The Sovereignty of God

The speaker begins by defining God's sovereignty as His absolute authority to act according to His own will and timing, using the early Genesis account of Cain and Abel to illustrate how God’s choices—such as assigning different vocations to the first men—affect the outcomes of their offerings. He then moves to the New Testament, arguing that God foreknows human choices and predestines those He foreknows to be conformed to Christ, but he rejects the idea that God arbitrarily decides some people are saved and others are not. Throughout, he emphasizes that God’s will is ultimately accomplished, likening divine sovereignty to the political sovereignty of a state that must enforce its own laws. The sermon shifts to practical implications for believers and the church. The speaker stresses that God selects individuals—biblical figures like Moses, Samson, and modern evangelists such as Billy Graham and Richard Hogue—without regard to human merit, status, or personal preference. He warns against trying to manipulate God's hand, urging the congregation to remain available and obedient, trusting that God will use the church as He sees fit, whether as a great evangelistic force or a modest lighthouse. The overall message is that God's sovereign choices are inscrutable, but they are always rooted in His perfect wisdom and love.

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Houston's First Baptist Church is a relevant biblical community where we gather our hearts, grow our souls and give our lives as we seek to fulfill the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20). This podcast provides weekly messages from Pastor Gregg Matte and others. Visit us at HoustonsFirst.org to learn more about HFBC, and visit us in person the next time you're in Houston!

Now over in the fourth chapter of Genesis, the first verse, my subject tonight is on the sovereignty of God, which just means that God will do what he wants to do, the way he wants to do it, when he is ready to do so. So, let God be God. At the risk of being trite, may I say again what I have said so many times, we just have to give God credit for knowing some things we don't know. If we had all the answers, we would be God's equal, and we could not worship him. He is sovereign. He must be God. And Adam knew his wife, and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord. And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. And in process of time it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground, an offering unto the Lord. And Abel he also brought the firstlings of his flock, and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering, but unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. And the Lord said unto Cain, If thou doest well, shalt not thou be accepted? And if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. Next Sunday morning I am going to preach on the subject, Dust and Blood, Grace and Works. Of course, Cain's offering was accepted, was rejected, because it was the offering of the ground, the product of his own hands. Abel's offering was accepted because it was the product of blood being shed, the death of the innocent for the guilty. But that's another subject. The question I want to raise tonight is, why did God make the first man a tiller of the ground, and a second man a tender of sheep, knowing that the offerings they would bring would be the natural product of what they were? He created them as they were. Let there be no question about that. He did make a choice. Whether you are born in a Muslim home or a Baptist home, whether you are born in the midst of a thriving metropolis with a gospel preaching church on every corner, or whether you were born in the jungle where you may never hear the gospel, is something over which you had no control. God had control over that. God determined that. Why and how can we reconcile in the sovereignty of God that our God does what he does? I want you to turn with me over in Romans chapter 8, verse 29. Now, it is my belief, and you will get from a hundred preachers, perhaps a hundred different ideas, that in the matter of salvation, God does not choose. He merely acts upon what he knows we will choose. I'll not go into this in great detail. For whom he did foreknow, he did also predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. So he did predetermine that some would be saved. But it says those that he predestined were those whom he foreknew. Foreknew what? Knew how they would choose, I believe. So I do not believe that in the matter of salvation, God decides against some and for some. The Bible is not trying to play a kind of theological double -talk when it says, whosoever will may come. But in all things, in the total perspective of God's dealing with this world, we may be assured of the sovereign nature of God. Now the word sovereign merely means that God is able and capable of doing what He will do. He's able to do whatever He wants to do. It's His prerogative. He is, after all, God. When as a high school boy, I went to Oklahoma City to see the Oklahoma Capitol for the first time. We met the governor, and we saw about that seal in the back of the governor's chair the words sovereign state of Oklahoma. Now that means that the state of Oklahoma, like the state of Texas, being sovereign entities, have the right to do whatever they want to do. And if enough people vote for it, you can run a yellow dog for a legislator, and he'll be elected. But it also means that when a state or an entity makes a law and ordains something, it must have the power and the authority and the capability of carrying through and enforcing that proposition as well. And so if God sets certain laws and does not enforce those laws, if He winks at sin, if He lets people get away with sin, if the wages of sin is not death, then He has to go out of the business of being God, the same as the state of Texas has to go out of the business of being a sovereign state if it does not enforce its laws. But our God is a sovereign God, and He can do whatever He wants to do, but He binds Himself to the doing of what He sets out to do. And with that as a background, remember that Colossians 1 .17 says, All things were made by Him and for Him. The world was made for the Son Christ, and the will of God, though detained, though deferred, is not going to ultimately be thwarted. The will of God will be done. Now, this world will honor Christ. Every knee shall bow. Every knee shall bow. Every tongue shall confess that Christ is Lord of the glory of the Father. And it may be a confession unto salvation, or it may be a confession unto damnation. You may confess Him as your Savior and Lord, or you may confess Him as your judge, but this old rebellious world is going to know her King. God is working on His purposes. He is ultimately going to prevail. Now, the Bible says, The prince in the power of His hair, the wicked one, walketh about seeking whom he may devour. God seems temporarily to have relinquished temporary control of this world to the devil. And He goes, but He goes only so far. But God has the final tug on the end of that leash, and He will not allow men to be tempted beyond that they are able to resist. He will not allow Satan to interfere with his working beyond that that He allows. And why He allows it, I do not know. But I do know this, that God is sovereign. God is God. His will is ultimately going to be done. Four or five things I call to your attention. Number one, He does choose. The Bible says, Many are called, but few are chosen. You will recall that when Saul of Tarsus was in the experience of having been converted, still blinded, the disciples were afraid of him. They said he persecuted the church. They did not believe him. His integrity was at stake. And they sent word and said, This man is a chosen vessel. God said, Go down there. This man is a chosen vessel unto thee. Moses was a chosen vessel. God chose to use Moses, not Aaron. Aaron was 40 years older than Moses. He was the older brother. He was the most likely one. He was the best spokesman. But God chose Moses. God chose Samson. They could never figure Samson out. You know, when I was a young evangelist, I used to preach and rip and snort. And I'd say old Moses or old Samson would flex these muscles and his biceps would bulge and he'd break his coat off and they'd all gasp at how strong he was. And he'd rip that lion inside out and grab him by his tail and reach down his throat and turn him wrong side out. Well, that isn't true. He didn't have bulging muscles because they all wasted around and wondered and marveled where he got his power. They could never figure Samson out. What made him different from other men? The difference was that God chose him. God chose him. One day God looked down at a man named Billy Graham and said, I am going to use you to reach more people for Christ than any man that has ever lived in the history of the world. And there are hundreds of young evangelists who go around and they try to preach like Billy Graham and they get a big organization and they get signs and they get everything and they try to be Billy Graham, but they're just not Billy. The difference is God ordained Billy. And Billy said, the first thing I'm going to do when I get to heaven is ask why. And you know what? I don't think he'll get an answer. We're bringing to this city for six months a young man named Richard Hogue. Dr. Wade Freeman, Secretary of Evangelism at Richard's annual Association of Directors meeting, sent a representative from the state of Texas from the evangelism office. I thank God for that. They didn't, the Oklahoma Baptist Convention didn't even do that. And they said before them that Dr. Wade Freeman made the statement through Jim Hester at Richard Hogue's annual board meeting. In my opinion, Wade Freeman, probably the most knowledgeable man on the subject in America, said, in my opinion, it is obvious that Richard Hogue is the man of the hour. That he is the man God has chosen to use this generation. I don't understand that. I can out -preach Richard Hogue left -handed. I just can't figure that out. I had Dr. W .A. Criswell over at our home. I was about 22. I was a budding young evangelist. I went to hear him preach. Everybody shook hands with him. And I went up and introduced myself. And I said, I'm so -and -so. Would you come out to our house for a little bit of fellowship? I'd like to get to know you. He said, yes. I went home and called my wife. I said, honey, guess what? Criswell's coming home for supper. I didn't hear a sound. The Lord forgives people for profanity and just about everything else. She got her composure and said, really? And I said, really. So we start home and I said, Dr. Criswell, this is such an honor. We'll stop by the grocery store here and I'll get anything you want. What would you like to have? Pizza, chocolate cake, anything you want. He said, have you got any milk at home? I said, yes. He said, you know, every time I get done preaching, I drink several big glasses full of milk with ice cubes in it. Ice cold milk. For 14 years, every time I get done preaching, I go home and drink milk with ice cubes in it. And it hadn't done a bit of good yet. God has chosen him. You know, in Dell City, we began to win and baptize 400 and 500 people a year to Christ. And Frank will tell you that we received and actually had a form letter prepared. The stenographers dictated it and typed it and sent it out. An answer to the question 15 times a week across our convention. Why? What are you doing? What works? How do you make it happen? I want you to know that one of my best friends said, I went home, we did everything you did, and nothing happened. I was convinced and still am that for reasons known only to him, one day God looked down in a generation when there was pessimism and despair and discouragement and defeat and churches getting cold and giving up and just chose that little church as an influence, as a testimony to the world to show them that the old -time religion and that evangelism and the word of God and love for Jesus still works. When I left, they said the whole thing will fall apart. And it did. That Sunday school fell down all the way from 1700 clear to 1800. And they're still scratching their heads, some of them. And you know, there are a lot of people that have just now figured out it must have been God all the time. and that just tickles me to death. When people stand around and scratch their heads and see God working, and they try to analyze and dissect and take it apart and can't figure it out, and they say it just must be of God, then our Lord is pleased. Billy, some of the critics went to Billy's meeting the first time in London and said it's the music, the music, the invitation hypnotizes them. The choir sings just as I am 40 times, and they are hypnotized, and they come down the aisle in a trance. They did. And the next night, Billy didn't have any singing. It was like a morgue, all except for the shuffle of 5 ,000 and 6 ,000 people coming down the aisles. They started having twice as many results, and they just had to admit, well, it must be God. And God was pleased. God was pleased. Our God does make choices. Number two, it seems that the thing chosen, listen, has little to say about the choice. Young men come to me all the time and say, I am considering being an evangelist. I want to surrender to God and be a great evangelist. And I say to them, that is a decision you will never have to make. It will be made for you. God will make it for you. Your brethren will make it for you. You will be constrained to go. It will be forced on you. You'll be pushed into it. I read a statement by Billy Graham on a plane once where he said, I did not choose to be an evangelist. He said, I do not like evangelism. I don't want to be an evangelist today. I would rather be the pastor of a church, of a congregation, and stay home with my family. God has constrained me. I have to do it. Pharaoh was used by God. God chose to use Pharaoh. Pharaoh, now remember, at the point of his salvation, before God hardened his heart, he gave him ten chances to repent first. But God just ordained to use that man. And ladies and gentlemen, I do not know yet whether it is in the will of God that this church be the lighthouse, the citadel for the word of God in a dark hour that God may want it to be. But I just do know this. If he does, church, I want us to be in every area of our lives available to him to do what he does want to do. The thing chosen has little, if any, control over the choice of God. And whether it wants to be used or not doesn't seem to have much to do with the choice. We sometimes try to force the hand of God. The philosophy behind so much advertising, Mickey Mantle swings the bat, hits .350, smokes Chesterfield. No, that's out, isn't it? What? Pell -mell, that's in. And so the psychology is, if I equate the result, if I smoke, I'll be able to have what he has. I'll be able to hit about .350. That's the inferred psychology. I think that is exactly, in my opinion, what the disciples, or what many of the followers of Christ in the New Testament were trying to do. They remembered, they remembered that on the day of Pentecost there was tongues because there were people there who had to hear in their own language. It was necessary then. It was needed then. And so they remembered the power of God came with the tongues. And so trying to reduplicate, to reproduce the power, they began speaking in tongues. Trying to duplicate the effect from the cause. But they forgot that they had prayed 10 days first. Now sometimes we're like that. So -and -so has a big church. So -and -so does this. Their choir is like that. And so if we'll do that, we'll be that way. Not so. I remember as a young pastor in Oklahoma City, about the sixth month we were there, we were so trying to make it go. one morning, Harvey, we were actually promoting nine different things. We had a revival, a training union contest, signing up chain links, and all church barbersome, we just had everything going. And some of our wonderful deacons said, Preacher, you can't take a hose and squirt it on a little petunia and say, Grow, grow, grow. You can't force it to grow. Some things are the result of natural progression. You cannot constrain the hand of God, but you can be in a position of availability to the will of God. That's what I want us to do. I don't know if God wants this to be the greatest evangelistic church in the world or just a little lighthouse on the corner of Lamar and Fannin. I do not want us to ever refrain from doing anything that would put us in a position of availability for Him to do what He does want to do. We'll know as the time comes. Our God makes choices. When I read the genealogy, do so, in Matthew verses 1 through 18 of Jesus Christ, I find a strange thing. In every case, the second king is chosen, not the first. In every case, there was a superior king in the lineage of Jesus Christ through which the Spirit of God did not trace the genealogy of Jesus Christ. In every case, there was an older brother, but the younger was chosen. In every case, it was the least likely, not the most obvious. There are four women listed in the genealogy of Christ. Two were adulteresses and one was a prostitute. Now, who would go about specifically trying to set up an ancestry to publish like that? God does not choose as men choose. Isaiah chapter 53. This is where the Jews missed Jesus Christ. They were looking for Him to come in royalty and splendor and glory and victory. Now, He is going to come like that, but the first coming was not like that. Listen to how the King, the Messiah, was to come. Verse 2, chapter 53 of Isaiah, For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant and as a root out of a dry ground. He hath no form, no comeliness, and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him. He was esteemed and despised, and we esteemed Him not. Surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed. You see, Jesus Christ did not come the first time in splendor. That was not His ancestry. That was not God's way. That is not God's plan. And so they missed Him. He does not choose the mighty. The Bible says, He hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the wise. And the things which are not to bring to naught the things which are. God doesn't work like we do. God is not impressed with men. He is not impressed with degrees and ancestry and position and status. God can look down and take an old, drunken baseball player like Billy Sunday and shake the world while all of the PhDs stand around and try to figure out what happened. Now I believe that everyone in the world ought to have all the education that they can, and I thank God for PhDs. Never misunderstand me at that point. But I am saying that God does not do things like we do. And when we pattern out a plan of success that this is exactly the way, exactly what God would choose, and these are all of the worldly accruements by which we have success, God will just walk right around and go pick out somebody that never got out of the third grade. Use them. Always. Listen. God chose not Cain, but Abel. Not Jabok, but Shem. Not Ishma, but Isaac. Not Esau, but Jacob. Not Manasseh, but Ephraim. Not Aaron, but his 40 -year younger brother, Moses. Not Eli, but David. Not the first king, but the second. Not the old covenant, but the new. Not Israel, but the church. Not the first Adam. Salvation came through Christ, the second Adam. Isn't that just like our God? Why? Here it is. That no flesh should glory in His presence. I believe in the sovereignty of God if you could figure it out that the reason God probably chose Billy and chose these men and chose to do what He does through whom He does is that He has found in Him one man He can trust to give Him every dust of the glory. I want to shout from the highest hilltops what God is doing in us and through us and for us in church. Then I want to go to the mountaintop and shout, It is God that is doing it. To Him be the glory. Our God does not choose as we choose. I'd like to have seen them scratching their heads trying to figure out Samson. They never could. One day some reporters came to Billy Sunday and said, Billy Sunday, the reason for your success is the media. We created Billy Sunday. We made Billy Sunday. He said to those reporters, Let's see you make another one. And no flesh should glory in His presence. Well, the fourth word is this. It is not usually possible at all to understand His workings. They are not to be understood. They are to be accepted by faith. Why an innocent baby? Why a child? Why an obviously beautifully mated young couple will divorce? Why a child is stricken down? Why a young man in the bloom of life is killed? I do not know. And I've learned a long time ago it is the better part of wisdom to say I cannot answer. But of this we may be sure. Our God who knows the end from the beginning, knows where He's going, has our best interest at heart, and will ultimately do what is the best for us. If we can trust our mother and father to have our best interest at heart, how ought we the more to trust our God? His plans, what He is doing, is not to be understood by men. It is to be accepted by faith on the unchanging, abiding principle that God doeth no ill. All things work together for good. Though not being good, they work together to produce good. God has our interest at heart. He makes no mistakes and He is working out His purposes. This week at the pastor's conference, it was my pleasure along with several other pastors to hear an address by the consulate from Israel. Bonnet, is that correct? You don't know either. It looks like Bonnie, but I believe it's pronounced Bonnet or Bonnie. But you do know. All right, whatever it was, he made the statement that he could not understand. He was only glad that it happened. He didn't understand how it could be that his little country of 3 million had held off 50 million in that six -day war. It wasn't just because the Jews had those tanks rented from Hertz Rent -A -Tank either. There were more reasons than that. He couldn't understand that. Well, I can. I know why. Because the Bible says that Israel shall know her king. It is to Jerusalem that the king is coming and Israel will be intact, a sovereign entity, when Christ returns. The Bible says in the book of Luke, He shall reign upon the throne of His father David and of His kingdom and there shall be no end. The Bible says He raiseth up one king and taketh down another. And Mr. Johnson and Mr. Nixon and all of our politicians from the president down to the most insignificant may not be aware of it, but may be assured of the fact that our God is putting men in office, taking men out of office, starting wars, solving wars, bringing peace when and where he will. God knows where he's going. God's still God. You said start wars. I said start wars. He started the first world war in the 14th chapter of Genesis and the Ketalimah went out and conquered the world. God had a plan. He knew what he was doing. He has used the instrumentality of war to bring about his will many times through the word of God. Billy Graham made this statement in Denver. I heard him in June. That it is his studied opinion that the purpose that God has allowed the Vietnamese war is this. That Vietnam is the gospel breadbasket for Asia.