God's Sovereignty and Man's Freedom
“WHO IS LIKE THE LORD OUR GOD?”
(Isaiah 40:25-31)
Introduction: Who is God to you?
“Your thoughts of God are too human” (Martin Luther)
“The trouble with many people today is that they have not found a God big enough for modern needs. While their experience of life has grown in a score of directions, and their mental hori- zons have been expanded to the point of bewilderment by world events and by scientific discov- eries, their ideas of God have remained largely static” (J.B. Phillips, Your God is too Small)
Illustration: Recent Barna Study on “The State of the Church”
“Over the past 20 years we have seen the nation’s theological views slowly become less aligned with the Bible. Americans still revere the Bible and like to think of themselves as Bible-believing people, but the evidence suggests otherwise. Christians have increasingly been adopting spiritu- al views that come from various faith and philosophical traditions (e.g. Isalm, secular human- ism, the eastern religions and other sources). Because we remain a largely Bible-illiterate socie- ty, few are alarmed or even aware of the slide toward syncretism – a belief system that blindly combines beliefs from many different faith perspectives.”
Barna indicated that the communication of a Christian heritage from one generation to the next appears to be rapidly frittering away. “Our continuing research among teenagers and adoles- cents shows that the trend away from adopting biblical theology in favor of syncretic, culture-based theology is advancing at full gallop.”
61% of practicing young Christians embrace at least one of the ideas rooted in “New Spiritu- ality.”
All people pray to the same god or spirit, no matter what name they use for that spiritual be- ing.
If you do good, you will receive good. If you do bad, you will receive bad.
God helps those who help themselves.
In a post-Christian society, transcendent foundations are constantly being challenged. Reli- ance on the authority of the Scripture is eroding. Where such a culture used to point to God and the Bible as the “ultimate authority,” it now points to some vague and counterfeit versions of “truth.” More than anything else, what we truly need today is a faithful preaching and teaching of God’s word so that we would know who God is (until that knowledge is once more worthy of him).
J.I. Packer has written,
“Disregard the study of God and you sentence yourself to stumble and blunder 1
through life, blindfold as it were, with no sense of direction and no under- standing of what’s around you. This way, you can waste your life and lose your soul.”
I couldn’t agree more with Packer. If we are to navigate these strange, con-
fusing times safely and well, we need to have a robust biblical understanding of God and Isaiah 40 is one place that helps us to do precisely that.
Overview of Isaiah 40: (1) The Good News of Comfort – Isa. 40:1-11; (2) The Great God of Comfort – Isa. 40:12-26; (3) The Gracious Gift of Comfort – Isa. 40:27-31.
I have to say that as I studied the Sovereignty of God, I found no more defining a statement as that made by A.W. Pink.
“The Sovereignty of God. What do we mean by this expression? We mean the supremacy of God, the kingship of God, the ‘God-hood’ of God. To say that God is Sovereign is to declare that God is God. To say that God is Sovereign is to declare that He is the Most High, doing according to His will in the army of Heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth, so that none can stay His hand or say unto Him what doest Thou? (Dan. 4:35). To say that God is Sovereign is to declare that He is the Almighty, the Possessor of all power in Heaven and earth, so that none can defeat His counsels, thwart His purpose, or resist His will (Psa. 115:3)...”
The sovereignty of God is the bedrock doctrine of our theology – we have to confess that God is God and there is no one like him; That God is God and we are not.
I. The Reality of God’s Sovereignty (Psalm 103:19)
God’s sovereignty refers to his PREEMINENCE over all (creation and redemption), his PRES- ENCE in this world and his POWER that sustains, controls and governs this world. The sovereignty of God is absolute, infinite and immutable. Nothing happens apart from his knowledge and will.
Isaiah asked, “To whom then will you liken God” (40:18); God asked, “To whom then will you compare me?” (40:25).
A. God’ssovereigntyisestablishedintheheavens
“The Lord has established his throne in the heavens” (Psalm 103:19a)
God’s throne (His rule) is fixed and firm. His dominion is not vacillating and changing. “God’s reign is not, like the reign of earthly monarchs, dependent on the capriciousness of a changeable will, or on passion; nor is it liable to be altered by death, by revolution, or a new dynasty. The throne of God is ever the same, and nothing can shake or overthrow it.” (Albert Barnes)
B. God’ssovereigntyisenduringandeternal
“...And His kingdom rules” (Psalm 103:19b)
He is not a passive spectator. He is actively involved in the affairs of his world. Now, the Scrip- ture shows us the sovereignty of God in action. We see it in living color in the situations, locations
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and relationships in his word.
The sovereignty of God shows itself in...
His originating and ongoing work. Genesis 1:1 gives us a window on the abso- lute sovereignty of God (God asked, “lift up your eyes on high and see, who created these?” – 40:26).
His redeeming work. He demonstrated it when he delivered his people from Egypt. God used the liberation of his people out of slavery to display the grand, expansive glory of his sovereign- ty, not just for the Egyptians and the Israelites, but for every generation to follow who would read the history of this moment in his word. The great exodus of the OT foreshadows the “greater exodus” that Jesus accomplished for his people.
His governing work – “He sits above the circle of the earth” (Isa. 40:22). Notice God’s interven- tion, “[God] brings princes to nothing and makes rulers of the earth as emptiness” (Isa. 40:23). Our sovereign Lord rules the times and seasons of history. He puts “kings” in place and brings them down. No human authority has ultimate authority. Every human leader has limited sover- eignty for a limited time. Every human authority exists and continues under the authority of God (e.g. Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 4; Lucifer in Isaiah 14:13-14 – See also verse 15 “but you are BROUGHT DOWN to Sheol”).
C. God’s sovereignty extends to all creation
“...Over all!” (Psalm 103:19c)
As we think of the sovereignty of God, we should think of him as SUPREME (The Most High God – No one is greater than him and He has no equal).
II. Our Response to God’s Sovereignty
If God is sovereign (in-charge and in control of all things), what does it do with man’s free- dom?
We could adopt:
Humanistic/Libertarian view – Actions of men are completely random, accidental, and haphaz- ard.
Deterministic view (fatalist) – We are not really free and actually everything is already deter- mined.
NONE of the above options accord with God’s word. Tim Keller explains the relationship of God’s sovereignty to our free will in this way – “God’s plan works through our choices, not around or in spite of them. For example, God sets His plan by rendering our choices certain and yet doing so without destroying our responsibility.”
D.A. Carson explains the “compatibility” of God’s sovereignty and human freedom: On the one hand, “God is absolutely sovereign, but his sovereignty never functions in such a way that hu- man responsibility is curtailed, minimized, or mitigated.” On the other hand, “Human beings are
morally responsible creatures - they significantly choose, rebel, obey, believe, de- fy, make decisions, and so forth, and they are rightly held accountable for such ac- tions; but this characteristic never functions so as to make God absolutely contin- gent (dependent on something outside himself).”
We must recognize that all people have freedom in the compatibilist sense.
Adam before the Fall acted according to his desires, which then were godly. After the fall, sinners still act according to their desires, but those desires, decisions and deeds are sinful. That’s why, pre- dominantly, freedom in Scripture is understood as “freedom from the bondage of sin.” In this sense, fallen man is in bondage - we inherited from Adam a sinful nature and a propensity to sin – apart from Christ, we are not able to avoid sinning. Only the grace of Christ can set us free (John 8:32).
God’s absolute sovereignty establishes human freedom! Understanding the sovereignty of God is liberating.
It frees us to RECEIVE our identity from him (in and through Christ).
It frees us to REST our salvation and of our loved ones in his hands.
It frees us to REJOICE in him “when sorrow like sea billows roll.” This is a doctrine that gives us hope in every sorrow, meaning to every pain and gives us confidence in every circum- stance.
It frees us to RELY on him as we proclaim the Gospel, knowing that He can use weak vessels like us to redeem His people.
It frees us to REVERE him who alone is God!
Conclusion: The theology of God’s sovereignty always leads us to Jesus.“There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, Mine!” (Abraham Kuyper)
Jesus’ kingdom is established forever
“But of the Son He says,“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, And the righteous scepter isthe scepter of His kingdom” (Hebrews 1:8)
“And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end” (Luke1:33)
Jesus is exercising his rule now and forever (the already and not-yet dynamic of Christ’s rule)
“Jesus said, ‘all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.’” (Matthew 28:18)
“God raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heav- enly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church.” (Eph. 1:20–22)
Jesus’ rule extends to all creation
“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him
all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible,
whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities - all things were cre-
ated through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all
things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.” (Colossians 1:15-18)
The sovereignty of God should cause us to humble ourselves before him. It should reinforce the certainty of our belief that God is God – He is the great God who sits on his throne and rules over all. Stand in awe of him. Our theology should lead to doxology – say with Paul “For from Him, through Him and for Him are all things. To him be the glory forever, Amen.” (Romans 11:36). And our theology should lead to application, “offer your bodies as living sacrifices” (Rom. 12:1-2). Be saved in Christ. Be surrendered and satisfied in Christ. Jesus reigns! Soli Deo Gloria (SDG)!
February 12, 2023/Dr. Jerome David