The Sovereign Dominion of God (Part 1)

The Sovereign Dominion of God I. This study sets forth what Scripture teaches about the government of the most high God. The manner in which God's will is accomplished will be considered. Certain questions need to be addressed, some of which are: A. Is God active in the events of history, or has He simply created all things and left the creation to plot its own course? B. Does the universe function completely passively, as a glove on the hand of God? C. Is God's will ever not done? D. Is God the author of evil or sin? E. If God created all things but is not the author of evil or sin, where did they come from? F. Does God condone or approve of sin? G. Does God ever use sin/sinners to accomplish His purpose? H. Does God get pleasure by judging and destroying the wicked? I. Has God predestinated everything that comes to pass? II. The acknowledgment of the supreme reign of our God is an essential tenet of the gospel of peace. ISA 52:7. III. God is the Governor among the nations. PSA 22:28. A. govern: To rule with authority, esp. with the rule of a sovereign; to direct and control the actions and affairs of (a people, a state or its members)... B. rule: To control, guide, direct, exercise sway or influence over (a person, his actions, life, etc.). IV. The word sovereignty does not appear in the Bible, but the concept is most certainly declared therein. DAN 4:34-35. A. dominion: The power or right of governing and controlling; sovereign authority; lordship, sovereignty; rule, sway; control, influence. B. sovereignty: Supremacy or pre-eminence in respect of excellence or efficacy. 2. Supremacy in respect of power, domination, or rank; supreme dominion, authority, or rule. C. Observe these attributes of God's sovereign rule over all from DAN 4:34-35. 1. It is eternal and never thwarted or overthrown. 2. Man is reputed as nothing in relation to it. 3. It is irresistible in the execution of its counsel. 4. No creature has the right to question it. D. God's dominion is supreme. He alone is the source of His strength and power. He neither received or derived it. 1TI 6:15. 1. potentate: A person endowed with independent power; a prince, monarch, ruler. 2. All other power is derived from, and by the sufferance of God. PSA 62:11; JOH 19:11; ROM 13:1. 3. Even the awesome power of the devil is beholding to God. LUK 4:6. 4. Jesus Christ holds the keys of all power. MAT 28:18. E. God's rule extends over all aspects of His creation. 1CH 29:11-12. V. God created all things for Himself according to His pleasure. REV 4:11. A. All things are created by and for Jesus Christ. COL 1:16-17. B. Nothing exists without God. ACT 17:25, 28. The Sovereign Dominion of God 3-11-12 Page 1C. Sin cannot even exist without God. Sin is the transgression of the law (1JO 3:4). Without God, there would be no one to transgress the law and no law to transgress. ROM 4:15. 1. author: The person who originates or gives existence to anything. 2. Understand that God is not the author of sin. The existence of sin no more proves that God is the author of sin than shade proves that the sun is the source or author of darkness. 1JO 1:5. 3. God never makes a person sin. IJO 2:15-17; GAL 2:17-18; PRO 5:22; 11:5; JAM 1:13-14. 4. (JAM 3:14-15) But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. (15) This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. a. If envying and strife are predestinated and efficiently caused by God, then this wisdom does descend from above. b. By contrast, “...the wisdom that is from above is FIRST pure...” (JAM 3:17). c. Wars and fightings come of man's lusts that war in his members, which lust is NOT of the Father. JAM 4:1; 1JO 2:16. 5. If God by His irresistible might forces men to commit abomination, then they are obviously delivered to do those abominations. But JER 7:8-10 shows otherwise. 6. If God predestinates men to sin, then it obviously came into His mind that they should do it. But JER 32:35 denies this. 7. Sin is contrary to God's very nature. DEU 32:4; HAB 1:13. a. God hates sin, forbids it in His law, and punishes it. b. To charge God with being the author of sin is to charge God with being the author of that which He abominates. 8. Man is held responsible for his deeds. 2CO 5:10; ROM 2:2-6; 14:12. a. A glove is manipulated by the hand that it is on. Therefore the hand is responsible for whatever the glove does. b. If God manipulates a man to sin like a hand manipulates a glove, then God, not man, is responsible for his sin. c. If God forces a man to lie, then it is God that is lying. But Scripture clearly teaches that God cannot lie. TIT 1:2. 9. Scripture does teach that God creates evil. ISA 45:7. a. Evil is understood in more than one sense in Scripture. Sometimes it refers to the sin itself. 1KI 11:6; ROM 7:19-21. b. But evil also refers to the judgment which God brings against sinners. EXO 32:10-14; JON 3:10. c. Therefore, ISA 45:7 is not a proof text for the belief that God deliberately generated evil as much as He generated the sun. 10. While God is not the author of sin, He most certainly is the author of everything whereby sin could be occasioned. He is responsible for: a. the law. JAM 4:12. (1) Sin is the transgression of the law. 1JO 3:4. (2) Where there is no law, there is no sin (transgression). ROM 4:15. (3) Therefore sin could not exist unless God had given law. b. the object of the law. GEN 2:9. c. the person. GEN 1:27. d. the ability. PRO 16:1; 20:24. The Sovereign Dominion of God 3-11-12 Page 211. God created man with certain abilities, objects and opportunities. He placed man under law which regulated man's use of these things. a. God created man good. GEN 1:26, 31. b. God placed him under a law forbidding him to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. GEN 2:16-17. c. Man was not restrained from disobeying that law if he chose to do that. d. Man was informed in advance of the consequences of disobedience and held responsible for his choice. e. Man sinned when he availed himself of the opportunity to misuse the ability to eat an object which God had made but declared “off-limits.” f. Sin's entrance is consistently attributed to man. ECC 7:29; ROM 5:12. The Sovereign Dominion of God 3-11-12 Page 3