150705 God’s Got It

Romans 11:33-36 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! ³⁴ “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?” ³⁵ “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” ³⁶ For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

In my lifetime I have never seen so much division and confusion in the American public as we have today. We need to remember that God is in charge! The psalmist tells us that “His kingdom rules over all” (Psalm 103). We need to remember also that in the end every knee will bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:10-11) God is sovereign he rules over all. Nothing at all can come into our lives — any of our lives — without passing by God first. The confusion in our society grows out of the fact that most people, even though they believe in the existence of God, deny his authority over them.

Yes, God is in charge, and we are responsible for our actions. God has guided us from conception and will guide us until death. Many times in life we are taken by surprise. We find ourselves unable to imagine what will happen next. God knows in advance and…

God is never taken by surprise. Turn with me to Isaiah 46:8-10. “Remember this and stand firm, recall it to mind, you transgressors, ⁹  remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, ¹⁰ 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,’”

We wake up in the morning and sometimes wonder what our day will be like. We go through the day often wondering what will happen next. For many of us life is really just one series of surprises after the other. It may be that you have discipline enough to control your day to some extent but the things you do not know will always be changing for you.

God does not wake up in the morning and he never wonders what the future holds. It is as though all of life is spread out before God and he sees the end as well as the beginning. It is just as though we have a ground-level view of things that are happening around us and God has a satellite view so that he sees the whole picture. Our God is the only living God who knows all things and guides all things. The ancient saying by Thomas à Kempis is, “Man proposes, God disposes.”

No matter how much planning and effort we put into a project only God knows what the results will be. We must put effort into each of the things that he guides us to — we are responsible for our actions. Even though we can take action that seems to change our direction the Bible teaches that…

God determined our course before birth. Turn with me to Jeremiah 1:4-5. Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ⁵ “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

Jeremiah is called “the weeping prophet” because he had such a heavy heart for his people. We see in this passage that God began his relationship with Jeremiah by teaching him that God formed him in the womb. Before he was born God had already appointed him to his ministry. Even though he believed he was inadequate for the job God assured him that he was chosen.

Another example is found in the person of John the Baptizer. He was conceived by divine intervention in the life of Zachariah and Elizabeth. While John was in his mother’s womb, Mary came to see her. Inside Mary was the unborn Christ child. When Elizabeth heard Mary speak the baby, John, jumped in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.

These examples remind us that life begins at conception. The unborn child is as human as he/she will ever be. Just as God told Jeremiah that he was formed in the womb by God and even before that God knew him. I believe that God knows all of us in advance. In fact…

Our salvation was known by God from eternity. Turn with me to Ephesians 1:3-6. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, ⁴ even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love ⁵ he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, ⁶ to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

There is no doubt in this passage of Scripture that God has blessed us and that he chose us before the foundation of the world. The names of all those who come to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. Those names were written there before God created the world. Not only does God know our salvation he knows what we will do in our day-to-day life. Before the beginning of the world…

Our work as believers was known by God. Turn with me to Ephesians 2:8-10. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not a result of works, so that no one may boast. ¹⁰ For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

This passage of scripture is quite familiar as a reminder of how we are saved. But it also goes on to show that we were created in Christ Jesus for good works. Those works do not save us but are evidence of our salvation. Everything that we do in obedience to Christ was prepared by God before our salvation. God knows in advance what we will do in every area of life.

We must realize that God does not make up plans suddenly. He knows the end from the beginning and he will accomplish all his good purposes. Knowing this should greatly increase our trust in him, especially in difficult circumstances. Yet, we find ourselves struggling with what might be rather than resting in what God knows surely will be! The harder it gets the more we need to trust God knowing that he knows everything and will bring about what’s good for us. He knows our work…

Yet, we are responsible for our acts. Turn with me to James 1:12-15. Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. ¹³ Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. ¹⁴ But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. ¹⁵ Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

God has made us responsible for our actions. That is a characteristic of our personality that is given to us by God. As James tells us, we must never say that God tempts us. God cannot be tempted with evil and he doesn’t tempt anyone.

When Adam and Eve rebelled against God in the garden by eating the fruit they each one blamed someone else. In fact, Adam, indirectly, blamed God for his actions. His “excuse” was that God had given him the woman to be with him and she gave him the fruit. Therefore, if God had not given the woman then Adam would not have sinned.

Be sure my friend that when a person is tempted he or she is drawn away by their own desire and that desire will give birth to sin. We need to always head it off as soon as it starts. There is great danger in playing around, mentally, with things we know are wrong because…

Our actions have real results. Let’s look at James 4:2b. You do not have, because you do not ask.

Obviously, our not asking causes us not to have. In the same way, if we dare to ask, we can receive from God what we need. So our action had something to do with our receiving. “God has ordained that our actions do have effects. God has ordained that events will come about by our causing them. We do not know what God has planned even for the rest of this day, to say nothing of next week or next year. But we do know that if we trust God and obey him, we will discover that he has planned good things to come about through our obedience!” Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, page 334.

If we realize that something evil might be about to happen and do not use reasonable means to avoid it we may find, in fact, that our lack of action was the means that God used to allow them to come about! God has ordained that prayer is a significant means of changing the course of events. When he puts on our heart a need, or a person, we must remember the words of James, “You do not have, because you do not ask”. Jesus also said, “Hitherto you have asked nothing in my name; ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full” (John 16:24).

God knows what will happen — before it happens. However, we are responsible for our actions and God has ordained that…

We must act in order for others to be saved. Turn with me to 2 Timothy 2:10. Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.

Here Paul speaks of “the elect”. And many people have taken the position that since God chooses some people to be saved then we have no responsibility for their salvation. This is a false teaching and the source of a lot of Christian ambivalence about witnessing to others. There is no doubt in my mind that God has determined beforehand who will be saved. He doesn’t have to determine who will be lost because that’s the condition we are born in. The Bible speaks of our being dead in trespasses and sins and it is God who made us alive.

This concept was taught consistently by the apostle Paul. And he certainly did not believe that we had no responsibility for the salvation of others. He reminded Timothy that he endured everything for the sake of the elect. We can see from this that, though they are elect, Paul had a responsibility to live a life that honored Christ and bear a witness to that Christ for these “elect” to be saved. In fact, Paul said that he would endure everything for the sake of the elect so that they, “the elect”, may obtain salvation.

We see from this that Paul believed, and taught, that much had to be done by God’s people in order for God’s will to be worked out. Paul was willing to endure anything including all kinds of suffering so that the word of God could go out and the elect be saved.

When we face difficulty we need to remember that — God’s Got It! Therefore we can take action that will result in good things in our lives as well as those of our friends and loved ones. That action may include praying for them, or it, and then taking whatever action is available to us. Believing in God’s providence encourages us to join with God and what he is doing. I don’t know about you but I certainly want to be in on what God’s up to.

For those who would throw their hands up in despair please remember the words of the chorus “Our God is an awesome God, he reigns from heaven above, with wisdom power and love, Our God is an awesome God.” Throughout Scripture we see that God knew what would happen in advance and understood the consequences. Bill Gaither put it this way: There is an unseen hand to me, That leads through ways I cannot see, While going through this world of woe. This hand still leads me as I go. I'm trusting to the unseen hand, That guides me through this weary land, And some sweet day I'll reach that strand, Still guided by the unseen hand.

Are you trusting in that “unseen hand”? It is the hand of God and you can trust him to take you through to the end.

All scriptures quotes are from: The Holy Bible: English standard version. 2001. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.