Book of Romans chapter 8. Romans
chapter 8. You can follow me in your pastor's
commentary that's in your bulletin. Romans chapter 8 is where we
are today. We are at what I call the sweet
spot of the apostles exhortation to the church of God at large,
but to the church at Rome specifically. When we make mention of a sweet
spot, we're talking about the center point of the object of
a person's affections, that place where you are seeking to make
the full connection and impact and to affect that which you
are seeking to achieve. We use the term sweet spot in
the world of golf. Maybe a handful of golfers in
here, because most of y'all from the hood, y'all don't golf. I
understand that. But there's one or two brothers
in here who golf. Can I get a golfer in the house?
Yeah, like 1%. 1% golfers in here. So you know the mystery of every
now and then when you swing and everything lines up just right,
it's so sweet you don't even feel the ball when it makes contact.
Well, that's where Paul is in Romans chapter 8. He's at the
sweet spot of his exhortation out of these 35 or 36 verses
in Romans 8, which is filled with, as we've learned, a full
discourse and theology on the work of the Spirit of God in
the life of the people of God. He has come to a portion of a
scripture for us that is so common and so familiar in terms of not
only its comfort, Encouragement it's phenomenal security to which
it brings to those are who who are his rather But this is also
one of those I don't know why on earth it is But one of the
most controversial portions of scripture on planet earth. Let
me say this quickly as we begin to get into the framework to
head to these few verses in Romans chapter 8 around verse 28 through
verse If you are a believer in Christ, the text that we're going
to be dealing with today is your security. The portions of scripture
I'm going to be dealing with here today is the security of
every believer. Now when you have a security,
you have something that is sure with regards to your purpose
and your destiny. Now security is different than
assurance. Because assurance is what you
feel, but security is what it is. And when God talks about
the security of the believer and the security of our salvation,
he's speaking from his side of the equation that he's going
to make it good. That everything God has purposed
for his people shall come to pass infallibly and absolutely. And the security of the believer
is just that, that we can trust God. Is that so? We can trust
God. We can trust God that what he
said, he will do. The God we serve can never lie. The God we serve can never change.
And the God we serve can never what? Fail. And therefore, when
God says that he has loved us with an everlasting love, that
love is good. And it will endure through all
eternity. It is important, therefore, then,
that the believer finds his confidence in the security of God's promises. Because where you and I often
seek assurance, assurance based upon the subjective feelings
and subjective circumstances and subjective events of our
life, our assurance comes and goes like the wind. But God's
security is just as fixed as his immutable, unchangeable nature. And where faith must be anchored
is in the promises of God. Must it not? In the promises
of God. And the verses we're going to
deal with are going to be verses that underscore not your assurance
or mine, but our security in Jesus Christ. And no believer
No believer ought to struggle with the terminology here in
this text. No born-again, Bible-based, Christ-centered, God-exalting
Christian ought to ever struggle with the terms that are about
to be set forth today. I thank God for His Word and
His clarity for His Word. See, your problem in mind is
not what God says, it's our believing God, our trusting God. Paul is at the sweet spot of
his exhortation and he's gonna deal with the high doctrine high
doctrine and such a high doctrine as Requires the believer to keep
his eyes fixed on Christ See he made it very plain that you
and I are operating in the dimension of the work of the Spirit of
God haven't we've been talking about that we are in the we are
in the process of sanctification It is the immediate subjective
dynamic work of the Spirit of God taking us from darkness leading
us to light and carrying us to glory. Is that true? We are on
our way to glory if Christ has come to you in the power of the
gospel. We are on our way to glory. But we didn't start this
thing and we're not finishing it. God has to be finished what
he began. Is that true? Alright, so what
Paul is going to do is help us understand the importance of
being able to, by faith, take God at his word when he makes
the statements that he does. So let me remind you again, under
the first set of points in your outline, the work of the Spirit
of God is to lead us through our trials. You see that in your
outline? He leads us through what? Them.
What are the them? Our trials. The Spirit of God
leads us through our trials. He accompanies us. He engages
us. He takes the believer through
our trials. The apostle Paul made it very
clear in Romans 8 verse 14, these words, for as many as are led
by the Spirit of God, they are the what? Now mark this now,
you and I contemplating the work of the Spirit of God, the Greek
term means to take by the hand and lead as if you were a child
or a blind man. You and are both that when it
comes to the realities of God, is that true? We are both children
and blind men. We do not have within ourselves
the capacity to comprehend spiritual things We do not have in ourselves
the wisdom to actually navigate our life through this world follow
this now God has to take you by the hand and he has to lead
you all the way to glory land. Is that true? you remember Peter
when he had defected along with the other apostles in john's
gospel chapter 21 And christ had come to restore them He had
fixed them some fried catfish and some hot hot hot water cornbread
that morning Remember that because they wasn't catching nothing
that morning, you know when you're out of the will of god, you're
not catching anything Right, but god in his mercy still will
recover you if you're his Aren't you thankful for that? He met
them at the shore because he knew they had to come in at some
point, fishing all night and catching nothing. And he asked
them, do you have anything to eat? And they said no, but he
had already cooked food for them. And this is what we call theologically
the restoration process of the spirit of God when we apostatize
our defect and God had restored Peter and Peter as he is with
his sort of Conspicuous self was asking the question. So what
you gonna do with John and our master plainly said to him That's
none of your business. Remember that that's none of
your business But what he told Peter was this He told Peter
There was a time when you were young and you did your own thing. Now that's how it is when we
are walking in the flesh. When we don't know God and we're
outside of Christ and we're immature like children, we do our own
thing, we go our own way. But when you become born again,
when you become actually authentically saved, you now have to be led
by the hand in the life of faith by another. And what Christ told
Peter was, another is going to lead you in a direction and to
a place you are not willing to go. And that's the walk of the
believer. I want to set the context so
you get this very clearly. Because in a lot of our churches,
we don't have a theology of suffering. And I've told you that before.
And where churches don't have a theology of suffering, they
do not have a theology of the cross. And where they do not
have a theology of the cross, it is not a gospel ministry. A gospel ministry always deals
with suffering. The problem that you and I have
in our world is that everywhere we turn, there is what? Suffering. And the gospel answers every
kind of suffering in the world. And what God tells you and me
as the people of God is that we're made for suffering. He
made us for suffering. And where He called us to be
sons and daughters of God, He has called us to embrace it and
understand that these things are designed for God to get glory
out of your troubles. and then bring you into a deeper,
more intimate knowledge of his son. Am I making some sense so
far? But you and I, because we still
have a fallen nature, we will not willingly go into any kind
of trouble unless the Lord is with us. I love what our elder
quoted in Genesis 35, around verse 3, where Jacob made a covenant
with God. Now God, if you go with me, if
you feed me, if you clothe me, if you take care of me, then
I'll worship you. I like that! Because you see,
in order to get the glory, you've got to go through trouble. And
the book of Romans, particularly chapter 8, is Paul teaching the
church at Rome that you've got to go through the constraints,
the strictures, the pressing down, the squeezing of the troubles
that this life affords us in order to enter into glory. the
believer has to get a handle on that. You are not going to
circumvent, you are not going to avoid, you're not gonna overcome
trouble, you've got to go through trouble. And what it means to
walk in the spirit is to be able to trust God to lead you with
this counsel by your hand through that trouble and to see God working
in the midst of it. So he leads us through our troubles. Point two, he helps us overcome
our sins. As we learned in Romans chapter
seven, the good that I would, I do not. The evil that I would
not do, I find myself doing. Then I see a law in my members
that brings me into captivity of the law of my flesh. My mind
wants to do one thing. But my members are inclined to
do another because we are simultaneously righteous and what? Sinful. That's the conflict that you
are in until you reach glory. Are you guys hearing what I'm
saying? Now, how then do we overcome the tension of wanting to do
right but not being able to do right by the power of the Spirit
of God? by the Spirit of God helping us up out of our troubles
into the freedom that he's called us into in Christ so that we
learn how to walk with him in freedom. So he helps us overcome
our sins by calling us back to the what? Now if you are a smart
Christian, you will spend your time at the cross. Jesus keep
me near the cross their precious fountain free to all a healing
stream flows from Calvary's mountain near the cross near the cross
old song a Brand-new doctrine every day for earnest sinners
who are making their way to glory I would suggest to you to learn
how to take a bath and the font every day and so that you can
have that freshness of communion with Christ as you make your
way. So he teaches us how to go to Calvary, seek the forgiveness
of sins under the work of repentance of which we're doing every day.
Are we repenting every day? This is a process. Metanoia is
our minds are being changed every day. Because we don't know God
as we ought to know God. And we don't think like God as
we ought to think like God. And we definitely don't do as
God as we ought to do. And so daily we're being turned,
are we not? Our minds are being renewed by
the work of the Spirit of God. Our inner man is being strengthened
to look to Christ more and more. And that process requires us
saying, you know I was wrong. See, we don't like to admit we're
wrong. But we're wrong all the time. all the time. Outside of God's grace and illuminating
work, we are wrong all the time. Am I telling the truth? We are
wrong all the time. The believer is wrong. His thoughts
are not intrinsically God's thoughts. His ways are not intrinsically
God's ways. God has to insert his knowledge
into our mind, and he does that through trouble. You know, sometimes
the best lessons are only learned in the midst of trouble. Can
I get a witness? And you know, you wonder why
we can't just get it didactically. Why it's got to be mixed with
wood and fire and stones and heat? Can I tell you why? Because
we're hard-headed. You'll get that in a second.
God saves rebels. He saves rebels. By the times
God is done with you, you will agree that you are the worst
sinner on planet Earth. And by the time you are sincerely
saying that, He will have made you a saint of the Most High
God, prepared unto every good work. Because until you and I
realize that without Him, we can what? Do nothing. He can't
use you. And that's the work of the Spirit
of God in humbling you, humbling you and bringing you to the cross,
which is one of the privileges and the packages of grace we
get. The grace package allows us to go to the cross, ask for
forgiveness, and we believe the promise that he has already forgiven
us, already cleansed us from all unrighteousness. If we confess
our sins, he has already done it. A powerful construction in
what we call conditional clause. You confess it, it's already
done. And what then would hinder us from going to the cross every
day saying, Lord, I acknowledge that I didn't do what I should
have done. I acknowledge that I also did what I wasn't supposed
to do. Forgive me for that and all the other stuff that I didn't
know I did wrong. Because you and I do stuff wrong
that we don't even know we're doing wrong. And just cover all
the bases. When you get to the fellowship
with God at the cross, just cover all the bases. If I did anything wrong, if,
we know you did. Because see, prayer is about
relationship with God. It's not about getting your semantics
right. We learned that on Friday. It's about a sincere heart. God
desires truth from the inward part and from the hidden part,
he'll make you to know Jesus. You come to God in prayer, you
better be ready to come right, come authentic. By the way, Lord,
you know, I don't know, but just in case, he understands that
as sincerity. Are you hearing me? This is what
the Spirit of God will teach you when you walk with Him. Thirdly,
He reminds us and affirms us that we are what? Right now we
are the sons of God. Isn't that what 1 John chapter
3 said? Beloved, right now are we the sons of God. And it doth
not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when He
shall appear, we shall be just like Him, for we shall see Him
as He what? Yes, that's what the Spirit of
God he affirms our sonship Does he not if you're a child of God
the Spirit of God affirms your sonship? You do not walk around
with questions in your head. Am I a child of God? Am I not
am I a child of God? Am I not unless of course you
are in such perpetual rebellion against God that you have thwarted
all of the testimonies that scripture brings to us because the Bible
is filled with affirmations of our sonship is it not and And
one of the reasons we have the resident Lord in our life, the
Spirit of God, is to affirm our sonship. Now mark this, child
of God. The affirmation of our sonship
is not based upon how well we do, but it is based upon how
sincere we are with the resident Lord. See, He can make all grace
to abound. He can cause us to will and to
do of His good pleasure. He can perform in us the grace
that He has bestowed upon us. But what He wants us to do is
to understand a legitimate and authentic walk with Him. Am I
making some sense? So he's calling you and me to
hear the echoes, hear the overtures of what it means when the scripture
says here in Romans chapter 8 around verse 15, verse 15, for we have
not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you have received
the spirit of adoption whereby we what? The spirit itself bearing
record with our spirit that we are what? Sons of God. The word children is a beautiful
term because in the previous word sons, huios is a Greek term
that means we are legally his by virtue of him having redeemed
us and brought us into adoption. The word children here means
that we are now experiencing the transformation so that we
are looking like that which we were legally purchased to be.
I love it. Purchased, adopted, transformed. That's the term John uses in
1 John when he speaks about little children. And so you and I, ultimately,
by the time the Spirit of God has worked effectually in our
life, brings us to a place where we are looking like and behaving
like our big brother, the Lord Jesus Christ. Is that good? It's
true. But it's a whittling work. Is
it a whittling work? There you go, that's one of those
country terms. Most of you California folks don't get it. It's a whittling
work in the country. The old folks would sit down
with a little knife, carve on the wood, whittle away. And that's
what the Holy Ghost does, whittles away. Pinches, chips, nips, ouch,
ouch. But he knows the image of the
invisible God. And he knows how to carve you
and me up just right, so that by the time he goes, there it
is. There it is. That's what's going
to happen on the last day for the people of God. Are you hearing
what I'm saying? And so while he's whittling away, he says,
it's all right. You're still a child of God.
Hallelujah. He reminds us of our sonship
with God. Point number three, he reminds
us and affirms us that we are sons of God as he did with Jesus. Is that the way you got it in
your outline? Now, okay, so now Christian theology demands that
whenever we lay down propositions or set forth exhortations, they
must always be anchored to Christ because he came to model for
us what it looks like to be saved. Did Christ go through trouble?
Was he constantly assaulted? Did he endure trials at a level
of which you and I can't even measure? And was it not all for
the objective of God the Father exposing him to be the Son of
God that he really was? Remember in Matthew chapter 3,
after his baptism, the heavens opened up during his baptism
and the Father said, this is my son. And the fourth chapter
immediately opens up with him being driven by the Holy Ghost
into the wilderness to be what? Tried. So don't tell me the Spirit
of God won't run you into trials. He must run you into trials because
it's in the trials that you discover you have a relationship with
Christ. Because you can tell people all day long, I know Jesus,
but we're getting ready to learn he may not know you. Are you hearing me? And the work
of the Spirit of God is to lead you into the path by which you
can make your profession of faith authentic, just like he did with
Jesus. Remember when the devil came
to him, Jesus was hungry, wasn't he? Now he's going to deal with
a weakness, a point of weakness in Christ's life in order to
expose Jesus so that Jesus might buy into what we call carnality.
But Jesus says, man shall not live by what? But by every word
that proceeds out of the mouth of God shall he live. And then
the devil tempted him again out of the pride and prestige of
you. Be the son of God. Jump down off this temple. Your
father will take care of you. And see, then some people who
will assert themselves to be children of God will misinterpret
the privilege of sonship and then tempt God, as it were, to
bless them and make them the center of attention. When sonship
does not mean you are the center of attention. Sonship means you
are the privileged servant of the Most High God, and everything
you do is designed to give Him glory, not you. And so our Lord
told the devil on that day, He told the devil on that day, listen,
it is written, you shall not tempt the Lord, your God. You
shall not tempt Him. And then the devil came to him
with the final proposition, bow down to me, I'll give you all
the kingdoms of the world, and you will be mightily known. Once
again, it's the temptation of self-glory, exalted glory, personal
glory. And what we are learning is that
Jesus suffered all the way to the cross. And in fact, the way
his life worked was his ministry grew and then it shrank. Didn't
it? His ministry grew and then it
shrank. This is how you can tell whether you're a servant of God
or you're a hireling. If you're only bent on growth, you're a
hireling. Because the way God works with all of his children,
watch this now, we must decrease that he might increase. And what
that takeaway process does is it keeps us honest with God.
Are you in this thing for money, for wealth, for fame, or prominence? Or are you in this thing for
the glory of God and the redemption of your souls and the redemption
of the souls of others? Can you walk with God in the
blessings and walk with God in the takeaway mode? Can you identify
with joe when he says the lord gives the lord takes away blessed
be the name of the lord Can you do that? See joe had a relationship
with him, didn't he? Didn't he and god could trust
him in the midst of all of those people to take everything away
from joe and joe not curse him See, this is what we mean by
sonship. I'm laying a foundation for our message today. Could
I do that? Point number four, he teaches us to embrace sufferings
and trials and oppositions to the gospel. Verse 17, Paul knows
what he's doing with his Roman brethren. He says, and if we
are children of God, then we are what? And joint heirs with
Christ, if so be that we what? that we may also, what? Be glorified
together. Verse 17 is eschatological. It's
an end time promise. But in terms of sanctification,
here's what he says. No suffering, no what? Glory. You can talk all you want about
being an heir of God. But if you're not willing to
suffer for the cause of the gospel and for Christ's sake, you're
not an heir. Are you hearing me? And the Holy Ghost teaches you
and me how to hold the tension of the reality of our sonship
in the midst of a world that hates you, hates Christ, hates
God. The goal of the Holy Ghost is
to take your hand and walk you through the storm, through the
trials, through the darkness, through the pain, through the
pressure, through the struggles of this life. which struggles
can be so intense, so intense that there's nothing about your
situation that even remotely says God is near. This is where
Paul is bringing us. Paul is bringing us to that point
Whereby you and I can deal with and address any kind of trial
the world brings on us Because our hope is not in us or our
circumstance. Our hope is in Christ and When
you and I accept that as the conditional package of the walk
with God God can set you anywhere on planet earth and know that
he can get his will done through your life Watch this because
you're not surprised when the trials come Remember what Peter
said think it not strange for the fiery trials which are designed
to try you in order to manifest your faith and make sure that
your faith at the end of time comes forth as precious gold.
Remember that? Isn't that what Job says? When
I am done, when God is done working on me, I shall come forth as
what? Gold. What an amazing, an amazing
confidence on Job's part for him to make that statement. Now,
very seldom do we say that in our trials. Is that true? In
our trials, we don't talk about, well, you know what? When God's
done with me, I'm gone. All the floss is gone. The impurities
will be removed and extracted, and I'll be exactly what God
wants me to be. But that's exactly where we are
in our text. So now I'm getting ready to lay
down a truth of the gospel that is critical to your salvation.
The five things that I'm going to be talking to you about today,
and I'm only going to address two and a half, are designed
for you to be able to close your eyes and go through hell and
know that it's all right. Because you have an anchor in
heaven and his name is Jesus Christ. He is the forerunner
of God's elect. And because I'm anchored to him,
I will never ever be lost in the topsy-turvy mess of this
world. As long as I can reach down and feel a change, I'm good
to go in the dark. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
This is what it means to walk by faith and not by sight. This
is what it means to be able to look to Christ with the mind's
eye. This is what it means to be able
to overcome this world. What is it that overcomes this
world? Is it not even this, even our faith? Now faith It's the
substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things what?
Not seen. You and I, as biblical Christians,
are never to view ourselves as existentialists. You and I don't
affirm anything with what we see. We are not driven by visual
things. We are not driven by the circumstances
and events of our life. These things can reverse and
turn on you in a hot minute, and I promise you they will.
You will be healthy one day, sick the next. financially secure
one day, broke the next. Secure in a relationship, divorce
the next. What you gonna do in a trial
like that? But trust Christ and know, and know, and know that
you know, that you know, that you know, that you know. Are you hearing what I'm saying? Somebody's getting it. So the
fifth one says he enters deeply into our prayer life to assist
us to pray successfully in the trials. Is that right? Two concepts
in Romans chapter 8, verses 1 through 26. He, first of all, assists
us in our cry. God has given us a spirit of
adoption by which we what? Cry, Abba Father. Didn't we learn
that a couple of weeks ago? I love the way God uses the Old
Testament to teach us how he deals with us. He tore Jehoshaphat's
life apart because the man failed to walk right with God. And because
God had an interest in his eternity bound soul, he tore his life
up. He put him in a position where
he almost died, did he not? And the only evidence that he
was a child of God is that when all the arrows were pointed at
him, what did he do? He cried. God had to bring you
to that point sometime. I'm telling the truth. God had
to bring you to that point. Can I share with you a mystery?
In Galatians chapter 4 verses 4 through 6, guess what? He sent
the Spirit of His Son into your heart, also crying, so that you
cry because He cries with you. The cry of the Holy Spirit, co-joined
with your cry, affirms the fact that you're a son or daughter
of God. This is powerful! Because what
I am asserting is this. You won't cry to God without
the aid of the Holy Ghost. That's what I'm asserting. Does
anyone dare deny what I'm saying? Do you know when God leaves us
in our mess, in our sin, we don't call on God, do we? And sometimes
we will discover how emboldened and how hardened our hearts can
be. Is that true? And we will go,
man, I'm a hardened sinner. I'm not even calling on God.
Look at me. Now we're a trip to ourselves
sometimes, aren't we? I told you two eagles, right? Romans
7, two eagles. The good eagle, the bad eagle,
right? And the good eagle is looking at the other eagle and
says, man, you a mess, man. You are a mess. It's true. It takes
the grace of the spirit of adoption to cause you to cry out for help
because that's an attribute of humility. And most of us are
too proud to call on God, even when it's really bad, until he
teaches us to cry. I thank him for the Holy Ghost. I thank him for the Holy Ghost
who moves in alongside of us and joins us in our cry so that
our cry Moves to the throne of grace and God hears the cry of
his children Does he not if you don't believe me read the Psalms
all 150 of the Psalms are glorious But one third of them is a cry
This poor man cried unto the Lord and the Lord heard him and
delivered him out of all his troubles That's David Did David
ever go through troubles? And God loved him some David.
Didn't he love him some David? But David went through troubles.
David learned the work of the Spirit of God, co-joining him,
crying out unto the Lord. What does the Spirit of God also
do? He enters into our groan. Didn't we learn that last week?
Creation groans. We groan. The Holy Ghost groans. Why does he groan? He enters
into our groan. because he's just as anxious,
if we would use anthropomorphical terms, for our completion as
we are. The goal of the Holy Ghost is
to bring us into the perfect state of looking just like Jesus
Christ when it's all done. He yearns for the sons of God
who were redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus Christ to have
the full inheritance given to them so that they are walking
in a state of glory for which Christ prays. Father, I will
that those whom you have given me be with me where I am and
that they may behold my glory. that they might know the love
that you have for me and the love that I have for you that
they might know that love that they might be one just as we
are one father I want all those you have given me to be with
me where I am that they might enjoy the inheritance that's
a yearning on the part of the Son of God the Holy Ghost is
also groaning for that manifestation why Saints because one day all
of God's people from the beginning of time to the end of time will
come forth at the call of and we will be glorified and transformed,
and we will look just like God promised we are to be, and the
whole universe will wonder at the perfection of God's grace
in all of God's people, from every nation, kindred, tribe,
and tongue. That's gonna be a great day. Isn't that gonna be a great
day? That's gonna be a glorious day. That's gonna be a glorious
day. That's gonna be a glorious day. That's gonna be a glorious
day. And if we had the right to boast, we don't, but if we
had the right to boast, we would tell devils and angels and every
unbeliever, I told you, I told you! Look at me now! Look at
me now! I told you! It's good, it's good,
I know. I'm laying a foundation. This
is what we call the hope of glory. This is the hope of glory. These
are the principles you gotta have in your soul. These are
the things that keep your boat floating every day. when you
have to deal with the sin in this world, the sin in the lives
of unbelievers, the sin in your own life, the struggles and challenges,
because there's weakness everywhere. Weakness everywhere but in God.
So I've laid down a basic premise from Romans 8, 1 all the way
through 26, and now we're getting ready to get into what I call
Paul's exhortation to believe what God has said. Paul's exhortation
to believe what God has said. And so you and I are going to
be dealing with verses 29, 28 through 30, where Paul is going
to explain to the believer, now that you and I know that the
Holy Ghost enters into our prayers, making intercession for us according
to the will of God, we can know this, verse 28. Now watch this
now. We know that all things work together for good. Do you
see that? See now, now why is Paul saying that? Because we
lift this verse out of its text and we quote it all the time.
But this, this verse has to be put right back in its text and
understood in light of everything I've just said, right? Doesn't
it? See, if we got integrity, we got to be able to say this
verse in the midst of hell. We got to be able to say this
verse in the midst of darkness. In the midst of pain, in the
midst of sickness, in the midst of trouble, in the midst of injustice,
in the midst of trials and assaults and defrauding, we have to be
able to say, and we know. Not just quoting, because you
know Christians love quoting Bible verses. Here's what he's asking. Do you know? Or are you just
quoting a Bible verse? In the midst of your world falling
apart, do you have that confidence that comes from the Spirit of
God having taught you deeply about Christ through the Scriptures?
We don't, meaning we are fully aware of the promises of God.
And because we believe them, that's what faith is, I'm confident
that this too will work towards my glory. Are you guys hearing
me? This is important. Before I even
get ready to deal with the text, it's important because what we
do in religion is we stretch verses so wide that they lose
their shape and form. And therefore, they lose their
potential. You and I are not to be quoting that verse until
we are in trouble. See what I'm saying? Oh, I know
all things that work together for good. Well, what about when
you about to lose your house? What about when you lose your
house? What about you about to lose your job? What about when
you lose your job? What about when you're about
to lose your health? What about when you lose your health? Are
you able to say, we know? Or maybe is it we think? Or better yet, we hope. No, you're
supposed to know. You're supposed to know. You're
supposed to know. Let me help you with something.
I got a good 30 minutes before I can develop my text. Let me
help you with something. Every day that life goes well
for you, Every day that life goes well for you child of God
is a day for you to sit down and say God Okay, help me get
it now So when the trouble come I can say the same thing now
then Every day that God leaves you in your health, leaves you
in your strength, leaves you in his blessing, where you know,
you and I can just get up and say, you know, the Lord is good.
I got my limbs working. My health is okay. I got a roof
over my head, food in my belly. I got a sound mind still because
I'm looking to Christ. I'm good to go. Let me thank
God and ask him to reinforce those biblical promises so that
when trouble comes, I say the same thing then that I'm saying
now. In other words, these times of
blessings are boot camp for you because your troubles coming.
Are you hearing what I'm saying? Your troubles are coming. That's
why he's saying, and we know, we know, we know that all things
work together for good because the work of the Holy Ghost liberating
you, exonerating you, freeing you, guiding you, keeping you,
affirming you, strengthening you, praying through you, praying
with you. We'll let you know that when
the trial comes, he's still there with you. We know that all things
work together for good to them that what? To them who are what? The called according to its purpose.
Terms that in our present evangelical church today, most folks don't
understand. And a lot of evangelical folks
disagree with. But you're getting ready to learn
some doctrine that's going to be essential to your comfort.
Your comfort in mind is based upon a God who had a plan and
a purpose for you before the world began. The only reason
you are now in the presence of God, quorum Deo, on the foundation
of grace is because he chose you in Christ before the world
began, before you had a being called you by his grace. deposited
into your life, the glorious promise of the gospel made you
a new creature in Christ, changed your heart, caused you to say
yes to Jesus. And then he began to reveal to
you the storehouse, the storehouse of the riches of the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge that are in Jesus Christ. So that
all of the promises of God are yes and amen to those of us who
have come to know him by his grace. Are you guys hearing what
I'm saying? It's not a matter of what we did. It's a matter
of what he did. And we're getting ready to explore that now so
that you might understand. Listen, child of God, if you
ever take the position that you are in a state of grace because
of something you did, you can lose that state of grace because
of something you did. And you can find no comfort in
that. Am I making some sense? People ask me all the time. So
pastor, you know, if once saved, always saved, I say it all depends. And they say what? Well, it all
depends on who saved you. If you saved yourself, you can
lose your salvation. But now, if God, in his mercy,
drew you by his grace, if God saved you, he saved you with
an everlasting salvation. Because whatever God does is
forever. The issue is, did God save you
or did you save yourself? Now every biblically informed
Christian will quickly say he saved me by his grace all by
himself Am I telling the truth now watch how the language goes
in when Paul sets down this Confidence that we know it's all gonna work
together for good, but it's only to those who are who love God
That's the outward manifestation to those who are called according
to his purpose. Then he goes into his argument
this is a purpose clause for Four, now watch the language
and we'll develop two points and close for the day. For whom
he did for know, he also did what? Predestinate. to be conformed
to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among
many brethren. Moreover, whom he did what? Predestinate. Them he also what? Called. And
whom he called, them he also what? Justified. And whom he
justified, them he also what? Glorified. Verse 29 and 30 is
in the Greek. We call this the Areis Tensis,
an aspect verb. What it means is, it's a finished
business in the mind of God. In the mind of God, when he thought
about you in eternity past, he already had accomplished everything
for your glorification. In the mind of God, all of God's
people are already glorified. I love it. Because here's what
Paul is saying. Paul is saying is, what Paul
is saying to you and me is, we've got to think like God thinks.
Watch this now. We've got to think that God sees
the end from the beginning. And we've got to say, you know
what? If God said it, it's got to be true. And all we've got
to do with that immutable, unchangeable promise is watch it fulfill itself. Now the just shall live by what? All right, let's go to work a
little bit now. So my second point under the
title of our message for known, predestined, and call is for
us to deal with this concept that's given to us in verse 29. For whom he did what? For known. That's our next point. Look in your outline, foreknown. Who did God foreknow? Well, the
word is progonoscos in the Greek, and it's a compound word that
underscores a special kind of knowledge that God has. Paul
uses this term precisely because he could have used what we call
a common Greek term for awareness of facts. Guido is the common
Greek term to know or to understand and that would mean that God
sort of knows Who you are? But when we talk about God for
knowing something We're not talking about what we call prescience
or the fact that God knows everything. We know that God is omniscient
Is he not doesn't God know all things right? So when we talk
about for knowledge, we're not saying that God knows you merely
beforehand Because he knows all things beforehand So when we
use the term prognostics in the New Testament, it is a special
knowledge that is rooted in a covenant relationship that says, I know
you in a way that I don't know other people. This is important
for you to learn. Foreknown, progenoskes is used
six times in the New Testament and the context in which they're
used would suggest an underscore for God to foreknow us or for
him to foreknow me is for him to forelove me. That's a great
way to put it. That's a great way to put it.
This is what we call special love. Can I develop this a little
bit? And this is simple when you think
about how the New Testament uses the Greek term genoskes. Frequently,
the Greek term gnoskos is translated to know or knew in the past tense,
and it is always used in the context of a covenant relationship.
Like, Joseph did not know Mary until after Jesus was born. And
the word know, interestingly, in our English Bibles carries
both Old Testament and New Testament symmetry, for that term is used
in the Old Testament of knowing in the intimate sense of a conjugal
relationship between a man and a woman. Are y'all following
me? Watch this. And so Eve, Adam knew Eve and
she conceived and brought forth a child. What do we mean then
by this special knowledge? I taught this in our marriage
series. As you guys know, rules of engagement one, rules of engagement
two. When a man and a woman enter
into covenant marriage, that man has the privilege of knowing
her in a way that he knows no other woman. I mean, ostensibly. In our present day folks know
all kind of folks all kind of ways But what I'm getting at
is this When you understand special knowledge, we are talking about
covenant intimacy That's bound between two people who love each
other. So the text says we love God
But we only love God because he what first loved us. I And
when we talk about knowing God in the biblical sense, and this
is eternal life, that they might know thee, the only true God,
and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent, we're talking about intimacy,
deep conjugal intimacy, the union of two people coming together
to know each other fully. Am I making some sense? This
is special, special, special knowledge. And for every one
of God's children, every one of God's people, every one of
God's elect, God knows them in a special way that he does not
know other people. Now we've got a conundrum, or
we've got a problem, because since God knows all things, how
can God not know some things? Well, that's important for you
to know that too. We have under our first point, this is a special
knowledge, not mere what? Awareness. So in Romans 11, 2,
Paul uses the same argument when he speaks to the Jews defecting
in the days of the Old Testament. He says, have God cast away his
people whom he foreknew? And the answer is what? God forbid.
And so that text is used in order to underscore that God had a
special relationship with national Israel. Because God knows all
nations. He made them. He knows all people.
But are you guys following the argument? So that in Amos chapter
three, around verse two, remember what God says? You only out of
all the nations of the earth have I known. Now if God knows
everything down to the smallest particle in the universe, How
can he say, you only have I known? Only a special knowledge. And
whenever he says it, he says it in the context of covenant
love. Are you following me? Which moves us then to our second
point. He does not know the ungodly and the wicked in this way. You
read your Bibles from time to time, don't you? Watch this. You've read it before where Jesus
has warned every professing Christian that there's a day coming when
you got to pass by him to get into glory. And he's going to
say to some who profess to know Christ, I never knew you. Is
that true? I never knew you. Now, how can
that be when Christ as God knows everything? It can only be that
he did not enter into a special covenant relationship of intimacy.
Am I making some sense? That you were not saved. that
He did not know you as His bride, that He did not enter into you
by His Spirit to bear the fruits of life in you, so that you are
able to, in reciprocation, know Him and Him know you, as He promised
that would occur. Am I making some sense? Very
important for you to know, the Bible never contradicts itself.
The Scriptures are a harmonious whole. We just have to understand
the text in their context. Is that true? So if in fact God
does not know the wicked or the ungodly in that way Then we can
read it again in Luke's gospel chapter 13 verse 24 through 28
Where Jesus warned again about the masses coming to him and
he says depart from me I do not know you from where you are at.
It's a stern warning That you and I must not play games with
God when it comes to his word You better know him. And he better
know you. Because the only way you're getting
into glory is for him to know you. Am I making some sense?
Absolutely critical, true. Point number three. Those known
in this way are his what? Those known in this way are his
what? I want to hear it one more time. What are they called? His
elect. Be ready to say the term. Don't
be afraid of the doctrine of election. Say it because that's
the only reason you're saved. The only reason you're saved
is because God elected you. He chose you. He picked you out
personally. I have a glorious wife in the
building. And I've been knowing her since
my spring chicken days of 17, 18 years. We've been married
37 odd years. I can say that I know my wife
well. Are you hearing me? And by virtue
of our mutual reciprocity, we have brought forth a prodigy
of children who are here presently that are the consequence and
evidence of our intimacy. We bore fruit, in other words.
And all that are in Christ must, what, bear fruit. But now I want
you to get this now. I chose her. out of all the women
in the world. Are you hearing me? I chose her. I chose her out of all the women
of the world. And that's exactly what God did
for you. If you're a child of God, He
chose you. Now watch this. She didn't choose
me. I chose her. I don't want to segue into this
crazy, jacked-up culture today where we're flipping roles. Because
I'll be on another tangent. But I want you to hear me right
now. You would not be saved if God left you to yourself. You
would not be saved if God didn't hunt you down in his providence
and by his grace and by his gospel and start breaking you down and
start humbling you and crushing your pride and your arrogance
and help you understand you are a hopeless hell-bound sinner
and without his grace you're going straight to hell and you
deserve it. This crazy generation puffing
itself up so much so that it's going to tell God that it chose
God. You've got to be crazy. You did not choose me. I chose
you, John 15, 18. And I called you and ordained you to bring
forth much fruit and that your fruit should remain. Some of
you are being drawn by God right now under the power of the gospel. You know you have been resisting
him all your life. But now your heart is open to
the propositions of the gospel. You didn't open your heart, God
did. Acts 16 says God opened Lydia's heart that she should
attend unto the gospel. Who's working? God's working.
You and I are dead in trespasses and sin. I mean dead, double
dead, nickel dead, wood dead. You know what dead is? Dead! And the Holy Ghost comes along
and starts waking you up. Now how do you know he's waking
you up? because you're starting to feel your sin. And the other
way he's waking you up is you starting to agree with him. See,
lost sinners don't agree with God. Only safe sinners do. You guys know how it works. By
the time he's done persuading you, you go, yes, Lord, that
makes sense. That makes sense. This is what
foreknown means. He set his love on you in eternity
past and said, I will have them. This is exactly what Jesus meant
in John chapter 17. All that the Father giveth me
are mine. All thine are mine and mine are
thine and I have loved them. The son knew that God had given
a people to him. Why don't we know that? Remember
what Christ said? He's come and seek and he came
to seek and save lost sheep. Is that true? I was a lost sheep
one day. Were you? And who came and hunted
me down? The Good Shepherd. Did he come?
Did he come? Did he come where you were? The
Good Shepherd came. Stay with me now. I love this
glorious gospel, don't you? Because the Good Shepherd will
lead the 99 in the wilderness and go hunt down the one. Won't
he go hunt him down? Here you are in your foolishness according
to Isaiah chapter 53. All we like sheep have gone astray.
Every man has turned to his own way. But in God's good mercy,
he laid our iniquity on Christ and he came and hunted us down.
brought us back to the fold put us on his shoulders and brought
us into the kingdom did he do that for you did he do that for
you this is what we call for knowledge and the ungodly do
not know this those known this way are his elect who will be
called to purpose look at second Thessalonians chapter 2 verse
13 and 14 I want you to see it with your eyes Watch this 2nd
Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 13 says this and it might be
verse 12. I'll start here That's good.
Here we are, but we are bound to give thanks always to God
for you. Do you guys see that? the Apostle
now is speaking to the church at Thessalonica and I'd love
to give you an overview of what the church of Thessalonica is
all about they're about a bunch of vagabond sinners like you
and me a hodgepodge of sinners, but they were going through a
lot of trouble and So what the Apostle did was write to them
to let them know this only affirms your election Because we watch
that when you went through trials and troubles You went through
what we went through among our Jewish brethren and all this
does is affirm your election now watch this He says and we
give thanks always to God for you brethren what beloved of
the Lord Watch this because God had from the beginning what chosen
you that's our word election. I What did he choose us to? Salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit and what? Belief of the truth. The mechanism,
the instrumentality, the means by which God draws us to himself
is the gospel. And the work of the Spirit of
God through the truth of the gospel begins to gradually bring
you into a knowledge of your Savior. It's a lifelong journey,
isn't it? But we're thankful that God started it, don't we?
We're very thankful that God started because you and I would
have never found the door of salvation if God hadn't opened
it up and let us in We would have never found it. So when
we use the word election are chosen We are talking about the
fact that God is the first cause of our salvation and every true
believer will always give God the glory We will never steal
God's glory. Is that true? We will never say
we've done something when in fact God did it. Is that true?
I Right. And so when we talk about election,
we are talking about an election that is designed to lead to salvation
through the sanctifying work of the Spirit. That's the whole
of Romans eight. Right. And believe of the what? The truth. You know,
we got to go back to Romans chapter eight. We got folks today who
call themselves Christians who do not believe the Bible. I just
got one question to ask. Is that possible? That's right. I just leave it right there.
I just want you to know, you cannot not believe the Word of
God and call yourself a Christian. Everyone that's born of God is
born of the truth of God. Everyone that's quickened by
the Spirit is quickened by the Spirit of truth. This is plainly
what Jesus said in John chapter 8. If you are my disciples, you
will continue in the Word, and you will know the truth, and
the truth will liberate you. And it's only the truth that
liberates us. And one of the truths that liberates us is the
fact that God chose us, we didn't choose him. Is that liberating?
It's only liberating for humble people. Proud people will never
give God the glory for saving them. Did you hear me? See, we're
proud by nature. We're proud by nature. And we
gonna own some of our salvation if it kills us. And let me share
something with you. It's gonna kill you. It's gonna
send you straight to hell. It's gonna send you straight
to hell the moment you say not unto us. Oh lord not unto us
But unto your name give glory then god will begin to own you
Because he is the one that drew up this plan Point number two
under our outline point number two So for known means for god
to set his love on you for known means for god to have a plan
by which you and I Who are his elect are brought into the salvation
scheme, but it's through a process that we call being predestined
See that So if he foreknows you, he has also predestined you.
Now, I love this term. We've got to work with this a
little bit because this is messed up in theology. It's messed up
in the world of rhetoric. Again, you've got people on both
sides of the argument. And I've heard so many times
folks on the other side of the argument of predestination misinterpret
the word and misapply it. So I want you to get it. The
word is a compound word in the Greek just as the word for foreknowledge. And the word means to determine
beforehand, to mark out for a purpose with a plan and purpose previously
what? Devised. Can I use another analogy? When a man or woman enters into
that sacred covenant relationship we call marriage and get to know
each other, guess what they discover after a while if everything goes
well? We're expecting, right? We're expecting. Now, I want
to show you a glorious gospel truth here. This is why Jesus
said in John chapter 3, all those that are saved are saved in the
analogy of being born again. Now, when you are born the first
time, it is the consequence of the will of two other people
outside of you. In other words, you do not will
yourself into life. You are the byproduct of a work
of other people. Am I making some sense? You never
willed yourself into this world. To be born is the consequence
of another person's will. So that every believer that's
born again is not born of the will of the flesh, not born of
the will of man, not born of the will of blood, but of the
will of what? God. You know what that means?
God works mysteriously by his spirit to bring about life in
your soul. And you discover that you are
a child of God, just like a child discovers its own autonomy and
its own identity over time. By the time you discover it,
you're already alive. I love it, don't you? See you
don't you don't become alive because you chose Jesus You don't
become alive because you say now I've accepted Jesus if you
ever choose him if you ever accept him if you ever receive him It's
because you are all Ready born again by the will and work of
somebody else. Am I making some sense child
of God? Now then watch this when me and my wife and we had a lovely
brood of eight children Quiver flock, whatever analogy you want
to use. We got one more to get out of
the house, my lovely Trinity. I don't want her to go, but she
wants to go, I know. She's already asking me to teach
her how to drive and she ain't but seven. No, no, no, no, no,
she's 14, she's 14, she's 14. But you'll notice if you have
a large flock like I do, as you get closer to there, to the last
ones, they want to go quicker. Like our firstborn, they stay
till they 25 and 85. But by the time you get to the
six or the seven one, they want to drive your old raggedy car
at 12. So you already know they trying to get out of there. Trey
will say, dad, will you teach me how to drive? 14 years old.
I know what's in her brain. I said, no, I ain't teaching
you how to drive. When they're in the womb, because they have
been conceived, by the work of somebody else when they're in
the womb because they've been conceived by the work of somebody
else. Loving parents predetermine how they're going to come into
the world by purchasing things and providing things and establishing
things beforehand to set them up for their journey. Am I making
some sense? This is what we call predestination. He who has foreknown
us because he's a good father and a good husband also predestined
everything necessary to help us in our journey. Is that good?
That's good. All right. So let's follow the
sub points. I'm gonna stop right here I'm not gonna even go to
our other point and under point number two This is clearly seen
in the book of Acts chapter 4 28 first Corinthians 2 7 and but
Ephesians once 5 and 11 is what I want you to see with your eyes
So go with me in your Bible see Ephesians 1 5 and mark what it
says in Ephesians 1 5 as we have the same Greek term here Pro
Horitzo, which is in the Greek. Here's what it says. He has predestinated
us Unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself the
he in the context our subject is God the Father God the Father
predestinated us unto the what of children adoption of children.
I love it When God set his love on us in eternity past He predestined
to adopt us This is good Because see you and I are not ontologically
fit to be in God's family Y'all know what the word ontology means,
right? We do not have the genetic makeup to be in God's family
because we're sinners. Now if God's going to adopt me
into his family, he's got to meet all of the specifications,
every requirement, every qualification to bring me into his family.
Now that's love when you are a perfect God and your love is
set on raggedy sinners like us. Is that love? And then he provides
what is necessary, what is necessary to bring you into the family.
And what's necessary is that between the father and the center
that he chooses, his son has to be the vehicle by which they
get in. So the Father lays on the Son every necessary qualification
to make sure you and I, knucklehead sinners, end up having the name
of the Father and the name of the Son and the name of the Holy
Spirit, as it were, being children of God, so that we are part of
the family of God. Am I making some sense? Watch
it now. Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children,
by whom? Jesus Christ. To whom? Himself. And this is what Paul is going
to say back in Romans chapter 8 verse 29, that we're being
conformed to the image of his son in order that he might be
the firstborn among many brethren. We got adopted into the family,
saints. Are you hearing me? But the same one that adopted
us predestined us. And the same one that predestined
us foreknew us. Am I making some sense? He predestined
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according
to the what good pleasure of whose will his will It was God's
will Not the will of man Not the will of blood not the will
of flesh not your efforts. Not your good works. God willed
you into his presence. I Can't press that home too much
go back to our point so I can shut it down under point number two, having
been predestined. He determined beforehand to mark
us out for a purpose and a plan previously devised, a magnificent,
magnificent plan that falls under these three terms. And I want
us to consider them and we'll close it out. Predestination
has as its termination, its final point of situation. Because predestination,
in your mind and mine, often encompasses the idea of a journey,
right? Like a starting point and a finishing point. Point
A to point what? B, right? And most people interpret predestination
as going from one place to another. But biblical predestination does
not mean that God has predestined you to go somewhere, but he has
predestined you to be something. Now, this is important. I'm going
to make sure I press these three sub points home. Predestination
has as its termination not a place, but a person. And that person
is who? Jesus Christ. Stay with me. He
has predetermined, pre-purposed and pre-planned that you and
I look like Christ. You got that? That was God's
special objective in eternity past when he set his love on
you. Want them to look just like my son you guys got that so it's
not it's not it's not a point or place in time It's a relationship
he predetermined us to a relationship and for him that Relationship
cannot reach its highest goal in other in any other person
than his son Jesus Christ So for God to love you is to make
you like his son because his son is glorious to him point
number B What we call a negation then of the assumed predestination
therefore does not affirm an election to what? Can I talk
about that for a second? I know you're hungry, but I need
to lay this principle down. We'll come back later See because
people who misinterpret biblical doctrine and hate the idea that
God is sovereign over everything and has chosen you by his grace
They will assert that predestination means you were chosen by God
to go to heaven and other people were chosen by God to go to hell
Well, that means that they don't understand predestination. They
have failed to understand the logical connection between God's
foreknowledge, God's predestinating purpose, and the damnation of
sinners. Let me help you. This is very
important and we'll come back next week. Predestination, therefore,
does not affirm election to hell. Hell, point C, is the consequence
of willing and unrepentant sin. So let me say it like this, because
predestination is not a place, but a person, when men and women
end up in hell, they end up in hell because of their sin. Now watch this, ladies and gentlemen,
because you won't hear teaching like this hardly anywhere. Most
churches today don't even touch hell. For those of you who are visitors,
ask yourself the question, when was the last time your pastor
preached on hell? Taught hell. Explained hell. Dealt with the
critical doctrine of hell, which was taught by Jesus Christ more
than any other person in the Bible. Christ plainly warned,
there is a hell to escape. Now I want you to get this, this
is a fallacy of syllogism. If God predestinates you to glory,
he therefore predestines other people to hell. Don't ever buy
into that. That is a flawed assumption. The reason people go to hell
is because of their sin. But before we end up in hell,
we have to face the judgment. What is the judgment about if
God has elected people to go to hell? Are you guys thinking
with me? Are you thinking with me? You
better. That way you don't mess up doctrine. The reason people
go to hell is they live their whole life in rejection of God's
revelation, they die without Christ, and they face God at
the judgment, and God proves to them that all their life long
they have rejected the overtures of His love, and redemption,
and mercy, and Christ, and died without Christ. And as Jesus
plainly said, if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in
your sins. If you die in your sins, you are going to hell,
because you're going to face God in judgment, and He's going
to judge every secret thing that you have done. The books are
going to be opened and every man is going to be judged according
as his works shall be. Am I making some sense? Watch
this then. Don't ever say God predestines
people to hell simply because he predestines people. That's
flawed. So I'll close it like this and
I'll bring it back next week. Are you going to heaven? Yeah,
that sounds like a whole lot of confident folk right there. Let me ask the question. Do you
believe you're going to heaven? Now watch this. If you're going
to heaven, it's not because God arbitrarily chose you to heaven. I want all my men to be sound
in this doctrine here at Grace. My ladies too. Don't ever oversimplify
a doctrine. When you do so, you do not glorify
God. Doctrines are complex, necessarily,
to make you search and labor to know the mind of God. Stay
with me now. If you believe you're going to
heaven, it's because God foreknew you, it's because God predestined
you to be conformed to the image of His Son, and because He predestined
you, you will be called by the gospel. This is why I'm coming
back next week. And when a man or a woman is
called effectually by the gospel, He gives them ears to hear. My
sheep hear my voice. And they follow Him. And He gives
unto them eternal life. And they shall never perish. That's the only reason I can
know I'm going to heaven. I cannot know I'm going to heaven
just because I say I'm going to heaven. God's bringing no
one into his heaven that he has not sent his son to die on the
cross shed his blood Redeemed them atone for them propitiate
for them Justified them before the bar of God's justice. That's
why the five points we're dealing with in our text is foreknown
predestined called justify and glorify You guys got that? people going to hell because
of their sin and people going to hell, heaven because of the
grace of God that leads them to salvation in Jesus Christ.
Are you guys hearing me? Amen. Amen.