The Sovereignty of GodHave you ever watched the movie the Matrix? There is a certain part where Morpheus asks, “Neo, do you believe in fate?” Neo says, “No. I want to believe I am in control.” This is what a lot of people want to believe. But we all know, even from childhood, that God is in control. When one kid gets too dictatorial a common charge is, “Who made you God?” Everyone knows what it means to be God - to be sovereign over His creation.
Who has the "free-will"?
It is often insisted upon among modern evangelical's that man has a "free-will," but does he? Is this a clear Biblical teaching or an assumption taught in the pulpits of many Churches as Biblical fact?
I would hope that it is understood that only God has a truly free-will. Free-will implies the ability to do whatever one wants. Obviously, only a Sovereign God has that ability:
"But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased." (Psalm 115:3; See also Psalm 135:6).Contrary to arminian thinking, man is not free to do what he will and also what he won't. In other words, a man that is a "slave" to sin will not choose contrary to what his will is enslaved too. Jonathan Edwards said this, "A man never, in any instance, wills anything contrary to his desires, or desires anything contrary to his will" (Freedom of the Will, Pg. 139).Unregenerate man, the man not born again, is a "slave" to sin (Romans 6:6, 17; John 8:34). His will is enslaved, certainly not free.
Predestination: God’s sovereignty in salvation
God certainly has the freedom to have "mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom He will He hardeneth." (Romans 9:18). Since the fall of Adam in the garden, God is under no obligation to save anyone, for the just punishment of sin is death and seperation from God. For God "spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;" (2 Peter 2:4).
God predestined some of fallen mankind unto salvation before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4; 2 Thess. 2:13). Salvation is "not of him that willeth" but of God "that sheweth mercy." (Romans 9:16).
Our God is indeed merciful. We don't get what we should, but get what we don't deserve, salvation. Amazing Grace!
To learn more, see some of these excellent links:
The Sovereignty of God
By John MurrayObjections to God's
Sovereignty Answered
by Arthur W. PinkIf God is Sovereign,
Why do Anything?
By Matt PermanThe Sovereignty of God
By Matt PermanThe Sovereignty of
God in Salvation
By Robert DeffinbaughThe Sovereignty of
God and Prayer
by John PiperThe Sole Consideration,
that God is God,
Sufficient to Still All
Objections to His
Sovereignty
by Jonathan Edwards
Return back to Yet Another Reformed Resource !