Samuel
D. Gordon on the Sovereignty of God
Troy
J. Edwards
But
the Pharisees and religious scholars hardened their hearts and turned their backs on God’s purposes for
them because they had refused John’s baptism. (Luke
7:30; The VOICE Translation)
A
couple of days ago I came home from church, turned on the TV and caught the
ending of the 1951 movie “Quo Vadis”
starring Peter Ustinov as the corrupt Roman emperor who set much of Rome on
fire and then blamed it on the Christians. The movie depicts the serious and
monstrous persecution of the Christians in Rome by this evil dictator.
Upon
discovery of the truth the citizens of Rome began to rebel against Emperor Nero
and he hid in his palace. A woman he banished showed up and tells him that he
will be killed by the people because of the monster he has become. Nero then
says, “I didn’t wish to be a monster. The gods willed it.” I teasingly told my
wife, “Hey honey, Nero was a Calvinist.”
The
truth is, false ideas about sovereignty, whether they are found in pagan
religions or within “Christianity” have been used to relieve men of the
responsibility for their own careless actions. Muslims, even today, attribute
everything that happens to “Allah’s will”. This means that no matter what they
do, it was the will of Allah that they did it.
But
“Christians” (particularly those who embrace Calvinist ideology) who teach
these false ideas not only lead people to reject the Biblical truth in which we
all have the freedom to choose good and evil (Deut. 30:15, 19), but also cast
aspersions on the truth about God’s loving character. God is made out to be a
monster who wills the worst types of evil upon men and women.
Not
too long ago I was reading some material by one of my favorite classic authors,
S. D. Gordon, who was famous for his “Quiet Talks” series of books. Gordon gave,
what I believe to be, a very good refutation of the erroneous ideas put forth
by those who hold to a distorted viewpoint of God’s sovereignty:
God’s Sovereignty.
There has been a good bit
of teaching about “God’s sovereignty.” Behind that mysterious, indefinite
phrase has crept much that badly needs the clear, searching sunlight of day.
God’s sovereignty is commonly thought of as a sort of dead-weight force by
which He compels things to come His way. If a man stand in the way of God's
plan so much the worse for the man. It is thought of as a sort of mighty army,
marching down the road, in close ranks, with fixed bayonets. If you happen to
be on that road better look out very sharply, or you may get crushed under
foot.
I do not mean that the
theologians put it in that blunt fashion, nor that I have ever heard any
preacher phrase it in that way. I mean that as I have talked with the plain
common people, and listened to them, this is the distinct impression that comes
continually of what it means to them. Then, too, the phrase has often been
used, it is to be feared, as a religious cloak to cover up the shortcomings and
shirkings of those who aren't fitting into God’s plan.
God is a sovereign. The
truth of His sovereignty is one of the most gracious of all the truths in this
blessed old Book of God. It means that the great gracious purpose and plan of
God will finally be victorious. It means that in our personal lives He, with
great patience and skill and power, works through the tangled network of
circumstances and difficulties to answer our prayers, and to bring out the best
results for us.
It means further that,
with a diplomacy and patience only divine, He works with and through the
intricate meshes of men’s wills and contrary purposes to bring out good now—not
good out of bad, that is impossible; but good in spite of the bad—and that
finally all opposition will be overcome, or will have spent itself out in utter
weakness, and so His purposes of love will be fully victorious.
But the practical thing
to burn in deep just now is this, that we can hinder God’s plan. His plans have
been hindered, and delayed, and made to fail, because we wouldn’t work with
Him.
And God lets His plan
fail. It is a bit of His greatness. He will let a plan fail before He will be
untrue to man's utter freedom of action. He will let a man wreck his career,
that so through the wreckage the man may see his own failure, and gladly turn
to God. Many a hill is climbed only through a swamp road.
God cares more for a man
than for a plan. The plan is only for the sake of the man. You say, of course.
But, you know, many men think more of carrying through the plan on which they
have set themselves, regardless of how it may hurt or crush some man in the
way. God’s plan is for man, and so it is allowed to fail, for the man's sake.
Yet, because the plan is
always made for man’s sake, it will be carried through, because by and by man
will see it to be best. Many a man’s character has been made only through the
wrecking of his career. If God had had His way He would have saved both life
and soul, both the earthly career and the heavenly character.
Let us stop thoughtfully,
and remember that God has carefully thought out a plan for every man, for each
one of us. It is a plan for the life, these human years; not simply for getting
us to what we may have thought of as a psalm singing heaven, when we’re worn
out down here.
It is the best plan. For
God is ambitious for us; more ambitious for you and me than we are for
ourselves, though few of us really believe that. But He will carry out His
plan—aye, He can carry it out only with our hearty consent. He must work
through our wills. He honors us in that. With greatest reverence be it said
that God waits reverently, hat in hand, outside the door of a man's will, until
the man inside turns the knob and throws open the door for Him to come in and
carry out His plan. We can make God fail by not working with Him. The greatest
of all achievements of action is to find and fit into God’s plan.
Some
may balk at statements like, “We can make God fail by not working with Him.”
Yet, this is not an inditement on God as much as it is on men who refuse to
work with God in accordance to His plans for them (see Psalm 81:10-16).
Therefore, we believe that Gordon gave a biblically accurate understanding of
God’s sovereignty that is in line with the Bible’s revelation of God’s loving character.
For
more Biblically accurate teaching on how God operates in His sovereignty we
highly recommend our book:
Untying
God’s “NOTS!”
Or,
How Much Control Does God Really Have?
For more details, visit our bookstore at:
Gordon,
Samuel D. Quiet Talks with World Winners
(New York: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1908), pp. 125-128
