150: If God is So Sovereign, Why Pray?

To the Ruled Church podcast.

Christ the King and the Local Church

This is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased. He is honored, and I get the glory. And by the way, it's even better, because you see that building in Perryville, Arkansas? You see that one in Pechote, Mexico?

Do you see that one in Tuxla, Guterres, down there in Chiapas? That building has my son's name on it.

The church is not a democracy, it's a monarchy. Christ is king.

You can't be Christian without a local church.

You can't do anything better than to bend your knee and bow your heart, turn from your sin and repentance, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and join up with a good Bible-believing church, and spend your life serving Jesus in a local, visible congregation.

Welcome to the Ruled Church podcast. It is tornado season in Arkansas. Well, I guess at the moment of recording, and probably when this airs, it is tornado season, but so far, the Lord has been kind to us.

We have not had to deal with any major issues. By God's providence, we really have not ever had to deal with any major issues inside Perryville proper, as it were. We're a little town of just under 1 ,500 people in central Arkansas.

The Sovereignty of God and the Question of Prayer

Welcome to the Ruled Church podcast. I am your host, Alan Nelson. I'm one of the elders here, Providence Baptist Church in Perryville, Arkansas. Today, we wanna discuss if God is sovereign, why pray? Ephesians chapter one, verse 11.

I've got this hanging in my office, one of my favorite verses, but it says, "'In him,' meaning Christ, "'we have obtained an inheritance, "'having been predestined according to the purpose of him "'who works all things according to the counsel of his will.'".

Of course, that's not the only verse that discusses such meticulous sovereignty of God. Isaiah 46 .10, my counsel shall stand and I will accomplish all my purpose. How much of God's purpose will he accomplish?

100%. Job 42 .2, no purpose of yours can be thwarted. Proverbs 21 .1, the king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord. He turns it wherever he will. Daniel 4 .35, he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth and none can stay his hand or say to him, what have you done?

The sovereign will of God. God is meticulously sovereign. It will always be done. It cannot be thwarted by Satan or by angels or by demons or by man. I came up with a little definition. It's by design, should sound like others definitions that you've heard, but here's what I've said about the sovereign will of God.

The sovereign will of God means that whatsoever exists, comes to pass, happens, is done, every action, reaction and event, whether great or small can ultimately be traced back to the counsel of God's holy will whereby he decrees all things whatsoever to come about either by his own direct action, by his wise permission or through secondary causes and other circumstances yet without himself being the author of sin.

This is the sovereign will of God and it will be done. It is as Ephesians 1, 11 says, according to the counsel of his will from eternity past, God has laid down all that will come to pass. He does what he does.

He is sovereign. He is good. Our own confession, the 1689 says from all eternity, God decreed everything that occurs without reference to anything outside himself. So it's just a foundation that God is not the author of sin yet at the same time, God has decreed whatsoever comes to pass, even the sinful action of men, he is sovereign over that, decreed that though he himself is not responsible for sin, cannot be accused of sin.

God has decreed all things and then mankind is really responsible. So this episode is not so much trying to prove the sovereignty of God. It's really trying to ask the question if God is so sovereign, why pray?

But we need to just kind of lay the groundwork there of the sovereignty of God. And so if God has foreordained whatsoever comes to pass, like Augustus Toplady, the writer of the Hemrock of Ages says, God resolved within himself what he would do and what he would permit to be done by his providence is effective and permissive will passes into external act and has its positive accomplishment.

So God has decreed whatsoever comes to pass and he has done all that he pleases. Psalm 115 .3 does all that he pleases. And so the point is in this episode, rambling there for a minute, if God is so sovereign, why pray?

If God has already got everything, if what's gonna happen tomorrow is gonna happen tomorrow, why pray? I think that I wanna frame this and it's like a good question to ask in a sense. Like, I mean, like we can understand the question.

Some, I will say some people ask the question in poor, in a poor way, like an accusatory way. Like they're just trying to slam reform theology or maybe even they're trying to blame God, which goes back to the garden, right?

Because you remember what Adam said to God when he's confronted for his sin. He says, the woman whom you gave to be with me. So mankind is, has since the fall, always tried to blame God for our sin. But the reality is God is meticulously, 100 comprehensively sovereign and mankind is responsible.

We make real meaningful choices. And you say, well, that doesn't fit into my peanut brain. I can't figure all that out. Well, that's because you're not God. But the question is now, if God is so sovereign, why pray?

And what I wanna do in this episode is I just want to give you five reasons, five words that I hope are a help to consider, okay? So let's walk through this. If God is sovereign, why pray? Five words I wanna give you, and I hope that this helps you.

Number one, if God is so sovereign, why pray? Number one, precept. Number one, precept. If God is sovereign, why pray? Because God has given you a precept, a command, an imperative to pray. God commands his people to pray.

Take an example like 1 Thessalonians 5 .17. Pray, imperative, without ceasing. Or Matthew chapter six, verse nine, Jesus, an imperative. Pray, then like this, and then he gives the model prayer. R .C. Sproul says, if God is sovereign over the actions and intents of men, why pray at all?

Let me answer the question by stating that the sovereign God commands by his holy word that we pray. Prayer is not optional for the Christian. It is required. We might ask, what if it doesn't do anything?

That is not the issue. Regardless of whether prayer does any good, if God commands us to pray, we must pray. It is reason enough that the Lord God of the universe, the creator and sustainer of all things commands it, end quote.

That's right. So if you can't figure it out, if you don't know if it accomplishes anything, you don't have any idea that the mechanism, you can't explain prayer or anything at all about it, it's enough to just stop with this point.

If God is sovereign, why pray? Because he commands us to pray. He doesn't command you to figure it all out in your brain and work through all the necessary implications per se, but he does command you to pray.

And so, spend your life studying. Spend your life thinking through these things. Spend your life trying to articulate the relationship between the meticulous sovereignty of God and human responsibility, but do not neglect prayer because God has commanded you to pray.

If God is sovereign, why pray? Number one, precept. Number two, second word, perspective. Perspective. We pray to a sovereign God. So you say, well, if he is so sovereign, why pray at all? But in this point, let me turn that back around on you.

If God were not sovereign, why would you pray? Why would you pray, God, bring salvation to my children? Why would you pray that at all if he's already done everything he can? God made his vote, as some say.

Satan made his vote, as some say. And now it's up to the individual to make their own vote. Why would you ask God to do anything? If God has plans and purposes that are constantly thwarted and overcome by frail and impious and weak and puny man, what would be the point of asking him to do anything?

If God is not operating on a scrupulous and comprehensive plan, as his word says that he is, every detail molecule under his exhaustive control flowing from his sovereign and eternal decree, well, how are your prayers gonna matter at all?

If the Holy Spirit is so easily stopped by the fickle whims of created beings, how could praying do anything? If God has to get the permission of his subjects, if he has to weakly and pathetically stand outside in the cold and rain, hoping the door of their heart will open to him so he can come in out of the cold, why would you pray?

Praying isn't gonna help the situation. If God is not sovereign, why would you pray? In fact, here's a theory I have that truly born-again people, whether they confess the sovereignty of God like Reformed Baptists do or not, they know deep down that God is in control and that's why they pray.

They know that God is sovereign. That's why they pray. God, save our children. God, protect my home. God, lead our nation to repentance. God, grant mercy to this community. They pray these things because even if intellectually they are trying to push against the sovereignty of God, if they're truly born-again, they know in their heart of hearts that God actually is in control.

If God is sovereign, why pray? This point was perspective. If God is not sovereign, why would you pray? Okay, third word, promise. Precept, perspective, promise. Let me read to you a passage from Matthew 7.

I'm sure that you are familiar with it, but Matthew 7, beginning in verse 7. Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives, and the one who seeks, finds.

And to the one who knocks, it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him?

If God is sovereign, why pray? Well, we have a command, we have a perspective. If he's not sovereign, why would you pray? But here we have a promise. We have a promise. Why pray? Because God has promised to answer the prayers of his people.

God has promised to give good things to those who ask him. And in even this, the gospel comes into play here, because Romans 8 .32, remember, says, he who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

In other words, God has given us the greatest thing that we need. God has given us the greatest, the fundamental problem with humanity. The thing that we need is forgiveness of sins and reconciliation with the Holy God.

And God has given that to us in Christ by his perfect life, by a substitutionary death for his church, by being a propitiation, a wrath-satisfying sacrifice, by dying on the cross for our sins and rising again the third day.

God has given that to his people. And so as Christians, if God is sovereign, why pray? Because God has given us a promise, a promise to answer our prayers. Now, listen, many of our prayers, we would say, go unanswered, but I would want us to think of it a different way.

Every believer's prayer is always answered. It's just not always answered in the affirmative. Sometimes, out of his sovereign love and infinite wisdom, God says no to his people. And so we ask, and God says no.

It's not unanswered. It's answered no because God loves us too much to answer it in the affirmative. You say, yeah, but I'm asking for a really good thing, and that's true. We pray for things sometimes that, according to God's revealed will, are good things.

Maybe you pray for a godly wife. Maybe you pray for the healing of a sick loved one or the repentance of the nation. And God says no. Okay, but we have to trust his wisdom and his love. But there are a lot of things that God also says yes to.

God delights to hear our prayers. God has adopted us into his family in Christ. And so we pray because we have the promise, the promise of God to hear our prayers. There's never a prayer that a believer gives that God does not hear, and he's promised to answer our prayers.

And so we wanna seek to have our asking of prayer in line with God's will. One of the ways, just a practical application here, one of the ways that we do that is by asking what his word says. So one of the best practices that we can put into play is praying scripture back to him.

If God is sovereign, why pray? Because he's commanded us, precept. Because if he wasn't sovereign, why would we pray? Perspective. And then thirdly, we pray because of the promise. Okay, fourthly, fourth word, posture.

Posture. I don't just mean physical posture, actually. I'm not really even talking about physical posture at all. More of the spiritual posture. We pray because we are not God. We pray because we are dependent, okay?

If we say that we believe God is sovereign, but we don't pray, then our actions speak louder than our theology. And I would argue this, in the history of Christianity, it has been those who understand God's sovereignty the most who were some of the greatest people of prayer.

I have this quote in my office, John Newton quote. Most of you will know, wrote Amazing Grace, other great hymns. But he says this, "'Thou art coming to a king. "'Large petitions with thee bring. "'For his grace and power are such.

"'None can ever ask too much.'". How does someone who holds to reform theology pray? Well, they pray like that. We're talking about posture. That is, if God is sovereign, why pray? Because we need to come to God in humble trust and dependence.

We pray because it exhibits this posture and it reminds us of our own need. When we don't pray, we are exhibiting that we really believe that man is sovereign. We really don't trust. Or perhaps even we're acting out as fatalists.

You know, was a Doris Day song, Que sera, sera, what will be will be. Fatalism, yes, God has decreed whatsoever comes to pass, but we're not fatalists. God has also ordained not just the ends but the means.

Not just, he is in his sovereignty ordained not just how or what is going to come about but how it's going to come about. And it comes about through the prayers. Some of the things that he has ordained come about through the very prayers of his people.

And we pray, God is sovereign, why do we pray? Because it cultivates a humble posture in his people, one of humility and dependence. We pray not to change God's will but to conform our own will to his.

Praying to God in the right manner puts our hearts and lives in a humble posture before him. The Holy Spirit actually uses our feeble prayers to sanctify us and to accomplish God's predetermined purposes.

Why pray if God is sovereign? Well, we have five words, precept, perspective, promise, posture, and then let me give you a fifth one, priority. A couple of verses to mention here and then I'll make a point.

James 4, 13 through 15. Come now you who say today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit. Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life?

For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say if the Lord wills we will live and do this or that. First Corinthians 4, 19 and there are other verses like this but Paul says, but I will come to you soon if the Lord wills.

And now we'll find out not the talk of these arrogant people but their power. So here's just a simple point here. If God is so methodically, meticulously, gloriously sovereign, if he is the all wise, all loving, all powerful God, why would we not seek him in prayer and his will as our priority?

If the Lord wills, this is what I will pursue. You've heard a lot of reformed folks say it this way. They should. I'll back up. I heard a guy say this one time, which this is a common saying. Lord willing and the creek don't rise, I'll be there.

Well, okay, that kind of puts a bit of sovereignty in the creek or the rain or quote unquote mother nature which is not a thing, right? It's not if the Lord wills and the creek don't rise. If the Lord wills, the creek ain't gonna rise.

If the Lord wills, the creek will rise. But a lot of reformed folks, I think a lot of godly Christians usually add the little phrase before they commit to something, Lord willing. Lord willing, I'll do this.

Lord willing, I'll do that. Oftentimes, people try to go do what you wanna do anyway and then claim that it's the Lord's will, but what I'm saying is this is not childlike trust of our good father. We must seek his will as our priority because his ways are the best.

Trust his ways are the best. Even if I can't see the big picture and let's just be honest, you actually never see all that much of the picture at all actually. But even when the road ahead is foggy, unknown, maybe it seems unsafe, so be it insofar as I'm trusting my sovereign God.

Why should we pray if God is so sovereign? Because we want, we long for his priority in our life and we long to adjust our desires and our will and our affections to his. Does this make sense? Why pray if God is sovereign?

Because God has given us a precept. We have a perspective. We have a promise, posture, priority. I hope this helps you wrestle through this question. I haven't exhausted this issue at all. Each one of these points you could continue to study.

There are probably 1 ,000 other points that you could add to this, but hopefully this helps you personally. Maybe it helps you answer someone else when someone else has a question about if you believe in the sovereignty of God.

Because this often gets leveled, right? When you talk about reformed theology and you talk about God's sovereign decree and you talk about God's purposes and you talk about predestination, well, people really wanna level these things at you.

Yeah, well, if that's true, why pray? Well, I've just given you an example, an answer to that. Why pray? Because God has commanded you to pray. Why pray? Because if God is sovereign, well, how could you pray?

God can't do anything, right? God has given us promises. God will answer our prayers. Pray for lost people. Pray for your children. God is pleased to use those prayers because he has not only ordained the end, but also the means.

Posture, we want to pray, we want to be more humble. I don't know a single person that cannot grow in godly humility. And then priority. We pray because God is sovereign because we want to adjust our desires to his, submit to his priority, make his will, his desires, his plan a priority for our life because we believe that it is good.

It is right. It is the best. Little bit shorter episode today, but I hope that this is a helpful episode. I hope that it has answered some questions and maybe offered you some resources to think through these things and then also to answer others who have questions.

You want to reach out to me, you can at quattronelson at gmail .com. That's C-U-A-T-R-O-N-E-L-S-O-N at gmail .com. And I'd love to answer questions or hear your ideas about future episodes.

Thank you for joining us this week on the Rural Church Podcast. Hope to catch you next week.

The Church as God's Masterpiece

If you really believe the church is the building, the church is the house, the church is what God's doing. This is his work. If we really believe what Ephesians says, we are the poemos, the masterpiece of God.

How are you going to respond?