PRACTICAL CHRISTIANITY
Part 3: Authority in Christian Practice
Chapter 9
THE SUPREMACY OF GOD
In one of his letters to Erasmus, Luther said, "Your thoughts of God are too human." Probably that renowned scholar resented such a rebuke, the more so since it proceeded from a miner’s son; nevertheless, it was thoroughly deserved. We, too, though having no standing among the religious leaders of this degenerate age, prefer the same charge against the vast majority of the preachers of our day, and against those who, instead of searching the Scriptures for themselves, lazily accept their teachings. The most dishonoring and degrading conceptions of the rule and reign of the Almighty are now held almost everywhere. To countless thousands, even among those professing to be Christians, the God of Scripture is quite unknown.
Of old, God complained to an apostate Israel, "Thou thoughtest that I was altogether as thyself" (Ps. 50:21). Such must now be His indictment against the apostate Christendom. Men imagine that the Most High is moved by sentiment, rather than actuated by principle. They suppose that His omnipotency is such an idle fiction that Satan is thwarting His designs on every side. They think that if He has formed any plan or purpose at all, then it must be like theirs, constantly subject to change. They openly declare that whatever power He possesses must be restricted, lest He invade the citadel of man’s "free will" and reduce him to a "machine." They lower the all-efficacious Atonement, which has actually redeemed everyone for whom it was made, to a mere "remedy," which sin-sick souls may use if they feel disposed to; and then enervate the invincible work of the Holy Spirit to an "offer" of the Gospel which sinners may accept or reject as they please.
The supremacy of the true and living God might well be argued from the infinite distance which separates the mightiest creatures from the almighty Creator. He is the Potter, they are but the clay in His hands, to be molded into vessels of honour, or to be dashed into pieces (Ps. 2:9) as He pleases. Were all the denizens of heaven and all the inhabitants of earth to combine in open revolt against Him, it would occasion Him no uneasiness, and would have less effect upon His eternal and unassailable throne than has the spray of the Mediterranean’s waves upon the towering rock of Gibraltar. So puerile (?) and powerless is the creature to affect the Most High that Scripture itself tells us that when the Gentile heads unite with apostate Israel to defy Jehovah and His Christ "He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh "(Ps. 2:4).
The absolute and universal supremacy of God is plainly and positively affirmed in many scriptures. "Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is Thine; Thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and Thou art exalted as head above all... and Thou reignest over all" (1 Chron. 29:11, 12)—note "reignest" now, not "will do so in the millennium." "O Lord God of our fathers, art not Thou God in heaven? and rulest not Thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? and in Thine hand is there not power and might, so that none [not even the Devil himself] is able to withstand Thee?" (2 Chron. 20:6). Before Him presidents and popes, kings and emperors, are less than grasshoppers.
"But He is in one mind, and who can turn Him? and what His soul desireth, even that He doeth" (Job 23:13). Ah, my reader, the God of Scripture is no make-believe monarch, no mere imaginary sovereign, but King of kings, and Lord of lords. "I know that Thou canst do every thing, and that no thought of Thine can be hindered" (Job 42:2, margin), or, as another translator, "no purpose of Thine can be frustrated." All that He has designed He does. All that He has decreed He perfects. All that He has promised He performs. "But our God is in the heavens: He hath done whatsoever He hath pleased" (Ps. 115:3). And why has He? Because "there is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the Lord" (Prov. 21:30).
God’s supremacy over the works of His hands is vividly depicted in Scripture. Inanimate matter, irrational creatures, all perform their Maker’s bidding. At His pleasure, the Red Sea divided and its waters stood up as walls (Ex. 14); the earth opened her mouth, and guilty rebels went down alive into the pit (Num. 14). When He so ordered, the sun stood still (Joshua 10); and on another occasion went backward ten degrees on the dial of Ahaz (Isa. 38:8). To exemplify His supremacy, He made ravens carry food to Elijah (1 Kings 17), iron to swim on top of the waters (2 Kings 6:5), lions to be tame when Daniel was cast into their den, fire to burn not when the three Hebrews were flung into its flames. Thus "Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did He in heaven, and in earth, in the seas, and all deep places" (Ps. 135:6).
The absolute and universal supremacy of God is affirmed with equal plainness and positiveness in the New Testament. There we are told that God "worketh all things after the counsel of His own will" (Eph. 1:11)—the Greek for "worketh" means "to work effectually." For this reason we read, "For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen" (Rom. 11:36). Men may boast that they are free agents, with wills of their own, and are at liberty to do as they please, but Scripture says to those who boast, "We will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell. . . Ye ought to say, if the Lord will" (James 4:13, 15)!
Here then is a sure resting-place for the heart. Our lives are neither the product of blind fate nor the result of capricious chance, but every detail of them was ordained from all eternity, and is now ordered by the living and reigning God. Not a hair of our heads can be touched without His permission. "A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the Lord directeth his steps" (Prov. 16:9). What assurance, what strength, what comfort this should give the real Christian! "My times are in Thy hand" (Ps. 31:15). Then let me "rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him" (Ps. 37:7).
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A.W. Pink (1886 - 1952)
Studied at Moodly Bible Institute and pastored some churches in America. He was not very accepted in his congregations which finally made him move back to England to be involved in writing ministry full-time till his death.He was strictly calvinist in this thinking but many of his writings also reflect balance and openness to other views of doctrine. Especially his teachings on antichrist and end-times were promoted well during his life. He wrote over 40 books and many pamphlets including he distributed titled: "Studies in the Scriptures."
Arthur Walkington Pink was a Christian evangelist and Biblical scholar known for his staunchly Calvinist and Puritan-like teachings.
Pink was born in Nottingham, England on April 1, 1886 and became a Christian in 1908, at the age of 22. Though born to Christian parents, prior to conversion he migrated into a Theosophical society (an occult gnostic group popular in England during that time), and quickly rose in prominence within their ranks. His conversion came from his father's patient admonitions from Scripture. It was the verse, Proverbs 14:12, 'there is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death,' which particularly struck his heart and compelled him to renounce Theosophy and follow Jesus.
Desiring to grow in knowledge of the Bible, Pink immigrated to the United States to study at Moody Bible Institute. In 1916 he married Vera E. Russell (January 8, 1893 - July 17, 1962), who was from Kentucky. However, he left after just two months for Colorado, then California, then Britain. From 1925 to 1928 he served in Australia, including as pastor of two congregations from 1926 to 1928, when he returned to England, and to the United States the following year. He eventually pastored churches in Colorado, California, Kentucky, and South Carolina.
Converted in 1908 at the age of 22, Arthur Pink left England in 1910 to Study and Moody Bible Institue in Chicago, Illinois. He left after two months and pastored a church in Silverton, Colorado. He had short term pastorates in California, Kentuck and South Carolina.
His first major work, Divine Inspiration Of The Bible, was published in 1917, followed by The Sovereignty Of God, in 1918 which sold less than 2000 copies. He edited the magazine, Studies In The Scriptures, from 1922-1923, in which much of his published works appeared, but circulation was poor, never more than 1000 subscribers.
He spent three years preaching in Australia and returned to England in 1928 for a year. Returning to the United States he spent eight years in itinerant ministry. He returned to England for the last years of his life, living an isolated life.
Pink is famous for his writings, which had the most effect after his death, but his personal ministry as a pastor was largely a failure.