God’s Sovereignty Part 18

Subject – The Earnest of Our Inheritance Until the Redemption! 

Ephesians 1:14 “Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.” 

May I say in this conclusion, what a blessing is has been to write these articles about our Sovereignty of God. As we live in a religious world that idolizes themselves over God and wished they could make God surrender to their every wish, but to KNOW that everything is in God’s Sovereign hands and He does as He wishes in all His creation. This is the very God in which we have our faith, this is the very God that we have trusted to save our unworthy souls. We do not serve the weak insignificant god that the religious world does, but the God that is in all points Sovereign. In these 11 verses we have seen how God saves worthless sinner and makes those sinner’s clean as snow and has adopted that same worthless sinner to be His child by adoption, this is called SOVEREIGNTY. First, God said V. 4 “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” Second, God told us not only will we stand before Him white as snow, but also told us we will be His children because He predestinated us to be children V 4. Third, Our Father told us that we were purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ through redemption on the cross, and that act of love by Jesus Christ was enough to forgive all our sins, making us as though we have never sinned V. 7. Fourth, in V. 10 God told us He elect and predestinate these children, but also that He was the administrator of the fulfilment of each step of His loving, gracious act. Fifth, in V. 12 God promised that we would be “the praise of his glory” because everything we are as Christians is to His praise in His election, predestination, His Love, His will, and nothing on our part. There is not one single part of our Christian being that we can take credit for. And whatever we are as Christians is His will and glory, all to glorify His Beloved Son Jesus Christ. None of it was for our glory, but to Christ Jesus. Sixth, in V. 13 we saw how that God not only saved us in the Man Jesus the Christ, but that He sent His Holy Spirit to carryout all the actions of our salvation, to deliver to us fruits from on high, and to seal us that we should be preserved so that we could never fall or fail from the glorious gift of our salvation that glorifies His Beloved Son.

“Which is the earnest of our inheritance” We must understand what this means, this is the beginning of salvation. This goes all the way back to the “Eternal Covenant” that took place before the foundation of the world. After the Father elected us or chose us, He than gave all that elect to His Son Jesus Christ on the ordained promise that the Son would give His life and blood at Calvary for them. This very elect are those that Jesus spoke about in His prayer to the father right before His death. John 17:2 “As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.” God told us this agreement was sealed by the Holy Spirit and it was His work to secure each end of the agreement. The word “earnest” means a down payment and Jesus’s word was good enough for the down payment and the Holy Spirit was the sealer of that promise to make sure it was all done and completed as the Father willed.

The Father also said “until the redemption of the purchased possession” The purchased possession are the elect of God that the Father gave the Son in eternity past, Paul called these elect “…the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.” Philippians 3:3 or “the cutting out” a remnant to be redeemed by Jesus Christ to worship God. Paul also called these elect “a peculiar people” “Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” Titus 2:14 

All of this was accomplished, not of our own will, but the will of our Sovereign God and Father. Look at how many times in these 11 verses alone it speaks of God’s glory, “unto the praise of his glory”, “after the counsel of his own will”, over and over it is all about The Father will and never about ours. The will of the Father was the will of Jesus who died for us. Everything was planned, predestinated, ordained, and carried out by the Father, under the sealing power of the Holy Spirt, and accomplished death of Jesus Christ at Calvary. Nothing was man’s work or involvement, except the acceptance of the blessings of God our Saviour. Jude 1:25 “To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.” Thank you our Father in heaven for the glorious gift of salvation!

God’s Sovereignty Part 17

Subject – Being sealed by the Holy Spirt

Ephesians 1:13 “In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,”

This brings up to our “preservation” or the fifth point in TULIP which is the final part of salvation, securing of the believer. God has walked us through salvation step by step and the meaning of it all, we just must understand God’s working in salvation. Salvation because is nothing like what you hear in today’s pulpits, it is “of God”. People do not want to believe the truth about salvation because of the “L” or Limited Atonement” which limits salvation to only the Elect. People hate to be excluded from anything and being excluded from salvation or the ability to be saved ought to scare them to death. Therefore, they have eliminated God from salvation and inserted man, but that does not change what God is doing in salvation. God warned us of this in Romans 1:25 “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.” So, nothing they say, think, or do will change what God is doing. God is the creator of the universe, He is the controller of all things, He is the Potter and we are only the clay. We are either blessed by Him creating us to be a glorious vessel in Christ Jesus or condemned because He made some a vessel of destruction. 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?” No matter how many Preachers say it, no matter how many people believe it, the very thought that salvation is a choice on mankind’s part is a lie. People can call me a liar and believe as they chose, but in hell’s flames they will open their eyes when they die.

Look closely at verse 13, it is in Jesus Christ that we trusted AFTER we heard the word of Truth, which is the gospel of our salvation. We cannot hear the word of the Gospel unless the Holy Spirit quickens our spirt, and after He does, we will believe without fail. Romans 8:14 “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” It is God the Father that sends the Holy Spirit into our hearts whereby we cry “Abba Father”. Galatians 4:6 - 7 “And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.” Look at the names God gave the Holy Spirit in the scriptures, the "Spirit of truth" (John 16:13), the "Spirit of adoption" (Rom. 8:15), the "Spirit of grace" (Heb. 10:29). Here He is the “Spirit of promise” or the sealer of God’s promises. He delivers us to salvation that is in Christ Jesus because it is impossible for a lost sinner, who is DEAD in their sins, and at enmity with God to deliver themselves against their nature.

Therefore, God said “ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise.” Look closely at the word “sealed” it means – (to stamp with a signet or private mark for security or preservation). This stamp or sealing of us is the “Preservation and Perseverance” of the Saints. This sealing or stamping is like unto the 144,000 Jews sealed by God in the Tribulation period and no one can harm the as long as God protects them. Revelation 7:3 “Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.” This sealing of the Holy Spirit is the sealing of God’s promise made in election and the promise made to Jesus Christ before the world began. This seal upon us means that we will not fail, we will not fall, we are sealed with God’s promise to His Beloved Son that He will lose nothing. Romans 8:37 – 39 “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” While the Holy Spirt has many titles and many duties, His most valuable duty is to seal us and preserve us until we are with Jesus in eternity.

God’s Sovereignty Part 16

Subject – In whom ye also trusted! 

Ephesians 1:13a “In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation…”

This verse in its context is referring to the end of verse 12 “…who first trusted in Christ.” Until Jesus Christ is first trusted by us, we can do nothing for God. We are just lost sinners awaiting our final place in eternity in the fires of Hell. We do not recognize, or we see any benefits of God until we first trust in Jesus Christ, because lost people live in the state of darkness. We may have heard the gospel message a thousand times in church, read about salvation in the scriptures, books, and articles, but in reality you have never heard the gospel message until the Holy Spirit brings it’s power to us. When God speaks of people being dead, ("And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;" Ephesians 2:1) God is speaking of our spirit or our inner person being dead. Our spirit is the only way for us to communicate with God, and if our spirit is dead, we have no ears to hear and no eyes to see and therefore we will never hear the gospel message and trust Christ as our Saviour. Lost people can hear and see with their physical eyes and ears, they may even trust Christ with their mind, but that is not salvation, and that is not faith. God said, “But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.” Matthew 13:16 We are blessed because God has given us spiritual eyes to see and spiritual ears to hear the gospel message and believe in Jesus Christ is by the power of the Holy Spirit. God goes on to say, “He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.” John 12:40 While people want to argue about the “He” and who it is, that fact is that lost people cannot hear nor see that Jesus Christ is Saviour. Only those blessed of God through the working power of the Holy Spirit can see and hear the true gospel and come to Jesus Christ for salvation. Those who believe in their mind do not really believe and others deny that salvation is in Jesus Christ, the very thought is foolishness to them. This is why Preachers talk about salvation not taking, but the truth is none of them take if that salvation is of man and not of the Holy Spirit, but 100% of the salvation that is accomplished by the Holy Spirit take, because He is perfect and cannot fail. “For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." Romans 8:13 - 14 

To us who are saved by the power of the Holy Spirit we first trusted in Jesus Christ for the first time we spiritually saw and heard the gospel about Jesus Christ and believed on Him as our Saviour. Not by our own repentance, not with our own eyes and ears, not with our dead heart, and not with our fleshly mind. But because the Holy Spirt came into us, quickened our dead spirits, giving us true saving faith, and drew us to Christ. “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 If you do not believe that you are no different than the lost Jews that Jesus was speaking to as they showed Him disagreement. “Murmur not among yourselves.” V. 63 Because Jesus had just explained that God is Sovereign and that God elects all who will believe, and that you cannot be saved on your own. Read very slow and carefully, "And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day." John 6:39 – 40 That is why they were murmuring at Jesus, because they could not hear what Jesus was saying and refused to believe. Blessed are you that believe.