God Is Constant Adn God Is Dependable

God is Constant and God is Dependable (EPH 1:11-14)

“PRAYER”

With all of the events of the past year there is no way that any preacher of the Word of God could not be affected to exhort the congregation to react. It is the Will of God for His people to respond to the Gospel call to go and tell.

At the University of Virginia Tech April 2007, there was a brutal massacre, 33 people lost their lives in a needless act of violence. The next week at Johnson Space Center in Houston there was an incident where a contractor killed another employee and then himself.

These events have shocked the world. These events have forced people to deal with unimaginable trauma and grief. The only way for one to understand the loss and the pain is for them to go through that same pain and loss.

But, and this is a big BUT, If that person knows Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, if they have given their life to God and have asked for the atoning sacrifice of Jesus to be applied to their life, then this is not goodbye it is see you later. If they are washed in the blood then this is not a time to morn their death, but to rejoice in their life and to know that they may have left us here, but they are in the presence of God almighty.

Now there is another side to that, there is the sadness of knowing that a family member, a friend, a neighbor, anybody it doesn’t matter who they are, there is a sadness in knowing that if they never hear and believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ, then they are bound for a Devil’s Hell, and there is nothing that will change that.

Some people would like to argue that there is no need for evangelism because God predestined who was going to burn and who would be saved. The problem with this is that it is not Biblical.

Let us look to our text for today and see what the Word of God really says.

Ephesians 1:11-14.

Isn’t it good to know that when God makes you a promise that He keeps that promise?

Isn’t it good to know that when God does something nobody and nothing can undo that thing?

Isn’t it good to know that when God guarantees you something it is something that is going to happen and there is nothing that can stop it?

Isn’t it good to know that God is Constant and God is Dependable?

What we are going to look at today is how we know that we have an inheritance because we believed, we were sealed, and God has guaranteed it. The same God that promised Noah he would be safe through the flood is the same God that has guaranteed that if you place your faith in Jesus Christ the risen Son of God then you have an inheritance with Him.

Let us talk about predestination for just a minute. Just for a second I want to put this in context. This does not mean God has chosen some to go to heaven and some to go to hell, it means that God knew before the foundation of the world that you would either accept or deny Jesus, God knows if you will chose to die and fry or live.

This text could be taken to mean that there is no need for evangelism because God has predetermined who will be saved according to His will, so all we are doing is wasting our time when we go our knocking on doors. One might argue this. Let me quote a text for you:

15 And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, 16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. (2 Peter 3:15-17)

If someone wishes to say that evangelism is not necessary, as some people do, I will propose one question in response. How did you come to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior if evangelism is not necessary? If someone had not found it necessary to evangelize you, to teach you what the Gospel says, then you would still be lost and covered in sin and on your way to a devil’s hell, because Evangelism is the calling of every believer. Look at 2 Timothy 2:2, take what you heard from me, when I told it to you in the presence of many others, share it with faithful men who will share it with others.