God's Plan From The Beginning

Alba 3-24-2024

GOD'S PLAN FROM THE BEGINNING

II Thessalonians 2:13-17

Anybody who remembers watching cable TV in the 2000s will likely recall a Verizon commercial campaign in which a man sporting thick-framed glasses repeatedly asks in unlikely locations, "Can you hear me now?". Each time he follows up with a brief "Good," smiling and indicating that his Verizon service is still working no matter where he ends up.

His name is Paul Marcarelli. He was the face of Verizon, but later he went to work for Sprint in a commercial titled “Paul switched”. Of course, now Sprint is T Mobile. Nothing stays the same. But is Paul the original "Can you hear me now" guy? No, not at all. God is. God has been saying to all mankind for a very long time, "Can you hear me now?" But not everyone is listening.

II Thessalonians 2:14 says, “He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.” God is calling, but not through Verizon wireless. He calls through the gospel of Christ, wherever that gospel is presented or preached!

So actually, God may literally call some people through Verizon, A.T. & T., T Mobil and others. That is, if people use their cell phones to talk to others about salvation in Jesus.

God has had this plan in place from the very beginning. When Jesus came and died on that cross in our place, it was not an after-thought. God planned it all ahead of time. Literally ahead of time.

In II Thessalonians 2:13-17 we find words that describe that plan. Lets read: “But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, to which He called you by our gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle.

“Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and our God and Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace, comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work.” (NKJV)

In these verses are the words, Salvation, Sanctification, Belief, and Grace. All of these words are descriptive of the plan God had in place from the beginning.

1. Salvation. We know God has always had a plan for our salvation from sin by what we read in the first book of the Bible. In Genesis 3:15 the Lord says to the serpent, Satan, “I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.”

That was a specific reference to the death blow God would give the devil when Jesus rose victorious from the grave!

God had a plan to restore the relationship He had with mankind before sin entered the picture. It was a plan of salvation, of rescue, of deliverance, of release. Being saved means all of these things: we are delivered from God’s wrath and rescued from eternal separation from God.

Verse thirteen says that God chose us for salvation. Now, I know that some ask, “If God chooses who will be saved, does that mean that He chooses who will not be saved? What about free-will”? Before God created anything, He knew that we would fall into sin, and that He had to either - let us all perish; not create us; or have a plan. God chose to have a plan!

That plan was that Jesus would come to this earth and save us through His shed blood on the cross. It was predestined that Christ Jesus would die for us taking our punishment. While God in His foreknowledge knows who will choose Him and who will not, He allows us to make that decision.

If not we would be puppets, and that was not His purpose for creating us. God created us for fellowship, and He wants us to choose Him. It disappoints God if we don't. There's a lot of sacrifice on His part that is wasted if we don't. How can anyone turn away from the love that was shown on Calvary? God planned for our salvation from the beginning.

2. Sanctification. God's plan includes a process by which we can become more like Him. Sanctification is the Holy Spirit's work to set us apart for God.

Jesus said in John 16:8 that the Spirit, “when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment” to lead a person to faith. At conversion, we are set apart for God. The apostle Peter in Acts 2:38 says that when we repent and are baptized into Christ for the remission of our sins, we receive the Holy Spirit.