Denying God's Sovereignty Is Fashionable

The Scripture reading this morning is from Genesis 24. The high points of this chapter will be covered in the next three to four weeks. The entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation can be placed in the confines of this chapter.

The trend today is to deprive God’s message of spiritual content. The disobedient sympathize with disobedience, because any subjective concept apart from an objective standard is false. There are some basic things that must be known by us if we are to spend eternity with Jesus Christ: (1) What a man was in a state of uprightness. (2) What a man is in a condition of depravity. (3) What a man is to be if he is one of God’s elect eternally in a state of grace. (4) What the regenerate can expect—an eternal state of glory. (5) What the unregenerate can expect—an eternal state of misery.

The transition from theology to anthropology is natural. Scripture does not present an abstract revelation of God, but a revelation of God in relation to His creatures, especially to man. Consequently, the knowledge of man, in relation to God, is essential to properly understand anthropology. In anthropology, we do not go from man to God, but from God to man. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1). “Then God said, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Gen. 1:26, 27). This indicates a profound principle of Biblical thought. Thus, the tabernacle was patterned after heavenly things (Heb. 9). It supposes God to account for man, and not man to account for God. It never leaves us with the task of proving God’s existence from man’s existence. Therefore, by the “Divine Image,” the Bible does not mean that from the created elements in man we form an idea of God, but conversely, since man is the shadow image of God.

The religious trend today is to deprive God’s message of Biblical content. The clear logic of Abraham was anchored in the sovereign will of God. That which he did on Mount Moriah was not inconsistent with the moral sense. Such a moral sense must not be set aside by some kind of subjectivism, such as making an individual believe that a special revelation of that will has been given to him. In Genesis 22, Isaac is offered up; in Chapter 23, Sarah is laid aside; and in Chapter 24, the servant is sent forth to procure a bride for Isaac. Thus, in the New Testament, the grand events which meet our view are (1) the rejection and death of Jesus Christ, (2) the setting aside of Israel after the flesh, and (3) the calling out of the elect by the Spirit to occupy the high position of the Bride of the Lamb of God.

Sarah’s death typifies, for the time, the death of Israel and the promises in relation to the “land.” This is in order that the spiritual blessings may come in through the “seed”—Christ. Paul said, “Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, And to seeds, as referring to many, but rather to one, And to your seed, that is, Christ” (Gal. 3:16). Therefore, the clear logic of the gospel is that Christ was put to death by the elect of God at Calvary.

In Genesis 24, the books of Ruth and the Song of Solomon are rolled up into one. Following the death of Sarah, Abraham, who was directed by Divine wisdom, showed great concern for the unconditional covenant as he approached his own demise. Isaac was forty years of age at this time. Since the Bible knows nothing about love that is regulated by sentimental feelings, true love is based on relationship which results in a commitment. This is a Biblical principle, recognizing that God’s grace has brought us together for life in time and for eternity, because it is an eternal relationship with the eternal Son by grace. This is the opposite of what is portrayed in this amoral society in which we live. The Bible knows nothing about love that is regulated by sentimental feelings.

Carnalizing and commercializing that which is sacred should cause great concern today, but generally speaking, they are not causing concern. Disobedient people sympathize with the disobedient. Paul had this in mind when he said to the Corinthians, “And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able, for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men?” (I Cor. 3:1-3). Instead of the Corinthians being mature, they were babies manifesting self-centeredness and divisiveness. Hence, they had a false concept of the ministry. All Christians are fleshly to some degree. However, they are compared to babies, but not in an absolute sense. Therefore, the fleshly brethren are not compared to natural men (I Cor. 2:14) or babies (I Cor. 3:1).

Eliezer was a tried and true servant. He suppressed his name in order to exalt Isaac. Therefore, he could relate with John the Baptist, who said, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven. You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, I am not the Christ, but, I have been sent ahead of Him. He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. So this joy of mine has been made full. He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:27-30).

John the Baptist was Christ’s groomsman, and Paul spoke of himself as being the Corinthians’ groomsman. The apostle said, “I wish that you would bear with me in a little foolishness; but indeed you are bearing with me. For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin. But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully. For I consider myself not in the least inferior to the most eminent apostles. But even if I am unskilled in speech, yet I am not so in knowledge; in fact, in every way we have made this evident to you in all things” (II Cor. 11:1-6).

Paul took advantage of this occasion to express his self-sacrificing love and affection for his converts. His “foolishness” is the Greek noun aphrosunes, genitive feminine singular of aphrosune, meaning foolishness or lack of sense, either morally or intellectually. This noun is used four times in the New Testament (Mark 7:22; II Cor. 11:1, 17, 21). While the religionists were boasting of their strength, Paul was boasting of weakness, even though it was painful for him to do it. His “foolishness” was prompted by the kind of jealousy which a lover feels for his beloved. Such jealousy is godly because it is felt by God Himself when His people are described as giving allegiance to others. Paul’s jealousy for them was the product of a well-grounded fear. “I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were yet not able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able, for you are still fleshly…” (I Cor. 3:2, 3).

The Corinthians were Paul’s work in the Lord. In his first letter to them, the apostle said, “Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord?” (I Cor. 9:1). He also said in his first letter, “For if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel” (I Cor. 4:15).

Paul stresses the truth, that just as the marriage relationship is exclusive, so believers owe an exclusive loyalty to Christ. There was a Greek custom that between espousal and marriage there was one whose business it was to educate and prepare the young woman for marriage. If through negligence on his part, the young woman became corrupted, great blame would be his. This is where Paul stood in his relation to the Corinthian saints, and it is the position of every God-appointed elder. Paul was concerned about the interval between the cross and the glory, between regeneration and glorification.

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The NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE—UPDATED EDITION is the source of all Scripture quotations in this message, unless otherwise noted.