THE PREEMINENCE OF GOD OVER HISTORY

GOD HAS ORDAINED EVERYTHING IN HISTORY

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Ephesians 1:11 tells us this: "God, from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely, and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass." In Him we were predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will.

R.C. Sproul said this:

• Were there one maverick molecule out there somewhere apart from the plan of God, we would have no reason to hope in God. That one maverick molecule could be the one detail that defeats God's eternal purpose. "

This is hard to get a grasp of: God is all-powerful, and all of history is merely the outworking of His eternal plan. God not merely created the world, but His eternal power sustains it and continues its existence by the sheer exertion of His will - were God to blink, all would come to an end. God is the First Cause that lies behind all secondary causes. Out of all the billions of ways that God could have planned history, this is the plan Goid chose. God's invisible hand is secretly at work controlling all things.

1. God controls all of nature: Psa 135:6-7, Mt 5:45 and 6:25-30
   
2. God controls angels and Satan: Psa. 103:20-21 and Job 1:12


3. God controls nations: Ps 47:7-8, Daniel 2:20-21 and 4:34-35


4. God controls human beings: I Sam 2:6-7 and Gal 1:15-16


5. God controls animals: Psa 104:21-30


6. God controls accidents: Proverbs 16:33 and Jonah 1:7 and Matthew 10:29


7. God controls free acts of men: Exodus 3:21, 12-25-36


8. God controls sinfuls acts of men and satan: Acts 2:23, 4:27-28

THIS IS A REALLY HARD TO GET A HANDLED ON:

• The key biblical principle that gives an insight into God's sovereignty is called concurrence. People have plans, which may be good or may be evil, and people are really responsible for the plans they make.

• God also has a plan, a plan which overruless all other plans.

• God eternal purposeand humanity's purpose s concur - in other words they take place at the same time.

• J.I Packer said this: "God's control is absolute in the sense that men do only that which He has ordained that they should do, yet they are truly free agents in the sense that their decisions are their own, and they are morally responsible for them"

Some times it appears that our motives may be impure, even our attempts to thwart God's eternal plan is fact only serve to further it. God's purpose and men's action concer atthe same time.

• In Acts 1:23 and 4:27-28: God plans the muirder of Jesus, the worst sin in history. God tells us that Christ's murderers were working out His eternal plan, then goes on to say that they will be judged for their actions.


• In Genesis 45:5 and 50:20, God plans the attempted murder and enslavement of Joseph so that God could eventually rescue millions of people from famine. Joseph tells his brothers that their plan was meant for evil -- "You inteneded to harm me." But God's plan trumped their plan, Joseph explains "But God inteneded it for good to accompllish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.

God allows even evil, and the suffering that follows from living in a sin-sickened world. I know this seems ironic, since God hates sin and forbids people from sinning. God hates death too - Jesus even wept at the sight of death. But God also ordains death - - it's His curse on all of us for the sins of our first parents (Genesis 3).

God ordains sin and suffering, even though He despises them. Here in then is the mystery of concurrence.

This does not make human beings simply "puppets" - - puppets do not have desires or wills, or do not make choces. People do made their choices.

God is the invisible hand at work in, behind and through the plans of mice and men, always accomplishing His eternal and unchaning purpose.

Okay if your mother or father, or child is suffering, are you yourself, don't tell me, that God has nothing to do with their suffering. All the suffering has some significance with God! God ordains every disappointment, suffering, lost and sorrow, just as surly as He ordains every joy and happiness. We want to believe that God is their with us every step of the way.

Didn't Job say, "The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away." What did Job then say, "May the name of the LORD be praised."

God has a PURPOSE and while most of the time we have no clue, nor can't understand it.

Our sufferings and disppointment, hurts, saddness, losses, and even our sins have significance greater than themselves.

For most people this idea is hard to take, to believe. Our culture today wants to believe they have personal self determination. Their personal choice is viewed over God as the most important. Some pray that God's will be accomplished in their lives. Others believe they made their own choices, to which God is not involved.

As a result of this personal self determination, and conclusion, its hard to teach the doctrine of predestination because at the heart of men is this rebellion.

Ephesians 1:11 "In Him, (Christ) we were chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will.

-Who decides? God or man! Well both. But its God who overrules. Don't many of us, you who are believers, pray daily that God will direct our going and coming, our thoughts and behavior. I certainly do. I want God to just set in anytime He desires.

(Notes from a lesson at First Baptist Church, Altoona, Kansas)

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