I want to just read one verse
and our subject will be foreknowledge and predestination. Romans 8
verse 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. Now the Holy Spirit
gives this as an answer to the verse just before it. And this
is the reason why that the believer knows that God's working all
things together for us, for our good. Everything that comes to
pass in this earth is worked together by God. Everything that
happens in this earth. I read that scripture to you
today from Jeremiah. And you saw that. Everything
that God did, he said, I'm doing it. I'm doing it. That's the
definition of God. You know that if somebody else
is in control, he's not God. That one that's in control is
God. The very definition of God is that He absolutely rules everything
that's happening. Now, so He does it for a people. He does it for those who are
the called. Those that are loved of God. They're those that He loved before
the foundation of the world. They're those that He calls in
time out of darkness into His light. Now everything that God
does is according to that His eternal purpose. God doesn't
do anything by accident. I love to see the look on men's
faces when they'll be talking about, you know, this and that
about religion, and I'll just ask them, did God save you on
purpose or by accident? And they kind of look stunned.
They don't know what to say. God does nothing by accident.
When He saves, He saves on purpose. That's what the verse just before
it said. He's working all things together
for good to them that love God, Here's who they are, to them
who are the called according to his purpose. According to
his purpose. The scripture says, I want you
to turn with me to scriptures today. Hold your place here a
minute. I want you to see Ephesians 1. I don't dare want to give
you my word. I want you to see God's word.
Ephesians 1 and verse 9. It says, God has made known unto
us, and you hold your place here, we're going to come right back
here in just a minute. God's made known unto us the mystery
of His will. It's a mystery. Unless He makes
it known to you, it's a mystery still. But He's made known to
us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He
hath purposed in Himself. Who'd God counsel with? Who'd
He ask advice from? Nobody. Look at this. That in
the dispensation of the fullness of times, that means at the end
of the world, he's going to gather together in one all things in
Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even
in him. And the things he's talking about there is all people. All
people. Whether they're in heaven or
earth, whether they're dead in the sea or in the hell or wherever
they are, they're all coming together. And Christ is going
to judge them. Some of them are going to be
here, some of them aren't, but they're all coming in Him. In whom, this is the
good news for the believer, in Christ also we have obtained
an inheritance. How? Being predestinated according
to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel
of His own will. That's who He is and that's how
He does things. So how do we know all things
are going to work together for good to them that love God, to
them who are called according to His purpose? How do we know
that's going to come to pass? Verse 29, 4, Because 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.
That's how we know. Romans 8.28 is true because of
Romans 8.29. The word for means because. Because
whom he foreknew he did predestinate to be conformed to the image
of his son that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Now for our divisions we're just going to take this verse and
divide it into three. Here's our first point. God has
a people whom he foreknew. It says whom he did foreknow. Now, there is a false doctrine. I have men all the time saying
to me, I want you to show me the difference between what you
believe and what I believe. Okay? I'm going to show you. And I'm going to show you from
the Scriptures. If you see it in the Scriptures and God says
it, will you believe God? Would you believe God if you
see that God says it? I'm going to tell you what will
happen right now. Unless God gives you a heart, you're going to
argue against God. You're going to defend your path to hell unless
God gives you a new heart. Now listen to this. Man says
that God's foreknowledge is something like a fortune teller. He says God looks down through
time from the foundation of the world. He looked down in the
future and he saw some would believe. And so he chose them. That's why He chose them, because
He saw they'd believe. Well, now let me ask you a question.
If God chose a people because He foresaw that we would believe,
then doesn't that give the sinner room to boast? Does it? Yeah. Listen to this. If election is
because God saw who would believe, and that's why He chose them.
Because He foreknew who would believe. Then it wouldn't be
according to God's will, it'd be according to man's will. Isn't
that right? Now do you want God's will to
be glorified, or do you want man's will to be glorified? If
we're the enemy of God, we want our will to be glorified. If
we're against God on Satan's side, we want our will to be
glorified. If we're on God's side, we want God's will to be
glorified. If God looked down through time
and saw man would believe, and that's why He chose him, then
salvation is not according to God's grace. Salvation is according
to man's works. Yeah. Is that what the Scripture says?
Scripture says salvation is by grace, not of works. Scripture
says they're mutually exclusive. If it's of works, it can't be
by grace. If it's of grace, it can't be by works. Well, if he
looked down through time and he saw who would believe, and
that's why he chose them, then salvation is not of God who calls
the sinner, it's of the sinner who calls on God. Instead of salvation being of
God's will, it's of man's will. Instead of it being of God choosing
who He would draw to Himself, it's of man's running to God.
Which one is it? Is it of man? Does the Scripture
say that Jonah get vomited out on the shore and say, Salvation
is of man! My will! Or do you say, Salvation
is of the Lord? This is the difference between
the truth and a lie. Satan's lie. Will works religion. All will works religion. Whether
it goes by the name Christianity or Buddhism or they worship in
Allah or whoever, it don't matter. Every bit of it has this in common.
At some point in it, man's will is the deciding factor in who
gets saved. Man's work is the deciding factor
in who gets saved. That God's a little pygmy weakling. My God stomps on that God. That
God can't do nothing but what his little pygmy man lets him
do. God said their God's just like
them. That's what he says in the book. Their God's just like
them. All He can do is what they can
do. That's all He can do. He's just like them. The Gospel
declares God is the salvation of His people. And He's the cause
of it. And He's the executor of it.
And He's the accomplisher of it. The very purpose of God's
sovereign election is so... Now, get this statement. The
purpose for which God elects the people is so that salvation
would in no means be of works but would be only of God's grace. Now, if I show you that in the
Scripture, will you bow to God and believe God? Look at this. Romans 9, one page over. One page over. Now, I'm going
to give you the context. In the first half of Romans 9,
Paul went through it and he said, everybody that's in Israel, they're
not all the Israel of God. Abraham had a son. He was not
the Israel of God. Israel had to be cast out. He
was a child of the bond woman. He was a child of Abraham's works. He had to be cast out. The children
that are counted by God are the children of promise, God's elect
children. Those he chose, those that he
said, this is mine right here. This is my child. I produced
him. That's God's child. Now look
here, he gives another example here in verse 10. When Rebecca
also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac, for the
children being not yet born, two twins, in the mother's womb,
same father, not yet born, neither having done any good or evil,
So there's not anything to foresee in them. They hadn't done a thing.
All right, listen. That the purpose of God, according
to election, might stand. You want to know what God's purpose
is in election? Here it is. Not of works, but
of him that calleth. It's so salvation won't be of
works, it'll be of God who calls. Now if you're not using the same
textbook I'm using, you might not have that, it might not read
that way. And I can't vouch for what free will folks translated
it to mean, but that's what my Bible said. And if you read the
context, context is so important. Now we gotta go on with the context.
Look here. It was said unto Rebekah by God, the elder, that is Esau,
he gonna serve the younger. As it is written, here's why
God said it would happen that way. Jacob have I loved, but
Esau have I loved a little less. Esau have I hated. God hates
all workers of iniquity. That's what you are and I are
if God doesn't choose to save us. And the reason he hates the
work of iniquity and the reason he could say I hate Esau is because
Esau was conceived in his mother's womb of iniquity. He was born
of Adam. He was a sinner. God's justice,
He's always just when He refuses a sinner. And He said, I hate
Esau, but I love Jacob. How could He possibly love Jacob?
How could God possibly have mercy on Jacob? He just told us. It's of Him that call us. He
did it by grace. That's what grace is. You take
two children in their mother's womb, and they're both conceived
in sin, they're both sinners, and there's not anything in them
that they've done good or evil. God chooses whom He will. He
chooses whom He will. Let's read on. And He says, What
shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with
God? This explains the whole context. It's just like what
I'm telling you. You know why? Otherwise, He wouldn't
have raised that question. Why would he have raised that
question if it doesn't mean exactly what I'm telling you it means?
Here's why he raised the question. When sinners hear what I just
preached to you, that God chooses whom He will and passes by whom
He will, the first thing they say is, that's not fair! God's
unrighteous to do that! And he says, is there unrighteousness
with God? God forbid. Who's unrighteous? Keep reading. Keep reading. Who's
unrighteous? He says, he told Moses, I'll
have mercy on who I'll have mercy. And I'll have compassion on who
I'll have compassion. The very fact he's going to have
mercy shows us me and you got no reason to keep our, open our
mouth about anything. We're guilty. If he's going to
show mercy, it's of mercy. Now watch this. So then, it is
not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God
that shows mercy. So, it's not God looking down
through time and see who wills and who runs to him. It's of
God that shows mercy. Read on. The scripture says to
Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised you up, that I
might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared
throughout all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy on whom
he will have mercy, and not only that, he hardens whomever he
will. He makes it so a man can't know
him. What's a man going to say to
that? Thou wilt say then unto me, why does he yet find fault?
How can he find fault with a man then if he's controlling everything?
Here's the answer to that. No, but old man, who are you
to reply against God? Who are you to question God on
the way God's going to do anything? Do you realize that's what Satan
did that got him cast out of heaven? He questioned God. And you know what the first thing
he did when he entered the garden and tempted Eve, beguiled Eve
in the garden? He questioned God. Has God said,
you can do this? The devil questions God. The
devil questions himself to hell. The devil is the one that questions
himself out of the presence of God. A man wants to go through
this world going, why does God... Who are you, old man, to reply
against God? This little pygmy worm, piece
of vomit, going to say something against the holy, immaculate,
righteous God? And if you don't feel that way
about yourself, you don't know Him, because that's how God's
people feel about ourselves. Listen to this, "...shall the
thing formed say to him that formed it, why have you made
me this way?" Has not the potter power over the clay of the same
lump to make one vessel to honor and another to dishonor? You
ever seen the clay rise up against the potter? He takes a piece
of clay and he breaks it apart and he makes one vessel a pretty
vase that he's going to use and the other one he just throws
it over there in a pile. You ever seen the clay rise up
and say, what are you doing this with me for? God says, that's
what you are. That's what I am. That's how
much right we got to stand up, say anything to God. But we don't. What if God willing to show his
wrath? What if God wants to show his
wrath? What if you want to exercise your wrath in the earth? Don't
you do it? You do it unless God stops you.
What if God, who can't be stopped, wants to exercise His wrath?
Look, what if God, willing to show His wrath and to make His
power known, endured with much longsuffering those vessels of
clay that He made up, fitted, perfect, just to be destroyed? This ain't the God we've been
hearing about by men, is it? This God ain't like that little
old Jesus that's just begging and saying, come on and let me
save you. I want to save you so bad if you let me do something.
This is God we're talking about. This is a God you're going to
stand before and a God I'm going to stand before right here. This
is the God who says, I can do with my own what I will and man
is going to zip it and keep his mouth shut. That's God we're
talking about. Look here now, He says, And that,
the reason that I might do that is that I might make known the
riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy that He had aforeprepared
unto glory. Even us, whom He's called, not
of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles. It's His elect
people. So the purpose of God according
to election is that salvation be not of works, but of Him that
calleth. It's God that has mercy on whom He will have mercy. So
what then, if God didn't look down through time and see who
would believe and choose them for that, what's this word for
no mean? If you think it means God looking into time, just get
that out of your mind. This is in the mind and purpose
of God. The word for knowledge is the
Greek word where we get the word prognosis. And prognosis means
this, a judgment made beforehand. A judgment made beforehand. When
the doctor makes the prognosis, you're over here in the room
somewhere, he's made the judgment beforehand. He knows what the
judgment is. He knows everything about it.
He knows it. He knows all about you. He knows
everything about it. He's got the judgment made already.
And then He comes in there and tells you about it. But He knows
about it from the beginning. This word for knowledge is the
judgment of God. It's the prognosis made by God
from the beginning in eternity. God made the judgment that He
approves of His vessels of mercy, that He approves of His people,
that He approves of them, that He has a peculiar gracious complacency
in His people. It's Him foreknowing them in
the mind and purpose of God whenever He formed us in His Son. This
is time talk. This is people talk. So we can
try to understand this. But in the mind and purpose of
God, when He formed us in His Son, knowing the end from the
beginning of what He would do, of how we would be when it was
all said and done in His Son, right there in His Son from the
beginning, God's judgment was, I'm happy with this people. I
approve of this people. I love this people. I love these
people. And then, you know the scripture,
it says, Adam knew Eve. It means he loved her. It means
he looked at her, he was complacent with her, he had an intimate,
heart love for her. He knew her. She's his, he knew
her. That's what God before, before
simply means it happened in eternity, before time was made, before
the earth was made, before anything was made, God loved his people. He said in the scripture, In
Jeremiah 31.3, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. Everlasting. It's got no beginning.
It's got no end. It's eternal. That's foreknowledge.
I can't describe it. I can't explain it. I'm just
trying to hit around it a little bit and we're going to try to
just bow and believe God on it. But if you look down the page
in Romans 8, the context he's talking about is the love of
God. And he says down there, who's going to separate us from
the love of Christ? Nothing. Look at the end of verse
39. Who's going to separate us from the love of God which is
in Christ Jesus our Lord? That's where it is. There's no
love of God outside of Christ. It's in Christ. Alright? Our text doesn't say what God
foreknew. It says who God foreknew. Not
that he knew who he was going to believe. He knew his people.
He knew them personally. He knew them in Christ. When
God said to look down into time, into our time state, this is
what the scripture says about that. And I'm going to give it
to you quickly. You can write these scriptures down, so I want you
to be sure to go home and look them up and study them. Genesis
6, 12. God looked upon the earth, and
behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted his way upon
the earth. That's what God saw when he looked into time. Then
Psalm 53, 2 and 3 says this, God looked down from heaven upon
the children of men to see if there was any that did understand,
if there was any that sought God. There was a whole bunch
of religious folks just like they are today. Every one of
them has gone back, he said, they're all together become filthy,
there's none that does good, no not one. Now that's what God,
you want to talk about God foreseeing his forepresence? That's God's
forepresence. That's what he sees when he looks
in the time. All God's blessings is his foregnosis. It's his foregnosis
before. It's his judgment before. It's
him loving before. Now then, this proves that he
didn't look down through time and see who was going to believe
on him and then he chose them because those he foreloved and
foreknew in Christ He predestinated them to be brought to faith.
Look now, look at verse 29. He also, those He foreknew, He
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son. What
does this big word predestination mean? Pre- before, destination,
fixed the destination. He fixed their destiny. He did
it beforehand. He fixed their destiny that they
would be conformed to the image of His Son. I tell you, this
is why, I'm going to show you, this is why the believers are
so happy, because we know everything is working together for our good.
Because God did all this before He ever made anything. And He's
working everything together to fulfill this purpose. Look here. Now, had God foreseen His people
would believe on Him, there would have been no need for Him to
predestinate them. Would it? They'd already gone believe,
so why would He predestinate them? Why would He have anything
to do with determining their end? They already determined
it. The reason we were redeemed by Christ, the reason He came
and redeemed us, the reason we were regenerated by the Holy
Spirit and given a being as a spiritual child of God that we didn't have
in Adam, The reason we were given the gift of faith, Paul said,
salvation is by grace through faith in that not of yourselves,
it's the gift of God, lest any man boast, because we're His
workmanship. And the reason He predestinated
us to give us that gift of faith, to bring us by the adoption into
His family, is because He loved us in Christ and He predestinated
every bit of it. predetermined every bit of it.
I sat down with my father when I was about 12 years old and
we went out and we're going to add a room on the back of our
house and we went out there and we just started building. And we
didn't plan nothing, we didn't have a plan, we didn't buy the
things we needed, we just went out there and started building.
Do you think that's true? We had a plan. We knew exactly
where every nail was going, what lumber was going to be needed,
what tools was going to be needed, what hammer was going to be needed,
and we provided everything. We had purchased everything and
brought it to the place and we built it. Why can't God do that? Some little sinner is going to
say, oh, I do it every day, but God can't do that, not with my
salvation. That offends me. Well, you just
had to be offended all the way to hell then. God's going to
have his way. God's going to have His way.
I want you to bow to God. We're going to have to bow to
God. He's going to break us. He's going to break us and break
us down. We're like old buck and horse. He's going to have
to break us. All right, look here. Turn to
Ephesians 1. Ephesians chapter 1. To see to it that we're going
to be conformed to Christ's image, He predestinated all this. Look
here. Here's your foreknowledge, verse
3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ, according as He chose us in Him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy without blame before
Him in love. There's your foreordination. There's your foreknowledge. Now
here's your foreordination. Here's your predestination. having
predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the
praise of the glory of his grace." That means he didn't see nothing
in you and me. "...wherein he hath made us accepted in the
blood." That means you didn't accept Jesus. That means God
accepted you and came and made you understand it. So that you
could bow and say, however you say it, Lord, that's the idea.
I believe you. Those God foreknew, God blessed
with all spiritual blessings because He chose us in Christ.
And those He chose, He predestinated to be sanctified by Christ through
the Holy Spirit into His family. That's predestination. Look at
1 Peter 1.2. 1 Peter 1.2. I want you to see
the order of this. 1 Peter 1.2. It says, elect according to the foreknowledge
of God the Father. That means the foreknowledge
came first and then the election. Elect according to the foreknowledge
of God or it was all together. And then it says, through. Now
here's what we're predestinated unto. Through sanctification
of the Spirit. That means the Holy Spirit's
going to give us life. Everybody that God chose and
predestinated. And here's where He's going to
bring them. Unto obedience and the sprinkling of the blood of
Jesus Christ. That blood of the cross whereby
He cleansed His people from all our sins. Now that's the scripture
now. That's what God says about it.
Look at 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 11. 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 11. I know this is not what the majority
in religion are preaching. But you know what Christ said
about the majority in religion? He said, few will find the narrow
gate. But many will go in the broad
way. He said there'll be many, many
that stand before me in that day and say, Lord, Lord, we were
religious. We preached in your name. We
did works in your name. And he'll say, depart from me,
you workers of iniquity. I never knew you. Do you want
that to be you? I don't want that to be you.
I don't want that to be anybody that I'm standing here preaching
to. Because according to that scripture I read to you this
morning, God's going to say, did you tell them the truth?
Yes, Lord, I told them. Why didn't you bow to it, son?
I wanted to have my will. You didn't want to have God's
will? Well, you can have your will. Be separate from me. Have at it. Have just what you
want. Have at it. I don't want that. I don't want that for you. Oh
God, don't see God save you. Look here, 2 Thessalonians 2
verse 11. Verse 11, he says, For this cause
God shall send them strong delusions that they should believe a lie.
You mean God's going to send somebody a delusion that they
believe a lie? Why? Right here. that they all might
be damned who believed not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. That pleasure in unrighteousness
is pleasure in going into the church house and standing there
and acting as if I'm God. standing there and talking about
how I did it by my will and how I did it by my works and how
it's my planning and my foreordaining and my doing that by which I'm
saved. That's anti-Christ, standing
in the house of God and pretending like he's God. God said, everybody
that does that has pleasure in that unrighteousness. I'm going
to send them a delusion that they just believe that lie. Can't
do otherwise. But, but, if you believe who
gets the glory, look here, but, We're bound to give thanks always
to God for you. You know who I thank for? For
you who believe. I thank God. Look here. Why? For you, brethren, beloved of
the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation
through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. That's what he predestinated
us unto. Whereunto he called you by our gospel. That's how
he did it. to the obtaining of the glory
of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's what he said he predestinated
us unto. Listen to this. I'll just give
you this one. Jeremiah 1.5. Here's our predestination. He
told Jeremiah, Before I formed you in the belly, I knew thee. I foreknew thee. And before thou
camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee. And I ordained
thee a prophet unto the nations. I didn't have a thing to do with
making myself a preacher. I say that carefully because
if I'm really his preacher, I didn't have a thing to do with it. He
did it every bit of it before I ever knew anything about it.
And if you and I are believers, it's the same. He did it. He
did it all. Now, here's why he did it. It
was to be conformed to Christ's image. That's why God predestinated
people, to be conformed to Christ's image. Our text tells us that.
It says, Whom he foreknew, it says, them he also did predestinate
to be conformed to the image of his Son. All right, now just
stop. Let's just, let's just, we don't have to put on a real,
a real difficult thinking cap here, but let's just think a
little bit here. If he predestinated me to be conformed to his Son,
that means at some point along the way I lost conformity to
his Son, didn't I? Isn't that right? If He predestinated
me sometime to be conformed to the image of His Son, I lost
the image of His Son somewhere. We lost it in Adam. Adam fell
in the garden and when God made Adam, I want to show you, this
is beautiful too, God doesn't do a thing by accident. When
He made Adam, He made Adam, He made Adam to be a figure and
a type and a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. by making him a
representative man representing a people. That's how he was a
picture of Christ. Romans 5.14 says Adam is the
figure of him to come. Romans 5.14. Let's go there.
We don't want to take this for granted. Romans 5.14. It says, Death reigned from Adam
to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude
of Adam's transgression. And speaking of Adam there, it
says, Who is the figure of him that was to come. That means
he's a picture, he's a type of Christ to come. And the whole
chapter tells you how he was a picture and a type. He was
a picture in representation. He was a picture. There's some
ways it shows you he's the same, and some ways it shows you he's
different. Here's what ultimately it means. Look at Romans 5.19.
Here's what it means. As by one man's disobedience
many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many
be made righteous. Just like Adam made all his people
disobedient and unrighteous by his one act, Christ, by his obedience,
makes all his people righteous. You understand that? We don't
do it. Christ did it. Now whenever God
predestinated us to be conformed to the image of Christ, whenever
Adam did that in the garden and he died and he sinned and he
fell, you remember God made him after his image. But then when
he died, spiritually died in the garden and fell, it says
when he had a son named Seth, it says Seth was born after Adam's
image. fallen, depraved, polluted, defiled
sinner. That's what he was. And that's
what we were born with. God looked down from heaven to
see if there was any that did seek him, anybody that knew him,
and they were all going away backwards. There was none good,
no not one. That's me, that's you, that's all those that fell
in Adam, including his people. including his people. So for
Christ to come and make us to be in his image, there's something
that's got to be done. He's got to come forth. Christ
has got to come forth. He's got to justify his people
from the law. You see, God made a garden and
put Adam in a sinless garden in a perfect environment, a holy
upright man, and gave him a free reign to do what he would, God
knowing exactly what he would do from beforehand. and Adam sinned against God.
God takes the last Adam, Christ, and puts him in a sin-cursed
earth with a polluted people, populated with a polluted people,
and makes him in the likeness of the flesh of his people under
the law, and now he's got to not only walk through this earth
and keep that law for his people in the midst of all this sin
and rebellion and temptation and all that, Then he's got to
go to the cross and be made sin for his people and bear the judgment
of God for his people and never cease to be faithful to God and
righteous toward God and holy toward God ever the whole time
he did it. You see, what God did in the
garden in allowing Adam to fall, it was all according to the purpose
of God to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ, His Son. Can God not
do with His own what He will? Sure He can. And that's why he
did it. He said, I lifted up Pharaoh
for this purpose. He lifted up the devil for that
purpose. To use him to show his power and to make his mercy known
on his people. And he lifted up Christ for this
purpose. Because in Christ we see how much greater God's grace
is. To over sin abounded, grace did
much more abound. And the law was given, not for
you to try to come to God by it. The law was given to show
you your sin. That's why when you read that
chapter that Brother Eric read, you see when God gave the law,
they got all washed up the day before like Moses said. Man,
they was going to come out to that mountain and they was going
to get them commandments and go take off running, doing everything
God said to do. And when God gave the commandments,
he just poured down fire. And they all ran back like a
little pup with a tail between their legs and said, Moses, you
go up to God. We can't do it. And that's right. When he gave the law, he gave
it to bring you to that point right there. It's not to you
to come to God by it, to make the world be guilty before God. For you to run back and say,
Christ, we need you to go up to the mountain for us. We can't
go up there ourselves. That's what he did it for. And
sinners like we are took that law after God removed His presence,
as far as us being able to see it. We took that law then and
said, okay, now we'll do it. And God said, you're going to
go into judgment with that. You can't come to me with that.
That's iniquity to come to God with your own righteousness.
They're filthy rags. You gotta be perfect as God is
perfect. Holy as God is holy. There's
nobody like that, but Christ... So then, look here. Galatians
4. Don't you see this? Galatians
4. So I said to you, He had to justify us from the law. Then
He had to send the gospel to us. He had to recreate us after
His image and regeneration. And then He's going to have to
finally glorify us into His presence in the end. Look at this now.
Galatians 4, 3. Even so, we, when we were children,
we were in bondage under the elements of the world. That's
the law. He says, but when the fullness of time was come, God
sent forth his woman, made of a woman, made under the law to
redeem them that were under the law that we might receive the
adoption of sons. He took flesh, He was made under
the law, He took the sin and judgment, and He did it so that
His people might receive the adoption of sons and be conformed
to His image. That had to be taken care of
first. God wouldn't do it unless justice is satisfied. Watch this
now. Verse 6, And because you are
sons, Deemed by Christ, reconciled by Christ, the work finished
by Christ because of your sons. God sent forth the Spirit of
His Son into your hearts, cried, Abba, Father. Wherefore, you're
no more a servant of sin, no more a servant of bondage, but
you're a son, and a son, if a son and an heir of God through Christ.
That's what Christ did. That's how He brought us to be
conformed to His image. You didn't become a son because,
oh, I believed on God one day and that's how I became a son
of God. No, because His people are sons, He sends forth the
Spirit of His Son into their hearts. Where did you get to
be a son? When He wrote your name down in the Lamb's Book
of Life before the foundation of the world. Look at this. We are with open face beholden
as in a glass in the gospel. We behold the glory of the Lord
and we're changed into that image from glory to glory by the Spirit
of the Lord. And get this in your heart, brethren, now. Here's
the good news. How does that... How come he
said all this after he said, God works all things together
for good to them that love God, to them who are called after
His purpose? Because who God predestinated, who God foreknew
He predestinated to be, conformed to the image of His Son. Why
did He give that as the reason why to show us that we know God
works everything after the counsel of His own will? Why did He give
that as proof? Just think about it. Satan, hell,
sin, death, the grave, the world, ages and ages and ages of history,
all nations fighting against each other, war against each
other, man against man, all of these things, and even the crucifixion
of Christ. And every bit of it accomplished
the will of God. And He's bringing every one of
His people to be conformed to Christ's image. And it hasn't
stopped Him a bit. That shows you he's working everything
together for the good of his people. Even the cross, the most
evil thing ever happened in this world. They were doing what God
determined before to be done. I gotta finish this up. And this
is the truth of it. We're conformed to His image.
You that's born of God, in the new man, you're conformed to
His image. Created after the image of God. And He says, we're
now the sons of God. And it doesn't appear what we're
going to be, but when we see Him, we're going to be like Him.
How do I know He's going to bring that to pass? You can turn there
if you want. Philippians 3, verse 21. How do I know He's going to bring
that to pass? Paul said, he shall change our
vile body. Philippians 3.21 He shall change
our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious
body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue
all things unto himself. You see, he's working all things
together. And the proof of it is He's conformed you to His
image. Justice had to be satisfied to
do that. You had to be created anew to
do that. The gospel had to be brought to you to do that. God
overcome every obstacle in this world, not overcame them. He
used every one of them together to make it happen. That's God. That's the real God. Now, one
last thing and I'm done and I'll be as brief as I can. Why was
all this done? Well, God wanted to see me saved,
not heartily. I mean, that's part of it. You
get to be saved by it. And God's will's done. He wanted
to save his people. But that's not hardly the chief
cause. That's way on back down the line. One of these days we're
going to learn it's not unto us, not unto us, but unto thy
name be the glory. We're going to learn that one
day. But listen to this. Here's why he did it. That he,
Christ, might be the firstborn among many brethren. He did it
for his son. He did it for his son. God did
it for his son. Robbie, if you could do anything
in the world for that boy, would you? God can. And he did everything for his
son. And he's going to bring all the glory to his son. And
every knee is going to bow and say, you know what that old poor
uneducated preacher down there told me that day when they were
at the firehouse? I'm going to bow lower and say, yes, Lord,
it was true. It was true. Whether you believe Him or not,
we're going to bow and say, Lord, it was true. Everything was true. For by Him were all things created
that are in heaven, that are in earth, visible, invisible,
thrones, dominions, principalities, powers, good and evil. Both of
them were made by Christ and they were made by Him and for
Him, and He's before all things, and by Him all things consist.
He's the head of the body, the church, the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead, that in all things He might have the preeminence. You see, the message I've been
preaching to you this morning gives Christ all the preeminence. It gives Christ all the glory,
and it gives man none. If you want Christ to have the
preeminence, you're on God's side. And God's worth grace in
your heart. He's overcome every obstacle
to bring you to Himself and perform you to His image. If you hate
this message, you're the enemy of God. There's just no way around
it. That's the true and living God.
You've heard about Him today. I'm free from your blood. Amen.
All right, Eric.