Appreciating the Sovereignty of God in Evangelism

Author: Michael Gott

All authority in heaven and on earth has been granted to Jesus.  He is correctly called King in the gospel, and honored as King of kings in the book of Revelation (Revelation 17:14, 19:16).  So, He is sovereign Lord and King as we do the work of evangelism.

Admittedly, the present evil and morally corrupt world system refused to acknowledge His sovereignty and Lordship.  The reason is simple:  it is still under the control and deception of the prince of this world, Satan himself (Ephesians 2:2).  But in contrast all those who have come to know Him can join John and declare with confidence,

greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. I John 4:4

Jesus has liberated us and broken Satan’s authority and dominion.  Satan and the forces of darkness have been annulled and stalemated by the cross, and we have a totally new nature, a new orientation, and a new mind-set (I John 4:6).

This truth comes into evidence when we as evangelists recognize, in spirit of our shortcomings and very glaring human limitations, God nevertheless “hits straight licks with gnarled and imperfect sticks,” as Roy Fish often said as professor of evangelism at Southwestern Baptist Seminary.  We acknowledge His work that overrules our limitations and deficiencies.  As the sovereign Lord of evangelism and evangelists He orchestrates the work of redemption more often in spite of than because of us!  All of us have sensed a night of total failure in proclamation only to discover that His glorious blessing in calling people unto Himself powerfully happened nonetheless.

At other times we sense His sovereign authority in us making us more than adequate in the moments of greatest challenge and of the most extreme spiritual demands.  As our sovereign Lord He has often overshadowed or overwhelmed us, giving us the greatest sense of ministering in the momentum of His victory and authority.

In evangelism the forces of darkness come against us, and it is often then that we sense the supernatural dimension of His sovereignty.  Bad things happen, and then comes the amazing way in which the Lord turns it to good and receives the glory.

I continually feel about the sovereignty of God the way the preacher of America’s most famous evangelistic sermon, Jonathan Edwards, felt:  “God’s absolute sovereignty . . . is what my mind seems to rest assured of, as much as of anything that I see with my eyes . . . Absolute sovereignty is what I love to ascribe to God . . . It has often been my delight . . .”

All of us have at times stood back after our evangelistic efforts both delighted and amazed, giving all the glory a thousand times over to God, saying, “Let God be magnified” (Psalm 70:4).  We find ourselves saying, “I cannot thank and adore Him enough!”  Some of us have wanted to join “the heavens . . . telling the glory of God”! (Psalm 19:1, RSV)  We have seen His hand, His powerful hand of authority and sovereignty—we have felt like David, “I will go to the altar of God” to praise Him.  He overpowered our flaws of communicating, all the other human limitations, and our physical fatigue.  He brought glory to Himself!

James admitted, “For we all stumble in ways.” (James 3:2)  It is then that we sense we are linked to amazing and to vast spiritual resources.  We are part of something bigger than we can grasp, the plan of God to bring people to Himself.  As we watch Him take what appears to be disastrous and to turn it completely, we quote, “we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his [grand] purpose” (Romans 8:28).

The enabling of the Lord in evangelism is something amazing, “for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure" (Philippians 2:12-13)—that’s God’s sovereignty!

To acknowledge God’s sovereignty in evangelism causes an unleashing of gratitude that empowers the human tongue to tell.  Our hearts become inexhaustible springs of gratitude as we realize God’s supremacy.  Yes, we sincerely tried our best, but it was He who sovereignly triumphed!  My shortfall was overpowered by God’s absolute adequacy and his eternal purpose, and there is no other way to account for the victories won.

Leighton Ford said correctly, “The doctrine of the sovereignty of God is a shining biblical truth, which at its best compels us to evangelize to the glory of our divine King.”  Biblically balanced, it saves evangelism from man centered activism.

Of course, we must be alert to the divorcing of God’s sovereignty from man’s responsibility.  Overemphasizing wither one is a very great error.

Some, it would seem have become obsessed and have wrenched and deformed this great truth of God’s sovereignty into a kind of non-biblical fatalism.  It cuts the optic nerve of evangelism.

We must forever stay God centered in our evangelism.  If we overstress the human side of evangelism, we put too much emphasis on man’s role, and we, as a result, constantly feel the pressure to produce great results.  This leads to a generation of exhausted, cynical, and frustrated evangelists.  We will avoid that mistake.

So, join me and join Jonathan Edwards and “adore Him as a sovereign God” and let God be magnified forever as we serve Him as evangelists who are both biblical and balanced.

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