The Works of God - His Plan (3)

Most people who were exposed to even a deluded form, if you can call it that, of the glory of God, where God manifested Himself to people, they couldn't even stand. They fell flat on their face. It's true of Moses, true of Isaiah, true of John in the book of Revelation. So certainly any time we come face to face with God, as we have been doing in His word, our all of Him should increase, our reverence for Him, our respect, fear of Him, in the biblical sense should certainly increase. Well, I trust that's part of the response and result of this study about what the Bible teaches about God. And we've been looking at a number of things over the months. His personality is attributes, the triunity of God, and now His works. And we've been talking about His plan, and we are in the third lesson on that tonight. And we're just barely into the lesson, basically. But what we've been trying to do is get a feel for the all-inclusive nature of God's plan. And remember that, and we'll see the practical impact of this. Hopefully, if not tonight, next week, we will see that the four practical implications of this and application to our lives. But I think we're already getting some of that. I think we're already seeing that the awesomeness of God in His plan should lead us to not only worship Him, but to rest in Him, to have trust in Him, to believe, and to have faith in Him. Remember that God's plan, as we defined it, is His eternal decision rendering certain all things that will come to pass. He has decided the course and outcome of all events. That's how we saw the Bible describes God's plan. And the verses we looked at in Daniel, Isaiah, and Ephesians. But most of our time, the last couple of weeks, has been spent talking about the all-inclusive nature of God's plan. I think sometimes when we think of God's plan, we think of God just... when we think of the plan of God, we think of the plan of salvation. That God, in eternity, passed plan for His Son to come and die. And that's the limit of what we think of when we think of God's plan. And it is so much broader than that, so much deeper than that, much more all-inclusive than that. And so the reason I wanted to spend some time on this is to cause us to have this awl of God's plan in its immensity. It's all inclusiveness. And so we've seen that God's plan Ephesians 1-11, He works all things after the Council of His own will, or plan. We've seen it includes the seasons and the boundaries of nations, the rise and fall of rulers, the duration of a person's life, even the circumstances of each life, the manner of our death. We've seen that it includes the good acts of people and even the evil acts of people. Now that's where we ended last time and we have to be a little careful with that last one. Remember how we talked about that last week that God is not the moral cause of evil. God does not cause people to do evil things. He is not the initiating cause of evil. That's within the limits of human freedom, but even that God has purposed in His plan will all fit together to work out for His glory in the end. And remember we ended last week by talking about the example of Hitler and what happened to the Jews in the middle part of the 20th century. And how God obviously did not want Hitler to destroy so many Jews and others. He did not cause Hitler to do that. But God was able to use that in His plan. He had a man on the world scene at just the right time so that the world would be sympathetic to Jews and allow a Jewish nation three years after World War II to be established. A Jewish nation has to be established for God's plan and purpose for human history to be fulfilled. It has to be established for the events of the tribulation to take place. And so God used all of that as evil and wicked as it was. God used all of that to fit into His purpose. God didn't cause it. But God is bigger than any man. There is no man that frustrates the purpose of God. And the man who felt like he was going to exterminate God's people actually ended up in fulfilling God's purpose for His people. So that's how big God's plan is and that's how we have to have to see those kinds of things. Remember Joseph said to his brothers, you intended to do me harm, but God used it for good. And that's what God does even with the evil acts of men. Okay, we're going to say a few more things about the all inclusiveness of God's plan. So let's begin with 2nd Thessalonians, chapter 2. 2nd Thessalonians 2, verse 13, where we find that the salvation of sinners is all a part of God's plan and God's purpose from eternity past. 2nd Thessalonians 2, verse 13, Paul says, but we ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters, loved by the Lord, because God chose you as first fruits to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. So even the salvation of sinners is a part of God's plan. God chose us. And then the way that works out in human history is that the Holy Spirit sets us apart, sanctifies us. That's his calling work, his convicting work that then brings us to salvation. And then that brings us to the point of belief in the truth. And that's how it works out in history. But the choosing takes place before the Holy Spirit ever does his work of conviction and drawing and before the belief in the truth. And then that calling in verse 14 is through the gospel. So the salvation of sinners, that's all a part of God's plan. But notice also the punishment of the lost is also a part of God's plan. Look at 1st Peter chapter 2. 1st Peter chapter 2 and verse 8. The punishment of the lost is a part of God's eternal plan. Verse 7 says, now to you who believe this stone, the cornerstone back in verse 6, who is Christ, to you who believe this stone is precious, but to those who do not believe the stone, the builders rejected, has begun to be saved. The cornerstone has become the cornerstone and a stone that causes people to stumble in a rock that makes them fall. They stumble because they disobey the message, which is also what they were destined for. And that's a difficult statement and it creates difficulty for a lot of people. But the punishment of the lost, the end result of people's disobedience to the message. What happens because of that, the punishment of the lost is destined by God. And what God has destined is he has destined that unbelief and disobedience to the message will result in eternal destruction. There are some who would go further than that and believe in what's called double predestination that God actually chooses some people to go to hell. And that I do not believe is biblical. I think a more biblical way and we'll talk a little bit about election tonight. I don't want to get too deeply into that because that's the doctrine of salvation. But I think a more biblical way to look at is we all came into this world destined for hell. God doesn't have to choose anybody to go to hell. We come into the world because we're under His wrath already. We're already in that same lump. And Romans 9 talks about God taking out of that lump some that He makes vessels of honor. And so God chooses those who are saved. He doesn't need to choose anybody to go to hell. We're all going that way anyway. And so there's no active choice on the part of God for people to be punished with eternal destruction. But God has fit in His plan. The fact that anybody who does not obey the gospel, obey the message of the gospel and believe will be punished in eternal destruction. I think that's a more biblical way to see that. But the punishment of the lost is all a part of God's plan. And then the greatest of world events is all a part of God's plan. Look at Revelation 13. Revelation 13. And verse 8. All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast. All whose names have not been written in the Lamb's book of life. The Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world. Okay, now that's an expression basically which means that it wasn't the day the world was created. God decided to to send his son. But from that time and before back in eternity past, the creation of the world is kind of the way to mark the beginning of time. From that time, it was already decided that the Lamb would be slain. God's, God's sending of his son was decided in eternity past in a part of the plan as part of the plan of God. And that that is just as certain in eternity past as when it happened. So he was slain. From the time started from the creation of the world, he was already slain. It was as good as done because it was a part of God's plan. And that's the greatest of all events in the world is the death of Christ. But not only the greatest of the events of this world is in God's plan, the most trivial circumstances of life are also a part of God's plan. A couple of passages on that first of all, Matthew 10 verses 29 and 30. Matthew 10, 29 are not too sparrows sold for a penny indicating the relative lack of worth of a sparrow, an insignificant animal. Okay, that's the point. Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your father's care or it would be better translated outside your father's will outside your father's knowledge will plan. Not one of them falls to the ground except it's part of God's plan. And then verse 30, even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Now we all know the joke about that, don't we? Not too hard for God to number some of your heads. But it's not just he knows the number, the total number, he knows the number of each hair. What it says is all the hairs are numbered. Okay, each one is numbered. So this morning when you combed your hair, God knew that that was number 6,385,412 that fell out. Okay. Yeah, Jim, you lost them a long time ago, didn't you? But God knows all of that and has all of that all of that insignificant detail is a part of his plan. So there's not a there's not one sparrow in planet earth that falls to the ground without our father's will and knowledge and care. He's intimately involved in every little insignificant it would seem to us detail of human life and then one other passage proverbs 16,33. The lot is cast into the lap, but it's every decision is from the Lord. Now that's some people's life verse. People who like to gamble that's their life verse. Just like, you know, first Timothy five is some people's life verse for Paul told Timothy to take a little wine for stomach sake. That's some people's life verse. But this actually is not talking about gambling. Do you remember how lots were used in Bible times in the Old Testament? Remember how that worked? What were lots used for? To determine God's will to make decisions. Lots were cast and we're not real sure how they worked, but but lots were cast kind of like stones, which would maybe either be different colors or shapes or whatever. They would be cast, but God controlled how they landed so that his will and decision would be accomplished. So God is in control even of the issue of using of lots in the Old Testament to make decisions. God's in charge of all that part of his plan. Okay, all things in planet earth, all things that happen on earth according to Psalm 119 verses 90 and 91. Psalm 119, 90 and 91. Your faithfulness continues through all generations. You established the earth and it endures your laws endure to this day for all things serve you, even the laws that he has put into creation. So what he's talking about in verse 91. You established the earth. It endures your laws endure to this day for all things serve you all things serve God. So everything that happens in planet earth is a part of God's eternal purpose and plan that leads me back to the verse we started with in the beginning Ephesians 111. God works all things after the counsel of his own will works all things after the counsel or the purpose of his own plan. So God's plan is all inclusive. There's nothing outside the plan of God. There's nothing that happens in the universe that God says, who? I didn't account for that. What are we going to do here? No, it's all it all fits in God's plan. Even even the things that we are responsible for and we have a choice about in the bigger picture that still all will fit in God's plan, the stream of history and the way the universe is going, which will end up glorifying him. Remember, all things are created by him and for him. All things are of him through him and to him. Romans 11 says it will all end up exactly where God intends it to be. So it all contributes to his plan. It's difficult for us to grasp the little bits and pieces and how they all fit together, but in God's mind, purpose and plan, they do all fit together. Okay, so I think we've spent enough time on the all-inclusive nature of God's plan. But before we move on, you're off a quiet tonight. This is unusual. Usually by now we've had 13 questions. Any comments or questions before we move to the next? Okay, so God's plan is all inclusive. Secondly, it is freely made. Ephesians 11 is the verse we've been using some, so I don't know that we need to turn back there, but it basically says once again, God works all things after the council of his own will. So God does what He chooses to do. It's the council of his own will. Look at Psalm 135 and verse 6. The Lord does whatever pleases him in the heavens and on the earth in the seas and all their depths. And then one other passage, Isaiah 40 verses 13 and 14. Who can fathom the Spirit of the Lord or instruct the Lord as his counselor? Who did the Lord consult to enlighten him? And who taught him the right way? Who was it that taught him knowledge or showed him the path of understanding? And those are rhetorical questions. They have an obvious answer. Who taught God the right way? Who taught him what to do? The obvious answer is no one. God does as he pleases. He does works all things after the council of his own will. So that basically means two things. Let's try to wrap our mind around this a little bit. The fact that God's plan is freely made means two things. Number one, there is no external compulsion on God. In other words, no one advised him. No one had to tell him what to do. No one had to tell him this is right or this is wrong. Man had no input into God's decision about things. We're not his counselor. We have not instructed him what to do. That's what those verses are talking about. So there's no external compulsion. Nothing on the outside of him that is compelling him or pushing him a certain direction or forcing him to go a certain way. His plan is freely made. He does as he pleases in the earth. But that also means there is no internal compulsion, which causes God to choose or act as he does. What I mean by that is there is no lack in God that causes him to need to fill a need or to sense that he must fill a need. God did not create us. God did not form any plan that has to do with us or anything else in the universe because he was lo and some or incomplete without us. God was perfect and he had perfect fellowship in the Trinity before anything else was ever created. And so there is no internal compulsion. There's nothing in God that says, you know, I'm really lonely or I really have this need. So I'm going to do this to fill my own need. There's nothing. There is nothing outside of God or inside him that compels him to act as he does. He does as he pleases in the earth, in the sea, wherever. No one has had to counsel him or give him advice and he works all things after the counsel of his own will, his own choice. So his plan is all inclusive, but it is also freely made. God does what he does and decides what it decides because he wants to. That's his desire because of his will. Okay. Comment or question there. All right. His plan is also eternal. Notice a couple passages that stress that Psalm 33. Psalm 33 and verse 11. We need to combine it with verse 10. Those two verses go together. So let's look at them together. The Lord foils the plans of the nations. He thwarts the purposes of the peoples, but the plans of the Lord stand firm forever. The purposes of his heart through all generations past and future. The fact that God's plans are eternal doesn't just mean that when he decides to do something that it's going to last forever. It means his plans have always existed and always will exist just like he does. Okay. So his plan is eternal. Ephesians 3.11 is another passage that speaks to this Ephesians 3.11 says verse 10. His intent was that now through the church the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. So God's purpose his plan is eternal. Now here's why it's important to see that God does not make his plan as history unfolds. Okay. God does not decide what he's going to do in response to situations. His plan is eternal. It is as eternal as he is. Now his plan is manifested in history. It's worked out step by step in historical events, but the decision was made long before time began. The decision was made in eternity past. Okay. That his plan was was composed then. All right. So his plan is eternal. And that is just as difficult to grasp as the fact that God is eternal. I will never forget when that thought first hit me. I was at summer camp when I was a teenager. I don't remember exactly what I was, but I still remember we were having devotions and then we were on our bunks at night, but ready to go to bed. And I laid there thinking about trying to understand what it meant that God was eternal. And I was thinking you go back so much in time and everything has to have a beginning. We all had a beginning. Everything else that we have in our experience had a beginning. God never had a beginning. And I'm thinking that just keeps going, keeps going, keeps going, keeps going. And somewhere it would have to start right now. Just keeps going keeps God is eternal. And just as he is eternal, his plan is eternal. That's really impossible to wrap our minds around because we are as humans. We are so key to time. Aren't we? Everything, everything we do our whole life is key toward the passage of time. So we don't understand the concept of eternity. It's difficult to grasp, but his plan is eternal. And then one final thing about the characteristic of his plan, his plan is for his glory. There is no question about this in the Bible. God's plan is for his glory. Lots of verses talk about that. Romans 11, 36. For from him and through him and for him are all things to him be the glory forever. All things come from him, all things operate through him and all things ultimately are progressing to him or for him. And he belongs or all the glory belongs to him because of that. So his plan basically results in his glory. Look at the verses and Ephesians Ephesians 1 and verse 6. He's talked about in verse 5 how he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ in accordance with notice again his pleasure and will to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the one he loves. And then in verse 12 he emphasizes it again. In order that we who were the first to put our hope in Christ might be for the praise of his glory that he emphasizes it again in verse 18. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he's called you the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people. Same thing in Colossians chapter 1 and verse 16, which is very similar to Romans. 11, Colossians 1, 16, for in him all things were created things in heaven and on earth visible and invisible where the thrones, powers, rulers, authorities those are all angelic creatures. All things have been created through him and for him. So all things ultimately are for God's glory and then Revelation 4, 11, one other passage. You are worthy our Lord and God to receive glory and honor and power for you created all things and by your will they were created and have their being. God created all things and because of that he is worthy to receive all glory. So the ultimate purpose of God's plan, the great motivating factor behind everything God does and allows is his glory. It will all ultimately show the wisdom and majesty of his plan and his purpose and his person. And so it's all ultimately for his glory. Now there are secondary motivations that go along with that. For instance, another motivation for God saving us is because he loved us. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. So there are secondary motivations which have to do with his love, his mercy, his grace, his faithfulness. All of those things are also motivations but the ultimate overarching all encompassing motivation for everything God does is his glory. It will all demonstrate his glory and that's what everything is designed to do. So those are the characteristics of his plan. Any comments or questions there? Good. Thank you John. I've been talking too much tonight. Okay. John has raised a good point and anytime you focus on one truth that is always balanced by other truths in the Bible, there's the danger of exactly what John said. It would be easy to walk out of here a fatalist or a determinist case or a straw. What will be will be what I do doesn't matter. My choice is my prayer is nothing matters. God's already got it all decided and that's never the response we should have because remember we talked about this before. In God's amazing knowledge ability is his glory which is way beyond us. In his plan he has incorporated human freedom. How all that works? I don't understand completely none of us can. But God has built into his plan the fact that we have freedom. And so within the overall huge stream of God's plan that is going to end up being exactly where he wants it, he's built into that the fact that we have freedom to choose. And so Hitler was not forced by God or any predetermined plan to do what he did. Hitler chose if he's own free will to do what he did. But God uses that as a part of his plan to fulfill his purpose for Israel. And so the same thing is true with us. It's true in salvation, true in anything we do. We have freedom to make choices. We have responsibility for those choices. But in the bigger picture God is using all of that to further his plan. It's not that we have no freedom because we do. We do have freedom of choice. I know the two sound mutually exclusive but in God's amazing plan and purpose they're not. They're both are taught in the scriptures. And we're going to get to that just a little bit about sovereignty and responsibility. Okay, I know that doesn't answer it adequately because you really can't answer it adequately. Yes. Yeah. And again, I've said this before. I always like to put a little asterisk when we put free will. We have will and we are responsible. It's not entirely free because it is bound by sin, the sin nature. We're all born with a sin nature which predisposes us towards sin. Once we get saved and we get the Holy Spirit, now we have another predisposition toward righteousness. And Paul talks about it in Romans 6 is being delivered from slavery to sin. Now you're a slave of Christ. So our will, I cringe a little bit at that term free will. We do have choice. We do have responsibility and we do have a will. We just have to put a little asterisk there and make sure we understand it's not entirely free. It is free in the sense that we can choose but our choices are constrained by either sin nature or by the Holy Spirit. So it is will. But yes, the way we ultimately bring glory to God is by obeying Him and that is our choice whether or not to do that. Now, there would be no yes. Yes. Yes. If there were no potential for evil, then there would be no way for us to as God's moral creatures to bring Him glory. I mean, that's the whole, it goes back to Adam and Eve in the garden. God created them sinless, perfect, perfect environment. But He left them with the option of disobeying Him if they so chose. Now, God could have created a universe in which it was impossible to disobey Him. But then love would not be genuine. We would not really glorify God. We would just be robots, you know, with no choice. So the fact that we do have choice and that evil is a potential does lead to us being able to glorify God because we do that through obedience to Him. Yes. What? That's where I clearly understand the talking about the text related to Jesus and how I saw that this is completely different than in Jesus' law. It appears to be in the garden as I don't know how to hide this. Just because we use the word, it's a lot of trouble, a lot of preparation. The character is He plans with us. My question is, can we consider anything that is to be the truth? There's no pride on the same thing in the plan. Yes. Give us all the looks. And now we have the might of us, and we find it about the history as to exactly what the plan is. I don't think we can say that we know all of God's plan, even from Scripture. There are some things that are still mystery. And the Bible talks about God's thoughts being higher than our thoughts, His ways being higher than our ways. We can't comprehend all of God's plan. We know what we know of God's plan from the Bible, and everything that is there is accurate and true, obviously. And so whatever knowledge we have of God's plan that comes from the Bible is true. And we could say to that extent, we know it's going to happen. We know what God's going to do, but we would not be able to fathom all of God's plan. He hasn't revealed it all. I don't know if that really addresses your question, Walt. That's a great question. I'm not sure. Pardon me? Oh, okay. Okay. Sorry. I'm troubled by hearing tonight. Bobby? Yeah. Right. Exactly. Good point. The fact that we don't know all of God's plan and purpose allows us to trust Him for what we don't know. We can't see exactly. Yeah. And we know the broad strokes of it, the broad outline of what He's wanting to accomplish because we know what is going to happen in prophecy, the broad strokes of it. But I don't know specific details about God's plan for my life for tomorrow or next week or next month. And so yes, because of that, we are cast upon Him to trust Him. Yeah. Good point. Kelly, do you have a question? I'm sorry. I didn't catch the last part of that. I'm very sorry. It ultimately works together. God works it all together to bring glory to Himself. Why He has what? God did not create evil and God did not place bad things in His plan. But God's plan is big enough to take into account that man will make evil choices. And then God works all of that together to bring good, which is His plan. It's not that God said, you know, I'm going to throw in my plan, a Hitler and I'm going to make him kill Jews. Well, it's great stuff. You know, God did not place evil in His plan. But a part of God's plan incorporates the fact that because of man's choices, he will, he will make evil choices. And God works all of those things together to accomplish His plan. So in that sense, it's all included in God's plan. Nothing, nothing comes into the universe that is new to God or that He hasn't taken into account and factored into His plan. It's all there. When Satan fell, yes. Yes, at least at that time they could. Angels were created in what theologians called, unconfirmed holiness. And that means they had a choice to make and they could choose evil. Once they chose, once Satan led his rebellion against God, then the angels were confirmed, either in holiness or unholiness. And every unholy angel that followed Satan became a demon. And every good angel has remained good to this day. And they can't change because angels cannot be redeemed. Angels are not a part of the body of people that Christ died for. So they're confirmed and hold it. But when they were created, they had a choice. They had a choice. And the first evil was Satan's choice in pride to rebel against God. And all of that is taken into account in God's plan. This is real tricky stuff here. And we have to make sure we make these clear distinctions. I appreciate Kelly's question because they're unable to, I think, get into that area where we need to make those distinctions that God is not the cause of evil. And that's what a lot of people stumble over. God is not the cause of evil. But God is not surprised by evil. And God will take all that happens, both good and bad, and factor it into the stream of his plan to accomplish what he's going to do for his glory. So we have to be very careful how we view that and not accuse God of evil. Okay, good. Good questions. Any others or insights or comments? Yes. Right, there would be no room for growth. There would be no none of God's plan and purpose for for us becoming like him would happen. I mean, obviously, if sin hadn't entered into the world through Adam, then we would have been perfectly obedient to God anyway. But a part of God's plan now because sin is in the world and he had all that fact into his plan because it is in the world and we do fail, then God redeems that God deals with us through conviction, like Jeanne said, and then causes us to want to get back to being close to him and uses even that struggle between the flesh and the spirit and so forth to produce in us Christ likeness. And again, ultimately his glory and our good. Again, God works all things together for good. And his good means his glory and our Christ likeness. Yes. Yeah. Yeah, that again, if God had not, if there were no choice, if there were no potential for evil, then there would be no real love for God, no real commitment to God. That commitment to him because that involves a choice. And that was built into the creation of man. That's why God put the knowledge of the tree of good, of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden because love without a test without the capacity to obey or disobey is not genuine love without a choice without a choice. Yes. Yes. No. Yeah. For 800 years from the Exodus to the captivity in the Babylon, 800 years God continued to send prophets to, you know, to reach his people to show him that he loved them. And I agree. None of us can really grasp that kind of love. Okay. Our time's up. I do want to briefly cover some distinctions, you know, terms that we often hear and sometimes confuse. Don't understand what they mean. Like Ford nation predestination, the election for knowledge, those kind of terms, decree, desire. There's a difference in what God has planned and what he desires sometimes and will illustrate that from scripture. And then we'll talk about some practical considerations and implications of God's plan. And then we will get to some of the other works of God, which we're just going to summarize briefly is creation, his preservation and his providence, those three major works of God. All right. Let's pray. Father, thank you for how great you are an awesome you are and Lord, we struggle to try to understand the amazing breadth and scope of your plan and what that says about you and who you are. So Lord, we do we do fall before you in awe, but we also are bolstered in our faith knowing we can trust you because nothing will surprise you. Nothing will be able to circumvent what you want to do. And so we can trust you with all that happens. And even the difficult most painful things in our lives, Lord, help us to trust you to work that as a part of your plan for good and somehow bring good out of those difficult things. So may our trust, confidence in you increase in Jesus' name we pray, amen.