6. Where to Find Out More

IN OUR CONSIDERATION of the doctrines of God's absolute sovereignty it is hoped that we have addressed these issues in an edifying manner. It is also hoped that the reader will not receive this as a mere dabbling in polemics or controversy. It is our prayer that you—by God's grace—have had your mind and heart opened up and enlarged by a contemplation of our great sovereign God. Perhaps we have raised more questions than we have answered. In our limited space and time [most of these chapters have been written and compiled on my lunch hour] it has been impossible to do the grand subject justice. Not only that, but great Christian writers of the past have provided their posterity with much more fine and thorough treatments than I could ever hope to equal. So, in this concluding chapter we have chosen, in our crude way, to attempt an answer to the question, "WHERE DO I FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD?"

1. FROM THE BIBLE. Read it through from beginning to end. You will then discover that God is either (a) absolute sovereign and in control of all things, or (b) a milquetoast, wishy-washy deity who somehow botched things up, and then tries one scheme after another to somehow salvage everything, and finally, failing that, creates the lake of fire as a monument to His own failure and incinerates his botched up creatures. Which God will it be, reader?

2. FROM THE NEWSPAPER. Consider all the atrocities which occur everyday. Child molesting. Murder. Suicides. Rape. Terrorism. What does all this tell you? Either (a) God is fighting a losing battle, or (b) God is sovereign and will cause even these evils to redound to His own glory.

3. FROM THE CHRISTIAN ON HIS KNEES. Even if his head is not right, if his heart is right, he will acknowledge God's sovereignty in his prayers. He will not pray to the god of Fate, chanting "Que sera, sera." He will not pray to the god of Chance, the Father of Lady Luck. No; he will pray to the Lord of Hosts who works all things after the counsel of His own will.

4. FROM CHRISTIAN LITERATURE. Every Christian is indebted to the great writers of the past and present. The various keys to Christian literature are (a) the movements, (b) the writers, (c) the books, (d) the publishers, and (e) the distributors. I used to think nests were for the birds until my wife became a Tupperware dealer and I discovered nesting bowls. Then when I got into computers I found more nests. Programs, files, commands, etc., can be "nested" or fit within another. You are probably wondering what all this has to do with Christian literature. Well, the keys mentioned in the previous paragraph have a nesting effect. Back to the Tupperware bowls. Category (a) is the big bowl on the outside. Category (b) fits just inside bowl (a). Etc. Finally, we have our little bowl, category (e).

(a) By the movements we mean the several outstanding ones in church history, chiefly the great Puritan movement, germinating in England and flowering in New England. In general terms, no finer contributions to Christian literature have ever been made than that of this group, in any language. Men such as Stephen Charnock, Thomas Watson, Jonathan Edwards, Thomas Brooks, John Bunyan, John Owen, Thomas Manton, Joseph and Richard Alliene, Richard Sibbes, Richard Baxter, to name a few, have no modern-day counterparts, to my knowledge, and in my opinion. These and others like them produced a veritable treasure-trove of literature, expounding scripture, exalting a sovereign God, and sounding forth an white-hot message for saint and sinner alike. The Puritans sprang from the 16th century Protestant Reformation. The Reformers laid the foundation for Puritanism, emerging from the Dark and Medieval ages and declaring "sola scriptura," and justification by faith alone. Bold men such as Martin Luther and John Calvin laid much groundwork. Their works have been the means of blessing to multitudes for several centuries. There are many barren centuries extending between the Reformation and a man by the name of Augustine, but this man was a major influence on Martin Luther. His "Confessions" and "City of God" are classics of Christian literature and his documented dispute with Pelagius was a fore-runner of the Arminianism-Calvinism controversy more than a millenium later. No 19th and 20th century movements have brought about the wealth of literature as have the previous mentioned. Here and there a man has arisen, but these are isolated cases and fall into our second category.

(b) The writers. For the most part if we find out who the writers were, then we can buy, borrow, and read what they have written and be safe. The chief name in this category was not really a writer at all, but a preacher. His name was Charles Haddon Spurgeon. Most of the volumes—and there are many —which bear his name are transcriptions of his sermons. This English preacher--nicknamed the "Prince of Preachers"—held the doctrines of God's sovereignty and man's responsibility in well-nigh perfect equilibrium during his 40-year ministry. He popularized the Puritans, if indeed such a thing could be done. He was a man enflamed by and in love with his sovereign Lord. Though he spoke to thousands nearly every Sunday (and other days of the week) of his career, undoubtedly even more have been reached, blessed, and influenced by his printed words.

The following is a list of "lesser" writers who are "safe" choices on the subject of God's sovereignty.
Hodge, Charles & A.A.
Ryle, J.C.
Lloyd-Jones, D. Martin
Packer, J.I.
Warfield, Benjamin
Dabney, Robert
Murray, Iain H.
Murray, John

(c) The following books are excellent sources of inspiration as well as information and illumination on the sovereignty of God.
Pink, A.W., The Sovereignty of God
Bishop, George, The Doctrines of Grace
Boettner, Loraine, The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination
Zanchius, Jerome, Absolute Predestination
Cheeseman, John et al., The Grace of God in the Gospel [This volume unfortunately seems to lack the warmth of most of the other volumes.]
Horton, Michael Scott, Putting Amazing Back into Grace, Baker, 1994
Kennedy, D. James, Truths That Transform
Custance, Arthur C., The Sovereignty of Grace
Add to this list, of course, the writings of those mentioned in categories (a) and (b).

(d) There are a few publishers which are careful to only publish books and literature exalting God and humbling man. The first one that comes to mind is Banner of Truth Trust. They are based in Scotland [3 Murrayfield Road, Edinburgh EH12 6EL]. Their U.S. address is P.O. Box 621, Carlisle, Pennsylvania 17013. The only other publishers which I will mention here are Baker Book House, who, particularly in their Summit series, is reprinting a lot of fine old books which honor God; MacDonald Publishing, who publish a lot of good reprints; Presbyterian & Reformed out of Grand Rapids. The "biggies," like Moody Press and Zondervan, do not print very many Puritans, and for the most part are devoted to publishing modern books.

(e) Last but not least are the book distributors. Two immediately come to mind. They are Great Christian Books (formerly Puritan Reformed Discount Book Service) [229 S. Bridge St., P.O. Box 8000, Elkton, MD 21922-8000], and Gospel Mission [P.O. Drawer M, Choteau, MT 59422]. Other excellent sources of literature (and tapes) are the Trinity Book Service [P.O. Box 569, Montville, NJ 07045], and the Chapel Library, which in 1987 became a part of the Mt. Zion Evangelistic Association [2603 West Wright Street, Pensacola, FL 32505].

UPDATE--(f) WORLD WIDE WEB resources. The electronic medium of the "information superhighway," i.e. the Internet, has made a wealth of resources available to seekers of the truth of God's sovereignty. The following are a few sites on the Web that a very helpful and informative:
THE SPURGEON ARCHIVE [http://www. gty.org/~phil/spurgeon.htm]. The work of Phil Johnson (with John MacArthur's Grace to You ministries), this site is THE place for those interested in the writings and sermons of Charles Haddon Spurgeon. There are also works about Spurgeon here. SOVEREIGN GRACE THEOLOGY PAGE [http://www.conline.com/sovgrace/]. Maintained by Jim Ellis.
SOLA SCRIPTURA! [http://www.bridge.net/ ~mikebrem/sola.htm]. Maintained by Michael Bremmer.
WHITEFIELD REVIEW [http://www.primenet. com/~madams/wfield.html]. Maintained by Geoff Volker.
THE QUIET PLACE [http://www.grfn.org/ ~mr_bill/Quiet.html]. Dedicated to those who hold to the 1689 London Baptist Confession, this site has links to Reformed Baptist churches and other valuable sites. There are several other excellent sites. Try entering "sovereign" and "grace" in a good search engine and see what it finds for you.

5. FROM THE PREACHING OF THE WHOLE COUNCIL OF GOD. This certainly is of utmost importance in learning of God's sovereignty. Indeed, it is God's chosen means of propagating His gospel and building His kingdom. But where to go? It seems like almost every place you go these days has a pulpit which knows nothing of God's sovereignty. Fundamentalism has become—for the most part—reduced to religious pep rallies and "Jesus hawkers." And most of the rest of Christendom is slumbering, with their orthodoxy gathering dust on their bookshelves.

I hesitate to mention any names but would be remiss if I did not bring in the name of Albert N. Martin at this point. His preaching is a unique blend of spirit and truth, pressing a saving Christ upon sinners and extolling a sovereign God. A cassette catalog may be had by writing TRINITY PULPIT, P.O. Box 569, Montville, NJ 07045.

I've left this area for last because I believe it is one that deserves some comment. If God's sovereignty is merely a doctrine for the seminary, the rap session, the articles of faith, etc., then let us not waste our time with it! But since these are Bible doctrines, then they are profitable for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness. So they must be preached. We can argue, discuss, discourse, and debate them for hours on end and what will it have accomplished for God's kingdom? There is a place for all these activities, to be sure—Paul disputed in the synagogues—but only when God's sovereignty is preached, woven into the glorious gospel—because they are inseparable from it— when it is proclaimed with unwavering voice, shouted from the house-tops that OUR GOD IS IN THE HEAVENS, AND HAS DONE WHATSOEVER HE PLEASED, and that HE WILL HAVE MERCY UPON WHOM HE WILL HAVE MERCY, I truly believe that then, and only then, will this old earth be shaken with the gospel, and the heathen will say, "Thy God reigns."

Let us get intellectual assent to these truths. But more than that LET US GET SUCH A SENSE OF GOD'S ABSOLUTE SOVEREIGNTY THAT WE FEEL IT IN OUR INMOST BEING, AND IT TRANSFORMS US INTO A MIGHTY ARMY OF PEOPLE WHO KNOW THEIR GOD, OR RATHER ARE KNOWN OF HIM.

What's all this talk about the sovereignty of God? Let's not only talk it; let's walk it.

by David R. Heesen, heesendr@beloit.edu, fax 608-363-2718

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