Well, how is the gospel connected to God's absolute sovereignty? Are they connected? They are connected, inseparably so. And millions of people in the United States and around the globe over the past few decades have been waking up to this incredible connection. As Pastor John explained in his 2019 Gospel Coalition National Conference message delivered just over a year ago, I wanted to revisit this message on Mark 8, verses 31 to 38.

Here's Pastor John in Indianapolis to explain. Now something has been happening in the last 50 years that's amazing in the world in relation to this text. The Gospel Coalition, for example, has come into existence along with hundreds and hundreds. I first wrote thousands, but thought I'd stay with hundreds just because I could probably find them.

I think it's probably thousands, but hundreds and hundreds of ministries, churches, schools, mission agencies, publishing houses, websites, spiritual movements in dozens of countries around the world, millions of people have been waking up to the beautiful interweaving of the sovereignty of God with the gospel. More and more people are coming to see and cherish that the ultimate control of God over all things is different than they thought it was.

Millions of people are discovering that the sovereignty of God is not peripheral, it's not troublesome, it's not academic for debate or argument. It is a glorious divine reality and is the very stitching that holds the gospel together. When Jesus says, verse 31, "The Son of Man must suffer, must be rejected, must be killed, must rise because God has spoken, God performs His Word, God has planned this for an invincible purpose." He is saying there is no gospel apart from the sovereignty of God, the all-controlling sovereignty of God.

There isn't. It doesn't exist. Let's be more specific. The sovereign control of God over the innocent suffering of Christ, the sovereign control of God over the sinful rejection of Christ, the sovereign control of God over the wicked murder of the Son of Man. Without those sovereign acts over that suffering, that rejection, that death, there would be no gospel.

It would be random. Random death saves nobody. Unplanned, unprophesied, unperformed, unpurposed suffering, rejection, murder saves nobody. They save precisely to the degree that they are woven together by God. It's His work for us and He sought to it at every level, in every minute detail that it would be successful.

No gospel without the sovereignty of God. And I'm not saying that there are not people who make the effort to disconnect the all-controlling sovereignty of God from the innocent suffering, the sinful rejection, the wicked murder of Jesus. There are millions of them, lay people, pastors, seminary teachers who make the effort to disconnect the all-controlling sovereignty of God from the gospel.

I'm not saying they don't exist. I'm saying that in the last 50 years, millions of people around the world are seeing that that effort is futile, unbiblical, undesirable. It is a rending of the precious fabric of the gospel because they see over and over again in Scripture, the sovereignty of God is the stitching that holds the gospel together.

They see a beautiful interweaving of the gospel of Christ with the sovereignty of God. They read Mark 8.31, "The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected and must be killed and must rise again." And without any long exegesis, without any long exegesis, millions are seeing it.

But you see it. Must suffer, must be rejected, must be murdered by lawless men. And they find themselves worshiping, singing. They say, "This was your son. This was your son. This was your plan. This was your work. This was your hand, innocent suffering, your hand, sinful rejection, your hand, wicked murder for me, for my forgiveness, for my everlasting happiness, the greatest gift at the greatest cost to the least deserving." And millions of people find themselves bowing down and saying, "I love you.

I love you." That's what's happening. You know, debates being won. God is opening eyes to the stitching. So the reality of the sovereignty of God has been sweetened in the minds of millions, sweetened. It's a sweet thing. As they come to see, it is the golden stitching that holds the fabric of the gospel together.

Amen. You can listen to or watch this entire 2019 Gospel Coalition National Conference message online at DesiringGod.org. The message is titled "The Golden Stitches of Sovereignty," preached a little over a year ago on April 1st, 2019. Thanks for listening. If you haven't done so, you can get the latest episodes by subscribing to Ask Pastor John in your favorite podcast app, in Spotify, or by subscribing to DG's YouTube channel.

And to find other episodes in our archive or to submit a question of your own, go online to DesiringGod.org/AskPastorJohn. We return on Good Friday, and we return to talk about Easter, my favorite holiday of the entire year. So why do we celebrate Easter in the first place? It's a great question that returns us to the very foundations and roots of our faith.

I'm your host, Tony Reinke. We'll see you back here on Friday to talk more about Easter. 1. What is Easter? 1. What is Easter? 2. What is Easter? 3. What is Easter? 4.