Go with me if you would back
to Romans chapter eight. Romans chapter eight, I was talking
to a brother the other day and we were talking about the
fact that currently we as a congregation are going through the book of
Romans. And I was telling him that I was so excited to know,
and I am, I've been thinking about this. I'm so excited to
know that for a span of time, here this next little bit, however
much it is, a few weeks, maybe a few months, we get to be in Romans 8. And then when we finish with
Romans 8, we get to be in Romans 9. And when we finish with Romans
nine, we get to be in Romans 10. And I'm excited about it. It's
a very, very precious portion of God's word. It's a very clear
portion of God's word. And so I wanna try to take my
time with it. I want us to enjoy it as long
as we can. But the last time we were here in Romans eight,
we looked at verse 28, which 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. This entire chapter, All through
it, the apostle Paul has been clarifying the fact that God
has a particular people all through the whole chapter,
all through the whole book of Romans, but God has a particular
people. God has a chosen people. TO HIMSELF. HE HAS AN EXACT PEOPLE
THAT HE HAS CHOSEN TO REDEEM FROM THEIR SIN. NOTHING IS LEFT
UP TO CHANCE WITH GOD. NOTHING. JUST NAME SOMETHING. NOTHING. AND CONCERNING HIS PEOPLE, HE
HAS AN EXACT PEOPLE THAT HE HAS CHOSEN TO REDEEM FROM SIN. HE MADE IT CLEAR IN VERSE 1,
IN ROMANS 8, VERSE 1, THAT THERE IS NO CONDEMNATION TO THEM WHICH
ARE IN CHRIST. AND THAT IS AND WILL ALWAYS BE
THE KEY TO IT ALL. THAT'S THE KEY TO IT ALL. THAT'S
THE STIPULATION. SOME PEOPLE ARE IN CHRIST. AND SOME PEOPLE ARE OUT OF CHRIST. SOME ARE IN CHRIST, SOME ARE
NOT IN 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,
TO HIS OWN, TO ALL OF HIS OWN. Holy Spirit to all of His people
and He withholds His Spirit from others, those that are not in
Christ, those that He did not select to save. He went on in
the next few verses to say, some are the children of God and some
are not. He said in verse 17, Romans 8
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 so be that we suffer with
him. If God the Father put us in Christ,
and this is what it all comes down to. If God the Father put us in Christ,
And caused us to endure the suffering of judgment for our sin. Everybody has to endure the suffering
of judgment for their sin judgments coming down. Some are going to
endure it on their own outside of Christ. Some have already
endured it in the safe protection and hiding covering of the Lord
Jesus Christ. God put them in Christ and then
poured out all of his wrath and suffering on them. And if that's
what God did for us, if he put us in Christ and allowed us to
suffer our judgment, NO ONE'S EXCUSED. WELL, GOD'S PEOPLE ARE
EXCUSED AND OTHERS ARE NOT. NO WAY. NO ONE'S EXCUSED. EVERYONE MUST SUFFER THE JUDGMENT
FOR THEIR SIN. AND IF GOD ALLOWED US TO SUFFER
IT WITH CHRIST IN HIM, THEN HE SAID WE ARE THE CHILDREN OF GOD.
ALL OF GOD'S CHILDREN SUFFER IN HIM. AND HE SAID IN VERSE
28, that all things work together
for good to them that love God, not to everybody. It is so sad
to say, but not everybody loves God. Truly, the God. He is not speaking concerning
those who think they are their own God. Some believe that they
are their own God. He is not speaking concerning
those that believe they are more powerful than God. You say, well,
who would think that? Does this sound familiar? Won't
you let God fill in the blank? God's trying, now won't you allow
him to? That makes us more powerful than
God. He's not speaking to those who
believe they have the say over God, the final say. He's not speaking to those that
believe they have the ability to accomplish for God what he
could not accomplish himself, namely saving centers. So that's not who he's referring
to. Verse 28, he said, we know that all things work together
for good to them that love God. Love the fact that he is God. Love the fact that he is God
over me. I speak on my own behalf and
I believe yours too. But don't we love the fact that
he is God over us? He's God over me. He can do with
me whatever he wants to do with me. He's God over me. He is God over you. He is God
over heaven. He's God over earth. Many people
believe he's God over heaven, but for some reason they don't
believe he's God over earth. He is God over salvation. He is God over all things. He's God, God. 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, not to every
soul in the world. TO THEM WHO ARE CALLED ACCORDING
TO HIS PURPOSE. NOW THAT BRINGS US TO WHAT WE'RE
GOING TO LOOK AT THIS MORNING IN VERSE 29. VERSE 29 BEGINS
WITH THE WORD FOR. AND THAT WORD MEANS BECAUSE. That's what it means. Verse 28
said, 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 verse 29 says whom he did for no, 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 AN AMAZING VERSE OF SCRIPTURE. WE ARE LOOKING AT THE MIND OF
GOD. WE REALLY ARE. WE'RE LOOKING
AT THE HEART OF GOD, THE WILL OF GOD, THE DESIRE OF GOD. WHAT DID GOD WANT TO DO? HE DOES
WHATEVER HE WANTS TO DO. Our God is in the heavens. He
has done whatever it has pleased Him to do. What did it please
Him to do? What did He want to do? Verse
29 says, Whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of His Son. HE GOES ON TO SAY THAT HE, THAT
HIS SON MIGHT BE THE FIRSTBORN AMONG MANY BRETHREN. NOW LET'S
BREAK THIS VERSE DOWN LINE BY LINE AND SEE IF WE CAN REALLY
ENTER INTO WHAT IT'S SAYING. VERSE 29 SAYS FOR WHOM HE, WHO
IS HE? VERSE 28 TOLD US THAT IT'S 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, did foreknow. Whom He did foreknow. What does
that mean? What does the word foreknow mean? When you look up the definition
of the word foreknow, this is what it means. to know beforehand. It means foreknowledge. That's what the word means, to
know beforehand, foreknowledge. But what he's saying here goes
much deeper than that, because God is all-knowing. God is all-knowing. He knows
everything. HE KNOWS THE END FROM THE BEGINNING. HE IS THE CREATOR OF ALL THINGS. HE IS THE CREATOR OF EVERY MAN
AND WOMAN. HE SAID ALL SOULS ARE MINE. RIGHT NOW IN THIS ROOM WE'RE
A WHOLE BUNCH OF SOULS. THAT'S WHAT WE ARE. WE'RE ALL
SOULS HOUSED IN A BODY. And the soul is what we are.
The body is what we're in. And he said, all souls are mine.
He made them all. He is the one who gives a soul
to a body. He's the one who matches the
soul to the body. So not only does he know all
things, he knows every person. Every man and woman. And not
only does he know every man and woman, he knows everything about
every man and woman. He knows our thoughts. Whatever it is we are thinking
right now, he knows it. He sees it. There's no hiding
from him. David said, the darkness can't
hide me. The light can't hide me. The
grave can't hide me. It's all seen. He knows our thoughts. He knows the intent of our heart. He knows the motive behind what
we do. But this is what he said concerning
the difference between those who are his people and those
who are not his people. Concerning those who are His
people, He said, Before I formed you in the belly, I knew you. And again, He knows everybody,
but He means something by that. Before I formed you in the belly,
I knew you. And concerning those who are
not His people, He said, Depart from me, ye that work iniquity,
I never knew you. Now he knows everybody, but he's
saying something in that, I never knew you. So when it says, whom
he did foreknow, what it's saying is, whom he chose to have a loving,
united relationship with. Just like when it says in the
scripture that Adam knew Eve, his wife, it's not saying he
knew who she was. It's saying he had a loving,
united relationship with her. And there's one word in the scripture,
whenever we're talking about this, there's one word that the
scripture uses over and over. You can find it all over the
word of God. and it declares and it describes
and it summarizes this foreknowledge, what he's saying. And if you
want to turn with me over to first Peter chapter one, I'll show
you what it is. First Peter chapter one. Verse 1 says, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ
to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia,
Asia, and Bithynia. Verse 2, here's the word, elect
according to the foreknowledge of God, whom he did foreknow,
according to the foreknowledge of God, that chosen relationship
with him. That's what the word foreknow
means. It means elect. Who God elected, who he chose. And that's something to really
emphasize, who God chose. Many people believe that election
is this. This is what many people believe.
GOD CAST A VOTE FOR YOU AND THE DEVIL HAS CAST A VOTE AGAINST
YOU AND THE CHOICE IS YOURS. THAT'S NOT GOD'S ELECTION. NOT
AT ALL. THAT'S NOT ELECTION AT ALL. IN
JOHN 15 THE LORD SAID YOU HAVE NOT CHOSEN ME. I HAVE CHOSEN
YOU. I'VE ORDAINED YOU. ANOTHER ERROR
THAT MANY PEOPLE HAVE IN REGARD TO ELECTION IS THEY BELIEVED
THAT GOD LOOKED DOWN THROUGH TIME TO SEE WHO WOULD DO GOOD,
AND WHO WOULD OBEY HIM, AND WHO WOULD COME TO HIM, AND THAT'S
WHO HE CHOSE. WELL, THE TRUTH IS, GOD DID LOOK
DOWN THROUGH TIME. HE DID. PSALM 14, VERSE 2 SAYS,
THE LORD LOOKED DOWN FROM HEAVEN UPON THE CHILDREN OF MEN, ALL
MEN, 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. And somebody will hear that and
say, you mean to tell me none? He went on there in Psalm 14
to say, no, not one, not one, not one earned his favor, his
election, his choice. Not one sinful soul was owed
it. Not one soul deserved it. Here's the gospel. But God. But God. Election is the grace
and the mercy and the kindness of God. It is the absolute kindness
of God. Election really is the greatest
and the sweetest declaration that could ever be told. The
flesh thinks it's the hardest, meanest thing God chose a people
to save. ELECTION IS THE KINDEST, SWEETEST,
MOST LOVING DECLARATION THAT COULD EVER BE TOLD. ELECTION
IS NOT GOD CHOOSING TO SEND SOME TO HEAVEN AND CHOOSING TO SEND
OTHERS TO HELL. THAT'S NOT WHAT ELECTION IS.
FOR A SINNER TO END UP IN HELL, ALL HE HAS TO DO, ALL GOD HAS
TO DO IS LEAVE HIM ALONE. HE'LL SEND HIMSELF THERE. He's
just so vile, so sinful. Election, this is what election
is. It is God in mercy and in grace and in kindness stopping
a sinner from running head first as fast as he can into eternal
destruction. All men by nature are running
into eternal destruction, but God for some says, stop. I will not allow you to destroy
yourselves. That's mercy, and that's kindness,
and that's grace. And that sheds a little bit more
light on what he's saying back in our text. If you look at Romans
8, 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, for whom he did
elect, whom he did choose, whom he did foreknow, he also did
predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son. God has predestinated his people. And that is exactly what it sounds
like it is. God has predestinated his people. I love the definition of that
word. It means to limit in advance. From before the foundation of
the world, God predestinated his people. He limited them in
advance. And it says, whom he did foreknow
for every elect child of God, he limits them straight to the
Lord Jesus Christ. Straight to Christ. We start
out in this life all over this place. We're all over the place. We start out in error, but God
in mercy comes to us and the steps of his people are ordered. and they're ordered. And as time
goes on, he brings them more and more. Everything gets more
narrowed and more narrowed until he brings us to the end. The scripture calls it the mark,
the prize, which is the Lord Jesus Christ himself. God's people
are all predestinated to come straight to Christ. He said in
John 6 verse 37, all that the father giveth me shall come to
me. They're all predestinated to
come to me and they're going to come for a particular purpose. They're going to come to a particular
end. And I'm going to say it, but
you talk about not doing something justice. Here's the end, the
image of Christ himself. Some of you have heard the story
that brother Henry Mahan used to tell. This is one of my favorite
stories. He was playing golf many, many
years ago with another brother. And it was a hot day and they
were thirsty. And one of the fairways they
were on was right next to the road. AND ACROSS THE ROAD THEY
SAW A GAS STATION. SO THEY SAID, LET'S RUN OVER
THERE REAL QUICK AND GET US SOMETHING TO DRINK. SO THEY DID. BROTHER HENRY WENT INTO THAT
STORE AND GOT HIM SOMETHING TO DRINK, SET IT ON THE COUNTER
AND HE NOTICED THAT THE CASHIER HAD A BRAND NEW BIBLE SITTING
RIGHT THERE ON THE COUNTER. AND BROTHER HENRY LOOKED AT THAT
AND HE SAID, THAT'S A NICE BIBLE YOU HAVE THERE. AND THE MAN SAID,
THANK YOU. He said, I know who you are,
I've seen you on TV. He had a TV broadcast. I've seen
you on TV. Brother Henry said, really? He
said, yeah. He said, you believe in predestination,
don't you? All right, now listen to this
response. This is the wisest response I've ever heard. He
diffused this man. He set him at ease. We need to learn something from
this. That fella said, I've seen you on TV. He said, you believe
in predestination, don't you? Brother Henry said, well, I don't
know. What does the Bible say about
it? The fella said, I don't know. He said, well, let me see your
Bible right there. Let's see if we can find it. So he opened it
up and he said, okay, yeah, let's see. It looks like it's in the
Bible four times, two times in Ephesians one. AND TWO TIMES
IN ROMANS 8, AND HE TURNED OVER HERE TO ROMANS 8, AND HE READ
FOR HIM, VERSE 29, FOR WHOM HE DID FORKNOW, HE ALSO DID PREDESTINATE
TO BE CONFORMED TO THE IMAGE OF HIS SON. HE SAID, OH, OKAY,
SO PREDESTINATION IS WHAT CONFORMS A SINNER INTO THE IMAGE OF CHRIST
HIMSELF. HE SAID, YOU WANT TO BE LIKE
CHRIST, DON'T YOU? And the guy said, oh yeah, yeah,
I wanna be like Christ. He said, well then you believe
in predestination too. That's what God predetermined
to do. How glorious is that? This fallen,
ruined people who were bound for destruction, but God laid
hold of them and he purposed in his heart to redeem them reinstate
them and completely conform them into the image of his own son. 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 His people, these people,
He chose them from all over the world. Scripture tells us that
the world, it constantly says the world. Gentiles, Jews, and
Gentiles all over the world. The scripture says, it's a number
no man can number. That's amazing, isn't it? In spite of their sin against
him, in spite of their rebellion against him, in spite of their
natural hatred of him, the flesh, the scripture says, is enmity
against him, and that's what it means. HATRED OF HIM, HATRED
OF HIS WORD, HATRED OF HIS WAY. IN SPITE OF THAT, GOD CHOSE TO
REDEEM HIS PARTICULAR PEOPLE FROM EVERY BIT OF THAT. REDEEM
THEM FROM THEIR SIN. AND THIS IS THE ONLY WAY IT WAS
POSSIBLE. ALRIGHT, THIS IS THE ONLY WAY
IT WAS POSSIBLE. THE ONLY WAY THAT SINFUL MAN
COULD BE REDEEMED And conformed back to the image of the Holy
son of God was this was the only way God, the father had to send
his spotless son and conform his spotless son into the image
of his ruined people. THAT WAS THE ONLY WAY. THE ONLY
WAY THAT THEY COULD BEAR HIS IMAGE WAS IF HE BORE THEIR IMAGE. THAT WAS THE ONLY WAY. RIGHT
HERE IN ROMANS 8 VERSE 3 SAYS, WHAT THE LAW COULD NOT DO. AND I'LL TELL YOU WHAT THAT MEANS.
MAN AND THE FLESH NATURALLY BELIEVES IF I WILL OBEY THIS LAW, THIS
IS GOD'S LAW, I can be saved. And man wants to and man tries
so hard, but man does not know that the thoughts of his mind
condemn him. The desires of his heart condemn
him. You know, he thinks, well, my
hand has never touched that. Oh, but the mind has. AND NO MAN CAN LIVE UP TO THE
LAW. THE ONLY REASON THE LAW WAS GIVEN
WAS TO SHOW MAN HIS ABSOLUTE RUIN IN SIN. TO SHOW HIM, I CANNOT
FULFILL WHAT GOD REQUIRES OF ME. THEREFORE, GOD HAD TO SEND
HIS OWN SON. VERSE 3 RIGHT HERE SAYS, WHAT
THE LAW COULD NOT DO IN THAT IT WAS WEAK THROUGH MY FLESH,
GOD SENDING HIS OWN SON in the likeness of sinful flesh, and
for sin, that means by a sacrifice for sin, He condemned sin in
His own flesh, in the flesh, that the righteousness of the
law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit. What that means is God the Father
made God the Son to be our sin for us. He knew no sin. He never committed
one. But He was made to be our sin
that we might be made to be the righteousness of God in Him. It means He completely, totally
traded places with us. TOTALLY TRADED PLACES WITH US.
HE DID NOT TAKE UPON HIMSELF THE NATURE OF THE FALLEN ANGELS,
BUT HE TOOK ON HIM THE SEED OF ABRAHAM. HE TOOK ON HIM THE RUIN
OF HIS PEOPLE. THE LORD LAID ON HIM THE INIQUITY
OF ALL OF HIS PEOPLE. AND WITH THAT INIQUITY AND WITH
THAT OLD NATURE, THAT RUINED LIKENESS NOW BEING GONE, A new
one comes to God's people in his place, a brand new one. There's a song that we sing at
Christmas called Hark the Herald Angels Sing. One of the lines
in that song says, Adam's likeness now efface, stamp thine image
in his place. The image of Christ himself,
that's glorious. Paul told the Philippians, he
said, when the Lord Jesus Christ, our savior, comes back, he shall
change our vile body that it might be fashioned like unto
his glorious body. When he comes back, it's all
gonna be changed. The apostle John said, it doth not yet appear
what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, whether
it's through death or through him coming back, When he shall
appear, when our eyes physically lay hold of him, we shall be
like him. We're gonna be changed in the
twinkling of an eye. And we're gonna be just like
him, for we shall see him as he is. David said, I shall be
satisfied when I awake with thy likeness. That's the moment I'll
be satisfied. That's amazing to think about. 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. And what that means is the rightful
heir. That's what it means. The rightful heir, the firstborn
of everything that the father has. NOT UNTO US, O LORD, NOT
UNTO US, ALL OF IT GOES TO HIM, THAT HE MIGHT BE THE FIRSTBORN. BUT LOOK AT WHAT THE END OF THAT
VERSE SAYS, AMONG MANY BRETHREN. THE FIRSTBORN AMONG MANY BRETHREN. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? WELL, IF
YOU LOOK ONE MORE TIME AT VERSE 17, IT MEANS IF CHILDREN, THEN
HEIRS. HEIRS OF GOD, AND JOINT HEIRS
WITH CHRIST, IF CHILDREN THEN HEIRS. HE MIGHT BE THE FIRSTBORN
AMONG MANY BRETHREN. EVERYTHING THAT GOD THE FATHER
HAS BESTOWED UPON HIM, GOD THE FATHER HAS BESTOWED UPON US.
AND THAT IS WHAT YOU CALL AMAZING GRACE. OUR BROTHER JUST QUOTED
THAT SONG AMAZING GRACE. OH THAT WE MIGHT ENTER INTO WHAT
AMAZING GRACE TRULY IS. What amazing grace that God would
take a bunch of sinners. Amazing grace how sweet the sound
that saved a wretch like me. Send his son to completely take
my place and do for me what I could not do. And in turn, give to
me everything he was owed. That's an amazing declaration.
Wonderful news. I want to sing that. Let's all
stand together and turn with me if you would to 236.