God's Sovereign Purpose
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Read: vs. 11-12
These verses are a summary of the main idea of this section. (It’s all God’s doing!) You are not the reason you are a Christian, God is!
God works all things after the counsel of his will, and that’s the basis of your inheritance.
God’s Eternal Purpose
God’s Eternal Purpose
God Has a Plan
This means that he is intentional, purposeful!
The Lord of hosts has sworn: “As I have planned, so shall it be, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand,
,
Isai
This is the purpose that is purposed concerning the whole earth, and this is the hand that is stretched out over all the nations.
“Remember this and stand firm, recall it to mind, you transgressors, remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’
2. It is a sovereign plan
This is what is meant by the counsel of his will. Meaning, God does what God wants to do. He doesn’t consult a group of people, or get together and have a conference. He is the only counselor that He needs. His will is perfect
Isaiah 40:13-1
Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord, or what man shows him his counsel? Whom did he consult, and who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding?
Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.
At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever, for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation; all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?”
Daniel 4:34-35
3. It includes all things
Every action good or bad is included in the eternal purpose of God.
The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.
Proverbs 16:
And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place,
The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations.
Psalm 33:11
“If the Lord wills...” James
4. It Cannot Be Changed
The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations.
Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.
Isaiah
declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’
Argument
This is what it means for God to be God! If this was not the case, then there is some part of his creation not under his control, there’s some part that he’s not “God” over. In this part God is governed, thwarted, and not God. That’s why we say God is God even over the actions of men.
God even governs the free decisions of men.
The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will.
He does not given wicked me
God is not the author of evil, but he does direct and restrain evil to bring about his purposes.
Illustration
Joseph
And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt.
Jesus
Acts 2:
You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’
this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.
for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.
No act of Evil is outside the purposeful direction of God!
Our Inheritance
Our Inheritance
When it comes to salvation, God plans:
Who he will save.
How he will save them.
To what end he will save them.
Our verse speaks of the third: Our inheritance is the result of God’s saving work for us.
Jesus is the rightful heir of all things, and because we are in Him, we too share in his inheritance.
Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,
Conclusions for Practical Application
Conclusions for Practical Application
Don’t try to figure out God’s plan (Secret things) but rather rest again in God’s goodness toward you. You are secure in the unthwartable God!
If you are an unbeilever, don’t try to figure out God’s plan, obey his commands! Turn to Christ!
2. Stop worrying about your life! It’s unblelief! Rather worry about how to please God!, how to obey his word!
3. Rest in God’s plan, when evil comes!