As It Hath Pleased Him

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Introduction: Ten Converts in Twenty-seven Years - On September 4, 1807, Robert Morrison arrived in Canton as the first Chinese missionary of modern times. He quickly applied himself to learning Mandarin Chinese, hiring Chinese instructors who risked their own lives in teaching him (it being illegal to teach a foreigner to read or write Chinese). He completed his Chinese translation of the New Testament in 1813; the Old Testament in 1819. In September, 1814, seven years after he arrived, he secretly baptized his first convert. When he died in 1834 after 27 years in China, he had only baptized ten Chinese believers. Yet, his work became the foundation for much of what is happening in China today.     

I.           OUR PREDESTINATION

A.        The Calling Wherein We Are Called (1Corinthians 7:20-24)

B.        According to the Good Pleasure of His Will (Ephesians 1:3-5, 8-11)

C.        To the Praise of the Glory of His Grace (Ephesians 1:6-7, 12-14)

II.          OUR PRAISE

A.        Gifted According to His Pleasure (1Corinthians 4:5-7)

B.        Placed According to His Plan (1Corinthians 12:21-24)

III.        OUR PURPOSE

A.        Set to Ministry According to the Grace of God (Romans 12:3-8; Ephesians 4:7-8; 1Peter 4:10-11)

B.        According to the Needs Determined by God (1Corinthians 12:15-17) 

Our Limited Freedom – A. W. Tozer in The Attributes of God: Volume Two (p.151-152) illustrates man’s limited freedom of will. Suppose, he says, “a ship leaves New York City bound for Liverpool, England, with a thousand passengers on board. They’re going to take a nice, easy journey and enjoy the trip… After they leave New York and wave to the people on shore, the next stop is Liverpool. That’s it… They are out floating around on the ocean. What do they do? Is everyone bound with chains, with the captain walking around with a stick to keep them in line? No. Over here is a shuffleboard court, over there is a tennis court and a swimming pool. Over here you can look at pictures; over there you can listen to music. The passengers are perfectly free to roam around as they please on the deck of the ship. But they’re not free to change the course of the ship. It’s going to Liverpool no matter what they do… And yet, they’re perfectly free within the confines of that ship.   

 

“In the same way, you and I have our little lives. We are born and God says, ‘I have launched you onto the sea from the shore of birth. You’re going to go into the little port we call death. In the meantime, you are free to romp around all you want—just remember that you are going to answer for what you’ve done when you get over there.’ So we throw our weight around and make demands, declaring that we can do as we please. We boast about our freedom. We’ve got a little freedom, alright, but remember, we can’t change God Almighty’s course.”

IV.       GOD’S PROVIDENCE

A.        Working All Things Together for Good (Romans 8:28; Ecclesiastes 3:11)

B.        Conforming Us to the Image of God (Romans 8:29-30; 2Corinthians 3:18)

V.        GOD’S PLEASURE

A.        The Purpose for Which We Were Created

1.         All things made for Himself (Proverbs 16:4)

2.         All created for the glory of God (Isaiah 43:7)

3.         All created for the pleasure of God (Revelation 4:11)

B.        The Plan by Which We are to Serve God

1.         To walk unto all pleasing (Colossians 1:10)

2.         To abound more and more in this grace (1Thessalonians 4:1)

Conclusion: Sacrificing Self for Another – “One day the people of a southern town were startled by the sight of a runaway team attached to a carriage. Clinging desperately to the reins was a man being trampled beneath the hoofs of the horses. He stopped the horses but at the cost of his life. A needless sacrifice, thought the people, till they discovered in the carriage his little child unharmed. He gave up his life for his little one because he loved it. Who can say the sacrifice was too great? How feeble the comparison of this love with that of God who gave His Son to die for a world at enmity with Him!” –from Deliverance from the Penalty and Power of Sin by Orson R. Palmer (p. 16).