10/31/12 – “Tying up the Loose Ends of Genesis 1-11” IV – Having Faith in God

OPENING OBSERVATIONS

1. If you can gain concept of God’s providential care, it’s not difficult to have confidence and faith in God.
2. When you understand how God operates, you can have faith in His work in eternity past.
   1. St. Mark 11:22
   2. Hebrews 11:6

INTRODUCTION

1. You can have faith in God when you know how God functions.
   1. Genesis 1:1
      1. “In the beginning” refers to a period called the dateless past or eternity past.
      2. “In the beginning” refers to the beginning of time.
      3. “In the beginning” is not the beginning of God.  God has no beginning or end.
      4. “In the beginning” is the beginning of God’s creative period including the heaven and the earth.
   2. Isaiah 46:9-10
      1. God is unique in that He can declare the end of a matter before its beginning.
      2. God always finishes before He starts.  God speaks to us from the perspective of all things already played out.
   3. Jeremiah 1:4-8
      1. In eternity, you existed as a spirit in the mind of God.
   4. In eternity past, God was:
      1. Fellow-shipping and planning for man with His son, Jesus Christ.
      2. Creating the universe.
      3. Identifying and providing for those He knew would choose Him.
      4. Planning and providing for the Church.
      5. Preparing for the Kingdom.
      6. Planning for the Savior.
         1. I Peter 1:18-20
         2. Revelation 13:8

1.          I.            Faith is agreeing with eternity past rather than the circumstances in time.
   1. St. Mark 11:22
      1. You cannot have faith in God unless you know how He operates.
   2. Every day of man’s life was planned in eternity past.  Our agreement is the path to the prearranged and preplanned life by God.
      1. Jeremiah 29:11
      2. Ephesians 2:10, KJV, AMP
         1. God worked out all the details of your life in eternity past.
         2. In other words, God has a mistake-free calendar of your life.
         3. Ephesians 1:3
            1. God pronounced our lives blessed in eternity past.
            2. Your faith-filled confessions cause the intangible blessings in the heavenly realm to become tangible manifestations in the natural realm.
            3. Believing is necessary until manifestation in the earth.
            4. I Corinthians 1:9
               1. To live the good life, God needs our participation in His prearranged path and plan for our lives.
2.         II.            The providence of God
   1. Providence defined…
      1. God with His foresight made provisions beforehand
      2. God looks ahead and attempts to make provisions for His goals infallibly (without failure or mistakes)
      3. Foresight; making provision beforehand
      4. God’s providence encompasses everything.
      5. Sovereign, divine, superintendence of all things (like an air traffic controller guiding them toward their divinely predetermined end in a way that is consistent with their created nature all to the glory and praise of God)
      6. God bringing to past [in time] sovereignty, absolutely and perfectly what He purposed in eternity
      7. God’s providence is as minute as it is mysterious.
   2. Romans 8:28-29
      1. All things must be known by God beforehand if they are to work together.  If that is not true, who is the worker that works them together?
      2. God uses His foreknowledge (information from eternity past) to influence the outcome of a situation to line up with His plan.  Nothing is a surprise to God.
      3. Foreknowledge –to have knowledge of beforehand; in front of time
      4. Predestined – not that God chose man’s destiny for him.  If God was to choose man’s destiny that would not make man free; rather predestined means knowing what man would choose before that man arrives on the scene; to decree from eternity; to appoint the arrangement of beforehand
   3. God takes advantage of pre-known information.
      1. The tumultuous rise of the life of Joseph from the pit to the palace was not a surprise to God.
      2. The vision for Joseph’s life was revealed to him by God in a dream.
      3. The specific path and subsequent interruptions were manipulated by God’s foreknowledge to bring Joseph to his calculated end.

© 2012 George Matthews Ministries