The Sovereignty of God in Conversion

(Article for publication week of 1-26-2011 AD)

“But when it pleased God, Who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by His grace, to reveal His Son in me…” (Galatians 1:15-16a).

Please note well, that Paul did not say that he “accepted Jesus as his saviour.” In fact you do not find that expression anywhere in the scriptures. That is a man made term adopted by modern day evangelism that tells sinners what they can do, rather than telling them they are ruined in Adam, and can only be recovered by Christ. As Rolfe Barnard used to say, “you don’t ‘accept’ a Lord, you bow down to Him!”

No, Paul did not say that he “accepted Jesus‘’, but rather he said that God called him by His grace, and revealed the Lord Jesus Christ in him. In other words, conversion is a powerful work performed by the Sovereign God. Biblical salvation is the Sovereign God of heaven and earth effectually calling a lost sinner out of the darkness of this world into the marvelous light of the Lord Jesus Christ (I Peter 2:9). Salvation is the revelation of Christ in the soul of an elect sinner so that sinner becomes experimentally acquainted with the Lord Jesus Christ (John 17:3). Dear reader, has that powerful work of conversion been performed in your soul? Can you say that you are experimentally acquainted with the Son of God?

Now, note further that conversion is a work that God performs according to His sovereign will, not according to the “free’ will of sinners. Sinner, your will is not free, but it is enslaved by your corrupt and fallen nature (John 5:40; Romans 6:20; Ephesians 4:18-19). Our text says that God converted Paul “when it pleased” Him. God is under no obligation to convert any of you. You are in His sovereign hands and He can save you or He can damn you, and be certain He will do one or the other. Salvation is according to the good pleasure of God.

Finally, note well that the time of a sinner’s conversion is when it pleases God. It is popularly taught and believed in these parts that a sinner can get saved any time he wants. That is a soul-destroying lie. It is preached that God has done all He can, and now it is up to the sinner to cooperate with God and help save himself, but that is not what our text says. Salvation is when it pleases God. God has a set time that He will effectually call each of His elect and reveal Christ in them (Psalm 102:13). Salvation is all of the Lord from first to last. Praise his holy name!



Delighting in the Sovereignty of God

(Article for publication week of 1-19-2011 AD)

“At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank Thee O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so Father: for so it seemed good in Thy sight” (Matthew 11:25-26).

For several months now we have been writing on the Sovereignty of God because it is such a God-honoring doctrine and because it is such a neglected doctrine in our day. It is our goal in our little ministry to glorify God and abase man. Dear reader, what is your response to the Sovereignty of God? Some of you will reject it and rail against it, but in so doing you only rail against God and His word, for His word plainly teaches He is the Sovereign God. Some of you will accept it reluctantly, because you claim to be Bible believers and you would hate for it to get out on you that you reject Bible truth. Some of you will accept the Sovereignty of God and add it on to an empty profession. We have seen a few like this in our day. They came to an intellectual understanding of Calvinism, but they remain unconverted, and that often while being respectable little church members.

But notice our Lord’s response to the Sovereignty of God. “Even so Father: for so it seemed good in Thy sight.” There was no reticence in our Lord regarding the Sovereignty of His Eternal Father. Our Lord Jesus Christ took great delight that His Father saves some and rejects others. It seemed good to the all wise and sovereign heavenly Father to reveal His Truth to some, and hide it from others. The Eternal Father and the Eternal Son are One (John 10: 30), and so they take delight in each Other and are in perfect agreement in all things, including whom They have united with the Holy Spirit in the everlasting covenant to save.

As our Lord Jesus Christ took delight in the sovereignty of God, so must believers. Well has the hymn writer concluded, “What was there in you that could merit esteem, or give the Creator delight? ‘Twas even so Father’ you ever must sing, ‘because it seemed good in Thy sight‘. Twas all of Thy grace we were brought to obey, while others were suffered to go, the road which by nature we chose as our way, which leads to the regions of woe “ (Spurgeon’s Hymnal #219).

In heaven there will be no praise for any creature. Our eternal praise will be to the Lord who exercised His absolute sovereignty in saving our poor souls. Why don’t you start imitating Christ and start delighting in the Sovereignty of God?