1. Nothing is wasted by God. He’s working all things together for the good to those that love Him, those that are called.
• Called according to HIS PURPOSE.
• What’s that purpose? Look at v29.
• A change… a TRANSFORMATION. A CONFORMATION!
As a BORN AGAIN BELIEVER, you and I are being changed day by day into the very image of Jesus Christ.
• We are NOT the old person without Jesus in our lives.
• We are new people in Christ, with a new life, new hope, new direction, a new power, and a new purpose.
2 Corinthians 5:17 (NKJV) 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
Paul says something similiar in CH12:1-2:
Romans 12:2 (Phillips) “Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould, but let God re-make you so that your attitude of mind is changed…”
AND SO THERE is this pressure for us to be conformed in all sorts of different directions, but GOD is molding us into Jesus.
• Using everything that comes into our lives, everything He sends in our lives, working them together for good.
YES: not everything that happens to us is good.
• Some of them can be very bitter and sour and hurtful.
• For a believer, all these things work together by God’s great power to come out for OUR GOOD and HIS GLORY!
SO what is God’s Plan? How do all things work together?
• How does the DIVINE PLAN of salvation work?
• How does God save us and fit us into what he’s doing?
• READ THROUGH V29-30
• These help us to understand and see God’s molding hand.
• Paul shares 5 pieces of His wonderful plan.
#1 – FOREKNOWLEDGE, #2 – PREDESTINATION, #3 – CALLING
#4 – JUSTIFICATION, & #5 – GLORIFICATION.
#1 – GOD’S FOREKNOWLEDGE (v29).
• For whom He foreknew, Paul says.
• This speaks of God’s OMNISICENCE. His knowledge of everything.
• God knows everything about everything.
• Theologically we could say, God knows all things both actual & possible, past & present & future, completely, perfectly, simultaneously, and eternally!
• We don’t have foreknowledge, but God does! WOW!
NOTE: Wouldn’t it be great to have knowledge like that?
• I mean when tough times came, we could see it all and respond accordingly. But we don’t. Only God does.
• God is ALL-KNOWING. Flip over to Hebrews 4:13
NOTHING is hidden from God, no shadows, no secrets.
• Look at Psalm 147:5 – It’s AMAZING!
• He knows everything about everything.
• His knowledge is absolute and unacquired.
• He doesn’t learn anything.
1 Samuel 2:3 (NKJV) 3 “Talk no more so very proudly; Let no arrogance come from your mouth, For the Lord is the God of knowledge; And by Him actions are weighed.
God is a God of knowledge and He never learns anything and knows everything there is to know about everything! OMNISCIENT.
I HAVE TO WARN YOU AT THIS POINT of a new twisted doctrine flowing through the church at large today…
• It’s commonly known as OPEN THEISM.
• The idea is that God is NOT OMNISCIENT and that He learns things along with us!
NOTE: A popular place an OPEN THEIST will take U is Gen 22:9:-13
• See they say, the Angel of the Lord said, NOW I KNOW.
Was God learning something here? Not in the least.
• God knew all along his plan for Isaac, we see that in CH21:1-4
• What God knew by COGNITION, He knows by DEMONSTRATION.
• Look back at Genesis 22:1, God tested Abraham.
• It was a test for Abraham & Isaac to learn, not God!
ILLUSTRATION: It would be like a 2nd Grade Math teacher sitting down with her student and said:
• “Let’s see if we can figure this problem out. OK: the square root of 64 is? Hmmmm”
• The student wrestles with it and finally comes up with the right answer and the teacher says:
• Now we know the answer is 8, even though from the moment she began to help that student, she knew all along the answer!
The false doctrine of OPEN THEISM is to be rejected.
• God is clearly & absolutely OMNISCIENT! He knows all things.
Jeremiah 17:10 (NKJV) 10 I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give every man according to his ways, According to the fruit of his doings.
Acts 1:24 (NKJV) 24 And they prayed and said, “You, O Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which of these two You have chosen
• God knows all things both actual & possible, past & present & future, completely, perfectly, simultaneously, and eternally!
• Foreknowledge is amazing isn’t?
• Boy, if we had it, we could make a killing in the stock market!
LISTEN… This is so powerful & comforting:
• Our God who knows all things is able to fulfill His purpose and work all things together for good and to His glory!
AND so it makes sense that God knows who will be saved, even before we were born! -- Turn over to Psalm 139:13-18
• Our God is infinite & awesome!
HOW BIG IS YOUR GOD?
• Throughout history, man has fashioned God in his own image.
Romans 1:25 (NKJV) 25 who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
In Kyoto Japan there is an unusual place of worship called the Temple of the Thousand Buddhas. On display inside the shrine are more than a thousand likenesses of Buddha, each just a little different from the others. It is set up this way so that a devotee can come in, find the one that looks most like himself, and worship it. – It’s very very sad!
IF YOU AND I could totally comprehend God, then why need Him?
• God should be a little incomprehensible, a little beyond the rationale and creation of man.
Romans 11:33 (NKJV) 33 Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!
NOW… This really helps to encourage us in tough times.
• Do we have a REALLY BIG PROBLEM and a VERY SMALL GOD?
• OR Do we have a REALLY BIG PROBLEM & A REALLY BIG GOD?
• God is infinitely larger & smarter than us! Amen!
• And He can handle all that comes our way, working in it and through it to accomplish His purposes…
But we choose to fashion & make our own god in our own image, what help and hope is there then? Flip over to Isaiah 46:5-7
• If u want to make a god of your size, he won’t be able to help u!
• But if the God of the universe, the Creator and Sustainer of all things is still a bit incomprehensible to you…
• Still has a little mystery to Him that makes Him holy and high, then oh the worship and strength and love that flows!!!
With our God, in His foreknowledge, nothing perplexes Him.
• He’s not surprised by anything. Not taken off guard.
• So that when something rocks your world and knocks you off balance, God is unmoved!
Jude 24 (NKJV) 24 Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, And to present you faultless Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,
Ephesians 3:20-21 (NKJV) 20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, 21 to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
NOTE: So many things are happening in your lives today.
• There are ups and downs, strengths and weaknesses.
• Even though we don’t now all that’s going on, God does.
• I know we don’t have all the answers, but God does.
• The more we can understand and believe that He does, then we will find our trust in Him grow…
• Knowing all along that God is going to work it out.
• We can relax and rest in Him.
Psalm 37:7 (NKJV) 7 Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, Because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.
Let’s flip back to Matthew 26:31-35
• Jesus has some heavy words for Peter looking into the future.
• The problem with Peter is that He didn’t know the future, or even the weakness of his flesh. But Jesus did!
• READ THROUGH… Wow, that could be a real disappointment.
• But let’s turn over to Luke 22:31-34
• Jesus tells Peter, I know what will happen, I know you’ll return!
• When you do Peter, when you come back, be an encouragement to your brothers… help them understand my love, and grace, and forgiveness, and mercy, and kindness, and goodness…
God is able to work all things together for our good because he has all knowledge, foreknowledge of everything…
• And in his foreknowledge He predestines things to occur…
• Which we will tackle the next time we gather in His name!
One more thing before we go… turn to 1 Peter 1:1-2
• It’s God’s sovereign privilege to choose us and He did. How?
• According to His foreknowledge!
• It’s His will to save based on who He knows will accept Him.
• It’s God’s choice of us based upon His knowledge that we will choose Him.
NOTE: We’re always going to see these go hand in hand.
• God’s choice and our choice. God’s action & our action.
• God’s choice goes with your believing in Him.
1 Thess 1.4-6 knowing, beloved brethren, your election by God. 5 For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance, as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake. 6 And you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit,
John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
SO… the door is open to “WHOEVER IN THE WORLD” believes in Him would have & receive everlasting life. Then down in 3:36
John 3:36 "He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."
• So the door is open for you to believe or not. That’s the choice.
• If U believe, you’re saved. If U don’t believe, then you’re lost.
Q: Ever wonder if you’re chosen or not? Did God choose me?
• I don’t know really. Will you choose God today?
• If you choose God today then you know that God chose you!
