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.