In his systematic theology Wayne Grudem identifies sovereignty as “God’s exercise of power over creation.”[1] The Prophet Jeremiah says to God, “nothing is too hard for You” (Jer. 32:17). The angel Gabriel reminds Mary, “With God nothing is impossible” (Luke 1:37), while Jesus Himself adds, “With God all things are possible” (Matt. 19:26).
Because God is God he can do “whatever He pleases (Ps. 115:3).” And whatever God wills to happen will happen.[2] Or as R.C. Sproul puts it, “God owns what He makes, and He rules what he owns.”[3] In short, God has the right and the authority and the power to do whatever He so desires. He is the sovereign Creator and Lord of heaven and earth (Psalm 146:6; Acts 17:24; Rev. 4:1-11).
Because God is absolutely Sovereign He is free to call all of the shots. He is after all “King of kings and Lord of lords” (1 Tim. 6:15). Whatever God commands His subjects to do they are expected to do. This is one of the ways that God’s Word and God’s sovereignty intersect with expository preaching. For example in 2 Timothy 4:1-4 the Apostle Paul writes, “I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.” One day the man of God is going to stand before the Judge of all the earth and give an account. Our Sovereign God commands preachers to herald the Word of God at all times and in all places. Since God is King and Jesus is Lord the preacher has no other choice but to exposit the God-breathed Text (2 Tim. 3:15-4:5). Failure to do so is sin. Faithful obedience to God is always rewarded with rich blessings (note Revelation 2-3).
When it comes to this doctrine God is not only sovereign over the end He is also sovereign over the means to those God-appointed end(s). As it relates to preaching, God has determined to use the “the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe” (1 Cor. 1:21). “Such ‘foolishness’ reveals that God, not the messenger, is to be credited for saving those who believe that message.”[4]
For this reason the Apostle Paul says, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). Commenting on this verse Leon Morris adds, “Paul is speaking of the derivative nature of the Christian gospel. It is not something that wise men have made up; it comes from hearing the message given by those sent from God. This is further brought out with ‘hearing through the word of Christ.’ Whether we take this to mean ‘the word about Christ’ or ‘the word from Christ’, it locates the content of the preaching in what God has given, not in what the preacher has thought up.[5]
One of the chief reasons why the man of God must faithfully herald the Scriptures is because his Divine Sovereign has ordained preaching as a means to save the lost and sanctify the elect.[6] Peter puts it this way in his first epistle, “For you have been born again not of a seed that is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring Word of God. ‘For all flesh is like grass, and all its glory is like the flower of the grass. The grass withers and the flower falls off, but the Word of the Lord endures forever.’ And this is the word which was preached to you.”
The doctrine of God’s sovereignty is one of the most liberating truths in the entire Canon of Scripture. The Lord simply wants His servants to faithfully sow the seed[7] and to trust Him with the results. Paul puts it this way in 1 Corinthians 3:5-9, “What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one. I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.” In light of this text the man of God should not become proud if people are saved under his preaching or if his ministry grows. After all it is God and God alone who causes the increase. This passage also implies that the pastor-teacher should “not grow weary in doing good” if his pulpit ministry does not bear much fruit. The Lord of the harvest is sovereign, wise, and good. Let us entrust ourselves to Him in all things including our pulpit ministries.
[1] Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan Publishing House, 2000), 1254.
[2] See Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology, pp. 212-15, for a more detailed description concerning the distinctions that are made concerning the will of God.
[3] R.C. Sproul, Now, That’s A Good Question (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishing, 1996), 26.
[4] David Garland, 1 Corinthians (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2003), 68.
[5] Leon Morris, The Epistle to the Romans (Grand Rapids, MI; Eerdmans Publishing, 1988). 392.
[6] This is sometimes referred to as the “ordinary means of grace.” See also Eph. 4:11-15; Col. 1:27-29.
[7] And to “declare the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:26-27).
