Is Knowing God’s Sovereignty Important to My Daily Life?

00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)

00:00:02.580 | - Welcome back to the Ask Pastor John podcast.

00:00:07.320 | And before we look at today's question,

00:00:09.400 | just a note of update, Pastor John speaks Wednesday night

00:00:13.320 | at the Pipeline Conference,

00:00:14.900 | which is a gathering of pastors in Nashville, Tennessee.

00:00:17.160 | He'll be speaking on the topic of ministry succession.

00:00:21.200 | And I look forward to hearing that message.

00:00:23.320 | Please keep him in your prayers

00:00:24.280 | as he finishes up his message prep today

00:00:26.700 | and travels out to Tennessee.

00:00:29.640 | And now onto today's question.

00:00:31.280 | As you know, Pastor John,

00:00:32.120 | new listeners are coming to our podcast every day.

00:00:35.880 | And many of them don't know what lies behind your answers

00:00:38.700 | to the questions that people are sending in to us.

00:00:40.560 | And for example, your view on God is important.

00:00:43.560 | It's foundational, Jesus Christ, the Bible,

00:00:46.920 | the human condition, the future,

00:00:48.440 | all of those things are really foundational.

00:00:50.960 | And so we thought maybe it'd be helpful now

00:00:52.400 | and then to include a podcast,

00:00:54.440 | not addressing a question per se,

00:00:56.260 | but talking about a foundational reality,

00:00:58.880 | part of the deepest convictions

00:01:00.120 | that shape the way you think

00:01:01.440 | and approach all the many questions about life

00:01:03.920 | that our listeners send in.

00:01:05.480 | So Pastor John, you've said many times before

00:01:08.160 | that you believe in the absolute sovereignty of God,

00:01:10.880 | that he finally and decisively controls all things,

00:01:15.120 | from the farthest galaxy to the smallest subatomic particle,

00:01:19.700 | including all the actions of human beings.

00:01:22.300 | I think what our listeners would like to hear from you

00:01:25.080 | is not only why you believe that,

00:01:26.520 | but mainly how does this truth make a difference

00:01:30.400 | in our daily lives?

00:01:31.920 | - Well, that's right.

00:01:34.280 | That is precisely one of the foundational,

00:01:38.520 | pervasively influential convictions

00:01:42.960 | that I have behind everything I do and think.

00:01:47.560 | And let me give just one passage of scripture as to why,

00:01:52.080 | and then four really practical ways

00:01:56.280 | that this makes a difference in our lives.

00:01:58.920 | I just spoke recently to the new students

00:02:02.080 | at Bethlehem College and Seminary,

00:02:03.800 | and I shared with them what difference it would make

00:02:06.460 | in their lives as students this year,

00:02:09.820 | as they pursue rigorous studies, if they believe this.

00:02:13.240 | So this is fresh on my front burner.

00:02:18.000 | So the text that gives a glimpse into why I believe this

00:02:23.320 | is the book of James 4, verses 13 to 17,

00:02:27.400 | where James says, "Come now you who say,

00:02:30.520 | "Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town

00:02:33.620 | "and spend a year there and trade, make a profit.

00:02:36.580 | "Yet you do not know about tomorrow, what it will bring.

00:02:40.460 | "What is your life?

00:02:41.860 | "You are a mist that appears for a little time

00:02:44.080 | "and then vanishes.

00:02:45.380 | "Instead, you ought to say,

00:02:48.340 | "If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that,

00:02:53.340 | "as it is you boast in your arrogance."

00:02:56.620 | So there it is.

00:02:57.820 | You ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live."

00:03:02.780 | So I conclude from that, if the Lord doesn't will, we die.

00:03:06.920 | If he does will, we live.

00:03:08.540 | The Lord is absolutely in control of everything

00:03:11.700 | that determines our life and our death.

00:03:14.220 | We don't live a second longer than he wills.

00:03:17.140 | We don't die a second sooner than he wills.

00:03:20.860 | And I believe this brings amazing stability and strength

00:03:25.860 | and courage and boldness and risk-taking

00:03:29.300 | into the Christian life,

00:03:30.940 | if we believe that God is good and sovereign.

00:03:34.180 | And then he says, "Not just we will live,

00:03:39.180 | "but rather we will do this or that."

00:03:43.340 | That's James' way of saying everything.

00:03:46.480 | And he's referring to practical things like,

00:03:48.300 | "Tomorrow we will go into such and such a town

00:03:50.660 | "and spend a year there and make a profit."

00:03:52.780 | Then he says, "No, no, you should say,

00:03:54.540 | "If the Lord wills, we will do this or that,"

00:03:59.540 | which I conclude means we won't do this

00:04:03.220 | if it's not the will of the Lord.

00:04:05.500 | And we won't do that, or we will do that,

00:04:08.460 | if it is the will of the Lord.

00:04:10.460 | So there's a text, that's especially verse 15

00:04:14.340 | of James chapter four, which I think tells us

00:04:18.120 | to practically believe and govern our lives

00:04:22.100 | by the conviction that God is completely sovereign

00:04:25.860 | over all the details of life and death

00:04:28.180 | and whether we do this or that.

00:04:30.420 | Now, does that make a practical difference in our lives?

00:04:35.040 | It is so amazingly practical.

00:04:37.720 | Let me give you four glimpses of why this undergirds

00:04:41.320 | everything I say on "Ask Pastor John."

00:04:45.080 | Number one, well, let me just list them off for you.

00:04:49.740 | It has to do with gospel joy and sacrificial love

00:04:54.740 | and fearless witness and confident planning.

00:04:58.260 | Those are my four practical glimpses

00:05:01.840 | into how this is so personally relevant to our lives.

00:05:06.020 | So let me just take them one at a time

00:05:07.580 | and give one text and a brief word.

00:05:10.740 | So gospel joy, every day John Piper needs the gospel.

00:05:15.500 | That is, I need fresh assurances that my sins are forgiven,

00:05:20.420 | that God is for me and not against me,

00:05:23.520 | that I'm not destined for wrath, but everlasting joy.

00:05:28.020 | I need the gospel preached to me with assurance every day.

00:05:33.020 | I need confidence that when Jesus died on the cross

00:05:37.620 | under Pontius Pilate, this was not a fluke of history.

00:05:42.180 | This was not random.

00:05:44.140 | This was God's sovereign plan to save John Piper.

00:05:49.140 | So here's the text that connects the sovereignty of God

00:05:53.260 | down to the details of sinners' doings and the gospel.

00:05:57.900 | Acts 4:27, "Truly in this city,

00:06:02.100 | there were gathered together against your holy servant,

00:06:04.860 | Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod, Pontius Pilate,

00:06:09.100 | the Gentiles, the peoples of Israel,

00:06:11.580 | to do whatever your hand and your plan

00:06:14.540 | had predestined to take place."

00:06:16.700 | Amazing.

00:06:19.300 | Herod, Pontius Pilate, the Gentile soldiers,

00:06:23.440 | the crowds crying, "Crucify him, crucify him,"

00:06:25.700 | all of them doing what God had predestined to take place.

00:06:29.820 | Or to paraphrase, using the words of James,

00:06:32.540 | "Since the Lord willed, they lived and did this or that."

00:06:37.540 | Jesus' death, down to the details of the fulfillment

00:06:42.180 | of prophecy, like the throwing of dice

00:06:45.980 | for the choosing of his clothing,

00:06:48.060 | was under God's sovereign control.

00:06:51.140 | It was not a random event, which gives to me

00:06:54.900 | the strong assurance God was totally in charge

00:07:00.780 | saving John Piper's soul.

00:07:04.180 | I need the gospel, and I think that text says,

00:07:07.380 | "No sovereignty, no gospel."

00:07:10.620 | Here's number two.

00:07:11.680 | I am called upon, as a Christian now, to love people,

00:07:16.620 | to love even my enemies, to do good all the time

00:07:19.860 | to those who don't do good to me,

00:07:22.500 | to make sacrifices to my life and inconvenience myself

00:07:26.580 | and not be a selfish person.

00:07:28.660 | Where in the world do you get the resources in your soul

00:07:33.660 | to do good to others when they're not doing good to you?

00:07:38.700 | In fact, when it may cost you tremendously

00:07:42.700 | to suffer in order to do good for other people.

00:07:46.340 | The New Testament is filled with summons to live that way,

00:07:51.140 | and here's 1 Peter.

00:07:53.120 | This is Peter's argument or counsel or wisdom

00:07:59.080 | for how we are going to be able to do good

00:08:03.320 | when we are suffering, and his answer is,

00:08:06.480 | we must remember God's detailed sovereignty

00:08:11.480 | over suffering as we do good.

00:08:14.960 | Listen to these two verses.

00:08:16.800 | 1 Peter 4, 19, "Let those who suffer," here it is,

00:08:21.360 | "according to God's will," suffer according to God's will,

00:08:26.960 | "and trust their souls to a faithful creator

00:08:30.080 | "while doing good."

00:08:32.520 | Here's 1 Peter 3, 17, "It is better to suffer

00:08:36.560 | "for doing good, if that should be God's will,

00:08:41.560 | "than for doing evil."

00:08:45.120 | In other words, suffering is going to come,

00:08:47.320 | especially to those who are committed to doing good,

00:08:50.000 | especially doing good to those who don't do good to them.

00:08:54.100 | But Peter says, take heart, God is sovereign

00:08:58.640 | over your suffering.

00:09:00.260 | No suffering befalls you apart from the will of God.

00:09:04.920 | He's your father, 1 Peter 1, 17, and your maker,

00:09:09.920 | 1 Peter 4, 19.

00:09:11.680 | He's faithful, and trust your soul to him,

00:09:14.960 | and get on with the tough, hard business of doing good,

00:09:19.060 | even to those who don't do good to you.

00:09:21.520 | That's number two.

00:09:22.460 | No sacrificial love without sovereignty,

00:09:25.900 | as the Bible sees it.

00:09:28.420 | Number three, sovereignty, the sovereignty of God

00:09:34.340 | over my fearless witness.

00:09:39.500 | I'm called upon to bear witness to Jesus,

00:09:43.220 | no matter what the fearful circumstance is.

00:09:47.860 | How can I overcome fear and be a faithful witness?

00:09:52.860 | And here's Jesus' answer in Matthew 10, 28 to 31.

00:09:56.680 | Watch how sovereignty figures in.

00:09:58.920 | Do not be afraid of those who kill the body,

00:10:02.640 | but cannot kill the soul.

00:10:04.800 | Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?

00:10:08.280 | And not one of them will fall to the ground

00:10:10.920 | apart from your father.

00:10:12.960 | Fear not.

00:10:15.560 | Therefore, you are of more value than many sparrows.

00:10:20.560 | The absolute sovereignty of God

00:10:24.220 | over which bird falls dead to the forest floor

00:10:29.220 | is the foundation of my fearlessness in my witness.

00:10:35.820 | And I am precious to him,

00:10:40.780 | more precious than all those birds

00:10:43.660 | whose lives are in God's detailed sovereign control.

00:10:48.660 | How much more then is God watching over me

00:10:54.060 | in all my witness to take care of me

00:10:58.320 | and only let me fall dead to the forest floor

00:11:01.760 | precisely when it is best for me

00:11:04.760 | to fall dead to the forest floor.

00:11:08.320 | And finally, number four,

00:11:11.600 | the sovereignty of God and confident planning.

00:11:14.340 | Planning.

00:11:16.620 | Not much happens of any use in this world without planning,

00:11:21.960 | and yet a lot of people think

00:11:24.500 | that planning might be pointless

00:11:27.800 | if God's will is always holding sway.

00:11:31.200 | That's not true.

00:11:32.680 | When you make a plan,

00:11:34.000 | which would you rather say?

00:11:36.040 | Something like this,

00:11:37.280 | if I'm lucky, I'll live and do this or that.

00:11:41.820 | Or by chance, I may live or do this or that.

00:11:45.140 | Or as fate may have it, I'll live or do this or that.

00:11:49.620 | Or would you rather say,

00:11:51.700 | if the Lord wills, I will live and do this or that.

00:11:56.700 | Luck, chance, fate, they're nothing.

00:12:00.860 | They're just words describing emptiness.

00:12:03.340 | But when you make a plan that says,

00:12:05.780 | I plan to do this, not that,

00:12:10.060 | if the Lord wills, you are building your life

00:12:13.820 | on an unshakable foundation, the sovereign will of God.

00:12:18.460 | The wise man in the Old Testament says,

00:12:20.180 | the heart of man plans his way,

00:12:22.440 | but the Lord establishes his steps, Proverbs 16, 9,

00:12:26.240 | or Proverbs 19, 21.

00:12:28.540 | Many are the plans of the mind of a man,

00:12:32.340 | but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.

00:12:36.780 | So it's right to plan.

00:12:38.280 | We don't accomplish things without a plan.

00:12:41.620 | So if you rest in the wise, good sovereignty of God

00:12:46.340 | in all your plans, you will be a confident,

00:12:51.180 | peaceful person because you'll know

00:12:56.180 | that whatever details of your plan don't happen,

00:13:01.080 | God's will always happens.

00:13:05.060 | And that's part of your plan.

00:13:07.260 | And that's the most important part,

00:13:09.220 | and therefore you can rest in sweet peace.

00:13:13.860 | So there it is, Tony.

00:13:15.880 | Joyful, gospel dependence every day.

00:13:22.020 | Sacrificial love every day.

00:13:25.900 | Fearless witness every day.

00:13:27.760 | Confident planning every day.

00:13:29.980 | Those are daily, practical realities

00:13:32.980 | every Christian lives with and needs help with.

00:13:37.660 | And those texts that we just looked at,

00:13:40.060 | all of them point to the absolute,

00:13:42.860 | detailed sovereignty of God,

00:13:45.260 | that he's in full control so that we can say,

00:13:49.340 | if the Lord wills, I will live and do this or that.

00:13:54.060 | That conviction informs everything I say

00:13:58.540 | and everything I do on this podcast.

00:14:01.460 | - Yeah, amen.

00:14:03.020 | And may those four realities become four priorities

00:14:06.640 | in each of our lives,

00:14:08.240 | and all with a sturdy foundation under it

00:14:10.700 | of God's sovereignty.

00:14:11.700 | This has huge ramifications for the Christian life.

00:14:14.680 | Pastor John, thank you for taking us

00:14:16.060 | into this one foundation.

00:14:17.860 | And thank you for listening and making the podcast

00:14:19.520 | part of your day and commute.

00:14:20.660 | And three times a week we publish,

00:14:22.460 | and you can subscribe to our audio feeds

00:14:24.420 | and search our past episodes in our archive.

00:14:26.480 | Even reach us by email with a question of your own,

00:14:29.180 | especially if you have a question about the very foundations

00:14:31.740 | of what we do on this podcast.

00:14:33.420 | We'd love to hear that.

00:14:34.900 | Do all of that through our online home

00:14:36.260 | at desiringgod.org/askpastorjohn.

00:14:39.500 | Well, is racism the product of nature or nurture?

00:14:45.780 | Are we born racists?

00:14:47.380 | Or is prejudice something that we learn?

00:14:49.700 | This is a question that came up recently

00:14:51.060 | based on something President Obama shared on social media

00:14:54.100 | in the wake of Charlottesville this summer.

00:14:56.660 | And it will be our focus when we return on Friday.

00:14:59.160 | I'm your host, Tony Reinke, and we'll see you then.

00:15:01.660 | (upbeat music)

00:15:04.240 | (upbeat music)

00:15:06.820 | [BLANK_AUDIO]

Is Knowing God’s Sovereignty Important to My Daily Life?

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