Let's go back to Romans chapter
8. Due to our sinfulness, knowing that the God of justice
must punish all sin, we wonder how shall we escape
that punishment since we're nothing but sin. We became evil through
Adam's transgression. The scripture says in Romans
5 and verse 12, wherefore by one man sin entered into the
world, and death by sin. And so death passed upon all
men, for that all have sinned, or quite literally, all sinned
in Adam. Most people don't know this,
but we are sinners not because we sin, but we sin because we're
sinners. We were born sinners, alienated
from God even in our mother's womb. We do wrong because we
are wrong. You and I have a sin problem. That's what we all have in common. You see, even, and this is an
impossibility, but even if we could stop sinning, right now
or even when we were born, if we could not sin, not commit
any sin, no evil motive, no evil thought, no evil word, no evil
deed, if we went all through life and never committed a sin,
that wouldn't be good enough because we have sin in the heart. You see, our problem is not merely
what we do. That gives us enough problem
there. It's not what we think or our
motives or our words. It's that which we are. We're
sinners against God. But through no good works that
we could ever do, and through no righteousness
that could ever come forth from us. God has eternally accepted
us in Christ Jesus. You see, nothing good can come
out of the rubble of our sinfulness. We know that. And right here
in Romans chapter 8, there are some questions that are raised
by the Apostle Paul that have to be answered. They have to
be answered. You see, God must inflict punishment
upon offenders of his law After all, what is the definition of
sin? A Bible definition of sin is
the transgression of God's law. Why, we're supposed to love God
with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. You love God that
way? No, you don't. And I don't. Nobody does. And then we have
a responsibility to one another. Love your neighbor as yourself. And nobody does that. We're all
sinners. And divine justice says sin's
got to be punished. It's got to be punished either
in the offender or in a suitable divinely approved substitute. But you be very much aware of
this, no sin is gonna go unpunished. Now if it goes punished in my
death, I'll have to die forever. Because even dying forever, suffering
the wrath of God forever, will never pay for one single sin. Nobody goes to hell to pay for
their sins. That can't be done by a finite
being. We can't put sin away. If you endured all of the wrath
of God, for all of your sins for let's say a million years. Won't put anything away. Because
you're not a divinely appointed and approved of substitute for
anybody and you can't die for yourself. And yet in this passage of scripture,
Paul talks about There are certain people who are justified before
God, even though they're sinners, even though they're guilty, even
though they're polluted by sins. It says here in verse 31, what
shall we then say to these things? These things, knowing we're guilty,
knowing we're transgressors, knowing we're violators of God's
law. Yet the Lord says, Paul says,
what shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who
shall be against us? Well, how can God not be against
us? Or how can God be for us? Is there evidence of that? And when he says, What should
we say then to these things? What these things is he talking
about? Well, he's talking about these
things that have been mentioned beginning in verse 29. And in
verse 29 and in verse 30, he speaks of some things and he
speaks of them in the past tense. The apostle is not speaking to
us of things that God will do for us in time, things that He's
going to do. But he's speaking about things
that God did in eternity. These are actions of God that
He performed, that He did, long before he ever created this world. In fact, these were the eternal
acts of the eternal God. He's speaking about four things
that God did for his beloved people in eternity past. And he starts off in verse 29,
for whom he did for know. Let's talk about what it means
for God to foreknow somebody. He foreknew us. Now, God's foreknowledge
is way yonder more than merely his knowledge of something beforehand,
like knowledge of what we would do or knowledge of what we would
be. His foreknowledge, look at it
carefully, is not of things, but of people. You see, it says,
for whom he did foreknow. Now, God's foreknowledge, a marvelous
subject, but it's not to be confused with God's omniscience. You see,
God's omniscience, you say, well, God knows everything. You're
absolutely correct. And that's one of his attributes.
He has a very thorough, exact knowledge of everything. He knows all things. Nothing
could ever be hidden from him. His attribute of omniscience
simply means he knows all things that ever shall come to pass. But his foreknowledge, or God
foreknowing something, that's not an attribute, that's an act. That's what you need to remember.
Omniscience, omniscience, that's an attribute, that's a characteristic
of God. For God to foreknow somebody
or God foreknew somebody, that's an act of God and that's an eternal
act of God. He foreknew some people forever. And as the word foreknew or foreknowledge
is used in the Bible, it implies four things. Foreordination. It implies everlasting affection
or love, and it implies divine approval, and it also implies unending safety
and security. You got that? That's his foreknowledge. It implies for the nation. For
instance, in 1 Peter 1, it talks about the Lamb of God, talks
about His precious blood. Christ was the Lamb foreordained,
and you look it up in a concordance, you'll find out that foreordained
and foreknown, they have the same root word. This is everlasting love. This is divine approval. This
is unending safety and security. All of that's involved in for
whom he did foreknow. He didn't just foreknow things,
no, because this is his love. This is his kindness. This is
his for the nation. He foreknew people. So remember the difference between
omniscience, that's a characteristic of God, that's an attribute of
God. Whereas His foreknowledge or
God foreknowing somebody, that's a divine act. And it's a divine eternal act.
The next word, the reason he says, what should we say to these
things? What should we say to the foreknowledge
of God? And what should we say to divine
predestination? What is predestination? Pre is
beforehand. Destination is to a point, to
a destiny, to determine ahead of time. And we're all, to a
degree, predestinarians, because we all, ahead of time, make our
plans as to what we're gonna do. So we're all predestinarians. I have already made my plans
for this evening. Lord willing, I'm gonna finish
preaching this message. That's my plan. That's what I
predetermined to do. And then after I greet y'all
and sanitize real good, then I'm gonna get in my van with
my wife and we're gonna go home and I'm gonna have an infusion
tonight. That's my predestinated plan. I've already got the needles
out, I've already got the medicine coming up to room temperature.
That's what I predestinated to do tonight. And then while I'm
doing that, I'm hoping my wife's going to have me a little something
to eat while I'm being infused. And then I'll go to bed. It'll be about midnight when
I finish up. That's what I predestinate to
do. What if you predestinate to do
something? Most of the time on Sunday night,
Wednesday night, I predestinate to go to KFC and get chicken. But I'm not doing that tonight.
But we make our plans. You see what I mean? People say
it's not fair for God to predestinate anything. Well, now, wait a minute. We predestinate almost everything,
but there are a lot of things that we predestinate to do that'll
never come to pass because we don't have the power to bring
them to pass. We run into unforeseen difficulties. When I leave the building, get
ready to go home, that's my predestinated plan. I might get out of here,
might have flat tire. Well, that's going to delay me
for sure. There are things that we have no control over. In fact, we have control over
very little. But you see, with our God, He
never faces an unforeseen difficulty. because he's ordained all things.
So nothing can interfere with what he's predestinated. And in this context, he has predestinated
a people to be conformed to the image of his son. Now this conformity
to His Son, I'm fully persuaded, though this is an eternal decree
of God, in our experience of grace it begins in regeneration,
where Christ is formed in us, where we're brought to a knowledge
of God by the power of the Holy Spirit, a knowledge of God through
our Lord Jesus Christ. And then we grow in grace and
in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. And someday when
we stand before God, we shall stand having been fully conformed
to the image of our Lord Jesus Christ. And that was what God
predestinated for us before the world began. Remember, this is
an eternal act of God. He who foreknew us predestinated
us to be conformed to the image of Christ Jesus. And we shall not fail to be brought
to full conformity to the image of Christ. And then he says,
what things, what should we say to these things that God foreknew
us, that God predestinated us? Well, here's the next thing he
says in verse 30, moreover whom he did predestinate, them he
also called. Now, let me teach you just a
little bit here, and you probably already know this. The word called
is used in verse 28. And the word called is used again
here in verse 30. But they're actually not the
same word. In verse 28 where it says, And
we know that all things work together for good to them that
love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose. That word called means, and I
circled it and I wrote it in my Bible. Come here, that's what
that means. That's the irresistible effectual
call of God. Come here, come here, come to
Christ. The general call of the gospel
will result in nobody coming to Christ. But the effectual
call, what do you mean by effectual, Jim? You guys use that word effectual. It's able to get the job done. The effectual call means it's
a call that is successful. If I call you and I do call you
to come to Christ, my call won't be successful. because I can't
talk to your heart. I can't minister to your heart.
I can't do anything for your heart. But if the Lord calls you, if he says through the proclamation
of the substitutionary sacrifice of Christ, the blood of the Son
of God, the righteousness of the Son of God, if God the Spirit
says, come here, you will come. You will come, that's a call
of grace, that's a call of God. So the word called in verse 28
literally means come here. But that's not what the word
means in verse 30. Moreover whom he did predestinate,
them he also named. That's what that means, named. And years ago, years ago, when
I was doing a word study on this, I circled the first word called
in verse 28, and I put in the margin, come here, the effectual
call. And in verse 30, when it says,
them he also called, I circled that, and I have written right
there in my Bible, named, he named us, he named us. And you know what He named us?
Children of God. We're sons of God. He so named
us that He wrote our names down in the Lamb's Book of Life before
the world ever began. He named us. He named us as His
own, as His children, as His sons and daughters. We're family. Family. Behold, what manner of
love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be, what
does it say, called or named the sons of God. Now, when did that happen? See, He named us the sons of
God, the offspring of God, the children of God, not when we
experienced that call of verse 28, come here. Actually, we experienced
that call of grace because we had been named before the world
began. The reason we're called by grace
is because we were already His, but we were lost. We were defiled. We were ungodly. We were separated
from God. We were rebellious children,
but we were still children. And because we are sons, because
we were children of God, he sent the spirit of truth, the spirit
of grace into our hearts. And he put that cry in our heart,
Abba, Father. being called sons of God before
time began. Therefore, he says, whom he named,
them he also justified. Them he also justified. Justified
freely. I've had men argue with me about
this matter of eternal justification. And I just say the decrees of
God are all eternal. They have to be. Is He making
any new determinations? Does God come up with a new and
different purpose? Well, how old is His purpose?
Well, it's as old as He is. It's eternal. Well then, Our justification, justified
by God, that's eternal too. How did God justify us? We're
justified by His grace. You see, we're brought by effectual
grace, as in verse 28, we're called by the Spirit to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and that's new and different for
us, and it's glorious, that experience of grace, but we're just experiencing
what God purposed before He ever made the world. You see, our conversion just
surprises us, but it sure doesn't surprise God. This is what He
ordained all along. That's what He determined. And then he says, and them he
also glorified. We're assured to be glorified
as if we already were glorified, because in the mind and purpose
of God we are. There's nothing new here. It's new to us, but not new to
God. Now, I know we have unnumbered
sins. I know that we're ungodly, as
I began the message in describing us. Unnumbered sins we have committed
against God in addition to our original sinfulness. And yet,
yet the Apostle Paul, he says, what should we then say to these
things? Well, we'll say this. If God's
for us in foreknowing us, if God is for us in predestinating
us, if God is for us in naming us or calling us, if God is for
us in justifying us, declaring us to be righteous in Christ,
if God is for us in glorifying us, well then, who can be against
us? Even if all the powers of hell
are against us, and they are, even if all the powers of darkness,
the principalities and powers of darkness, though they're all
against us, that doesn't affect the purpose of God one iota. The purpose of God can't be frustrated. You see, the Arminian, the free
willer, the works mongers, they have a salvation that is dependent
upon them. But the true people of God have
a salvation that's already been determined by God Himself and
nothing can frustrate His eternal purpose. We're glorified already in Christ. while he's ascended back to glory. Read Ephesians one and then in
Ephesians two, he's seated in the heavenly places in heaven
and we're seated there with him. We're already glorified. I just
hadn't experienced it yet. But I'm glorified in Christ Jesus. Is your salvation dependent upon
you? or upon God. He says in verse 32, he that
spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all. For, that's
a word that means in our stead. God didn't spare his own son. What's it gonna take to save
us? Him not sparing his own son, but delivering them up, delivering
them up to die, delivering them up to suffer, delivering him
up to suffer and endure the wrath of God. He delivered him up for us all.
Who's the all? All he foreknew. All he foreknew in love, all
he predestinated, all he called, all he justified, all he glorified. And he says, how shall he not
with him also freely give us all things? For the sake of Christ,
we have all things. And then he says this in verse
33, who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? Well
now, wait a minute, Jim, you started off talking about how
sinful we are. Yes. We're sinners. We're guilty. But who's going to lay a charge
to our account? Who can successfully charge us
with even one sin? Nobody can because the God of
heaven and earth and of eternity, He has justified us. Then no charge against you gonna
stick. Well, how can that be? He asks
another question in verse 34. Who is He that condemneth? Who
can condemn us? He said, it's Christ that died. It's Christ that died. Yea, rather, that is risen again,
who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession
for us. You know, when I get to glory and should
I I know this isn't really correct, but should I be at the gate of
glory and somebody from the inside ask me, James Ferguson Burd,
why should we let a sinner like you into this place? I'll tell you what, I'm not gonna
plead my righteousness. I'm gonna plead the righteousness
of Christ. I'm not gonna plead my work.
I'm going to plead his work. I'm not going to make this plea,
do you know who I am? Rather, I'm going to plead, do
you know who my savior is? Do you know who my master is? And I'm not going to plead any
pitiful sacrifice I've ever made. I'm going to claim his sacrifice. And I'll tell you what, the gate
of heaven just gonna swing wide open. I'll go on the righteousness
of somebody else. Mr. Spurgeon said, I'll go. He
said, if I go to hell, I'll go to hell trusting Jesus Christ. And he said, nobody ever has.
Nobody's ever gone to hell trusting Christ. I'm not trusting myself. It's not wise to put any confidence
in the flesh, not yours, not mine or anybody else's. I put my confidence on Christ
Jesus. I trust him whom God trusts. God trusted him with the salvation
of all of his elect before the world began. These are all your
people, I give them to you. Redeem them, wash them, robe
them, bring them all home. I trust you with all of my children. God trusted him. And I'll tell
you what, by the grace of the Lord, I trust him too. Well then, where is Christ today? And what's he doing? Look at verse 34. Who is he who
condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather,
that is risen again. Where is he? He's even at the
right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. The third step to our Lord's
exaltation Resurrection's the first step. Ascension was the
second step. And the third step, he was seated
at the right hand of God. And he was seated at the right
hand of God. That's the highest place to be. And he was seated at the right
hand of God just about 42 or 43 days after the depths of his
agony. You think about that. He was at his lowest point. He was obedient unto death, which
meant he was forsaken by God because our sins were imputed
to him. And he bore our hell, he bore
our punishment, he bore the wrath of God in his own body and soul
on the tree. And now just a few days later,
six weeks or so, he's gone from the lowest to the highest. What a change. And let me tell
you something, people of God. You may feel like in your heart
and in your life, you're at the lowest point. Maybe it's your
physical health. Maybe it's some other problem.
Say, I'm at my lowest point. You just wait in a few days,
it'll all be over. And the children of God, you
see, we go to the right hand of the Father too, because we're
seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. So just be patient. Just be patient. These days of
trouble and trial will soon be over, sooner than we realize.
I can't believe I'm almost ready to turn 73 years of age. It just,
it's like a blur. And I think back, and some of
you are older than I am, we think back, where did it go? Where
did it go? My grandmother used to watch
one of them soap operas. It began this way, like, sands
through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives. Any of
you ladies ever watch that? Maybe that's the name of it,
Days of Our Lives. I don't know if it's still on or not. Back
in them days, it was only 15 minutes long. I think it followed
Search for Tomorrow. Why do you remember stuff like
that? but the sand is going through
the hourglass for all of us. And you may feel you're at your
lowest. I don't know who I'm talking
to. I don't know what you're going through with, but I'll
tell you what, our Lord went through the lowest depths of
agony and disgrace and humiliation. And about six weeks later, He's
the highest point. He's at the right hand of the
Father. Now, God has no right hand. Let's establish that, because
God is a spirit. God's arm is not shortened that
it cannot save. God doesn't have an arm, though. His eyes look to and fro upon
the earth, but God doesn't have eyes. It says His ears are open
to our cries, but God doesn't have ears. He's spirit. But it's worded this way for
us to understand our Lord Jesus Christ has arrived at the highest
place of majesty and honor. You know, when Solomon became
king, it says in 1 Kings 2 and verse
19, he sent for his mother and he said to his mother, sit at
my right hand. That's the highest place of honor.
And our Lord Jesus, having finished the work of redemption, He ascended
to the highest place in the universe. Look at Hebrews chapter one.
Let me just give you a few verses here in the time that remains.
Hebrews chapter one. The right hand of God, you see,
denotes majesty and honor. You remember when Joseph took
his two boys in front of Jacob, their grandfather, And he expected that the blessing
of Jacob would come to Manasseh. So he positioned Manasseh across
from the right hand of his father, Jacob, because the right hand
would be the right hand of blessing and honor and majesty. But instead, Jacob blessed the
younger. and he reached across, and he
blessed Ephraim, who was, and he blessed him with his right
hand. That's the place of honor. Place of honor. And the honor
conferred upon Christ Jesus at the right hand of God. Hebrews
1, look at verse 1. God, who at sundry times and
in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the
prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son,
whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made
the worlds, who, being the brightness of his glory, and the express
image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his
power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of
the majesty on high. How did he get there? By purging
us of our sins, not by attempting to do it, not by trying to save,
not by putting an effort toward our salvation and then we add
our faith as the final ingredient for salvation. He purged our
sins. You didn't have anything to do
with that. Nobody did except Christ himself. And upon the
basis of his voluntary sacrifice, he purged our sins and God the
Father said, that's good enough for me. He washed them all away. And
therefore, Christ has sat down on the right hand of the majesty
on high. This is the atonement taught
in the scriptures, a just atonement, a blood atonement, a limited
atonement, a particular redemption. That last song we sang was written
by Samuel Medley. He was a particular Baptist preacher
and hymn writer, particular. Particular redemption, that's
what he believed. And that's the only redemption
there is, was a redemption for a particular people, those that
God foreknew, foreknew in love and predestinated and called
and justified and glorified. That's who he purged the sins
for. This is a sacrifice like no other
sacrifice. Did you know in all of the Old
Testament sacrifices, all those animals, that fire that represented the
wrath of God consumed all those carcasses? Then God's lamb came. And the fire of God's wrath didn't
consume him. He consumed the fire. The fire
of God's wrath burned itself out on the Lord Jesus Christ. And he said, well, it's finished.
It's finished. And the father then raised him
from the dead. Christ ascended to heaven and
the father said, sit here. Sit here at the right hand of
the majesty on high. Look at Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10. Here is the
accomplishment of his work. Hebrews chapter 10. Look at verse
11. And every priest standeth daily
ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices which can
never take away sins. The old priesthood, the priests,
the high priest, they stood because their work was never
finished. But Christ finished the work
of redemption. Verse 12, but this man, after
he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down, sat
down on the right hand of God from henceforth expecting till
his enemies be made his footstool. Now you hear me, he would never
have sat down unless his job had been finished. He would never
have sat down if he had not safely and fully redeemed all of his
people. If he had left something undone,
some possibility that those for whom he laid down his life would
perish in their sins, he would never have sat down. He sat down
because it was a job well done and a job that he finished in
redeeming his people. You see, this is the honor that's
been given to him. He's seated at the right hand
of God. And this being seated at the
right hand of God shows he's Zion's king. He's head of the
church. He's Lord of creation. And his
providential kingdom assures us of the success of his saving
kingdom. "'cause he rules all things."
Who do you think governs all things? Well, it's not the devil. It's the Son of God who loved
us and gave himself for us. I know while on earth he suffered, but his suffering's
over. While on earth there were times
when he wept, but he's not weeping anymore. While on earth he was hated and
scorned by men, but now he's adored by angels and glorified
saints. While on earth his name was mocked
and ridiculed and reviled, but he's been given a name which
is above every name. that at the name of Jesus every
knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess he's Lord. Here
he was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Now he's filled with
inexpressible joy. Here he had no form nor comeliness. But now it is revealed He's the
brightness of the Father's glory. Here he groaned in agony, but
now he rejoices in the triumphs of his work upon earth. Here he endured the contradiction
of sinners against himself, but now he's worshiped by the hosts
of heaven. Here he was hungry and thirsty
and weary and tempted. But now all of creation is governed
by him. And he sits. But in being seated, he is still
very much aware of his dear people. And for us, he makes intercession. He is our advocate. He is our
legal representative. He doesn't plead with the Father
to be merciful to us. He doesn't get down on his knees
and beg God to do good for us. He merely presents his wounds. five bleeding wounds he bears,
received on Calvary, and they ever plead for his people. And they cry, Father, forgive
them. Father, receive them. Father, do them good. His wounds prove that he redeemed
us. and he represents us before the
majesty on high. We have an advocate with the
Father. Who is he? Jesus Christ the righteous. And yonder he sits. And one day,
he'll come back and receive us unto himself. I was reading yesterday, one
writer was talking about when Stephen was being stoned and
Stephen said, I see the Lord Jesus standing, standing at the
right hand of God. And this particular writer said,
perhaps our Lord Jesus stands every time one of his children
comes home to glory to welcome, welcome. He welcomed Stephen. He said, well, Stephen was an
unusual man. The gifts that he had, God gave
them to him. His faithfulness, God granted
to him. And when you die, you are the
children of God. Angels of God will take you into
the presence of the king. And I'm persuaded the king will
rise. and put a kiss on your cheek
and say something like this, welcome home. Welcome home. He's exalted to the right
hand of God to represent us. Let's sing a closing song. Our great savior,