Wisdom from Jonathan Edwards

"There has been a wonderful alteration in my mind, in respect to the doctrine of God's sovereignty.... The doctrine has very often appeared exceeding pleasant, bright and sweet. Absolute sovereignty is what I love to ascribe to God." - Jonathan Edwards

People of all backgrounds ascribe sovereignty to God when they are ill with cancer, heart disease or an incurable virus. They cry out in prayers begging for mercy and healing. They know the only way out of their predicament is by asking a "Higher Power" to step in and take control. God is sovereign then...

Men, when thrown into prison or jail, call out to God to save them from the torment of the cell their sin has gotten them into. God is sovereign then...

A mother and father hear that the automobile their teenager was riding in has collided with a tree - they both call out to God to intervene and save their child. God is sovereign then...

God is sovereign when things get tough - when life gets hard. God is sovereign when we have lost control or when we have no hope...

But when it comes to salvation the sovereignty of God is nullified. He is not sovereign in salvation just everything else. He is sovereign when it comes to choosing who will or will not die of cancer. He is sovereign when my finances aren't going right. He is sovereign when grandma is in the hospital. He is sovereign everywhere except when it comes to the saving of our souls! It seems that in most IFB churches God's sovereignty is suddenly sapped whenever the Bible is opened and salvation preached!

The love-fest IFB and evangelical churches have had with man's free-will over the last 100 years has done nothing but produce self-absorbed, self-reliant, unsaved church members. A preacher will declare man's free-will when he talks about salvation but if the doctor told that same preacher he had cancer, he would cry out that he is dependent on a sovereign God to heal him! There is nothing his free-will can do to save him now... His future is in the hands of God.

This article isn't to discuss why the church doesn't recognize the sovereignty of God in our salvation - it's to point out that most IFB churches don't... and are wrong.

Jonathan Edwards said the sovereignty of God was pleasant, bright and sweet. This wasn't derived overnight by America's greatest theologian, but by much prayer and seeking of God through His Word. In my journey with Christ I see more and more everyday the true sovereignty He exercises - and it is sweet. The sovereignty of God is refreshing; when my world seems to crumble or break apart I catch a whiff of the fact that He is in control... and I smile.

How do people in IFB churches across America cope with life when the sovereignty of their God is limited to only certain slices of their life? Doubt? Uncertainty? Worry? Hmmmm...

He is only sovereign when we need Him to be...