Delve into the profound concept of God’s sovereignty as we explore its essence and significance in this enlightening episode. Starting with insights from Romans Chapter 9, we uncover how the Bible powerfully describes God’s active role and ultimate control over history. As we journey through scriptures, including several enlightening passages from the Book of Psalms, learn how the position and power of God impact everything around us.
the sovereign position of God, seeing everything, high above it all, no one’s like him, but he humbles himself to behold the things that are in the heavens and in the earth. What a colossal understanding of the greatness of God and where we fit in. God literally humbles himself to observe and behold what’s done in the heavens as well as on earth. Because he designed it all, he made it all, he has to humble himself to even care about it. Is that not a phenomenal concept?
SPEAKER 03 :
This is Hope for Today, the Bible teaching ministry of David Hawking. Man loves the illusion of control. Nations boast leaders posture. People make their plans and talk as if they’re running the world. the Bible, however, the Bible smashes that delusion. God has never been swept away by events. He’s never been caught off guard and never for one moment surrendered his throne. He is sovereign. Today, Bible teacher David Hawking begins a message called The Sovereignty of God. And he’ll start with Romans chapter 9, showing us that history is not drifting, the world is not spinning out of his hands, and the Lord of Heaven still rules over all. Stay with us. We’re about to get into this. Before David brings our lesson for today, we’d love to hear from you. Share your testimony. Tell us how God is working in your life as you study the Word with us. Let us know where you listen. Or maybe send a prayer request. Get in touch. And we’d also like you to pray for us as well. Hope for Today counts on the prayers of listeners. Pray that God would keep using this broadcast, this ministry, for His glory. Call us at 800-75-BIBLE in the U.S., 888-75-BIBLE in Canada. Bible is 24253. You can also visit us online. Use the contact form at davidhocking.org. That’s David, H-O-C-K-I-N-G.org. And we’ll give you our mailing address later in the program. Right now, though, here’s David.
SPEAKER 01 :
Will you take your Bibles, please, and turn to Romans chapter 9. Romans chapter 9. The second in our series, our first subject, the greatness of God. Our second subject on who God is, the sovereignty of God. It seems almost frustrating as you study the great doctrine of God in the Bible to know how in the world you can possibly communicate all this wonderful truth in an organized and effective way that we can understand from week to week. It seems to be that it has to be a daily pursuit. To know God is the highest pursuit of life. To understand Him is to understand ourselves. To understand Him is to know what is happening. To not understand him is to remain in confusion and doubt. The sovereignty of God is a wonderful theme. In Romans chapter 9, it is described in a most powerful way. It’s a chapter that causes people a lot of trouble. And I guess if you look at it from man’s point of view, who’s arguing for his rights and his ability to do as he pleases, then you’ll have trouble with this passage. But if you center your focus on God and the fact that he is not sitting as a passive observer to the events of human history, but rather actively involved, bringing it all to a wonderful and grand climax, from beginning to end, he is God in control. Then you’ll read it with joy. Then you’ll read it with understanding. but it is not easy. We’ll begin our reading at verse 6 and read down to verse 24. Romans chapter 9, beginning at verse 6. But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect, for they are not all Israel who are of Israel. Nor are they all children, because they are the seed of Abraham. But in Isaac your seed shall be called. That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God. But the children of the promise are counted as the seed.” For this is the word of promise, at this time I’ll come and Sarah shall have a son. And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac, for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him who calls, it was said to her, that is Rebecca, the older shall serve the younger.” As it is written, Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated. What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not. For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy. And I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion. So then it’s not of him who wills nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. For the scripture says to Pharaoh, even for the same purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you and that my name might be declared in all the earth. Therefore he has mercy on whom he wills, and whom he wills he hardens. You will say to me then, why does he still find fault for who has resisted his will? But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, Why have you made me like this? Does not the potter have power over the clay from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor? What if God, wanting to show his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? And… that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had prepared beforehand for glory, even us, whom he called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles. Now turn to chapter 11. He concludes the argument in verse 33 of chapter 11 with these words. And you can really identify with them having just read what you did. 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. For who has known the mind of the Lord or who has become His counselor? Or who has first given to Him and it shall be repaid to Him? For of Him and through Him… and to him, or unto him, are all things, to whom be glory forever, and all God’s people said, Amen. When I sit at my office to study, there is a cup where I like to have some tea, and it’s one that I got down at the Laguna Arts Festival. Carol and I were down there one day, and a guy had hand-done it, designed the little cup, and on there were the words engraved in the cup, I am the potter, you are the clay. Hey, that’s my message. The light comes on. I am the potter. You are the clay. What right? Really, folks, what right does clay have to say to the potter, wait, I don’t like this. Hey, buddy, you’re clay. Amen. Don’t talk. You’re not supposed to talk. Clay doesn’t talk. And, you know, that goes across the grain of every last one of us here. Talk about a passage that completely attacks and confronts a narcissistic culture where everybody wants to do his own thing, be in charge, talk about your rights, and you don’t want anybody pushing you around. And God says, you know what you are? You’re just clay. I just, you know, mess around my fingers a little bit, make into what I want, and I’ll do what I want to do. And by the way, keep quiet. Keep quiet. And man, we are motor mouth asking questions. I don’t like that. I mean, what do you mean God’s in charge? You’re acting like it doesn’t matter whatever I do. I don’t like that. Keep quiet. Hey, what do you mean I got a right to speak out just like anybody else? We got freedom of speech. Would you shut your mouth? And not a one of us wants to hear that message from God. When we talk about the sovereignty of God, friends, it is not an easy subject to talk about. And I’d like you to see in our message, which maybe will get you started thinking on this massive subject in the Bible, that it involves at least four things. First of all, it does involve his powerful control of all things. Now, things, all things… They seem sometimes out of control to me. It looks like things aren’t being handled well. Yet the Bible teaches his powerful control of all things. And that’s based on three things. One, his position. God will tell us over and over again, we’ll look at it in a moment, that his position, king of the universe, sovereign God, throne established in the heavens, does whatever he wants, his position… results in his powerful control of everything. There is no one in a more exalted position. There’s no one with the greater perspective to understand what’s happening and to see it and to know how it’s going to take place. So his position alone is a factor as it relates to his control of everything. Secondly, we will look at his power. The fact is that God’s power is not limited in any way, shape, or form. And the Bible teaches that his power is actually working in all the things that are occurring in life. A third thing that’s very much involved of his control over everything is his own pleasure, that God is doing it because he wants to do it. And these things are not what this generation wants to hear, but that’s what the Bible teaches. Turn to Psalm, please, chapter 97. Let’s just hustle through a few little scriptures in the Psalms to see the position of God and what it means to his control of everything. And I really believe that the root of every problem in our life is a misunderstanding or a misapplication of who God is and what he can do. I think we could prove that. No matter what problem you discuss, marriage, family, personal, job, career, you name it, no matter what problem we would be discussing, the root behind our failure to apply it properly and to take it from the hand of the Lord is our misunderstanding of who God is and what he can do in our lives and what he in fact is doing. Now, in Psalms 97, Psalm 97, verse 1, you have an example of the position of God affecting the sovereignty of God. The Lord reigns. Is there any more simple statement than that? Not the Lord did. Not the Lord is going to. The Lord reigns. Let the earth rejoice. Let the multitude of isles be glad. Why? Because somebody, thank God, is in charge. Now, we do our best to appreciate power and authority, control to make decisions, move governments and nations and et cetera. They are not significant to the discussion today at all. God’s position is the Lord is presently reigning. Flip to chapter 99, please. Verse 1, it says it again. The Lord reigns. Let the peoples tremble. He dwells between the cherubim. Let the earth be moved. The Lord is great in Zion. He is high, there’s his position, above all the peoples. Let them praise your great and awesome name. He is holy. The Lord is reigning, and he’s high above everyone. The position of God is affected. Chapter 103, please. Verse 19, chapter 103, verse 19. The Lord, the Bible says, has established his throne in heaven and his kingdom rules over all. Some translations say his sovereignty. His kingdom is ruling over everything. Where is he ruling from? His throne is established in heaven. His perspective sees it all, everything from past history into future history, all time. He sees it any one moment of time. He’s in absolute sovereign control of everything. Chapter 113, please. Look at the opening verses of this chapter, Psalm 113, on the sovereignty of God from the standpoint of his position controlling all things. It says, Praise the Lord. Praise, O servants of the Lord. Praise the name of the Lord. Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and forevermore. From the rising of the sun to its going down, the Lord’s name is to be praised. The Lord is high above all nations. Position again. His glory above the heavens. Who is like the Lord our God who dwells on high, who humbles himself? I love this statement. the sovereign position of God, seeing everything, high above it all, no one’s like him, but he humbles himself to behold the things that are in the heavens and in the earth. What a colossal understanding of the greatness of God and where we fit in. God literally humbles himself to observe and behold what’s done in the heavens as well as on earth. Because he designed it all, he made it all, he has to humble himself to even care about it. Is that not a phenomenal concept? Again, the root of our problems is a misunderstanding of who God is, or a misapplication of it in our own lives. The position of God. Turn to the book of Daniel, please. Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea. Turn to Daniel, chapter 4. Let me show you some other interesting things as it related to Daniel, who, in fact, is in captivity to Babylon. Daniel, a prophet of the Lord, to whom God gave a wonderful message. It deals with future things from our day even. But in Daniel chapter 4, Daniel got some sovereignty lessons from God. In verse 17. concerning the dream of King Nebuchadnezzar, which he was interpreting, in Daniel chapter 4, verse 17, it says, this decision is by the decree of the watchers, which is one of the names for angels in Daniel, and the sentence by the word of the holy ones, another one of their names, in order that the living may know, angels communicated the message to him, and he said, in order that the living may know that the most high, no one’s higher than he, position again, rules the in the kingdom of men, gives it to whomever he wills, sets over it the lowest of men. Have you ever, when you voted for somebody and it got into power, wondered about them? Let’s put it another way. The guy you voted for did not get in, and the guy that got in proved to be a real stinker or a failure or something else. And it caused you to say, well, if they had put my man in there, we wouldn’t have had this problem. I just thought it was interesting to read that God sets over it the lowest of men. We want the best person in the job. And when we get the best person we got, God says, oh, by the way, you just put in the lowest you got. No, no, no, no, you didn’t hear about his credentials and his past experience, his ability to understand foreign policy and to handle domestic… No, you just put in a real bummer. The sovereignty of God, thank the Lord, does not leave us to ourselves, even though it looks like that from our point of view. God is literally causing it for his purpose. He is even setting people up according to whomever he wills. The lesson goes on in Daniel chapter 4. Look at verse 25. He’s telling what’s going to happen in Nebuchadnezzar. He’s going to really go bonkers. It says, they shall drive you from men. Your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. He literally went insane. They shall make you eat grass like oxen. They shall wet you with the dew of heaven and seven times shall pass over you till you know that the most high rules in the kingdom of men and gives it to whomever he chooses. Nebuchadnezzar did what many of the Roman emperors did, and that is proclaim himself as God and nobody’s higher than I am. And Daniel says, well, God’s going to show you, brother. You’re going to be called You’re going to be eating grass like animals. That’s exactly what happened to Nebuchadnezzar, and God humbled him. And apparently, even Nebuchadnezzar responded at the end of his life to that sovereignty of God. But Daniel says, you know why God’s going to do that? So you will know. God’s going to break you. If you won’t bring your heart to understand the ways of the Lord, God has his ways, and you will know that the Most High is ruling in the kingdom of men. Verse 34. Interesting. And at the end of the time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven and my understanding returned to me. And I blessed the Most High and praised and honored him who lives forever. You could avoid a lot of trouble in your life if you just start out this way honoring the Lord. But his dominion is an everlasting dominion and his kingdom is from generation to generation. Interesting that the most powerful ruler on the face of the globe at his generation in time would make these remarks. All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing. He does according to his will in the army of heaven among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can restrain his hand or say to him, what have you done? And that’s all I hear from people. questioning what God has done. In their hearts, they really don’t even believe that God did it. But it’s like, oh, is that what you Christians believe, that God did this? Well, what did he do it for? And why would God do that? If he’s such a great God, why in effect would he let that earthquake happen? Or how about Hurricane Hugo? Why would he leave things in such a mess on planet Earth? Why doesn’t he get rid of the wicked people and always put the righteous in power? Why is God doing it? Why does he let little children suffer? Why do we have a mongoloid child? Why does God have deformity? What’s going on here? And this king who was humbled by the sovereign God said, Hey, wait a minute. He does whatever he wants to. Blessed be his name. Because I don’t understand it? Does it make it so? Well, I guess you could become fatalistic hearing this. You could say, well, whatever will be, will be. You know, I love to have people say that to me. And I said, finally, you said something right. No, it’s like we’re all of a sudden supposed to jump on that and explain it. The sovereign God is ruling everything. Now come to Isaiah, please, chapter 43, and let me show you that it’s not only his position that’s affecting his control of everything, but it’s his power. It’s his power. Isaiah chapter 43 is a rather strong statement, but I’m afraid that a lot of us don’t read these verses, or at least when we do, we skip over it. Isaiah 43, 13. It says, Don’t you like that? And there’s no one who can deliver out of my hand. I love this statement. I work and who will reverse it? Did you think you could change what God’s doing? You can’t change it.
SPEAKER 03 :
That’s Bible teacher David Hawking, and this is Hope for Today. We’ll continue our look at the sovereignty of God next time on the program, but David returns in just a moment to close out today’s study time with some additional thoughts, so do stay tuned for that. First of all, Matt’s here, and we have something really special for you. Contemporary culture confuses self-centered lust with love. Yeah, love for a lifetime is deemed by most people to be impossible.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, right. The Greek language of the New Testament uses four or five terms for love, and many of us are familiar with the great love chapter.
SPEAKER 03 :
1 Corinthians 13 defines and describes love. The love of God himself, which we desperately need in our lives.
SPEAKER 02 :
And we need to live it out through our lives. Oh, yeah, yeah. Well, let’s cut through the confusion and consternation on the topic of love and enjoy the refreshing of love as God defines it and empowers it.
SPEAKER 03 :
In our book, Love is the Greatest, your dad shares an in-depth analysis of the whole subject of love. and he bases the study on the authority of God’s word. And what a powerful and crucial study this is for our day and time, right? Yeah, Love is the Greatest by David Hawking, an outstanding study for every relationship of life. An engaged couple, a marriage of many years, parents, best friends. How about anyone who struggles with a difficult relationship? Yeah. A cranky coworker? Cranky coworkers, not us, but other people, right? Annoying neighbors, maybe a rebellious child, somebody that is really difficult to love.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah. Help and encouragement. Inspiration are inside. Love is the greatest. It’s by my dad, Dr. David Hawking. It’s a study of 1 Corinthians 13, and it’s just $15. Get a copy for yourself or someone in your circle who needs it.
SPEAKER 03 :
And consider adding a donation with your order or becoming a regular monthly contributor. In fact, Matt, many folks simply send a gift all by itself.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 03 :
As long as God directs and supplies. Amen. And please pray for hope for today. Yes, please, please do pray for us. And Matt, I’d also like to quickly mention a powerful study bundle pack that we have this month. This is a package that includes all of David’s sermon notes and outlines for his 27 message series in the New Testament. These are his original sermon notes from Matthew chapter 1, all the way through Revelation chapter 22. And it’s available for just $75. To order, call 800-75-BIBLE in the U.S. or 888-75-BIBLE in Canada. You can also order the New Testament Sermon Notes Study Bundle online at davidhawking.org. And as the Lord leads, we’d also ask you to prayerfully consider supporting this ministry financially with a donation. You see, your giving helps keep Hope for Today on the air and online. It helps cover the cost of broadcast time, helps us continue taking the clear teaching of God’s Word to people who need the truth. And frankly, that’s you, that’s me, and that’s everyone listening, isn’t it? If you’d like to write to us and maybe send a contribution that way, in the U.S., our address is Hope for Today, Box 3927. Tustin, Tustin is T-U-S-T-I-N, California, 92781. In Canada, write to Hope for Today, Box 15011, RPO7OAKS, Abbotsford, B.C., V2S 8P1. You can also send a gift online at davidhawking.org. Call us at 875-BIBLE in the U.S. or 888-75-BIBLE in Canada. And here’s David.
SPEAKER 01 :
Well, I hope you’re enjoying our series on the attributes of God. It’s just a perfect complement to what we had been doing over the last year on the radio. But my friends, it’s so important to know who God is and what he can do. And right now, we’re talking about one of the more difficult subjects in the Bible called the sovereignty of God. We’re going to explain that because a lot of folks are a little confused about sovereignty. Sovereignty means something God is that we are not. He is certainly above all and rules over all, and He’s doing everything according to His own pleasure and purposes. And once you get that in your heart, it makes all the difference in the world. You can sleep better at night. I don’t know where you stand in your relationship to God, but I know this. It’s a desperate need that we settle our eternal relationship with the Lord before it’s too late. Don’t wait. There’s two things we’re uncertain of. One is our own death, and secondly, the coming of our Lord. So don’t put it off. If you’re not really sure of your relationship to the Lord through the Messiah of Israel, our Lord Jesus, then give us a call at Hope for Today, 1-800-75-BIBLE. Tell them that you’re interested in settling your relationship with God and would like the free booklet. We’ll send it to you. And a free Bible study by mail. God bless you. Hope you can be with us for our next broadcast.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, thank you, David. And friend, if you’re new to the Christian faith, or maybe you’re not yet a Christian, but you’d like to know more about what the Bible says about becoming a Christian, well, we’d like to send you the free booklet David just mentioned. It’s called What Is Christianity? And this is yours free, along with a Bible study that we’ll send you by mail. Call us at 875-BIBLE in the U.S., 888-75-BIBLE in Canada. And you can also request these free resources on our website, DavidHawking.org. Well, next time on Hope for Today, David continues with day two of his message on the sovereignty of God. If this world looks chaotic to you, and it looks chaotic to me as well, well, don’t miss what the Bible says about the God who still rules, still rules over all. We’ll see you then, here on Hope for Today.
