There is no portion of Holy Scripture
that more clearly identifies and defines God's grace than
Romans chapter 8. How amazing, how marvelous, how
good our God's grace is. He causes everything to work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to his purpose. Now that's my subject this morning,
God's great purpose of grace. You'll find my text in Romans
8, 28, 29, and 30. We know that all things work
together for good. To them that love God, to them
who are thee 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. whom he justified, them he also
glorified." Contrary to popular opinion, the God of this book,
the one true and living God, is a God of purpose. Absolute,
immutable, unalterable, eternal purpose. The Lord of hosts has
sworn saying, surely as I have thought, so shall it come to
pass. As I have purposed, so shall
it stand. We talk about God's plan. That's
really not accurate. I make plans, but my plans are
subject to change by a great many reasons. God is not a God
of plan. He is a God of purpose, of determination. He purposed all things. The Lord of hosts hath purposed,
and who shall disannul it? His hand is stretched out, and
who shall turn it back? In other words, everything in
this world comes to pass, is ruled by, and overruled by God's
sovereign, unalterable, all-inclusive, sure purpose. And it is ruled
by him for the salvation of his elect. Every purpose of the Lord
shall be performed, the prophet said. That the purpose of God,
according to election, might stand. Not of works, but of him
that calleth. The purpose of God is absolute
and unconditional. And as the purpose of God is
absolute and unconditional, the grace of God is absolute and
unconditional. That grace by which we are saved
is sure grace, absolute grace, unconditional grace. The scriptures
are crystal clear. Nowhere in this sacred volume
is salvation. Now listen carefully. Any aspect
of salvation, I'm talking about election, redemption, faith,
regeneration, justification, sanctification, preservation,
growth in grace, glorification. Nowhere in this book is salvation,
any aspect of salvation, ever attributed to, conditioned upon,
or determined by man's work, man's will, man's choice, or
man's decision. Every aspect of salvation is
specifically declared to be the work of God alone. Repeatedly we're told, we're
saved by grace, not by works. We're saved by grace, not by
something you do. So then it is not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.
Grace is never represented in the book of God as God's response
to man's choice or man's decision or man's work, but just the opposite. According to this book, the believer's
faith in Christ is the result of God's eternal choice of him
in Christ Jesus. The believer's life of faith,
our service to our redeemer, is the result of God's grace,
the produce of God's grace, not the work of the flesh. According
to this book, All God's grace is unconditional insofar as our
experience and reception of it's concerned. It can't be earned,
it can't be won, it can't be merited, it can't even be attracted
by us or in any way influenced by us. Grace is unmerited favor. Grace is God's sovereign, eternal,
free favor towards sinners in Christ Jesus who deserve his
wrath. And this eighth chapter of the
Book of Romans, the Apostle Paul, writing by divine inspiration,
plainly declares what God has done for chosen sinners in Christ
and why he has done it. Look once more at what God, our
Savior, has done for us in the person of his dear son, the Lord
Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. We're told in verses 1 through
4 of this 8th chapter of Romans that he has freed us from all
condemnation, from all possibility of condemnation, and freed us
from the cruel, oppressive, galling bondage of the law. He's given
us new life in Christ by the gift of his spirit, we're told
in verses 5 through 14. He has given us this new life,
given us his spirit, the spirit of adoption, and he has made
us heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. Then in verses 19
through 25, God, by His grace, giving us His Spirit, making
us the sons of God by the gift of faith in Him, has given us
the blessed hope of resurrection glory. Then we're told in verses
26 and 27, that though we don't know how to pray as we ought,
he's given us his spirit as the earnest, the pledge of that everlasting
glory awaiting us, who helps our infirmities, and that Christ,
our advocate on high, pleads for us continually, knowing the
mind and the spirit. And then in this 28th verse,
God has given us the knowledge and assurance of his wise and
good providence. But why? Why has the Holy Lord
God done all these things for us? What's the basis of his gracious
operations? What's the source from which
we have all these blessings, privileges, and benefits of grace? All these blessings, all these
privileges, all these benefits of grace in salvation were emphatically
secured to us by God's eternal purpose of grace. God's great
purpose of grace, secured for his elect, everything we enjoy
in the experience of grace in time and the experience of resurrection
glory in the days ahead in eternal glory. Let's look now at these
two verses. We'll focus on verses 29 and
30. God works all things together
for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to his purpose. And we're not left to guess about
what his purpose is. It's described for us in verse
29 and 30. In these two verses, we have the commentary given
by God himself on verse 28. Here is the explanation of what
it is for God to work all things together for our good according
to his purpose, our experience of salvation in time. is the
result of God's accomplishment of salvation in eternity according
to his purpose. With regard to the accomplishment
of redemption, the redemption of our Lord Jesus Christ, and
the salvation of God's elect by him, God the Holy Ghost tells
us in Hebrews chapter four and verse three, that the works were
finished from the foundation of the world. The works were
finished from the foundation of the world. Nothing that takes
place in time alters what God purposed in eternity. Rather,
everything that takes place in time is according to that which
God purposed in eternity. All the works of grace by which
believing sinners shall at last enter into the rest of everlasting
glory with Christ were finished from the foundation of the world.
All the works of God's free saving grace in Christ that sinners
come to experience in time were done from eternity. Let's see
if that's not how the book states it. We'll look at these two verses
line by line and word by word one more time. 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, that is
because, whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate. Now notice please, every verb
in these last two verses, 29 and 30, is in the past tense. Every verb is in the past tense. If you wish to know, in the Greek
it's the aorist tense, aorist indicative. Something done at
one time in the past with no further limitation, with nothing
else added to it. It was finished in the past.
These things were all done from eternity. Now let's look at the
five words by which the Holy Spirit describes for us God's
purpose of grace. The first word mentioned in verse
29 is the word Foreknow, whom he did foreknow. It talks about God's foreknowledge. Now, if you listen to folks talk
about God's election these days, they will refer to this passage
in 1 Peter and they'll spit them at you with a snarl and they'll
say, there you see, God chose us because he foreknew we would
choose him. That's not what the text says.
That's not what the word foreknowledge means. Foreknowledge, as it's
used here, doesn't refer to God's attribute of omniscience. Rather,
it refers to an act of God's grace, whom he did foreknow. Translated foreknow or foreknowledge,
the root word is the word from which we get our word prognosis.
In medical terms, a doctor sees a patient, examines him, and
he gives a prognosis as to what you can expect. But that's not
the meaning of the word as it is used in scripture. God's foreknowledge
is not God's prognosis of the future. God's foreknowledge is
not God's omniscience with regard to the future. God's foreknowledge
is an act of his grace toward his elect. It is the very same
word elsewhere translated foreordained. The Lord Jesus was delivered
by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. He is the
lamb who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the
world. So God's foreknowledge first and foremost has the idea
of foreordination. It is that which God purposed
beforehand. Nowhere in the book where the
word foreknowledge is used, do you read about what he foreknew. It is not God foreknew what you
would do. It is not that God foreknew you
would decide for Jesus. It is not that God foreknew on
June 26, 2016, you'd come to church here at Grace Baptist
Church in Denver, Kentucky, and you would decide to give Jesus
your heart. That makes God's work the response
to and the result of your work. That makes God subservient to
you. And that's blasphemy. You may
as well worship Baal or Nebo. Set them up where you want to,
carry them where you want to, bow down to them if you want
to, but they can't hear and they can't save. The God of glory
is not God who waits on you. He is God who works for you and
in you to accomplish his purpose of grace by his sovereign eternal
determination to save you by his grace. Foreknowledge also
carries with it the idea of love. The word knowledge being used
in scripture frequently for love. God's foreknowledge of his people,
is his everlasting love for his elect. The Lord hath appeared
of old unto me, saying, yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting
love. Therefore, with lovingkindness
have I drawn thee. God knows everything. And he has known everything from
eternity. He's omniscient. That's called
God. He knows everything and he has
known everything from eternity. He never learns anything and
he never forgets anything. But God knew you like you knew
nobody else. God knew his elect as he knew
no one else. Do you remember how our Lord
speaks to those goats on his left hand in the day of judgment?
And he says, depart from me, you cursed. I never knew you. What does that mean? I never
knew you. I didn't know who you were. I
didn't know when you were born. I didn't know what you did on
this earth. Well, of course not. They're going to hell because
he knows all that. What you mean? I never loved
you! I never loved you! Jacob have
I loved, Esau have I hated. God's foreknowledge of his elect
is his everlasting loving knowledge of his own. The Lord knows them
that are his. As Adam knew his wife Eve, loving
her, so the Lord God embraced his own in everlasting love before
the world was. This word foreknowledge also
has the idea of divine approval. Turn back to Psalm 1 and verse
6. Psalm 1 verse 6. I think I've
got that right. Yeah. The Lord knoweth the way of the
righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall
perish. The Lord approves of the way
of the righteous. The Lord God owns approves, accepts,
and is pleased with the way of the righteous. When the Lord
Jesus says, I know my sheep, he's saying much more than I
have knowledge of facts concerning the birth and life and death
and resurrection and everlasting happiness of Don Fortner. He's
saying with regard to his sheep, I own my sheep. I approve of
my sheep. I delight in my sheep as mine. And he did so from eternity to
the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us
accepted in the beloved. And the word foreknowledge carries
the idea of our infallible safety and security in Christ. The foundation of God standeth
sure. Having this seal, having this
blessed security, having this blessed safety, the Lord knoweth
them that are his. If you're a child of God, if
you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, if right now God opens the windows of heaven
and drops faith in your heart. And you believe on the son of
God. You were known of God from eternity. Loved, chosen, owned, approved
of, accepted, and secured in Christ according to his eternal
purpose of grace. You're one of those whom he did
foreknow. We who believe God, We who have
experienced God's free saving grace in Christ, all who have
experienced it, rejoice and give thanks to God for that blessed
foreknowledge, which is our election. Oh, how I thank God for free
electing love. Now let's go back to our text.
Here's the second word. 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. Now, don't be
afraid of that word predestinate or predestination, and don't
ever be ashamed of it. We are predestinarians. Do you know why we're predestinarians? We believe this book. We believe
this book. Much to my surprise, when I was
17 years old, Shelby and I were out on visitation one night in
the local church we were in before we were married, when we were
dating. And one of the ladies in the church started to raise
a stink about predestination. That's the first time I remember
any controversy concerning it. And she said to the pastor, Brother
Davis, you don't believe in predestination, do you? And he said to her, well,
we believe the Bible. Let's look in the Bible. Whom
he did foreknow, them he also did predestinate. I reckon we
have to believe in predestination. There it is. Now you may or may
not understand it, but if you believe the book of God, you
bow to God, and you bow to God's revelation, understand it or
not. We're predestination, predestinarians,
because we believe the Bible. And the doctrine of predestination
is a blessed, prominent doctrine of Holy Scripture, full of comfort
and joy for God's people. Predestination. is God's absolute,
infallible purpose of grace regarding his elect, whom he loved and
approved of and accepted and secured in Christ before the
world was. Our eternal destiny, perfect,
glorious conformity to Christ was fixed Settled, absolutely
fixed and settled by the purpose of God before the worlds were
made. In Christ, we were blessed with
all spiritual blessings according to the purpose of him who worketh
all things after the counsel of his own will. Those whom God
foreknew in electing love, he predestinated to be conformed
to the image of his own dear son, the Lord Jesus Christ. When God made Adam in the garden,
he said, it is not good that man should be alone. Let us make
an help meet for him. And God made Eve to be the completion
of Adam. God made Eve to be an help suitable
to Adam and help equal to Adam and help meet for Adam. And when
the Lord God beheld His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, as the
God-man, our Savior, the redemption man, standing forth to redeem
and save His people before the world was, He chose to make Him
a bride and help meet for Him and help fulfilling Him and help
satisfying Him, one equal to Him. by the operation of his
mighty grace. He calls it his church. We are
that bride. Described in Ephesians chapter
5, the Lord Jesus loves you. He says, Husbands, love your
wives like Christ loved the church and gave himself for it, that
he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having
spot or wrinkle or any such thing. Now, this is a great mystery,
he says, how a man leaves his father and mother and is joined
to his wife, and they too become one flesh. But this is the mystery. I'm talking about Christ and
his church. I'm talking about Christ and
his church. God gave me and helped meet for me 47 years ago. She becomes increasingly exactly
what I need, fulfilling everything about my life, exactly fulfilling
all that I need. And so it is that God gave his
people to his darling son in holy wedlock before the world
was. And Christ loved his church and
gave himself for it to make us his bride, exactly equal to him. This, according to God's eternal
predestination, The Lord God looked upon his darling son with
such satisfaction and delight that he determined to have many
sons just like him. Our salvation when finished in
resurrection glory shall be our conformity to Christ. Our exact, complete conformity
to Christ. The Lord Jesus is the express
image of the triune God, and God's elect had been predestined
to become the express image of Jesus Christ. Now, this conformity
to Christ is a threefold conformity. It's important that you understand
this. It is a conformity that is climactic. It takes place
like that, like that. In the new birth, men and women,
born again by God the Holy Spirit, are given new life in Christ. Climatically, everything changes
instantly. We become, in the experience
of grace, the sons of God, made partakers of the divine nature. We have a holy seed planted in
us, a holy nature created in us, which is Christ in you, the
hope of glory. but it is also a gradual conformity. We're conformed to the image
of Christ in our day-by-day experience of grace as we grow in the grace
and knowledge of our Savior. Now understand a vast difference
between growing in grace and being more and more sanctified.
We're not more and more holy. We're not more and more righteous.
Christ is all our holiness. Christ is all our righteousness.
But as we grow in grace, in the knowledge of Christ, believers
grow in conformity to him. This conformity of God's elect
to Christ is not something, however, that we perceive in ourselves. I'm not looking for something
to say, I want that to sit in good. It is not something believers
perceive in themselves. As we grow in grace, God's elect
grow into a truer and truer realization that I am the very chief of sinners. And yet the believer's conformity
to Christ is real. We are, by the operations of
God's grace working in us, made submissive to the will of God,
though we repent of our rebellion against God's will. We're made
patient in suffering, though we confess our horrible impatience. We're made to believe God more
fully. while we weep over our horrible
unbelief. We're made to love God and our
brethren more completely while our hearts break over our lack
of love. We're made more gracious and
forgiving while we repent and weep because of our hardness
of heart and reluctance to forgive. Believers grow in the grace and
knowledge of Christ, desiring to be made conformable unto him,
even in his death, ultimately, at last, completely submissive
to the will of God. But that's gradual. Then this
conformity to Christ shall be consummate. Soon, soon. Oh, blessed, blessed day, soon.
We who are His shall be perfectly conformed to Christ in the resurrection,
just like He is. As soon as we drop this body
of flesh, we have a house not made with hands, eternal in the
heavens. And these spirits joined to that
body not made with hands in the heavens are an exact conformity
to Christ, but there's still something lacking. These bodies,
sown in the earth, sown in corruption, must be raised in incorruption. And our very body, soul, and
spirit completely like our Savior. In divine predestination, God
eternally and immutably determined who he would save, how he would
save them, when he would save them, and where he would save
them. Then he arranged everything needful to accomplish our salvation
and bring us to glory at last in perfect conformity to Christ.
Predestination, Spurgeon said, marked the house into which grace
would go. paved the road by which grace
would travel to that house, set the time when grace would enter
the house, and guaranteed that grace would actually enter the
house at the appointed time of love. Nothing was left to chance,
luck, blind fate, or man's imaginary free will. God's great desire
and predestination is the honor and glory of Christ. Look at
our text. that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Do you remember the law of God
in Exodus chapter 12 with regard to the firstborn? God commanded
the firstborn, a man or beast is mine. The firstborn he described
like this, he that openeth the womb. Do you reckon God stated that
that way on purpose? Or was it just kind of a slip
of the tongue? No woman's womb has ever been
opened giving birth to her first child. The womb is opened in
conception, not in giving birth. What's it talking about? Well,
there actually was one woman's womb who was opened giving birth
to her first child. That woman was named Mary. The
prophecy of the law of the firstborn refers to the Lord Jesus Christ,
God's firstborn. The firstborn, who coming through
the womb of the virgin, opens the womb. And the Lord God, by
the opening of the virgin's womb through the birth of our dear
Savior, declares, here is my firstborn. He's firstborn because
he is God, the eternal God, God's eternally begotten son. But it
speaks of him in this capacity as the firstborn as man, the
redemption man, the covenant man, that one who is God's firstborn,
who describes himself in Proverbs 8. He said, I was brought forth.
I was by him as one equal with him before he ever made the world. I stood accepted of him, and
by me kings reign and princes decree justice. He's the firstborn,
that one in whom all the family has its name, that one by whom
the seed of the dead is raised up, that one who manages all
the affairs of the family in the name of his father. He's
the firstborn son. Jesus Christ, God's darling son,
our savior, the firstborn. Notice this too. God has predestined
many sons in the family of grace. He's the firstborn among many
brethren. This is a little difficult for
us to grasp because we tend to judge everything by our vision. And at any time in history, at
any given place, God's elect appear to be few. We meet here,
a few folks gathered by God's hand, I hope by God's spirit
and God's providence, to worship God. You could go to most any
Baptist church, been around as long as we have, that's just
reasonably acceptable and find a bigger crowd. How come? How come? Few, few are chosen,
but God's few are many in the end. A vast multitude that no
man can number. 10,000 times, 10,000 years, thousands
of thousands are those who make the host of God's elect. I know
that there are some folks who, for some strange reason, like
the idea of saying that maybe he's dying in infancy or lost.
That's not according to scripture. I am thoroughly convinced that
every child dying in infancy, an imbecility, not sinning after
the similitude of Adam's transgression, is chosen of God, redeemed by
God, born again by God, and lives forever with God in resurrection
glory. Now you think of all the multitudes
slaughtered by the hand of Satan through the ages of time, God
gathers one by one in his kingdom. Vast beyond imagination, is the
host of God's election. More than all the sands of oceans,
more than all the stars of heaven. Here they seem a small assembly,
weak and poor and ever needy. But when all are brought to heaven,
what a mighty congregation. Mighty through the lamb they
conquer. Lord, let me be in that number, fixed in your predestination. Savior, grant me your salvation. That's predestination. God determined
from eternity to save the great multitude of sinners for the
glory of Christ. Oh, let us never cease to be
amazed at his goodness. Here's the third word, called. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
them he also called. I remind you again of the tense
of the verb. It's past tense. The Holy Spirit is not talking
here about what God shall do in time, but what God has done
in eternity in his purpose of grace, according to which he
rules the world. He's talking about something
done once and for all with finality in eternity with no other implication. God declares that to be done,
which He's going to do, and then He does it. God declares that done, which
He's going to do, and then He does it. We read it earlier in
Isaiah 46. I am God, there is none else.
I'm God, there's none like me. Declaring the end from the beginning. And from ancient times, the things
that are not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand, and I
will do all my pleasure. In Romans 8.28, Paul tells us
that God rules the universe according to his purpose of grace. Then
in verse 29, he tells us that God's purpose of grace is absolute,
complete salvation of his elect, the conformity of all he loves
with an everlasting love to Christ. That's what he's going to do.
Now in verse 30, he tells us it's already done. It's already
done. We have not yet experienced it
all, but it's done. Nothing can be added to it and
nothing can be taken from it. This is God's work. He does it
from everlasting and forever that men should fear before him.
This word called here does not refer to the outward call of
the gospel as I preach the gospel to men and call them to repentance
and faith in Christ. And it doesn't refer to the effectual
call of God's grace described in verse 28 we looked at last
week. The word called here is a different word. It's a different
word. Rather than meaning to command or to invite to a place
or position, or to something great, the word has the idea
of naming. As many as he did predestinate,
them he also named out. He named out. He named us out
of the fallen race of humanity as the sons of God. What manner
of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be named
the sons of God? God from eternity called us his
sons. He named us his sons. He gave
us the very name of his son. Jehovah s'kenu, the Lord our
righteousness. Before the world began, God saved
and called his elect with a holy calling of grace given to us
in Christ Jesus before the world began. Here's the fourth word,
justified. Whom he called, them he also
justified. Justified. Brother Don, That looks like, that looks like,
if I was just reading this and I hadn't read any commentary
on this and my mind wasn't prejudiced with nonsense from folks that
had been feeding it nonsense all my life, that looks like,
that looks like Paul is telling us that when God predestinated
us to be conformed to Christ's image, holy, and unblameable
before him in love. Back before the world began,
he called us his sons and he justified us even before anything
was made. That is how it looks, isn't it? Isn't it? Now you tell me, you
tell me, anybody here, you read this Romans 8.29 or 8.30, and
you tell me if you wouldn't read that as being in past tense. Would you? Would anybody here
read this as a prophecy? Folks, this is talking prophetically.
I'm going to tell you a little secret. Now this is hard, folks,
to understand. When God intends to speak of
something in the future, he uses the future tense. Isn't that
strange? When God in here is speaking
something in the present, he uses the present tense. When
God speaks of the past, he uses the past tense. We were justified
before the world began. Now try to get ahold of this
if you can. If this won't put a hallelujah deep in your soul,
I don't know what will. When the Lord God predestined
us to be conformed to the image of His Son, He called us His
sons and justified us in His eternal decree, looking on His
Son, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Our
sins were canceled before they were committed. Our debt was
paid before it was incurred. The curse was removed before
it came. The law was mended before it
was broken. Justice was satisfied before
it was offended. We were justified in Christ before
we were fallen in Adam. We were accepted in Christ before
we were banished and scattered from the garden in our father
Adam. Yes, redemption was done. When the Lord God looked on his
son as the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. He said,
well, that's the way God sees things. Let me repeat it one
more time. Maybe a thousand more before I leave this world, because
it needs to be heard. Again, this is strange talk coming
from a preacher. This is strange. Folks think
you've lost your mind. I popped a cork. I've lost my
marbles. Brother Don's gone to seed on predestination, gone
to seed on sovereignty. It's high time somebody did.
However God sees things, that's how they really are. God looked on his son, Mark Henson,
as the lamb slain from the foundation of the world because he was the
lamb slain from the foundation of the world. He accepted him
and glorified him as that one who made a sacrifice that atoned
for sin. And he looked on you in his son,
one with his son, accepted and beloved, righteous and justified
because of the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. That means that nothing that
happened in the garden is going to change that. And nothing that
happens in time is going to change that. And nothing I do before
God calls me by His grace is going to change that. And nothing
I do after God called me by His grace is going to change that.
Not today, not tomorrow, not forever! Justified from eternity
in Jesus Christ the Lord. What wondrous, wondrous grace
God's given us in his darling son. The works were finished
from the foundation of the world. Now, one more thing. This great
grace, this made hours in Christ before the world began, includes
glorification. The next word in our text is
glorified. Whom He justified, them He also
glorified. Now, I can't talk much about
that right now, because I don't know much about it yet. I haven't
experienced this part of the text yet. Soon, but not yet. This much I know, glorification
is exactly the opposite of condemnation. God removed all guilt from us
in justification, and he shall free us from all the evil consequences
of sin in glorification. Our God predestined us to be
conformed to the image of his son, and that shall be accomplished
in this glorification. God's goal for his elect, is
absolute, everlasting glorification. His designs of love and grace
will have their full accomplishment in our glorification. Nothing
less will satisfy the triune Jehovah. Here the Holy Ghost
declares that that glorification that we soon shall experience
and all these things we experience in time, but they were done from
eternity. That glorification we soon shall experience was
ours with Christ from eternity. Our Lord Jesus describes it like
this. Father, the hour is come. Glorify thy son, that thy son
also may glorify thee. Give me the glory I had with
you before the world was. Is that what it says in John
17, Lindsay? Give me the glory I had with you before the world
was. This is what it's saying. Father, I've come now to the
end of my mission. I've finished my work. I'm about
to die in the room instead of my people, bringing in everlasting
righteousness, putting away sin by the sacrifice of myself, as
I swore I'd do before the world was. And you accepted me before
the world was and glorified you. You gave me power over all flesh
to give eternal life to as many as you have given me. Now, Father,
do it publicly. Make everybody see that I'm king. Make everybody understand I'm
Lord. Make everybody know I'm the Christ
of God, Jehovah's righteous servant who finished all for Jehovah's
glory. Soon, soon. Our God will publicly give us
the glory we had with Him before the world was by virtue of our
union with Christ. Would you have this grace? Oh,
preacher, I'd give anything. I'd do anything. If I could walk
out of here knowing that God loved me, accepted me, approved
of me, predestined me, called me his son, justified me, and
glorified me in Christ before the world was, and that this
salvation is all mine forever. Would you really? Would you really? Would you do nothing? Would you do nothing? To have
this done, you've got to do nothing. You gotta quit doing. You gotta
quit doing. You gotta do nothing. Believe
on the Son of God and all this grace is yours according to God's
great purpose of grace. Amen.