In his sermon titled 'The Sovereignty of God in Salvation and Reprobation,' Mike Davenport explores the profound theological concept of God's sovereignty in the context of salvation and reprobation. Using Psalm 78, he emphasizes the importance of teaching the next generation about God's works and commandments. Davenport delves into various biblical passages, including Acts 13:48, Romans 11:5-6, Ephesians 1:3-5, 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14, Romans 9:21-23, and John 17:1-2, to illustrate the doctrine of divine election. He asserts that salvation is entirely dependent on God's sovereign grace and election, rather than human works or decisions. The sermon also tackles the challenging interplay between God's sovereignty and human responsibility, encouraging believers to trust in God's ultimate authority and to seek His mercy. Through vivid analogies and scriptural references, Davenport underscores the greatness and mercy of God, and calls on his audience to set their hope in Him.

While you do that, I'm going to read from Psalm 78, Psalm 78. If you've maybe been to more recent father-daughter retreats or maybe even if it's your first time here, you may be wondering, the sovereignty of God, what an interesting subject for a father-daughter retreat. Why would we do that? Well, Psalm 78, the words of Asaph, he's teaching the next generation, and he's challenging those around him, the fathers and the mothers, to teach the next generation. They have a reason for doing that Give ear all my people to my law incline your ears to the words of my mouth.

I will open my mouth in a parable. I will utter dark sayings of old which we have heard and known and our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children telling to the generation to come the praises of the Lord and his strength and his wonderful works that he has done. For he established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel which he commanded our fathers that they should make them known to their children, that the generation to come might know them, the children who would be born, that they may arise and declare them to their children, that they may set their hope in God and not forget the works of God but keep His commandments. That's our desire to set before you our God so that you may not lose heart, but may set your hope in Him.

That's really our desire. Well, let's pray again and ask God's help. Father, we thank you for your goodness to us. We thank you for this time. We ask for your blessing as we continue to contemplate your sovereignty.

And Lord, may we bow the knee, may we humble ourselves, and may you come and teach us by your Spirit. We pray in Jesus' name, amen. You can be seated. If you will turn to Acts 13-48 as we take the next few moments to consider the sovereignty of God and salvation as well as reprobation. Turn to Acts 13 48.

So here we have a passage that opens up to us the sovereignty of God in regards to salvation. As many as have been appointed or ordained to eternal life believed. So here's a question. Who believed the gospel preached by Paul and Barnabas? What does the text say?

Who believed? Those who were appointed to eternal life. Those who were appointed to eternal life, how many of those actually believed? All of them. Every single one of them.

As many as had been appointed to eternal life believed. Here in this passage in Acts 13 the Apostles are there in Antioch And they had gone to the synagogue first. They had gone to the Jews. The Jews didn't want to hear them. The Gentiles, having heard, said, come preach to us.

And so they did. On that Sunday, on the Lord's Day, they preached. And the Gentiles believed. And Luke here tells us that as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed. How did Luke know who had been appointed to eternal life?

Well, he did it because he believed in the sovereignty of God, and he saw who was making a profession of faith. And they believed, and he knew that God was sovereign. And so he said, as many as had been appointed unto eternal life, those very ones believed when that gospel was preached. He believed in the sovereignty of God. And Peter tells us in his epistle that when men wrote these things, when Luke wrote these words, as many as have been appointed to eternal life believed, How did Luke come about to write that?

What does Peter tell us? That these men were moved by whom? The Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit. These are the words of the Holy Spirit.

The triune God speaking here, as many as have been appointed unto eternal life, believed. Seems very clear. There are many in our day who struggle with the sovereignty of God. And they would really struggle here because it crosses man's choice. And we'll deal with that a whole lot more in my session tomorrow in talking about the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man.

Where does man's responsibility come into play with God's sovereignty? So many people struggle, but the Bible is clear. And what I want to do is to take us to numerous texts, not just this one, but other texts tonight, and I want us to prepare for the strong prevailing winds of our culture that will come by and pick up that tent. And I want to put stakes down, as many stakes as we can get to in the time allotted to us. We won't cover everything that's in the Bible, but we'll cover some tonight.

Turn to Romans 11, 5-6. Romans 11, 5-6. So many in our day would be comfortable. If they're proclaimed evangelicals, they would be comfortable saying that yes salvation comes to us through grace, But this text points us to even more than that. There is a remnant, there is a remnant of God's people in this world.

And the remnant is dependent Upon what? One thing. According to the election of grace. So it's according to grace. There are a lot of people there on board with us.

But that grace is dependent upon something. That grace is dependent upon election. Election. God elects, He, as we saw in the previous text, He appoints or ordains unto eternal life. The remnant is dependent upon grace and that grace is dependent upon God's sovereign election.

If salvation is all of grace then by default salvation cannot be of what? I hear somebody whispering, it works. It can't be of works. It's dependent upon grace. And if salvation is all of grace and not of works, who is it then that must bring salvation about?

If it's not of works, and it's of grace, then who is it that must bring this salvation about? Us? You? Who is it? It's not a trick question.

God. It's God that has to do this. There is a remnant right now. And why are they a remnant? It's according to the election of the grace of our sovereign God.

Turn to Ephesians 1, Ephesians chapter 1, verses 3 through 5, and then verse 11. So Ephesians 1, 3 through 5, and then verse 11. So at what point, at what point in a Christian woman's life does God choose her to be among His people? According to this text, when is it that a Christian woman's life that God chooses for her to be among His people. When does that happen?

This choosing? Before the foundation of the world. Before the foundation of the world. Before the foundation... Which of you were around before the foundation of the world?

I mean, certainly if salvation is our choice, then...and this choosing happened before the foundation of the world, then certainly there was a conference, right? You were there with...you weren't there. How did this happen? It points to the sovereign election of our God. Whose will is at the source of the act of predestined to salvation?

Whose will is it? It's the will of God, right? The will of God. So in these verses, verses 3-5 and verse 11, tell me some of these words that tell us, that speak loudly about this sovereignty of God. What do you see?

What are some of the words? Predestined. Predestined. Chose. Will.

Should. Should. Accepted. Accepted. Adoption.

That was the act of God, right? How about purpose? Good pleasure? According to the good pleasure of the will of God, very rich in describing for us the sovereignty of God in our salvation. And he wants the church to know this.

And we know from Ephesians chapter 6 verse 1, right? We know from Ephesians 6 1, who's there listening while this letter is being read. Ephesians 6-1, who's there in the church listening to this Ephesians 1 passage being read? Children are. Children are.

So even you youngest daughters who are here, the Apostle Paul wants you to hear this. It's important for you to hear of the sovereign, electing grace of our God. God wants you to understand that and hear that. It was included, not in a letter for the adults. And then here's a letter to be read to the children's class.

No, this is to the church. And children were present. And Paul wants them to know about this great God. Turn to 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2. Another letter of Paul.

2 Thessalonians chapter 2, verses 13 and 14. Who's doing the choosing? Who is doing the calling? God is. God's doing it.

That's right. And when does this choosing occur? When did this choosing occur? When did it happen? In the beginning.

In the beginning. In the beginning. Do you see those words, beloved by the Lord? Beloved by the Lord. Do you see that?

That actually means in the Greek, having been loved by the Lord. Having been loved. But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren, having been loved by the Lord. It was love that caused him in his sovereign election to reach down and to pluck young ladies like you from the fire. God does the choosing.

God does the calling. Let's look together at Romans chapter 9. Romans chapter 9. Let's look at verses 21 to 23. Romans 9, 21 through 21 through 23.

Who are these vessels mentioned in this passage? Who are these vessels? Us? Just us in this room? No, right?

Who's the us? All of God's people? Does it stop at all of God's people? Because there's different vessels here, right? It's all people.

There's certainly a group that are God's people, but there's a group that aren't God's people. There are vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, and there are vessels of mercy prepared for glory. So this is all people. All people are clay in the potter's hand. God's in the business of forming and fashioning.

Now, so what determines the shaping of these vessels? The use of these vessels? What determines that? God is that potter. That's right.

God is the potter. He is the one forming and fashioning. He's the one that's determining the use of each of these vessels. God is the potter. And when does this preparation begin?

There are vessels of wrath prepared for destruction. There are vessels of mercy prepared for glory. And there's a word that's nestled in there that tells when this preparation occurs, this determination of the use of each vessel, when does it happen? Beforehand. Beforehand.

Before the vessel is even fashioned, he's determined already. And we read that. If we were to back up and look at verses 8 and following, we start to read there of Jacob and Esau. And it says, before either one of them was born, before they were born, before they had done anything right or anything wrong. There was nothing in them that caused God to prepare them as either a vessel of destruction or a vessel of mercy that God chose, God elected.

That one will be a vessel of destruction. That one a vessel of mercy. God's fingerprints are all over salvation. We can't escape it. Then John 17.

Look with me at John 17. 1-2. John 17. Verses 1 and 2. This is a prayer of Jesus Christ.

John 17, 1 through 2. So who does Jesus have authority over? What's the text say? Over all flesh. All flesh.

We don't come to Jesus and believe in Jesus and become a follower of Jesus so that we might be under His authority. The authority of Jesus Christ extends over All flesh. Matthew 28 says that Jesus has been given authority in all of heaven and all of earth. All flesh is under the authority of Jesus Christ, the potter. Who does Jesus in this passage give eternal life to?

Who does he give eternal life to? Yeah, as there are those words again, as many as had been given to him by his father. As many as had been given to him by his father. Now Jesus in his deity was there in the beginning with his father. He was there in that counsel as it were of electing grace.

But here Jesus in his manhood has come and he is accepted from the Father, the will of the Father, because he now has a will as a man, not just his will that he has as one with his Father, but he has a will as a man. And that will is brought under the obedience of his Father, and his father has given him a task his father has given to him a people chosen beforehand before the foundations of the world and Christ was there with him And he's receiving from his hand this number of people and he gives to them eternal life. And he hasn't died yet. He hasn't died yet. But he was slain as it were before the foundation of the world.

It's interesting that he was slain before the foundation of the world and we were chosen in him before the foundation of the world, same time frame. Our salvation was accomplished in Christ. And He gives eternal life to the very same number of people his father had given him to save. And then what determines whether one receives eternal life from the hand of Jesus? What determines that?

It's being one that was given to him by the Father. Given to him by the Father. And Christ looked down into the future, to today, And he goes on in this passage to pray for those who weren't there in the fold yet. I pray for others whom you will bring into this fold. He looked forward because he had his hand in the past.

This is the sovereignty of our God. Some people would hear this and they would hear those words, vessels of destruction prepared for destruction. And they think, how can God be so cruel? How can God be so cruel? There are actually vessels prepared for his wrath, to receive his wrath.

But that's to not understand God rightly. In fact, the people who would argue with that aren't even thinking rightly. Suppose I were to tell someone, this person who would bring such an argument, suppose I would tell them of a friend of mine. Say I have a friend who lives up in Ohio. He's a single man, multi-millionaire, and never had children.

He goes on a trip down to Haiti. And while there in Haiti, he begins driving around to a lot of the orphanages in Haiti, visiting each of these orphanages, spending time with the children. And let's say at the end of four weeks of doing this, he sets his heart on 50 orphans. 50. This man has no ties to them at all.

He takes 50, goes through the process with the government of Haiti, brings them back to the United States, adopts those 50, meets every one of their needs, Sees to it that they have a good education, sees to it that they go on in life to be prosperous here in the states. Suppose I told this friend who you had introduced to me, this friend who thinks a God like this would be so bad, what would that person's impression be of my friend? What would their impression be? If I shared that story with them, what do you think they would say? I think they would say, wow, what a man.

What a man. He had no ties. He had no reason. He's getting nothing out of this, but he takes 50 and rescues them from a life in that orphanage and he rescues them. He takes them into his house.

Fifty of them. I would say my friend, do you know how many he left behind? He got it all wrong. My friend's a wicked man. He's terrible.

How awful he is. Look at all of those children left in the orphanage. No. Nobody would think that in their right mind. Why would we think that about God?

To come and to rescue any one of us out of his own sovereign will, not anything that we did out of his own sovereign will. How great, how marvelous, how wonderful our God and how we should worship a God who in His sovereignty would offer salvation to the likes of us. Praise be to God that there are vessels prepared for glory. That shouldn't be. It shouldn't be.

We should all be vessels prepared for His wrath, prepared for destruction. But this is our God. This is our God. And we as your fathers want you to know about this God so that you may set your hope in Him and not be ashamed and not grow weary in the way, but cry out to Him as He's passing by, Son of David, have mercy on me. Make me one of these vessels of glory.

May God cause you to believe even tonight, and in so doing, prove you to be One who's been appointed to eternal life. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your goodness and your mercy to us during this time. Lord, we praise you for who you are. Lord, help us to embrace who you have declared yourself to be.

Lord, we've looked at numerous passages. We haven't even looked at anywhere near half of what your scriptures tell us. We just scratch the surface. Lord, help these to settle our hearts that we would take these scriptures and that our response would be to be still and to know that you are God and that you would be exalted here in our midst. We pray in Christ's name, amen.