LOOKING FOR THE STARTING POINT TO FIND GOD'S PURPOSES
 
 

1. Looking Back To The Fall: Beginning at the Fall, history appears to be mainly redemptive. Man fell, and who but God could pick him up? But, why did He create us - just to fall and be redeemed? So He could prosper us? Make us a success? We are redemptive-salvation minded. But God says>
    

    

2. Looking Back To God's Commission, that is, His commission to Adam to "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth, and subdue it" (Gen. 1:28). This gives history a governmental or kingdom hue, leaving the impression that man was created simply to rule the earth under God. What would be His purpose in man's establishing a kingdom?

 

 

3. Looking Back To Creation Before Adam: Starting with creation, we do see a more God-centered approach, as here God is the Creator, Sovereign over His creation. But for what purpose? To create something just for the sake of reigning over it?

 

 

We need to see the parts, not as separate entities in themselves, or able to exist or accomplish a final purpose on their own, but as parts of a whole where all of the parts work together to bring about a common, specified end result.

Blindfolded men feeling an automobile might describe a car as:
 
 

1. A fishing pole, if they only feel the car antenna.

 

 

2. A wheel, if they only feel the steering wheel.

 

 

3. A wall, if they only feel its door.

 

 

4. A suitcase handle, if they only feel the door handle.

 

 

They need to see all the parts of the car together and then they will know that a car is not just an antenna, or a wheel, or a side, or a door handle. They need their eyes opened to see and to increase their VISION PERSPECTIVE. That's what God wants for us: to see the parts as a whole, not as individual parts separated from the whole. We need to see the antenna and the steering wheel and the door and the door handle TOGETHER, not as individual realities. We need to see the whole car.
 
 

 
 

CORRECTING OUR SPIRITUAL PERSPECTIVE: A RIGHT STARTING POINT

 Looking back BEFORE Creation gives us that perspective. The only logical point to start is "before creation." Paul always started with God Himself before the creation of the world.

 In Romans 11:36, Paul sums up the whole scope of what we need to see: "For OF Him, and THROUGH Him, and TO Him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen."

We're going to talk about these three terms, but keep in mind that we are speaking primarily of the spiritual realm.

 POINT ONE. All things are OF God

 This implies something more than all things being FROM God as the source.

 In other words, whatever is here is here because God spoke it into existence. First of all, He's the designer. Whatever is here is here because He willed it to be here and exist. All things being OF Him carries with it the idea that this world and all that is in it is not just FROM Him, as though He gave it all to man and took Himself out of the picture. All things are OF Him, telling us what He is like, and since they are OF Him, He retains Sovereignty over all of them.

 What we are speaking of here is this: All things are OF God, meaning, we have to SEE HIM AS our ultimate POINT OF REFERENCE. God created, God commissioned, man fell. The Point of Reference did not change through all of this because God allowed these things. In seeking answers to the following questions, we must always go back to God BEFORE CREATION as the true POINT OF REFERENCE.
 

1. Why did God create?

 

 

2. Why did God Commission man?

 

 

3. Why did God create us knowing we would fall?

 

 

God knew all that would happen before He commissioned, before man fell. No matter what man did, God had an answer or a fix ready.

 POINT TWO. All things are THROUGH God

 The Bible says all things were created through Him and without Him was not anything made that was made.

 The key to this statement is in these two words: ALL THINGS. There's a wholeness in this statement, a realization that since all things are OF Him and came into existence THROUGH Him, then there should be a complete harmony in all things, a harmony without conflict, a harmony without division, a harmony which naturally manifests wholeness and peace where all things are done decently and in order. It's all the parts of the car working together in cooperation. In other words, what we are speaking of here is seeing the parts of the unified whole working together, without losing sight of God as our Point of Reference. There is also a third aspect of this.
 
 

 
 

POINT THREE. All things are UNTO God

 Since all things are OF Him, and all things are THROUGH Him, then there is only One source that can make the whole thing work properly, to make all things work decently and in order, and that's the One who designed the plan in the first place.

 In other words, we need to see that God is our Point of Reference, and from that Point of Reference we should see a unified whole with many parts working together, and then we must see Him as the One who guides or coordinates these parts, that everything is done properly and in its proper time frame all the way TO its final conclusion. Otherwise, it would be like starting the car, putting on the cruise control, getting out of the car and letting it go wherever it wanted to go.

 Hebrews 1 in the Amplified Bible says Jesus Christ propels the universe with His mighty word of power. No one can help Him with that. The universe is OF Him, it came into existence THROUGH Him, and He coordinates each part of it so there aren't any catastrophes. In other words, He remains in the driver's seat.

 Salvation is an example in the spiritual realm. God did not create us to fall, but when we did, He had a plan of salvation waiting in the wings. He said, "Here, Adam. Test drive this and see how you do." What happened was a catastrophe. The lesson: don't get behind the driver's seat.

 All things are OF Him, THROUGH Him, and UNTO Him.
 
 

Col 1:16 For BY him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, WHETHER THEY BE thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers (the unified whole): all things were created BY him, and FOR him:

 Col 1:17 And he is BEFORE all things (Point of Reference), and BY him all things consist (Point of Coordination ).

In simple language, God made a plan, He established creation as the arena in which He would work out His plan, and He alone will bring that plan to completion.
 

 
 

GOD'S PLAN BEFORE CREATION CONCERNING CHRIST

 1 PETER 1:19-20: "BEFORE THE CREATION OF THE WORLD," God chose "Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect," to be "revealed in these times for [our] sake."

 The pre-chosen Lamb was God's insurance that His intention for men and His Son would be fulfilled. He gave Adam and Eve free will, allowing them to choose whether to live for Him or for themselves. If they chose to live for themselves, the Father was prepared to restore man to a position from which He could fulfill His original intention.

 EPHESIANS 1:4,9-10: "BEFORE THE CREATION OF THE WORLD" God determined that He would "bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ." Colossians 1:18 says supremacy was to be His in all things: "[Christ] is the beginning and the firstborn from the dead, so that in EVERYTHING he might have the supremacy."

 This is God's simple plan for Christ:
 
 

1. He would be the one to restore man to a position from which the Father could fulfill his original intention.

 

 

2. In that restoration, He would be exalted above all things so that supremacy would be His in everything.

 

 

GOD'S PLAN BEFORE CREATION CONCERNING MAN

 We often speak of "God's plan for my life" without thinking of when He determined it or what that means from God's point of view. Before Adam existed, God had a plan and a purpose for each individual life in the body of Christ. And because He has the same plan for each of us, it doesn't matter if you are a married executive and I'm a single plumber and he's a Chinese sailor. God is working out His purpose through each of our professions and marital status and restrictions of nationhood. God's purpose for Paul of Tarsus was THE SAME as His purpose for you. That purpose for EVERY MAN is found in Romans 8:28-29:
 
 

28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. 29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

God's purpose in telling Adam to multiply and fill the earth is found in these verses. God knew that one day He would exalt His Son over all things in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and He wanted "many brethren" in order to exalt Him. Now here is the plan for your life in this world, no matter how it seems to differ from everyone else's: "to be conformed to the image of God's Son."

 In Ephesians 1:4-5, we find the purpose for the next life:
 
 

4 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: 5 having predestined us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.

Let's apply this to what we said before:

 OUR POINT OF REFERENCE: what God determined BEFORE THE CREATION OF THE WORLD.

1. Christ would guarantee the fulfillment of His plan as the Lamb of God.

 

 

2. In the fulfillment of that plan, Christ would be exalted over all things by bringing to adoption "many brethren."

 

 

3. He would bring them before God holy and without blame in love.

 

 

If we want to know what God is doing, this is what He is doing.
 
 

SEEING THE PARTS OF THE UNIFIED WHOLE

All things are to be brought under the headship of Christ. He is to be exalted as the one head over "many brethren," forming one body through the finished work of the cross. In His resurrection, he brought about spiritual realities that speak of this unified whole:

a. One faith
b. One hope
c. One love
d. One baptism
e. One Savior
f. One Lord
g. One Father
h. One God
i. One Spirit
j. One Body
k. One Family
l. One Temple
m. One calling
n. One kingdom
o. One nation
p. One priesthood
q. One salvation
r. One plan

Our Point of Coordination

What God had determined beforehand, He will bring about and only asks our cooperation.
 
 

1. God would gather together all things in Christ.

 

 

2. We will stand before Him in the image of the first-born.

 

 

What is crucial to our understanding regarding this Point of Coordination is this:
 
 

1. Ephesians 1:5 - God does everything "according to the good pleasure of His will."

 

 

2. Romans 16:25-26 - What He intended to do regarding man’s rebellion was kept hidden in Himself until He chose to reveal it to Paul.

 

 

3. 2 Timothy 1:9 - What He has done, in making a way for us to still be a part of His plan in spite of the fall, was done "because of and to further his own purpose and grace."

 

 

The amazing thing is is that in spite of man’s fall, it didn’t change God’s plan even one little bit. Even if man had not fallen, God as our Point of Reference, the Designer of the unified whole, and the coordinator of bringing about what He originally intended would not have changed. Fromke says it very well with this paragraph:

 "Perhaps we can move the eternal Christ into a proper frame of reference by asking: if man had never sinned, would all things have been summed up in Christ? (Eph. 1:10). If man had never sinned, was it God’s plan for all to be ‘in Christ’? If man had never sinned, would Christ have been incarnated into the human family? It seems evident from Paul’s writing in Ephesians as he moves on the eternal level that the Father intended for His Son to be a means of accomplishment, NOT BECAUSE SIN ENTERED, but even if sin HAD NEVER ENTERED. Consider these statements in Ephesians 1:
 
 

• "vs. 3 ‘. . . blessed us . . . IN CHRIST’
• "vs. 4 ‘. . . chosen us IN HIM BEFORE the foundation of the world . . .’
• "vs. 5 ‘. . . predestined us unto adoption . . . BY CHRIST JESUS . . .’
• "vs. 6 ‘. . . accepted IN THE BELOVED . . .’
• "vs. 10 ‘. . . gathered together all things . . . IN CHRIST . . .’ "

 

 

God’s plan is perfect whether man fell or not. He chose us IN HIM BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD. That choosing and bringing the unified whole to reality DID NOT rely on our falling or not falling. If we hadn’t fallen, God still would have brought about what He originally intended. Fromke says it this way, and I agree with Him:

 "We must cease interpreting God’s purpose and plan in the light of the Fall. This which we see in Ephesians is what the Father intended to realize in His Son and it has never been affected by sin, the fall, or time.

 "It was this purpose which had previously been a mystery, that the Apostle Paul was now unveiling: The Father intended for HIS SON to have a Body to express His life - Himself - in the world now, and before all creation in the ages to come.
 
 

"We can quickly see how this ultimate intention for THE SON and His Body springs out of God’s paternal nature and desire. We can also understand how the Father ‘marked out for Himself’ a vast family who would share His life, nature, spirit, vision, purpose and dedication. We can further see how this family purpose was to be accomplished both through and for His eternal Son.

 "We have said that God’s line of purpose was to have gone upward, without a break. But because man must be allowed opportunity to choose cooperation in God’s purpose, we see how man also could choose to go his own way. As a result God’s plan in time necessitated the incorporation of the redemptive plan. But He never intended that this redemptive phase was to overshadow the original eternal purpose. . . .
 
 

"I like the way Watchman Nee puts it:

 "’We only see history back to the Fall. God sees it from the beginning. There was something in God’s mind before the Fall, and in the ages to come, that thing is to be fully realized. God knew all about sin and redemption; yet in His great purpose for the Church set forth in Genesis 2, there is no view of sin. It is as though (to speak in finite terms) He leaps in thought right over the whole story of redemption and sees the Church in future eternity, having a ministry and a (future) history which is altogether apart from sin and wholly of God. It is the Body of Christ in glory, expressing nothing of fallen man but only that which is the image of the glorified Son of man. This is the Church that has satisfied God’s heart and has attained dominion.’"

Dominion is His and we will reign with Him, as Daniel ahs said:

(Dan 7:13-14 KJV) I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. {14} And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.

More Parts Of The Whole

What I’ve just shared deals with the central characters of God’s plans and purposes. There are many other parts that fit into this unified whole, and we want to look at those now:
 
 

1. TITUS 1:1-3: "BEFORE THE BEGINNING OF TIME" God determined to give man "a faith and a knowledge [on which would rest] the hope of eternal life." This would be given "at his appointed season" through preaching. Paul is referring to the knowledge of God on which true faith is based. In addition, God wanted His creature to know who He was and what He wanted him to be. This revelation, which could only come through knowing God and His purpose, would bring men to an intimate union with God, which is eternal life.

 

 

2. 1 CORINTHIANS 2:6-8: "BEFORE TIME BEGAN" God hid in Himself "a wisdom . . . that [He] destined for our glory." All who accept the faith and knowledge referred to in Titus 1:1-3 would share in His glory.

 

 

3. 2 THESSALONIANS 2:13-15: "FROM THE BEGINNING" God chose us "to be saved through belief in the truth. . . . that [we] might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ."

 

 

4. MATTHEW 24:34: "SINCE THE CREATION OF THE WORLD" the Father had His kingdom prepared as part of our inheritance. Notice that the Father has ALREADY done this. If we'd been given the responsibility of setting up that kingdom before Christ's return, we would be establishing our own flawed, incomplete inheritance.

 

 

5. COLOSSIANS 1:26: "FOR AGES PAST" the entire mystery of God was "kept hidden." Finally God revealed the Lamb and commissioned Paul "to present [to the saints] the word of God in its FULLNESS," referring to that mystery of Christ from before Genesis all the way through Revelation. Paul wanted the Church to understand this revelation by the placement of the gospel message in God’s entire plan.

 

 

6. 2 TIMOTHY 1:9: "BEFORE THE BEGINNING OF TIME" God delivered, saved and called us "to a holy life." He did this "because of his own purpose and grace. This grace has been given to us in Christ Jesus" before creation.

 

 

7. EPHESIANS 3:9-11: 'FOR AGES PAST [FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE WORLD," KJV] God planned to manifest His wisdom "through the Church . . . to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms." He wanted this done "according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord." Paul was commissioned "to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery," that through the Lamb's death and resurrection, the Jews and Gentiles would be united into one body (vv. 4-6). In Christ, God accomplished that purpose so all men, Jew or Gentile, would be given the opportunity to be adopted as His sons through their faith in Christ.

 

 

8. ROMANS 16:25-27: "FOR LONG AGES PAST" God purposed that the Church be established by the "gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery hidden, . . . but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations might believe and obey him." God intended for the Church to be established by the gospel and then proclaim it, so people of all nations can have the opportunity to accept His offer to adopt them as His sons by grace. This effectively rules out Restorationism (my term for anyone wanting to establish the kingdom before Christ's return), which attempts to force obedience to God's law on those who aren't His sons.

 

 

9. 1 JOHN 1:4: "THAT WHICH WAS FROM THE BEGINNING, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched - this we proclaim concerning the Word of life." The Church is to proclaim the full revelation of Christ, "that which was from the beginning," and who must personally, visibly return to establish God's reign on the earth.

 

 

God Didn't Change His Plan

 These scriptures tell us what was "in God" before He created anything. This is what God wanted for His own pleasure and satisfaction. It would serve as a standard for His work in the earth until His plan was completed.

 This is what God intended for Himself and us before creation. It is obvious that what He expects of us is to help Him further His eternal purpose by simply preaching the gospel. It was with this in mind that God worked through the creation of the earth, the making of man, and man's Fall. He told man to subdue the earth and fill it because He wanted Adam's descendants to be adopted into His family as sons, not so they would establish a kingdom for Him.

 The key message here is that God didn't change His plan because of the Fall and He's never told anyone to establish His kingdom on earth. Latter Rain, Restorationism and political agendas are attempts to restore fallen man, living in a fallen world, to a place where he can live righteously and therefore, happily. But God has said He is going to send Christ back at the end of the age to restore all things. He has stuck to His original plan: all is to center in Christ. God's purpose in restoring man from the Fall is to give him access to the hearts of men in order to offer them the originally intended Sonship. In God's perfect plan, man is made holy so he can inherit a glorious kingdom already prepared for him. This was the Father's will and pleasure.
 
 

SYNOPSIS: BEFORE THE CREATION OF THE WORLD

1. God had a plan that He would follow with an ultimate purpose in mind.

 

 

2. He would work out everything according to the purpose of His will for His own satisfaction.

 

 

SYNOPSIS: THE LAMB BEFORE THE CREATION OF THE WORLD

1. The holy, chosen Lamb is with the Father.

 

 

2. The Lamb is to be exalted over all things in heaven and on earth.

 

 

SYNOPSIS: GOD'S PURPOSE FOR MAN BEFORE CREATION:

1. For His own pleasure and satisfaction, God willed that He would have a family of adopted sons created after the image of the first-born.

 

 

2. If man fell, God would restore him to holiness by grace because man would be unable to bring about his own restoration. God would do it "because of his own purpose and grace" by the work of the Lamb of God.

 

 

3. God promised to give man, "at his appointed season," "a faith and a knowledge [that would rest] on the hope of eternal life."

 

 

4. All who accepted that knowledge by faith would be destined for glory.

 

 

5. God purposed to sanctify us by the Spirit and His word so He could glorify us as sons.

 

 

6. By creating one new man through the cross, from Jews and Gentiles, God would manifest His wisdom "through the church . . . to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms according to his eternal purpose which [he would] accomplish in Christ Jesus our Lord." [This does not negate God's future fulfilling of His promises to OT Israel.]

 

 

7. The mystery, once revealed, was to be shared in its fullness so man could cooperate with God in bringing about His ultimate intention through the preaching of the gospel.

 

 

8. The Church was to be established by the gospel. Then it would proclaim that gospel to the nations (the people) so they could accept God's offer to adopt them as His sons.
9. The Church would be commissioned to proclaim the full revelation of Christ, "that which was from the beginning."

 

 

10. All who believe would inherit a kingdom that the Father has already prepared for them.

 

 

SUMMARY: How To Maintain A Consistent Walk With The Lord To the End Of The Age

Over the past twenty years, the Church has gone off in so many directions, its seems doubtful that it could find its way back if it wanted to. But it can, on an individual basis. The key to our walk is that we have to MAINTAIN what has been nearly LOST. Let’s look at three points:
 
 

1. Maintain a true Point of Reference, what God had determined before the creation of the world.


 If we start with a false Point of Reference, then we are starting from a WRONG STARTING POINT. What are the false Points Of Reference we are concerned with? God as Creator, God as Commissioner, God as Redeemer. Using any of these as a starting point will only give a false perspective on what the Christian life is all about and what God wants to bring about.
 
 

2. See the parts as a working whole.


 If we don’t see this, we will be spiritually near-sighted, and miss the beauty of the whole plan, as well as be deceived into a false agenda.
 
 

3. Maintain our Point of Coordination.


 If we start with a wrong Point of Reference, our procedures will be wrong, and our progress will be off course. We would then have no plan to coordinate our direction, only a handful of parts. Our Point of Reference (God before Creation) and our seeing the many parts as a whole (His activity in time, space and history) has to then be directed to a common, specified end. So, we need a Point of Coordination, a standard, a measure to make sure everything is on course heading to a predetermined end.
 
 

 
 

Departing From The Faith

1Ti 4:1 Now the Spirit speaks expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;

What faith are we speaking of here? Jude 3 says,
 
 

3 Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once DELIVERED UNTO the saints.

How was that faith delivered to the saints? Where did it come from? Paul said,
 
 

Romans 16:25 Now to him that is of power to establish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, 26 But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith:

We have a gospel that was kept secret SINCE THE WORLD BEGAN. That gospel reveals a person who was hid SINCE THE WORLD BEGAN. That mystery and that person hid SINCE THE WORLD BEGAN was revealed to Paul by a revelation. So the gospel of Jesus Christ is our faith, but it is a faith established SINCE THE WORLD BEGAN. In other words, the POINT OF REFERENCE for our faith is not so much from Paul’s day, but from BEFORE CREATION. Paul told the Church, "We have watched and heard through the scriptures of the prophets over the past 6,000 years all about the PARTS of a WHOLE PLAN of God. Let’s put the parts together and see a unified whole." The third point we talked about was the Point of Coordination. Paul said, "This mystery hid since creation and now revealed are all parts of a whole plan, and God has been coordinating it all over centuries according to what He determined before He created anything. He will continue to do so because all that the prophets have said is not yet fulfilled." God is going to coordinate the completion of His plan to the end, and he won’t change it.
 
 

 
 

What I have said is, I believe, the foundation that will give us strength as we head towards the end of the age. For 6,000 years God has not failed. He has worked through sin and rebellion and deception and lies and "new revelations" and all that the devil could throw at Israel and the Church, and yet, here we are, a people ready to walk through hard times to the end of His plan. We’re going to take a look at the adversary next week, but we need to have this foundation. That’s why I repeated it so much in various ways.

 I want to give you three examples of how the Church has been led off the path.

 First, there are those who recognize the desperate needs of mankind and would emphasize the social work that must be done BY MAN in the Church. Man meeting desperate needs was not in the original plan. Man setting up God‘s government was not in the original plan. Man uniting all things was not in the original plan. Christ has been replaced by the Church in all of these areas.

 Second, another group, while recognizing the social needs of man or what must be done BY MAN, believes the emphasis must FIRST be placed on understanding what God has done FOR MAN. Redemption, the cross, salvation, a provider, etc. Attaining to a corporate Christ, the Word of Faith movement, health, wealth and prosperity - all of these are the results of starting agendas at a wrong starting point.

 Third, there are the more spiritual types who feel all of this is too shallow and they would rather place the emphasis on the work God must do IN MAN. What comes into play in this area is the transformation of man, first in his being and then in his society as a necessary result. The Manifest Sons doctrines would fall into this group.

 I think these three points, which once were independent arguments in themselves, have now come together as the overall vision of the Church in our time.

 What is the problem with these things? They are primarily concerned with MAN and HIS needs, rather than God and His original plan. It is impossible to look before the foundation of the world to see what God had originally intended and fit these three points into that. You just can’t do it. They are not:
 
 

1. Part of the Point of Reference.

 

 

2. They are not parts of the unified whole in Christ.

 

 

3. Because these first two points are true, there can be no point of coordination concerning them in the original plan, and therefore where the Church is ending up is in the world. It cannot reach the destination God had determined before Creation.

 

 

Man is the capstone of God’s creation.
 
 

• We are OF Him, meaning we’re no accident. We display His image and likeness.

 

 

• We exist through him. He made us. He created us. We fell. He saved us.

 

 

• We exist unto Him and are to return UNTO Him. He will bring us into His immediate presence.

 

 

Adam Failed God's Purpose

God created Adam for a purpose, but Adam never came to the point of realizing it, because:
 
 

"sin entered the world through one man [the first Adam], and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned" (Rom. 5:12).

God did, however, accomplish that purpose in Christ:
 
 

"His intent was that . . . the manifold wisdom of God should be made known . . . according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Eph. 3:10,11).

This is reason to praise God for His mercy, and next week, we will look at the adversary in relation to God’s Plan.
 
 

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