God’s Sovereignty Part 11

Subject – God’s Forgiveness of the Believers Sins

Text - Ephesians 1:7a “In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins…” 

We must understand why it is people, even those devout people who call themselves “Christians” are unable to figure out how people are saved. But, as Christians we often wonder how people cannot see the redemption in the blood of Jesus Christ. John wrote, “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” John 3:17 People continually claim that salvation is not in Jesus Christ, that redemption is not in Him, to them it must be in man. Paul wrote, “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 1:25 People cannot get over the very fact that salvation is in God’s hand and power and it is not within us to repent and turn to Christ. “There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.” Romans 3:11 No matter how hard they try self-redemption, no matter how much they deny Jesus as Saviour and edify themselves, they will all die and go to hell’s fire in the end. Lost people, no matter how religious they might be, cannot simply make choices and decisions on spiritual things, because spiritual things are of the Holy Spirit, and can only be gifted. Paul wrote “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 2:14 The word “discerned” means – the inability or no sense of self-proving or coming to a judgment on spiritual things. – This is why the simplest details of the bible to believers is a foreign language to a lost sinner. Therefore, they do not look to God, they so not seek the help of the Holy Spirit who is the teacher or revealer of the scriptures. Paul wrote “But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.” 1 Corinthians 12:7 “the manifestation of the Spirit” is the revelation of the word of God, which mankind on their own will never comprehend. Man has not the spiritual ability to judge the scriptures because the scriptures are spiritual. The bible is not like a book a person writes, it is a spiritual book men wrote by the power of the Holy Spirit. Some of the writers did not understand everything they wrote, they just wrote as they were led of the Holy Spirit. But to the believer who the Holy Spirit has revealed it, it is simple. 

Therefore, we conclude that to us who are saved we know without question that our sins were paid by the blood of Jesus the Son of man. It was Him that lived in this life, grew in this world, suffered in this world, crucified and shed His blood in this world. Our Redeemer could only be Jesus the Christ. The word “redemption” denotes our deliverance from sin and from the consequences of sin, which has been procured by the atonement made by the Lord Jesus Christ. No other creature in existence can be our redeemer, not even the Father or the Holy Spirit, it was Jesus that shed His blood and that is the payment the Father ordained before the foundation of the world, Jesus blood was the only elected forgiveness of sin. This is the reason, no other being in heaven could open the seven sealed book, then Jesus stepped up, took the book and opened it. After this they sung a new song, “And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;” Revelation 5:9 redemption is in Him and He will condemn the lost to everlasting hell’s fire. Jesus proclaimed as He took the last supper after His resurrection, “For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” Matthew 26:28 The word “remissions” means – pardon or forgiveness or our sins. God the Father will not accept any other payment for our sins, that price had to be the Lambs blood. If you cannot believe this, you cannot be saved. We will close with these words of Paul’s writing, “Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:” Colossians 1:12 - 14

God’s Sovereignty Part 10

Subject – God Accepting Believers

Text - Ephesians 1:6b “…wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.”  

This ends a very long sentence that goes from verse 3 – 6 and the entire thought is “God’s Spiritual Blessings on the Believer in Christ.” I love spiritual blessings from our Father. We see these spiritual blessings all thru the scriptures, but especially here in the New Testament. We have done a deep study at our church on 1 Corinthians 12:1 – 11 in which the Apostle Paul describes how Spiritual Blessings are given and delivered, by the Holy Spirit “Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.” 1 Corinthians 12:4 They are given as God chooses to distributed as God the Father has chosen by the Holy Spirit, and it is a fascinating study. Here in Ephesians 1:6b God concludes this long sentence telling us that we are “accepted” and what a statement. It never ends, the thought in my mind never ends that we who are wretched sinners, who love sin so much that we drink it like water  Job 15:16, We sinners who are worthless in the flesh, not desiring God, at enmity with God, will not seek Him and we have no desire to keep Him in our knowledge. Romans 3:9 – 18 We are sinners who have chosen sin and Satan over God, however, we who are saved are the very sinners God elected to saved and made us accepted in the beloved, that is what amazing grace indeed is all about. Why, why would God ever save one single sinner on this earth is beyond our imagination. God has made us “ACCEPTED” as His own dear children, yes, and as much a child as Jesus Christ is, "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together." Romans 8:16 – 17 This is telling us as believers we are as much a child of God as the Son of man Jesus Christ, even though we are adopted. Beloved, this is powerful in glory for every saved sinner. But let us make sure we recognize that God “made us accepted” and it was not a making on our own. There was no choosing on our part, no decision, no turning over a new leaf, no sinner prayer, no, not at all or any little part of actions on our part. Salvation, in its totality was by God’s love, grace, and mercy toward us, not the reverse. We would have never, ever repented had the Holy Spirit not come into us and caused it all to happen just as the Father had elected and ordained it to happen. Thank you, Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit for our salvation and sonship.


The word “accepted” means – to indue with special honor – also if you search the Greek you will see that this word comes from the word grace in the Greek. Indeed, the special honor comes from our Gracious Father who has taken unworthy sinners and made them accepted, not just accepted into His kingdom but accepted as children, just sit back and let that soak into your mind. We will one day stand in the presence of the King of kings as children, holy and without blame as though we have never committed one single sin. The Psalmist wrote, "As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him." Psalms 103:12 - 13 Wow, what a blessing from God toward us, that we will never, ever account for one sin, and that our sins will never be remembered or found.


This brings us to our conclusion, and that is how God has made us accepted, “…in the beloved.” That is in Jesus Christ whom the Father sent to this world in the likeness of sinful flesh to shed His blood on that cross to cleanse us from all our sins. God chose His own beloved Son Jesus to be the Christ Incarnate as the Son of man to live, die, rise, and ascend back to heaven to make us accepted. Thank you, Lord. We will look at Jesus next week.

God’s Sovereignty Part 9

Subject – God’s Blessed Grace
Text - Ephesians 1:6a “To the praise of the glory of his grace…”

I believe to have this is proper context we need to read verses 5 and 6 together. “Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.” Christians that understand the bible understand about the grace of God. We understand it is God’s gift to us and in every part of our life here on earth and beyond this fleshly life. After Nebuchadnezzar’s chastening of the Lord Nebuchadnezzar said these words about God, “And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?” Daniel 4:35 As horrible as it must have been for Nebuchadnezzar it was God’s grace that brought him to his proper senses about God and His power and Grace. Now, God could have just brought Nebuchadnezzar’s heart right with God, but it was God’s pleasure to lead him through the fire to deliver him. It was also God’s good pleasure to deliver His own dear Son into the hands of Satan and mankind to be crucified so that we as Christians could be delivered from Satan, as He prophesied in Genesis 3:15 “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” The Lord Jesus had His heel bruised but by that bruising, Jesus Christ crushed and will eventually crush the serpent’s head until he is dead of all powers. All of this was accomplished by God’s good pleasure of His will before the foundation of this world was ever created and manifested in “due time”.  God told us in Ecclesiastes 3:1 “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:” The word “season” means an appointed time, that is “to every purpose under the heaven” and God will exercise His Appointed Will as it is manifested according to His predetermined “due time”. Then we see these words written by the hand of Paul in Romans 5:6 “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.” Then we also see these words also written by Paul, Galatians 4:4 – 5 “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.” God the Father ordained to sacrifice His one Beloved Son on that cross at the hands of Satan and lost people to redeem a remnant of lost unworthy souls, because it was “the good pleasure of his will” to do so. All this because it was also “the good pleasure of his will” to make us His “adoption of sons.” Some people falsely proclaim that salvation is a merit or work on our part, but salvation is a glorious gift of God’s grace because He willed it before the foundation of the world. “But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 6:22 – 23 Because it was God’s good pleasure and will to save your soul, not because of any works on your part.

But God said, “To the praise of the glory of his grace…” One must ask, why, why did God do this and how we bring glory to God. God said in verse 3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ…” One must ask, if God is self-existent and God is eternal and if God is unchangeable, then how exactly is God blessed in us? God is only blessed in Himself every blessing from God is to return the blessings to God. We do not add anything to God, because we are not doing anything to add to God. If we study the bible in it’s proper context then we see that everything we do in this life as Christians is God’s blessing to us being returned to Him in our actions. This is exactly why Paul said “But by the grace of God I am what I am…” 1 Cor. 15:10. Paul understood that everything he was as a Christian was by God’s grace to him and the Holy Spirits working thru him. He never gave himself credit of glory because all glory was God’s working in Him. For example, God elected us, saved us, called us to preach, gave us the knowledge of the bible, gave us a church or work to minister, advances our ministry, saves sinners, adds to the churches, and brings our ministries to an eventual end. Therefore, I must ask this question, what blessings belong to us? Every detail of my ministry is to God’s credit by God’s grace to me, I am blessed of God, therefore, I deserve no credit or praise, God does, and all blessings is God’s. If is a scriptural fact that God has ordained or predestinated every inch of your life before the foundation of the world. Acts 15:18 “Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.” If it is a work of God, He ordained it before the foundation of the world. God does not work by chance as time moves on.

God’s Sovereignty Part 8

Subject – God’s Blessed Will
Text - Ephesians 1:5b “…according to the good pleasure of his will,” V. 5

Please let us always understand this about God, He always does things that are within His will, He never does anything that is our will unless our will is matching His will. So here is the answer to why did God choose us to be His child in Christ Jesus before the foundation of the world, because it was His blessed will to do so. Everyone needs to understand that creation was executed by God, in its entirety. God owes no one or anything any explanation for what He choses to do or how He choses to do it. Humans have no more rights to any of God’s blessings than any of God’s other created beings. Paul wrote in Romans 9:13 “As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.” So, the question must be asked, why did God love one brother in Jacob and hate the other in Esau? The answer is clear, because it was the Creator’s will to do so, just as it was God’s will to love His elect. This was God’s elective choice and nothing or no one played any part in that choice. Esau did not cause God to hate Him, neither did Jacob cause God to love him and neither did God see their works then chose one over the other, God is eternal and all His will is eternal, God never changes, ever! Ezekiel 24:14 “I the LORD have spoken it: it shall come to pass, and I will do it; I will not go back, neither will I spare, neither will I repent; according to thy ways, and according to thy doings, shall they judge thee, saith the Lord GOD.” We also read in Numbers 23:19 “God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?” Anyone who claims that God has ever changed on anything or that we have the power to control the thinking and the judgments of God or how God operates has no idea who God is, nor how God operates. Therefore, one must ask, when exactly did God come to love Jacob and hate Esau? The answer is, before the foundation of the world. Acts 15:18 “Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.” Every work of God was known unto God before the creation of the world. Therefore, your election, predestination to be God’s child and to one day stand before in perfection and without sin was ordained by God before the world was ever created and not in time. Therefore, this is the most blessed part of this, He chose and elected a remnant of souls because it was His good will and pleasure. Paul asked this question, Romans 9:21 “Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?” Clay in the hands of a potter is at the mercy of the potter, it is the Potters choice what sort of vessel to make out of the clay, the clay has nothing to say, it does not suggest what the potter makes it. No, the clay will be what the good pleasure of the Potter’s will wants it to be, one to be blessed and another not to be blessed, it is the Potter’s choice to make one unto honor and the other unto dishonor. The reason some of us are God’s children is that He simply elected before the foundation of the world. God wanted for us to be His family by His good pleasure, loved some and did not love others, saved some and not others, to make us either His child or His condemned enemy, it was all predetermined by God before the world was ever created. We never had a choice, nor did we have a say, that was a decision of God, not of us. It was Jesus Christ who said in Luke 12:32 “Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” Therefore, if you are a child of God, thank God and not your Pastor, your Pastor does not have the power to saved lost sinners. Thank God and not yourself, God made the choice and decision, you did not. The clay cannot change what the Potter has made it. Romans 9:20 “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?”