MIDWEEK BIBLE STUDY
THE BIBLE STUDY SERIES
The Chronological Method of Bible Study
Tuesday in the Truth
October 30, 2012
Tying up the Loose Ends of Genesis 1 – 11, IV
(The Providence of God)
Wednesday in the Word
October 31, 2012
Tying up the Loose Ends of Genesis 1 – 11, IV
(Having Faith in God)
OPENING OBSERVATIONS
- If you can gain concept of God’s providential care, it’s not difficult to have confidence and faith in God.
- When you understand how God operates, you can have faith in His work in eternity past.
- St. Mark 11:22
- Hebrews 11:6
INTRODUCTION
- You can have faith in God when you know how God functions.
- Genesis 1:1
- “In the beginning” refers to a period called the dateless past or eternity past.
- “In the beginning” refers to the beginning of time.
- “In the beginning” is not the beginning of God. God has no beginning or end.
- “In the beginning” is the beginning of God’s creative period including the heaven and the earth.
- Isaiah 46:9-10
- God is unique in that He can declare the end of a matter before its beginning.
- God always finishes before He starts. God speaks to us from the perspective of all things already played out.
- Jeremiah 1:4-8
- In eternity, you existed as a spirit in the mind of God.
- In eternity past, God was:
- Fellow-shipping and planning for man with His son, Jesus Christ.
- Creating the universe.
- Identifying and providing for those He knew would choose Him.
- Planning and providing for the Church.
- Preparing for the Kingdom.
- Planning for the Savior.
- I Peter 1:18-20
- Revelation 13:8
- Genesis 1:1
- I. Faith is agreeing with eternity past rather than the circumstances in time.
- St. Mark 11:22
- You cannot have faith in God unless you know how He operates.
- Every day of man’s life was planned in eternity past. Our agreement is the path to the prearranged and preplanned life by God.
- Jeremiah 29:11
- Ephesians 2:10, KJV, AMP
- God worked out all the details of your life in eternity past.
- In other words, God has a mistake-free calendar of your life.
- Ephesians 1:3
- God pronounced our lives blessed in eternity past.
- Your faith-filled confessions cause the intangible blessings in the heavenly realm to become tangible manifestations in the natural realm.
- Believing is necessary until manifestation in the earth.
- I Corinthians 1:9
- To live the good life, God needs our participation in His prearranged path and plan for our lives.
- St. Mark 11:22
- II. The providence of God
- Providence defined…
- God with His foresight made provisions beforehand
- God looks ahead and attempts to make provisions for His goals infallibly (without failure or mistakes)
- Foresight; making provision beforehand
- God’s providence encompasses everything.
- 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)
- God bringing to past [in time] sovereignty, absolutely and perfectly what He purposed in eternity
- God’s providence is as minute as it is mysterious.
- Romans 8:28-29
- 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?
- 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.
- Foreknowledge –to have knowledge of beforehand; in front of time
- 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
- God takes advantage of pre-known information.
- The tumultuous rise of the life of Joseph from the pit to the palace was not a surprise to God.
- The vision for Joseph’s life was revealed to him by God in a dream.
- The specific path and subsequent interruptions were manipulated by God’s foreknowledge to bring Joseph to his calculated end.
- Providence defined…
© 2012 George Matthews Ministries