Stopping Short of God’s Plan - Part 1

Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Monday, November 28th. The New Testament outlines God's eternal purposes for all believers. Today's podcast helps you push forward and avoid stopping short of God's plan. Probably many times you've heard somebody say this, the Lord loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. And maybe you've asked yourself the question, well, if He loves me, why do all these things happen? And secondly, if He has a plan for my life, what is that plan?

And besides that, how will I ever find out what that plan is? Well, God does love all of us. He does have a plan for our life individually and has a plan for mankind. And in our text, in this particular passage of Scripture, God gives to us a very clear picture of His plan for your life and my life. And I want you to discover what that is and ask yourself the question, have I stopped short of God's plan for my life?

And that is the title of this message, Stopping Short of God's Plan. So if you'll turn, if you will, to Ephesians chapter 2. And I want us to read these first 10 verses together. Paul says, describing us, he says, And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.

Among them we too all formerly lived in the lust of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ. And then he says in parentheses, couldn't wait to say it, By grace you have been saved. And then he says, And He raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, in order that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you've been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not as a result of works that no one should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Notice, if you will, what he says in verse 1, verse 2, and verse 3, that God's plan for your life and my life involves His patience for us.

Now think about this. God's plan for your life and my life involves His patience for us. His plan for your life and my life involves His patience because here's how your life and mine is described and it refers to our life before we were saved. He says, first of all, I want you to understand this was your condition, this was your character, and this was the condemnation that rested upon you and even with all of this going on, God was very, very patient with you and me while we were living in this condition.

What is that condition? Look, if you will, verse 1. He says before you were saved, you were dead. Now what does dead mean? We were spiritually dead, we were eternally dead, we were physically alive, but that part of us that's going to live forever was dead. He says this is our condition before salvation. You were dead in your trespasses and sins. He says in which you formerly walked, He says now this was your lifestyle, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, that is being dead in trespasses and sin, the course of our life was the same course of this world. According to the prince of the power of the air, that is the one who dominated your life and my life before we were saved is the prince of the power of the air who is none other than whom.

He's the devil. Not only that, He says that same spirit is now working in the sons of disobedience so that you and I, before we were saved, our lifestyle was characterized by a life of rebellion, disobedience, a life of getting our own needs met the way the world gets their needs met, and He says among them, that is the world, we too all formerly lived in the lust of our flesh. That is whatever we wanted, that's what we went after. Indulging the desires of the flesh, that is that old part of us that is not under the domination of God or in the spirit and of the mind and were by nature children of wrath even as the rest. So He says now this is the way you and I were before we were saved. He says our condition was that spiritually we were dead. We had no relationship to God. We may have talked to Him, but without Jesus Christ we weren't being heard. Our condition was we were spiritually dead. Now listen, our condition was we were spiritually dead. Our character was we lived by the nature of the world.

Whatever they did, that's what we got involved with. And He says our condemnation was that we were children of wrath. That is the wrath of God abides upon those who have rejected Jesus Christ and who are living in rebellion. Now I want you to think about this. Some of us may look back in our life and say, well, you know, I was saved as a kid and so all those things wouldn't be true of me.

Oh, yes, it is. It doesn't make any difference whether you were 16 or 106 or whatever you may have been. The nature was still there, dead in trespasses and sin and the course of this age was the course that characterized their life and the wrath of God abiding upon us. Now He said, well, what about that little six-year-old boy, my friend? There is a point out there at some place where none of us know only God, where a child then at that moment begins to assume responsibility or God sees them responsible for their life. Somebody says, but wait a minute now, can you be saved without the grace of God?

No, you cannot. Nobody knows at what age that child becomes responsible before God. So don't project upon God something that you and I cannot tell. But all of us, you say, I don't have to worry about that. What I have to be concerned about is that I am old enough to be responsible and I am held accountable to God for what I do. So don't try to conjecture in your own mind and thinking, well, what age is it? Is it five for him and six for him, ten for him and thirteen for her and sixteen for her?

You can't figure that out. The truth is that the nature of our life is we are sinners. Why are we sinners? Because we came into the world with an old sinful nature bent away from God and He says our condition is the condition of rebellion, whatever to degree it may be, it is the condition of rebellion.

Now think about this. All of those years that you and I lived in rebellion toward God and some of you were late being saved in your twenties, thirties, forties, fifties, sixties, seventies, all of those years, I want you to think about how very patient God has been with you. And I want you to look at several Scriptures that deal with the patience of God because I think we need to understand. The Bible says the wages of sin is death.

The soul that sinneth it shall die. And that God says that we were alienated from Him in those past times. Now why is it that God gave you time to be saved? Why is it that God allowed you to live your life 20, 30, 40 years and some of you are still lost, you're 50, 60 years of age and you're saying, well, one of these days I'm going to think about it.

I want you to think about something. God is expressing loving kindness and mercy and patience towards you, not to have already taken you out of this life. But listen to what He says about His patience extended toward you and me. And He says many, many things about that I want us to think about. Look, if you will, in 2 Peter for a moment and look in the third chapter. This is probably one of the most familiar passages. And notice what He says in this passage. In verse 9 He says the Lord is not slow about His promise.

That is, if He makes a promise, He's going to keep it. As some count slowness, but is, listen to this, is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance. That is, He says that God is patient toward us, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. And if you recall also in Romans chapter 2 what God says here about His patience toward us. In the second chapter of Romans, again, another passage that deals with His patience toward us, He says in verse 4, He says, do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and forbearance or patience and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? The only reason any person is able to live their life and be saved at some point is that God is very, very patient with us while we have rebelled against Him. Now remember also the Bible says that God said, my spirit will not always strive with man.

There is a point out there somewhere where God draws the line and it's all over. There is a point out there somewhere where God is going to call our name, and we're going to have to give an account for our life. But remember how very patient God has been with you and me. In those days when you were sinning against God living in rebellion, in opposition to God, maybe against the Word of God, against the church, against the preaching of the gospel, God in His loving mercy was very, very patient.

God's plan for your life and my life involves His long suffering, His patience. And then as He says here in this passage to respond, and that's exactly what we do. We respond to the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, He says in this passage, we were dead.

That is our condition. Our life was characterized by rebellion and resistance to the Spirit of God. And He says the condemnation that rested upon us was wrath. But God was very patient. How many times do you suppose God extended His grace towards you before you ever accepted it? How many sermons did you hear? How many times has somebody spoken to you about Christ? How many times has God spoken to you? How many times has the Spirit of God convicted you of sin? How many times has God reminded you of the judgment? How many times has the Spirit of God over and over and over again attempted to point you to the reality of judgment and death and hell and heaven and challenging you to make a choice in your life?

How many times has God reached out in loving mercy to get your attention to say to you, I want you come, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved, and you have still resisted him and resisted him and resisted him. Listen, when you stand in the judgment, remember this, that part of God's great plan for your life was longsuffering and patience. But, my friend, one of these days the line will be drawn.

In fact, the line has already been drawn. One of these days your last opportunity will be given and it'll be all over. Part of His plan is patiently loving us through our disobedience and rebellion toward Him. All of us who are saved ought to drop on our knees in thanksgiving to God that He didn't call us home while we were still living in rebellion toward Him. We'd have been eternally separated from Him forever and ever and ever, and that's why we sing Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.

I once was lost, but now I'm found. Hallelujah. Thank God He saved us while we were still in sin, patiently loving us, wooing us, convicting us, sending to us the preaching and the teaching of the gospel and the loving concern of other people. That's part of God's big plan.

He says the second part of God's big plan begins in verse 4. And that is the extension of His grace toward us. Look, He says, But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were in the condition of being dead, He says in our transgressions, He made us alive together with Christ, by grace you've been saved.

There's not a single one of us who can boast of anything. Saved by the grace of God, God's unmerited, undeserved love extended to you and to me, when He did not look into us. You see, many people have this idea about God's salvation, that God looks down through the future in eternity future, and He sees all of us who are going to respond, and therefore He says, Because you're going to respond, I'm going to save you.

Oh no, you know what that would be? That would be salvation on the basis of our good works. And nowhere in the Bible does it teach that. But rather, according to this passage, what He's saying is simply this, that God, listen, part of His plan is not only His patience toward us, but part of His plan is His pardon of our sinful condition. Patiently, God waits and woos and extends His grace to you and to me.

And this is what He's referring to here when He talks about this. He says, God, when you and I were dead in our trespasses and sins, what did He do? And if you'll notice how He begins in verse 4. He said, rich, listen to this, God is rich in mercy, rich in love. It is the mercy of God. The only reason you and I have been saved is the mercy of God. God in His mercy, listen, look at how we were living. We were dead to the things of God. Our lifestyle was one of rebellion toward God. We were under the wrath of God. There was not anything in us worthy of salvation, but God patiently waited.

And what did He do? He kept extending His love and extending His love and extending His love and extending His grace and giving us opportunity after opportunity after opportunity to do what? To respond to His offer. And the only reason you and I are saved is because we, for some strange reason, known only to God, some of us, said early in life, some of us later in life, yes, I will receive Jesus Christ as my personal Savior, and you know that you can't even take credit for that? You can't even take credit for the gift of faith.

You can't even take credit for responding. All of that is the gift of God. All of that is the motivation of God.

All of that is the love of God. God's plan for your life and mine included His patience. God's plan for your life and mine included His gift of pardon. When we were dead, not after we did something good, when we were dead in our transgressions, He made us alive together with Him.

Now listen to what He did. He not only, listen, when you and I were saved, He not only pardoned my sin. That is, He not only paid our sin debt in full, but the Bible says He did something else.

Look, if you will, in verse 5. Even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ, raised us up with Him, seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. That is, here is the extension of God's wonderful grace. He was not satisfied simply wiping our sin debt out. He was not satisfied simply coming to the cross, paying your sin debt in mind, taking our place as the substitution. But God says, not being satisfied with that, His grace extended toward you and me provided more than that. His grace placed us in the position that in the mind of God He says, now you and I are seated in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus. We are eternally secure in Him. Friend, you can't be in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus and die and go to hell.

There's no way. He says His salvation for us, His pardon for us, is our sin past, present, and future, and He has so transformed our life and so given us such a new position that we can't ever be what we were because of this new creation that God has executed in your life and mine. Now think about this. He says that you and I are new creations in Christ Jesus.

Well, we'd have to be. Look at this. He says, when we were dead in our transgressions, He made us alive together with Christ, by grace you've been saved, and raised us up, seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Now He says, He did it for two reasons. First of all, we are demonstrations of the grace of God, and God is going to bless us in the process by taking us to heaven, but also all of us are the trophies of the Lord Jesus Christ of His death at Calvary. And so God's plan for your life and my life not only included patiently waiting for us until we responded. Secondly, it includes His pardon for us, and that pardon involves not only the forgiveness of my sin, but a brand new position.

Now here's the tragedy. Most Christians don't have any earthly idea, any knowledge whatsoever about their position. They think, well, you and I have been saved by the grace of God, my name's written in the Lamb's Book of Life, and I'm going to heaven.

Friend, if that's all there is, we have a terrible struggle going on down here. When you and I were saved by the grace of God, we received a brand new position. The position beforehand was, we were dead in trespasses and sin. The position now is that you and I are the children of God. We are indwelt by the person of Jesus Christ. We have been sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise.

Our names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. We have been seated in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. That is, we have the power of the supernatural God living on the inside of us, and our position now is that we come to Him not by works to get acceptance.

We already are accepted. We come to Him now as His children, not as beggars, not as slaves, but as His children. The Bible says that He has deposited to our account every single thing you and I will ever need. We come to Him rejoicing and praising Him and shouting hallelujah for all the blessings, listen, that are not going to be ours, but have already been deposited to our account now. We have a brand new position in Christ, and He describes it this way.

Paul says, buried with Christ Jesus, resurrected with Him, living with Him, seated with Him, and he says we are also coming with Him. Therefore, our position is not the fact that we've just been forgiven of our sin. We have a relationship with Jesus Christ that can never be broken. We have a relationship with Jesus Christ that can never be severed, and that relationship can never be tampered with, no matter what anybody may tell you. Thank you for listening to Stopping Short of God's Plan. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or In Touch Ministries, stop by intouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia. ...