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Clip: God isn't crippled, hindered, silent, or absent

Jim Butler · 2022-01-02 · Acts 4:23–31 · 413 words · 3 min

Sermons on Acts

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Summary

Expository

Because God is the sovereign Creator and Governor of all things, believers may pray with absolute confidence even under persecution, knowing nothing — not even the threats of rulers — lies outside his control.

The early church in Acts 4:23–31 prayed not as though God had been caught off guard by persecution, but as though the God who created and governs all things remained sovereignly in control of even the threats of the Sanhedrin. This clip draws out the church's invocation of divine sovereignty as the theological ground of confident petition: to pray is to address the one with absolute ability to fulfill what he has promised and purposed. The application is direct — believers do not come to a God who is crippled, hindered, or absent, but to the sovereign Lord who holds the hearts of all men in his hand.

Key quotes

The creation and government of the world is a good consideration to confirm us under all things that befall us here.
They are through and through convinced that God is over even the threatenings of the Sanhedrin leveled against these men such that they stop preaching the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We don't come to a God who is crippled. We don't come to a God who is hindered. We don't come to a God who is neutered. We don't come to a God who is silent. We don't come to a God who is absent, but we come to the God who made the world and all things in it.

Applications

  1. Pray with knowledge of who God is, not merely as a request hotline but as a confession of divine sovereignty and ability.
  2. When facing opposition or persecution, resist the thought that God has lost control — rehearse his creatorial and governing power as the ground of your confidence.
  3. Come to God in prayer as the one who holds all hearts in his hand, including the hearts of those who threaten you.

Questions this sermon answers

Why does it matter who God is when we pray?

The early church's prayer shows that invocation is not merely calling on God but confessing his nature — specifically that he is the sovereign Creator who governs all things, which is what gives petitioners confidence that he has absolute ability to fulfill what he has promised.

Did the early church think God had lost control when they faced persecution?

No — they were thoroughly convinced that God was over even the threats of the Sanhedrin, never giving any indication that they believed anything had gone outside his hand.

What does it mean to pray to a sovereign God?

It means coming to the one who holds the hearts of all men in his hand, the one who governs all creatures and all their actions — not to a God who is crippled, hindered, or absent.

same manner and in the same sense that the apostolic church did. We pray to the sovereign God of heaven and earth, the sovereign God who created heaven and earth, the sovereign God who governs all his creatures and all their actions. That's meant to encourage you. An invocation isn't simply calling upon God, but it's also understanding and rehearsing who God is.

It's confessing Him. It's understanding. It's praying according to knowledge. It's realizing the target of our petition is the one who has absolute ability to carry out what He has promised and purposed.

Matthew Poole makes this observation. He says, the creation and government of the world is a good consideration to confirm us under all things that befall us here. Listen to that again. The creation and government of the world is a good consideration to confirm us under all things that befall us here.

The God to whom we pray, the God we pour out our burdens to, is the God who made all things. the God who governs all things. And you'll notice that when they come to the application of Psalm 2 in their current situation. They know that this enmity from the Sanhedrin against them. They know that this rage of the nations targeting Yahweh and His Christ, and those who have solidarity with Christ, they know this is under God's sovereignty.

They're not for a moment thinking, you know, Lord, you've lost control. You know, Lord, there's something out of your hand here. These people have gone rogue. They've become renegades.

They've become mavericks, and they're persecuting poor little us. No, they never give any inkling of that whatsoever. They are through and through convinced that God is over even the threatenings of the Sanhedrin leveled against these men such that they stop preaching the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Brethren, that is the vantage point upon which we pray.

We don't come to a God who is crippled. We don't come to a God who is hindered. We don't come to a God who is neutered. We don't come to a God who is silent.

We don't come to a God who is absent, but we come to the God who made the world and all things in it. We come to the God who governs all his creatures and all their actions. We come to the God who holds the hearts of all men in his hand. We come to sovereignty.

Scripture References

Study notes

Theological terms

  • Divine Sovereignty×5
  • Invocation×2
  • Providence×2

People cited

  • Matthew Poole