2 Timothy chapter 1. I want to
read beginning in verse 8, then we will look back over in Romans
chapter 8. This goes along with our text that we read this morning.
Here in verse 8 of 2 Timothy chapter 1. 1 Be not thou therefore
ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner. But be thou partaker of the affliction
of the gospel according to the power of God, who hath saved
us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our
works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was
given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, but is now made
manifest by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who
hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality
to light through the gospel. Now let's turn back over to our
text in Romans chapter 8 and verses 29 and 30, and let's read
it again. Romans 8 verse 29, For whom He
did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image
of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called, and whom
he called, them he also justified, and whom he justified, them he
also glorified." Our text here in Romans 8, 29, and 30 passes
over all the great historical events. It doesn't deal with
the creation of the world. It doesn't deal with the fall
of Adam, all of us falling in him. It doesn't deal with the
old world being destroyed, the rise and fall of kingdoms, and
the setting up of kings and pulling down of kings. It doesn't deal
with any of that. But it comes here and tells about
the purpose of Him who is the King of kings. Purposing the eternal salvation,
the everlasting happiness of those that He calls in other
places, His people, His sheep. And there is something very important
here. This has been called, if you
have ever heard many messages on this passage, it has been
called so often, the five links of God's chain of grace. And they're all unbreakable.
That's one of the things that we saw there. There's not one
weak link in this chain. Those He foreknew, He glorified. Every step of the way, each link
is strong and unbreakable. The five golden links of God's
chain of grace. And there's something here between,
I guess we could say predestination, and the time that God calls these
people. And I think that even though
this doesn't say anything about this, isn't it very interesting
that the devil don't destroy men before the Lord calls them? If he knew who they were, don't
you think he would destroy them? He goes about destroying everybody,
I'm sure, in his deception, thinking that he's going to get some of
them. What would happen, brothers and
sisters, if the Lord just left us alone until the day that He
called us? Many of us wouldn't make it to
be called, would we? I tell you, I look back on my life, and two
or three times I know of, I thought to myself, and humanly speaking,
I was in a harsh breath of death. Almost drownded in car wrecks
both times their total. Almost crushed to death under
snow. Why didn't I perish? There was
an unseen hand guiding me and protecting me and preserving
me, though I knew nothing about it. Going on in my stupidity,
the darkness of my understanding, dead in sins, serving the devil. Why did I live to be called? And you can say the same thing
about yourself, can't you? Well, before he calls them, he
preserves them. I often think of that poor maniac.
Can you imagine a man having a legion of devils, living in
the tombstones, crying out and cutting himself? He lived in
utter despair. I don't know how long he was there, but isn't
it a miracle that he survived that? If you know anything about
that area, if you look it up on your maps and things, there's
some mountains, there's some mountain regions in that area.
Don't you think so many times that Gadarean maniac ran to the
very edge of that mountain and says, I can't live in this darkness. This despair is killing me. But
just as he was ready to cast himself over the side, there
was an unseen hand there saying, hither to shall you go and no
farther. And what is that? God preserving
them until He calls them. I want you to see that. Old Romans
8. And look over here in Galatians
chapter 1. The Apostle Paul speaks something
about this. Galatians chapter 1. And look
here in verse 13. Galatians chapter 1 and verse
13. I think you and I should be mindful of this. We give the
Lord praise and thanks naturally for saving us. But we should
be mindful He kept us. He saved us before He saved us,
didn't He? He preserved us. And here in
verse 13, the Apostle Paul was talking about his ungodly life. You have heard of my conversation
in time past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted
the church of God and wasted it, and profited in the Jews'
religion above many of my equals in my own nation, being more
exceeding zealous of the traditions of my fathers. That's what I
was, he said. But look at this. But when it
pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called
me by His grace to reveal His Son in me. Now look at that. He goes all
the way back to his mother's womb and says, God separated
me from my mother's womb. Why does he even mention that?
No thanks to Him. The same God who separated him
from his mother's womb preserved him and watched over him even
in his life of ungodliness and sin. That's why he went on here
to say, and called me by His grace. It's a gracious call,
isn't it? Look at your life. Look at your
past life before he called you. Paul's talking about what a wretch
he was. No wonder he said, he called
me by his unmerited free favor. None of us are worthy to be called
are we? We don't talk about God owing
us a chance. He owes us nothing. Old Ralph
Barney used to say, salvation's not by chance, it's by grace. And that's what the Apostle Paul
is saying here. He goes all the way back in II
Timothy 1-9, and he says it was grace that chose us. Grace was
given us in Christ, and he said that grace followed us and kept
us and preserved us, and now he says that grace called us
into His marvelous light. It's grace all the way, isn't
it? It's grace all the way. By grace
ye are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, not of
yourselves, not of yourselves. It's the gift of God. And no
man is worthy of that. When He calls us to repentance
and faith, it's a gracious call. When He calls us to repentance,
there's no difference between us than anybody else. Repentance
is a gift, isn't it? And faith is a gift. And the
Bible says, He gives it to whomsoever He pleases. God will have mercy
upon whom He wills. He'll have compassion on whom
He wills, so then it's not of Him that runneth, Him that willeth,
but God that showeth mercy. And who does He show mercy to?
Them. Them. It always comes back to
that, doesn't it? I obtain mercy. Here are some effects. Here are
some ways that we can know that we have been called. Those He
predestinated, them He also called. Let me give you about four ways.
Here is some evidence of our calling. First of all, this is
evident of the calling. Our conscience becomes aware
of sin. Our conscience becomes guilty. I don't know if the Lord dealt
with you the way He dealt with me, but I tell you, all through
my teenage years, I was miserable. He took several years, Wayne,
to bring me to the end of myself. But He afflicted my conscience.
He made my conscience heavy. He made me willing to repent. You get so sick of sin, that
you turn from your sin, you turn to God. That's the call, isn't
it? That's the call. I came not to
call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. So there is a
sorrow over sin. You just get sick of it. You
want out of it. You want to be right with God. You turn to God
from idols. And you and I can say we turn
to God from love of sin. and love of self, we turn to
God. And Paul said, what fruit had
you then? And those things were odd. You
are now ashamed. Aren't you ashamed when you look
back on your life? And I have talked to religious
people, those who were involved in religion, and I tell you,
they're more ashamed than the person who lived in open and
propane sin. I don't care what kind of life you had before you
came to Christ. You're ashamed of it. You're
ashamed of it. Because when He calls us, that's
one of the effects of calling. You are now ashamed. The second
one is this. This is the effect of calling.
You're brought to a knowledge of Jesus Christ the Lord and
Savior that you never had before you were called. God called me
by His grace and revealed His Son in me. I tell you, a revelation of Christ
to the heart Isn't it a wonderful thing? You may know a lot about
Him. But boy, there's a difference
in knowing a lot about Him and knowing Him. And when God reveals
Him, we have a saving knowledge of Him that we never had before. And Paul called it an excellent
knowledge. I count all things lost for the
excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord. He becomes
precious, doesn't He? Oh, you see Him as you never
saw Him before. when God reveals Him to our hearts. Paul said, I count everything
lost for the excellence and the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my
Lord. I was watching a DVD of the Worldwide
Church of God. I think Wayne has the DVD of
it now out in California. I think it's Pasadena, California,
the headquarters. They were asking these people.
They were occult. And the Lord broke in upon them.
Boy, I mean to tell you, He broke that thing up. And they were
asking some of the people that had really come to Christ. It
seemed like they had a good testimony, Wayne, that they'd come to Christ
and they were rejoicing in Him. And this one fellow doing the
interview said, What about all the things you lost? They lost
their college, Ambassador College. They lost their ties that came
in from all over the world, went down to nothing. They'd lost
their own righteousness. And the man said, Lost? What
have we lost? He said, We've lost nothing.
We've gained everything. We've won Christ. And it seemed
like Christ was so precious to them. It seemed like God had
called them. That's what happens in the call.
He reveals His Son to us. And boy, He's excellent knowledge.
We love Him. We love Him. While most people
don't know Him and don't love Him, they just don't know Him,
do they? Thirdly is this. When He calls us, He gives us
a thankful heart. He gives us a thankful heart.
I tell you, if He's called you, you're thankful. You know one
of the signs of reprobation is unthankfulness. When they knew
God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful. But
one of the calls, one of the evidences of a call is a thankful
heart. Let the peace of God rule in
your hearts to the which you are called, and be you thankful. A thankful heart. Old Ralph Barnett
used to say a difference between a Christian and a lost person,
you can see it when they wake up in the morning. He said a
lost person wakes up in the morning and says, good Lord, it's morning.
And he said, the same person wakes up and says, good morning,
Lord. He said, that's a difference. I think he has on to something.
Thankfulness. Oh, Lord, thank you. Thank you
for saving me. And praise. Thankfulness and
praise. Peter said, Christ is a stone
of stumbling, rock of offense to them that perish, but you
are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a
peculiar people. Listen to this, that you should
show forth the praises of Him who called you out of darkness.
I mean, you just praise Him, don't you? You live in His praises. And here's what David said, Lord
save us and gather us from among the heathen to give thanks unto
thy holy name, and to triumph in thy praise." Boy, I tell you
what, if He's called you, you love Him. The knowledge of Christ
is excellent to you. You understand Him. You know
Him now as you've never known Him. You're thankful to Him. You praise Him. And you're determined
by His grace to worship Him the rest of your life. The great
trumpet, the prophet said, shall be blown, and those who were
ready to perish shall come, and they shall worship the Lord."
Worship. Worship. Boy, we're called to a new life,
aren't we? A life of repentance and faith and worship and praise
and thanksgiving. Something else we see about this
call here is what we call effectual. I say that because those He called,
them He also justified. Everyone He called, He saved
them. Everyone He called, He justified. There wasn't any that He tried
to call, and they resisted. Oh, they may have resisted. Don't
let me say they didn't resist. They may have well resisted.
But they found Him to be irresistible. What did the Lord Jesus say?
All that the Father hath given me shall come to me. Well, you hear, that proves that,
doesn't it? He called them, and them He called,
He justified. I asked a preacher one time,
I said, what's the difference in the Lord's calling? Some come
and some don't come. And he said, well, let me explain
it to you like this. He said, people are like like
metals. He said, some people are iron,
other people are nickel. And he said, lodestone will not
draw the nickel, but it draws the iron. And he said, the difference
is in the people. I don't think so, do you? I don't
think so. You won't find a harsher breath
of difference, brothers and sisters, in you and that person that when
the Lord called him, he said, I'm not coming. I called and
you refused. What's the difference between
you and that person? Why didn't you refuse? The Lord wouldn't
take no for an answer, would He? He would not take no for
an answer. He got on your trail. He's wise. He has a will that
cannot be thwarted or defeated. And though your little fickle
will tried to stand out and hold out, He wouldn't let you. He
said, you're coming. You're coming. Who was the name
of that king, that wicked king that burned his kids in the fire?
Can you think of his name now? Boy, he was a wicked man. And
the Lord spoke to him. He wouldn't listen. Manasseh. Manasseh. The Lord sent His prophets
and said, Turn. He said, I'm not turning. And
He told the prophets, You better get out of my face. You better
get out of my face. I'm worshiping my idols. I'll
burn as many kids as I want to in the fire. I am not turning.
And the Lord said, Oh yes, he's turning. The Lord said, get out
of the way and leave him alone. I'll turn him. And you know what
he did? He sent his enemies among him.
They caught him trying to run and cut a bunch of brawlers and
made handcuffs out of him, feet cuffs. And they wrapped him up
and took him and threw him down in the dungeon. And you know
what the Bible said? In his affliction, he sought
the Lord. Oh, you weren't coming, was you? You're coming now, aren't you?
And you're coming willingly, aren't you? You've thrown down
your weapons of warfare, haven't you? Yes, he has. There he is
down in that prison in the dirt. Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner.
Save me, Lord, I'm perishing. And the Bible says, then he knew
that the Lord, he was God. It's a factual call. That's the
hope that you and I have, brothers and sisters. I look at my sons. I look at my daughter. You look
at your relatives and people that you have burdens for. For
years you pray for them. They won't pay a bit of attention
to you. It's just like water on a duck's back. What hope have
we got then that perhaps they might be saved? They may be one
of them. That's it. That's it. But if
they are, God can affect Their salvation. He takes the initiative. He foreknew. He predestinated. He called. He justified. And
He glorified. Those whom He called, He also
justified. I want you to look here in our
text in Romans 8. I want you to look here just
a little bit. Read a few scriptures with me. I won't keep you much
longer. But look here what he says about
being justified and justification in the book of Romans. Look at
chapter 4. Wayne's right in the middle of
this now. He taught on this this morning
about being justified. But it's an amazing thing what
the book of Romans says about being justified. But this right
here is the most amazing thing, and it shows us the difficulty
of justifying a man. It's a difficult thing. You couldn't
have did it. I couldn't have did it. If you
were left to justify a man, how would you have went about it?
First thing we'd have done is started looking for a good man.
I've got to find a good man. And did they touch first thing?
If you're going to court and you're a lawyer, you don't want
a guilty man. You want an innocent man. You
don't want a man that is evident that he's guilty. You can't win
a case like that. All the evidence is against him,
and you're going to plead for him? What are you going to plead? Well, would you have mercy on
him? What about justice? What about justice? You want
me to thwart justice? Your Honor, I have this man here,
and I know he killed a whole family of people. Could you spare
him? How would you plead for such
a thing? You'd be ashamed, wouldn't you? If you was a lawyer, you
ought to be. Most of them are not, but you ought to be. But
you know who God justifies. Look here in Romans chapter 4.
Look at what He said in Romans chapter 4, and look in verse
4. Now to him that worketh not. He don't lift a finger. He don't
take a breath. He worketh not. To him that worketh is the reward
not reckoned of grace, but of death. But to him that worketh
not, but believeth on him that justifieth thee ungodly." That's
a dilemma, isn't it? That's a dilemma. You can justify a good man. You can
justify a man that has never sinned, but how in the world
is God, who is holy, going to justify an ungodly man? Look over here at what Wayne
was reading this morning. Look at chapter 3 and verse 23 again. For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. We have all sinners. We are ungodly.
How is He going to justify us then? Look at this. Being justified
freely. By His unmerited, unearned favor. Grace. You cannot work to justify
yourself. You are guilty. But God can do
it freely. By His grace. No obligations. No debts to pay. No promises
for you to keep. Free grace. Look in chapter 5
and verse 9. Much more then, being now justified
by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. Oh, here's
the price then, isn't it? Now we begin to see how He can
justify the ungodly. His sin has been atoned for. His ungodly deeds have been punished
through the cross of the Lord Jesus, through His death, through
His bleeding. That's how God can justify. And
look in chapter 5, verse 1. Therefore being justified by
faith, we have peace with God. Justified by faith. By believing
in Christ. Not doing anything. But trusting
in Christ. Believing in Christ. Whose blood
atoned for our sins. One more place. Wayne, I think,
quoted all of these this morning. Back in our text, chapter 8 and
verse 33, look at this. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Well, we take an ungodly man.
Dead in his trespasses and sins. And God so clears him of all
his sins that nobody can lay anything to His charge. Now, brothers and sisters, you
can't beat that for a gospel. You can't beat that for good
news, can you? I am ungodly. I have been justified. I have
been washed, cleared from all my sins. And even God Himself
cannot lay anything to my charges because He has justified me.
Ain't that wonderful? That's the gospel. Them He also
justified. Boy, I want to be one of them.
And our last one is this. Them He also glorified. Whom
He justified, them He also glorified. You'll notice something else
here. He passes over now. He passes over from justification
to glorification. He doesn't say anything. What's
happening between those, does He? Boy, we could, couldn't we? What happens between being justified
and glorified? Man, that's a world full of trouble,
isn't it? He talks about it in the last portion here of chapter
8. Afflictions, trials, heartaches,
disappointments. For thy sake we are killed all
the day long. We are counted as sheep to the
slaughter. But he passes over these things
to let us know this, that in all these afflictions and trials
and heartaches, The purpose of God in our salvation is not hindered. I have said this before, there
are a lot of believers who are going to doubt their way all
the way to heaven. The old William Calperin lived
in doubts. Most of his Christian life he lived in doubts that
he would finally be accepted. He lived in torment. Until on
his deathbed, he raised his hands and said, Oh, praise God, I'm
accepted. I'm accepted. He was accepted before that.
But blessed heart, he was so afflicted in his mind and his
conscience. But you know something? All of
his doubts and fearing never changed God's purpose. And that's
what he tells us here. He says, look now, I have called
you. I have called you. Now you can
live in this confidence that your glorification Your final
salvation is fixed. Whatever you suffer between justification
and glorification, live with this confidence. I know whom
I have believed, and I am persuaded that He is able to keep that
that I have committed to Him. Somebody might say this leads
to open and profane sins. This leads a man just to turn
loose of the reins of his lust. I can't believe that for a minute.
I think if you're here tonight and the Lord's called you, He's
revealed Himself for you, and when you hear that your eternal
happiness is fixed, if anything, that's going to bind your heart
to Him more and more. And how is it going to affect
you if you're in doubt that it is fixed? That the Lord can keep
you. That there's this uncertainty
fills your heart. There's going to be some resentment
between you and the Lord. You're going to be trying to
do things just to keep yourself. And then you get off into this
self-righteousness, don't you? But when you hear that He's called
you and He will most assuredly glorify you, oh, you're filled
then with gratitude. to Him who did it. It is impossible for any one
of us to navigate the sea of life with all of its dangerous
storms on every side. But with God, all things are
possible. And with Him, all things are
certain regarding our eternal happiness. Them He also glorified. And I tell you, the Lord is not
afraid. You and I are. But He is not afraid to expose
us, I mean, to heart-wrenching afflictions. He is not afraid
to turn your world upside down. He is not afraid He is going
to lose you. He is just not afraid. And sometimes He exposes you
to death to make you see nothing is going to separate you from
the love of Jesus Christ. It cannot. What does this word
glorified mean? You won't get much help if you
go to the dictionary and look at glory or glorified. Definition won't help you much.
It just simply means splendor, beauty, dignity, honor, all that. That don't help much, does it?
What does it mean to be glorified? The Bible tells us what it means. Listen to Philippians 3.20. Our
conversation, our citizenship is in heaven. From whence also
we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus, who shall change our vile
body, and fashion it lack unto His glorious body." There's the
word glorify, same word. Fashion it lack unto His glorious
body. What does it mean to be glorified?
It means He's taken your vile body, or your decayed body that's
in the ground, He's raised it, He's changed it, He's fashioned
it, lack unto His glorious And you just have to read the scriptures
to see what his body looks like. Even before he was glorified,
his body outshone the new Messiah. Glorified. Look here in Romans chapter 8,
in verse 19. Look here what it means. Look
in verse 19. For the earnest expectation of
the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of
God. For the creature was made subject
to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who has subjected
the same in hope. Because the creature itself also
shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption unto the glorious
liberty." There it is. Glorious liberty of the children
of God. What is it to be glorified? It
means when we're fashioned like unto Christ's body, we're delivered
from this bondage of corruption. There won't be a taint of sin
left upon the glorified anywhere. They won't have a sense of sin.
They'll never think of sin. They'll never be capable of sinning
again. All they can do is be delivered from this bondage of
corruption and worship Him in the beauty of holiness. Love
Him and praise Him and render glory to Him like they wanted
to in this world and never was able. Liberty. Liberty. One more thing. Look here in
verse 17. What he says. And if children, if we're children
of God, we have the Spirit of Christ within us, bearing witness
with our spirit. If we're children, then heirs,
heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if so be that we
separate with Him, that we may be glorified together. We're going to be like Christ
in His very likeness. We're going to be free from this
corruptible nature. that binds us and burdens us,
and we're all going to partake of this glorification together. Together. I remember the man
that used to come here, the fellow that traced his lineage all the
way back to John the Baptist. Most of you probably don't even
remember him, but he got aggravated at us because we wouldn't change
our name to Baptist. Remember him? A lot of you remember him. wife and three children. His
wife almost wept. She wanted to stay on the gospel.
And I asked him, I said, Ted, don't you believe that I'm preaching
the gospel? You said when you come here,
you couldn't find a place to hear the gospel. He said, yeah,
I believe you're preaching the gospel. I said, do you believe
some of these folks have heard it and believe the gospel and
are saved? He said, yes, I think some of
you are saved. I said, you think we're going
to heaven together? He said, yeah, but you guys will be in
the outside circle. You guys will be in the outside
circle. Well, if I'm the outside circle,
I'll be happy just to be there. But listen, there ain't going
to be no outside circles. We're going to be there together,
glorified together. The Lord doesn't look at the
denominations, does He? He's not a sectarian. Those who
are in Christ, those who have been foreknown and predestinated
and called and justified, they're all going to share in this glorification
together. Brothers and sisters, all the
division, all the fussing, all the pride takes place here. Exalting
ourselves over others and one another, that takes place here.
There'll be none of that there. They'll all be there together. Let me read one last scripture,
and we'll close by just reading this. Look in 1 Thessalonians
chapter 4. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. And look in verse 13. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 and verse
13. But I would not have you to be
ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep. They died.
They died. Lazarus is dead. that ye sorrow
not even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that
Jesus died and rose again, He died for our sins, rose again
for our justification, even so them which sleep in Jesus will
God bring with Him. For this we say unto you by the
word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the
coming of the Lord shall not go ahead, not prevent them which
are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and
with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first."
Look at this now. Then we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the
Lord in the air. And so shall we all, every one
of us that is in Christ. will ever be with the Lord. Comfort
one another with these words. I tell you, maybe a little I
here and a big you here, but they'll be none of that younger.
We're going to sit with apostles and a fellowship and associate
with them. We're going to sit with prophets
of old, with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and we're going to
fellowship and sit with them. In Christ, we're all one, aren't
we? We're all one. Thank God there's
He and them. There's this union. There's this
union. And every one of them has union with their head. Christ is their husband, and
they'll all partake of that glorious eternity together. And we bless
Him for it. Wayne, would you please dismiss
us?