What’s So Great About The Sovereignty Of God? # 3

Isaiah 6: 1-5

Last week:

We began looking at some examples of God’s sovereignty in action

1/ God sovereignly guides us in His purposes for our lives, for His glory
Example: God guiding Abraham and Sarah in the Negev

2/ God sovereignly blesses us in His purposes for our lives, for His glory
Example: God blessing Israel as they left the slavery of Egypt

Here are some more examples of God’s sovereignty in action

3/ God sovereignly protects us from danger in His purposes for our lives, for His glory

Romans 9: 17-18 ‘God chooses to show mercy to some, and He chooses to harden the hearts of others so they refuse to listen’

Example: Exodus 14: 5-8

8 ‘God (sovereignly) hardened the heart of Pharaoh…so he chased after the people of Israel’

Exodus 14: 13-14, 31

13 ‘watch the Lord rescue you today’ 14 ‘the Lord Himself will fight for you’

31 ’they (the people of God) were filled with awe…they put their faith in the Lord’

Do you think God is capable of protecting you from danger?

Yes, of course!

Today, we don’t have the Egyptians chasing after us to kill us, but there are all different kinds of dangers that God sovereignly protects us from

Testimony: As a young kid with my friend Noel/ setting containers of solvent on fire in his father’s garage – could have blown ourselves up!

Even though I wasn’t a Christian at that time/God protected me from danger

I have always remembered this and it has inspired my faith in the sovereignty of God

4/ God will sovereignly save Israel in His purposes, for His glory

You might be thinking “what has Israel got to do with me?”

More than you think?

God chose Israel to be His people that they would be a blessing to all the nations of the Earth (Genesis 12: 1-3)

Since Israel’s beginning 4, 000 years ago the devil has done all he could to destroy Israel

In the last World War alone (1939-1945) 3 million Israelis (Jews) were destroyed by the Nazis

This evil world hates Israel and the Jewish people

The Great Apostle Paul said

Romans 10: 1 ‘Dear brothers and sisters, the longing of my heart and my prayer to God is for the people of Israel to be saved’
Dear Friends, Israel will not be destroyed, God’s sovereign Grace has been upon Israel since its beginning

And by His sovereign Grace Israel will be saved

Romans 11: 26-31

It was in this knowledge that the Apostle Paul went on to extoll the sovereignty of God!

Romans 11: 33-36

Dear Friends, because of the existence of Israel today and God’s unfailing promise to save Israel tomorrow we can be fully assured that God is sovereign in our salvation too!

5/ God sovereignly promotes His people into positions of influence in His purposes, for His glory

Proverbs 3: 5-6 ‘Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. 6 Seek His will in all you do, and He will show you which path to take’.

Proverbs 15: 24a ‘The path of life leads upward for the wise’

Example: God sovereignly promoted Daniel, a Jewish refugee, to become the Ruler of Babylon

Daniel 1: 9, 2: 21a, 2: 48

Dear friends, you can work hard your whole life for promotions and more money, but still die a ‘nobody’, with nothing!

But, with God’s sovereign blessing your life, your ‘path’ will lead upwards!

Next time: more examples of God’s sovereignty in action

What’s So Great About The Sovereignty Of God? # 2

Isaiah 6: 1-5

Last week: we learned that Isaiah v1 ‘saw the Lord’ – the Sovereign God

The key verse, in the New Testament, which helps us to understand the sovereignty of God is

Romans 11: 36 ‘For everything comes from Him and (everything) exists by His power and is (everything) intended for His glory’.

We can define the meaning of ‘sovereignty’ like this:

God is the Creator of everything and controls everything for His purposes and for His glory

This week:

V1 ‘It was in the year King Uzziah died that I saw the Lord’

Who is this dude Uzziah?

Uzziah was one of Israel’s greatest kings who ruled over the southern province of Judah.

He reigned in Judah for 52 years beginning in 768 B.C at the young age of 16 (2 Kings 15: 2, 2 Chronicles 26: 3)

He died in 716 B.C (2 Chronicles 26: 1-23)

In the beginning he was a God fearing man

During his reign as king he led Israel into a time of economic growth and territorial expansion

At the end of his life he became proud of all his success and sinned against God and died of leprosy

Even though Uzziah was a great King in Israel, he had no ‘business’/right to be the king over God’s people

To understand this we need to go back to the time of the Judges

In the time of Samuel, the great man of God and ‘Judge’ of Israel, the people of God demanded of him that he appoint a king for them

They did this because they were in rebellion against God and wanted to be like the other pagan nations around them (1 Samuel 8: 1-9)

This is not a new problem

The first man – Adam, did the same thing (Genesis 3: 1-6)

He rejected God’s sovereignty and we all know how that turned out!!!

Now, the sinful nature that we all inherited from Adam does the same thing

The sinful nature rejects the sovereignty of God

Romans 8: 7 ‘For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will’

The sinful nature says: “This is my Life and I am the Master of my own destiny”

That is so funny!

What do you think God says about that?

Psalm 2

Here’s the problem:

We are very quick to reject God’s sovereignty in our Life and replace it with a different sovereignty of our liking

Here’s the lesson:

There is only One Sovereign and it’s not you and it’s not me, it’s not Justin Bieber or any other ‘celebrity’, it’s not any politician, it’s not Barak Obama, it’s not the Dalai Lama, it’s not the Pope and it’s not Buddha, it’s not Allah, and it’s not money!

If there is another Sovereign in your life other than the Lord – it needs to die!

V1 ‘It was in the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord’

Here are some more examples of God’s sovereignty in action:

1/ God sovereignly guides us in His purposes for our lives, for His glory

Proverbs 16: 9 ‘People may make plans in their minds, but the Lord decides what they will do’

Proverbs 19: 21, Proverbs 21: 1, James 4: 13-16

Example: Abraham and Sarah and King Abimelech
Genesis 20: 1-7 ‘Abraham moved south to the Negev and lived for a while between Kadesh and Shur, and then he moved on to Gerar. While living there as a foreigner, 2 Abraham introduced his wife, Sarah, by saying, “She is my sister.” So King Abimelech of Gerar sent for Sarah and had her brought to him at his palace.
3 But that night God came to Abimelech in a dream and told him, “You are a dead man, for that woman you have taken is already married!”
4 But Abimelech had not slept with her yet, so he said, “Lord, will you destroy an innocent nation? 5 Didn’t Abraham tell me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘Yes, he is my brother.’ I acted in complete innocence! My hands are clean.”
6 In the dream God responded, “Yes, I know you are innocent. That’s why I kept you from sinning against me, and why I did not let you touch her. 7 Now return the woman to her husband, and he will pray for you, for he is a prophet. Then you will live. But if you don’t return her to him, you can be sure that you and all your people will die.”

Do you think God is capable of guiding your Life?

Yes, of course, don’t fight against His will or else He might hurt you! (V7)

2/ God sovereignly blesses us in His purposes for our lives, for His glory

Matthew 6: 31-33 ‘So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ 32 These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. 33 Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and He will give you everything you need’.

Example: God commands Moses to lead the people of God out of slavery from Egypt and take them to the Promised Land (Israel)

Exodus 3: 19-22 “But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand forces him. 20 So I will raise My hand and strike the Egyptians, performing all kinds of miracles among them. Then at last he will let you go. 21 And I will cause the Egyptians to look favorably on you. They will give you gifts when you go so you will not leave empty-handed. 22 Every Israelite woman will ask for articles of silver and gold and fine clothing from her Egyptian neighbors and from the foreign women in their houses. You will dress your sons and daughters with these, stripping the Egyptians of their wealth.”

Do you think God is capable of blessing you?

Yes, of course, put God’s will for your Life first, not money, and He will provide everything you need (V21)

What’s So Great About The Sovereignty Of God? # 1

Isaiah 6: 1-5

Over the years you have heard me talk about the Sovereignty of God

Maybe you have thought to yourself:

“Ok Pastor David, what’s so great about the Sovereignty of God”?

Now it’s time to answer the question:

Ok, let me begin

1a ‘I saw the Lord’

The word ‘Lord’, is an English word, and is used 6, 887 times in the Bible (New Living Translation)

The Old Testament was not written in English, it was written in Hebrew

What Isaiah actually said was, 1a ‘I saw YHWH’

YHWH is the sacred Name of God (Tetragrammaton)

The Hebrew people refused to speak the sacred name of God

So, they substituted the name YHWH with the name ‘Adonai’

‘Adonai’, in Hebrew, means God is Sovereign

Isaiah was saying 1a ‘I saw the Sovereign God’

“Yeah but, Pastor David, what’s the big deal about that”?

Uh uh, let me continue

The best New Testament single verse (in my opinion) description of the Sovereignty of God is

Romans 11: 36 ‘For everything comes from Him and exists by His power and is intended for His glory.’

Based on this verse we can define the Sovereignty of God like this:

God is the Creator of everything (‘everything comes from Him’) and controls everything for His purposes and for His glory (‘and exists by His power and is intended for His glory.’)

Isaiah said 1a ‘I saw the Lord’ – the Sovereign God

So, here’s a question; who exactly did Isaiah see?

He can’t have seen the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit, who is God, is invisible

Acts 5: 3-4 ‘…You lied to the Holy Spirit…You weren’t lying to us but to God!’

He can’t have seen the Father, who is God, because, like the Holy Spirit, the Father is invisible too

John 1: 18 ‘No one has ever seen God. But the unique One, who is Himself God, is near to the Father’s heart. He has revealed God to us’

John 4: 23-24 ‘But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship Him that way. 24 For God is Spirit, so those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth.’

Isaiah must have seen Jesus – the Sovereign God!

Colossians 1: 15 ‘Christ is the visible image of the invisible God’

Jude 1: 4 ‘…Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.’
Here are a few examples of God’s Sovereignty in action:

1/ God sovereignly created everything and everything exists by His power and is intended for His glory

Revelation 4: 11 “You are worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power. For You created all things, and they exist because You created what You pleased.”

2/ God sovereignly guides human history causing it to exist by His power and intended for His glory

Acts 17: 26-28a ‘From one man He created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand when they should rise and fall, and He determined their boundaries. 27 “His purpose was for the nations to seek after God…For in Him we live and move and exist’.

3/ God sovereignly chose Israel (His Old Testament People) to exist by His power and intended for His glory

Beginning with Abraham

Genesis 12: 1-3 The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. 3 I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.”

Deuteronomy 7: 6 ’for you are a holy people, who belong to the LORD your God. Of all the people on earth, the LORD your God has chosen you to be his own special treasure’

Sadly, Israel rejected the Lord.

The Lord has (temporarily) rejected Israel and given their special ‘calling’, to glorify Him, to the Gentiles – that’s us!

Matthew 21: 43 ‘So I tell you that God’s kingdom will be taken away from you (Israel). It will be given to people who do what God wants in His kingdom’ (English Revised Version)

4/ God sovereignly chooses us for salvation to exist by His power and intended for His glory

Jesus described our salvation like this:
John 6: 37-39 ‘those the Father has given Me will come to Me, and I will never reject them. 38 For I have come down from heaven to do the will of God who sent Me, not to do My own will. 39 And this is the will of God, that I should not lose even one of all those He has given me, but that I should raise them up at the last day.’

John 6: 44 ‘No one is able to come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day’.

John 6: 65b ‘people can’t come to Me unless the Father gives them to Me.’

Here’s a few examples:

Acts 13: 48b ‘and all who were chosen for eternal life became believers’.

Acts 16: 14b ‘As she listened to us, the Lord opened her heart, and she accepted what Paul was saying’

The great Apostle Paul described our salvation like this:

2 Timothy 2: 10 ‘I am willing to endure anything if it will bring salvation and eternal glory in Christ Jesus to those God has chosen’

Romans 9: 18-24

22 ‘…destined for destruction’

23 ‘…prepared in advance for glory.’

24 ‘we are among those whom He selected, both from the Jews and from the Gentiles’

Ephesians 1: 4-5

Ephesians 1: 11b ‘He chose us in advance…-14

“What’s so great about the Sovereignty of God”?

Romans 11: 36 ‘For everything comes from Him and exists by His power and is intended for His glory.’