SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD REVISITED - NYOBS 54.25

SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD
REVISITED

There are Two Roads in life; one of “FREE WILL” given by God to Man & Angels and the

other of what God has already “PREDESTINED”; together they form God’s SOVEREIGNTY.

First Word

·         There seems to be two parallel roads; both taught in the Bible, that seem to never cross, but terminate in heaven through Jesus Christ; and for some reason we seem to argue that only one of them can be correct. – I hope to show here that both are compatible with each other.

·         I have a running battle with my two Sons David and Mike about Predestination verses Free Will which always concludes in THE FACT that God is Sovereign.

·         I believe that we have Free Will and the choices we make on this side of life will have eternal consequences; like the eternal bless of Heaven or eternal torment of Hell Fire.

·         Mike believes God is Sovereign and we are TOTALLY predestined and even our decisions are predestined.  – So whatever situation we find ourselves in, it was Predestined by the Sovereignty of God.

·         David believes man has Free Will, but it is LIMITED within God’s Sovereignty and he points to the story of Abraham, Sarah and Hagar as the example. – I thought this example made the most sense, so I stole it for my own Word Study.

God’s Sovereign Promise

·         God had promised Abraham & Sarah that their descendants would be so many he could not count them; that his generations would be like the sand in the sea and the stars in the sky. 

·         Now that was the Promise, but time moved on and nothing had happened.

Genesis 12:1-3 – The Promise – I will make you a great nation
¹The LORD had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.
² I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.
³ will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

(NIV2011)

Genesis 15:5 – Offspring will be like the stars - uncountable
⁵ He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” (NIV2011)

Genesis 17:15-21 – Sarah will bear a child at the age of 90
¹⁵ And God said to Abraham… Sarah shall be her name.
¹⁶ I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.”
¹⁷ Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, “Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” (NIV2011)

Helping God Out

·         Sarah stayed barren and was way past her child baring years, so since God was slow in fulfilling His promise, they decided with their FREE WILL to help God fulfill His promise by taking Sarah’s maidservant Hagar and have her bear him a son.

·         They were just trying to help God out, since from their point of view He was a little SLACK concerning His promise.

Genesis 16:1-4 – Take Hagar and help God with His promise
¹ Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar.
² And Sarai said to Abram, “Behold now, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.
³ So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram her husband as a WIFE.
⁴ And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived.

(NKJV)

2 Peter 3:9 – The Lord is NOT SLOW to fulfill his promise
⁹ The Lord is not SLACK concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. (NKJV)

Consequences of Free Will

·         Hagar gave birth to Ishmael who Abraham took into his home and loved.  Abraham had just turned 86 and felt like he was getting old so he asked God to let Ismael be a great nation too and God said SURE.

·         BUT, Ishmael would NOT receive the PREDESTINED promise that would be placed on Isaac who would be born 14 years later to Sara, Abraham’s wife.

·         Furthermore Ishmael will be a WILD ASS of a man with his hand against everyone and everyone’s hand will be against him.

·         Decisions have long range effects – 4,000 years later we have ISIS; the Muslim Terrorist who are a WILD ASS with their hand against everyone, cutting off the heads of Christians, Jews and all non-Islamic believers.

·         I DIGRESS

·         I think it is important to understand what happens when you do not trust God and you choose to do what seems right in your own eyes. – Sin is kind of like getting caught in a thunderstorm and then asking God for an Umbrella to get out of the rain.

·         God will give you the umbrella, but you will still be wet and it will take time to dry off.  Look where we are now because of the decision to have a child by Hagar the maid servant of Sarah.   We now have the Muslims ISIS terrorist killing Jews and Christians because they worship Yahweh instead of Allah. - NYOBS 41.032 - HOLY JIHAD

·         Muhammad: “He, who relinquishes his faith; kill him.  I have been ordered by Allah to fight with people till they testify there is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is his messenger”.

·         Ayatollah Khomeini: “The purest joy in Islam is to kill and to be killed for Allah”. There can be no peace with the Jews or Christians or any other non-Islamic people; and that if peace must be made, only a truce is permissible and that “for a maximum of 10 years as an expedient to hone our swords, whet our blood and strengthen our will.” 

Genesis 15:2-16 – Ismael will not be heir to the promise
²  But Abram said, “Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?”
³  And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.”
⁴  Then the word of the LORD came to him: “This man WILL NOT be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.”

¹⁶ Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram. (ESV)

Genesis 16:12 – Ismael will be a Wild Ass & fight his brothers
¹² He shall be a WILD ASS of a man, his hand against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen.” (ESV)

Mission of Islam

Hadith 9:459 – Mission – Conquer the World and get Booty

459 Allah guarantees anyone who engages in holy war (jihad) for the cause of jihad alone with belief in (Allah’s) words, that He will either admit him into paradise or return him with his reward or the booty he as earned to his residence from where he went out.

Mission of Christianity

2 Corinthians 5:21 – Mission – Conquer SIN in the World
²¹ God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

(NIV2011)

1 Peter 3:18 – Mission – To bring us to God
¹⁸ For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit. (NIV2011)

Bless my Mess

·         The Prayer of a righteous man avails much.  Notice that instead of Abraham asking God what he should do about Sarah being barren, he is asking God to bless what he and Hagar have already done. – He was OUT of God’s Perfect Will; but he was still God’s man.

·         Sure enough through a FREE WILL choice and a prayer, Ishmael would also have Twelve Tribes just like Israel and would procreate the Muslim religion that worships Allah.

• Allah is an (Arabic) term which is a contraction of “Al” meaning sole or only, and “lah” meaning God.  Before the birth of Islam, Allah was a term used by many pagan religions for their different gods.  This term provided a common ground between pagan Arabs, Muslims, Jews and Christians.  - NYOBS 39.20 - ISLAM vs; CHRISTIANITY
• Muslims insist that Allah is the same God as of the Jews; the God of Abraham, however the name Allah is deemed more powerful than the name YAHWEH. - Christians reject all of this.

·         Through PREDESTINATION, Isaac’s Son Jacob would have Twelve Tribes and become Israel who would worshipped YAHWEH.

·         God’s Sovereignty – God sees from the end to the beginning and nothing will thwart His plans. – We have Free Will choices and the results of those choices affects what happens in our everyday lives; however our decisions do not change God’s sovereign plan.

Genesis 17:18-20 – Abraham asked for Ismael to be blessed

¹⁸ And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!”
¹⁹ God said, “NO, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him.
²⁰ As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly. He shall father TWELVE princes, and I will make him into a great nation.

(ESV)

Genesis 17:21 – Isaac was predestined
²¹ But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year.” (ESV)

James 5:16 - The prayers of a righteous man avails much
¹⁶ The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. (NKJV

Isaiah 14:27 – No one can thwart what God has purposed
²⁷ For the LORD Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back? (NIV2011)

Limited Free Will – God’s Sovereignty

·         Can you see; Ismael existed because of Free Will and Isaac existed 14 years later because of Predestination; both make up God’s Sovereignty.

·         I think it is interesting that in the book of Job, Satan could to do what he pleased with Job (FREE WILL) except he could not take his life (PREDESTINED). – Although Satan was free to do what he wanted, it was within certain limits; Satan is only a dog on a chain and can only go as far as the end of the chain (GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY).

·         This shows me that the “parallel roads” of Free Will and Predestination both operate in harmony. – NYOBS  02.37 -  JOB THE TESTING

·         Free Will allows man to modify his place in life. - He will not only enjoy the results of his decisions, but will also bear the responsibility and consequences of those decisions.  His Free Will does not change God’s Sovereignty; only how he lives his life within it.

Galatians 4:22-23 – Ishmael Free Will – Isaac Predestined
²² For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the bondwoman and one by the free woman.
²³ But the son by the bondwoman was born according to the flesh (FREE WILL), and the son by the free woman through the promise (PREDESTINED). (NASB)

Job 2:3-6 – Satan given LIMITED FREE WILL
³ Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil? And still he holds fast to his integrity, although you incited Me against him, to destroy him without cause."
⁴ So Satan answered the LORD and said, "Skin for skin! Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life.
⁵ But stretch out Your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will surely curse You to Your face!"
⁶ And the LORD said to Satan, "Behold, he is in your hand, but spare his life." (NKJV)

God is Sovereign

• The sovereignty of God is an unsearchable divine mystery; we cannot comprehend the depth of the riches of both His wisdom, knowledge and thoughts nor His judgments, plans and purpose. -  His ways are past finding out, but we are assured that if God said it – it will happen.

·         God as the potter has the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use.  - He will have mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens the heart of those he wants to harden. – He is Sovereign.

·         Look at the life of Judas Iscariot, you can certainly see that he was PREDESTINED to be chosen by Jesus as a disciple, but by his FREE WILL betrayed Him. All of this was in God’s SOVEREIGNTY.

·         God knew what he was doing with man from the very beginning. - He decided from the outset to shape and conform (predestined) the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of His Son. - The Son stands first in the line of humanity He restored.

·         The word “Predestination” is found only four times in the Bible and it is when Paul was addressing two groups of believers.  The first group is called WE” and is the Jews; the second group is called “YOU” who are the Gentiles; both groups known as “US” were both followers of “The Way”; Jesus Christ. - NYOBS 29.28 – PREDESTINATION REVISITED -

·          I have no problem in embracing the thought that God hand selected and predestined “these specific men” for His glory, before the foundations of the earth; both Jew and Gentile to be the first among many to receive “The Promise” of salvation.  - NYOBS 03.30 – PREDESTINATION-DIVINE ELECTION - - NYOBS 08.31- GODS WILL

·         God predestined two groups of people to come together to create one humanity out of two. - It is “God’s Will” that ALL come to repentance for their sins and accept his Son Jesus the Christ as their Messiah; their Savior.  – But all men won’t come to repentance.

·         If God is Sovereign, then you would think that His Will would be done, but concerning man, He has given him the ability to reject His offer of Salvation. – Interestingly; saying “I’m just not that very religious” is actually a rejection of Jesus Christ and the Father God.

·         God takes no pleasure in the destruction of the wicked; but they will be destroyed.

Isaiah 40:13 – Who can understand the mind of God
¹³ Who can fathom the Spirit of the LORD, or instruct the LORD as his counselor? (NIV2011)

Romans 11:33 – We can never figure out God’s ways and path
³³ Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! (NKJV)

Isa 55:9 – His ways and thoughts are higher that man’s

9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. KJV

Rom 11:33 – His ways are past finding out

33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! KJV

Isa 14:24 – He has a plan

24 The LORD Almighty has sworn, "Surely, as I have planned, so it will be, and as I have purposed, so it will stand. NIV

Isa 14:27 – He has a purpose

27 For the LORD Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him?

His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back? NIV

Romans 9:21 – He has the right to use us as He chooses
²¹ Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?

(NKJV)

Romans 9:18 – He will have mercy on who He wills
¹⁸ So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills. (ESV)

Romans 8:29-30 – The Believer is predestined to be conformed
²⁹ God knew what he was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset TO SHAPE (Predestined) the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son. The Son stands first in the line of humanity he restored. We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in him.
³⁰ After God made that decision of what his children should be like, he followed it up by calling people by name. After he called them by name, he set them on a solid basis with himself. And then, after getting them established, he stayed with them to the end, gloriously completing what he had begun.

(MSG)

Eph 1:4-5 We were chose to be Holy and blameless

4 For he chose US in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love  

5 he PREDESTINED US to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will-

NIV

Eph 1:11-14 – Two groups; Jews and Gentiles

11 In him WE (Jews) were also chosen, having been PREDESTINED according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will,

12 in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.

13 And YOU (Gentiles) also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, YOU were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,

14 who is a deposit guaranteeing OUR (Jews & Gentiles) inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession-to the praise of his glory. NIV

Eph 2:14-16 – Create one humanity out of two

14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility,

15 by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man (humanity) out of the two, thus making peace,

16 and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility NIV

2 Peter 3:9 – God’s Will is that everyone receive eternal life

9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. NIV

Matthew 7:14 – Many will not receive eternal life
¹⁴ For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it. (NASB)

Ezek 33:11 – God takes no pleasure in the death of the un-saved

11 Say to them, `As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, O house of Israel? NIV

John 13:18 – Judas Predestined by OT prophecy scriptures

18 "I am not referring to all of you; I know those I have chosen. But this is to fulfill the scripture (Predestined) `He who shares my bread has lifted up his heel against me.' NIV

Last Thoughts

·         So there we have it. - Man and Angels both have Free Will to do as they CHOOSE, but are responsible for the consequences of their actions.

·         The more we seek God’s face and His Will, the better the results will be for our Free Will choices.

·         Man’s Free Will cannot exceed the boundaries of God’s Sovereignty; like Satan as he runs in the endless circle of restraint that God’s chain allows him.

·         I encourage you to season your decisions with God’s Word. - Just look at America today as we have drifted away from God. – You have time to get under God’s umbrella and out of the rain, but it’s going to take some time to dry off.  

·         Good or Bad; you will endure the consequences for your decisions here on earth, and even more so in eternity. – GOD IS SOVEREIGN – It’s in the Book - 

·         Life is choice driven – The Godlier your choices, the better your life will be in the sweet by and by as well as in the nasty now and now.

In the multitude of counselors,

there is wisdom.

Proverbs 11:14

I am grateful to those that went before me providing concepts, ideas, historical information, and scripture verses.  Because of them I can stand on their shoulders and see further that I otherwise ever could have.

                                                                                                                                     

Bible Almanac; The – Packer-Tenney-White

Book of Bible Lists – Meredith’s

English Standard Version Bible – ESV

Expositor’s Bible Commentary – Frank E. Gaebelein

Harper’s Bible Dictionary – Harper & Row

King James Version Bible - KJV

New International Version Bible - NIV

Thru the Bible – J. Vernon McGee