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The God Over Dice · Pastor John Piper's answers

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  Speaker 1: Sovereign. God is sovereign, God is in control. People say
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  Speaker 1: God is in control of all things, but what exactly
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  Speaker 1: does it mean for us when life feels chaotic or
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  Speaker 1: when grief and loss and sorrow hit our lives Like
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  Speaker 1: we talked about on Monday. Today we define sovereignties straight
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  Speaker 1: from scripture, tests it against very real events and discover
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  Speaker 1: why nothing, not luck or chance can derail God's divine purposes.
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  Speaker 1: Today on aspaestor John the God over Dice, we're reading
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  Speaker 1: Psalm one fifteen together tomorrow. Psalm one fifteen, verse three
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  Speaker 1: is such a potent text. Our God is in the heavens,
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  Speaker 1: he does all that he pleases, and that leads us
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  Speaker 1: to this new question to us from a listener named
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  Speaker 1: Jessica Paster done. Hello, I'm trying to get my head
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  Speaker 1: around this whole concept of God's sovereignty. I hear this
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  Speaker 1: term thrown around a lot in theological discussions, but I'm
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  Speaker 1: realizing I don't have a clear understanding of what it
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  Speaker 1: actually means when we say God is sovereign? What exactly
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  Speaker 1: are we saying? Is this a biblical concept? And if so,
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  Speaker 1: where do we see it taught in Scripture? I feel
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  Speaker 1: like there's so much confusion and debate around this topic.
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  Speaker 1: Some people seem to think it means God controls everything
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  Speaker 1: down to the smallest detail, while others push back and
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  Speaker 1: say that that undermines human freedom and responsibility. I'm getting
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  Speaker 1: lost in all the arguments. Can you help me understand
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  Speaker 1: what God's sovereignty really means from a biblical perspective. That's
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  Speaker 1: a great question, Jessica. Here's how Pastor John answered this
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  Speaker 1: very same question from Stephen in twenty nineteen.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I like to make every effort to keep things
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  Speaker 2: clear and simple, and I think one of the reasons
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  Speaker 2: we don't speak with much clarity sometimes is that we
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  Speaker 2: don't start with definitions. So that's where I like to
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  Speaker 2: start on almost every conversation and I have, is let's
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  Speaker 2: make sure we know what we're talking about. So let
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  Speaker 2: me propose some definitions, and then we'll test them with
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  Speaker 2: the Bible, and then we'll end with maybe what he's
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  Speaker 2: asking out, what are some of the big issues surrounding it. So,
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  Speaker 2: as an adjective sovereign, when we say God is sovereign,
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  Speaker 2: we mean powerful and authoritative to the extent of being
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  Speaker 2: able to override all other powers. And authorities. So that's
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  Speaker 2: my effort at a definition. Nothing can successfully stop any
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  Speaker 2: act or any event or design or purpose which God
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  Speaker 2: intends to certainly bring about. That's my definition. Is it biblical?
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  Speaker 2: That's the question, because what I think really doesn't matter.
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  Speaker 2: If it's a reflection of what the Bible says matters
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  Speaker 2: a lot. So nothing, I'm arguing, nothing can thwart stop
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  Speaker 2: his purposes Job forty two to two. When all is
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  Speaker 2: said and done, Job says, I know that you can
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  Speaker 2: do all things, and no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
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  Speaker 2: I think that's just about the best definition of sovereignty
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  Speaker 2: in the Bible. Daniel four thirty five. He does according
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  Speaker 2: to his will among the hosts of heaven and among
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  Speaker 2: the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his
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  Speaker 2: hand or say to him, what are you doing? Or
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  Speaker 2: positively that that's nobody can stop it. Here's here's the
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  Speaker 2: positive way of saying that he will accomplish all his will.
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  Speaker 2: Isaiah forty six point nine. I am God, and there
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  Speaker 2: is none like me, saying God says about his my
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  Speaker 2: counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose.
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  Speaker 2: So there's nothing that he purposes that he does not accomplish,
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  Speaker 2: nothing can stop him, and he does it all, or
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  Speaker 2: if He'sian's one to eleven, one of the most sweeping
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  Speaker 2: statements of sovereignty in the Bible. He works all things
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  Speaker 2: according to the counsel of his will, So whatever happens,
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  Speaker 2: it accords with the counsel of God's will. Then you
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  Speaker 2: can test those general statements about God's sovereignty with lots
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  Speaker 2: of examples of kinds of details that the Bible talks about,
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  Speaker 2: like he sovereign over random events, seemingly random events like
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  Speaker 2: Proverbs six thirty three. The lot or the dice are
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  Speaker 2: cast in the lap, but every decision from the Lord
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  Speaker 2: something is random. Is rolling dice or casting a lot,
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  Speaker 2: or sovereign over nature Psalm one thirty five six. Whatever
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  Speaker 2: the Lord pleases, he does in heaven and on earth,
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  Speaker 2: in the seas and all deeps. He it is who
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  Speaker 2: makes clouds rise at the end of the earth, who
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  Speaker 2: makes lightnings for the rain, who brings forth wind from
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  Speaker 2: its storehouses or Matthew eight twenty seven. Jesus even winds,
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  Speaker 2: and see obey Jesus so wins, and see they do
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  Speaker 2: his bidding. Sovereign over animals Matthew ten twenty nine. Not
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  Speaker 2: one sparrow will fall to the ground apart from your father.
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  Speaker 2: I think that's Jesus' way of reaching for the most minute,
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  Speaker 2: seemingly insignificant thing in the world. Is a little bird
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  Speaker 2: dropping out of a tree in the midst of some
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  Speaker 2: jungle somewhere that nobody knows about but him, and he
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  Speaker 2: decides when it will fall. Or over nations at the
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  Speaker 2: earth end of magnitude, Second Chronicles twenty six. You rule
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  Speaker 2: over the kingdoms of the nations. In your hand are
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  Speaker 2: power and might, so that none is able to withstand you.
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  Speaker 2: So no nation does anything that God does not purpose
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  Speaker 2: or Psalm thirty three ten. The Lord brings the counsel
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  Speaker 2: of the nations to nothing. He frustrates the plans of
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  Speaker 2: the peoples. The counsel of the Lord stands love these sentences.
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  Speaker 2: The counsel of the Lord stands forever the plans of
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  Speaker 2: his heart to all generations, or over every single human
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  Speaker 2: decision Proverb sixteen to one. The plans of the heart
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  Speaker 2: belong to man, But the answer of the tongue and
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  Speaker 2: is what actually happens, is from the Lord or Proverb
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  Speaker 2: sixty nine. The heart of man plans his way, but
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  Speaker 2: the Lord establishes his steps. So we have all kinds
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  Speaker 2: of thinking that we do. But in the end the
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  Speaker 2: Lord decides Proverbs nineteen twenty one. Many are the plans
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  Speaker 2: in the mind of a man, but it is the
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  Speaker 2: purpose of the Lord that will stand. Or Proverbs twenty
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  Speaker 2: one to one. The king's heart is a stream of
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  Speaker 2: water in the hand of the Lord, he turns it
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  Speaker 2: wherever he wills or Genesis fifty twenty. This sentence ought
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  Speaker 2: to be written like a banner over every evil and
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  Speaker 2: sin that's ever committed. As for you, Joseph says to
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  Speaker 2: his brothers who sold him into slavery, after you, As
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  Speaker 2: for you, you meant evil against me, But God meant
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  Speaker 2: it so the very same thing evil in your intention
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  Speaker 2: the same event good God meant it for good to
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  Speaker 2: bring about many people, that they should be kept alive
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  Speaker 2: as they are today. And then you could go to
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  Speaker 2: someone fifteen three. And just overall, our God is in
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  Speaker 2: the heavens. He does all that he pleases. So my
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  Speaker 2: answer is yes, it is biblical to say that God
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  Speaker 2: is sovereign, and to mean by that that he has
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  Speaker 2: such power and such authority that nothing can successfully stop
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  Speaker 2: any act or purpose which God intends to certainly bring about. Now,
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  Speaker 2: Stephen asked, what are the big things to see and grasp?
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  Speaker 2: So let me just mention two two big things. Number One,
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  Speaker 2: the sovereignty of God is governed by his wisdom. Oh,
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  Speaker 2: the depth of the riches and the wisdom and the
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  Speaker 2: knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments, How inscrutable
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  Speaker 2: are his ways Romans eleven thirty three. Everything that is
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  Speaker 2: unsearchable and inscrutable to us is governed by the deepest
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  Speaker 2: divine wisdom. God never does anything or allows anything whimsically,
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  Speaker 2: that is, as meaningless or random or without an infinitely
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  Speaker 2: wise purpose. That's huge. That is a big thing that
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  Speaker 2: we must come to terms with when we think about
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  Speaker 2: God's sovereignty. And here's the other one. His sovereignty is
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  Speaker 2: governed by his justice and his mercy. ASAA thirty eighteen.
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  Speaker 2: The Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all
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  Speaker 2: those who wait for him or Romans nine fourteen. Is
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  Speaker 2: there then, in justice on God's part? By no means.
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  Speaker 2: God never never wrongs anyone. All that he does is
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  Speaker 2: righteous and just. But even justice is not the final
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  Speaker 2: and highest aim of God's wisdom. The ultimate aim is
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  Speaker 2: that He be glorified for his mercy, his grace toward
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  Speaker 2: undeserving rebels. He sovereignly planned and accomplished salvation for sinners
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  Speaker 2: by the death of his son, So that now this
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  Speaker 2: is a quote from Romans fifteen to nine, so that
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  Speaker 2: the nations would glorify God for his mercy or his
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  Speaker 2: Ephesian's one success to the praise of the glory of
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  Speaker 2: his grace. So those, it seems to me, are the
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  Speaker 2: big things to grasp about God's sovereignty. Number one, it
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  Speaker 2: is unstoppable power and authority over all things, including the
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  Speaker 2: human will. And two, it is all in a court
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  Speaker 2: with infinite wisdom, infinite justice, infinite mercy. Through Jesus Christ.
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  Speaker 1: Nothing can successfully stop any act or purpose which God
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  Speaker 1: intends to certainly bring about. Yeah, God decides what face
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  Speaker 1: of the dice lands up. He tells the lightning where
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  Speaker 1: to hit. Only he decides when a bird falls from
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  Speaker 1: a tree. But in all things he is governed by
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  Speaker 1: wisdom and justice and mercy. Sovereignty is not a vibe.
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  Speaker 1: He always displays his sovereignty in a way that is
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  Speaker 1: just right, never capriciously, which is why The Westminster Confession
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  Speaker 1: of Faith soul rightly says a providence that God is
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  Speaker 1: the great creator of all things, and he doth uphold, direct, dispose,
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  Speaker 1: and govern all creatures, actions, and things, from the greatest
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  Speaker 1: even to the least, by his most wise and holy providence,
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  Speaker 1: according to his infallible foreknowledge, in the free and immutable
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  Speaker 1: counsel of his own will, to the praise of the
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  Speaker 1: Glory of His wisdom, power, justice, goodness, and mercy. That
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  Speaker 1: statement is loaded, but it says he is just in
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  Speaker 1: his providence. God displays his justice, goodness, and mercy in
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  Speaker 1: his sovereignty. Why is that important For a lot of reasons,
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  Speaker 1: one being that this comes up in conversations over Islam,
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  Speaker 1: of all places, a contrast with Islam. As we've talked about,
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  Speaker 1: Islam believes God does whatever he wants to. We believe
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  Speaker 1: God is sovereign and does whatever he wants to according
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  Speaker 1: to his justice. There's a justice element in everything. See
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  Speaker 1: the APJ book, the Ask Pestor John book that for
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  Speaker 1: that huge contrast between Islam and what Pastor John just
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  Speaker 1: explained in the Aspestor John Book on pages three fifty
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  Speaker 1: five and three point fifty six. This is massive. This
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  Speaker 1: is one of those dividing lines between Islam Christianity. Ask
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  Speaker 1: Pastro John book pages three fifty five and three point
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  Speaker 1: fifty six for a summary that will get you into
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  Speaker 1: episodes if you want more. Pastor John rejoins us in
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  Speaker 1: the studio Monday for Memorial Day, honoring those who have
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  Speaker 1: died for our freedom. So what is our freedom for?
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  Speaker 1: I'm Tony Rank. We'll find out on Monday. See then,