first grade right on through high school, just about. Whatever I got into, he got into, because we was always together. Whatever he got into, I did. I sat about where Rex is. I came for the same reasons he did, because I wanted to see the little girl sitting there. We sat there beside our girlfriends.

And God got hold of my heart, and he left him in his sin. And the difference is not me, it's God's doing. You understand that? Your sons and daughters raised in the same family. God calls this one to pass you this reply. Abel and Cain, Isaac and Ishmael, God calls one, passes by another. God calls one, passes by another. God calls one, passes by another.

He has mercy on whom he will have mercy. The sovereign will of God alone creates us heirs of grace, born in the image of his Son, a new created race. Thirdly, in his own family, God sovereignly bestows his gifts upon his children as he will. Ephesians 4 tells us how that he has given to every man according to his will the measure of grace in Christ Jesus, gifted each of us to function in his body according to his purpose. 1 Corinthians chapter 12 talks about the various gifts God has given us.

Some are given greater knowledge and deeper experience than others. It's amazing to me as a preacher Pastor, sometimes I'll see folks who are converted and suddenly, suddenly God just, He seems to open them up and pour everything in. They open the Word, they just seem to get hold of it. They have deep experiences. They talk about things as though they were aged, seasoned believers when they've just been walking with the Lord a little while. And then there are some aged, seasoned believers It looks like maybe God's put an umbrella over them in Port Bethany.

They don't seem to get a hold of anything. And they learn a little here, a little there, and they're constantly wavering here and there. They're just not strong. They're not steadfast. They're not men and women who just grasp things and get a hold of them.

Because God gives to some and withholds from others. profound knowledge and deep experience of the knowledge of his grace. Some believers are gifted to serve as deacons, while others simply are not. The word deacon, it means servant or minister. Sometimes folks will take the word, the fact that Phoebe was referred to as a servant and say she was a deaconess. Not officially. But all believers are given various gifts. Some gifts by which to serve in differing capacities. And some have gifts that are not obviously gifts of service.

Some have the ability to just see things and pick them up and do them. That's what deacons do. They take care of things. Servants take care of things. But others don't seem to have the gift to handle things quite that way. They serve in other ways. Some have gifts of ministry in one area, and some have gifts of ministry in other areas. Some have many gifts, and some have just a few. Some are gifted to preach the gospel. Others are not. Even among preachers, gifts vary.

Some are eloquent, and some are analytical. You're going to hear these fellas next week. Some of them are just, they'll talk to you and they're just kind of spellbinders, you know. They'll tell you, you say, that's a stemwinder. Well, some fellas are just not stemwinders at all.

They're more analytical and they're opposed to things. Some are passionate in preaching. They preach up a ladder, kind of like I do. And some are cool and calculated. And they hardly raise their voice. Some are brilliant. And some are simple, just as simple as they can be for God's people. Hear them, hear them and the message given by them, not the method which the message is.

Fourthly, I can't fail to assert this also. Gifts of usefulness in this world are sovereignly dispensed to us as individuals and as a local church by God God honors those who honor Him, and God blesses faithfulness. But our usefulness in the hands of God is not determined by us. Now I hope you'll understand what I'm saying. I'm talking to you, our family here, and folks who hear this on tape, I hope they understand what I'm talking about. I don't know of a congregation anywhere in the world the size of this segment to whom God has given such opportunity has given us tremendous opportunities. I don't have any idea and I know you don't how many lives are touched every day but don't ever imagine that it's because of us.

God opens doors and God can shut them as quickly as he opens them. God makes this instrument useful for a while. And when God is pleased, he can take away the uselessness. And the whole of it, the whole of it is determined by God's purpose. So that if God is pleased to make us useful, let us serve him faithfully.

And Larry, it looks like God doesn't use us for anything. You understand the import of that? Sometimes we get to doing things and we get to looking at what was, and we say, boy, now, now the Lord's in this. And we kind of get inspired because we see things happening when you don't see anything happening.

God faithfulness. Our usefulness is determined by you. And lastly, gifts of spiritual comfort are distributed among God's saints. Some believers have assurance, and some seem never to have any. I don't know. I hear folks say, well, if you doubt, you're damned. And others say, if you don't, you're damned. trust God and panic. There's no question about that.

But somehow in this world, believers have ups and downs. Genuine believers struggle with a matter of assurance and confidence before God. Some have assurance all their lives, and then when they come to the end of their lives, don't have any. Some have no assurance all their lives, and when they come to the end of their lives, God just overwhelms them with Our friend, Brother Harry Graham, all his life, he had absolute unshaken assurance of his acceptance of God.

He told me once when I was a young man, I was 19, 20 years old. He said, Don, I was talking to him about assurance. I was struggling with it. He said, Don, I don't know what to tell you. I've never had a doubt that God saved me since the day he saved me. I've never had a question about it. And I'm confident he's a gentleman of truth. I'm confident he was.

I call him now. And bless his heart, he can't find any people. He just can't. He's had several strokes. Somehow it's affected his mind and affected his temperament. He's the same man. But that too has caused problems. Another man I read about several years ago, He knew that it was getting close to the time for him to die, and he sent out messages for his family.

He wanted all of his sons to come, because they had never experienced the grace of God, never professed faith in Christ. And he said, I want my boys to be here and watch me die, so they can be convinced, they can be convinced as they watch me die, that this thing is real. And they all came. Three of them. And their father, was filled with terror as he left this world. But God's still in charge.

After the boys married their father, the older boy called the other two together and he said to his brothers, if it was so hard for our father to die, and you know what kind of man he was, you know how he believed and served our God. If it was so hard for him to die, how will it be for us who never trusted the And those three boys, as a result of their father's terror on his deathbed, were brought to faith in Christ.

I say that to make you understand God does what he will every day. Now then, who maketh thee to be any of them? What hast thou? Now if you received it, why do you glorify it as it is? Our Father, bless your word to the hearts of these who have heard it, for the glory of your Son and the comfort and edification of your people.

I pray for Ron, Larry, and these men who will be preaching to us during the conference next week. We grant you special blessings upon them. And we pray for your blessings upon the ministry at Mount Bethel. I pray that you'll gather such as you have to hear the word, make it effectual for the glory of your son, for the good of your people. We thank you for every open door of ministry you've given us, and we ask our Father that you will be pleased to make us faithful in all things. Bless the labors of our hands for the glory of your son. For Christ's sake I pray.

Divine Sovereignty

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Why is God's sovereignty important for Christians?

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Divine Sovereignty

What does the Bible say about divine sovereignty?

How do we know God's sovereignty is true?

Why is God's sovereignty important for Christians?

Sermon Transcript

About Don Fortner

Comments

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