THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD

Arthur W. Pink

The sovereignty of God is an expression that once was generally understood. It was a phrase commonly used in religious literature. It was a theme frequently expounded in the pulpit. It was a truth which brought comfort to many hearts and gave virility and stability to Christian character. But today, to make mention of God's sovereignty is, in many quarters, to speak in an unknown tongue. Were we to announce from the average pulpit that the subject of our discourse would be the sovereignty of God, it would sound very much as though we had borrowed a phrase from one of the dead languages. Alas! that it should be so. Alas! that the doctrine which is the key to history, the interpreter of providence, the warp and woof of scripture, and the foundation of Christian theology should be so sadly neglected and so little understood.

The "Sovereignty of God." What do we mean by this expression? We mean the SUPREMACY of God, the KINGSHIP of God, the GODHOOD 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, nor resist His will (Psa. 115:3). To say that God is sovereign is to declare that He is "the governor among the nations" (Psa. 22:28), setting, up kingdoms, overthrowing empires, and determining the course of dynasties as pleases Him best. To say that God is sovereign is to declare that He is the "only potentate, the King of kings, and the Lord of lords" (I Tim. 6:15). Such is the God of the Bible.

Too many people today want God to take care of them, but also want to keep themselves in the position of sovereignty over their lives.

The soverignty of God.

My view. (hope this isn't a threadjack)

From Genesis

3:16 To the woman he said, “I will greatly increase your labor pains; with pain you will give birth to children. You will want to control your husband, but he will dominate49 you.”

Rumor has it that childbirth is painful and women are control freaks (I'll submit typical discussions in GD or the Team Forum as evidence for the truth of the last part).

3:17 But to Adam he said, “Because you obeyed your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you,  ‘You must not eat from it,’ cursed is the ground thanks to you; in painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.

Rumor has it that we do eat after painful toil (except maybe welfare recipients).

3:18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, but you will eat the grain of the field.

Rumor has it that they have to pay you to show up to work. And if they didn't pay you, you won't eat (except maybe welfare recipients).

3:19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat food until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you will return.”

We're gonna work til we die. Rumor has it that this is true. Rumor has it that everybody dies to.


I'm pointing out this strange passage to suggest the following: God is soverign and what he said still goes for everybody (those that believe in him and those that don't) in spite of our computers, medicine, snake oil, rogaine, cars, tractors, internet, guns, pocketknives, air conditioning, cable TV, plastic surgery, gym memberships, etc.....

So tomorrow morning on the way to work when you are stuck in the traffic jam and see all of the brake lights, remember, God said your gonna work along with everybody else, and there you are along with everybody else, and what God says, happens in every facet of our life, in spite of our best efforts.

AW Pink's works are some of the best I've ever read.

Quoted: Too many people today want God to take care of them, but also want to keep themselves in the position of sovereignty over their lives.

... The sentiment isn't unique to those in our lifetime, it's been prolific throughout the entire history of organized religion