WHAT JESUS CHRIST SAID ABOUT THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD

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.