Good evening. If you have your Bibles, please
turn to Romans 28. I thank God for the privilege
of being here. Thank God for his written word.
Our text is going to be Romans 28 through 30, but there's some
scriptures that I would like to read before we start our message. And at the table of, at the top
of my Bible, I don't know if it says it in yours or not, but
it says the ground and assurance as a Christian hope. And when
it comes to the Lord Jesus Christ, He is our Lord and our Savior.
And as His child, I need Him every day of my life. In the
world that we live in, in the things that we face, the things
that we go through, I need to know that He's there. And you
know what? He's there. Because His Bible
says, His Word says that He's there. You know, in this world
that we live in, There are so many gods in this world that
if it wasn't for man helping him out, nobody would be saved. But we serve a sovereign God,
not only in salvation, but also in providence and creation. And
I like to always speak, I had a brother tell me one time that
he thought this was just an ordinary book. But the Bible plainly says
that all scripture is given by inspiration of God and His God
breathed. Then in Isaiah it says, God's
word says, Before me there was no God formed, neither shall
there be after me. I, even I, am the Lord, and beside
me there is no Savior. You know, the Lord's people love
the Scriptures, especially one that comes to my mind that I
love, and I repeat it a lot, because it means a lot to me,
and that's Acts 4.12. The Bible says, whereby we must be saved. And
that's our Lord, and that's our Savior, Jesus Christ. And I thank
Him for that. When I look at myself, I thank
the Lord that salvation is of the Lord. and that I don't have
anything to do with it. I was in religion for a long
time, and that's a terrible place to be. But since I've been coming
to Kingsport Southern Grace Church, and I've been told the truth,
I have peace. Jesus said, I give you my peace,
not as the world gives it to you. He said, I give you my peace. Be not afraid and be not worried. But salvation is completely of
the Lord, and I have nothing to do with it. It's of the Lord
in its origination. It's of the Lord in its execution. It's of the Lord in its application. And it's of the Lord in its ultimate
protection and in its sustaining power. And we have nothing to
do with it. Our God is absolutely sovereign
in creation. And in many places in the Bible,
it tells us this. And if you will, for a minute,
take a look. It's a very familiar scripture,
Colossians 1. 16 and 17. We're talking about
our Lord Jesus Christ here. It says, for by Him were all
things created. And it's talking about that are
in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible. It's talking
about everything, wherever they be, thrones or dominions or principalities
or powers. All things were made by him and
for him. Now listen to this part. And
he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And I thank God for that. The
Bible says over in the book of John, the Lord Jesus says, I
am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man cometh to the
Father but by me. And the reason that I'm wanting
to bring this out is there are so many people in this world
that does not know who the Lord Jesus Christ is. They know about
him, but they don't know who he is. Then our Lord is absolutely
sovereign in providence. That's something that, you know,
what is providence? That means that God is aware
of what is happening in any given person's life. And that's whether
it's in the physical world or the spiritual world. In other
words, nothing happens without His directive or His permissive
will. And that's something that's really
helped me in my Christian life, especially as I grow older. And
I know that whatever happens to me, it's God's sovereign will. It's for His glory, and it's
for my good. I don't have to understand it.
I just believe it. I thank God for that. He is absolutely sovereign in
providence. And then it says that he doeth,
one verse that I love, he says that he doeth according to his
will an army of heaven among the inhabitants of the earth,
and none can stay his hand or say unto him, what doest thou?
Our Lord is all knowing, he's all powerful, and he's all present. The Bible says Jesus Christ the
same yesterday, today, and forever. And that's something that I like
to do. I like to meditate upon the Word of God at times when
I'm at home by myself and certain verses that I like to meditate
upon and think about. It brings such peace of mind.
That verse I was getting ready to repeat a while ago, he said,
peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you. There's no peace
in this world. You know, we go through, there's
times that we have good times in this world, but we get over
a problem before we know it, we have another one. And then
we have to go through trials and heartache and sufferings,
and I know that's all a part of it, and that draws us closer
to him. But there's a reason for that. And he is so perfect. And I love what it says in Revelation. Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive
what? Glory, honor, and power. Now why is that? We've got to
remember, it's not about us. He says, for thou have created
all things, and for thou pleasure they are and they were created. I thank God for that. The Spirit
of God lives in the heart of His elect. And the word states,
and I love what it states in Joshua, it says, for the Lord
thy God is with you wherever you go. I know that wherever
I'm at, he's right there with me. I can be in the car, I can
be in the morning yard, I can be working in the garden, I can
be in the house, no matter where I'm at, He's right there with
me. You know, sometimes I have the privilege of being at the
house quite a bit by myself, and I'll be in the house and
you think, is there somebody in there with me? Well, there is. He's
right there with me. Many of them, we have a lot of
good conversations at times. I thank Him for that. But the
Bible says in John 6, And this is the Father's will, which hath
sent me, that of all which he hath given me, I should lose
nothing, but shall raise it up again the last day. And the Lord
says in Jeremiah, I have led thee with an everlasting love,
therefore of loving kindness have I grown you. Well, you know,
that tells me that I was always his sheep, even before I knew
it, before he called me. When I was a teenager and a rebel
out there committing sin, doing this, and didn't want nothing
to do with him, he was watching over me and he was protecting
me. I've had a few accidents in my life where I should have
been killed, but I wasn't. And it was by the providence
of God that I wasn't, because I was one of his sheep. I really
believe that from my heart. I just hadn't been called yet.
And that's something that we need to remember. You know, when
we're out in the world and when we're with certain family members
and stuff, you know, it may be somebody that really gives us
a hard time and maybe we don't like to be around, but we don't
really know. That may be one of God's sheep. He just ain't
called him yet. But I thank him. I thank him for that. But Paul
has, he has saving faith. He has such strong anticipated
hope. At the top of the pages, like
I said, it said, the grounding assurance of the Christian's
hope. And it says here, that hope,
it's an anticipated hope. It's not a hope like we talk
about, well, I hope it don't rain tomorrow. No, it's an anticipated
hope. We know it's going to happen.
It's certain. It's sure. And that is in our
Lord Jesus Christ. Her pastor wrote this right here,
and I hope you don't mind me using it, because it's been a
blessing to me and I read it all the time. But he says, we
have a good hope if my hope rests entirely on Jesus Christ living
in me and for me. Colossians 127 says, to whom
God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this
mystery among the Gentiles, that's us, which is Christ in you and
the hope of glory." I thank God for that. And then, you know,
Peter said, examine yourself to make your election and calling
sure, you know. He says, my hope is a good hope
if it is based on the word of God alone. Don't need commentaries. I mean, they're good, but right
here's what we need is the word of God. Romans 15.4 says, for
whatsoever things were written beforehand were written for our
learning that through patience and comfort of the scriptures
that we might have hope. And then my hope is a good hope,
which gives me joy, peace, and rest in trusting and leaning
on who? Christ Jesus. 24-7. Whatever
comes into my life, whatever comes into whatever happens,
know that I'm in good hands. I'm in the Lord's hands. I like
to say he's got his arms wrapped around me. He's my good shepherd.
He's my great shepherd. And I thank him for that. Romans
15, 13 says, now the God of hope fill you with joy and peace and
hope through the power of the Holy Ghost. And then my hope
is a good hope, which rests in faith and confidence, regardless
of what our circumstances are in this world. We have no idea,
you know, as I was telling someone a while ago, you know, we were
very fragile creatures and we're so apt to wander. We don't know
where we want to be a day from now. We don't know what we're
going to be, we don't know what we're going to face tomorrow. But our confidence and our hope
is in Jesus Christ. I know he says here in Romans
4, 18, talking about Abraham, who against hope believed, in
hope that he might become the father of many nations. Abraham
was almost 100 year old and Isaac hadn't even been born yet, but
he knew he was gonna be because he had faith in God. My hope
is a good hope which continues in faith and it perseveres into
the end. You know, but Christ as a son
over his own house, whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence
and the rejoicing firm of that hope unto the end. And we must
realize something, we are kept by the power of God. You know,
so something that I heard so much in religion was that, yes,
we are saved by the blood of Christ. You accept Christ as
your Savior. And they didn't say Christ. They
said Jesus. You accept Jesus as your Savior.
And that's all you need to do. You'll be all right then. But
that's not the way it is. We don't accept Him. He accepts
us. If we don't accept Him, He accepts
us. And I thank Him for that. And then, as I say, we are kept
by the power of God. And I love this first here, it
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 Jesus before the world began. I thank
God for that. God's word says the first Corinthians,
those that are in Christ are bought with a price. What was
that price? You know, we don't belong to ourselves. The Bible
plainly says, what know ye not that you are not your own? You
were bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your
body and your spirit, which are Christ. We belong to him. Why
is that? We belong to him because it says
in 1 Peter 18 and 19, listen to this. For as much as you know
that you were not redeemed with profitable things as silver and
gold from your vain conversation, received by tradition from your
fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as a lamb without
blemish and without spot. And Paul believed, we've all
heard these sayings right here, but when you think about them,
every one of them is a gift from God. Paul believed with all his
heart In Christ alone, nothing else. Christ alone, faith alone,
that's a gift from God. Christ is a gift from God. Scripture
alone, that's a gift from God. And to God be the glory alone,
that's a gift from God. Faith, grace, scripture, and
God deserves all the glory because man plays no part in it. I love
what he says in Jude 24 and 25, speaking of our Lord Jesus Christ.
He's with us each and every moment of the day. He says, now unto
him that is able to keep you from what? Falling. There's no
way I can keep myself from falling. Whenever I was in religion, I'd
think I was doing pretty good. I'd try to live a good life,
you know? We all have pet sins, you know?
And I'd have control over something one day, and I'd think, boy,
I really done good. I was tempted, and it didn't hurt me a bit.
But the next day, I'd fall flat on my face. But it's not about
us. And to you that is able to keep
you from falling, speaking of Jesus Christ, and to present
you falling before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,
to the only wise God, our Savior, be glory and majesty and dominion
and power both now and forever. Amen. God is giving, God giving
Paul a strong saving faith in the person and work of our Lord
Jesus Christ. You know the stronger our faith
is and the stronger our assurance is, what makes that strong is
a or walk with our Lord. The closer
we walk with Him, the more time we spend with Him. I remember
what David said in the Psalms. He said, surely goodness and
mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall
dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Now, if you will, look
at our text here at verse 28 in Romans. It says, and we know
that all things work together for good. And the reason I brought
these points out is I wanted to, I needed to be reminded of
who we worship and who God is. He's sovereign. He's sovereign
in all things. And he doesn't mean no help at
all for man. He says, I will share my glory
with no one. right here in verse 28 and 30,
let's read it. It says, and we know that all
things work together for good to them that love God, to them
who are called according to his purpose. In verse 29, it says,
from 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. And 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. He says here,
and we know, now that's what I titled this lesson, and we
know, we know that God is sovereign. Our Lord Jesus Christ is sovereign
over all things. We know that. We know that we
were saved by the precious blood of Jesus Christ. We know that
with certainty. There's no doubt about it at
all. It's not a matter of opinion,
it's a matter of absolute certainty. We know that we are redeemed
with the precious blood of Christ. We know that Christ has come
and given us eternal life. Life is in Christ. Outside of
Christ there is no life. The Bible says, he that hath
the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath
not life. And we know that we have passed
from death into life. We know that Christ is our shepherd. We know that God is our refuge,
and he is a very present help in time of trouble. And we know
that all things, that those things, and we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God. Why do we know that? Because God said it. He said
it right here in his book. That's why we know that. This is a source and a foundation
of our knowledge, is the Holy Scriptures. The Word of God,
you know, we talk to God through prayer, but God talks to His
people through His Word and through the preaching of His Word. And
whatever God has said, we believe it. Whatever confidence that
we have is because God had said it. God's people can believe
and say with confidence that we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God. Why? Because he said
it. Verse goes on to say, we know
that all things, what does all things involve? Well, actually
they involve everything. God the Father, God the Son,
God the Spirit, they all work together for good. All things,
not only they are uncreated, but created. Good angels, good
ministers, all good rulers, all good leaders work together for
our good, because they're at the disposal of God, because
He is able and He controls all things. But it also, it does
not say all good things, but it says all things. So it's also
talking about all bad things, both created and uncreated. It's
talking about the good and the bad, both in the physical world
and the spiritual world. And by God's sovereign power,
God uses the good and the bad and he works them for our good.
What good is he talking about? Well, you have temporal good.
And that's the life that we live here, you know. So you can't
really say it's temporal good, because Job said, man that is
born of a woman, his days are few and full of trouble. We have
good days, but we have bad days. And then you have spiritual good.
You know, there are times that we feel like, where I feel like
that I'm on top of the world. I feel like I am so close to
God that he's sitting right next to me. You know, I can get down
and pray sometimes. It just seems like it's just
going right on through the ceiling and going into heaven. But there's
other times I can get down, it don't seem like it gets any further
than the roof, you know. There's times I get so tied up
in this world that I don't take time like I should to read the
scriptures. I don't take time to pray like I should. It is
our spiritual good some of the time, but what we hear is our
eternal good. And that's a good that is sure
and certain and cannot be defeated. Our goal is to what? to be like
Christ and to be with Christ. God's people have a sincere desire
to grow in grace and to know about him. You know, he said,
I think it was in Matthew, he said, learn of me and you shall
find rest for your souls. And one of the scriptures that
I love to look at, if you'll take a minute and hold your place
here and look at John 3. 1 John 3. 1 John chapter 3. Behold, what
manner of love the Father hath shewed upon us, that we should
be called the sons of God. Wherefore, the world knoweth
us not, because it knew him not. But listen to this. Beloved,
now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we
shall be. But we know that when he shall
appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. I thank God for that. You know,
this is not a blanket promise to all men, but only to those
that were placed in Christ Jesus before the foundation of the
world. These are for a particular people. These are for those people
that Christ hung on the cross for and died. And it says, but
of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. If you will, go back to Romans
8. It says in the last part of verse
28, to them who are the call according to His purpose. Our
calling is not a result of something that God sees in us, as some
people think. Our calling is not anything that
God hopes to get from us. But our calling is the result
of His eternal purpose, knowing only to Himself His eternal wisdom,
which He purposed in Himself before the foundation of the
world. And if you will, look at verse
29. It says, For whom He did foreknow, He also did destinate
to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be
the firstborn among many brethren. You know, God foreknew us in
eternity's past. That was not mere intellectual
knowledge. You know, as far as knowledge
is concerned, God knows everyone. But who he's talking about right
here, he's talking about who he knows. He's talking about
his eternal love and grace for those that are in Christ. First
Peter 1.1 says, elect according to the foreknowledge of God.
What does that mean foreknowledge? Foreordained or foreappointed. One verse that I love to look
at is first Acts 13, if you would. Acts 13. Verse 48. The Lord had sent Paul and Barnabas
to preach the gospel to the Jews, and the Jews rejected the message
and didn't want nothing to do with it. So he sent them to the
Gentiles. And look at verse 48. If this
don't show you, speak of the sovereignty of God, nothing does.
He says, and when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad. and
glorified the word of the Lord. Listen to this now. And as many
as were ordained, as many as were ordained to eternal life,
believed. We love God only because he first
loved us. And then John 10. We are the most blessed people
on the face of the earth. We are going to live for eternity. And I can't imagine what it's
going to be like to be in the presence of our Lord and our
Savior, Jesus Christ. But in John 10, beginning in
verse 14, and this is Christ speaking, he says, I am the good
shepherd and know my sheep. You know what he's saying there?
He's saying, I'm a good shepherd and I love my sheep. and am knowing
of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even
so know I the Father. And I lay down my life for the
sheep, and every sheep I have which are not of his foe, him
also I must bring. And they shall hear my voice,
and there shall be one foe and one shepherd. In God's eternal love and grace,
we are his sheep. Romans 29 again in our text it
says, For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of his Son. You know, there's nothing
in a man worthy of God's love or God's affection. God's love,
God loves that man in Christ. He chose that man in Christ. He called that man in Christ. He accepts us in Christ. Never are we considered or regarded
by the Heavenly Father outside of Jesus Christ our Lord. Our
God is a consuming fire, so having love as He predetermined by everyone
that He loves, that He saves will be just like Christ. And
when we drop this robe of dead flesh, we will have a glorified
body like Christ. It says here, as we have fired
the image of the earthly body, Adam, we shall also have a glorified
body, like Christ. Like our Lord Jesus Christ. Christ
is the firstborn of the Father with regard to all creatures. Christ is the firstborn among
many brethren. I don't understand the Trinity,
but it's spoken of in so many places. It says, who is the image of
the invisible God? That's Jesus Christ, our Lord.
It says unto the son, and it says this is in Hebrews. This
is a father speaking to the son. He says unto the son, he says,
thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness
is a scepter of thy kingdom. When the father manifested himself,
it was in Christ. He is the firstborn of the father.
And we were chosen, and we were chosen in him. God's Word says
in Acts 17, 28, for in Him we live, we move, and we have our
being. God elected a people to be like
His Son. His elect, they will be like
Him, absolutely free from sin and will have a glorified body
like His. And the only desire that they'll
have is to be with Him and to be around Him. In the Holy Scriptures,
the Word says, at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow,
and saints in heaven, and saints in earth, and under the earth,
and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is
the Lord, the glory of God the Father. And then in verse 30,
if you look at it, it says, 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. You know, there's no place for
a man in there anywhere, are there? Christ did it all. You
know, everyone who was predestined in eternity is called in time.
He responds to it, it's an ineffectual call. and those of the Lord Jesus,
and they are clothed with the righteousness of Christ because
of the obedience and the sacrifice that Christ made to the Father,
whom He justified. He also glorified. You know,
actually in the purpose and the view of God, we're already glorified
in our head and representative Jesus Christ, our Lord. I'd like
to leave you with this. The Lord said in Isaiah, and
this is the Lord speaking, He said, I have spoken it, I will
also bring it to pass. I have purposed it, and I will
also do it.