Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening and now
for today's program. Welcome to our program today.
If you'd like to join me in going through the scriptures, I'll
be preaching from the book of Ephesians chapter one, Paul's
epistle to the church at Ephesus. And today we're going to talk
about this subject, the sovereignty of God, the sovereignty of God. And that's a big subject, obviously.
It teaches us that God is all powerful, and all willing in
all things according to the good pleasure of his own will." And
we'll be looking at this subject in Ephesians chapter 1. If you
want to look at verse 9, we've been talking about how in these
first verses of Ephesians you see the work of the Father in
the salvation of sinners. God the Father is representing
the sovereignty, the power, and the source of salvation for his
people. He chose a people before the
foundation of the world in Christ, gave them to Christ, appointed
Christ to be the surety of those people, conditioned all of their
salvation upon Him, imputed their sins to Him. In other words,
Christ became accountable, responsible for the sin debt of His people.
And then it speaks of the work of the Son, which is the ground
of salvation, the redemption that comes through His blood,
You see, salvation in the Bible is not conditioned on sinners. It's conditioned on Christ. And
whatever sinners do in believing in Christ, repenting of their
sins, and persevering in the faith is the fruit and the result
of the power and the will and the grace of God in Christ. It's
not the cause, it's not the condition, it's the fruit. Christ said in
John 15, I'm the vine, you're the branches. You see, everything
that a sinner who is saved by grace does by way of choosing
Christ, believing in Him, following Him, Everything there, you see,
is the product of what Christ accomplished on the cross when
he put away the sins of his people and established a righteousness
that enables God to be just to justify them. Now, so when you
come to passages of scripture which says, well, God does this
or this is true if you do this or if you do that, That if, under
the gospel dispensation, under the gospel message, under the
covenant of grace, is not a conditional if, it's an evidential if. In
other words, the if, it's evidence of God's work, of God's sovereign
will. And that's where we're coming
to, that God, in verse nine, look at Ephesians one and verse
nine. God made known unto us the mystery of his will, Now,
the us there refers to believers who have been chosen by God in
Christ, before the foundation of the world, and who have been
redeemed by the blood of Christ, and then brought to faith in
Christ by the work of the Holy Spirit in the new birth, because
it's made known unto us. And they know it through the
Word of God and the power of the Holy Spirit. They know this
us. They know how God saves sinners
by grace. They understand that because
the Son of God has come and given them that understanding. They're
not believing salvation by the works or the will of men. That's
a false gospel. You see, the gospel is revealed
to them. The righteousness of God is revealed
to them. They understand that they are
saved by grace, kept by grace, and will be brought to glory
by grace, not by their works, not by their obedience, and not
even by their decision. Yes, they have decided for Christ,
but it was His work that demanded and ensured that they would be
given spiritual life. We talk about it all the time,
the three R's. Ruined by the fall, redeemed
by the blood, regenerated by the Spirit. God's elect. We were ruined by the fall, born
dead in trespasses and sins. Over in Ephesians chapter 2,
it speaks of us. God's people, who are believers
now. See, if you're not a believer
now, you can't apply these things to yourself. The only way you
can apply these things to yourself is when you become a believer,
when God, the Holy Spirit, births you again. You must be born again.
But before that, listen to a description of us. Chapter 2 of Ephesians,
verse 1. And you hath he quickened, who
were dead in trespasses and sins? In other words, spiritual death. That's no spiritual life. And
God quickened us. How do I know God quickened?
That means gave me life, born again. Cause he made known unto
me the mystery of his will, the gospel. How he saved sinners. And Ephesians 2 too. Wherein
in time past you walked according to the course of this world.
According to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit
that now worketh in the children of disobedience, now a child
of disobedience in this book is an unbeliever. Verse three,
among whom also we all had our conversation, our walk in times
past in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the
flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath
even as others. Those who live their lives on
this earth and never come to faith in Christ are the children
of wrath. They die in unbelief. And what
he's saying is that before I was converted by the Holy Spirit
through the preaching of the gospel, regenerated by the Spirit,
I was no different than the children of wrath. All that description
there, you need to understand that that applies to human religion
also. Human morality, when aimed at
saving us or keeping us saved, works salvation. We'll go back
to Ephesians one and verse nine. The mystery of his will is God's
will in the salvation of sinners. And it says, according to his
good pleasure, which he has purposed in himself, this is the purpose
of God within himself. That proves God did not look
down through a telescope of time. and plan his action based upon
what he foresaw. No, he purposed it within himself
according to the good pleasure of his will. And it says in verse
10 that in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might
gather together in one all things in Christ both which are in heaven
or in the heavens and which are on earth even in him. Now that
word dispensation, what does it mean? It means a segment of
time. And what he's saying here is this. You know, there are
some people who call themselves dispensationalist, who believe
that God had one way of salvation in the days of the patriarchs,
like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. And then that didn't
work. So God tried another plan of
salvation in another segment of time under the law of Moses.
And then the New Testament, And now, what we're in, my friend,
that is heresy. That is anti-biblical, anti-gospel,
anti-grace. It's anti-Christ. God has always,
in every segment of time, saved sinners by His grace through
the blood of Christ. Now, the Old Testament saints
They were saved based upon the assurance of the promise that
Christ would come and accomplish righteousness on their behalf.
And it was so sure and certain that Christ would do this and
accomplish and be victorious that God imputed righteousness
to them, even in their day. The Bible says that all the promises
of God in Christ and in Him are yea and amen, sure and certain.
That's how faithful and powerful God is. So in each dispensation,
in the time of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, in the time of Moses
and the Law, in the New Testament, God has always saved sinners
the same way, by His grace, through the blood of Christ. New Testament
saints look back upon the accomplishment of that on Calvary, but it's
the same way. Well, it's all in him. To gather
in together, verse 10, to gather together in one all things in
Christ. I believe what he's talking about
there is his people, his elect people, his church. You see,
Abel, for example, is gathered together with believers in the
New Testament, gathered together in one, one family, one kingdom,
one faith, one Lord, one spirit, one baptism, one salvation. It's all the same. And I believe
that's backed up over in Ephesians 1 when he talks about the church
being one new man. And of course, he's dealing with
Jew and Gentile issues there, but I believe the concept is
included here. Well, look at verse 11. It says,
in whom also We have obtained an inheritance, that is in Christ.
We who believe now obtained an inheritance. We didn't earn an
inheritance. We don't deserve the inheritance.
We didn't even choose the inheritance until God the Holy Spirit convicted
us of sin and of righteousness and of judgment, but it's an
inheritance. Now remember what an inheritance
is. You don't work for your inheritance, you're born into it. Somebody
else works for it and bequeaths it to you in their will. And
that's why the gospel is called a testament, last will and testament. And it's ratified not by your
decision, it's ratified by the blood of Christ. And Christ sends
his spirit forth to make us willing in the day of his power to receive
it. But it's an inheritance, Peter
said it's an inheritance, it's incorruptible. that cannot fade
away. Now, my friend, I'll tell you
something right now. If the inheritance were based
upon us and conditioned upon us, it would be corruptible and
it would fade away. But because it's in Christ, in
whom also we have obtained an inheritance, it cannot be corrupted,
it cannot be lost. That's why sinners truly saved
by grace can never be lost again. It's because of Christ. He's
their intercessor. Well, he says in verse 11, in
whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated,
Paul was inspired by the Holy Spirit, keeps using that word
that people don't like today, but there it is. He says being
predestinated according to the purpose of him, now notice this,
that's God, of him who worketh all things after the counsel
of his own will. That's the sovereignty of God.
Now, I cannot explain all the ins and outs of God's workings
on this earth. He is the God of providence.
You know what providence is? That means God's government of
this world. You know, back in the birth of
this nation, the forefathers, some of the forefathers, you
know, a lot of people say this nation was founded upon Christianity
and it was not. Now, some of the forefathers
used some biblical principles in writing the constitution of
this country. And those are some principles
that apply to Christianity. But Christianity has to do with
the gospel of how God saves sinners now by his grace. And many of
the forefathers were deist. And what they believed is that
God was the supreme being who created the earth, but that God
created the earth and sort of wound it up like a clock and
then walked away and let it run on its own. that God is not actively
involved in the affairs of this world. But that's not biblical,
my friend. That's not even Christian. The
Bible says that the God of the Bible, the God of Christianity,
works all things after the counsel of His own will. And that is
a concept that is taught throughout the Old Testament and the New
Testament. One of the main verses that I recall is in Genesis chapter
50, you remember the life of Joseph and how Joseph, you know,
how he was hated by his brothers. and how they wanted to get rid
of him. And you know the story of how
they sold him into slavery. He ended up down in Egypt. Then
he ended up in prison. Then he ended up second to Pharaoh
on the throne of Egypt. You remember how his brothers
came back to him when the land was under, when they were starving,
they wanted food and they had to come to Joseph. They recognized
him and they were afraid that he would recognize them and seek
vengeance upon them. You remember what Joseph told
him? He said, don't be afraid. He said, just settle it down.
They were sinners and what they did was wrong and they were accountable
for it. But here's what Joseph said to
him. He said, you meant it for evil. but God meant it for good
to save much people alive. In other words, all of God's
workings in Joseph's life, even in the bad times, God was working
His sovereign purpose and working all things after the counsel
of His own will to preserve the nation, Israel, through Jacob
and his sons, for his purposes throughout the Old Testament
and up into the new. And of course, the main purpose was to bring
Christ according to the flesh into the world for the salvation
of his people. Well, I'll tell you another,
the most glaring example of God, for example, overruling the sins
of men in order to accomplish his will. Working all things
after the counsel of his will is in the death of Jesus Christ.
The greatest crime ever committed by man was murdering the Lord
of glory. But we know that that was the
purpose of God before the foundation of the world. And that's what
Peter said. He told the people at Pentecost
there, he said, he said, now what you did was evil, but you
did no more than what God had determined before to be done.
Read it in Acts chapter two. And you say, well, that boggles
my mind. Well, mine too. But that's how
great and powerful and wise and good God is. In Romans 8, 28,
it says, all things work together for good to them that love God,
who are the called according to His purpose. Now, how in the
world can that be? I'll tell you how all things
can work together for good, even all bad things. Because God is
the one who's working them, not you and not me. If we were doing
it, we'd be dead. We'd mess it up. But God works
all things. He says he works all things after
the counsel of his own will. Let me show you a verse, just
as an example, over in Isaiah chapter 46. Now you know, this
is Isaiah chapter 46 and verse nine. Now, I don't have time
to go through all the details of this, but here's what we're
saying. God's purpose from the very beginning,
was to glorify Himself in the salvation of His chosen people
by His grace through the Lord Jesus Christ who is God in human
flesh and based on His righteousness, His blood alone. That's God's purpose all along.
In order to accomplish that purpose in time, what God purposed before
time, And it was before time, before the world was created.
Second Timothy chapter one, Paul spoke of salvation, which was
given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. We've read it
in Ephesians chapter one, how God blessed his people with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. And that
was before the world began. The whole condition on Christ. But what God purposed before
time, in order to glorify Himself and the salvation of His people,
He accomplishes in time. You see, God's purpose before
time and God's will, sovereign will, does not negate or cancel
out the necessity of what He accomplishes in time. Well, His
whole purpose was to bring Christ, His Son, the second person of
the Trinity, into this world to be the Savior of His people.
And in order to accomplish that, God worked in history through
chosen people, those whom God chose, and He mainly chose the
nation Israel in a physical way under the Old Covenant. kept
them together for 1,500 years, mainly to bring Christ, according
to the flesh, through that nation. Not just to save the Jews, but
to save His elect out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation.
Well, none of that, none of it, was conditioned on the nation
Israel. If it had been, it would have
been a failure. And that's not just picking on
the Jews. That's a testimony against fallen
man. If it were conditioned on me or you or America, it would
fail. They failed miserably. But God,
according to His purpose, well, God expressed His displeasure
upon the nation through the prophets like Isaiah. And He told them
that in the future they were going into captivity. but that
he had not yet, he had not abandoned them because his purpose was
to bring Christ. And listen to this, this is Isaiah 46 verse
9. It says, remember the former things of old for I am God and
there is none else. I am God and there is none like
me. Remember history. Verse 10, now listen, declaring
the end from the beginning. Now that's a sovereign God. notice
it doesn't say declaring the beginning from the end he says
declaring the end from the beginning he's the one who purposed all
he knows the end of all things not because he's a crystal ball
gazer not because he's reading the tea leaves because he's determined
all things look at verse ten and from ancient times the things
that are not yet done saying my counsel shall stand and I
will do all my pleasure I'm going to do everything I want to do
Now you can't say that, can you? I can't say that. Everything
I wanna do, no. God can and does. You see, we
don't declare the end from the beginning. Now we can declare
the beginning from the end. I can tell you how today started,
but I can't tell you how it's gonna end up. But God is a God
who is sovereign. He's omniscient, yes. He's all
wise. He says in verse 11, calling
a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executed my counsel
from a far country. Now what he's talking about there
is the future restoration of the nation Judah from Babylon
by a heathen king named Cyrus. Cyrus was an unbeliever, he was
an idolater, but God used him to deliver Judah, Israel, from
Babylon and bring them back to their homeland. because he had
not yet brought Christ into the world. And so he says in verse
11, Isaiah 46, 11, Yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring
it to pass, I have purposed it, I will also do it. God's going
to do it. God's got a people. He sent Christ
into the world to establish the ground of their salvation in
His righteousness and He's going to save those people. Now, if
you look at that and you say, well, then it doesn't matter
what I do. I'm just going to throw up my hands. Oh, no. See,
you're not God. And you're not to play God. This
is God's secret counsels, His will. He works all things after
the counsel of His own will. But he's revealed things in his
word and listen to verse 12 of Isaiah 46. Harken unto me ye
stout hearted that are far from righteousness. Stout hearted
means one who is proud. One who boasts. One who thinks
that he can work his way to God and work righteousness. But they're
far from righteousness. Verse 13. God says, Harken, I
bring near my righteousness It shall not be far off, and my
salvation shall not tarry, and I will place salvation in Zion
for Israel my glory. Now without going into a lot
of detail, I may come back on that verse sometime and go into
more detail on it. But what he's talking about is
Christ. Zion is a picture of the church. Israel is spiritual
Israel. His glory is Christ. In other
words, he's saying, you seek the Lord. You seek Christ. And go back to Ephesians 1 and
look at verse 12. He says, that we should be to
the praise of His glory who first trusted in Christ. That's the key. Do you believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ? Now, you may not be able to figure
out all the workings of God's ways and providence, his sovereign
will. God works in mysterious ways,
his wonders to perform. But here's what I'm telling you.
My friend, we're sinners and we cannot save ourselves. We
cannot do anything in our works, our prayers to recommend us unto
God. We, listen, if left to ourselves,
we would go our merry way into eternal death, thinking that
we're saved the whole time. But God has commanded sinners
to seek after Him. And He says, if you seek Me,
you'll find Me. But how do you seek Him? Don't
seek Him in the sky. Oh, there's things about God
in creation. Seek Him in His Word. Seek Him
in Christ. seek righteousness. You know
the Jews that Paul wrote about in Romans chapter 9 and 10 were
those who refuse to submit to the righteousness of God revealed
in the gospel, which is Christ's righteousness imputed, charged,
accounted. He said they were ignorant of
God's righteousness and were going about to establish a righteousness
of their own. They were determined that they
could and would work their way into righteousness by which God
would be pleased with them and accept them and bless them and
bring them into glory. They believe salvation conditioned
on themselves. and they would not submit to
Christ. For Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believes. So when you think
about it and you see these issues of God's sovereignty and man's
responsibility, don't deny them. They're both true. We can't figure
it all out. But what God commands us to do,
the secret things belong to Him, the revealed things to us, He
commands us to seek the Lord, to seek salvation by His grace
in Christ, to seek righteousness. in Christ alone who is the Lord
my righteousness. There's no other. There's no
other way. Your only hope is to come to
God through Christ to be accepted in the beloved. I hope you'll
join us next week for another message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, write us
at 1102 Eager Drive. Albany, Georgia, 31707. Contact
us by phone at 229-432-6969 or email us through our website
at www.theletterofgrace.com. Thank you again for listening
today and may the Lord be with you.