The Sweetness of God’s Sovereignty

by | May 8, 2008 | General Theology, The Gospel

On Sunday evenings for the past two months, I have been preaching through the ninth chapter of Romans. It is a difficult one to navigate exegetically and theologically. I’ve enjoyed the study and the preaching. God has used it in a number of people’s lives (as they have relayed it to me) to help them not only comprehend (what can be comprehended) but enjoy the sovereignty of God in the arena of salvation. Questions abound when reading Romans 9. Emotions tend to flair when discussing it and it’s implications. However, I remember when I was in college and was coming to terms with God’s sovereignty in salvation, I read (in a secular English course) Jonathan Edwards’ Personal Narrative. To this day, it remains one of my favorites of all I have read of Edwards. It is one of my favorites, not because it is one of the most profound or earth-shattering of his compositions, but probably because of the personal effect it had on me when I read it. I used the following quote from Edwards in the introduction of my sermon this past Sunday evening. It sums up well my own struggles and sweet resolutions in understanding and enjoying God’s sovereignty in salvation: From my childhood up, my mind had been full of objections against the doctrine of God’s sovereignty, in choosing whom he would to eternal life, and rejecting whom he pleased; leaving them eternally to perish, and be everlastingly tormented in hell. It used to appear like a horrible doctrine to me. But I remember the time very well, when I seemed to be convinced, and...

The Love of God

by | Apr 8, 2007 | Preaching, The Gospel

This evening I will preach Romans 5:6-11 in a final message on the effects of our justification. Taking the advice of a popular pastor and author, C. J. Mahaney, I took some time to read a sermon by Charles Spurgeon on a portion of the text I will preach. Here’s are two selections from Spurgeon’s sermon, “Love’s Commendation,” a sermon on Romans 5:8 delivered Sunday morning, November 23, 1856 in the Royal Surray Gardens Music Hall.On the phrase, God demontrates His love toward us If I might be allowed to picture in my imagination (and mark, it is nothing more than imagination), I could almost conceive a parliament in heaven. The angels are assembled; the question is proposed to them:”Cherubim and seraphim, cohorts of the glorified, ye spirits that like flames of fire, swift at my bidding fly; ye happy beings, whom I have created for my honour! here is a question which I condescend to offer for your consideration:Man has sinned; there is no way for his pardon but by some one suffering and paying blood for blood. Who shall it be?” I can conceive that there was silence throughout the august assembly. Gabriel spoke not: he would have stretched his wings and flapped the ether in a moment, if the deed had been possible; but he felt that he could never bear the guilt of a world upon his shoulders, and, therefore, still he sat. And there the mightiest of the mighty, those who could shake a world if God should will it, sat still, because they felt all powerless to accomplish redemption. I do not conceive...