Our God Is Sovereign!

“Introduction” Part Two
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Ephesians 2:8”

We have started a new study in our newsletter; we are going to take a very long look at the “Sovereignty of God” and look at this subject under many titles. Last week we looked at an “introduction” and this week we are going to continue that introduction. We find in our date in time many today that do not teach or even believe in the sovereignty of God. I believe they hate it so much that they simple despise anyone who believes or teaches it. However the Lord promised that man would cause truth to be a lie and a lie to be truth. “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 there are two “very today” statements in this verse (1.) “Who changed the truth of God into a lie…” and (2.) “…and served the creature more than the Creator…” If one does not believe and teach in a Sovereign God then they have changed that truth into a lie, and this causes one to worship the creature more than the Creator in that it is no longer God that saves but rather the creature that causes and brings about their own salvation. If the creature brings about their own salvation then the great question must be asked, why do we pray to God for one to be saved, why not just pray to the sinner? This is the bottom-line in the scriptures, God saves sinners! However if you listen in most churches today you will not hear this but rather it is totally up to the sinner to deliver themselves to believe in Jesus Christ as their Saviour. Well God makes no doubt in His Word that this is impossible on the sinner’s part. Jesus said in John 6:44 “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.” Now some will say that “well it is true that God draws man but the choice to believe is up to man, however Paul said in Romans 8:14 “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” Jesus also said in John 6:39 “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.” There are also two great and wonderful truths in this verse; (1.) “…that of all which he hath given me…” and (2.) “…I should lose nothing…” first of all the Father gave to the Son a remnant of souls before the creation of the world and of that number He (the Son) has lost NONE. This is called election or God choosing a remnant of souls in eternity past to be His beloved sons, and during the “eternal covenant” between the Father and the Son that the Father gave to the Son this remnant of souls or what is known as the elect of God with the condition He (as the Son of Man) would give His live on the cross for their sins in which the Father considered just payment, this is why Jesus said just before His death “…It is finished…” John 19:30 meaning the debt has been paid in full which fulfilled His part of the eternal covenant that was made before the creation of the world. If this is not true than how could Christ Jesus be “…the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” Revelations 13:5.

What we find being preached in churches today is not truth but rather a lie and those that preach the truth is made to look like liars which is exactly what God said in Romans 1:25. However this is not new from mankind, man has always hated the Sovereignty of God, in John 6:43 Jesus said “…Murmur not among yourselves.” And mankind has “Murmured” at the Sovereignty of God ever since and do more today than ever before. Most Pastors and churches today speak about choice, decisions, sinner’s prayers, and etc. and by these terms taking God out of the work of salvation and putting it into the sinner’s hands, but I must ask where are these terms used in the scriptures? Where was anyone told to make a decision or choice for Christ? Or where was anyone ever told to pray a sinner’s prayer for salvation? It is simple, they do not exist, everywhere you see salvation in the scriptures you see God saving the sinner. And one last point, where do they prove that “God cannot change mans will”? Yes indeed God is Sovereign!

Our God Is Sovereign!

Introduction

“Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:” Acts 2:23
“In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:” Ephesians 1:11

For the next foreseeable future we are going to look as deep as possible into the Sovereignty of God. I believe that God is sovereign and it is a disgrace to God and the Lord’s churches that so many have been so removed or have at the least little faith in our Sovereign God. People today and churches today have greatly disappointed God and Jesus Christ (the Head of the churches) in that most think of a Sovereign God as a devilish thought rather that a glorious one. Well I am here to say God still sits on His throne and He has not been removed! God still sits on His throne and laughs at the ignorance of man attempting to create a way of salvation rather than to trust God to save sinners. These people will one day stand before the Lord Jesus Christ and will answer for all of the ignorance and the misleading of souls into the lake of fire rather than into the kingdom of God. It will only be because we do have a Sovereign God that some regardless of their false teaching’s and people believing their heresy that some will in the end actually be saved.

I have chosen these two scriptures because they both have a very profound meaning to them and to the sovereign grace of God. (1.) Jesus Christ was delivered, neither by man nor by the will of man, but by God the Father. Jesus said before His crucifixion that He gave His life, meaning it could not have been taken. He was “delivered” by the “determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God” in other words before the world was created, before man was created, before Adam and Eve had eaten the fruit, before Satan brought sin into the world, God had already elected to deliver the man Christ Jesus to the cross to pay the debt for sin. This was the “determinate counsel” or the decreed will of God, according to His “foreknowledge” or His forethought which means the seeing beforehand of an event yet to take place. God had already chose Jesus Christ to die for sin that had not even entered the world, knowing all events that would take place before the world was created. This brings us to point (2.) “…being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will”. And that would be the word “predestinated” means – to predetermine or to before ordain or to foreordain by divine decree or purpose. – so here it means that before the world began that God foreordained a limited amount of people to be saved and in order to accomplish this He also elected to send His beloved Son in the body of a man or in the likeness of sinful flesh so that man could be the sacrifice to pay in full the debt owed for the sins of all the elect.

I know that the words elect, election, or God choosing just truly scares some, but before discounting these words do a bible search and see what they say, and soon we will look at these words. The sovereignty of God puts all things in Gods hands and not in ours. God saving sinners means that salvation is possible because if it were our choice we would never choose Christ as our Saviour. I personally thank God He planned all things before the world was created, because if He had not we would all go to Hell.

Jesus The Christ, Prophet, Priest, And King.

Matthew 1:16 “And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.”

As we take time to look at this wonderful passage of scripture we want to notice the Jesus is the Christ, His name was not Jesus Christ it was Jesus The Christ or God with us and the Anointed One. The name Jesus was not an uncommon name among the Jews and being anointed was not uncommon of the Jews. But this Jesus was different He is The Christ or the Messiah or God Incarnate. He is the One sent from God the Father to give His life on the cross for our sins that we might have eternal life. No other Jesus, Prophet, Priest, or King had this ability outside of Jesus The Christ.

In verse 23 it says “Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.” This was the biggest clue God gave mankind, that Mary would be the mother of Jesus The Christ. If we will remember God foretold in Isaiah 7:14 “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” This is one of a kind of clue that was overlooked by the Jews and the world because they were not looking for their Saviour just as the world is not looking for His return.

Notice in verse 21 “…thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.” Who are his people? Not all of the people of the world neither did He die for all of the people of the world, but rather a small number or small as compared to the number that have been born compared to the number that are saved. There is no doubt that salvation is limited to a certain number because it is clearly told in God’s word. Let us notice in John 17:6 “I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.” There is no doubt that before the world was created God chose a certain number of souls that would be saved and in the “eternal agreement or covenant” made before the foundation of the world the Father gave the Son this number of souls as a gift and these are the one’s Jesus died for on the cross. These people recognize who Jesus is and praise His name as the Saviour of mankind. We do not use His name as a swear word as most of mankind does but we hold it in reverence, because to us Christians it has a blessed meaning to it.

So to us who know Jesus The Christ as our Saviour understand that He died for our sins, and through His blood we have eternal forgiveness of our sins. No other name given among mankind has ever had this ability. Only Jesus The Christ could have died because it is He who lived the law to the fullest and it was He that shed His blood on the cross. No other sacrifice would ever have worked because God only accepts perfection and He was the perfect sacrifice of justification. The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world before man or sin was ever created.

Let us together lift up His name above every other name and praise Him for His glorious gift of salvation that He has given to us the elect of the Father. Psalms 69:30 “I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving. “

Happy Mother’s Day!

Ephesians 6:1 - 2 “Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. (2.) Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;)”

Today is Mother’s Day, some will frown upon it and some will celebrate it but none the less today is a day our government has set aside to honor our mothers. As we can see in our text scripture we are to honor our mothers and fathers, but not only one day a year but every day of the year. But to fully understand what the Lord commands here we must first understand what He is commanding us to do. The word “honor” in the Greek is (timaō) which means - to prize – but this actually comes from another Greek word that gives a little more understanding and that is (timios) which means – something valuable or something most precious -. With the two words put in their proper context it tells us “to treat our mothers and fathers as a prize that is most valuable or most precious to us” every day of our life. As we enter into this day of celebrating our mothers let us not forget it is an honorable act and should be a natural thing, not something we feel we have to do because it is “Mother’s Day”. Our mothers carried us for nine months in her womb, suffered many sick and painful days, and she cared for us the rest of her life. The Lord speaks much about our praise of our mothers and praises her much in the scriptures.

The Lord commanded us to honor our mothers but should this be a commandment that is obeyed? The answer is yes, because the Lord commanded it and not just on Mother’s Day but everyday. The commandment is not conditional as to if she is a good mother or even a good person, but rather she is you’re mother and must be respected. I will agree that there are some mothers who are totally worthless, some who value money more than their children, and some who love to party rather than to care for their children, however still the Lord did not put conditions on His commandments.

It is because of these bad mothers (and yes some fathers are included) who have had so little care about their children that we now have a street full of heathenism. The Lord said in Proverbs 30:11 “There is a generation that curseth their father, and doth not bless their mother.” This is that time, and it has many causes, some on the father, some on the mother, and some on the children, however the cause; it is like a run away train and this is that generation.

I am proud to say my own mother is a most wonderful woman and mother, I am proud to call her my mother. She has always looked after her eight children as though they were a blessing from God rather than a curse, and God has a scripture just for all of you mothers that have loved and cared for you’re children “Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.” Proverbs 31:10. Beloved thank your mother and not only today but every opportunity you can, because as so many will tell you one day she will be gone and then you will only have a memory. We fail many times to thank those who deserve it so much that we have to have holidays to remember. First thank God for all of your blessings, thank you’re parents for their sacrifices for you, thank you’re Pastor for his time consuming efforts in God’s work, thank a policeman for their protection, thank a fireman for their effort to save lives and protecting our property, and thank a soldier for your freedom. Should we need special days to remind us of these responsibilities? No, we should not, but like the “CEO” (Christmas and Easter only) church attendee they need Christmas and Easter to remind them to go to church, we need a holiday to remind us to say “thank you mom”. But as it may be, to my mother and all mothers; “thank you mother and happy Mother’s Day”.

Jesus Cried?

John 11:35 “Jesus wept.”

We who live in Texas and maybe most of the south find that a man crying is unmanly and weak, but we could learn from our Lord and Saviour because here Jesus wept. Most people find it hard to believe that “the man of all men” ever wept, but He did. But lets not just look at it that Jesus Christ the Son of God cried and find it so strange, let us not ever forget while He is God; He is also the son of man. Therefore if we use Jesus as our example, then a man crying is not unmanly. So this brings me to the question I was asked this week, “Why did Jesus cry”? This is very simple to answer; Jesus wept because all of the others He loved were weeping over the death of Lazarus. Jesus did not weep (as I once thought) over the fact that Lazarus died because He is God and knew He could and was going to raise His dear friend from the grave. If we take this verse in context then the answer is found in verse 33 “When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled,” Jesus was troubled because those He loved so dear was weeping. It makes a lot of sense because these folks were unified with the Lord. This reminds us of the church here today and the unity we are to share. The Lord told us the church is to be like a body with many members and all of those members being many are to be like one body. “For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ”. 1 Corinthians 12:12. So if one of the body members hurts then the rest of the body hurts with that member. Here we see a glorious example of this, Jesus hurt with the body because He was part of that body.

While Jesus did indeed weep because the others around Him were so hurt it was not the same type of crying. Notice in verse 35 the word wept is different that the word weeping in verse 33. The word wept in verse 35 comes from the Greek word “dakruō” which means - to shed tears - but according to A. H. Strong’s concordance this Greek word “dakruō” is to be compared to the Greek word “klaiō” which means - to sob, that is, wail aloud – however Strong’s goes on to tell us - whereas dakruō is rather to cry silently – Telling us while the Lord did weep because His beloved friends were so upset He did not cry aloud as the others did. The word weeping in verse 33 which refers to the others, and there is different altogether. This word comes from the Greek word “klaiō” which means - to sob, which is – to wail aloud – as we said before. So there was some loud crying over the death of Lazarus as they are when we loose a loved one. Mary you may remember did not think of what was about to happen and that was that Jesus could raise Lazarus from the dead. In verse 32 it says “Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.” But Jesus called Lazarus from the grave “And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.” Verse 43. How wonderful indeed!

This little short verse is so packed with such a powerful message “Jesus wept”. We see both natures of Jesus here in this passage, (1.) Jesus showed His humanity in His weeping, we see here the love that He had and has for those He loves. Here Jesus silently cried along with His friends because He loved them so, and (2.) it shows His deity in that He was able to raise Lazarus from the dead. Men as we can see here in this passage it is ok to cry, it does not make us weak but rather strong. Let us be reminded of what Paul teaches us in Romans 12:15 “Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.” To weep and to rejoice with others makes us a good Christian and church member.