2/17/20
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| In loving memory of my father Robert Louis (Bob) Padgett July 28, 1931-May 22, 2023 |
In this message we will continue sharing with you about the sovereignty of God and man's responsibility ... how those two things fit together. In our previous message, Part 1 of the Sovereignty of God, I heavily emphasized that the Lord can do everything all by Himself. I also briefly mentioned that He also delights to use man from time to time. Ephesians 4 says that when Jesus ascended He gave gifts unto men in the form of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. Those verses also tell us the purpose of those gifts, namely "for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, until we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:" From those verses we can conclude that the purpose of any minister is to minister himself out of a job, not simply to perpetuate it. The government of God must always be moving away from man's shoulders to the Lord's shoulders (Isaiah 9:6). That is one of many examples of the Lord's plan and purpose to use each one of His chosen people from time to time. Jesus said, in
So the Lord gave His chosen people their request ... to hear from man rather than hear from God. That characteristic of the Lord's people is still true to some degree. A long time ago I read that there is no constitutional basis for a Department of Education. But we ship our children off to schools and let other teachers teach our children natural subjects. Then we ship our children off to college where they can receive a worldly education in order to get a worldly job which pays a good worldly sum of money. Today about all of the visible difference between heathens and Christians is that most Christians go to a church gathering once a week on Sunday to repeat what they did the previous Sunday. No wonder that we Christians in America are not persecuted for righteousness sake (yet). The world sees no need to persecute us.
Further, when the Lord rained down manna from heaven for 40 years in the wilderness, He told the Israelites to gather it six days and on the sixth day to collect a double portion because no manna would fall on the Sabbath day, because the Sabbath was a day of rest. Watchman Nee, in his book "Assembling Together," on page 75 says: "Nowhere in the Bible can we find a Christian Sabbath day, for these two are contradictory. If we are Christians, then there is no Sabbath. If there is a Sabbath, then we are not Christians. The Sabbath belongs to the Old Testament. In the New Testament it has passed away." Let me suggest to you a further prophetic significance of the Sabbath. The six days to gather manna speak of the 6,000 years in the history of man on earth. And the seventh day speaks of the Millennium when all overcomers enter into His complete rest ... the final day of jubilee ... the day when there will no longer be works of the flesh ... the final Feast of Tabernacles with an ingathering of souls the like of which man has never seen. That certainly is a good example of the sovereignty of God and His Divine order in all things. How many overcomers will there be in these end times? only the Lord knows. But Scripture is very clear that the Lord Jesus never worked with a multitude.
Let us consider Verse 1. These words of the Lord through the prophet Isaiah are certainly very positive and encouraging. But to whom is the Lord speaking here in Verse 1? If we take the verse literally, the Lord is speaking to Jacob and/or Israel. But Jacob had died almost 1000 years earlier, so it is not likely that the Lord is speaking to Jacob. Further, Isaiah's ministry never was to Israel, the Northern kingdom, but to Judah and Jerusalem. So the Lord was not speaking to the natural Israel of that day. Could it be that this is a prophetic word that has no time or cultural limits?
Could this be a word for believers today? YES! It is a prophetic word for all (former) Jews and all Gentiles throughout all ages of time who have received or will receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Could it also be a word for the natural Israel of today? not very likely, at least not for the nation as a whole. The Lord does not redeem those who consistently reject Him. To believe otherwise gets us very quickly into the heresy of ultimate reconciliation.
Jacob in Scripture represents the natural man, perhaps even the morally good, religious man, who unfortunately has no personal relationship with the Lord. Israel speaks of the redeemed man, the spiritual man, the man (or woman) who has been born again and baptized with the Holy Ghost, i.e., equipped with the necessary weapons for the journey and ministry on this earth. This is called justification in the Bible. There are dozens of scriptures which bear record of this truth. Jacob is created but Israel is formed and made.
Please note that the Lord says that He has redeemed (spiritual) Israel. That is past tense, not future tense. It does not say, "I will redeem thee." Paul uses the same past tense when he says,
How can these things be? We do not know. It is a mystery. But God lives in eternity. We live in time.
First of all, note that this verse applies to Israel, not Jacob. The Bible calls this process sanctification. It is true that God arranges all of our circumstances, our environment, etc., in order to bring us from Jacob to Israel, provided that we are willing to cooperate with Him, of course. This verse describes what happens after we become part of Israel or AFTER we are born from above.
Please note that the verse says "WHEN," not "if." In other words this is a promise. After Israel, the spiritual man, has been formed and equipped, we are PROMISED to go through trials, tribulations, sufferings, rejections, persecutions, etc. Perhaps we should note that there are three levels of sufferings, trials, and rejections ... first, within our own natural-level families. My wife has experienced that in a huge manner. Her father cut her out of his will because many years ago we gave away to a needy Christian family an old car that was worth a few hundred dollars. Her father was afraid that she would give away part of his empire to the "church" so she never received one penny from her father's estate, although her rightful share of his estate would have been at least one-half of a million dollars ... a long, sad story. Neither she nor I cared about the money. But rejection from your own father is one of the most severe forms of persecution.
Today we Christians in America know little about the persecution from without the church. However we do have persecution within the church. Historically, scripturally, and experientially that has always been true. David said, in
More importantly, note that when we walk through the fire ... when we submit ourselves to the dealings of the Holy Ghost, the Lord promises to be with us. Jesus said, "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee" (Hebrews 13:5). That sounds very much like Daniel in the lions' den and the three Hebrews in the fiery furnace.
Who is "even every one that is called by my name"? You and me ... believers throughout every age. Verses 1 and 7 cannot refer to Jesus because Jesus was not created. He was with God in the beginning before the world was or before man ever existed.
Here we see three action verbs, compared to only two in Verse 1, above. The one that has been added is the word "made." The "making" part is as a result of Verses 2-6. We can speak of the "making" as the "walking out process" called "sanctification." This is what Paul refers to when he says,
In what is called the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32), note that the prodigal son was still a son. He is symbolic of a carnal Christian ... one who refused (at first) to submit to the dealings of the Holy Spirit in his life ... one who did not like the process of "making." In verse 12 of Luke 15, this prodigal son says "give me," symbolic of the selfish, carnal attitude. BUT, the grace and mercy and love of God was at work in his life, and God arranged for hard times to come upon him, such that this son repented and returned unto his father. Then he said, in verse 19, "make me." He was ready to be made into the vessel that God intended for him to become. He was ready to walk through the rivers and through the fire.
We believers try to change those verses to read MY body, MY hope, MY faith, and MY baptism. Most doctrinal errors arise when we try to interpret Scripture from our perspective, as it relates to us, independent of Jesus. But it is His body, His hope, His faith, and His baptism.
What is the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus? It is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Verse 6 announces the coming day of God's judgment on the nations, which spoke of the fall of Persia to Alexander the Great. But Hebrews 12:25-29 relates this verse to the judgment of the nations at the second coming (parousia) of Christ.
In Verse 7, it seems clear that just as God filled the tabernacle and Solomon's temple, so He will fill this new temple, which is spiritual and eternal. When Christ came to the earthly temple, God's presence was evident as never before.
Haggai 2:8 on the surface seems like a rather strange interjection because Haggai 2:7 and Haggai 2:9 both speak of the glory of God. Consider two possible reasons for this somewhat strange-sounding interjection.
It is certainly true that God provided for Solomon's temple and for Zerubbabel's temple. It is also true that too many modern-day ministers, either knowingly or unknowingly, look at natural silver and gold as being "theirs" and not "His."
However, we believe that the interjection in Haggai 2:8 does not speak of either of those two possibilities. "Silver" in the Bible speaks of the Lord's redemptive ministry and the power of His atonement. "Gold" speaks of His Divine glory and nature, or His Deity. Therefore, everything from our redemption to partaking of His glory is caused by and comes from the Lord. Man has no part in any of that; all we can do is accept, by His grace, that which Christ has done for us and continues to do for us.
Individuals and nations can reject God as Sovereign, but He remains Sovereign nevertheless.
Our Responsibility
The sovereignty of God does not do away with the responsibility of man. The two must work together. Some believers have a little difficulty in understanding how the sovereignty of God and man's responsibility "fit" together. Some may say, if God does everything, why don't we just sit back, relax, have a good time, and wait for the end? Nonsense! We are co-laborers together with Christ. We must walk in the works that the Lord has ordained for us before the foundation of the world. We must, at all costs, fulfill the purpose and ministry for which we were created.
Let me relate how the Lord taught me about the relationship of the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man.
Somewhere around 1973 or 1974 the Lord told us to start a "neighborhood" meeting. Hindsight, that was an evangelistic outworking. We invited many of our close neighbors and a few folks several blocks away to come to our house once a week for a Bible study. Many, of course, declined. But about 7 folks came regularly. We had no idea if any of them were Christians. We started off with the topic of "Who is Jesus Christ?" That, of course, is the most important question in the Bible. One night at our Bible study the topic was the sovereignty of God. Little did I know that the Lord would teach me about His sovereignty later that very same night.
About 4 hours after I had shared with that small group of believers about the sovereignty of God, the Lord taught me about the relationship of the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of us as believers.
At that time we had two very large willow trees in our side yard. The gutter on that side of our house would frequently get clogged with willow leaves, despite our best efforts to keep the gutter clean. Moreover, directly beneath this gutter is a stairwell, with a door that leads into our basement. The drain in that stairwell would frequently get rather clogged with leaves and other debris. Any time that we had a heavy thunderstorm the water would spill over into the stairwell. Having no place to go because of the clogged drain, the water at times would come under the door into our basement. Well about 2 a.m., after I had finished teaching about the sovereignty of God, a very heavy thunderstorm with huge quantities of rain struck our area. Our son, Robert, was living with us at the time. My wife and I and our son all got up to check the basement. Sure enough, the basement was flooded with water that had seeped in under the door because the stairwell drain and the gutters were both stopped up. So my wife got all of the towels that we had and started mopping up the water in the basement floor. My son and I got a big garbage can and two gallon-size buckets and went outside, in the pelting rain, and starting bailing water from the stairwell into the garbage can. Both my son and I were bailing the water as fast as we could, but we seemed to be making little progress because of the heavy rain. We were, at best, staying "even."
The Lord spoke to me through that incident. It was not our baling and our mopping that got the water under control ... it was the sovereignty of God that caused the rain to stop. Without the sovereignty of God intervening to stop the rain, we could never have got that situation under control! At the same time, all three of us had a responsibility to do our part ... to bail the water and to mop up the basement floor. So that night the Lord taught us something about the relationship of the sovereignty of God and man's responsibility. We also learned that we needed to reposition the gutter with a greater downward slant, use gutter guards, and keep leaves and dirt out of the stairwell so that the stairwell drain would not stop up.
As we indicated a little earlier, our responsibility likewise is to rest (Hebrews 3 and 4) from our works (of the flesh) while walking in the works that God has ordained for us to walk in. That, of course, requires hearing the voice of the Lord and discerning that which is of Him.
The Lord desires a vessel pleasing to Him, not a puppet. Therefore, having been given free will, we must choose.
Amazing! The people answered him not a word! But "the Jews require a sign and the Greeks seek after wisdom" (1 Corinthians 1:22). Blessed are those who require neither a sign nor wisdom but simply trust in the Lord.
What amazing, marvelous grace that God, through the power of the Holy Spirit, repeats His same message to men a multitude of times, all throughout the Bible, in both the Old Testament and the New Testament!
Most churches today major in minors and are content to preach a feel-good, happy message of "let's get saved, enjoy the blessings of God, and go to heaven one day." Even the grace of God frequently gets pushed beyond its scriptural boundary. Grace, as wonderful as it is, is simply a means toward an end. The true end is that the purposes of God might be fulfilled. It is the difference between a God-centered theology and a man-centered theology. We were created for His pleasure, not for our pleasure. In 2 Timothy 1:9, we have been called, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. Note that His purpose comes before His grace.
It is much better to fall upon that stone, Jesus Christ, than for the judgment of God to fall upon us. The key for us believers is to be broken ... broken of all traces of self so that He might increase within us.
Further, when all things appear to be going our way, it is easy to be thankful and praise the Lord. Even the unsaved can do the same. But what happens when the Lord sovereignly allows some difficulty in our life? Do we murmur and complain or even rebuke the enemy? The Lord would have us trust Him, thank Him, and praise Him for continuing to work within us.
Lord, give us eyes to see and ears to hear that which You continue to convey to us in so many different ways! And may Your Kingdom come and Your will be done in us as it is in heaven.
Amen.
In our next message we hope to share with you some amazing specific examples of the sovereignty of God. Please tune in next week for more of this series on the sovereignty of God. You especially will be amazed with the next message!!
John 9:4, "I must work the works of Him that sent Me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work."
That confession is true for each one of us. Every born-from-above Christian must work the works of Him who sent us while it is still day. In 2 Kings 5, the Lord used a little maid to get Elisha to heal Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, of leprosy, and thereby to bring glory to God. The Lord, in His great goodness, grace, mercy, and love, has made many ways to assist us mortals in our needful state to attain to that which the Lord has purposed according to His eternal will. All creation points to Jesus. The Bible points to Jesus. The five ascension gifts in the form of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers should likewise point to Jesus. When we all stand before the judgment seat of Christ, no man will have an excuse.
Of course we all know that David said, "The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want." (Psalm 23:1). I believe it was always the Lord's intention that man would hear the voice of the Lord for himself and that each man would gather the fresh manna daily for himself and his family (Exodus 16:26-30). But there is no condemnation to those in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. The Lord knows our frame; He knows our heart. He loves His chosen people so much that He provides many ways to get our attention.
Of course we all know that David said, "The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want." (Psalm 23:1). I believe it was always the Lord's intention that man would hear the voice of the Lord for himself and that each man would gather the fresh manna daily for himself and his family (Exodus 16:26-30). But there is no condemnation to those in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. The Lord knows our frame; He knows our heart. He loves His chosen people so much that He provides many ways to get our attention.
18 And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off.19 And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die.20 And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that His fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not. Exodus 20:18-20
So the Lord gave His chosen people their request ... to hear from man rather than hear from God. That characteristic of the Lord's people is still true to some degree. A long time ago I read that there is no constitutional basis for a Department of Education. But we ship our children off to schools and let other teachers teach our children natural subjects. Then we ship our children off to college where they can receive a worldly education in order to get a worldly job which pays a good worldly sum of money. Today about all of the visible difference between heathens and Christians is that most Christians go to a church gathering once a week on Sunday to repeat what they did the previous Sunday. No wonder that we Christians in America are not persecuted for righteousness sake (yet). The world sees no need to persecute us.
Further, when the Lord rained down manna from heaven for 40 years in the wilderness, He told the Israelites to gather it six days and on the sixth day to collect a double portion because no manna would fall on the Sabbath day, because the Sabbath was a day of rest. Watchman Nee, in his book "Assembling Together," on page 75 says: "Nowhere in the Bible can we find a Christian Sabbath day, for these two are contradictory. If we are Christians, then there is no Sabbath. If there is a Sabbath, then we are not Christians. The Sabbath belongs to the Old Testament. In the New Testament it has passed away." Let me suggest to you a further prophetic significance of the Sabbath. The six days to gather manna speak of the 6,000 years in the history of man on earth. And the seventh day speaks of the Millennium when all overcomers enter into His complete rest ... the final day of jubilee ... the day when there will no longer be works of the flesh ... the final Feast of Tabernacles with an ingathering of souls the like of which man has never seen. That certainly is a good example of the sovereignty of God and His Divine order in all things. How many overcomers will there be in these end times? only the Lord knows. But Scripture is very clear that the Lord Jesus never worked with a multitude.
1 But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and He that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art Mine.2 When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.7 Even every one that is called by My name: for I have created him for My glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him. Isaiah 43:1-2, 7
Let us consider Verse 1. These words of the Lord through the prophet Isaiah are certainly very positive and encouraging. But to whom is the Lord speaking here in Verse 1? If we take the verse literally, the Lord is speaking to Jacob and/or Israel. But Jacob had died almost 1000 years earlier, so it is not likely that the Lord is speaking to Jacob. Further, Isaiah's ministry never was to Israel, the Northern kingdom, but to Judah and Jerusalem. So the Lord was not speaking to the natural Israel of that day. Could it be that this is a prophetic word that has no time or cultural limits?
Could this be a word for believers today? YES! It is a prophetic word for all (former) Jews and all Gentiles throughout all ages of time who have received or will receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Could it also be a word for the natural Israel of today? not very likely, at least not for the nation as a whole. The Lord does not redeem those who consistently reject Him. To believe otherwise gets us very quickly into the heresy of ultimate reconciliation.
Jacob in Scripture represents the natural man, perhaps even the morally good, religious man, who unfortunately has no personal relationship with the Lord. Israel speaks of the redeemed man, the spiritual man, the man (or woman) who has been born again and baptized with the Holy Ghost, i.e., equipped with the necessary weapons for the journey and ministry on this earth. This is called justification in the Bible. There are dozens of scriptures which bear record of this truth. Jacob is created but Israel is formed and made.
The Lord formeth the spirit of man within him. Zechariah 12:1
Please note that the Lord says that He has redeemed (spiritual) Israel. That is past tense, not future tense. It does not say, "I will redeem thee." Paul uses the same past tense when he says,
According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. Ephesians 1:4
How can these things be? We do not know. It is a mystery. But God lives in eternity. We live in time.
Verse 2: When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: When thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burnt; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.
First of all, note that this verse applies to Israel, not Jacob. The Bible calls this process sanctification. It is true that God arranges all of our circumstances, our environment, etc., in order to bring us from Jacob to Israel, provided that we are willing to cooperate with Him, of course. This verse describes what happens after we become part of Israel or AFTER we are born from above.
Please note that the verse says "WHEN," not "if." In other words this is a promise. After Israel, the spiritual man, has been formed and equipped, we are PROMISED to go through trials, tribulations, sufferings, rejections, persecutions, etc. Perhaps we should note that there are three levels of sufferings, trials, and rejections ... first, within our own natural-level families. My wife has experienced that in a huge manner. Her father cut her out of his will because many years ago we gave away to a needy Christian family an old car that was worth a few hundred dollars. Her father was afraid that she would give away part of his empire to the "church" so she never received one penny from her father's estate, although her rightful share of his estate would have been at least one-half of a million dollars ... a long, sad story. Neither she nor I cared about the money. But rejection from your own father is one of the most severe forms of persecution.
Today we Christians in America know little about the persecution from without the church. However we do have persecution within the church. Historically, scripturally, and experientially that has always been true. David said, in
Psalm 55:12-14, "For it was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have borne it: neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against me; then I would have hid myself from him: But it was thou, a man mine equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance. We took sweet counsel together, and walked unto the house of God in company."
I could share with you a number of different times that has happened to us, but that would not be profitable for you.
But make no mistake ... a third level, persecution from without is on the way! All forms of persecution are part of God's plan and have a Godly purpose. The only way that we Christians are going to stop persecuting each other is when tremendous persecution from the world increases against the Church. A few appropriate scriptures are:
But make no mistake ... a third level, persecution from without is on the way! All forms of persecution are part of God's plan and have a Godly purpose. The only way that we Christians are going to stop persecuting each other is when tremendous persecution from the world increases against the Church. A few appropriate scriptures are:
For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His sake. Philippians 1:29
We must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God. Acts 14:22
More importantly, note that when we walk through the fire ... when we submit ourselves to the dealings of the Holy Ghost, the Lord promises to be with us. Jesus said, "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee" (Hebrews 13:5). That sounds very much like Daniel in the lions' den and the three Hebrews in the fiery furnace.
Verse 7: Even every one that is called by My name: For I have created him for My glory, I have formed him; yea I have made him.
Who is "even every one that is called by my name"? You and me ... believers throughout every age. Verses 1 and 7 cannot refer to Jesus because Jesus was not created. He was with God in the beginning before the world was or before man ever existed.
Here we see three action verbs, compared to only two in Verse 1, above. The one that has been added is the word "made." The "making" part is as a result of Verses 2-6. We can speak of the "making" as the "walking out process" called "sanctification." This is what Paul refers to when he says,
Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Philippians 2:12
In what is called the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32), note that the prodigal son was still a son. He is symbolic of a carnal Christian ... one who refused (at first) to submit to the dealings of the Holy Spirit in his life ... one who did not like the process of "making." In verse 12 of Luke 15, this prodigal son says "give me," symbolic of the selfish, carnal attitude. BUT, the grace and mercy and love of God was at work in his life, and God arranged for hard times to come upon him, such that this son repented and returned unto his father. Then he said, in verse 19, "make me." He was ready to be made into the vessel that God intended for him to become. He was ready to walk through the rivers and through the fire.
4 There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism,6 One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.Ephesians 4:4-6
We believers try to change those verses to read MY body, MY hope, MY faith, and MY baptism. Most doctrinal errors arise when we try to interpret Scripture from our perspective, as it relates to us, independent of Jesus. But it is His body, His hope, His faith, and His baptism.
13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.Philippians 3:13-14
What is the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus? It is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
6 For thus saith the LORD of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land;7 And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the LORD of hosts.8 The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine, saith the LORD of hosts.9 The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the LORD of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith the LORD of hosts. Haggai 2:6-9
Verse 6 announces the coming day of God's judgment on the nations, which spoke of the fall of Persia to Alexander the Great. But Hebrews 12:25-29 relates this verse to the judgment of the nations at the second coming (parousia) of Christ.
In Verse 7, it seems clear that just as God filled the tabernacle and Solomon's temple, so He will fill this new temple, which is spiritual and eternal. When Christ came to the earthly temple, God's presence was evident as never before.
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. John 1:14
Haggai 2:8 on the surface seems like a rather strange interjection because Haggai 2:7 and Haggai 2:9 both speak of the glory of God. Consider two possible reasons for this somewhat strange-sounding interjection.
It is certainly true that God provided for Solomon's temple and for Zerubbabel's temple. It is also true that too many modern-day ministers, either knowingly or unknowingly, look at natural silver and gold as being "theirs" and not "His."
However, we believe that the interjection in Haggai 2:8 does not speak of either of those two possibilities. "Silver" in the Bible speaks of the Lord's redemptive ministry and the power of His atonement. "Gold" speaks of His Divine glory and nature, or His Deity. Therefore, everything from our redemption to partaking of His glory is caused by and comes from the Lord. Man has no part in any of that; all we can do is accept, by His grace, that which Christ has done for us and continues to do for us.
Individuals and nations can reject God as Sovereign, but He remains Sovereign nevertheless.
"The Lord has prepared His throne in the heavens; and His kingdom rules over all." (Psalm 103:19).
In other words, God's throne is beyond the reach of the hands of men. Whether by opposition to God or by cooperation with Him, men are destined to work out the ultimate purposes of God. There is no escape from His providential rule.
The foundations of men and nations must eventually collapse in order to prepare the way for the government of the Lord of lords and King of kings. God is removing the temporal in order to establish the eternal. God's own King, the rejected and crucified Messiah, will be established as the undisputed Sovereign over all the nations by the decree of Abba, Father. This will be executed despite all possible defiance and opposition by men. In the meantime the foundations of the nations must be shaken, while the saints of God must keep trusting and waiting until "the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever.
The foundations of men and nations must eventually collapse in order to prepare the way for the government of the Lord of lords and King of kings. God is removing the temporal in order to establish the eternal. God's own King, the rejected and crucified Messiah, will be established as the undisputed Sovereign over all the nations by the decree of Abba, Father. This will be executed despite all possible defiance and opposition by men. In the meantime the foundations of the nations must be shaken, while the saints of God must keep trusting and waiting until "the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever.
(Revelation 11:15).
3 If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?4 The LORD is in His holy temple, the LORD'S throne is in heaven: His eyes behold, His eyelids try, the children of men.5 The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence His soul hateth. Psalm 11:3-5
Our Responsibility
The sovereignty of God does not do away with the responsibility of man. The two must work together. Some believers have a little difficulty in understanding how the sovereignty of God and man's responsibility "fit" together. Some may say, if God does everything, why don't we just sit back, relax, have a good time, and wait for the end? Nonsense! We are co-laborers together with Christ. We must walk in the works that the Lord has ordained for us before the foundation of the world. We must, at all costs, fulfill the purpose and ministry for which we were created.
For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building. 1 Corinthians 3:9We then, as workers together with Him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain. 2 Corinthians 6:1
Let me relate how the Lord taught me about the relationship of the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man.
Somewhere around 1973 or 1974 the Lord told us to start a "neighborhood" meeting. Hindsight, that was an evangelistic outworking. We invited many of our close neighbors and a few folks several blocks away to come to our house once a week for a Bible study. Many, of course, declined. But about 7 folks came regularly. We had no idea if any of them were Christians. We started off with the topic of "Who is Jesus Christ?" That, of course, is the most important question in the Bible. One night at our Bible study the topic was the sovereignty of God. Little did I know that the Lord would teach me about His sovereignty later that very same night.
About 4 hours after I had shared with that small group of believers about the sovereignty of God, the Lord taught me about the relationship of the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of us as believers.
At that time we had two very large willow trees in our side yard. The gutter on that side of our house would frequently get clogged with willow leaves, despite our best efforts to keep the gutter clean. Moreover, directly beneath this gutter is a stairwell, with a door that leads into our basement. The drain in that stairwell would frequently get rather clogged with leaves and other debris. Any time that we had a heavy thunderstorm the water would spill over into the stairwell. Having no place to go because of the clogged drain, the water at times would come under the door into our basement. Well about 2 a.m., after I had finished teaching about the sovereignty of God, a very heavy thunderstorm with huge quantities of rain struck our area. Our son, Robert, was living with us at the time. My wife and I and our son all got up to check the basement. Sure enough, the basement was flooded with water that had seeped in under the door because the stairwell drain and the gutters were both stopped up. So my wife got all of the towels that we had and started mopping up the water in the basement floor. My son and I got a big garbage can and two gallon-size buckets and went outside, in the pelting rain, and starting bailing water from the stairwell into the garbage can. Both my son and I were bailing the water as fast as we could, but we seemed to be making little progress because of the heavy rain. We were, at best, staying "even."
The Lord spoke to me through that incident. It was not our baling and our mopping that got the water under control ... it was the sovereignty of God that caused the rain to stop. Without the sovereignty of God intervening to stop the rain, we could never have got that situation under control! At the same time, all three of us had a responsibility to do our part ... to bail the water and to mop up the basement floor. So that night the Lord taught us something about the relationship of the sovereignty of God and man's responsibility. We also learned that we needed to reposition the gutter with a greater downward slant, use gutter guards, and keep leaves and dirt out of the stairwell so that the stairwell drain would not stop up.
1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made.3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made. Genesis 2:1-3
As we indicated a little earlier, our responsibility likewise is to rest (Hebrews 3 and 4) from our works (of the flesh) while walking in the works that God has ordained for us to walk in. That, of course, requires hearing the voice of the Lord and discerning that which is of Him.
The Lord desires a vessel pleasing to Him, not a puppet. Therefore, having been given free will, we must choose.
19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:20 That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey His voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto Him: for He is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them. Deuteronomy 30:19-20And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow Him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word. 1 Kings 18:21
Amazing! The people answered him not a word! But "the Jews require a sign and the Greeks seek after wisdom" (1 Corinthians 1:22). Blessed are those who require neither a sign nor wisdom but simply trust in the Lord.
"Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen Me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed" (John 20:29).
What amazing, marvelous grace that God, through the power of the Holy Spirit, repeats His same message to men a multitude of times, all throughout the Bible, in both the Old Testament and the New Testament!
Most churches today major in minors and are content to preach a feel-good, happy message of "let's get saved, enjoy the blessings of God, and go to heaven one day." Even the grace of God frequently gets pushed beyond its scriptural boundary. Grace, as wonderful as it is, is simply a means toward an end. The true end is that the purposes of God might be fulfilled. It is the difference between a God-centered theology and a man-centered theology. We were created for His pleasure, not for our pleasure. In 2 Timothy 1:9, we have been called, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. Note that His purpose comes before His grace.
Whosoever shall fall upon that stone shall be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder. Luke 20:18
It is much better to fall upon that stone, Jesus Christ, than for the judgment of God to fall upon us. The key for us believers is to be broken ... broken of all traces of self so that He might increase within us.
Further, when all things appear to be going our way, it is easy to be thankful and praise the Lord. Even the unsaved can do the same. But what happens when the Lord sovereignly allows some difficulty in our life? Do we murmur and complain or even rebuke the enemy? The Lord would have us trust Him, thank Him, and praise Him for continuing to work within us.
17 Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls:18 Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.19 The LORD God is my strength, and He will make my feet like hinds' feet, and He will make me to walk upon mine high places. To the chief singer on my stringed instruments. Habakkuk 3:17-19
Lord, give us eyes to see and ears to hear that which You continue to convey to us in so many different ways! And may Your Kingdom come and Your will be done in us as it is in heaven.
Amen.
In our next message we hope to share with you some amazing specific examples of the sovereignty of God. Please tune in next week for more of this series on the sovereignty of God. You especially will be amazed with the next message!!
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