Opening illustration: Consider Charles Colson, the aide to Richard Nixon who was sent to jail for Watergate. As a result of his experience as a convicted felon, Colson founded Prison Fellowship, now the world’s largest Christian outreach to prisoners and their families. Prison Fellowship has more than 50,000 volunteers working in hundreds of prisons in 88 countries around the world. A ministry that has blessed millions of people got started 40 years ago because Charles Colson committed a crime. God’s eternal purposes for that man included even the sin that sent him to prison. It was a part of God’s plan from the very beginning.
But the story that matters most to you isn’t Peter’s, or Paul’s, or even Charles Colson’s. It’s yours. And what I want to say to you this morning is that the story of your life has not been ruined, not by your sin or anyone else’s. God’s good plan for your life is not buried under the mistakes of the past. God has a plan for your life, a good plan, a wise plan, a loving plan, a sovereign plan, and that plan is still in effect. You haven’t missed it. He is working out that plan in your life right now, today. Will you believe that? And will you renew your commitment this morning to seeking God, and following Him, and serving Him with your whole heart; free of the past, no longer weighed down by regret?
Introduction: When did God form His plan? 2 Timothy 1:9 declares it is “from all eternity.” 1 Peter 2:20 says it was from “before the foundation of the world.” God’s plan is an eternal plan that has existed from all eternity. While it is an eternal plan, it is unfolded and manifested in time or human history. However, the entire plan was formed from all eternity and it is not subject to change. God is not scrambling about trying to work out His plan or make last minute corrections. When we fumble the ball, or when things go wrong, or when tragedy strikes, according to Scripture, God’s plan has not slipped a gear. He is still on the throne and in control. The tragedy was (or is) a part of God’s plan. God includes our fumbles and allows the tragedies of life in His sovereign purpose (Isaiah 43:10-13; 44:6-9, 24-28; 45:6-13, 20-22).
He has foreordained all that comes to pass, and this includes the evil and the good and the permission of the evil will ultimately demonstrate His glory and bring praise to Him (Psalm 76:10).
How does God’s plan work?
1. God’s plans are always MADE in ADVANCE [vs. 1-4]
Genesis 46:3-4 “So He said, "I am God, the God of your father; do not fear to go down to Egypt, for I will make of you a great nation there. I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also surely bring you up again; and Joseph will put his hand on your eyes."
God knew of the famine and hunger in the future that is why He made Joseph go through all the hardships and hoops before he became the Prime Minister of Egypt. He received the dream of the famine in the near future and started to gather and store food, which would not only save the Egyptians but Israel’s [Jacob] family and the world.
When the Israelites left Egypt, God led them to this place so that they would be surrounded by mountains on two sides, the wilderness on one and the Red Sea at the other. He already had this planned out so that they would now know Who their God is, experience Him at close quarters and witness what He could do for them as well as they would learn to depend on Him always (not only during difficult times). The Israelites had to trust God for their deliverance not their circumstances. In all this God would be glorified.
Illustration: Our move from the Middle-East to the US as missionaries to this land and nation.
2. God’s plans do NOT need your HELP … only you’re OBEDIENCE [vs. 13-14]
(a) Fear Not ~ Genesis 46:3 “So He said, "I am God, the God of your father; do not fear to go down to Egypt, for I will make of you a great nation there.”
The angel said to Mary ‘Fear not’ when disclosing the news of the birth of Christ. Again, the angel said, ‘Fear not’ to the ladies and the disciples who came to the tomb to see Christ, because He was risen.
(b) Stand Still ~ 2 Chronicles 20:17 “You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the LORD, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem!' Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the LORD is with you."
© Watch ~ Matthew 26:38-40 “Then He said to them, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me." Then He came to the disciples and found them asleep, and said to Peter, "What? Could you not watch with Me one hour?”
(d) Keep Silent ~ Psalm 46:10 “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”
God wanted the Israelites just to obey Him and He would take care of the rest. The design here was to save them from the Egyptians but at the same time see the Glory of God in His mighty acts. God desires our obedience to everything that He says and commands. We are so spoiled that we just keep asking too many questions and trying to see how things fit logically and whether what God knows what He is doing or is just faking. We even go to the extent of trying to do things on our own and even try to justify our actions … We even try to help God, forgetting that He is our creator. Does God really need your help? He must be having a great laugh at our expense. We treat Him like a man not God who is all knowing and the One Who has given us life and can take it away when He desires.
Illustration: We could have easily thwarted God’s plan by NOT yielding to OBEY Him and continue to stay in our comfort zone. We could have had our own stubborn way and even got away with it. Probably ask for forgiveness later on and it is over but the consequences of disobedience we would have surely have to deal with as well as we would have further delayed God’s plans for our lives.
3. God’s plans are NOT always LOGICAL [vs. 15–18]
The Bible begins with two cases of failure that God turned to amazing profit.
First: God created the heavens and the earth perfect. But when some of the angels sinned, the earth became "chaotic, formless, empty and dark" (Genesis 1:2). But God worked on that shapeless, empty, dark mass and made something so beautiful out of it that He Himself finally called it "Very Good" (Genesis 1:31).
The second case: God made Adam and Eve and had a perfect plan for them. But they frustrated God’s plan by sinning. But God came to the garden and promised them that the seed of the woman would bruise the head of the serpent. That was a promise of Christ crushing Satan on Calvary.
But Christ’s death was part of God’s perfect plan from all eternity. He is referred to as "the Lamb Who was slain from the foundation of the world" (Revelation 13:8). Yet we know that Christ died only because Adam and Eve had sinned. So logically speaking, we could say that God’s perfect plan to send Christ to die for the sins of the world was fulfilled, not despite Adam’s failure, but because of Adam’s failure! We would not have known God’s love shown on Calvary’s cross, were it not for Adam’s sin!
This baffles our logic and that is why the Scriptures say that we should "not lean on our own understanding" (Proverbs 3:5). God doesn’t work according to mathematical logic!! When solving an arithmetic problem, if you make a mistake at any step, the final answer will always be wrong. According to such logic, if you missed God’s will at any time in your past life, you cannot fulfill God’s perfect will now.
But God says, "My ways are not your ways." (Isaiah 55:8-9). His plan doesn’t work according to mathematical logic. If it did, then not a single human being would be able to fulfill God’s perfect plan. For we have all failed God at some time or the other. We have sinned even after becoming believers. But the amazing truth is that there is still hope for every one of us.
To make the 3½ million Israelites cross the Red Sea in one night seemed fare fetched by natural and human standards but because we have a God Who doesn’t work by logic, it was possible.
Illustration: God’s plan for us to move from the Middle-East to Massachusetts and then to Iowa didn’t seem logical to us and to others around us. It was quite absurd. Why couldn’t God continue to use us just as he was in the place(s) that we were at?
4. God’s plans are NOT LIMITED to what is humanly possible [vs. 21-22]
Nature and where it can act, he ever employs it. No natural agent could divide these waters, and cause them to stand as a wall upon the right hand and upon the left; therefore, God did it by his own sovereign power. When the waters were thus divided, there was no need of a miracle to dry the bed of the sea and make it passable; therefore, the strong desiccating east wind was brought, which soon accomplished this object. This verse demonstrates that the passage was miraculous. Some have supposed that the Israelites had passed through, favored by an extraordinary ebb, which happened at that time to be produced by a strong wind, which happened just then to blow! Had this been the case, there could not have been waters standing on the right hand and on the left; much less could those waters, contrary to every law of fluids, have stood as a wall on either side while the Israelites passed through, and then happen to become obedient to the laws of gravitation when the Egyptians entered in!
God places His children in positions of profound difficulty, where there is no escape so that they would learn to depend upon Him completely. 3 ½ million Israelites crossing the Red Sea in one night looks impossible! 5,000 people in each row which was about 3 miles wide. This entire act could never have been a human ploy or even possible naturally. Every natural law had to be defied (that can only be possible by God) for it to be made believable and possible. God is not limited humanly or naturally because He Himself is the creator of the entire universe and knows the password to disable universal natural laws. He is all knowing and can do and accomplish what is impossible for man.
• Genesis 18:14 “Is anything too hard for the LORD? …” [conversation with Abraham & Sarah]
• Isaiah 50:2 “Why, when I came, was there no man? Why, when I called, was there none to answer? Is My hand shortened at all that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? …”
• Luke 1:34–37 “Then Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I do not know a man?" And the angel answered and said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. "For with God nothing will be impossible."
Illustration: Our being in Iowa was not humanly possible. We had no business to be here. No family, no business, nothing of human attraction … so then how and why did we get here?
Application: Amidst all the confusion and uncertainty of the world in which we live, how assuring to know that God orders our steps! Our faith need not be in blind chance nor in circumstances, but should be in an infinitely wise God who does all things well, who knows the end from the beginning and whose every desire for us is for ultimate good and His glory.
Think about what God's plan means for you personally. It is a marvelous revelation of the Bible to learn (a) that God watches over all that happens, indeed, He has known it from all eternity, and (b) that He is in complete control over all situations, no matter how dark or hopeless. Amazingly, this knowledge, if rested in by faith, can free us to serve the Lord and love others unconditionally, for ultimately, nothing can stand in the way of God’s plan for our lives.
Isaiah 55: 8 & 9 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways …
