If you would, please turn to
Romans chapter eight. Romans chapter eight. And I'm gonna read verses 28
to 31. Romans chapter eight, beginning
in verse 28. 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 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 then say to these
things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? All things work together for
good to them that love God. Now, I know some people use this
statement very flippantly. They shouldn't, but they do.
But whether it is used flippantly or not, the truth of scripture
is the truth of scripture. All things do work together for
good to them that love God, to them that are called according
to his purpose. The question that that statement
should raise is the one that is never raised out in the world,
but the one question that should be raised is, do I love God? See, that's a qualifier. All things work together for
good to them that love God. It's not all things work together
for good, which is the way most people flippantly say it. Yes, the rain falls on the just
and the unjust alike. The sun shines on the just and
the unjust alike. And here lately, the snow falls
on the just and the unjust alike. But all things work together
for good to them that love God. Now, very carefully, let me point
this out. We're not necessarily, well we
are, I don't know exactly how to say this. Paul is not writing
about and does not say those whom God loves. He's pointing
out those who love God. Because those who love God and
all that God loves are not necessarily the same thing. There are those
whom God loves that he has not yet brought. to love him, but
all things work together for good to them that love God. That's
what Paul wrote. That's what Paul meant to them
who are the called according to his purpose. Because all we
can know is what is written in the book. That's it. And evidently all things do not
work together for good for everyone. That's just plain. Now, loving
God entails loving him. And loving him as he truly is. Not as we think he is. Our thoughts
are not God's thoughts. His thoughts are perfect. Ours
aren't even close. But we are to love him as he
is described and extolled, proclaimed in his word. And we have a picture. We have a word picture here.
Good pictures in this book that most people don't want to read. Now, He does actually give us
a description of those that love God here in this word. And this is a description
that the world hates. Because the only ones, the only
ones who love God are those that are the called according to his
purpose. The called according to his purpose.
These statements, they're parts of the same sentence because
they're talking about the same people. Paul did not separate
these statements because they're one thought. All things working
together for good to them that love God, to them that are the
called, according to his purpose, those two statements can't be
separated. Look at it this way, the called, According to his
purpose are those that love God And all things work together
for good to them There's no way to separate this although men
will try Men will try and add words to this verse of scripture
men will try to take words away from this scripture and They're
doing it probably exactly right now in other places because there is one inevitable
conclusion to this one simple verse, verse 28, which is supported
completely by the rest of those verses I read. And the one inescapable
conclusion you can have from this is that God is absolutely
sovereign. That's the only possible way
that all things can work together for good to them that are the
called according to his purpose, is if he is in absolute sovereign
control of everything that happens to you, and it happens to you,
and it happens to you, and it happens to me, if we love God. You understand, God is not spending
his time, and this book never teaches this. God's not spending
his time fixing things we messed up. You understand, that's what
it is. Oh, he did that, I gotta do something
else now, otherwise my purpose won't come to pass. No, you don't
read that anywhere in this book. You don't read anything even
close to it. What'd you read this morning,
Paul? I am the Lord, I change not. I change not. We change all the time. Sometimes
for the better usually not sometimes But he never changes Everything
is going on exactly perfectly according to his purpose Rolf
Barnard put it this way Henry quoted it God is either absolutely
sovereign or he's not You know, it's one of those six stubborn
statements. God is either absolutely sovereign
or he's not. And that is a valid statement.
Because God's will and God's purpose is supreme or he's not. You understand, there are a lot
of people think, oh, you can thwart the will of God. No, you can't. No, no. We don't have that kind
of power. Now we can think we've thwarted
the will of God and some people do think they've done it. But
God is absolutely sovereign. That's what this book teaches.
This book teaches that there are two positions and there's
no middle ground. He's either absolutely sovereign
or he's not. You can't have a three quarter
sovereign God. You can't have a half sovereign
God. You can't have a God who's sovereign
in everything and everyone except man's free will. Because that
means his will is not sovereign. He's either absolutely sovereign
or he's not. And that's what this verse is
teaching here. There's no middle ground, there's no partial sovereignty. And I wanna show it today. if I can, in God's foreknowledge
of his people. That's the title of this. Whom
he did foreknow. Whom he did foreknow. For. Well, actually, the end of verse
28. To them who are called according to his purpose, Then Paul goes
exactly right into this verse. What's the purpose of God? 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. I'll first start with a negative.
The foreknowledge of God is not foreseeing. He is not a seer,
S-E-E-R. He is not a fortune teller. He
is not someone who could just look into the future and see
what you would do, and then make choices and determinations from
what he saw you would do. That's the way foreknowledge
is taught nowadays. But the foreknowledge of God
is not foreseeing. He has, before they ever knew
him, an intimate knowledge and a relationship with his people. He foreknew them whom he did
foreknow. He chose them in love in his
son. He knew them by name before the
world began. I'm gonna say that a lot today,
I like that. Before he formed you in your
mother's belly, he knew you. And I'll tell you this, that
ain't just Jeremiah and Paul. I know it definitely states it
of Jeremiah and Paul, but that's not the only ones. He loved you and he chose you
in his son. He knew his people. I said it in the past tense because
what for whom he did for knows also in the past tense. He chose them from before the
foundation of the world. And that is a statement I love
repeating. You know why? Because you can
say that here and not have a riot, Walter. He chose his people and his son
before the foundation of the world. Now, I know the flippant
answer. I know the flippant answer, I've
heard it. Well, he chose you because he saw you would choose
him. And Christ told his disciples,
you didn't choose me. I chose you. So who's determining
will determines there? It's the Lord of glories. It's
our Lord Jesus Christ. It's the father who chose us
in his son. He foreknew us. I can't get over that, Mason.
I don't want to try anyway, but I can't get over that. And like
I said, he chose us before the foundation of the world. You know, you can't say that
in many Baptist churches. You can't say it in a lot of
places without causing a fight. I dare you to try it if you're
on TV. Go ahead and quote Ephesians 1. Read Ephesians 1 in your church. Because I believe every word
of it. Just like I believe every word of Romans 8. And Romans
7 and Romans 9. He chose them in his son. He
gave them. to his son, and he gave his son
to them, whom he did foreknow. God has always had a people. From the beginning, he has known
them. He did foreknow. Now let's be
clear about this. For whom he did foreknow. It's for whom, not for what. There's a lot of people wanna
talk about for what he did Forno. I looked it up on the internet.
You shouldn't do that sometimes. Look up this if you want to.
Prophecy conference. There's prophecy conferences
going on on the East Coast, they're going on on the West Coast, and
they're going on in the Midwest right now. There's prophecy meetings,
there's prophecy seminars, there's prophecy, they wanna talk about
what God foreknew, and they don't wanna deal with whom God foreknew.
Because they don't believe whom God foreknew, he did predestinate. I will tell you that God has
foreknown the what. But the what is irrelevant unless
you know whom he did foreknow. Because whom he did foreknow,
he also did predestinate. What? To be conformed to his
son's image. To be conformed to the image
of his son. And if you want to, you can leave
out those two little words, to be, because they're italicized,
they're added in. And it says, for whom he did
foreknow, he also did predestinate, conformed. Again, past tense. To the image of his son. We are being conformed to the
image of his son, but in God's sight right now, we are conformed
to the image of his son. Think about that. Ponder on that. Right now, we are conformed to
the image of his son in the sight of God. Not in the sight of men. Not even in my own sight, I'm
not conformed. But in God's sight, we are conformed
to the image of his son. And that, he has predestinated
us to. Now you know, have you ever heard
the phrase, I believe in Bible predestination? This is Bible
predestination right here. whom he foreknew, whom he did
foreknow, he predestinated to be conformed to the image of
his son. He predestinated him, conformed
to the image of his son. And in his eyes, and in God's
sight, we are all those that love God, that are called according
to his purpose. We are conformed to the image
of his son right now. Now, what is the image of his
son? A man. The man. The man, Christ Jesus. The man, perfectly sinless. The man, perfectly holy. The man, perfectly performed
all of the Father's will. The man perfectly kept the law. The man, no sin in him. And he did no sin. And he did all that was right. That's the image God sees when
he sees us in his son. That's to be conformed to his
image. Thank God I don't have to worry
about my image. I do, but I don't have to, not
in God's sight. I have to worry about my walk
and my way in this world, and I do. But praise God, he sees
me as conformed to the image of his son right now, right now. 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. Called. Everyone whom God did foreknow,
he called, he called. And it is the past tense here
because he's talking about those right now who love God. This is not talking about election.
This is talking about those who have been called. Now which call
is it? The irresistible call or the
gospel call? I love these questions. Yes.
Yes. Yes. Those that love God. are those that have heard the
voice of Him, the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ, and are raised
from the dead. Those that love God are also
the ones who have heard His gospel and believe Him. You can't love one whom you don't
know. It's not possible. It's not possible. See, you get
into that, you get into loving what you think about somebody. And that's easy to do. It happens
all around us with teenagers every day. And adults. No, you can't love whom you don't
know. And you can't know until he makes
you alive, and you can't know until you hear his gospel. You've
read his word. You've heard him preached and
extolled this one who is perfect. And he will reveal his gospel
to you. He will send you a preacher,
a sinner, to preach the gospel to another sinner. He's promised that too. But this call is both. the irresistible call of God
and the irresistible call of his gospel. If it comes unto
you in word only, that ain't enough. It's word, power of the
Holy Ghost. If he's given you faith, how
do you not believe? You're gonna believe. His word. I don't know how to actually
relate it, but it's the thing that when you hear the gospel
preached, you hear Christ preach as He is, you hear the Father
preach as He is, as the one who worketh all things together for
good to them that love God, who are the called according to His
purpose, you're going to believe him because
he's the one who gives the faith. He's the author and the finisher
of it. And we believe in Ephesians one
again, we believe by the working of his mighty power and the gospel
is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes to
everyone that believes. Whom he did predestinate, them
he also called. And whom he called, them he also
justified. Justified. I wrote down here
Thayer's definition of that word, and I really like this. To render
righteous. I like that, I do, I do. Everyone
that is called is rendered righteousness in the sight of God. in His Son. They're not righteous in themselves,
but they are righteous in His Son. They're conformed to His
image. Guess what? You're rendered righteous. His righteousness has been imputed
to us if we believe, if we believe. His righteousness, everyone that
is called is rendered righteousness in his son, and that's exactly
everyone which he foreknew, and he predestinated, and he's called. They are righteous. You understand,
sinless is great, but righteousness is needed also. Sinlessness is
required, a lack of sin, but we need the holiness of God in
order to stand before God. Be ye holy for I am holy. That scripture scared the fire
out of me for a while. Then I realized it's not me,
but I'm holy in my Lord Jesus Christ. I'm holy in Christ. In God's sight. And his is the only sight that
matters. What shall we say then to these things if God be for
us? Who can be against us? No one can be against us. It's
not possible that anyone could be against us, including our
own selves. I can't talk my way out of salvation. I can't send my way out of salvation. Now that's not a license to sin.
I send more than I want to now. but my actions had nothing to
do with these actions here. My actions now only as a result
of these actions here do my actions come. It is God that worketh in you
both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Any sin, every
sin I commit belongs to me. but every good thing belongs
to him. Whom he did foreknow, he predestinated
to be conformed to his son's image. Whom he did foreknow,
he called to be conformed to the image of his son. Whom He
did foreknow, He justified to be conformed to the image of
His Son. Whom He did foreknow, He glorified
to be conformed to the image of His Son. Whom He did foreknow,
He has all things working together for good, which is to be conformed
to the image of His Son. Now, whose works are all of these? They're his works. They're his
works. Who does God work on? He works
on those whom he did foreknow. What does all this means? This
means also that the purpose of God according to election, stands. This also means that God is absolutely
sovereign in the salvation of his people. From beginning to
end. From before the foundation of
the world to standing holy and righteous in His presence, in
the presence of God. How can we do that? In His Son,
and we are conformed to the image of His Son. This actually shows
God's absolute sovereignty over all His creation, including men. And it also shows If you know Christ Jesus, God
gets all the glory. And this is the way God has always
been. As a bit of a conclusion, I wanna
turn to Psalms chapter four. Just a few minutes. This is the way it has always
been. New Testament and old. Psalms
chapter four. Let's look at verse three, start
at verse three. But know that the Lord has set
apart him that is godly for himself. The Lord will hear when I call
unto him. Stand in awe and sin not. Commune with your own heart upon
your bed and be still. Selah. Offer the sacrifices of
righteousness and put your trust in the Lord. The Lord has set apart him that is godly for himself. This being a psalm, you have
to ask that question. Is this David writing of himself
or is David writing of the Messiah? Well, the answer is sort of yes.
Primarily, he's talking about Jesus Christ, the Holy One, the
Godly One, the Son of God, the Redeemer. And this includes all
those who were foreknown in the Son. Christ we are set apart We are set apart in Christ we
are godly But in Christ we are set apart in him and they are
set apart for himself for himself for God in Christ we are set
apart to be conformed to the image of his son and Whom he
foreknew, the Lord set apart. And they're set apart for himself.
Why would he do this? Well, the Lord loves those whom
he foreknew. I might have quoted this last
week. If not, I'll do it anyway. You
know, if I had, I'd do it. Jeremiah 31, verse three. It
says, the Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, yea,
I have loved thee, with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving
kindness, have I drawn thee. But know that the Lord has set
apart him that is godly for himself, whom he foreknew, whom he loved. I have loved thee with an everlasting
love. God's salvation is in love. Now that love's in His Son. We're
not lovely. We're not lovable. We're not,
just be honest, folks. We're not. But His Son is the
nearest and dearest thing to God's heart. And He chose us in the beloved. He's loved him with an everlasting
love. And because he's loved him with
an everlasting love, he's loved you with an everlasting love.
From the beginning, from before the foundation of the world, whom he did foreknow, he loved
with an everlasting love. Whom he did foreknow, he draws.
He draws. He predestinated. He called,
He justified, He glorified. Whom He did foreknow is conformed
to the image of His Son. So what do we do? Psalms four
and verse four. Stand in awe and sin not. Commune with your own heart upon
your bed and be still. Selah, think about that. Ponder
that. Stand in awe and sin not. Guess
what that means? Shut up. Shut up. Shut up. And sin not. Shut up. God set them apart. It's the Lord. Let him do as
he wills. He's going to anyway. It's the
Lord's work. Let him do as he wills. whom
he foreknow, whom he did foreknow. He also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of his son. It's the Lord. Let him do
as he wills. And what do we do? Shut up and
sin not. Be still. As far as all of this
goes, foreknowledge, being loved, predestined, set apart, called,
drawn, justified, glorified, shut up. Neither you, nor I,
nor Abraham, nor Moses, nor David, nor Isaiah, Jacob, Matthew, Mark,
Luke, John, Paul, Titus, and Timothy, none of us had anything
to do with this work. This is the work of God. This
is the salvation of the Lord. Stand still and see it. Shut up. And commune in your heart, on
your bed. Think about it, ponder it, marvel
at it, wonder at it. But the last thing I love, and
be still. In this, in this, there's nothing for you to do.
It's all the work of God. You will do things, but in this, there's nothing for you to do. For whom he did foreknow, he
also did predestinate. 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? Shut up. Shut up and be still. In this,
I'm not saying you won't have anything to say. I'm not saying
you won't have something to do. But in this, in salvation, it's
the work of God and God alone. From beginning to the end. After his work, then after his
work. Let me go back to that. After we stand in awe, and sin
not, and think about it with your own heart upon your bed,
and you be still, see law, then what do we do? Offer the sacrifices
of righteousness and put your trust in the Lord. After we learn of Him and His
work, His sovereignty, His love, we are to praise Him, love Him,
Trust Him, glorify His holy name. We are to preach Him and give
Him all the glory. Offer the sacrifices of righteousness. The only reason I am saved, and
I believe I am saved, is because God saved me. He did it all. According to His
purpose and to His sovereign will. And the work of His dear
Son, my Lord and my Savior, Jesus Christ. I have nothing to boast
in. love God. All things work together for
good to them that love God. And we only love him because
he first loved us. And who are they? Who are we? Those whom he did for us. Heavenly Father, we're thankful
again for this time, this place, for this gathering, this assembly. Be with Walter as he comes to
preach the word, your gospel. Give it to us to believe your
word. We'll give you all the honor
and glory because it is yours now and forever. Amen.