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Each week a new verse-by-verse Bible study podcast given in expository style. Join us and see the Bible come alive as we study the truths that God‘s Word has for us.
Episodes
Sunday May 10, 2015
Sunday May 10, 2015
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.
Saturday Apr 25, 2015
Saturday Apr 25, 2015
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.
Saturday Apr 04, 2015
Saturday Apr 04, 2015
Is God through with Israel?
God is very clear in the Bible about His intentions for Israel. He tells us that not one single promise that God has made to Israel will fail to come true. God will keep every single one, and it won’t be because Israel deserves it, but it will be because God is gracious and merciful.
It is important to understand that God’s reason for dealing with the nation Israel in the past did not derive from their exceptional qualities or superior efforts. On the contrary, all of God’s actions are found in His own sovereign will. He functions through mercy in His dealings with Israel and all others, including when He deals with you and me.
Listen to this podcast to learn what God’s Word says is the answer to the questions that so many Christians ask today, What about all of those ancient promises? Are they cancelled now? Where does the Jew stand in relation to God in this new dispensation?
Wednesday Mar 18, 2015
Wednesday Mar 18, 2015
If someone were to tell you that God already knew whether you would go to heaven or hell before you were even born, in fact He knew it before He formed the universe, your reaction may be one of saying “Well, that’s not fair, I should get to choose.” You might also say that “If God already knows what’s going to happen, then we are just robots going about the things that God has already determined for us.”
Predestination and election are two biblical concepts that have divided theologians, churches, and religions, for centuries. How God can be sovereign with an unstoppable will, and man can have a free will is simply beyond our capacity to understand. For it is a concept difficult for man to accept that everything that God planned from the dawn of time has happened, is happening, and will happen. There have been no changes and no surprises. There are no emergency meetings in heaven between the Holy Trinity to react to something man has done. Man can try as hard as he wants, but nothing that man has done, is doing, or will do, can change the purposes, the plan, or the will of God. If man could, then man would be sovereign and not God.
Predestination is the biblical teaching that declares the sovereignty of God over man in such a way that the freedom of the human will is also preserved. It is only when we accept this truth that we can begin to completely surrender our lives to God.
Yet, it is important to emphasize that God's predestination of human events does not eliminate human choice. We cannot bypass verses such as:
Romans 10:13
13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
A simple key to the concepts of predestination and election is that if you want to be a member of the called ones, or the elect, then accept God’s calling to be one of the whosoever ones that call upon the name of the Lord. It really is that simple.
Listen to this podcast to learn what Paul really means when he tells us:
Romans 8:28
28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
KJV