The Master‘s Class, LifeChange Church Wichita

TO BE ELECTED BY GOD (1 Peter 1:1b to 2a)

The Bible emphatically teaches the doctrine of election, and this is a doctrine that has caused endless debates and disputes throughout the ages.  People will either go off the deep end into hyper-Calvinism with this doctrine, or they avoid it like the plague because they don’t understand it.  When it really is quite simple to understand.  Man complicates it by assuming that God cannot know anything that man does not know.  That really is the heart of the problem for man in understanding this doctrine.  

However, the truth is that man’s mind is limited, and God’s mind is unlimited.  Man’s capacity to know things is finite, and God’s knowledge is infinite.  Man’s knowledge is bounded by the constraints of time, it encompasses what has happened in the past and what is happening right now.  Man can only guess at the future.  

God created the concept of time so His knowledge is unconstrained by time.  He knows all things from before time began until well past the day when eternity makes time irrelevant, and He knows it all at the same time.  God cannot learn anything, since by definition He already knows it all.  

In today’s lesson, Peter gives us his own inspired insight into the subject.  He bluntly declares that our election is based on God’s foreknowledge.  Without hesitation, or qualification, Peter says that God has elected a certain company to become members of the royal family of heaven.  However, God does this and never violates our own volition, or our own right to choose.  God woos, He does not ravage.  He does not endow His creations with wills of their own, with the power of choice and personal accountability for their behavior, and then act as though they had no such thing.  

God’s election of certain members of the human family to become members of the royal family takes into account the response of each individual when confronted by the Holy Spirit with the offer of salvation.  While this may sound difficult to understand, the simple truth of it is that if you want to be a part of the elect of God, then choose Christ when the Holy Spirit presents salvation to you.  

Salvation boils down to one question, will you accept or reject Jesus Christ as your Lord and Master.  

If you say yes, then you will become part of the elect of God, and you will spend eternity in heaven with Christ.  

If you say no, then you will not be part of the elect of God, and you will spend eternity burning in the fires of Hell, forever without the light of God.  

Listen to this powerful Biblical doctrine of God’s foreknowledge and how it can bless you because God knows who you are, where you are, what you are going through, and He has a plan for you.  If you are believer, then God will empower you to deal with any persecution or trial that you may be going through.  He knew about this before it ever occurred and He has prepared you for it, and He is with you every step of the way.  

GOD'S PLAN WILL BE DONE (Romans 16:21-27)

One of the great Biblical promises that we have as believers is that God’s plan will be done.  No matter what man does to mess things up in this world, no matter what schemes and plots that Satan has for this world, God’s plan will be done.  It will be done just like He set it up to be done before He created the universe and everything in it.  Nothing has changed in this plan, and nothing will change.  God’s plan will be done, period.  

The fact that I know this promise of God to be true is comforting to me, and that is why God gave us this promise, so that we could be comforted knowing that God was in control.  Paul closes out this epistle with a declaration of this promise.  The almighty God of the Bible is the everlasting God, and His purposes and His goals are pursued by Him from age to age.  Christians may be feeble and frail, but God is strong.  The church may look like it is weak and divided, but it is the body of Christ and therefore it is linked to Omnipotence.  Whatever else may fail, the work of God cannot.  

Paul draws our thoughts to Him whose loving counsels foresaw the fall of man, provided for it before the foundation of the world, foreknew us, foreknew you and me, loved us into the kingdom, and who arranges for all things to work together for our good and His eternal glory.  Paul also draws our thoughts to the Son of His love, our blessed and glorious Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.  And having filled our hearts and mind with these thoughts, Paul says a final Amen to this great epistle.

SHOULD A CHRISTIAN SUBMIT TO A GOVERNMENT THAT REJECTS GOD? (Romans 13:1-2)

Now, I have to admit that this is an interesting question as we see the political races begin to escalate.  Without question, our current government, including the democrats and most republicans, have rejected the role that God has played, is currently playing, and will play in our nation and our world.  

So, the question is, should a Christian submit to a government that rejects God?

What role should the believer play in fighting against this type of lawlessness?

Do we stand by and do nothing, or actively fight against it?

Paul is going to tell us in our lesson today that human government derives its authority from God, and that governments are appointed by God.  Evil men may be elected to power or they may seize power.  They may have no thought of God at all, but the very fact that God permits them to seize the reins of power means that God has a purpose to fulfill even in their cruel and evil ruling.  

It is a saying well worth considering that people get the kind of government they deserve.  If you vote in a socialist tyrant, then you are going to get a socialist tyrant as your leader.  If you reject God’s truths about right and wrong in your lives, then you are going to have a government that rejects God’s truths about right and wrong, and that means the concepts of greed, corruption, dishonesty, cruelty, and lawlessness will control your government.

Governments may be weak or strong, just or oppressive, benevolent or cruel, wise or foolish, but in each case God has His way and moves His own plans forward.  We may not see God’s plan and purposes in an evil government, but God has a plan nonetheless, for God is in control.

Paul is going to tell us in our lesson today that disobedience to governmental authority is disobedience to God and will be judged accordingly.  We are going to see that the believer has their citizenship in heaven, but they are also a resident in the world down here, which gives them a twofold responsibility.  If there is a conflict between the two, then our first responsibility is always to our Lord in heaven.  We have a responsibility to human government, but our first responsibility is to always obey the law of God.  

I don’t believe that the Word of God declares the role of the believer is to fundamentally change our nation.  It is to preach a gospel that is the power of God unto salvation which will bring into existence individuals like the men who signed the Declaration of Independence and gave us a government of laws.  If there is to be a fundamental change in this country, then it will be God that will bring it about by working in the hearts of man.

The truth is that there is nothing is wrong with our form of government; there is something wrong with the individuals who are in positions of power.  We need to remember this as we choose the people who will fill these positions in the next election.  

Should we as believers run for political office?  Absolutely, we need people in these offices that understand the spiritual heritage of our founders.

Should we as believers support those candidates that respect the Word of God and the role that God plays in our society?  Absolutely, we need to discern what the true beliefs of a candidate are and support those who respect the will of God.

Should we as believers, lawfully, and actively, stand against the murder of innocent children, and the corruption of the God instituted concept of marriage?  Absolutely, we need to stand against lawlessness in the world.

Should we as believers submit to a government that is corrupt and rejects God?  The Bible says that we must, and my prayer is that God will grant us the power and the wisdom to do as the Word of God demands that we do.  

GOD'S PURPOSE IN RESTORING ISRAEL PART II (Romans 11:27-36)

Over the last couple of weeks of our study, Paul has declared that it is certainly within the power of God to not only temporarily remove Israel from the place of religious privilege as a result of their rejection of Him, but it is also within the power of God to restore a believing Israel to that place once again.  The almighty Creator of all things, has the power to do as He has promised.  

Not only is it within the power of God to restore Israel, Paul also tells us that it is within the purpose of God to restore Israel.

Paul has left no question that God will fulfill His promises to Israel.  God will restore Israel, for it is God’s purpose to restore Israel.  God planned these events from the foundations of time, and nothing that man has done, or can do, will change God’s plan and purpose.  God chose Israel to be His channel of truth and righteousness to the world, and that is what they will be when He restores them.  

What is God’s purpose in restoring Israel?  It is to show His power and His glory to a world that has rejected Him.  He is telling the world that there is but one true God, and that He alone is deserving of our worship.    

GOD IS SOVEREIGN (Romans 9:19-33)

What does it mean when we say that God is sovereign?

We begin with the statement that God is the Creator of all things.  God has made each of us in the manner that He chose to do so.  God can make one person for honor, and one person for dishonor, by the sovereign will of the Creator.   He has the sovereign right of the Creator to do so.

God reaches into the same lump of humanity and takes out some clay to form Moses.  Again, He reaches in and He takes out of the same lump the clay to make Pharaoh.  That clay was all ugly, unlovely, sightless, and sinful at the beginning and God used it to make Moses and to make Pharaoh.  

God’s mercy then makes a vessel unto honor, that is, a vessel for honorable use.  

Then, it is the Potter's right to make another vessel for dishonor or common use. 

The Bible describes some people as being vessels of wrath fitted to destruction.  Those marked for destruction are fitted to destruction, but, and this is important, it is not stated that God so fitted them, as if God had prepared those vessels for wrath in contrast with those He prepared for mercy.  

God does not create people in order to damn them.  However, when people behave like Pharaoh, God so deals with them that their inbred wickedness reveals itself in such a way that they become fit objects for His punishment, or they are fitted for destruction.  

2 Timothy 2:20-21

20 But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour.

21 If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work.

KJV

God created both Moses and Pharaoh.  God knew that Moses would be a vessel unto honor when He created him.  God also knew that Pharaoh would be vessel unto dishonor when he created him.  

Moses chose to believe in God and, therefore, he was prepared by God unto glory.  Pharaoh chose to reject God and, therefore, he was fit for destruction, or fitted to destruction.  

God is sovereign, and man is granted a free will by God.  God chooses those whom He will show mercy to, and man is free to choose Jesus Christ as His Lord and Master, or to reject Him.  As the Sovereign Creator, God in His mercy has offered eternal life to anyone who will call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and make Him their Lord and Savior.  

THE SOVEREIGN WILL OF GOD (Romans 9:14-18)

What does it mean when we say God’s sovereign will?

Does it mean that God, and God alone, determines the absolute truths about what is right and what is wrong, or does the concept of right and wrong depend on the social values established by man?

Does it mean that no matter what man does, God’s predetermined series of events, or God’s plan for the universe, will be completed?  In other words, will God’s will be done, no matter the choices that man makes?

Does it mean that God can show mercy to whom He chooses to show mercy to, and wrath to whom He chooses to show wrath to?  Do the actions of man determine whether they will receive God’s mercy, or God’s wrath?

God’s actions toward man are always just and righteous because God defines the meaning of the words just and righteous.  If this was not the case, and man decided what was just and righteous, then God would not be the sovereign God.

Does the creation have the right to question the actions of the Creator?  Can a potter make one vase cherished and special and the other vase ordinary and common?  Does the potter’s creations have the right to challenge the work of the potter?

These are the questions that Paul will answer in our lesson today.  Certainly the sovereignty of God is one of the more difficult concepts for a stiff-necked, willful, and arrogant, mankind to accept.  But God is sovereign, God is also merciful, and we have much to be thankful for that both of these facts are true.  

Listen to this podcast to learn about the sovereign will of God.  

THE PATH TO REJECTING GOD (Romans 1:21-32)

As a believer, the fact that there is a God, that He is my Creator, and that He alone determines the absolute truths about right and wrong, are so clear and so obvious to me that I have a hard time understanding how someone could not see the same thing.  Forget about all of the theology, the religious ordinances, I am just talking about the fact that God exists and that I have an obligation to recognize that.

The simple fact that we exist screams out to me that there is a Creator.  To believe otherwise requires so much faith in the feeble knowledge of man that it becomes a religion of its own.  It is a religion born out of the desire to feel good about living a life that you know is against the will of God.  There can be no other reason for rejecting what is so obvious.  It certainly is not based on objective science.

So how did man fall so far from worshiping God and what are the consequences of that rejection?  That is the topic of our lesson today.

THE SURENESS OF GOD (James 1:16-20)

Have you ever considered how important it is that God does not change in any way?  This truth is the foundation our faith is based on.  

God’s love does not change.

God’s holiness does not change.

God’s judgment against sin does not change.  

God’s promises found in His Word do not change.  

God’s plan for eternity will not change.  The question is where are you going to spend it?  With the almighty, unchangeable God, or separated forever from Him in the fires of Hell.

God will never entice you to do evil.  He does not say that something is sin in the Old Testament and then say that it is not a sin in the New Testament.  

God does not change with the social values of man.  The Bible does not change to suit the changing morals and ethics of the world.  

What was sin when the world was created, was sin when Abraham was called to the Promised Land.  

What was sin in Noah’s day before the flood, was sin on the day the Babylonians took the Jews away into captivity.

What was sin in the days that Jesus walked on the earth, is sin today before He returns to gather His church and establish His Kingdom.  

Rejecting God to worship the things of this earth, has always been a sin, and it still is.  Listen to this podcast to learn the value of God’s sureness.

JESUS CONFRONTS HIS ENEMIES (Mark 11:27 to 12:12)

How well do you choose the times to confront your enemies, and when it is time to walk away? 

Most of us are not real good at making that choice, we either let people walk all over us, or we tend to push our will upon others. 

Jesus had spent much of His ministry avoiding a direct confrontation with the religious leadership of the Jews.  His previous visits to Jerusalem had been subdued and quiet.  Jesus actually spent most of His public ministry walking the countryside between Capernaum and the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee and all the points in-between. 

He would respond to direct challenges from the local leaders of the synagogue and the representatives sent from Jerusalem to see what was happening.  But when it became too contentious, He would simply move on to the next village.  Jesus devoted much of His time to teaching the people and performing wonderful miracles of healing the sick and raising the dead.  He was developing a great following among the people that would serve Him well at the end of His ministry. 

Jesus now becomes much more direct in His confrontation with the Jewish leadership.  He makes a triumphal entry into the city of Jerusalem, He cleans out the temple courts of the tradesmen that were managed by the chief priest, and then He teaches and heals in the temple without the approval of the chief priests. 

Listen to this podcast to learn how Jesus controlled His own destiny as He pushed the Jewish leadership into completing the tasks that the Lord’s Father had sent Him to do.  Jesus was driving to the cross.  He was in control.  He knew what He was doing and where it would lead, but He did it anyway so that you and I could have everlasting life. 

Jesus was never more Kingly during His public ministry than He was during this last week before the cross.

THE ONE WITH ABSOLUTE POWER (Mark 5:1-20)

What kind of world do you think we live in?

Is it one of promise, and goodness, where evil is a rarity?The world is full of promise, but one look at the daily headlines tells us that evil is not a rarity. It happens every day. There is a constant struggle between darkness and light.

Knowing that evil exists, each of us tries to create a bubble of security around us. We try to shield our families from the darkness. Yet evil intrudes when a man walks into a school and shoots innocent children.

Listen to this podcast to learn the source of that evil, and find the only ONE with the absolute power to defeat it.