Transcript: God's Power and Sovereignty: Understanding God Almighty's Authority

Music Music The title of our message today is called God Almighty Does Not Take Orders or Acquiesce His Power to Anyone. I believe one of the most impacting scriptures that has made a great impression on me in regards to the power and might and awesomeness of our great God Almighty, which shows His all-knowingness, His being the all-powerful one, and also his attribute of being everywhere at all times. This scripture is found in Isaiah chapter 45. We'll begin in verse 9. Our great God declares to all who has ears to hear, Woe to him who strives with his maker, a worthless piece of broken pottery, among other pieces equally worthless and yet presuming to strive with his maker. Shall the clay say to him who fashions it, what do you think you are making? Or your work has no handles. Woe to him who complains against his parents that have begotten him, who says to his father, what are you begetting? Or to a woman, with what are you in travail? Verse 11, thus says the Lord, the Holy One of Israel and his maker, Would you question me about things to come concerning my children and concerning the work of my hands? Would you command me? Verse 12. I made the earth and created man upon it. I will raise Cyrus up in righteousness, willing in every way that which is right and proper. And I will direct all of his ways and he will build my city and he will let my captives go. not for hire or for a bribe, says the Lord of hosts. When our great God declares a woe, this is like a death sentence for those who are violating his laws and commands. It is like a visual picture for those who are showing their extreme folly of dictating to the creator and how he should do his work. The Israelites, including ourselves today, must let God be God because only he knows all things, sees all things, and is ever-present no matter what the circumstances may be. Mere created creatures such as mankind are only clay vessels that God has made for his own purposes. We have no right to dictate or question our maker on how he should behave or what he has made. Isaiah chapter 45 verse 10 emphatically declares Woe to him who complains against his parents that they have begotten him or says to a father What are you beginning? Or to a woman With what are you in travail? You see, this same principle applies to the family realm. It is absolutely absurd stupidity to tell parents that their children should not have been born or should look different and need to be recreated in a different image. Today, we have a sick, demented, Satan-driven agenda taking place with the gender identity movement. This is taking place big time in America in this year of 2023. And this is where people, including children, can decide to change the gender they were born with if they so choose. Children in early elementary grade schools are being groomed and encouraged to do this, and some states tell parents they cannot interfere, and if they do, their child will be taken away from them. Adults have free choice to change their God-given gender assignment, but it will not be with the blessing of God. There will be great accountability one day with the sick-minded, demented people who are spearheading this agenda when they stand before their great judge, Jesus Christ, one day very soon. We read that many, including children who have made the choice, have great regrets later in life and blame their parents and doctors for not informing them of the physical and psychological torments and pains that they now live with and experience presently. You must know, this is all the evil plan of Satan to confuse and change what God Almighty has created. You see, parents are ultimately responsible for the birth of their children and the care of their children. And no other people should have anything to do with it or say about it unless there is neglect of some kind. In Genesis chapter 1, verse 1, After God had created all things, including the first man and woman, Adam and Eve, in his own image, he said, this is good. And since God is sovereign and the one who decides how humankind will relate to him and to others according to his righteousness and mandates written in the book of life called the Bible, he condemns the Satan-driven madmen dictating opposite and contrary doctrinal lies and agendas with the woes which we have read at the beginning of this word. Humankind is God's most wonderful masterpiece, dear Church Out of all that he has created Humankind is his greatest work If these Satan worshippers Do not repent of their horrible sins Against God and his precious masterpiece Called mankind They will receive his wrath and will be destined to the lake of fire called hell And if they do repent and conform to his mandates and precepts written in the book of life called the Bible, they will enjoy life ever after in unspeakable joy and peace. It is good for us to look back in scripture and see how God dealt with both Israel, who were called his chosen people, and also the Gentiles, who were considered pagans or heathens. In Apostle Paul's epistles, specifically relating to Romans chapter 9 through chapter 11, we see how God Almighty dealt with both Israel and the Gentiles. In Romans chapter 9, in verses 11 through 16, we see where God sovereignly elected Israel for his own people. Jacob was chosen by God to rule over his older brother Esau through no merit of his own. God himself ordained this chain of command. Read with me, please, in Romans chapter 9, beginning in verse 11. And the children were yet unborn and had so far done nothing, either good or evil. Even so, in order further to carry out God's purpose of selection, his choice and election, which depends not on works or what men can do, but on him who calls them. It was said to her that the elder son should serve the younger son. As it was written, Jacob I have loved. But Esau I have hated, which means that he held him in relative disregard in comparison with feelings for Jacob. Verse 14. What shall we then conclude? Is there injustice upon God's part? Certainly not. For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion, pity on whom I will have compassion. Verse 16. So then God's gift is not a question of human will and human effort, but of God's mercy. It depends not upon one's own willingness nor his own strenuous exertion as in running a race, but on God's having mercy on him. Now, we see in verse 11 that it is God's free choice, not of works or any particular nation he had chosen, But the mere purpose of God, who calls any people as he pleases, it is strictly his call to make them whom he chooses as the beneficiaries of his special blessings and also to distinguish them from all others. Paul's epistle in Ephesians chapter 2 verses 3 through 5 makes it very clear that God Almighty does as he desires and knows what is best. He doesn't look for man's approval, or does he need man's advice, or any input in any of his decisions. Ephesians chapter 2, beginning in verse 3. The word declares, Among these we as well as you once lived and conducted ourselves in the passions of our flesh, Our behavior governed by our corrupt and sensual nature, obeying the impulses of the flesh and the thoughts of the mind, our cravings dictated by our senses and our dark imaginings. We were then by nature children of God's wrath and heirs of his indignation like the rest of mankind. Verse 4, but God so rich in his mercy because of and in order to satisfy the great and wonderful and intense love with which he loved us. Even when we were dead, slain by our own shortcomings and trespasses, he made us alive together in fellowship and in union with Christ. He gave us the very life of Christ himself, the same new life which he quickened him for it is by grace. his favor and mercy, which you did not deserve, that you are saved, delivered from judgment, and made partakers of Christ's salvation. Did you see, in verse 3, that it was a choice based on God's grace, because we were all children of wrath? In Romans 5.12, Therefore, as sin came into the world through one man, and death as a result of sin, So death spread to all men, no one being able to stop it or escape its power, because all men sinned. Well, you see, because of the first sin of Adam in the garden, all peoples were born into the earth. The scripture says they've sinned. And therefore, God Almighty graciously elected the Gentiles. Because of sin, God determined to send his son into the world. Dear listener, this was an act of great kindness and compassion for the whole human race. It was his plan, and that the Savior would be born of a virgin, a descendant of the seed of Jacob, or Israel as it was later called. And since only the Lord could arrange and plan an effective method in redeeming us, his actions should never, ever be questioned. Paul's epistle in Romans chapter 9, in verses 19 through 22, declare the sovereignty of God in whatever he declares. Beginning in verse 19. You will say to me, why then does he still find fault and blame us for sinning? For who can resist and withstand his will? Verse 20 But who are you, a mere man, to criticize and contradict and answer back to God? Will what is formed say to him that has formed it? Why have you made us thus Verse 21 Has the potter no right over the clay to make out of the same mass the lump one vessel for beauty and distinction and honorable use and another for menial or ignoble and dishonorable use? Well, you see, God can never be accused of sending anyone into hell impulsively or in a fit of rage. God Almighty loves his human creation and goes to great extremes to offer a wavering soul ample opportunities to come to him. Isaiah 30 verse 18, one of my favorite scriptures, declares, Yet the Lord still waits for you to come to him so he can show you his love. He will conquer you to bless you just as he said he would. For the Lord is faithful to his promises. Blessed are all those who wait for him to help them. In Romans chapter 9, beginning in verse 22, we read, Vessels of wrath, which represents the unsaved. And also we read, if they were fitted to destruction. Verse 22, what if God wanting to show us his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath, prepared or fitted for destruction? and that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had prepared beforehand for glory. Verse 24, even us whom he called, not only the Jews, but also the Gentiles. You see, these are the people who will experience ultimate separation and hostility from God for their great sins against him and against his creation called mankind. Now we must ask, who has fitted these vessels or people of wrath for destruction? Did they do it themselves because of their unbelief and great crimes against God? Or did God arbitrarily reject them? Well, let me tell you, nowhere do we read in scripture that God sends people to hell because he arbitrarily wants them there. To the contrary, we read in 2 Peter 3, verse 9, that the Lord is not willing that anyone should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Also, that in 1 Timothy 2, verses 3 and 4, the word declares, For such praying is good and right, and if it is pleasing and acceptable to our God, our Savior, who wishes all men to be saved and increasingly to perceive and recognize and discern and know precisely and correctly the divine truth. You see, anyone who ends up in hell can never claim that the Lord deliberately sent them there. All people who go to hell have chosen that place for themselves. I remember a dream I had many years ago. The surrounding was like that of a third world nation. I was sitting in a passenger side of a vehicle when I saw a troubled woman come rushing towards a car. I got out of the car, went up to her, and put my hands on her face. I looked her in the eyes and kindly said to her, Do you know Jesus Christ? She pushed me away and looked at me and defiantly said, I can choose hell if I want to. The Lord spoke to me in the dream and said, If she chooses hell, that is not your burden to carry or bear if she does. We all know that Jesus Christ has carried the burden for all And people have choice. Amen. And we have seen according to scripture that God gives ample warning and opportunity for people to make the right choice in accepting Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Dear church, you must know that the Lord is the only one who prepares anyone unto salvation. And this is clearly indicated in Romans chapter 9 verse 23 which declares, And what if he thus purposes to make known and show the wealth of his glory in dealing with the vessel's objects of his mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for his glory? Well, in the Greek, the word translates, he has prepared them beforehand. He prepared them ahead of time. And this means that all vessels of mercy are actively prepared by God himself because these people have elected in their hearts and their souls to do the will of God, not their own will or ways, is right and good for their own lives. The Holy Spirit is very active in their lives, keeping them on the straight and the narrow way. Therefore, no one can ever claim that heaven is a deserved place for them, but needs to understand that it is totally due to God's mercy. And we see in Romans chapter 11, verse 33, where God's mercy causes Paul, I like to say that he just exclaims out of the gratefulness and the goodness that he has learned of God in his heart. He cries out in verse 33, Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God. How unfathomable, inscrutable, unsearchable are his judgments, his decisions. How untraceable, mysterious, and undiscoverable are his ways, his methods, his paths. Verse 34, For who has known the mind of the Lord? Who has understood his thoughts? Or who has ever been his counselor? or who has first given God anything that he might be paid back or that he should claim a recompense. Verse 36. For from him and through him and to him are all things. For all things originate with him and come from him. All things live through him and all things center in and tend to consummate and to end in him To him be the glory forever Amen. So be it. Paul exclaims, as we have just read, oh, the depth of the riches. You see, God's mercy makes rich all those who by faith become the recipients of his mercy. the richest people on earth are really the ones on whom God has shown his abundant mercy what love God has demonstrated dear ones in his mercy one is truly rich in the wisdom and knowledge of God regarding his wisdom and knowledge God makes us also wise the Greek word for wisdom is called Sophia Growing in the wisdom of God leads us and gives us the ability to have a right relationship with God. And this is where our loving God opens up the avenues of supernatural knowledge to know the depth of understanding where his knowledge now becomes our knowledge. In such a way God makes us knowledgeable when his knowledge becomes ours. and because of the wonderful attributes of God we know he cannot make any mistakes or deceive us regarding our salvation and leading us on to the paths of righteousness it is in him we have faith and in him we trust hallelujah well again in verse 33 the word declares oh the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God how unfathomable inscrutable, unsearchable are his judgments, his decisions and how untraceable, mysterious, undiscoverable are his ways, his methods, his paths Dear listener, we must trust in God's wisdom since his judgments are unsearchable and it is impossible to evaluate God's judgment as it is for a little child to understand his parents' decisions for them We must simply trust and obey. Verse 34 declared, For who has known the mind of the Lord? And it is very clear that vessels of clay, mere man can never act as God's counselor. Bottom line, won't happen. We read in the opening scripture, Or who has been his counselor? You see, these verses show that God never asked advice when he created the world, and also he doesn't require or desire it concerning the final arrangement of all things. You must know that Jesus Christ made a prior investment when he went to the cross for all the whomsoevers would accept his offer of salvation. and Apostle Paul has pointed out the obvious fact that we have made no contribution whatsoever to God and therefore we deserve nothing in return from him. Jesus has made the original down payment for the souls of mankind. It was not man, but the creator who sacrificed everything to have each and every one of us. As the original investor in us, God is the only one who has the right to judge what ultimately happens to his investment. In other words, man has no claim on God whatsoever. He is entirely his own boss and no one tells him what or how he should do anything because he is God. I remember a number of years ago when a man who claimed to be a Christian said in a boastful and proud way we live in a modern advanced society and world today God has to change and conform to the times remember our message today dear listener is called God Almighty does not take orders or acquiesce his power to anyone Our opening scripture declared Woe to him who strives with his maker A worthless piece of broken pottery Among other pieces equally worthless And yet presuming to strive with his maker Shall the clay say to him who fashions it What do you think you're making Or your work has no handles Well I am afraid That there are many who purport to be believers And followers of Jesus Christ and really do not know him. They just know him in name only. Oh, yes, they may know about him, but they do not truly know him or have conformed to his image or likeness. They are Christians, like I said, in name only. There are many violations in this world today where people are proclaiming to know God but are actually instruments of Satan doing his dirty work in deceiving and leading many professing Christians astray. Dear ones, please, I implore you to know the word of God for yourself. Study to show yourself approved by God. And lastly, pray for yourself and for your loved ones in the body of Christ not to be deceived by the workers of iniquity or better and shamefully called worshippers of Satan who are hard at work in these last days to take all they can into perdition with themselves. Satan has promised them a great reward for this labor that they have been deceived to believe. Pray for their souls, that they may be redeemed from the lies they live in and that they may be delivered from the woes that await them at their judgment day. May God have mercy upon us all. Thank you.