God’s Sovereignty Part 2

Subject: Introduction Continued


People who study the bible must learn and understand about the One who wrote it, and God wrote the entire bible, no matter who wrote the words down. “All scripture is given by inspiration of God…” 2 Timothy 3:16 God is nothing like what most people think. A lot of people see God as small and dependent on mankind to accomplish His will, however this could not be farther from the truth. When the scriptures speak of God, they picture Him as All Powerful, they call Him the creator of all things, and the controller of all thing. However, somehow some people seem to debate how God is weak and small, dependent on mankind, but this could not even be possible, how could it be that the Creator of all things depends on His own creation for anything. In Romans chapter 9 God is spoken of as One Who is the Potter molding the lump of clay as He chooses, He never asks the clay what it wants to be, He simply makes the vessels as He chooses. “Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?” Romans 9:21 Well, that is the question, how do you answer the question, does God have the power over the clay to make it as He chooses? Back in verse 20 the Lord said “Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?” We have no right to question God’s choice, everything in creation is by the creative hand of God, He did the choosing, mankind has no choice in anything concerning God’s ordained will. People speak about mans free will but in reality, we have no free will with God in His will, we are ordained of God to be what He chose for us. Look at Ephesians 2:10 “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” Whatever a Christian is in life it is by Gods choice and ordained will, we were “created in Christ Jesus unto good works” from His workmanship (creation), because “God hath before ordained that we should walk in them”. Please Give that some “free will” some thought and you will see that there is not free will in God’s will. People say that “God can’t change peoples will” but there is not one single scripture to support such ignorance. If you don’t believe me, go ahead and show me the scripture, go ahead and show me. You cannot find it because there is none, because the whole thought contradicts who God is. The next unbiblical thought is, people have the right to choose their own salvation, no they do not. This is another false line of thinking that is made-up by those who do not know God. Not one single time Does God tell a lost, dead sinner to make a choice, decision, pray a prayer, or to turn against their natural nature and be saved. People have the inability to change who they are by nature, they are by nature enemies against God. “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.” Romans 8:7 – 8 God said this about all of mankind, “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.” Romans 3:10 People are sinners by nature and to change what you are by nature is for a leopard to change its own spots, or an Ethiopian to change the color of their skin, it is not possible. Jeremiah 13:23 “Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.” Mankind’s nature will not allow them to change what they are, sinners that drink sin like water. Job 15:16 “How much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity like water?” People can read these scriptures and still deny what I am saying about God, but they cannot prove me wrong. They take a few out-of-context scriptures and try, but they cannot. The truth is, if God had left salvation in the sinner’s power to choose Him, we would have all died lost. The truth is we all, live, move, and have our being by His grace and through Jesus Christ. Acts 17:28 “For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.”

God is Sovereign, this means He does not depend on anything or anyone, ever. Everything in creation is of God’s choice and in the end will bring glory to God, even evil. “I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.” Isaiah 45:7 and in Proverbs 16:4 it says, “The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.”

Next week we will look at some of God’s Sovereign works as we find them in Ephesians chapter one.

God’s Sovereignty Part 1

Subject: Introduction
Ephesians 1:4 – 14

It is very clear that some people do not take the time and initiative to learn the truth about God but somehow seem to be scholars in the scriptures. I was taught by my mentor Elder Harace Hammond many things about my study of the scriptures. Pastor Hammond was a well learned man, just a few hours short of a PhD and a school teacher for many decades of his life. As young minister I looked up to him as a man I could learn from, and to this very day I still respect what him for taught me. Pastor Hammond first taught me to understand God as much as I could, because to study God is to understand Him, His thinking, His works, and how He had predestinated the order of things to be. Because you will never understand God’s word if you do not rightly understand it’s Author. Secondly, Pastor Hammond taught me that the bible was written in absolute context, even though it was written over thousands of years and by many different people, they we all led and inspired by the Holy Spirit and therefore the entire document was in absolute context, without question! Thirdly, Since the scriptures was authored by God thru The Holy Spirit it was not only written in “absolute context” also there was “no contradiction” in the entire scriptures from Genesis to Revelation or the beginning to the end. He taught me that God is the same and He never changes nor does the meaning or purpose of His word change, only people change. I have learned this all to be valuable information in my ministry from a man God put into my life for a period to teach me wisdom and how to rightly study and learn the bible. What a gracious God We have.

For a few weeks I want to take a little time to expound on a few things I have been blessed to learn over the many years that I have studied the bible in context and without contradiction. I have first learned that God is Sovereign, and by that word I mean that God created and absolutely controls everything in creation. God left nothing to chance, God left nothing outside of His Sovereign will or control. We will see and understand that God elects, predestinates, ordains, and foreordains, we will learn that God saves sinners, and that sinners do not save themselves. We will learn that we bless God only in returning the blessings that He has blessed us with first. We will learn that salvation is a gift and blessing from God and not and from any action or choosing of our own. God saves sinners, sinners do not save themselves. We will learn what it means to be a “child of God”, that these are not just words but an absolute reality. We will learn about the eternal covenant between the Father and Son before the foundation of the world, when the Father presented His elect to the Son as a gift with the fore-ordained His plan that the Son come to this world born of a woman in the “likeness of sinful flesh” Romans 8:3, “who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death” Hebrews 2:9 to redeem them all.

I know there are so many who do not see these truths in the scriptures either because they have never been taught them, or they simply outright reject them. Folks, please understand, the Sovereignty of God is not a “past thought” nor has it outlived its usefulness. God is the same and He never changes, in thought or actions, therefore please understand that the past truths of the scriptures are also todays truths, no matter how the world changes. God said, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever. Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.” Hebrews 13:8 – 9

If you use the scriptures “our-of-context” or outright reject what you read or base your thinking on religious doctrine or tradition you will never understand the truth and will worship in a lie until you die. God said, “And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.” Romans 1:23 – 25 You will never understand the scriptures if you never see them as written, in context, and without contradiction. If you do not truly understand God, you will never understand His word. This is the starting point of learning about God and His word, GOD IS SOVEREIGN! Therefore, all of God’s actions are sovereign, all of God’s wills are sovereign, and all of God’s works are sovereign.

It is here in Ephesians Chapter 1 that you will find “the right understanding” of God’s Sovereignty, if you study with me you will see many truth’s about God and His workings. Please continue with our study.   

Do you really know God?

“Whatsoever the LORD pleased, that did he in heaven, and in earth, in the seas, and all deep places.” Psalms 135:6

I ask this question because many people who call themselves “Christian” and “Churches” do not know God. They claim to know God but have no biblical understanding of Him. They, nor their Pastors can properly describe the True God of the bible with a right understanding because they do not know God, nor do they have much knowledge about Him. The bible is a revelation of the Holy Spirit, it is not humanly understood, Paul makes this very clear in his first letter to the church at Corinth. “But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” 1 Corinthians 2:10 – 14 Please understand, I am not being condescending in saying this, but the facts are on my side. There is a very deep gap between the natural person and the spiritual person, one is spiritually discerned and the other is spiritually educated. The bible is a spiritual book, it was inspired by the Holy Spirit to the writers to be understood by spiritually saved people and not to be understood by the natural spiritually discerned person or “the lost”. Paul gave us a great understanding of this “natural/spiritual” thinking in his writing to the church at Corinth. The natural person refuses to believe God as the True God, they refuse to believe they are at His mercy and grace and not at their own understanding and power. People are (because of the fall) at odds with God, they loathe Him in His True Nature and therefore refuse to accept Him as all Sovereign. People can learn anything; people will believe anything except God’s Truth in their natural state. This is the reason there are so many different sorts of denomination’s among people calling themselves “Christian’s” and “Churches” today. I am not saying they do not have a genuine “zeal” for God, but it is not according to spiritual knowledge, as Paul said of his beloved Jewish people. “Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.” Romans 10:1 - 2 People can and do have a great zeal for God and the worship of God in the natural state, but it is damningly wrong. The Jews thought they were biblically correct when they crucified Jesus Christ, Catholicism and reformers thought they were biblically right when they killed millions of Baptist and other Christians who refused to convert and join them in the “dark ages”. Saul of Tarsus (Paul) thought he was biblically right when he persecuted the church at Jerusalem. “Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.” Philippians 3:6 However, all this zeal was done in their natural state, being “spiritually discerned” or not having a spiritual understanding of God and His will.

One must believe in the Sovereignty of God in order to even began a real understanding of God. The bible is full of the fact that God is Sovereign. Here is a great understanding of God’s Sovereignty, “Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country: yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it.” Isaiah 46:9 - 11 Here is another example of God Sovereignty, “For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.”  Romans 9:15 The Sovereignty of God is so important because it is the force that saves a lost sinner and one cannot be saved without it. John tells us in his writings, “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”  John 1:12 – 13 Jesus said, “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.” John 6:44 However, the wise and prudent among us keep teaching unbiblical terms such as, decisions – choices – turning over new leaf’s – praying prayers – etc. etc. etc. These same people today try to worship God in whom they truly deny in their thinking because they deny God as a Sovereign Being. These very same natural wise and prudent teach that “God cannot change peoples will, because the will is yours” When God says “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him…” The word “draw” means – to drag. Salvation has nothing to do with your will, it has to do with God’s will. God owes people nothing, He did not create mankind to act according to their will. Therefore, how dare people say that God acts only if the creature is willing, just read the bible and you will find that is impossible. Laugh at it if you want, mock it if you please, but you will never prove it wrong in the scriptures.

Folks, it is sad when I talk to people of strong zeal and faith in their belief but being without knowledge. It is sad when they desire to use out-of-context scriptures to prove their false thinking or read into the scriptures something that is not even there. It is sad when they condemn God Sovereignty attempting to prove a lie, but sadly they do. However, the saddest part of it all, is when these very people who attempt to call themselves “Christians and Churches” deny the True God to worship a false, incapable god who is not able to do or is not in control of anything. I will conclude with this thought because nothing I say will change their heart, “Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens. He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion. When he uttereth his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens, and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures. Every man is brutish in his knowledge: every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them. They are vanity, and the work of errors: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.” Jeremiah 10:11 - 15

Jesus Christ is “The Founder of Our Salvation”.

“But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.” Hebrews 2:9 – 10


There are many people that call themselves Christians who will never be able to comprehend true salvation, and they will die without God’s glorious gift of salvation. We have started a new study on Wednesday night for the next few weeks titled “Why did Jesus, the Son of God come to this world?” Well, God answers that very question in Matthew 1:21 “And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.” The purpose of God sending His beloved Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh and allowed Him to be “Thou madest him a little lower than the angels…” Hebrews 2:7 is so that He could save His people from their sins. This is what so many people miss, that Jesus came to save the lost sinner from their sins because they could not save themselves. While some people are hung in the traditional beliefs of their biblical thoughts or church domination teaching, they are blinded to the truth of the bible about salvation and Jesus Christ’s purpose in coming to this world. God did not say Jesus would try to help His people be saved, God did not say Jesus would work with His people in saving them. God said Jesus came from glory in the likeness of sinful flesh, being born of a woman, being made a little lower than the angels, allowing Satan and evil people to crucify Him, to SAVE HIS PEOPLE! This salvation was the ordained, predestinated, work of God, God does nothing that is not ordained by Himself and He has the absolute right to do His own pleasure. God said thru the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 1:4 - 5 “According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,” This is Jesus saving “His people” doing His Fathers will. Nowhere in the entire bible does God ever say anything different, people will use -out of context – scriptures to attempt to prove different, but God does not contradict Himself. God said in Luke 19:10 “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Notice the two words “seek” and “save” again He is not attempting to save them; He is going to save them. Another glorious reference is Isaiah chapter 53 where God details His purpose and plan of saving the sinner, please read it. God summed His plan up in these two verses, “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” Isaiah 53:4 – 5 This is why Jesus is the “founder of salvation” because He manufactured it, He has ownership to it, and He did it as Matthew wrote, “…for he shall save his people from their sins.”  Salvation is an absolute gift of God, it is not something earned, worked out, it is a gift from God to a lost and dying sinner. The Apostle Paul described our salvation with these words, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.” Romans 7:24 Let’s look at the word “wretched”, it means - enduring trial, that is, miserable – The Apostle understood what it was to try to accomplish his own salvation and to be a good and outstanding Jew, but to find that he had failed. Paul did not just wonder up on this understanding, Jesus seek and saved him. It was a revelation from God when Jesus came to him, and the very same One he seeks to persecute he believed on in salvation. Jesus is the Author and Finisher of Paul’s salvation just as He is ours. Listen to Paul describe God’s gift to him in his own words, “For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. Therefore whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed. 1 Corinthians 15:9 Folks, Jesus did not come to this world to help you workout your salvation, God sent Him here to seek and to save you. Salvation is possible because He came, He lived, He died, He was buried, He rose from the grave, and His blood was shed to cleanse all our sins. Jesus is the Founder of our salvation, “All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:27 – 30