Conclusion
I hope you see now why this doctrine of God’s sovereignty is so important. The doctrine of the sovereignty of God in salvation, the doctrine of the bondage of the human will, it’s subjection in its unregenerate state to the power of sin and its subjection always to the sovereign will of God, was and is, indeed, the ” grand hinge upon which the whole turned.” It is the doctrine that informs and implies the other doctrines of grace. It keeps us safe in the gospel.
Only by understanding that God has caused us to be born again can we maintain orthodoxy and avoid contradictions in our theology. It’s a shield against the addition of works or any human merit to grace. The human will is free to do as it pleases, but what it pleases to do apart from God is only sin all of the time.
It has no power to do anything authentically good entirely with the right thoughts, motives, and action. Only by the regenerating power of God is the human will made alive, then irresistibly drawn to Christ. Election, regeneration, justification, glorification, and all of the gracious gifts of God on your behalf are all connected by the sovereignty of God, by the immutable eternal decree of God.
In the end, this doctrine of God’s sovereignty does what all true things do. Anything true exalts the glory of God. The doctrine of God’s sovereignty, the corresponding doctrines of grace and attributes of God, all of these exalt the glory of our God who saves.
Behold your God, perfect in knowledge, absolute in power, waiting for nothing, dependent on no one, King of kings, Lord of lords, mighty to save, the One Who elects, the One Who regenerates, the One alone in Whom is found all of the elements of the salvation of a people for His own possession, and for His own glory, the Sovereign of the universe! Soli deo gloria!
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