ABIDE IN THE VINE

ABIDE IN THE VINE
FRUSTRATED WITH YOUR WALK WITH GOD? (Click this Picture) "And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold." Matthew 24:12

Thursday 3 December 2009

GOD’S ETERNAL PURPOSE - Foresight of The Master Planner

“Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto The Gospel of God, (Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,) Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead”. Romans 1:1-4

INTRODUCTION
PLAN AThe Glory of God - Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. PLAN B - The Gospel of Christ - In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: PLAN B2Back on Track - That in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. (Eph.1:3-12 emphasis added)

God’s Purpose in Creation

In days like ours, when we are daily bombarded with news of announcement of different and ever new plans by our governments as to how to better run the nations; plans that are never made to see the light of day talk less of being implemented before they are being replaced by yet another plan. There is a Master Planner who is before any government and will outlast any government; whose plan has existed before creation began and whose Son’s government will outlast all governments. He had all eventualities factored in right from the beginning with back up plans for whatever went wrong (The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Rev.13:8b).

When witnessing, I have often been asked the question – Why do God have to judge us for sins we commit, when He could have in the first instance created us in a way that we cannot commit sin? In a sense - Is he just a tyrant who sits up there and uses us as pawns on His computer game?

In reality, what such enquirer wants to know really is: what is God’s purpose in creation and what is His purpose in redemption?

The answer to this firstly is, “The glory of God” (Romans 3:23): And Secondly, “The glory of the children of God” (Romans 8: 21).

Watchman Nee puts it this way:

“In Romans 3:23 we read: “All have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God”. God’s purpose for man was glory, glory, glory,  but sin thwarted that purpose by causing man to forfeit God’s glory. When we think of sin we instinctively think of the judgment it brings; we invariably associate it with condemnation and hell. Man’s thought is always of the punishment that will come to him if he sins, but God’s thought is always of the glory man will forfeit if he sins. The result of sin is that we forfeit God’s glory: the result of redemption is that we are qualified again for glory. God’s purpose in redemption is glory, glory, glory.


The Lord Jesus was the only begotten Son, and as the only begotten He had no brothers. But the Father sent the Son in order that the only begotten might also be the first begotten, and the beloved Son have many brethren. There you have the whole story of the Incarnation and the Cross; and there you have at the last the purpose of God fulfilled in His “bringing many sons unto glory” (Heb. 2:10)”.

To understand the purpose of God in creation, we need see what provision he has made for us to do this. H. Grattan Guinness in The Approaching End of the Age captures this well:

“GOD’S REVELATION OF HIMSELF TO MAN HAS BEEN A PROGRESSIVE ONE.- TRUTH IN GENERAL HAS BEEN REVEALED PROGRESSIVELY. PROPHECY, THE DIVINE HISTORY OF THE FUTURE, CONSISTS OF A SERIES OF PROGRESSIVE REVELATIONS.- PRACTICAL RESULTS OF THE COMPREHENSION AND APPLICATION OF THIS PRINCIPLE.


GOD has been pleased to make three great revelations of Himself to man: his Works; his Word; and his Son, and these revelations have been progressive in character. Nature, the Law, the Gospel; a silent material universe, an inspired Book, a living God-man; these are the three great steps that have led from the death and darkness of sin to that knowledge of the true God which is eternal life.


A fourth revelation of God, fuller and more perfect than any, is yet to come. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, who is the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person, who "declared Him" when He came the first time in grace and humiliation, will declare Him yet more fully when He comes a second time in righteousness and in glory. Then the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.


Each of these revelations is in itself progressive. The earth and all that is therein, attained perfection by six distinct stages, during the six days of creation. The angels followed with adoring wonder the fresh unfoldings of Divine wisdom, goodness, and power, presented in the gradual formation of this great globe, and in its myriad mysteries of vegetable and animal life, though to human eyes nature was presented perfect and complete. But human eyes could see at first the surface of things alone; every advance in true science, enabling men to penetrate more deeply into the hidden wisdom of the work of God, has been a progressive revelation. And we have only begun, even now, to understand the glory of God, manifested in the universe. To us, more than to our ancestors, “the heavens declare the glory of God, and the earth showeth his handiwork; and to our children they will do so even more.”

God has done this because as the Psalmist says:

"Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face." Psalm 89:14

So Apostle Paul buttresses this when He says in this verses of Romans 1

"The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse." Romans 1:18-20

Romans 1:18-20 contains tree important concepts, which together explain why the wrath of God against men and women is justified. The first is wrath itself. It is being revealed from heaven against the ungodly: The second is suppression of the truth about God by human beings: The third is God’s prior revelation of Himself to those very people who suppress the truth about Him.

These three concepts really need to be seen in reverse order – revelation, suppression, and then wrath. They teach God has given a revelation of Himself in nature sufficient to lead any right thinking man or woman to seek Him out and worship Him, but that, instead of doing this, people suppress this revelation. They deny it so that they can justify their immorality, if they are able to make themselves believe that there is no God who sees all things; then they do not have to follow where the acceptance of His existence will lead them.. It is because of this intentional and immoral suppression of the truth about God by human beings that the wrath of God comes upon them.

Just last week it was reported that a cabal of climate scientist who invented the so called “global warming” deception have be doctoring their figures to convince us that ocean temperature was rising at an alarming rate such that an apocalypse is just at the doorstep.

This people have been carrying out their research with such impunity that they have refused to disclose the data that justifies their claims. How did we get to this point? How have they been able to string the people along up to this point? This point of the road that leads to Roman 1:25

“Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.” (Romans 1:25)

You see The whole rational behind this is the ploy of the enemies of God to make man “WORSHIP THE CREATURE RATHER THAN THE CREATOR”. They have in the last few decades been working on convincing us the creator does not exist; it’s now time to move to phase 2 - WORSHIPPING THE CREATURE.

“Seeing then that I will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked, therefore shall my sword go forth out of his sheath against all flesh from the south to the north” Ezekiel 21:4

The prophet, Ezekiel here views the mere outward aspect of the indiscriminate universality of a national calamity. But really the same pestilence to the "righteous" would prove a blessing as a wholesome discipline, which to the "wicked" would be an unmitigated punishment. The godly are sealed with a mark, not for outward exemption from the common calamity, but as marked for the secret interpositions of providence, overruling even evil to their good. Although the message here is not just the salvation of the godly but the universality of the judgment that is to be brought into place.

“The righteous” – All righteousness will be tested either (as described in the dictionary) righteousness characterized by uprightness or morality - a righteous observance of the law: or morally right or justifiable - righteous indignation: or acting in an upright, moral way; virtuous - a righteous and godly person:

As politically incorrect as it might sound, only the righteousness of God which he imparts unto us through His Son Jesus Christ will count as we see in Romans 5:

But then Law came in, [only] to expand and increase the trespass [making it more apparent and exciting opposition]. But where sin increased and abounded, grace (God's unmerited favour) has surpassed it and increased the more and super-abounded, So that, [just] as sin has reigned in death, [so] grace (His unearned and undeserved favour) might reign also through righteousness (right standing with God) which issues in eternal life through Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) our Lord. Romans 5:20-21 (amplified Bible version)

We will come back to this question of wrath of God later on in our study

Meanwhile, seek to be set free from God’s wrath today and seek the righteousness that really counts:

The Spirit of God is working; in all the devastation we see before us, the love of Christ remains a constant tangible presence of compassion and love. He sends His angels to comfort us, a gift from the Father above. So rest in the comforting knowledge in the promise that always rings true: That God the Father is ever present, protecting and ministering to you.

You might say – "Why do I have to know and experience this Father you are going on about" Here is why, when and how you can be ready by getting to know Him.

Admit your spiritual need.

We all are sinners: nobody likes that title “SINNER”, but the bible says in Romans 3:23 that “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God”.

What is the result of sin?

In Romans 6:23 we read “The wages of sin is death…” in other words, every sin is another step towards death. One thing that we need to remember is that God never sends anyone to hell; one can send himself there by rejecting the truth.

Since we can never measure up to God’s standards by our own strength; God has reached out to mankind.
John 3:16-17. In Romans 5:8 we read, “God demonstrates His own love towards us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us”. It is Jesus, after all, who is the source of life’s greatest high.

What must a person do to accept this gift?

Simply receive it! Matthew 11:28 states –“come to me, all you who labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me…for my yoke is easy and my burden is light”.

Revelation 3:20 says, “Behold I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with me” Jesus stands at the door of your heart and knocks, seeking entrance into your life to give you peace, change you for the best. John 1:12 says: “For as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become the children of God”.

If you haven't already received Christ as your Saviour, don't put it off another day! Take time right now to invite Him into your life. Confess your sins. Receive His forgiveness and the gift of eternal life. You might pray something like this:

Dear Jesus, I know that I am a sinner in need of a Savior. Thank You for dying on the cross for my sins. Thank You for giving me eternal life. Help me to live my life in a way that pleases You, for whatever time You give me here on earth. I look forward to living forever in Heaven with You. Amen.

No comments:

Post a Comment