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.
But then the Spirit continues His work to set us apart in our daily life. It is a process of change. The more we understand God's will and way for our lives, the Spirit helps us to leave old habits behind and begin to act the way a Christian should.
The purpose is to bring believers to spiritual maturity and conform us into the character of Christ. In other words, the Holy Spirit works "on" a person before He can ever work "in" a person. A person must hear the gospel and respond to the gospel before God’s Spirit can do His thing in us.
Then once He comes to live within us He can go to work on us! He can begin to sanctify us! Purify. Set apart. Make different. Make better. Make holy.
The sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit is a necessary aspect of salvation, not something reserved for special Christians, but for all believers. The plan is that we are to be set apart from the secular to that which is holy and reserved for God’s special purposes. Most of us, myself included, are disappointed with our lack of growth and the pace of our growth.
But I have to believe that God is working even when we seemingly plateau. So we have to be careful not to quench the Spirit. God will work with us to help us be what He wants us to be. Sanctification has been God's plan from the beginning.
3. Faith. Salvation and sanctification will not happen until we put our “belief in the truth”. Faith is based on truth. Hebrews 11:6 says, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”
Where does faith come from? Romans 10:17 affirms that, “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” You see, the Bible is the foundation of our faith. It’s in the Bible that we discover what is right, and what is wrong. The contrast between the lost and the saved comes about due to a belief in, or a rejection of, the truth found in the Word of God.
Notice how many times in these verses Paul brings up the importance of God’s Word. He says the Thessalonians were saved through belief in the truth. They were called through the gospel. And they were to hold to the teachings that were passed on to them by word of mouth or letter. Truth, gospel and teachings; the very things we have today in God's Word.
There is a preacher's story about a group of men who set out to find an answer to the question, “Where did the earth come from?” They compiled much data covering many areas of investigation and then fed it into the mammoth computer.
When they had completed their work and had given the machine all the information, they pushed the “answer” button and waited expectantly for the results. Lights flashed! Bells rang! Buzzers sounded! When the great moment arrived, this printed message emerged: “See Genesis 1:1.”
Now that probably didn't happen but if we want the truth about anything, we are wise to go to the Bible. It is there that we find the plan of God for our lives. A plan that includes the story of His love for us.
When Jesus died for us on the cross, He loved us. His love is a love that keeps on giving. He loved us not only by paying for all our past sins, but our present sin and our future sin as well.
He loved us by giving us the opportunity for salvation, sanctification, and eternal glorification. God loves us enough to provide the way for us not only to be saved, but to be changed into the spiritual likeness of His dear Son.
In verse 15 Paul tells the Thessalonians to “stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle”. Paul knew that there were false teachers distorting the truth and wanted the Thessalonians not to stray from the gospel. Paul wanted to make sure that the believers in Thessalonica were being led and taught in the teaching of the truth of the gospel... And if you hear anything else from this pulpit, go somewhere else.
We are called to “stand fast”. To not back off our faith for anyone or anything. To do this gently, but without apologizing for what we believe. In John 8:31-32 Jesus said, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
Today is what we call “Palm Sunday”. It commemorates the day that Jesus entered Jerusalem on the colt of a donkey and people praised Him as their king. A few days later, Jesus was arrested and put on trial for His life. He stood before Pilate, the Roman governor over the Jewish nation.
Boldly Jesus said to Pilate in John 18:37, “For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”
To that, Pilate responded with a question asking, “What is truth?” That seems to be the attitude of many today. But in contrast to those who refuse to love and obey the truth, we need to be willing to do both. In contrast to those who believe Satan’s lies, we need to be with those who believe the truth of God as revealed in His Word.
Some believe and teach that all beliefs and religions have values and valid truths, and lead to the same God. But Jesus said that no one comes to the Father except through Him. That is why there are those who think speaking biblical truth is disrespectful of others and could be considered hate speech. So, the choice is ours, to shrink back and keep silent, or stand fast in our convictions and hold to the truth.
Let's make sure we know what truth we are talking about. It is truth about who God is, His character and nature; who we are, and what we have to do with Him. Truth about life and death, heaven and hell, and eternity. Truth about how to live, how to love, how to worship, how to be saved. And we find this truth in God’s word, the Bible!
We need to embrace reliable doctrine which is the teaching of the apostles which was spoken and then preserved in the Scriptures. Because the Scriptures are the only source of reliable apostolic teaching. They were written in the first century by the apostles or their close associates.
If there is one discipline for believers to cultivate above all others, it is the reading and study of the Bible, for in it we find the blueprint, God's plan, for our faith.
4. Grace. Everything that God has planned for us, salvation, sanctification and saving faith is available to us by the grace of God. Verse 16 tells us that God, “by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope” (NIV).
Think about who we are. Who we really are! If anyone thinks that God should let them into heaven because of how good they are, they have forgotten a whole lot about their lives. Their mothers could probably remind them.
If we are honest with ourselves we know that we can't be saved except by God’s grace. Grace means getting something we don’t deserve. But because of God’s grace we have eternal encouragement and hope (vs. 16).
The comfort and encouragement that God gives us as believers are in contrast to what the world gives. It is not only hope that God gives, but “good hope”. That means the certainty of a good future of things to come, eternal life! In verse seventeen it tells us that all this is to encourage our hearts and strengthen us in every good deed and word.
There was a story in the Lookout from 1990's called “Meet Me at the Men’s Store” by Paul Leonard. He wrote: Paying my way through Ohio State University was demanding, but the benefit was worth the struggle. My father had died during my senior year in high school, and my mother had become blind. With her encouragement, however, I enrolled in the University on the eve of the Great Depression. By night I was a taxi driver, and during the lunch and dinner hours I waited on tables in a campus dining hall. I made enough to pay my expenses, but I had to always pinch pennies.
At lunch one day I was serving a table where faculty members were seated. As I returned to the table with my tray held high, the unthinkable happened! I slipped on a spot of gravy on the floor and watched helplessly as the plates slid off the tray, spilling onto an especially well dressed man, one of my professors.
My heart sank. What could I do to atone? I grabbed a towel to clean up the food, but I only spread the mess over more of my professor’s suit. He locked his eyes on me and asked, “Mr. Leonard, what are you going to do about this?”
“I’m so sorry, sir. I’ll pay to have your suit cleaned,” I responded. “I don’t believe this suit can be dry cleaned, do you?” my professor countered. It was badly stained. I could tell that. And who was I to question his judgment? He had every right to be irritated. “Whatever it takes, sir,” I answered. And for the moment we left the matter at that.
Later that afternoon the extend of the damage was even more obvious. I sat before the same professor in his engineering class as he did his best to present his normal lecture in something less than his usual splendor. When the bell rang I heard the dreaded words: “Paul Leonard, I’d like to speak to you for a moment.” After everyone else had left, he said simply, “Mr. Leonard, I believe it is only fair that you buy me a new suit.” “Yes, sir,” I managed. With a knot in my stomach, I agreed to meet him at a downtown Columbus men’s store the following day.
I recognized the name of the store, an exclusive men’s clothier specializing in custom tailored suits. I also knew that I could cover the expense only if I were able to make payments over several months of work and scrimping. As I walked in the front door of the finely furnished store, I grew even more apprehensive.
“Oh, there you are,” the ever proper professor remarked. He had arrived early. He had already chosen the fabric, and the tailor had already taken measurements. My professor, a regular customer, had apparently vouched for my trustworthiness before the clerk, who nonchalantly accepted the professor’s remark, “Mr. Leonard will be responsible for the bill, as I have indicated.” More than a little disoriented, I turned to follow my professor out of the store. Then he stopped. “Are you sure you want to do this?” he asked. “Yes, sir,” I responded. “It will take time, of course, but I...”
He interrupted me with words directed to the clerk. “Let’s see that Mr. Leonard is fitted for a suit just like mine. And put both of them on my bill.”
I learned about responsibility in that men’s clothing shop in Ohio. Not only was my debt canceled, but I received what I did not deserve. And my benefactor provided me with more than a suit and an indelible memory. He gave me an encounter with grace.
God saves, sanctifies, tells us the truth and gives us grace. That is what He planned to do from the beginning.
CLOSE:
The British writer George Bernard Shaw once visited a sculptor, Sir Jacob Epstein, at his studio. He noticed a huge block of stone standing in one corner and asked what it was for. "I don’t know yet. I’m still making plans."
Shaw responded. "You mean you plan your work. Why, I change my mind several times a day!" As a writer, he would just start writing whatever came to him and change it as necessary.
The sculptor replied, "That’s all very well with a four-ounce manuscript, but not with a four-ton block of stone.”
God had a plan, and He carved out a means for our salvation. And it is set in stone. Because of God’s “deliberate plan and foreknowledge” (Acts 2:23, NIV), we can come to Him by faith, repenting of our sins, confessing His name and be baptized into Christ to be partakers of His eternal love.
He is waiting for us to respond.
