It is the beginning of the year; for many people it is the beginning of a new chapter of life but for many it is just another year. Every day is a new chapter in life, in a sense, I don't know what's going to happen today or tomorrow, and for me, it is a very good thing that I don't know; it forces me to depend on my Creator for His provision, it forces me exercise the faith I have been given.
Faith according to God, is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Heb 11:1); He says that through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. The worlds here meaning the stars and planets and everything in the universe.
Now, ask yourself, do I really believe that God made the universe just by speaking? "Let there be light" and bang, there was light; is it really that simple? A big bang of divine speech. I think it is, it is very simple, God said it and it appeared; there was nothing and then God spoke and light appeared out of nowhere; He made it by His word.
To me, this is not just some Sunday school kids bible story that is cool to teach or hear; to me this is crucial, fundamental, basic, and critical. Who understands how this happened? Do you know anybody who can explain how God does things? I don't, well, I do, God does.
God is powerful enough to say something and make it come to pass; He makes things appear out of nothing, just by speaking; in fact I don't think He even needs to speak, just thinking something will make it come into reality, but His Word is the power of His thoughts in action; so what He thinks He thinks in eternity because He inhabits eternity Himself, He is eternal, He has no beginning and no end, He has always been, He will always be; He is self-existent.
Whatever God has decreed to come to pass, He has decreed in eternity; that is the nature of His being; whatever He has chosen to execute in this universe, He chose to execute it in eternity. Whatever He allows to happen, it is because He allowed it to happen, from the outside of the time domain, outside space/time; so all future events are present to Him as all past events are present. He is the source of all things and in Him all things consist (Col. 1:17); His decrees are eternal; His word is eternal.
I will get to make a point eventually, I'm just warming up.
God is infinitely powerful, there is nothing that can ever prevent His design, or cause His plans to be crossed; He never runs into problems or into contingencies; He has foreknown all things from eternity past; and in this sense He has decreed all things to exist as they are; the actual foreknowledge of God is equivalent with His predetermination of all things; His knowledge of a future event makes that future event certain; it would be a contradiction to assume, or declare, that God has complete foreknowledge of all things and all events, and that He depends on contingencies to act or to plan; or that He does not know what is going to happen next in the order of nature of things. That would be indeed, a stupid argument, not only that, it would be foolish, as foolish as to say that He is not real; or that He is waiting for me to take a certain action so that He can take a certain action.
God is infinitely holy, there is no limit to His pureness, to His righteousness; when I hear or read people say that God is 100% righteous, it makes me want to puke; as if His holiness and righteousness could be measured by some human standard, or compared to anything else besides Himself.
Because of this fact, that God is infinitely Holy; we can understand that an offense against an infinitely Holy being, deserves an infinitely just penalty; and that is what the bible teaches, if you and I sin against God, we will be judged for it; and the infinitely just penalty for an offense against an infinitely Holy Being, is eternal death, death forever and ever; that is the just penalty for the smallest sin. For just one single tiny bitty sin we get the maximum penalty: deadly infinite fire forever; that judgment, in and of itself, is infinitely just and infinitely righteous. God's justice is infinitely and eternally just and equitable.
In the same way; God's mercy and grace are infinite and eternal; they have no end and there is no way in this universe, or in any other if there were any, to be able to quantify His grace, or His love. God is love, He is eternal and infinite love; whatever we can say that God is, He is that eternally and infinitely, with no end in sight; and His knowledge fits in this category, eternal and infinite knowledge of all past, present, and future events, this is because of His nature, and this because it is Him who is ordering all events to come to pass the way they come to pass, and all beings to exist the way they exist; in Him we live and move and have our being.
Not only is God all knowing, but He is also all powerful; not only is He omnipotent but He is also all wise; we can include His wisdom in His omniscience; in other words, not only does He know all things but He also has infinite understanding of all the things that He knows, which adds to His omnipotence.
This year may be a new chapter in the book of my life, at least for me; but for the King of the universe there is nothing new; all events past, present and future in my little world are always present before His eyes, all my thoughts, all my words and actions are in the open; as the writer of the book of Hebrews puts it: Heb 4:13 Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
It is obvious then, that whatever comes to pass has been determined by God in advance, from eternity past, if I could say that; I am even going to dare say that even my thoughts have been included in the plan of God for my life.
Sounds weird, it sounds nonsensical, it even sounds crazy; but think about it; when I read in the bible that God the Father of glory, chose me before the foundation of the world that I should be holy and without blame before Him, and that He predestinated me unto adoption by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will and to the praise of the glory of His grace; does that not also include all the past present and future actions, even sinful actions, that I have or will perform? I think it does, it does mean that.
And, do not all actions, even sinful actions, come to pass after the mind has been engaged to order my body, or the members of my body, to bring about whatever I have thought to be acted? Am I confusing you yet? Let me try again.
When I read this: 2Timothy 1:9 "Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began"; what I see is that God called me according to His own purpose and grace given to me before the foundation of the universe, before God said "let there be light"; before there was anything that was made, and in Christ Jesus, the Eternal Son Of God; the infinitely Holy and Righteous One, The Word Of God; it is in Him because I have been brought into existence by Him.
It is certain that God chose me in Christ, He chose me and gave me a purpose and the grace to accomplish that before time began; not based on my actions but based on His free sovereign will; nothing in my world happens because of me, even though it appears that way, but it is not because of my works that He elected me; events come to pass in my life according to His purpose and grace. If all these events are not based on my actions, my works, then they are based on God's free sovereign choosing, His election and His predetermination of the same events, I have been predestined to be conformed into the image of God's Son; it is Him who is doing the conforming, not me.
When God says that I am to be transformed by the renewing of my mind, it is His power at work in me that is transforming me, and it is His power at work in me that is doing the renewal of my mind; the transforming is performed by His word renewing my mind, but the desire to read, study and meditate on His word came from Him in the first place, not me.
If I believe that God is absolutely, infinitely and eternally sovereign; and that He knows all the birds of the air; the stars of the night sky, the grains of sand on the beaches of the world, the number of hairs on my head, and so forth; and that He is the one who controls everything (not believing that He is in control of everything leaves me standing on quicksand); and if I believe that before time began I had been already chosen and predestined unto life, and that all things work together for good for me, because I love God with a love that I never had but that He gave me; then I have to believe that my future is completely under His control.
If my future is all in His hand to control, and nothing happens without Him decreeing it to come to pass; then all my thoughts have to be included in that plan and in the scope of His sovereign control.
Yeah I know, I can hear it ringing in my ears; "you are saying that God controls your thoughts and actions like a puppet?" Well, not really, but yes really; He is either in absolute control of all things, including my thoughts and words, and actions, or He is not; I don't think there is a middle ground for sovereignty.
If I believe, teach, and declare that God is sovereign; then He is sovereign over all things in all realms, earthly, and heavenly; spiritual, physical and mental. What happens is that what appears to me to be free will is in reality the inclinations of my heart towards something; an individual possessed by the Holy Spirit has a new heart by definition, he has a new way of thinking influenced by the Spirit Himself, it is God who is at work in you to will and to perform of His good pleasure, so work out your salvation with fear and trembling.
The bible is clear in this, there is no mystery, Psa 4:7 Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased. Who put gladness in my heart? God did. Are you able to be glad about anything just because? Just gather up gladness out of nowhere, see if you can do that.
Psa 10:17-18 LORD, thou hast heard the desire of the humble: thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear; to judge the fatherless and the oppressed, that the man of the earth may no more oppress. Can you be humble on your own? Isn't the heart filled with pride and arrogance and is it not desperately wicked? Humility cannot co-habit with wickedness, or with deceit; it is contradictory.
Psa 11:2-5 For, lo, the wicked bend their bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string, that they may privily shoot at the upright in heart. If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? The LORD is in his holy temple, the LORD'S throne is in heaven: his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men. The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth. Who is the upright in heart? What makes a man upright in heart? Who gives him a new heart so that he is considered righteous? And who is the wicked? What is it that designates a man as wicked? An actively bad person, that is who the wicked is, the morally wrong individual, but what can the righteous do? Selah.
Psa 12 To the chief Musician upon Sheminith, A Psalm of David. Help, LORD; for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men. They speak vanity every one with his neighbour: with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak. The LORD shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things: Who have said, With our tongue will we prevail; our lips are our own: who is lord over us? For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the LORD; I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him. The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever. The wicked walk on every side, when the vilest men are exalted.
You can say "my lips are my own" all day long, but they are not; God reigns over them whether for better or for worse; at the end He will be glorified by the fruit of your lips.
I can keep going but I need to take a nap; but I will leave you with this:
Psa 27:1-5 A Psalm of David. The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life;
of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell.
Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident.
One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple.
For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock.
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