Glen Bond Picayune MS Nov 4, 2007 Subject : The Sovereign God Jer. 10:12 He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion. Rev. 4:11 Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. Prov. 16:4 The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil. 1 Cor. 1:29 That no flesh should glory in his presence. Eph. 1:4 According as he hath chosen us (those that are saved) in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: 5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, (or, because he wanted to) 6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. Romans 11:7 What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded. 8 (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day. MH: Some are chosen and called, and the call is made effectual. But others are left to perish in their unbelief; nay, they are made worse by that which should have made them better. Some were blinded; or they were hardened; They were seared, and made brawny and insensible. They could neither see the light, nor feel the touch, of gospel grace. Blindness and hardness are expressive of the same senselessness and stupidity of spirit. They shut their eyes, and would not see; this was their sin: and then God, in a way of righteous judgment, blinded their eyes, that they could not see; this was their punishment. Is this what you are doing? MH:(1.) Isaiah, spoke of such a judgment in his day, (ch. xxix. 10; vi. 9). The spirit of slumber, that is, an indisposedness to mind either their duty or interest. They are under the power of a prevailing unconcernedness, like people that are slumbering and sleeping; not affected with any thing that is said or done. They were resolved to continue as they were, and would not stir. The following words explain what is meant by the spirit of slumber: 'Eyes, that they should not see, and ears, that they should not hear'. They had the faculties, but in the things that belonged to their peace they had not the use of those faculties; they were quite infatuated (that means they were foolish and without sound judgment), they saw Christ, but they did not believe in him; they heard his word, but they did not receive it; and so both their hearing and their seeing were in vain. It was all one as if they had neither seen nor heard. -Unto this day. Ever since Esaias prophesied, this hardening work has been in the doing; some among them have been blind and senseless. Or, rather, ever since the first preaching of the gospel: though they have had the most convincing evidences that could be of the truth of it, the most powerful preaching, the fairest offers, the clearest calls from Christ himself, and from his apostles, yet to this day they are blinded. It is still true concerning multitudes of them, even to this day in which we live; they are hardened and blinded, the obstinacy and unbelief go by succession from generation to generation, according to their own fearful imprecation, which entailed the curse: His blood be upon us and upon our children. Romans 9:20 20 Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? 21 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? 22 What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: 23 And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, ...Why hast thou made me thus? Shall the wicked rail against God and say "Why hast thou made me thus?" Shall he say "Why have you made me wicked?" No!, You have made yourself wicked. The Lord may not have chosen you, but he has nothing to do with your being wicked. Psalms 58:3 The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies. We are all born the same. With a wicked depraved heart. There is no good in any of us at any time. Psalms 14:3 They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Romans 3:12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Mark 10:18 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God. The only good one is God, no man has any good in him. Matt:201 For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard. 2 And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. 3 And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, 4 And said unto them; Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way. 5 Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise. 6 And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle? 7 They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive. 8 So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first. 9 And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny. 10 But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more; and they likewise received every man a penny. 11 And when they had received it, they murmured against the goodman of the house, 12 Saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day. 13 But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny? 14 Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee. 15 Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good? 16 So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen. All are sinners and therefor are due eternal damnation. God in his mercy has chosen a few whom he will redeem from Hell. vs. 15 Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good? Is God unjust because he has not redeemed all from Hell? Is thine eye evil? Before any sinner is ever saved, he will come to see that God is altogether just and righteous in sending him to an eternal Hell. That sinner will agree with God that he deserves Hell. You will have no arguments with God about it. You will totally agree with him. To have any reservations is to say that God is unjust, and to say that God is unjust is to say that you don't deserve Hell, and how could God ever dare to send you there. This is to call God a liar, it is to be deceived by Satan, and it is the natural state of every lost sinner. You are deceived, you are without saving faith and you are un-repentant. You are totaly lost and without God. You say "Oh, I'm saved, I just don't understand the sovereignty of God." I tell you, No! You are deceived by Satan. Gods word tells us in Isaiah 54:13 13 And all thy children shall be taught of the LORD; and great shall be the peace of thy children. You will learn of God from God. You will not learn from man. If you don't know of Gods Sovereignty, it is because God has not taught it to you. It is because you are not one of his children. Before the Lord ever saves anyone he will come to know of the sovereignty of God. He will know (KNOW - beyond any doubt) that God doesn't have to save him. What I know, I learned before God saved me. And you will learn it before God ever saves you. You will learn it, and you will totally agree with it or you will never be saved. I didn't learn it in some school, the Lord taught it to me. Why? Because He chose me before the world was, and I needed to know it. Now you can reject Gods word, you can say that I don't know what I'm talking about, and you can turn away and refuse what I have said, but you can't change God. You will stand before him one day and answer for what you have heard. I don't like to bring this message, but if I don't, then I become an accomplice with you in rejecting God. Then I will have to answer to God for what I have done. God is being merciful to you yet one more time. He is giving you one more chance to repent. He is not willing that you should go to Hell. But if you reject him, if you reject so great a salvation, you leave God with no choice but to pass sentence on you.