… the inspiration, authority, inerrancy
and sufficiency of Holy Scripture (John 10:35; II Tim. 3:16-17), including the
literal teaching of Genesis 1-11.
… God’s sovereign, unconditional and
particular election, redemption, call, preservation and glorification of all
His people in Jesus Christ (Rom. 8:28-39; Eph. 1:3-14).
… God’s infinite, eternal and unchanging
love for His elect in Christ (Rom. 8:35-39; Eph. 3:18-19), which excludes a
love of God for the reprobate (Ps. 5:4-6; 11:5-7; Rom. 9:13).
… the unconditional establishment,
maintenance, and realization of the covenant of grace through Jesus Christ
with believers and their elect seed, requiring infant baptism for the children
of believers (Gen. 17:7; Acts 2:39; 16:14-15; Col. 2:11-12).
… that faithful preaching by qualified and
ordained men, as opposed to lay-preaching and women office-bearers and
missionaries, is the voice of Jesus Christ and the power of God unto salvation
(Rom. 1:16; 10:14-15; I Cor. 14:34-35; I Thess. 2:13; I Tim. 2:11-3:13).
… that the Most High, and not man,
determines how He must be worshipped (John 4:24; Col. 2:23), including
reverent congregational singing of the God-breathed Psalms (Ps. 95:2; II Sam.
23:1-2; James 5:13).
… that marriage is a life-long,
unbreakable bond (Gen. 2:24), the earthly symbol of the union of Christ and
His church (Eph. 5:22-33), and that remarriage while one’s spouse is living
is adultery (Matt. 5:32; Mark 10:11-12; Luke 16:18; Rom. 7:2-3; I Cor. 7:39).
… that the Triune God calls His people to
be spiritually separate from the world in thought and life (Rom. 12:1-2; II
Cor. 6:14-7:1).
We believe in the absolute sovereignty of God. Few speak of
it. Others pay but lip-service to it. Yet this is the fundamental truth upon
which rests all doctrine. That God is sovereign means
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He is in complete control over all things without
exception (Dan. 4:35; Ps. 135:6; Isa. 46:9-10). |
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He eternally decreed all events in creation, including
earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis and even the snow and the rain (Job
37:6; Ps. 97:5; 147:15-18; Isa. 29:6; Rev. 6:12). |
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He rules over all illnesses and the death of every
individual (Ex. 9:1-16; Job 1:21; Isa. 38). |
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He governs all men, both good and evil (Ps. 2; Prov.
21:1; Isa. 45:7; Acts 2:23; 4:27-28). |
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He reigns over the devil and the fallen angels (Job
1:12; 2:6; Rom. 16:20). |
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Thus nothing happens by chance or accident (Gen. 50:20;
I Sam. 6:9; Matt. 10:29-30; Rom. 8:28). |
This truth has important implications for the proclamation
of the gospel of the cross of Christ. The sovereign God must not be presented
in the preaching as a great beggar pleading with the sinner to accept Jesus.
The Most High is the Almighty Creator who speaks and it is done and commands
and it stands fast (Ps. 33:9)! The incarnate, crucified and risen Son of God
sits on the throne of the universe; how can He be portrayed as pleading
for admittance into the sinner’s heart? God forbid! Could a sovereign God
earnestly desire (yet fail to affect) the salvation of everybody, including
the reprobate? Then His will is frustrated! If our God is the absolute
Sovereign, why then do so many in our day present Him in the above manner? We
are speaking, you understand, not about mere man but about the true and living
God! For "our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath
pleased" (Ps. 115:3). We are not free to minimise His greatness nor
compromise His power. God must remain God in our evangelism, as well as
in our consciousness and in our worship.
The sovereign God eternally predestinated His people to
salvation in Christ (Rom. 8:29-30; Eph. 1:4). In time, He gives His elect to
Christ and draws them so that they come to Him (John 6:37, 44). The Holy
Spirit opens the heart of the elect sinner so that he believes (Acts 16:14).
We are called to work out our salvation with fear and trembling, for Scripture
reminds us that it is God who works in us both to will and to do of His
good pleasure (Phil. 2:12-13). The good works of all the elect are eternally
foreordained by the Lord that we should walk in them (Eph. 2:10). The
unchangeable Jehovah preserves all His people, infallibly bringing them to
glory (Phil. 1:6).
Do you believe the clear testimony of Holy Scripture
to God’s absolute sovereignty? The Covenant Protestant Reformed Church
(CPRC) invites you to worship the God of all grace with us: "In
[Christ] we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according
to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his
own will: that we should be to the praise of his glory" (Eph.
1:11-12).
