WORD OF TRUTH
Volume 9 Issue 1
What Jesus Christ Said About God's
Sovereignty
Do you consider
the Sovereignty of God important? Do you consider this a harsh doctrine? Many
do, and it may surprise these to know that our Lord Jesus Christ taught the
absolute Sovereignty of God! That’s right — Christ taught this doctrine. You
may not believe that He did, for you may say that He was too meek and lowly,
and just taught love to everybody, so therefore man’s total depravity and God’s
election were not taught by Christ. But, has it ever occurred to you that your
belief just might be wrong? Has it really? It is true that the “Jesus”
of today’s popular songs, and the one taught about in the average church,
evidently knew nothing about this teaching! But, the Christ of the Bible sure
did! This is sufficient for me — what about you?
We will only
examine one chapter of the Bible for our proof that Christ taught the
Sovereignty of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. You are asked to look at the
sixth chapter of John’s Gospel. Here we find all the evidence we need for our
case. In verse 37 Jesus Christ said, “All that the Father giveth me shall
come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.”
Notice please, the Sovereignty of the Father: “ALL THAT
(meaning certain individuals) THE FATHER GIVETH ME (meaning by His
election of them) SHALL COME (by effectual grace and power) TO ME.”
This certainly does away with the modern terminology, “give your heart to
Jesus.” The heart is not the sinner’s to give to Jesus! It belongs to the
Father. If not, how could He give anyone to His Son?
The same 37th
verse will be our verse for the Sovereignty of the Son Himself.
He said, “And him that cometh to ME I will in no wise cast out.”
How wonderful is this promise! So many have claimed this promise as their very
own. Have you? You surely may, if you have come to Christ in TRUTH.
Notice though, this verse implies that Christ Jesus has the power to cast one
out. Otherwise, why should He even say, “I will in no wise cast
out?” It is obviously not a lack of power to do so. He has ALL
power! See Matthew 28:18. Christ has the power to cast the devil’s children
into hell (Luke 12: 4-5). He could REFUSE to accept a vile sinner such
as you and me, and be perfectly just and righteous in doing so! Why? For none
of us deserve to be accepted by Christ, for He is Sovereign and we are sinners!
But, He will NOT reject you if He has placed the desire in you to come
to Him. Oh, praise His name! Christ has promised freely, in His sovereign
mercy, NOT to cast you out — BUT YOU MUST COME TO HIM! Not come
just to an altar, or to shake some preacher’s hand, but to Christ! He ALONE
can save you! Men talk so much of free will and man being willing to be saved.
But, it is God’s will that counts.
Hear these words
of Charles H. Spurgeon (1834-1892), from a sermon entitled God’s Will and
Man’s Will:
“Salvation
hinges upon the will of God, and not at all upon the will of man. So saith our
text — “It is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of
God that sheweth mercy” (Romans 9:16), by which is clearly meant that
the reason why any man is saved is not because he wills it, but because GOD
willed it, according to that other passage, ‘Ye have not chosen me, but I
have chosen you’ (John 15:16).”
“The
whole scheme of salvation, we aver, from the first to the last, hinges and
turns, and is dependent upon the absolute will of God, and not upon the will of
the creature......Oh! How happy are we when we come back to the old-fashioned
doctrines, and cast our anchor where it can get its grip in the eternal purpose
and counsel of God, who worketh all things to the good pleasure of His will.” (I
must say AMEN to Mr. Spurgeon, dear reader!)
Let us look now at
the Sovereignty of the Holy Spirit. Notice that Christ said here
in our verse, “ALL that the Father giveth me SHALL come to me.”
How shall they come? Jesus has given us the answer in this same chapter, John
6:63: “It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words
that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” Naturally,
men are “dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1), totally unable to
save themselves (see Romans 3:9-10 and Titus 3:5). If the Holy Spirit did not
make a sinner alive (spiritually), the sinner COULD NOT come to Christ.
No one CAN come unless he is drawn (John 6:44), and the sinner is drawn
irresistibly by the Spirit’s power! Only God the Holy Spirit can bring life to
a dead sinner. NO GIMMICK CAN DO IT!
There can be human
pleading, human effort, human tricks, and yet, no matter how sincere these may
be, NO MAN CAN TURN A SINNER TO JESUS CHRIST. When it is all analyzed
the true “soul winner” is the Holy Spirit! Let’s don’t try to do His job. Let
us that are saved, pray that we may be used by the Spirit, but not to try to
use Him! Let each of us point men to the Savior, but let us trust the blessed
Spirit to do the saving!
Yes, God is
Sovereign. Jesus Christ said so. If you are not yet convinced, please, in
Christ’s name, do further study on this vital subject. Read John 4 and tell me
why Jesus “MUST needs go through Samaria?” Read John 10 and tell me why
He spoke of “other sheep I have,” which He had long before the Gospel
was carried to the Gentiles? Yes, just simply sit down and read anywhere in the
word of God, and with an earnest open heart, seek to be taught of the Spirit
concerning God’s Sovereignty!
Hear these
sobering words from A.W. Pink (1896-1952) “Before
God saves a man, He
convicts Him of his sinnership. By this I do not mean he says with everybody
else ‘Oh yes, we are all sinners. I know that.’ Rather do I mean that the Holy
Spirit makes me feel in my heart that I have been a lifelong rebel against God,
and that my sins are so many, so great, so black, that I fear I have
transgressed beyond the reach of divine mercy.”
“Have
you ever had that experience? Have you seen yourself as
totally unfit for heaven? For the
presence of a Holy God? Do you now perceive that there is no good thing
in you, nothing good credited to your account, that all the way through you
have loved the things God hates, and hated the things God loves?” (From a
tract—The Way of Salvation.)
D. James Kennedy says in his excellent book, Truths That Transform:
“There
is no man, nor group of men, who could oppose, frustrate, or limit any
purpose of God” (see Psalm 2:4). ---“God is God, and not man; and He doeth
whatsoever He pleases in this earth, and there is none that can speak against
Him.” “For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom
be glory forever. Amen” (Romans 11:
John Wycliffe, the first man to translate the Bible into English, has given us some of these simple rules as follows:
“It
shall greatly help you to understand scripture, if you mark not only what
is spoken or written, but of whom, and
to whom, with what words, at what time, where, and to what intent, with what
circumstances, considering what goes before and what
Finally, I want to consider something that is a problem for many. They have such a high regard for “man’s free will”, that they are hindered from believing these great truths. They actually put more confidence in pitiful men than in God. I believe my dear friend, W.F.Bell had the answer to this in a writing he did several years ago.
Please
read it and take heed to it. This is a very important consideration. Please
don’t allow Satan to deceive you. Look at it clearly please. May God bless you!
FORGOTTEN THOUGHTS ON FREE WILL
Scattered across the countryside are scores of
churches with “Free Will” in their names (or in their doctrines). It is most amusing to see this, as the
emphasis seems to be, “We admire and uphold man’s choices and freedom; that
which God ‘offers’ in mercy, man can reject and lose in disobedience.” But, if possible, look for just a moment at this subject objectively. Note four simple thoughts about “free will”
that seemingly most people have forgotten about:
(1) If man’s will is truly free, this makes
man himself a god.
No one denies God has given humans a will and no one
denies that men and women can brush their teeth when they like, go to bed when they like,
work where they like, etc. But even
these things have “limitations.”No one
has absolutely “free will” to do everything, for that is reserved to the
Almighty alone, for only He can say, “I will do all my pleasure” (Isaiah
46:10-11). No one else can say
this! There cannot possibly be two
absolutely “free wills” in the universe.
It is just impossible!
(2) If man’s will is truly free, Christ died
in vain.
Think about it, please. Those who believe you must “accept Christ” of
your own will, actually believe that Christ’s death secured the salvation of no
one, and that, if Christ is “accepted,” still one can lose that “salvation” by
backsliding. So, Christ died in vain,
for no one is assured of actually being saved!
Grace is only “needed,” man must “cooperate” with the Holy Spirit, and
Jonah 2:9 should read, “Salvation is provided by God, but accomplished by man’s
will.”
(3) If man’s will is truly free, there is no
assurance that the gospel will be successful.
Think about this, for if Christ died in vain,
preaching and witnessing for Him is also in vain, because “free will” may
decide that no one will hold out and persevere to the end. In other words, what
assurance does anyone have that there will be “believers” in Christ at
all? If it is determined by man “freely
deciding” and “freely persevering,” then logically no one is sure of
heaven! How totally different this is,
however, from Christ’s prayer in John 17, where He prays for certain ones
“given Him” by His Father (v. 2), but says, “I pray not for the world”
(v. 9). That makes no sense whatever if
salvation is not “certain” and “secured” for many. Does it?
(4) If man’s will is truly free, the wicked
could not be punished.
If God cannot “violate” man’s will (as many tell us
daily), how can He be the Judge of sinners, then “violate” their “free wills”
by “casting” them into “the lake of fire”?
No one will “choose” to be punished, so they are simply not punished. Correct?
Think about it. But the Bible is
plain when it declares, “And whosoever was not found written in the book of
life was cast into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:15). Not one word is said about sinners being
asked for their “permission.” So much
for this false doctrine of “free will.”
But there is good news! God has elected a people
unconditionally, Christ died for them in sacrificial love, and the Holy Spirit
sovereignly and effectually “calls” every single one of them to repent
of sin and believe on Christ (2 Thessalonians 2:13-14). Now, that’s assurance, and it’s all of
grace! (Wfb)
For more on The
God who is Never Frustrated, see an excellent article by W.F. Bell at
this link: www.eternallifeministries.org/wfb_neverfrus.htm
What
Jesus Christ Said About God’s Sovereignty was originally written about 1979 by Charles Woodruff. Edited for this issue of cyberwordof truth.
