“The Plan of God” - Pt 1
Notes
Transcript
We begin our study, “BACK TO BASICS,” with God--because that's what the Bible begins with!
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
The Bible doesn't set out to prove the existence of God, it assumes it!
6 Now without faith it is impossible to please God, since the one who draws near to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
YOU START WITH GOD!
There is no One else, He is the beginning and the end! He is everything!
In these first two messages we are going to address TEN ISSUES concerning the plan of God, trying to answer the question, "WHY?"
33 Oh, the depth of the riches and the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments and untraceable his ways! 34 For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor? 35 And who has ever given to God, that he should be repaid? 36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen.
11 In him we have also received an inheritance, because we were predestined according to the plan of the one who works out everything in agreement with the purpose of his will,
That's why we start with God! Everything that has ever existed or ever shall exist comes out of Him, is operating through Him and has as its final goal and destination God Himself!
He is working all things "…according to the plan of the one who works out everything in agreement with the purpose of his will!"
PRAY - "Draw us...show us the basic questions...firmly root us in Your Word! Give us a firm foundation!"
I. THE PLAN OF GOD IN CREATING ALL THINGS!
I. THE PLAN OF GOD IN CREATING ALL THINGS!
"What was His plan, motive, reason for making the world?" "Why did He start time, space & location?" "Why did He develop the material world?" "What is the purpose of the planets & the universe?" "Why?"
11 Our Lord and God, you are worthy to receive glory and honor and power, because you have created all things, and by your will they exist and were created.
I believe that eventually you will come to this simple answer to this most basic question, "Why Lord, did You create it in the first place?"
And the simple answer, though complex, is because He wanted to!
It deals with His own nature--something He was going to accomplish. It was His Own will & pleasure. After all, there was no one else around that was any competition at all!
He had a perfect right to do whatever He wanted to. That is the Bible's premise: "In the beginning God created the heavens and earth..."
Why is that important to me? Because His same creative will is operating in your life!
28 We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.
29 For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.
30 And those he predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also justified; and those he justified, he also glorified.
31 What, then, are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us?
1 The heavens declare the glory of God, and the expanse proclaims the work of his hands.
2 Day after day they pour out speech; night after night they communicate knowledge.
3 There is no speech; there are no words; their voice is not heard.
4 Their message has gone out to the whole earth, and their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens he has pitched a tent for the sun.
5 It is like a bridegroom coming from his home; it rejoices like an athlete running a course.
6 It rises from one end of the heavens and circles to their other end; nothing is hidden from its heat.
In the creation, God is telling us something about Himself!
Not only did He make everything because He wanted to, but He also wants to reveal Himself in His creation!
GOD WANTS US TO KNOW HIM! He made it all according to His purposes. But one of those purposes is that we would know Him!
II. THE PLAN OF GOD IN MAKING HUMANITY!
II. THE PLAN OF GOD IN MAKING HUMANITY!
26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, the whole earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth.”
27 So God created man in his own image; he created him in the image of God; he created them male and female.
7 Then the Lord God formed the man out of the dust from the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.
"Why Lord, did You make humanity?"
Part of that answer is found in (1:27) - "So God created man in His own image..."
Our personalities reflect the character of God (though they are inadequate and limited--but you can see God in people!). We possess the image of God ourselves!
I think because God thinks. I know because God knows. I feel emotions because God does. I have volition and will because God does. I can make decisions because God does!
Q: “Why did He make me in His image?"
A part of that answer is found in the Psalms.
3 When I observe your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you set in place,
4 what is a human being that you remember him, a son of man that you look after him?
5 You made him little less than God and crowned him with glory and honor.
6 You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet:
7 all the sheep and oxen, as well as the animals in the wild,
8 the birds of the sky, and the fish of the sea that pass through the currents of the seas.
21 My mouth will declare the Lord’s praise; let every living thing bless his holy name forever and ever.
6 Let everything that breathes praise the Lord. Hallelujah!
A: So we would BLESS and PRAISE His Name!
He made us with dominion, understanding and volition (free will) so we would choose to worship Him.
19 You will say to me, therefore, “Why then does he still find fault? For who resists his will?”
20 On the contrary, who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? Will what is formed say to the one who formed it, “Why did you make me like this?”
21 Or has the potter no right over the clay, to make from the same lump one piece of pottery for honor and another for dishonor?
22 And what if God, wanting to display his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much patience objects of wrath prepared for destruction?
Do you follow the argument? The antagonist is asking "Why?" and Paul's response is, "We don't even have the right to ask the question!"
“Why a Hitler, a Stalin, why would God allow such people to even exist?"
23 And what if he did this to make known the riches of his glory on objects of mercy that he prepared beforehand for glory—
"How would we know the riches of His glory and mercy if we did not see the contrasting sin and awfulness of the human race?"
God is allowing it, enduring it, tolerating it; because He's demonstrating His own character!!
He can raise up a Pharaoh (which Paul mentions earlier) and because of His wrath spread praise to His Name through a pagan man!
God is working through everything He has made and everything that happens to bring a glorious purpose towards Himself!
KEY: Man is NOT the object of God's great plan--JESUS IS!
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
16 For everything was created by him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities— all things have been created through him and for him.
17 He is before all things, and by him all things hold together.
18 He is also the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything.
III. THE PLAN OF GOD IN DIVIDING HUMANITY INTO THE NATIONS!
III. THE PLAN OF GOD IN DIVIDING HUMANITY INTO THE NATIONS!
“Why did you divide mankind the way you did? Couldn't there be a better way?”
In fact, in early civilization, they thought that God made a mistake.
Following the Flood, God told them (Genesis 9:1), “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.”
1 God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.”
But in Genesis 11:4 they said, NO!
4 And they said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the sky. Let’s make a name for ourselves; otherwise, we will be scattered throughout the earth.”
“Why did God divide them this way?”
The answer is found in,
26 From one man he has made every nationality to live over the whole earth and has determined their appointed times and the boundaries of where they live.
27 He did this so that they might seek God, and perhaps they might reach out and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.
28 For in him we live and move and have our being, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also his offspring.
“…He did this so that they might seek God!”
Isn't it interesting that the Great Commission is to make disciples of all nations!
IV. THE PLAN OF GOD CONCERNING THE NATION OF ISRAEL!
IV. THE PLAN OF GOD CONCERNING THE NATION OF ISRAEL!
“Why is the plan of God so much centered on the nation of Israel?”
“Why did God establish Israel as a separate and unique nation?”
If you know anything about the Bible, or if you’re a new believer, you're going to discover that a great portion of this book is written about Israel and the Jewish people.
Many new Christians (and some old) are troubled by that!
“Why is Israel's so special?” “Why do they have a special place in His plan?”
God is one day going to re-establish them in their land and honor them in the future!
6 For you are a holy people belonging to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be his own possession out of all the peoples on the face of the earth.
7 “The Lord had his heart set on you and chose you, not because you were more numerous than all peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples.
8 But because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors, he brought you out with a strong hand and redeemed you from the place of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
9 Know that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps his gracious covenant loyalty for a thousand generations with those who love him and keep his commands.
10 But he directly pays back and destroys those who hate him. He will not hesitate to pay back directly the one who hates him.
He chose Israel as a special people to demonstrate two things about Himself:
1. His faithfulness to His promise!
1. His faithfulness to His promise!
If you think about it, would you consider Israel a 'faithful' nation? NO WAY! They were constantly copping out on God!
“Does that change the faithfulness of God to Israel?” ABSOLUTELY NOT!
Aren’t you glad that’s true? I AM!
You need to learn this lesson: Your salvation is NOT based on your performance, but on God’s faithfulness!
13 if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself.
We learn a lesson of how faithful God is TO US by the way He dealt with Israel!
2. His LOVE!
2. His LOVE!
Do you realize how God's love is seen throughout the history of Israel?
God loved them so much that He described Himself as a husband whose wife (Israel) has been unfaithful—it would be right and fair for God to wipe them out!
14 Therefore, I am going to persuade her, lead her to the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her.
15 There I will give her vineyards back to her and make the Valley of Achor into a gateway of hope. There she will respond as she did in the days of her youth, as in the day she came out of the land of Egypt.
16 In that day— this is the Lord’s declaration— you will call me, “My husband,” and no longer call me, “My Baal.”
19 I will take you to be my wife forever. I will take you to be my wife in righteousness, justice, love, and compassion.
20 I will take you to be my wife in faithfulness, and you will know the Lord.
1 Israel, return to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled in your iniquity.
2 Take words of repentance with you and return to the Lord. Say to him, “Forgive all our iniquity and accept what is good, so that we may repay you with praise from our lips.
3 Assyria will not save us, we will not ride on horses, and we will no longer proclaim, ‘Our gods!’ to the work of our hands. For the fatherless receives compassion in you.”
4 I will heal their apostasy; I will freely love them, for my anger will have turned from him.
6 I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
23 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. And may your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
24 He who calls you is faithful; he will do it.
V. THE PLAN OF GOD IN THE FALL OF ISRAEL!
V. THE PLAN OF GOD IN THE FALL OF ISRAEL!
“Why did God let Israel fall?” “Why did God let this happen?”
They not only fell into sin, idolatry, and immorality, but they also fell into judgment! They were desolated as a nation and as a people!
"Why?" - God gives you His answer.
11 I ask, then, have they stumbled so as to fall? Absolutely not! On the contrary, by their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel jealous.
12 Now if their transgression brings riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their fullness bring!
13 Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Insofar as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry,
25 I don’t want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you will not be conceited: A partial hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.
26 And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, The Deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.
27 And this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins.
28 Regarding the gospel, they are enemies for your advantage, but regarding election, they are loved because of the patriarchs,
29 since God’s gracious gifts and calling are irrevocable.
30 As you once disobeyed God but now have received mercy through their disobedience,
31 so they too have now disobeyed, resulting in mercy to you, so that they also may now receive mercy.
32 For God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that he may have mercy on all.
God will one day restore Israel--because of His promise to them!
"If God will show that kind of mercy to an entire nation, will He do the same for me?" - ABSOLUTELY!
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSION
"Why did God create the world?" - So we would KNOW HIM!
"Why did He create humanity?" - So we would BLESS and PRAISE HIS NAME!
"Why did He divide mankind into nations?" - So they would SEEK THE LORD!
"Why did God choose Israel?" - To demonstrate His LOVE and FAITHFULNESS!
"Why did He allow them to fall?" - So that we Gentiles COULD BE SAVED!
"Do you see the thread that runs through this plan?"
GOD WANTS TO KNOW YOU AND BE KNOWN BY YOU!
