Sovereignty Is An
Essential Attribute Of God
Psa. 135:6
Martin Luther wrote to
Erasmus, "Your thoughts of God are too human." With those words he
exposed the essential fallacy of all false religion. I lay this charge against
all preachers of free-will, works religion - Their thoughts of God are too
human. God's charge against apostate
Men today imagine that
God is moved by sentiment, rather than by the determination of his own will.
They talk about omnipotence, but imagine that it is such an idle fiction that satan and men can thwart the power of God. If they speak of
God's plan, the preachers of our day tell us that it must, like the plans of
men, be subject to constant change. They tell us that God's power,his plan, his will, and his sovereignty must be limited,
lest he violate man's free-will and reduce him to a robot. The grace of God is
represented as a helpless, frustrated desire in God's heart to save people who
will not allow him to save them. The precious blood of Christ, we are told, was
shed in vain for many, wasted upon the multitudes who
perish. And the saving power of the Holy Spirit is reduced to a gentle offer of
grace which waits upon the will of man to make it effectual. Such thoughts of
God are too human! Such a god is no God at all!
In reality the
religionists of our day are atheists, for there is no possible alternative
between a God who is absolutely sovereign and no God at all. A god whose will
can be resisted, whose purpose can be frustrated, whose power can be thwarted,
whose grace can be nullified, whose work can be overturned, has no title to
Diety! Such a god is not a fit object of worship. Such a puny, pigmy god merits
nothing but contempt. He is not the God of the Bible!
"Our God is in the
heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased...Whatsoever the LORD pleased,
that did he in heaven, and in earth, in the seas, and
in all deep places." When I say, "God is sovereign," I am simply
saying, "God is God." To deny his sovereignty is to deny his Godhead.
You might as well speak of a God who is not eternal,holy,and
immutable, as speak of a God who is not sovereign. Sovereignty and Diety stand
or fall together.
Don Fortner