Let's take our Bibles and turn
to Romans chapter 8. Romans 8. I love going through the Scriptures
and just verse by verse and just read it the way the Spirit of
God was pleased to write it. I've said before, I enjoy it
because there are certain Scriptures that when I first read them,
if I wasn't going verse by verse, I wouldn't deal with them. I
read them and I don't understand them. That's what happens. And
I have to look and pray and ask the Lord, Would you teach me
something about this? I don't understand this. I don't
know what you mean. And I do. I just pray, Lord,
would You give me some understanding with this? Lord, I need some
understanding. And I know the folks do. And You're the only one that
can teach. It does our hearts good to ask. Ask. Because we are. We're ignorant
people. Spiritually, we're ignorant. We need to be taught. The Spirit
of God teaches us. Well, picking up, we've been
in the book of Romans, and we'll look today at Romans 8, verses
28 to 30. Now, these are some passages
that we've dealt with numerous times. We quote them a lot, go
back with them, go back to them, we're familiar with them. But
coming right up to these verses, we had looked And the Apostle
Paul in the 22nd verse had said that the whole creation groaneth
and travaileth in pain together until now. And this is what he
was saying when Adam fell in the garden. Cursed was the earth
for Adam's sake. The earth was cursed. The thing
that absolutely is born into this world, no matter what it
is, all of the stuff, the animals, the plants, this world, everything
is in a state of disorder. Relatively speaking, when I say
that, I mean I know that the seasons come, the seasons go,
there's order. But what I'm saying is everything
dies. It just perishes. It's just cursed is the earth. The whole earth, creation, roams. Paul says in verse 23, not only
they, but ourselves also. Believers, which have the first
fruits of the Spirit, or the first fruit of the Spirit of
God, or the Spirit which is the first fruit. the giving of the
Holy Spirit. We wait for the adoption to wit
the redemption of our body. That is, that we might be made
to wait and have patience until the Lord actually changes us. And we're changed at this mortal
shall put on immortality." We have the patience of God waiting.
And then he says that the Spirit, verse 26, helpeth our infirmities. That is, the Spirit of God actually
bears our infirmities with us. I'll tell you this, we're talking
about something now that is beyond whatever I can ever hope to explain,
but I can proclaim it. He helps our infirmities. Continually
helping. Takes part in the burdens with
us. And He helpeth our infirmities. How? By bringing back to our
remembrance. the words of Christ. We need
to be taught afresh. When these things that come our
way, and we are in the midst continually, in the midst of
infirmities, we're getting older, we get frail, we realize our
frailty, we've got problems, and all of these things that
come our way, He helpeth our infirmities. by teaching us and
bringing back to our remembrance the Word of God. There's the
help. What help can you possibly give
a believer? What help can you give a believer
other than tell them what God said? What comfort? What help? I mean, what can I
do if someone's sick What can I do, man? But to tell them this
is what God said. And the Spirit of God taking
that word and blessing it to their heart. He maketh intercession
for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. He maketh intercession
where it says, for us. Remember, that's toward us. The ministry of intercession
from the people of God to the Father belongs to one, the Lord
Jesus Christ. He is this one mediator between
God and man. It's the man, Christ Jesus. But
the Spirit of God maketh intercession where it says, for us. That word
is toward us. From God to us. You say, well, now how can you
prove that? The Lord says, I will send another Comforter. And He will teach you all things
whatsoever I have said." God Almighty speaks to His people
by the Spirit of God taking the words of Christ and bringing
them to their memory, to their remembrance. So when He says,
He maketh intercession for us, He makes intercession toward
us, from God to us, God must speak. He speaks by His Spirit. Now, the Spirit of God brings
back to our memory the promises of mercy and compassion and grace
to our understanding. He brings that and we respond
to Him with a heart of thankfulness that we cannot utter or speak. Groanings. I'm standing here
right now and I proclaim, I know that Almighty God, I'm convinced
of this. I truly believe this. I believe
that before the foundation of the world, I truly do. I truly believe that Almighty
God loved me. before the foundation of the
world. I believe that. I believe that Almighty God set His affection
upon me. I believe that He loved me with
an everlasting love. I believe that He looked upon
and considered me in the person of His blessed Son, my Redeemer,
my surety. I believe He did. I believe the
Lord Jesus Christ came into this world and I believe He lived
on this earth with me on His heart. I believe He went to Calvary.
And I believe that when He was made sin, when He was actually
made sin, I truly believe when the holy, harmless Son of God,
God's spotless Lamb was actually made sin and upon that cross
was sin. And God dealt with him as sin
and put away my guilt. I believe he died for what I
am by nature. Now, in my heart, I believe that. And there's a sense of thankfulness. But I cannot express to you how
I feel. It's groanings that I cannot
utter. Someone says, tell me how you
feel. I can't. Well, tell me what's inside.
I'm not able to. You believe it? Yes, I do. But
He, the Spirit of God, make an intercession toward us, and we
express with groanings. Not that the Spirit of God groans.
We groan. Now, concerning the infirmities
that we actually possess, knowing that we don't know what to pray
for as we ought, you say, well, I think I do.
No, you don't. I don't either. No, I don't. And I do know this. I know that
as I get older, I think about this. I've seen other people.
I've seen them start going down. I know I have the frailty of
this body and the sickness and stuff. And one day, unless the
Lord takes me out of this world before this, one of these days,
I'm going to hear a doctor tell me something that my flesh really
doesn't want to hear. I know He will. Something, something,
something. Or I'll be in an accident, a
car accident, you know, humanly speaking. And do you know what? In that day, I'm not going to
know how to pray about it. Lord, in my flesh, I want to
be well. But how do I know that this sickness
or this Rick, how do I know what the
Lord's going to do? How do I know how that's going
to be? What am I going to know? I don't
know what to ask for. Do you want to be well? Well,
yeah, if you ask me humanly speaking, yeah, I do. Yeah, I'd like to
die healthy. I mean, I'm just honest with
you. I don't know what to ask. I don't know. Is this going to
be for your good? Well, based on God's Word, it
is. How's it going to pan out? I don't know. I don't know. What
are you going to pray for? I don't know. I don't know. I
don't know. I don't know. Well, I thought
you was a preacher. I thank God you called me. Paul says in verse 28, but we
do know. Here's what we do know. We know. We know by divine revelation. We know by the Holy Scriptures
and we know by the observance in others. Not by my understanding. I don't know that, Mark. That
I don't know. But we know. We know because
God has taught us that we know that all things work together for good. to them that love God. You know, with things that I
know happen every day, there's nothing that is more comforting
than the assurance of this revelation that we know by persuasion that
here's the scope of our comfort. All things. All things. All things according
to God's eternal thoughts of mercy and compassion. All things concerning God's providence
to work all things after the counsel of His own will. All
spiritual, all physical, all emotional. There's nothing that
I can think of or I cannot think of, no matter what category you
put it in. All things. You say, well, let
me just ask you a few things. All things. Well, I know a few things. All things. All things. Work together. They're like fellow
workers that cooperate. All things. Take all the things
together. Take them all together in the
scope of your life. And they're like workers. They're
like servants of Almighty God. working together, cooperating. You pick up this end, I'll pick
up this end. Can you help me on that over
there? This is kind of handy, can you? They're working together.
They're not pulling apart. They're working together for
good, for the benefit to them that love God. Nothing within the realm of being
that is not advantageous for the people of God. I mean, it's working together
for my benefit. Oh, if I can remember that. God
help me to remember that. No matter what is told me, No
matter what comes my way, no matter what happens, Lord, help
me to remember that. That would be such a comfort
to me in that day. To be able to just settle down
and not throw up my hands in utter despair and say, Oh, the
war was made. What am I going to do? If I can
just be taught. Settle down. Settle down, Marvin. Settle down. It's for your good. It's for His glory. God Almighty
who works all things after the counsel of His own will, that
turns everything to the good of His people, their eternal
good, temporal good. Yeah, but I'll tell you this,
there's some things that are grievous. It's hard. It's hard. It's hard. When Joseph was sold
by his brethren into slavery in Egypt, they thought that they'd
gotten rid of him. They didn't like him. Sold him
to a caravan. God raised him up. God's always
purposed to raise him up. Put him in second command in
Egypt. Had to get him in Egypt, though. Had to get him in Egypt. Why? Because God was going to
provide for Joseph's family and others there by having some corn
borne. Well, what had to happen? Well,
God got him into Egypt by allowing his brothers to do exactly what
they wanted to do. God was not the author. He's
not the author of their sin and rebellion. He's not the author
of sin. But He let them do what they
wanted to do. He let them do exactly what they
wanted to do because God was going to do them good. God was going to do Joseph's
brethren good. And He allowed them to do just
exactly what they wanted to. And they sent Joseph into Egypt. And God blessed Joseph because
He had purpose to bless Joseph. Raised him up, called him out
of darkness, revealed Himself to him. And one day, Joseph's
brethren came and they, as I said before, came there with their
hats in their hands and walked up there and asked for some corn. And Joseph sent everybody else
out and he revealed himself to them, scared them to death. And he told them, he says, but
as for you, you thought evil against me, but God meant it
for good. To bring to pass as it is this
day, to save much people alive. If I could see the end from the
beginning as he who sees the end, from the beginning, I would
see that all of these things, no matter what, are in perfect
cooperation, working together for good. Whatever it is, it's
tough right now, and I'm telling you my flesh wars against it. And I think, I don't want to
hear that. I don't want to hear that. But
if He can settle me down and realize This is for my good. Sin itself, could that possibly
be in the realm of all things? Sin itself, the transgression
of the law, how is that going to work together for good? I'm
going to see that in the punishment of that sin in our Redeemer,
I'm going to see the goodness of God's judgment in our substitute
and the mercy of God in our salvation. Even sin. The wrath of man is
going to praise Him. Is God going to deal with sin?
Absolutely He's going to deal with sin. How's it going to be? I'm going to see the mercy of
Almighty God. I'm going to see the judgment
of God. I'm going to see God's just. How's that? He dealt with
His Son at Calvary. When we see the effects of sin
in our flesh, how is that going to work together? I'm going to
see my weakness. I'm going to see my need of Christ. I'm going to see the need of
the intercession of the Spirit of God helping me. Even the very
sin in my being that God Almighty dealt with at Calvary in Christ,
He's going to put that away even from the very presence of it.
But I'm telling you, he'll be magnified. He'll be honored. But this truth, we know that
all things work together for good to them that love God. What about those that die that
don't love God? No. Not for them. This is working together all
things to them that love God. I got to thinking just a few
minutes ago, them that love God. You know everybody and their
brother says they love God. Everybody says that. Oh, I love the Lord. I began to think on that, them
that love God. This is just a little bit. of what I found out concerning
looking at the wording on the love of God or loving God. It's
a characteristic word of Almighty God toward His Son. There's certain
words, there's three different words, interpreted love. This
word love is concerning the Father's love toward the Son. It's the
word that describes God's attitude toward the order of man. John
3.16, For God so loved the order of man, the world. Not everybody
in the world without distinction. It does not mean that. You cannot
make the word world mean everybody without distinction. If people
that are saying that God loves everybody the same, if they would
just take a Bible a Greek dictionary and look up the word, there's
no way you can get that meaning from that. But they just assume
that they know what it means and they just say it means that
and it doesn't. It means God's attitude toward
the order of man. God created mankind and loved
that order. I've said this before. He loved
the order of man. and would not let the order of
man perish if he left man to himself, the order of man is
gone, Mitch, because all have sinned and come short of the
glory of God. God saw that every thought of
every imagination of every man, every woman was evil continually,
and if Almighty God left the order of mankind to itself, God's
going to put it in hell. God so loved the order of man
that He gave His only begotten Son. And out of every nation,
kindred, tribe, and tongue, God had chosen some of all of them. There were some of every kind,
every color, every tribe, every nation, every blood. There were
some of all of them. And He saved some of all of them. He loved them. That's what this
word is. That same word. It's the love
of God Almighty toward His Son, and it's the word that describes
God's attitude toward the order of man. And it is the attitude
that believers have toward God and other believers. The basis, the heart, the heart,
the foundation of the word love. It's truth. Truth. Truth. That's why I've said before,
you know, when Scripture says, love your neighbor, love your
enemies, love your enemies. You say, I don't have any little
hope. I heard Brother Henry say one time, he said a man that
says he doesn't love his wife, Henry said, you're an unbeliever.
You're an unbeliever. I don't love my wife. I don't
love my husband." You're an unbeliever. He said, what do you mean? He
said, I'll tell you what, you may not like them. You may not
like what they do. You may not like their attitude.
You may not like their actions. But the word love is truthful. You can be truthful with somebody
and not like them. He said, I don't understand you not liking them.
But if you understand the word love, it means truthful. That's what it is. Truth. Truth. Love your enemies. This word
has to do, has the basis of truth. And this word that works together
for good to them that love God, it is to have the welfare and
the good of others at heart. That's what it is. Love. Love. Someone says, I love God. But you don't have God's honor
at heart. You don't have God's characteristic,
God's attributes, God's glory. That's not the honor that you
speak of. You don't love God. To them that
love God, it's loving God. is a characteristic that's only
found in a believer, one that God has called out of darkness
and has revealed the sovereignty of God, the right of God to do
all things. That's love. That's love. It's
not the feelings. I know how we think. We think of this little feeling
and love, The welfare, the truth, truth, truth, truth that sets
a man free. That's love. That's love. The
welfare of is to have a reverential respect before Almighty God. And it seeks opportunity to do
good to all men, but especially, the Scripture says, the household
of faith. That's love. I'll give. You need something. I can meet
it. You need something. I can help
you. And I don't do it. How do I with
the love of God, Jeff, in me? That's what he said. How does
the love of God do it? You see a brother or a sister,
and you think, well, you know what? I would help you, Oh, you
know, I might find myself in, you don't love them. You say,
now wait a minute, you're getting... No. How dwelleth the love of
God? If you see a brother or sister
and they're destitute and they're in need, and God has revealed
it to you, and you don't help them because of your selfishness
and your stinginess How dwelleth the love of God? All things work
together for good to them that love God. Those that have been given a
heart, to them who are the called according to his purpose, to
them who are the selected and the appointed. Now, that word
right there, the called, if we're going to look at it as another
word, Down in verse 30, moreover whom he did predestinate, them
he also called. That's a different word. This
word right here, it does have to, this one has to do with that
effectual call, that effectual drawing, that pulling. That's
what that word means. But the heart of that word right
there is the selected, the called, the appointed. To them who are
the selected and appointed, the called, according to his purpose,
the called, those that were chosen in Christ before the foundation
of the world. That's it. That's the appointed
one. Those that were chosen to salvation
that Paul said in 2 Corinthians 2.13 that he gave thanks for,
were bound to give thanks to you, brethren, beloved of the
Lord, because God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation
through sanctification. This call right here, to them
who are thee called. Not merely the external call. All men hear that. But that internal,
effectual call whereby the Spirit of God calls a man out of darkness. Those that love God because God
first loved them. They love Him because He first
loved them. 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. For whom He did foreknow. Let me tell you very quickly
what that word does not mean. It does not mean those that God
knew before would repent and believe and therefore He chose
them. I've heard men say that. Well,
God looked, and I won't read it again. It's in Psalm 14. Men say God looked down and saw
those that would choose Him, so He chose them. No, God did
look. But He saw that there were none
good. That all men were out of the line. All of them. There
was not one that was good. So when someone says God chose
those that chose him, what they're saying is that makes God's action
based upon something that he saw that men would do. And 2 Timothy 1-9 says, "...who
have saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according
to our works." but according to his own purpose and grace
which was given us in Christ before the world began." The
word foreknow, for whom he did foreknow, means selected. For those that he selected, fixed
his love and affection on before the actual foundations of this
world were ever laid, Almighty God did what he did before anything
was ever brought into being. The foreknowledge of God does
not merely reflect his knowledge of future events, but reveals
his selection of people, certain people out of those nations,
kindred, tribes, and tongues For whom he did foreknow, those
that he selected, those that he ordained, those that he chose
before. For whom he did foreknow, he
also did predestinate, predestinate. Just as God selected, he determined
the destination before. In salvation, predestination
is set forth this way, predestination. Ephesians 1.5, having predestinated
us, determined the destination beforehand. Having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ, by the means
of, through the person of Jesus Christ to himself, according
to the good pleasure of His will. Have you ever noticed that Almighty
God does everything eternally according to His own purpose?
God Almighty does not leave anything to man's ability, man's free
will, man's choice. That is the most disrespectful,
dishonoring and unscriptural thing that anybody can say. to say that Almighty God is purposed
to save me and then not work all things from the fall to get
everything together and have Marian and Gerald Stoniker come
together and get married and have a son? You mean God Purposed
to show mercy to me and didn't work out everything. Just left
it to be whatever? No! Somebody say, are you saying
that every individual, every thing, every everything, God
worked everything out. I'm telling you that Almighty
God did everything before the foundation of the world. Purposed
it and brought it to pass for you to be born. and put you exactly
where He did, and put you under the sound of a preacher of the
gospel of free grace, and His Spirit taught you what God did
for you. If you know Him, He worked it
all according to the purpose of His own will. Predestinated
us to be conformed to the image of His Son. chose a people that they should
be holy. You say, He predestinated us
to be conformed to the image of His Son. Yes, that's right. In Genesis 1-26, God said, Let
us make man in our image. And as I told you before, that
determination to make man in our image. It is to consider. Let us make man in our image. Who is the image of Almighty
God? It's the Lord Jesus Christ, the express image of God. Let
us make man in our image. Somebody would say, well, man
was made in the image of God. You tell me what the image of
God is except what God says His image is. It's Christ. To make
man in His image means to consider. All men before the foundation
of the world were considered either, and we'll look at this
in our next chapter here, either vessels of honor or vessels of
dishonor. Out of the same lump, does the
potter have the right to make one vessel in the image of Christ
or consider Him in Christ to be chosen in Him and to make
another vessel left to Himself? Does God have that right? Let
us make, let us consider all men in our image. So, verse 27
of Genesis 1, so God created man in His own image, in the
image of God, created Him, He, them. That word created, as I've
told you before, means to cut down or to make fat. Look it
up. So created He them. Let us consider
all men in their relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ, their
Redeemer or their Judge. So created He them. He either cut them down or made
them fat, made them prosperous. That's a good word, fat. We don't
like that word fast. But He prospered them. He prospered them. Now my question
is this, does God have the right to do that? Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Why? Because we're
God's. All souls are mine. All souls
are mine. God has the right. So the Scripture
says, For whom He did foreknow, He did predestinate to be conformed
to the image of his Son. God, before the foundation of
the world, considered all men in Christ to be conformed for
whom he did foreknow, those that he loved and worked together
for and already called according to his purpose. He predestinated
to be conformed to the image of His Son. That is conformed. There's a good word. To form a person or thing that
strikes the vision. What are you saying, Marvin?
What did you just say? It means how does God see you? How does
God view you? How does God view you? Not how
I view you, how does God view you? How does God view you? Well, how did he view his son? He said, this is my beloved son
in whom I'm well pleased. To be conformed to the image
of his son is to say in him, I'm well pleased with you. Outside
of him, I'm not pleased with you at all, to be conformed. For whom He did foreordain, He
did determine the destination before to be conformed, to be
formed to the image of His Son, that He might be
the firstborn among many brethren. He that was actually decreed
to be the representative, the firstborn. He who would represent
his bride that fell in Adam and must be redeemed. Christ who was made sin for all
that the Father gave him to redeem. Christ himself spilt his blood
The corn himself that said, Except a corn of wheat fall into the
ground and die, it abideth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth
much fruit. When he died, Paul said, We died. When he was raised, he was the
firstborn. Firstborn that came forth because
of his own personal obedience. We came forth because of his
obedience imputed to us. He who came forth under his own
power I have the power to lay down my life. I have the power
to take it up." We came forth in his power. He was the firstborn
among many brethren. Moreover, last verse, whom he
did predestinate, them he also called, and whom he called, them
he also justified, and whom he justified, them he also glorified. about this last verse that I
notice is this. This is all words of past tense. Everything with God's past tense.
Everything is done. Everything is done. These things were ordained, established,
and finished. in the everlasting covenant of
God's grace, every one of them. Psalm 93, 1, the Lord reigneth.
He's clothed with majesty. The Lord is clothed with strength,
wherewith he hath girded himself. Now listen to this. People that
would say God absolutely brings things to pass in time, He reveals
them in time. I'll go along with you on that.
He reveals them in time. We were called out of darkness
in time. But listen to this, the world also is established
that it cannot be moved. It cannot be moved. The world
is established. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
whom he appointed beforehand the destination, them he also
called. I said a while ago that was another
word. That word means surnamed or named. He named. Them he also called. It means he named them. Who are
you? You're my son. Adopted son. You're my adopted son. You're
mine. You're mine. He predestinated
and named them. Past tense. And whom he called,
whom he named, them he also justified. innocent from any claim by the
law of condemnation. Justified. To declare innocent. Not guilty. No record of. Justified. No record of guilt. You say, boy, that's a big word. That's a big word. Justified. He who has eternally stood as
the surety. He to whom the Father has eternally
looked to answer. Who has eternally been looked
at by God the Father as the one who will answer? Christ. The eternal surety. Then at what
point did He look at His elect to answer? Never. Anytime somebody says, well now,
God never justified anybody until the cross. Let me give you the answer that
I told you that Brother Scott gave me about six, eight months
ago when I asked him. I said, what do you say when
somebody says that? He said, well, if they're a believer,
just give them some time. God will teach them. I thought,
that's good. That's good. If God Almighty
looked at His people at one time in an unjustified state, and
then He looked at them later in a justified state, then God
changed. Changed in attitude. Changed
in His thought. Changed in His position. Somewhere,
as Brother Scott said, therein you err. You're wrong. Men say, well, He didn't justify
anybody before the cross. What about Lot? The Lord said,
Have you considered My servant, My justified servant? You mean to tell me there were
men justified, Moses and David? These men, Noah, called out of
darkness, and they weren't considered justified before Almighty God
until the cross of Christ? Therein you err. Somebody said,
Now, you'd better be careful I'll stand on this and I'll tell
you this, God never changes. God never changes. Whom He did
predestinate, then He also called, and whom He called, He justified. Before Him, justified, rendered
righteous, pronounced just, based totally on the fact of being
chosen in Christ and looking to Him alone. to answer, and
whom he justified, them he also glorified." Now, there's another
big word, rendered according to God's opinion to be adorned
with splendor, worthiness, and dignity, seated in the heavenlies. You said, I ain't there yet.
Oh, yes, you are. If you're in Christ, oh yes you
are. You're His body. You say, I don't
understand that. I told you before, I don't understand
that part of it. But glorified with Christ, you're with Him. Chosen in Him. And one day it's going to be
made manifest what God says it is right now. Glorified with
Him. Raised with Him. You say, well,
I... Let me ask you this. You think
Paul was really crucified with Christ? You say, oh yeah. He wasn't born at the same time. He wasn't there physically at
the cross with Him. Paul said, I was with Him. Chosen
in Him. You think Paul was raised...
Were you raised with Him? The Scripture says he was raised
for. evidencing our justification. You think we were raised with
Him? Yes, sir. You think if God Almighty says we were glorified
with Him, you think we are? Yes, sir. Let God be true and
I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll be a liar. I'll be a liar. I'll let God be true. I think
we'll just take God's Word on that. You say, I don't understand
it. I don't either, but I'll tell
you what, it sure sounds good to me. Predestinated. Justified. Named. Glorified. You say, that's a
pretty good standing. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. And I'll
tell you this, when something comes my way, I pray the Lord
remind me of that. Remind me of who I am in Him
by His grace and mercy. And in that day, it will be a
great comfort to me. Alright. I hope that's been a
blessing to you.