These days, if you said there's only one true
God, you'd probably get some pretty quick confrontational
questions like, who says so? Or what makes you
think your God is better than all the other guys?
How would you answer that question? Well, today
I'm going to tackle it head on. Stay with me.
Welcome to this edition of Living on the Edge
with Chip Ingram. We are an international discipleship
ministry devoted to helping Christians worldwide
live out their faith for the glory of God and
the benefit of all people. We're in the middle
of Chip's series, The Real God, as he walks through
seven fundamental characteristics of God that
tell us a little bit more about who he really
is. By the way, if you haven't already, download
Chip's message notes for this series. They contain
his outline, scripture verses, and key fill -ins
to help you remember what you hear. Download
them under the Broadcasts tab at livingontheedge
.org. App listeners tap Fill in Notes. Well,
if you have a Bible, go now to Romans chapter
8 as Chip dives into today's message, The Sovereignty
of God. You know, everybody has a job and there's
parts of it that you sort of pinch yourself and
say, wow, I can't believe I ever got to do that.
And for me, it has been probably traveling to
places around the world that as a young kid in
central Ohio, I just never even kind of knew
were there. And one occasion was a number of
years ago, I was flying from Beijing to Hong
Kong. Annie and Teresa were with me and they
were separated like 20 rows somewhere. And this
will surprise some of you, but sometimes I get
in a talkative mood because I traveled a lot.
I just found if you could say, hi, how are you?
You know, that was delicious. Just, you know,
six, seven, eight phrases in, you know, five
or six different languages. It really helps people
connect. So I just thought, you know, I'm going
to probably say hi and how are you in Chinese.
And then I'm going to open my Bible and do some
work. And so there was a lady right next to me
in early 30s, I think. And I gave her my best
Chinese. Hi, how are you? And the answer just
shocked me in the clearest British accent. I'm
quite good, actually. How about yourself? And
I just noticed that she had very finely manicured
hands. Her briefcase was at her feet, and it
was monogrammed. It was leather. Just from the
jewelry that she had on and the very pristine
business suit, I was aware, just like, I think
she's probably a pretty successful businesswoman.
And I think she saw my Bible, and some dialogue
began to happen. And I've spent the next two
hours explaining to her my best understanding
of who God really is, the gospel. But I've never
ever, this was like one of those conversations
of a lifetime. I had never met someone who for
the first 23 to 25 years knew nothing of God.
She grew up in Beijing. Her parents were a part
of the cultural revolution. God was outlawed
completely. Her parents had some level of education,
and so they were discriminated against, and they
were made street sweepers. She was really intelligent,
so less than 1 % could get a college education.
She passed all the tests, did her undergraduate
work in Beijing, did graduate work in Europe,
and then she was in a multinational company in
London. all the externals, it was obvious she'd
been very, very successful. And so if you can
imagine someone who's had no concept of God,
there is no God, who then gets educated and then
had a very humble, very humble financial socioeconomic
beginning. and now found herself for about the
last eight or 10 years in London, multinational
corporation. And she now was like exposed to
this world that she didn't know existed. And
she was beginning to explore various truth claims
and various religions. And our conversation was
different than anyone that I'd ever had because...
I began to explain just a little and she paused
and it wasn't antagonistic and it wasn't like,
prove this to me. It was like someone with a
desire to know and she said, well, I've been
doing lots of reading in the last 10 years and
I studied the world religions and different philosophies.
Would you explain to me why your God is better
than all other gods? But not, it wasn't like,
you know, hands on her hips. It was like a child
who'd never heard and said, you seem to make
sense. Would you please help me understand? And,
you know, it was one of those moments like, oh
God, please help me. And I... explained to her
the character of God, that there was a creator
and that she was deeply loved and she's made
in his image and there was a fall and the suffering
in the world and all of us are separated and
God the Son came and has died in her place, rose
from the dead. He's a redeemer and he loved her.
He had a new life and it's a free gift and, you
know, for two hours, I mean, I'm just, you know,
hmm, hmm, you know, and she was just leaning
forward and, you know, taking notes. And I gave
it my best shot. And I always had this thought.
I thought if this is not going to happen, by
the way, if like she would walk through that
door right now, what I would say is, you know,
I sort of did that on the fly, but I've had some
time to prepare now. And I'd really like to make
it a lot clearer about why I worship the one,
the only. the sovereign God of the universe.
And on the front of your notes, if she would
walk in that door, this is what I would share
with her. I would tell her that the reason I
think my God, the creator God, the unique God,
the one and only God. is better than all other
gods, all other religions, and all of the truth
claims is because he's before all things. He
created all things. He upholds all things by
the word of his power. He's above all things.
He actually knows all things actual and possible.
He controls all things. He can do all things.
He accomplishes all things. He rules over everything.
And he's in control even of prime ministers and
nations and kings. He's actually in control of
the visible and the invisible. He's the alpha
and the omega. He is outside of time. He's the
all -knowing, infinite, self -sufficient, holy,
loving creator of all that is and ever will be.
And he loves you. I worship the sovereign God.
of the universe. His purposes cannot be thwarted.
He has a purpose for your life, for nations,
for peoples. That's why. And then I would have
her read all those passages that I gave you on
the front of your notes very, very slowly. And
as you open your notes, I put those purposefully
and that can feel very overwhelming. But here's
something, if you would care to do this, because
We're going to talk about the sovereignty of
God. And there's some pretty significant intellectual
issues about the sovereignty of God. There's
some pretty big biblical issues about the sovereignty
of God. But when we finish, I believe what God
would want you to get more than anything else
is that perhaps the most comforting aspect of
the character of the God that you serve is the
sovereignty of God. That in the midst of a fallen
world and pain and difficulty and mystery and
things you don't understand, in mistakes that
you will make and I will make, in betrayals and
hurts, in things that happen in a world of terrorism
and the sex trade, of radical Islam, of upside
down economics and corruption, I believe the
most comforting attribute of God is that he's
sovereign. So what I want to do is I want to
give you sort of some intellectual aspects and
I want to give you some biblical background,
but then I want to share what I think is the
Bible's story of the sovereignty of God that's
heart and intention was to comfort you and to
answer the big question of life is if there is
a good God and if he really cares, how can there
be so much evil and suffering? And what you're
going to see is that for a season, in a limited
way, God will allow evil and he'll actually flip
it and use it for good for those that are called,
for those that love him, for those that walk
with him. So as you open your notes, I thought
I would give a definition of sovereignty because
maybe some of you are like me. I've never heard
the word. I was a new Christian, a Christian
maybe a year, year and a half, and a good friend
was in an accident in our college campus. He
was best friends with my roommate. And he was
in intensive care. He was paralyzed from the
waist down. The doctors told us that there was
very little chance he would live. He had internal
bleeding. And all I remember, I was a young Christian
and a member down in the emergency room. And
Frank was just screaming, I can't feel my legs.
I can't feel my legs. And about. 20 of us college
students, we prayed for him there. Then we went
up to the chapel and we just begged God for two
days to save his life and God intervened. But
I remember as we were praying, a girl that was
far more spiritual and mature than me, I remember
just vividly her saying, God, I thank you that
in the midst of all of this, that you're sovereign,
that we can trust you, that you're in control.
I don't know if you've ever been in a prayer
meeting where someone was praying and they said
something and you thought, I don't know what
that means. And so I was definitely not going
to ask the girl. So I asked a friend. I said,
you know, when she was praying, thank you, God,
that he's sovereign. What's that mean? I mean,
maybe I just had a bad education. I'd never heard
that word before. I'd never heard anyone say
God is sovereign. And so notice sometimes the
dictionary is a great place to do Bible study.
The word sovereign means above all, superior
to all, the greatest, the supreme in rank and
power, holding a position of authority, a ruler,
excellent, reigning, a person who possesses sovereign
authority and specific like a monarch or a ruler.
And I put some synonyms down there that help
me to think of it. It's the ultimate authority.
It's the king of kings. It's the Lord of lords.
It's someone who is completely without equal
that is absolutely free in the universe. That's
the God that you serve. He's the unique one,
the creator. He's all powerful. He's all knowing.
He's all wise. He's all loving. He's completely
holy. He's infinite. He's self -sustaining. He
needs no one. Before there was time, before there
were planets, before there was existence, he
was before, he will be after. He is the sovereign
ruler, king, creator of all that is, of all that
ever was, and that all will ever be. That's a
huge, that's a huge statement about who you serve.
I tried to take what I've learned about the sovereignty
of God and put it in a couple paragraphs to summarize.
The sovereignty of God is that which separates
the God of the Bible from all other religions,
truth claims, and philosophies. We say God is
sovereign. We declare that by virtue of his creatorship
over all of life and reality, his all -knowing,
all -powerful, and benevolent rule, that he is
in fact the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings
and in absolute control of time and eternity.
Think of that. You might underline that. He's
an absolute control of time and eternity. And
then put a little squiggly line under the last
one because here's where the comfort comes. Nothing
will come into my life today that he did not
either allow or decree for my ultimate good.
Nothing today, nothing ever. Doesn't mean it's
easy. People do terrible things. In a fallen
world, terrible things happen. But if God is
sovereign, he either decrees this is his will
or it is allowed. And if I will cooperate and
trust him, he will actually take the very worst
that can happen in your experience and mine.
The mate that walks out, the cancer that brought
death, the drunk driver that went left of center,
The wayward son, the wayward daughter, the betrayal
by a business partner, the upside down financial
experience, the loss of a house, even terrorism.
God says, I'm in control of it all and I don't
keep my people from the effects of a fallen world,
but I will use, I will use these things as you
would trust me and go through the pain and lean
in and let me love you through them. I will ultimately
use them for your good. And if you ever get that,
and it's a huge faith statement because in your
pain and difficulty and betrayal, it is really
hard to believe that. But the Bible is clear
on that. How do we know that? I've given you
four or five things about how God reveals his
sovereignty. And I would encourage you to find
one of these old things. that force you to turn
pages and go to where it says he's above all
things and look up the verse and read it slowly.
He's in control of all things. And just read
through each of those passages very, very slowly.
And I think what you'll experience is your view
of God will get bigger and bigger and bigger
and bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger.
And there'll be phrases that He created all things
and through him all things and for him all things.
Thrones and dominions and powers. His purposes
aren't thwarted. You'll get this larger and larger
and larger picture of God. And faith is always
rooted in the character of God and the promises
that he makes. And if you don't have a clear,
accurate picture of God, you can't trust him.
And if you have a small God, you'll always have
big, overwhelming problems. But if you have a
big, big God, then little by little, those problems,
they won't be less painful, but they'll be smaller
and smaller in the perspective of a sovereign
God who made you for himself, but made you for
eternity, not just this little window of time.
So let's go through some of the intellectual.
This is the proof. of God's sovereignty, and
then we'll talk about some heart relationships.
First of all, he reveals his sovereignty through
his titles. Sovereign Lord, Most High, Alpha
and Omega, King of Kings, Lord of Lords. You
don't have to believe in the Bible. The Bible
is very clear. God's not looking for any teammates.
He's not looking for any syncretism. He's saying,
I am above all other gods. Second, his promises
demand that he's sovereign. Romans 8, 28, a very
familiar passage says, For we know that God works
all things together for the good, for those that
love Him and that are called according to His
purposes. You're listening to Living on the Edge.
Before we hear the rest of Chip's message, let
me remind you that we are a listener -supported
ministry. Your financial gifts help us create
programs like this one, develop new resources,
and encourage pastors globally. prayerfully consider
supporting us today. Then go to livingontheedge
.org to give a gift. Thanks so much for your
help. We'll hear again as Chip. Now, that means
if God's going to work everything for good, He
needs to know every situation of every person
and every circumstance and every motive to weave
it in a way that will work out for your ultimate
good. In Philippians chapter 2, we get, God's
ultimate plan for God the Son. And in chapter
two, verses nine through 11, it says, therefore
God highly exalted him and bestowed on him the
name that is above every name so that at the
name of Jesus every knee should bow. Those in
heaven and on earth and under the earth and every
tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the
glory of God the Father. Angels, demons, believers,
unbelievers, Everything that has ever been created,
there will come a day and there will either voluntarily
out of relationship or involuntarily out of power,
every tongue will confess that Jesus is the Lord
of Lords and King of Kings. You have to be sovereign
in order to make a statement like that. You got
to be in control. The third way that God reveals
his sovereignty is through prophecy. I don't
know if you've thought of this, but when this
book was written or came to a close, and still
a huge portion, one third of all the Bible is
prophetic. One out of every three verses is God
telling us in the future, specifically without
error, 100 % of the time, this is what's going
to happen. And it gives you tremendous confidence
because he is the alpha and the omega. In the
time of Israel as today, there was competing
gods. And so God made this challenge speaking
through Isaiah in Isaiah 44, six through eight.
He says, this is what the Lord says, Israel's
king and redeemer. And notice how he identifies
himself. The Lord of hosts or the Lord of heaven's
armies. I am the first and the last. There is
no other God. That's pretty clear. Who is like
me? Rhetorical question. The answer is no one.
But he's throwing out a challenge. Let him step
forward and prove to you his power. So in other
words, okay, there's Baal, there's Molech, there's
all these gods, there's all this competition.
Okay, let him step. Now, here's the test. Let
him do as I have done since ancient times when
I established the people and explained its future.
So what he's saying is, I've told you in advance,
this is going to happen, this is going to happen,
this is going to happen. And the challenge to
these other gods is this. don't tremble or be
afraid. He said, didn't I proclaim my purposes
for you long ago? You are my witnesses. Is there
any other God? No, there is no other rock, not
one. And the challenge is, if your God can tell
the future with 100 % accuracy all the time,
then let him step up and do it because from ancient
times, that's what I've done. And I was a skeptic.
I didn't believe the Bible growing up. I wasn't
a Christian growing up. I struggled to believe
whether I could trust the scriptures. All the
things that you hear about, you know, is it like
playing telephone? And they were written so long
ago. I didn't know about the Dead Sea Scrolls.
I didn't understand about archaeology. I've since
done lots and lots of study. But for me, the
tipping point on the authority of scripture is
prophecy. Let me give you, I would... We've got
a whole series called Why I Believe that develops
this. And I'm really, because I was a skeptic,
it was so helpful. But to me, the greatest picture
of that is Daniel's chapter 7 through 12. And
we won't get the whole, let me just give you
the gist of it. Daniel is taken, you know, Israel
disobeys God, if you know sort of your history
of Israel. And God promised that when you disobey
me, I'm going to scatter you. And they go into
captivity. They go into Babylon. So Daniel is
bright, and so they would take the young and
the best, and they would put him in the king,
and they would want to try to brainwash him.
And so Daniel ends up in three different dynasties,
and each time he ends up as an official with
authority. And so Daniel is a very, very godly
teenager all the way through. In fact, you might
be interested to know that when he's in the lion's
den, he's 80 years old. And so he's in the Babylonians,
the Medo -Persians, and then when they get taken
out, each time God gives him favor. So as the
70 years that God said there would be, Daniel's
praying. And Daniel's asking God, this is a very
tremendous passage, and God reveals to a human
being. And in Daniel 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12,
in those chapters, God reveals to Daniel the
next four major kingdoms that would come. Identifies
them very, very specifically. Babylonian will
be followed by the Medo -Persian. The Medo -Persians,
there'll be a great ruler and the Greeks will
take over. They will have a great ruler that
will take over the world and then it'll break
into four parts. The great ruler was Alexander
the Great. It broke into four parts with four
different generals. Then the Romans will take
over. And so I mean hundreds of years of specific
prophecy in advance, so much so. That liberal
scholars, when they read the book of Daniel,
they try and date it hundreds of years later
than it was actually written because there's
no answer for how could anyone know those things
and know them with such specificity. And so what
God is saying is you can know I'm sovereign because
I don't just tell you that like Cyrus, a hundred
years before Cyrus was born, God said he would
be the king that would allow captivity and deliverance
when they went back to rebuild Jerusalem in the
wall. But all through scripture, God says, I
know the end from the beginning because I'm in
control. My purposes can't be thwarted. The fourth
way, not only through titles, promises, and prophecy,
but through Christ. I mean, his life is a picture
of the sovereignty of God, his supernatural birth.
And I don't mean just by a virgin. I mean, just
think of this. Just try and be a skeptic with
me just for a minute and think about, okay, there's
been lots of people, lots of leaders, lots of
truth claims. Here's a rabbi, a young rabbi,
who starts his ministry at 30 and has about a
three -year run. He travels maybe 30 to 50 miles
from his home. He doesn't have an established
religious environment. He's actually a revolutionary.
There's no technology. 80 % of the known world
is illiterate. There's nothing in writing. How
in the world does one rabbi, without technology,
without satellites, without putting things in
print, how in the world does that one person
turn the whole world upside down? In the first
century, he turns the world upside down. By the
way, a great book, a guy named Rodney Stark has
written two books. He's a sociologist. I think
he teaches at Baylor now. It's called The Triumph
of Christianity and the Rise of Christianity.
And in it, what he documents is the growth of
Christianity. And I don't know where he's coming
from spiritually because he's viewing it as a
sociologist. What were the events that happened?
Not the Holy Spirit, not God, not supernatural,
but what are the world events happen? So that
by 313, when Constantine declares that Christianity
will be the state religion, there's 60 million
people. in the Roman Empire and 33 million are
followers of Christ. How could that happen? Let
me tell you how it happens. Galatians 4 .4 says,
in the fullness of time, God sent forth his son.
The word fullness, literally, we get our word.
It's when the world, when the earth was pregnant,
in God's game plan, in his sovereign plan to
fulfill his purposes, there was a point in time
when the earth when the dynamics of life on the
earth were this narrow little window that allowed
a rabbi for three years to do something that
would transform the world. Number one, corruption
in Rome was at an all -time high. Number two,
the philosophies and the religion of the Greeks
was at an all -time low. On top of that, for
the first time ever in world history, there was
one language, it was a trade language called
Koine Greek, of which the New Testament is written
in. So no matter where you were and where you
came from, because Rome took control, is we're
going to have a language, it would be like the
internet of today. So now there's a language
to communicate a message everywhere in the world.
On top of that is that in the ancient world,
travel was very dangerous. You'd get killed or
beat up or whatever. Well, they had a Roman outpost.
It was called the Romano Pax. There was peace
everywhere. And there's all these soldiers everywhere
so that it was safe to travel. And you maybe
have heard that line that every road led to Rome.
Guess what? It did. There was a transportation
system to all the corners of the world. So think
of this little window of time. For the first
time ever, Jesus is born when the Roman government
and people are, that's not the answer. The religions
and the philosophies are drained. Communication
at a new level like never before. Transportation
is happening. You can travel. And then before
this happened, the Jews were persecuted. So synagogues.
have been placed all over the Roman world. So
now the New Testament rolls out, the gospel goes
forth, and they have preaching points to say.
The promises of Messiah, he's come. So when you
read the book of Acts, where does Paul always
go? He always starts in the synagogue. They have
a God consciousness, and this revolution occurs.
Only a sovereign God can pull that one off. Jesus'
life fulfilled hundreds of prophecies. His messianic
teaching. I mean, the whole book of Matthew is
not, I'm a good teacher. This is a good example.
There's a lot of world religions. I want to get
on the salad bar of the world religions. And
this is a good way to live. That's not what Jesus
said. The whole book of Matthew is filled with
prophecy after prophecy after prophecy after
prophecy. He claimed to be God. He said, I'm
the king. I'm the king of the Jews. I'm the Lord
of Lords. I'm coming to usher in a kingdom. And
he was never killed. Don't get mad at the Romans
and never get mad at a Jew. Jesus said, no one
killed me. I lay down my life, right, and I take
it up again. He's a sovereign God. His claim
was before Abraham existed, I am. I am that I
am. Jesus' whole life demonstrates the sovereignty
of God himself. This is Living on the Edge with
Chip Ingram. and you've been listening to Part
1 of Chip's message, The Sovereignty of God,
from our series, The Real God. Chip will be back
shortly to share some helpful application for
us to think about. You know, we've all unintentionally
projected some of humanity's worst qualities
into our Creator. Many view God as moody, weak,
unfair, impatient, and merciless. But those ideas
couldn't be further from the truth. Through this
series, Chip explores key Bible passages to reveal
seven fundamental characteristics of our Heavenly
Father, attributes that reflect the very essence
of His divine nature. Join Chip on this journey
to reshape your perspective toward God, which
will deepen your relationship with Him like never
before. You won't want to miss a single part
of this study. Well, Chip's joined me in studio
now. And Chip, before you go any further, I thought
it might be helpful for you to talk about what
happens when people support us financially. I
mean, when you ask people to partner with us,
how are their gifts being used? You know, Dave,
what I want you to know is that when you support
Living on the Edge, you bring biblical teaching
on core issues that at times is not politically
correct, but is at the core of what brings about
real life change and families that are stable
and honor God. And what I'd ask you to do is,
would you be willing to partner with us as we
create these small group resources, as we put
them on the app, as we pay for radio time, as
we try to help families be all God wants them
to be? It requires an enormous amount of time
and energy and financial support. And so if you
have never given to Living on the Edge, now would
be a great time to say, you know, I want to help
them reach families. Or if you're a regular giver
to Living on the Edge, first let me say thank
you. And then let me ask you this. Would you
be willing to become a monthly partner? You know,
there's nothing quite like having people that
you know that you can count on each and every
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% of it right back into the ministry. Thanks
so much for whatever he leads you to do. Well,
as Chip said, if you already support us financially,
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But if you're benefiting from this ministry in
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to livingontheedge .org or call us at 888 -333
-6003. That's 888 -333 -6003 or visit livingontheedge
.org. App listeners tap donate. Well, with that,
here again is Chip. Today we learned. that far
from simply making claims to be the supreme and
sovereign God of the universe, that God has demonstrated
it. This isn't an iffy doctrine. This one isn't
up for grabs. His titles reveal that he is sovereign.
His promises reveal that he is sovereign. His
story, history in itself, reveals that he is
sovereign. The prophecy in scripture reveals
that he is sovereign. He has made specific, multiple,
literally hundreds of predictions that only a
sovereign God in control of all of life could
fulfill. And finally, First and foremost, His
Son, the Lord Jesus, His life, His work, His
death, His resurrection, and His ascension all
demonstrate that God is sovereign. He's in control.
Isn't it a comfort to know that life isn't spinning
out of control? That events and people and circumstances
and the stock market and world rulers, they aren't
randomly throwing wrenches into your life. God
is purposely orchestrating all of life, to fulfill
His ultimate will, and get this, He's doing it
for His glory and for your good. There is a place,
regardless of your circumstances, to find unbelievable
peace. Jesus promised in the world we'll have
tribulation, but be of good cheer. He has overcome
the world, and the reason He can overcome the
world is He is sovereign. But the sovereignty
of God raises two critical questions. If God
is sovereign, what about our free will or our
choices? And if he's in control of everything,
what's our part? We are going to address those
two issues head on in our next broadcast. Don't
miss it. Looking forward to that, Chip. Well,
just before we close, would you stop for a minute
and pray for Living on the Edge today? We've
never seen a greater need for God's truth to
go out than right now. And by God's grace, Living
on the Edge has provided encouragement, teaching,
and personal discipleship resources to more people
than ever. So thank you to those who support
us in prayer. God is doing amazing things. Well,
be sure to join us next time as Chip continues
his series, The Real God. Until then, I'm Dave
Drewy saying thanks for listening to this edition
of Living on the Edge.