Again, the message will go to
God in prayer. It's good to see you here. I know that many are
sick. Chuck texted me and said that
Patty was feeling sick and Tia wasn't feeling well. Gene and Glenn are with Trinda
as she had double knee surgery. At the same time, both of them.
So they're taking care of her. So be in prayer for them. Kathy,
I think, got hung up at work or something like that, right?
So pray for her. Pray for Rick. I don't know.
I didn't hear anything today about the surgery. So I imagine
nobody said anything, so it might have went well. That's the way
it seems. Nobody said anything. So pray
for Rick. And do you pray for Eric? I did
receive a comforting, I think you should know about these things.
I know that at times it gets discouraging, but you know, there
are people listening and hearing the gospel. And in places that
we don't, we've never, I've never heard of, never knew any pastors
there, never knew if there were any, anybody preaching the gospel
in these places. I've heard from several people
online that they've been enjoying the messages and were very thankful,
very thankful to hear the gospel. Speaking with Brother Don Martin
yesterday, we had lunch together and I enjoyed our visit. And
we were talking about the dearth in the land, a famine, a famine,
not a bread, but of the Word of God. There's just a famine
for the Word of God. There's not a famine for entertainment,
is there? There's a lot of entertainment.
If you want to be entertained, there's a lot of it out there. Religion in this modern day is
amusement. It's exciting. I was speaking
to somebody today, I said, if you want to go to a modern church,
you'd be excited to go. You'd be excited. They have a
lot of things for you. They had a Starbucks in the foyer
there. You know, it's nice. Wonderful. All the comforts and
amenities, the music is beautiful, and there's a lot to it. One thing they're missing, though,
is the gospel. You can go there and be entertained, but you will
never hear about the gospel of Jesus Christ. you hear about
you. If you want to hear about you
and how good you can be and how wonderful you can be and how
much God is so thankful to have you, then you'll be having to
go over there. But the gospel is in short supply. Read this book and people don't
know anything about this book today. They don't know anything
at all about the God of this book. They know the God that's
in their head. Well, I think God's like this.
Well, I feel like God's like this. This is how I think. And
everybody has different opinions about who God is, and everybody
goes away happy. They just say, well, I'm not
gonna rain on your opinion, and you don't rain on mine, and we'll
be okay. We can just get along. Listen, I don't want a God made
up in my head. I want the God. I need to serve
the God. I need to be accepted by the
God. as God reveals himself in this book, and that's how I desire
to preach him, as he reveals himself. And there's not much
of that. I wish there were. I wish that
all these people that are listening on the internet, they could find
a church within five minutes of them. I wish they could have
one right next door to them. But we don't have that. And I'm
sad for this generation. I'm very sad. But I'm thankful
that God has placed the light here. I don't know why other
than he was gracious. Other than he was merciful. He's
given us the understanding of the word and a desire for it.
There's not a desire either. And God's given us a desire. If you have a desire to hear
this, that's a gift from God. That's not natural. It's not
common. So be thankful for what God has
given us, and I think we should be. I'm thankful that the Lord
has called others to hear and listen through this means, and
I ask you to pray for them. Pray for them that they would
find a place. I would hope they'd find a place that they can worship. Any other requests need to be
mentioned? Anything else? No. I ask your prayers for me. I
want to preach, but I still haven't yet preached the way I want to.
I've been doing it for 16 years now, and I still haven't found
the way to preach like I really want to, but I pray that God
bless it anyway. Let's go to him in prayer. Our
gracious Father in heaven, we thank you for the time that you've
given us here. Father, you have moved everything in heaven and
earth to bring us to this place at this time. to hear this word. I beg you for grace that everyone
who hears it, that the Spirit of God would apply it to our
hearts. Father, I beg you to comfort
your children in this time of need, in their time of distress,
in their time of affliction and pain. that they can lay hold of your
word and be comforted. And Father, I beg you this night
that you would give me such liberty and unction of your spirit to
preach it, declare it as it is the truth. I pray that you'd
give me clarity of speech, that Father, even the smallest child
that hears could understand what I'm saying. I beg you for that. I pray that you'd make it clear
in my mind and pour it out of my lips and heart as it is your
word. Then, Father, I ask that you
would let those that hear it believe it, that they would take
anything that is opposed to your word, anything they have been
taught or anything that they have that's in our minds, Father,
that opposes your word, I beg you to throw it out. I beg you,
be gracious. For those that do not know Christ,
I lay them out before you wherever they are and plead for mercy
that you would show them Christ. And Father, that they would believe
and be saved according to your power and will. These that we mentioned who are
sick, we do lift them before you and plead for mercy and healing. I beg for this congregation,
I beg for the people here, that you would be gracious and heal
them. That you would touch their bodies
and minds and restore us together again. Give us a zeal for thy word,
a zeal for the hearts and souls of men. that you would cause
us to witness of Christ and testify of his glory and beauty, of his
work and his person. I beg you that you would not
let us trust in any feelings of the flesh or things in the
world or our own selves, but trust only in your Son. Cleanse
us, I pray you. Forgive us our sins. I beg you these things in the
name of Jesus and for his holy name's sake. Amen. I'm gonna take your Bibles, turn
with me to Romans 8. Romans chapter 8. The text will be found
in verse 29 through verse 31. The scripture says, 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. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
them he also called, and whom he called, them he also justified,
and whom he justified, them he also glorified. What shall we
say, then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? The apostle asked this question
in verse 34, and what shall we say to these things? What things
is he talking about? He's He's specifically talking
about all, could be all the things that He had said before. But
tonight we're going to look at these things, and I've entitled
this message, A Comfort, The Comfort of These Things. The
comfort of these things. The first comfort I want us to
see is God's foreknowledge or His electing grace. The comfort of electing grace. the comfort of his predestinating
grace, the comfort of his calling, the
comfort of his justification, and the comfort of his glorification. Now the Apostle says these in
this eighth chapter, which is a glorious chapter, he says there's
no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. We who are led by the Spirit
of God, we are the sons of God. What glorious things He speaks
to us. Even though we are, there is
no condemnation, and even though we are the sons of God, even
though the Spirit of God testifies with our spirit that we're sons
and heirs of God, joint heirs with Christ. Listen, we still
suffer in this world. God's children suffer. We suffer
all the afflictions that everyone else suffers and even more we
suffer spiritual afflictions. The conflict we feel within our
own selves. Paul says in this chapter that
we groan within ourselves. And he testifies we even have
the spirit to help us in prayer. We can't pray for things. We
don't even know what to pray for as we ought to know. So the
Spirit of God, according to the will of God, intercedes for us
in prayer. And then He gives us that comforting
thing in verse 28 that we know, we have a knowledge, we who are
children of God have a certain knowledge. What is that knowledge?
We know that all things work together for good. Not to everyone,
we know that, but to them that love God. And then he adds this,
not to them to just love God, that's one aspect of it. But
this other part he's going to start introducing us to this
matter of God's sovereign electing grace. And from this portion
forward, he's going to start expounding on it. And he adds this, who are called
according to His purpose. Those who love God. Why is it
that you love God? You love God because you were
called of God. According to whose purpose? Yours
or His? The Apostle comforts us, it's
not yours. Man, I'm so thankful for that.
I'm so glad I wasn't called according to my purpose. You know why?
My purpose changes. I may be all in one day, and
then the next day I may not be. I may purpose to do something,
but I don't have the power to do it. But I'm thankful for this,
that I'm called according to His purpose. And that's what
He's going to talk about, being saved on purpose. You that are
saved, are you saved on accident or on purpose? Did God just say, man, I'd love
to save you, but I don't know? No. Everyone who is called of
God is saved on purpose. And this is what he gets at.
Look at verse 29. For whom he did foreknow. Notice this. This
is a comforting thing to everyone who believes. To every one of
you who believe, this should be a very comforting thing for
you. This is how you know God's for
you. If God be for us, who can be against us? How do I know
if God's for me? Listen. For whom He did foreknow. He also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of His Son. Now the first comforting
thing then is God's purpose and predestination. All who are called
to faith and life in Christ are called because they were foreknown
of God. Now, regardless of what men think
about the sovereign election of God, there's one thing they
cannot deny, that it is plainly revealed in Scripture. It's plainly
stated. It's not hidden. You don't have
to look very hard to find it. Now, if you want to know something
very hard, to deny it. If you deny God's sovereign election,
you've got to do a lot of work. You got to just take pages and
just rip them out. I remember Don telling me about
this in his seminary that they hated sovereign election so much
that they told the students that they weren't allowed to use the
word election or predestination or predestinated. And then what
Brother Don did, he had a reading. And what he did is, he went into
the Word of God, and he found everywhere that word was used,
and everywhere he said, and this is one of the texts, he says,
in whom he did blank, he also did blank. You'd have to just
tear it out. Election is so plainly revealed.
Look at Ephesians 1. Come on, look at there, look
how simply this is found. in Ephesians 1. And I like the
way Paul does this at the beginning of the book. People say, well,
man, this doctrine is too hard. You shouldn't be introducing
this stuff. You should just kind of weave it in. No. Paul puts
it at the very beginning of the book. Look what he says. He praises
God the Father. He said, Blessed be the God and
Father, verse 3, of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. How did he
do that? According as he hath chosen us
in him. When? Before the foundation of
the world. What's the purpose? That we should
be holy and without blame before him. Now isn't that exactly what
the Apostle says in Romans 8? For whom he did foreknow, he
also did predestinate to what? like His Son, holy and without
blame. Now why did He do that? In love.
I love that. In love. It gives you the reason
why. In love. Having predestinated us. Oh, we'd have to blank that out.
Under the adoption of children. How is He going to make me the
sinner, His child? Listen, by Jesus Christ. That's how He's going to do it. He's going to do it by Jesus
Christ to Himself. Now why is He going to do it?
According to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of
the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the
Beloved. A false religion would have God's
election dependent Upon man that's when they say well that I believe
in election But what God did was this he looked down the portals
of time and he saw what I would do and Then he elected me based
on what I would do and see the gymnastics That's what men believe but the
scriptures are very clear concerning this matter look at look back
to your text They said, when they use this word foreknowledge,
they said, for whom he did foreknow, they say, ah see, he foreknew
what I would do, therefore he predestinated me based on what
I would do. That's how men view this. But according to the scriptures,
the scriptures are very clear, every time, now listen to me,
every time God's foreknowledge is used in regards to salvation,
it is always concerning a people. It is always personal. It has nothing to do with actions. Nothing to do with actions. His foreknowledge relates in
salvation only to people, not to actions. Now listen, I know
this, God surely does know everything that's going to happen. Now why
is that? Because He determined everything
that's going to happen. Known unto God are all His works
from the beginning. Listen to what God Himself said.
God Himself said, I'm God and there's none else declaring the
end, listen, from the beginning. from ancient times of things
that were not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand and I
will do all my pleasure. So we know this. God knows everything
that everybody has done, is doing, and will do. Why? Because he
determined to do it. You think you're here by accident?
I mean, really, you think that's an accident? No. You were determined
to be here. And that wasn't your determination.
It was God's. So we know this, that God knows
all things. But every time God's foreknowledge
is spoken of in scripture in regards to salvation, it speaks
of His people. Look at the text and tell me
if that's not true. For whom He did foreknow. Not what. Whom. Whom He did foreknow. He also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of His Son. Look at chapter 11 and verse
2. I'll show you another instance
of this, chapter 11 and verse 2. The apostle here asks the question,
he says, hath God cast away his people which he foreknew? No. God hath not cast away his people
which he foreknew. And then he gives the illustration
of Elijah. Elijah, right? He was a prophet
and he thought he was the only one left. The whole country seemed
to go after that false god Baal. And he goes to the Lord and he
said, they dig down your altars, they destroy and kill your prophets,
and I'm the only one left. Listen to what God said to him.
Look at verse 5. He said, in verse 4, But what saith the
answer of God to him? I have reserved to myself seven
thousand men who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal.
Listen, even so, at this present time, there is a remnant according
to the election of grace. Now, the Jews. They killed Christ. And people were asking this question,
did God cast off all the Jews? He said, no. No, Paul said, I'm
a Jew. I believe. And this is the point
that God will never cast off His people, listen, which He
foreknew, which He chose, His people. He will not. Every person
that God determines to save, He will save. He will save. The Lord has a remnant according,
not according to works, but according to grace. And this is very clearly seen
in the election of Jacob and Esau. Go back to chapter 9. Look
at this illustration of these two children. Two children born
of the same dad in the very womb of the same mother. Twins! And look what God says about
these children in verse 11 of chapter 9. He said, For the children
being not yet born, neither having done good, or evil, that the
purpose of God, according to election, might stand not of
works, but of him that calleth. He said to her, the elder shall
serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have
I loved, but Esau have I hated." You got that? God loved Jacob and hated Esau
before they had done any good or evil. God foreknew Jacob in love and hated Esau. This is an act
of sovereign grace that He would love Jacob. Now why is it that
it's an act of grace? Because both children deserved
hail. Both were sons of Adam. Both
were born sinners. worthy of only his vengeance,
and yet God, in mercy, determined to save one. Now listen, I've
had people call God a monster for that. I said, I won't worship
a God like that. Well, I know you won't, not until
God saves you. You won't worship a God like
that. But Paul even, look at the first
14, he even Sees your objection. He even answers your objection.
Look at the, what shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness
with God? Is God a monster? Is that horrible? Is God unfair? What is his answer? God forbid. For he saith to Moses,
I'll have mercy on whom I'll have mercy, and I will have compassion
on whom I'll have compassion. So then, here's the conclusion.
It's not of him that willeth or him that runneth, but what?
God that showeth mercy. It's God that shows mercy. And so as it is with Jacob and
Esau, so it is with us. Consider this, that if God had
not set his love upon some of us, had he not foreknown and
foreloved some of Adam's race, then there would be no hope for
any of us. Isaiah said we should all be
as like Sodom and Gomorrah. If God had not chosen some, we
would be like the fallen angels, the fallen angels who have no
hope. Yet because of grace, there is
hope. If there were no election, listen
to me, there would be no salvation. If God left man's hope up to
himself, there would be no hope. This lost religious world hates
this matter of election for one reason. Listen to this very carefully.
They want some glory for themselves. Men don't like election because
it gives them no glory whatsoever. You that are saved, how much
did you have a part in this salvation? What did you have? You that know
election, you understand this. I had no part. It is all an act of grace and
mercy from God. This lost religious world would
rather divide the glory of God's salvation, divide the glory of
spiritual life with Christ and themselves. See, man by nature despises sovereign
election because he desires to rob God of something that God
will not share. Listen to me. God will not share
his glory. God will not share his glory
with you. But in denying the election of
God's free and sovereign grace, listen to me, men oppose the
salvation of their own souls. If you deny this, you're saying
that there's something you can do. This is where God brought me.
He brought me to the end of myself by this. I had no hope except
He chose me. I had no hope except He come
and save me. There was nothing I could do. And so denying the election of
God, a man opposes his own soul to the grace of God's salvation.
For the election of God is always unto salvation. Everyone God
foreknew, listen to me, will be saved. Everyone, this is the
comforting part of this, you that believe, listen to me, he's
talking to you, whom he foreknew. Well, you believe? Man, that's
speaking of you. He foreknew you. But notice this, for whom He
did foreknow, this is the elect, His beloved church, all those
He gave to Christ. Listen to what else He did. Consider
this, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image
of His Son. Now the word predestinate, It
means to determine beforehand to ordain or decree. Now those that God foreknew in
electing love, listen, Paul says, He also before ordained that
they be made holy. Isn't that exactly what we read
in Hebrew, in Ephesians? He said that we should be holy.
According as He had chosen us in Christ, before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy. Here He says the same
thing, that we should be conformed to the image of His Son. This
is something God decreed, this is something God ordained, this
is something God determined to do. Now how did God determine to
do this? God is not silent as to how. You see, the father who loved
his elect also predestinated them to be holy and without blame,
like his son. Therefore, the elect were given
to the son in an eternal covenant. That's
what testament means. We call it the New Testament
or the Old Testament. It's a covenant, a contract. In eternity, God loved a people,
and in a covenant between Him and His Son, He gave the responsibility
to save His elect to His Son. He gave them all to Jesus Christ. And Jesus was purposed. Jesus was predestinated to be
the Savior of God's elect. not by a covenant of works. That
covenant we all failed. Haven't you failed in the covenant
of works? Haven't you failed in the law? We can't be saved
by the law. We've already failed. But the covenant was made by
the Father, the Son, and the Spirit before the world began
to do one thing, to save us, to save His elect. You know,
I like 2nd Timothy, look at 2nd Timothy, chapter 2, I think it is. Yeah, chapter 1. 2nd Timothy,
if I get to the right book, it would look a lot better. 2nd
Timothy, chapter 1 and verse 9. Notice the order of this. Talking about the power of God,
He said, Who hath saved us and Called us. What came first? He saved us, didn't he? And then
what'd he do? Because he saved me, then he
called me. He didn't call me and then save me. He saved me,
and then he called me. He did this by covenant. By covenant
of grace, he predestinated to save me. You know, when David
was on his deathbed, He was recounting what God said about a man, a
king's house. A king's house should be poor
perfect. It should be a shining light. It should be a glorious house.
And he said this, although my house is not like that. My house
is not like that. Isn't that true of us? We know
what we should be. And when I look at my house,
when I look at this, I see what I'm not. Although my house be
not so with God. And listen what David's hope
was. Yet he made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things
and what? Sure. And listen what his hope
was. He is all my salvation. That's what David said when he
was dying. This is what every believer hopes in, is in a covenant
that God made for us. A predestinated covenant. And
in this covenant, Christ was made responsible for our salvation. Remember, that's what the word
surety is, one who guarantees. Christ became surety for us.
He took the responsibility on Himself to save us. And therefore,
Jesus Christ was chosen to be our High Priest. He was chosen
to be the surety of a better covenant. And so God predestinated Him
to be our Savior. Now, let me ask you some questions. The Scripture says a woman shall
compass a man. In other words, a woman is going
to bear a son all by herself. The virgin shall conceive and
bear a son. Thou shalt call his name Immanuel.
He told Eve, the seed of the woman should crush the head of
the serpent. Do you suppose that there's anything
in the world that could have stopped the Son of God from coming
from the virgin's womb? Now Satan had tried from the
beginning to disrupt that. He has tried from the beginning
to stop that. Was there anything to stop that?
Why? God predestinated it. God determined
that Christ should come from the virgin's womb, and guess
what happened? He came from the virgin's womb. Nothing could
stop that. The Scripture says of Christ
that when He shall come He shall not fail nor be discouraged. I ask you a question. Was there
anything in the world that could have stopped Jesus from doing
His work? They tried, didn't they? Didn't
they try everything they could to stop Him? Was it possible
for them to stop Him? Matter of fact, everything they
did only furthered His work. It didn't stop it. Why? because
God predestinated Him to be our Savior. The Scripture says this, they
pierced my hands and my feet 700 years before Roman crucifixion
was ever invented. And yet God determined how His
Son should die. His hands and His feet would
be pierced. God determined that His Son should
be crucified on Passover. Remember what the Jews said?
The Jews said, hey, we can't kill Him on Passover. And God
says, I beg to differ, you'll kill Him on Passover. And it's
exactly where they killed Him. Why? Because God predestinated
it. He determined it. Remember what Peter says in Acts
chapter 2? He said, and Him, being delivered
by the determinate counsel and, listen, foreknowledge. Again,
what are we talking about? A work or a person? We're talking
about a person. Jesus Christ, He was foreordained to that, to our salvation by the hand
of God. Was there anybody to stop Him
from being crucified? Why? Because God determined it.
Was there anybody to stop him from being raised from the dead?
Could anyone stop him? They tried, didn't they? They
put two guards out front. They put a big rock over the
top of the tomb so nobody could get out and nobody could get
in. Could they stop him? Why? because God predestinated
that Christ should rise again from the dead. He told him this,
didn't he? He said, as Jonah was three days
and three nights in the belly of the fish, even so must the
Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of
the earth. He told him he's going to do that. There was none to stop him. Why?
Because this was determined before of God. that Jesus Christ should
redeem his people. Listen to what he said in Psalm
130, verse 8. He shall redeem Israel from her iniquities. Was
there any possibility that wasn't going to happen? When Joseph heard the angel,
he said, You shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his
people from their sin. Does that sound like Jesus was
trying to do something, but just couldn't? I don't know a Christ
like that. If you're Christ, anybody's Christ
is trying to do something, but he can't. I don't know a Christ
like that. That's not my Christ. That's
not the Christ of this book. No, because God determined to
save us by Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ came into the world,
and what did he do? He saved us. He saved all that
God foreknew. And now that Jesus has redeemed
His elect, He has finished the work of righteousness and redemption
by His blood. Listen to this. Who then shall
stop Him from saving His people? If God predestinated my salvation,
who then could stop Him from saving me? Not even me. Matter of fact, I was the most
ardent foe against him for saving me. And he saved me anyway. Why? Because whom he foreknew,
he also did predetermine to make like his son. Who then shall stop him from
calling and regenerating his people to spiritual life and
faith? Christ? The answer is the same. Nothing
and nobody. No one could stay his hand or
say unto him, what doest thou? Believer, then take comfort in
these things. You are foreknown of God. Isn't
that a glorious thing? That God foreknew you in such
a way that he would love you and predestinate you to be conformed
to the image of his Son. Behold, our God who purposed
to save us, Christ who accomplished our redemption, has also predestinated
all things that go before the experience of grace. You had
time before you were saved, didn't you? There was a time when you
were born, you were born dead in sin just like everybody else.
There was a space of time before you believed. And in all that
time before you believed, you were living in rebellion. Who kept you from dying during
that time? Do you know it was impossible
for you to die during that time? It was impossible. You couldn't.
Why? God had predestinated you to
be conformed to the image of His Son, and you weren't going
to leave here until you were. This is what we call pervenient
grace. This is grace that goes before
the experience of grace. Every believer looks back at
their life and they see how God has led them through. Haven't
you seen this? How God has guided you, how God
has protected you, how God has cared for you, even when you
didn't know it. You were living in sin and rebellion and hatred
of God, running from Him, and yet all the while He was leading
you to one place. He was leading you to spiritual
life. Isn't that glorious? I told you that many times about
J.D. asking me that question about
missing it. He said, you know, what if we
didn't go in? What if I didn't hear the gospel? What if, what
if, what if? There's no chance that would ever happen. Why?
For whom he did foreknow. He also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of his son. Therefore, all divine providence
is moving for that one purpose. Now listen, you want to know
why everything's happening the way it is. Listen to me. God
is moving everything to save His people. There's some still
not called. Some of them He's not yet called.
How do I know that? Christ hasn't come back. If Christ
comes back right now, I know that's all of them. Until then,
there's still more. And this is why we preach the
gospel. Because I know God has an elect people. I don't know
who they are. A man asked Charles Spurgeon that
question. He said, Sir, if God is only going to save the elect
people, then why preach the gospel? Spurgeon said, Sir, if you would
kindly point out the elect to me, I will only preach to them.
I don't know who they are. So I preach to everyone. Anybody
wants to listen? Anybody wants to hear? I'll preach
to you. I'll tell you about Christ. I'll
tell you of His grace. I'll tell you of His mercy. I'll
tell you of His blood, His righteousness, His love. I'll tell you who you
are. You're a sinner. You're totally,
absolutely in rebellion against God. You have no hope of saving
yourself. Come to Christ. And I say, come to Christ. I
have no power to bring you to Christ. And I'll let you in on
a secret, you don't have any power to bring you to Christ
either. But I know this, Christ has power to bring you to himself.
He sure does. Now I know that personally, because
he brought me. He brought me. Now look at verse
30, go back to your text, look at verse 30. He says, moreover,
He not only foreknew us, He not only predestinated us, sent Christ
to accomplish our salvation, but listen, He doesn't leave
it there. Moreover, there's something else. Listen, Demi also called, moreover, whom He did predestinate. How do you know if you were predestinated
to be saved? Listen, Demi also what? He called. And listen, there's more. Then He called, He also justified. And there's more. Then He justified,
He also glorified. Now, if you'll notice, every
one of those are in the past tense. Now why is that? Because in the predestinating
mind of God, all of these things are already done. They're done. Scripture says, God calleth those
things that be not as though they were. That's how God sees everything.
God sees it already done. His elect are already called,
they're justified, and they're glorified. John, are you glorified
yet? I don't feel glorified to you. But in the mind and purpose of
God, all of His children are as good as glorified. But these are also the experience
of God's people. So without fail God will send
the Holy Spirit then to call His people. To call them. Now I'm going to
ask you this question and you should search your own heart
and I pray that you will. Have you been called by the Holy
Spirit? The only way you know that you
were foreknown and predestinated to be conformed to the image
of the Son is if you've been called. If you've not been called,
you have no right to claim that you're one of God's elect. The only evidence of my election
is this. I believe on the Son of God as
all my salvation. That's it. That's our evidence. I know my name is written in
heaven before the foundation of the world. Well, how do you
know that? Because I've been called. How
do you know you've been called? Because I believe on the Son
of God. I was speaking to someone today
And we were talking about Christ, but I asked a simple question.
Do you know Him? You've heard about Him. All of
you have heard about Him. Everybody probably in this country
has heard about Jesus. I'm not asking if you've heard
about Him. I'm asking do you actually know Him? I know him. I know who he is. I know what
he's done. And I know if I have any hope
of heaven, he's it. He's it. So being called is the evidence
of our election. Go to 2 Thessalonians, look at
this. Paul puts it all together here in 2 Thessalonians chapter
2 and verse 13, and he gives thanks. He's giving thanks. He
said, we're bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren,
beloved of the Lord. Why are we giving so much thanks?
Listen, because God had from the beginning chosen you to salvation. But listen, here's the means.
through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth.
Sanctification of the spirit, what's that? That's a new birth.
And what he said to Nicodemus, you must be born again. That's
the sanctification of the spirit. The sanctification of the spirit
is creating in us a holy nature that wasn't there. Whereas before
I was not able to come to Christ, now I am. I could not believe
in Christ and now I can. What happened? God gave me a
nature by which I can now believe. This is the new birth. Sanctification
of the Spirit and what? Belief of the truth. Well, who's that? Jesus told
you who he was, didn't he? I am the way, the truth, and
the life. No man comes to the Father but
by me. So salvation is not by one sanctifying himself, but
rather the Spirit of God sanctifying him, by giving him life and faith. John says it like this, as many
as received him. To them gave you the right to
become the sons of God, which were born, not of blood, nor
of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. As many as received Him." Have
you received Him? As many as, I don't know, whoever,
as many as received Him. To them gave He the right to
become the sons of God. Now how in the world did you
receive Him and others have not, which were born? You weren't born because you
were related to a Christian, not of blood, nor of the will
of the flesh, not because you willed it. You were born not
because of the will of somebody else. You were born according
to the will of God. And so those who are born again
are called, and listen, you that are called, here's a glorious
thing for you, a comforting thing, you're justified. This is what
salvation is, isn't it? To be made in the very image
of the Son of God, to be holy. That's what it is to be justified,
it is to be holy. To be without sin. Yet we know this, every believer
confesses this, that I still sin. I still struggle with sin,
don't you? I struggle with sin. John says this, if we say we
have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. But
if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive
us our sins and cleanse us of all our unrighteousness. Yet
here, Herein is God able to forgive
us our sins in this, that we have been justified by Jesus
Christ. Justified. When Christ died for my sins, He was made sin for us who knew
no sin. And as he was made sin, the justice
of God fell on him. You see, I didn't escape the
punishment of my sins. I didn't escape it. Because I
was in Christ when he paid for it. It's kind of like Noah. Noah
didn't escape the flood, did he? He was actually in the flood.
But what saved him was he was in the ark. Everybody outside the ark died.
Listen, everybody outside of Christ will die under the judgment
of God. But listen, I'm going to be saved
because He endured the judgment of God for me. And when He finished
it, listen, I always like this saying, God cannot demand twice
payment for sin. Isn't that right? No just judge
could demand twice payment. And when Christ paid for my sin,
He paid it all. And God was so satisfied with
his offering that he said to every one of his elect people,
you're justified. Justified. And this last thing, Demi justified,
he also glorified. Now listen, I have some understanding
of what it is to be called. I have some understanding of
what is being justified. I really can't say how you can
follow me around and say, look, that guy's justified. You can't
do that right now. But I am. I'm justified by God. But listen to what God says.
Glorify. This is the hope every believer
has. Because God foreknew me. because God predestinated that
I should be conformed to the image of His Son, because Christ
has already accomplished my salvation, God the Spirit has called me
to life and faith in Christ, He has justified me, therefore
I have great confidence in this, I will be glorified. John said this, he said, It doth
not yet appear what we shall be. Look at me. It don't appear
yet what we shall be. But when He shall appear, we
shall be like Him. Isn't that exactly what God predestined
us to be? Like His Son. Now listen why
He did it. Look back at your text real fast.
I want you to know why He's doing all this. Look at verse 29 again
at the last part. Why did He choose me? Why did
he predestinate my salvation? Why did he call me? Why did he
justify me? Why is he going to glorify me? Look, look, look.
That my son might be the firstborn among many brethren. What do you think heaven is? Have you thought about heaven
and about what it's like? What is to be there? It boggles my mind to consider,
because I have to enter into things I've never experienced
before. I've never experienced what it's like to be holy without
sin. I've never experienced what it's like to be without pain,
or suffering, or grief, or sorrow, or tears. I've never experienced
that. That's there. But what heaven's, the center
of heaven is Christ. And heaven is a constant, perpetual
worship of the Lord Jesus Christ with fullness of joy, a never-ceasing
praise of Jesus Christ. You know, someone who is not
saved by the grace of God, heaven would be hell to them. It would. It would just be miserable. Praise
in Christ. And I tell you, I'm so glad that
this body's not going to be there, this flesh, because it wouldn't
enjoy it. It has to be dropped off, doesn't
it? It has to be created a brand
new body. But when it is, listen to me,
Christ will be the center of heaven. God does everything He does for
the glory of His Son. Isn't that something? You know,
I could go page by page and preach Christ out of this book. Over
7,000 years of history written in this book, and every bit of
it, God is concerning His Son. How important is Christ? In the Father's eyes, how important
is Christ? He's everything. He's everything. And so when we're glorified,
what is He going to be? He's going to be everything. And so what shall we say to these
things? Listen, if God chose me, if God predestinated to save
me, to make me like His Son, if God called me, if God justified
me, if God glorified me, if God is for me, Who can be against
me? Who can stop God from doing what
God determined to do for me? And that's what he's going to
get into. He's going to talk about sin. Can sin stop you? Well no, God justified you. Christ
died for you. He ever lives to make intercession
for you. Can anything separate me from the love of God that's
in Christ? He said neither height nor depth nor any other creature
shall be able to separate me from the love of God that's in
Christ. Why? Because God's for me. God's for me. Who can be against me? The answer is simple. No one
and nothing is going to stop God from saving us. That's the point of it. That's
the comfort of these things. I pray God will bless this. Let's
stand and be dismissed. Most gracious Father, dismiss
us with your own blessing and mercy, I pray. I beg you to show
us the grace and mercy that you've shown us in your word concerning
your electing mercy and kindness, your love. Thank you for sending
Christ to die for such sinners. Father, thank you for sending
your Spirit to give life and faith. Oh, that you'd keep us,
that you'd sustain us in this life. always looking to Christ. I beg you for mercies and kindnesses and forgive us our sins. We pray
this in Jesus' name. Amen.