Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church,
located at 905 Yadkin Street in Kingsport, Tennessee, would
like to invite you to listen to a message of sovereign grace
by their pastor, Gabe Stoniker. And now, Pastor Gabe Stoniker. Our message today is going to
come from Romans chapter 8. Romans 8, and we will begin by
reading verse 28. It says, and we know that all
things work together for good to them that love God, to them
who are the called according to his purpose. If you are familiar with Romans
8, then you know that in this entire chapter, the Apostle Paul
has been clarifying the fact that God has a particular people,
a particular people, a chosen people to himself, an exact people,
an exact people that he chose to redeem from sin. He made it
clear in verse one, that there is no condemnation to them which
are in Christ Jesus. That's the stipulation. That's
the place of safety. Them that are in Christ Jesus. Some people are in Christ and
some people are out of Christ. He said in verse 14, as many
as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. God
sends his Spirit to some and he withholds his Spirit from
others. He went on in the next few verses
to say that some are the children of God, some are not. That's the case in this world.
I have children of my own. Some in this world are my children,
some are not. That's how it is with God. Some
are and some are not. He said in verse 17, if children,
then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if so
be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified Together,
if God the Father put us in Christ and caused us to endure the suffering
and endure the judgment for sin with him, if we suffered with
him, if we suffered in him, our judgment for sin, if we suffered
that in him, then he said, we are the children of God. And
he said in verse 28, we know that all things work together
for good to them that love God, to them that love God, not to
everybody. All things don't work together
for good to everybody. Not to those who think they are
their own God for sure. Many people, that may be a shocking
thought but it's true, many people believe they are their own God. It's not to those who think that
they are more powerful than God and again, that may be a shocking
thought but it's true and you'll see what I mean in just a moment.
You'll see why I'm saying this. Many, many, many people, many
people believe they are more powerful than God. It's not to those who believe
they have the say over God. It's not to those who believe
that they have the ability to let him do things or not let
him do things. That's what men stand up and
PREACH TO PEOPLE. THAT'S WHAT MANY PEOPLE SIT IN
THE PEWS BELIEVING. THEY HAVE TO LET GOD DO THINGS. THEY HAVE TO ALLOW GOD TO DO
THINGS. THEY HAVE TO HELP GOD DO THINGS. THAT MAKES THEM MORE POWERFUL
THAN GOD. IF GOD CAN'T DO SOMETHING UNLESS YOU LET HIM DO IT, THEN
YOU'RE GOD. YOU'RE MORE POWERFUL THAN GOD.
IF GOD CANNOT OVERRULE YOU AND OVERPOWER YOU AND FORCE YOU TO
DO HIS WILL, THEN YOU'RE MORE POWERFUL THAN GOD. Whoever's reigning and deciding
in the end, that's God. How foolish is it? How absurd
is it for man to believe that he's more powerful than God,
that he's his own God, that he must help God, that he must do
for God? That's not who good works together
for. It's not to those who believe
that they are the ultimate say in salvation and the things of
eternity. It's especially not to those
who believe that they need to accomplish for God what he failed
to accomplish. And we really need to enter into
this. It's not to those who believe that they need to accomplish
for God what he failed to accomplish, the salvation of sinners. That's not who he's talking about.
Christ came to save sinners, but if salvation is not finished,
then that means he failed at the work. If it's not finished,
he did not do the work his father sent him to do, which is blasphemy. That's blasphemy. So we see that
verse 28 says, we know that all things work together for good
to them that love God, God, love God is God and say, he's God
and I'm not. God who reigns and rules and
sits in the heavens and does whatever he pleases with whomever
he pleases, God. I'm talking God who needs no
man and no help. God in need of nothing. God who
has rested from all their works because they're finished and
perfect. God. All things work together
for good to them that love God. And not just acknowledge that
it's so, but love that it's so. I love that he's God. I acknowledge
that he's God. Whether man believes it or not,
he's God. Whether man likes it or not,
he's God. I acknowledge that he's God,
but he's given his people a heart to love that. Oh, I love that
he's God. Love the fact that he's God over
me. I love the fact that he's God
over you. I love the fact that he's God over heaven and God
over earth. God over salvation, God over
all things. We know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called. The called according to his purpose,
not every soul born into the world, but to them who are called
according to his purpose. Now that brings us to what we're
going to look at in verse 29. All right. Verse 29 begins with
the word for that word means because that's what for means
because verse 28 says, we know that all things work together
for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to his purpose, because we know that because Verse 29 says, 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 is an amazing verse of scripture.
That's truly an amazing verse of scripture. We are looking
at the mind of God right there. We're looking at the mind of
God. We're looking at the heart of God. We're looking at the
will of God, what he purposed to do, what was in his heart
to do. Verse 29 says, Whom he did foreknow,
he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His
Son, that His Son might be the firstborn
among many brethren." That was the will of God, the heart and
mind of God. Now let's break that verse down
line by line and let's see if we can really enter into what
that's saying. Verse 29 says, for whom He, He, who is He? Verse 28 told us that it's God,
God. We know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to His purpose, for whom He, God, whom He did
for no. What does that mean? What does
that mean? Whom He did for no. Well, when you look up the definition
of the word, it means to know beforehand. That's what it means
to know beforehand. The word means foreknowledge. But what he's saying here goes
much deeper than that. And the reason is because God
is all knowing. God is all knowing. He knows
everything. He knows everything. He knows
the end from the beginning. Everything that will happen,
everything. Everything, everyone. He is the
creator of all things. Every man, every woman, He knows
every man, every woman. This is what He said, all souls
are mine. All souls, He's the one who gives
the soul. When a body is, is created in the womb, he's the
one who sends the soul to the body. So not only does he know
all things, he knows every person on this earth. And not only does
he know every person, not only does he know every man and woman,
he knows everything about every man and woman. Everything. He knows our thoughts. That is so scary, that's so fearful,
but it's so true. He knows your thoughts. He knows
what goes through your mind. He knows the intent of our heart. But this is what he said concerning
the difference between those who are his people and those
who are not his people. These are his words. Concerning
those who are his people, he said, before I formed you in
the belly, I knew you." I knew you, that's what he said. And
concerning those who are not his people, he said, depart from
me, ye that work iniquity, I never knew you. So when it says whom he did foreknow,
what it's saying is, whom he chose, whom he chose to have
a loving union with, a loving relationship with, a united relationship. Just like it says, Adam knew
his wife Eve. Well, it's not saying that he
knew who she was. Of course, he knew who she was.
What it's saying is he had a loving, united relationship with her. And there's one word in the scripture
that is said over and over again, over and over again, that describes
this union, this foreknowledge. It is the declaration that summarizes
it. One word, okay? If you turn with
me to 1 Peter 1, you'll see this one word. 1 Peter 1, verse 1
says, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
To the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia,
Asia, and Bithynia, verse 2 says, elect. Elect according to the
foreknowledge of God. Elect according to the foreknowledge
of God. That's what foreknow means. The word means elect. It means
who God elected, who God chose. And that's something to emphasize
right here, who God chose. God is God, who God chose. Many
people believe when you mention the word election, many people
believe that election is this. They believe it's God casting
a vote for you and the devil casting a vote against you and
ultimately the choice is yours. That's not election. That's not
election at all. In John 15, the Lord said, you
have not chosen me. I have chosen you. That's what
he said. Another error that many people
have in regard to election is they believe that God looked
down through time. He looked down on all the people
through time to see who would do good and who would obey Him
and who would come to Him and those are the people that He
chose. Well, He looked down through time, all right. He did, He looked
on all men, that's for certain. But Psalm 14, verse two says,
the Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, all
of them. to see if there were any that
did understand and seek God. It says they are all gone aside.
They are all together become filthy. There is none that doeth
good. No, not one. Not this one. Not this one. None. None. Not one earned Salvation not
one was owed salvation not one deserved salvation but God. But God, that's the good news,
but in spite of man, but God. Election is the grace and the
kindness and the mercy of God towards sinners. That's what
election is. It is the most wonderful news. It's the sweetest, kindest
news that a sinner could ever hear. Election is not God choosing
to send some to heaven and choosing to send some to hell, that's
not election. That is not what election is.
Election is only unto salvation. Election is unto salvation only. For a sinner to end up in hell,
All that God has to do is leave him alone. That's all God has
to do, just leave him alone. That man will send himself to
hell. That sinner will send himself
or herself to eternal damnation on their own. That's what all
men are headed toward. That's what all men are running
toward, running head first into eternal damnation. Election is
God in mercy. and in grace and in kindness,
stopping a sinner. Stopping the sinner from running
directly into damnation. So that sheds a little bit more
light on what our text is saying. If you look back at Romans chapter
8, it says in Romans 8 verse 28, we know that all things work
together for good. God demands and God acquires
good. All things work together for
good to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to His purpose. For whom He did foreknow, whom
He did elect, whom He did choose. Verse 29 says, He also did predestinate
to be conformed to the image of His Son. God has predestinated
His people. God has predestinated His people. I love the definition of the
word predestinate, predestinated. This is what it means. To limit
in advance. God has set limits, God has set
bounds in advance for his people. We all start out all over the
place. God's people are all over the place. They're in sin, they're
in ignorance, they're in blindness. And spiritually speaking, we're
all over the place, but whom he did foreknow. For every elect
child of God, the scripture says their steps are ordered. They have been ordered. The steps
of a good man are ordered. And the longer God's people go
through this life, their steps are going to get more and more
limited, more and more narrow. until finally they end up at
the mark, the prize, the point, the finish line, and that's the
Lord Jesus Christ himself. Everything is narrowed straight
to him. God's people are all predestinated,
limited in advance to come straight to Christ. God brings all of
his people straight to the Lord Jesus Christ. He said in John
6 verse 37, this is what the Lord Jesus Christ said. He said,
all that the father giveth me shall come to me. All of them,
all of them, they will come for a particular purpose. They will
come to a particular end and they'll receive it. they will
receive that end, which is Christ Himself, their image of Christ
Himself. He said, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me and him that cometh to me, I will
in no wise cast out. I will bring that sinner to myself
and that sinner will receive a particular end and here it
is. Verse 28 says, we know that all things work together for
good to them that love God to them who are the called according
to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son." God
chose a particular people. They come from all over this
world, all over this world. The scripture says it's a number
no man can number. A great number of people. And
in spite of their sin against God, in spite of their rebellion
against God, in spite of their natural enmity, that's what the
scripture says, the flesh of man is enmity. That means hatred
toward God. In spite of that, that hatred
toward His way, that hatred toward His Word, in spite of that, God
chose to redeem those people from their sin. And here is the
only way it was possible. This is the only way it was possible.
The only way that sinful man could be redeemed, bought out
of, bought back, redeemed and conformed back to the image of
the Holy Son of God was God the Father had to send His spotless
Son, spotless perfect Son. God the Father had to send Him
and conform His spotless Son into the image of His ruined
people. That's what had to happen. The
only way they could bear His image was if He bore their image. Right here in Romans 8 verse
3 says, What the law could not do in that it was weak through
the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful
flesh. and for sin, condemned sin in
the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled
in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."
That means God the Father made God the Son to be sin for us. who knew no sin, Christ knew
no sin. And he did that that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him. He had to completely
trade places with us. That's what had to happen. He
did not take upon himself the nature of angels, the scripture
says, but he took upon him the seed of Abraham. all of that
ruin of his people. He took that upon himself. The
Lord laid on him the iniquity of all of his people. And with
that iniquity and with that nature, with that ruined likeness, now
being gone through the cross, dealt with, put away, a new one
comes to God's people in its place. There's a song that we
sing at Christmas time, Heart the Herald Angels Sing. One of
the lines in that song says, Adam's likeness now efface, stamp
thine image in its place. The image of Christ himself,
that glorious image. That's what God did for his people
on the cross of Calvary. Paul told the Philippians, he
said, when the Lord Jesus Christ, our savior, comes back, he shall
change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his
glorious body. The Apostle John said, it doth
not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he
shall appear, whether through our death or his return, the
moment he appears and we see him, it says we're going to be
like him. We're going to see him as he is. We're going to
be changed in the twinkling of an eye. And that's a glorious
thought. That's an amazing thought. David
said, I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness. Glorious news. Verse 29 says,
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. Many brethren. The firstborn
means the rightful heir. That's who the firstborn was,
the rightful heir. Everything goes to him, everything
the father has and all of his brethren cry, amen. Not unto
us, not unto us, everything goes to him. He's the firstborn and
the glorious news is he has many brethren, many brethren, joint
heirs with him. in the family of God. That is
amazing grace. That's amazing grace. May the
Lord call us to that grace. Till next week, may the Lord
bless his word to our hearts. You have been listening to a
message by Gabe Stoniker, pastor of Kingsport Sovereign Grace
Church in Kingsport, Tennessee. If you would like a copy of this
message, or to hear other messages of sovereign grace, log on to
our website at ksgctn.org. If you would like to come and
worship with us, our service times are Sunday morning Bible
study at 10 o'clock a.m., worship at 10.45 a.m., and 6 o'clock
p.m., Wednesday evening at 7.30 p.m. Please tune in next week
for another message of God's free and sovereign grace.