Unbroken

Father, we confess before you that there are texts in your word that terrify us.

And we also confess before you, Father, that there are promises in your word that frighten us.

Because your promises, Father, seem to be too big and don't seem to have the qualifications that we're comfortable with.

So, Father, we confess before you that there are both promises and other texts which just frighten us.

That we want to edit or that we want to remove.

We ask, Father, that your Holy Spirit would still our mind and still our hearts and still our wills.

So that we might receive your word.

And we ask, Father, that your word would enter deep within us.

And by your grace, as your word enters deep into our lives,

may our lives bring forth much fruit that brings you glory.

And this we ask in Jesus' name, your Son and our Savior. Amen.

Please be seated.

So, I've already given you a bit of a warning that in a couple of minutes I'm going to deal with,

I think, I can't remember who said this, but it's a text of terror.

Predestination. A text of terror.

And I can also say that I, in fact, we're going to look at a text of terror.

We're going to look at predestination two weeks in a row.

And I'm going to say more about it next week than this.

Because next week, in Romans 9, there's a real in-your-face text.

Where God gets right up and close and in our face.

It's the text, if those of you are familiar with the Bible,

What right does the clay have to say to the potter, what on earth are you doing with me?

Like, it's a really in-your-face text.

So we're going to look at it a little bit more next week, but we're going to look at it a bit today.

And just one other thing before we get into the text, Romans chapter 8.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

I ask your prayers for me.

As you know, one of the ministries of our church is a ministry called Church on Wednesday.

And it's always good if you pray for that ministry.

Please pray for it every day if you can.

And I'm not just asking for your prayers because I speak two Wednesdays from now on the 24th.

I'm asking your special prayers because we'll be right in the university center,

the heart of the university, where people can wander by.

And I get to preach on wives, submit to your husbands.

And, of course, you know that's a very popular idea at the University of Ottawa campus.

They have faculties for it and everything.

No, you know I'm joking.

So it's my great honor to talk about that and slaves as well.

And it's really to Daniel's credit and Church on Wednesday's credit that when we,

they preach through books of the Bible and that means also dealing with harder texts.

And I will do that two Wednesdays from now.

So I ask your prayers for that, that God would be honored and glorified,

that I won't do anything to mess things up.

But I also, that I won't want, I'll just speak, try to make it clear what it is that the Bible is saying.

So let's look at this, this text of terror.

But before we get to the text of terror, about God foreknowing us, about him predestining us,

about him calling us, justifying us, and glorifying us,

we like the justifying bit and the glorifying bit.

The other three things causes a little bit of problems and we wish we could edit it out.

Many Christians do.

Before we get to that, the Bible talks about prayer.

And talks about prayer in a very, very, very, very, very helpful way.

Romans chapter 8, verses 26 to 27.

Romans 8:26–27

Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness.

For we do not know what to pray for as we ought,

but the Holy Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.

And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit,

because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

Now just sort of, we're going to just pause here for a second.

I don't know what you're like with prayer.

You know, at the 8 o'clock service, I thought to myself,

how would I sort of score my prayer life right now?

Maybe I'd give myself a C.

I don't know.

Maybe as soon as I say C, God is up there groaning and going,

oh, George, you're not even close to a C.

But here's the thing.

One thing I do know is that there's been times in my Christian life

when I want to pray that it seems as if I only have one of two brains in my head.

One brain is like a hummingbird that's been chugging Red Bull.

And my thoughts just flit constantly all over the place,

and I can't stay focused in my prayers at all.

My mind just races all over the place on everything except on what I should be praying about.

And then there's other times when I go to pray,

and it's as if my brain has been replaced with a bear's brain who's hibernating.

And I can't get past a few sentences of prayer before I'm going,

I'm just falling asleep.

We're going completely blank.

And I guess compared to those seasons of my life when my brain is like that,

I'm doing all right in my prayers.

But here's the thing about this particular text.

I don't know if you noticed what Paul said in this text.

It was something that really jumps out at you.

It's verse, look at 26 again.

Likewise, the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness,

for we do not know what to pray for.

Just pause there for a second.

Paul says we.

He's including himself.

Now just think about this for a second.

Paul is going to end up dying a martyr's death rather than denying Jesus.

Paul is the person who brought the gospel to Europe.

Paul is a person who did, who was the very first person to speak about Jesus in a pagan empire all over the Mediterranean.

Paul is the guy that God chose to help write part of the Bible.

Paul.

Like, if there, and in 1 Corinthians he says he speaks in tongues more than anybody else,

and he wishes we could all speak in tongues as much as him.

And Paul says he doesn't know how to pray.

Now doesn't that take a little bit of a load off of you?

If you're having problems praying, like if Paul's having problems praying,

like is it any, you know, I don't want to put you down.

Yeah, come to Church of the Messiah.

George is going to put you down.

I don't want to put you down.

But it's a little, it takes a little bit of a load off of us to know that Paul had problems praying.

That he in fact describes himself with you and me,

that we do not know what to pray for as we ought.

Like that's actually helpful.

It takes a bit of a load off of our minds,

that we have to be these types of spiritual athletes,

or that we have to feel certain ways,

or we have to pump ourselves up with praise songs

to be able to be in the zone to pray,

or maybe you pump yourself up with Bach,

or I don't know what it is,

but whatever, you have to pump yourself up,

you have to screw up your willpower to be able to pray.

Anyway, Paul here says that we don't know how to pray.

And what is also so helpful here in the text

is that the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness.

That God doesn't look down at you and me and says,

gosh, George is pathetic at prayer.

You'd think at his age,

and after all these years that he was ordained,

that he'd be a lot better at it, you know?

The Father's not saying that to the Son,

and just sort of despising me or despising you,

the Father knows that we can't pray very well.

And because the Father knows that we can't pray very well,

the Holy Spirit doesn't mock us in our weakness,

scorn us in our weakness,

abandon us in our weakness,

deride us in our weakness,

insult us in our weakness.

He helps us in our weakness.

And then,

we do not know what to pray for as we ought,

but the Holy Spirit himself

intercedes for us with groanings

too deep for words.

Now, some people use this to refer to speaking in tongues.

There's other passages that speak about speaking in tongues,

but this isn't one of them.

It literally means wordless groanings.

So it's hard to get from wordless groanings

to speaking in tongues, actually.

Like, it's sort of the opposite.

But what it does mean in here

is the groaning too deep for words

is a way of trying to capture

that it isn't just that the Holy Spirit

is like some little,

you know, like the Tibetan Buddhist prayer wheels,

and they just sort of, you know,

there's this mechanical thing

that just goes round and round and round,

and it's as if it's prayer.

Well, the Holy Spirit here

isn't like just a disinterested mechanical prayer wheel

that's just going,

praying for George, praying for George,

praying for George, praying for George.

It's not like that at all.

Well, the groanings, wordless groanings,

is an image of emotional connection,

that the Holy Spirit, in a sense,

is emotionally involved in our lives,

and that he's not only just helping us.

I once, when we used to own a church building,

I came out of the building,

and there was a street person.

It was a cold day,

almost as cold as this cold night,

and the street person had fallen in the garden.

He wasn't supposed to be there,

but he was lying on the ground,

and he couldn't move.

And so I did two things.

First, I ran in,

and I was able to find some old,

some blankets and stuff,

and I put the blankets on them,

and then I called 911,

and an ambulance came.

And I, it was sort of a bit hard to find,

so I was out in the street

so I could flag down the ambulance,

and I flagged down the ambulance when it came.

It's so funny.

The ambulance drivers said,

I said, I'm the one who called me.

They said, where is it?

And I said, here.

It's just down here,

and they're walking along,

and the guy's saying,

bleepity, bleepity, bleep,

not another bleepity, bleepity, bleep.

You can guess what bleepity, bleep means.

Street person.

I, bleepity, bleep,

hate picking up these bleepity, bleep street people.

This is what he's saying.

He says, I was hoping to go home to have dinner,

and now this is another hour out of my life

because, anyway,

he was giving me this big, long rant

for these 200 meters

as we're walking to where the street person is.

Now, fortunately,

as soon as he saw the street person,

him and his partner,

he was very kind.

But his heart wasn't very kind.

I knew what his heart was like.

His heart hated doing this,

but at least he was kind and professional with words

when he was with the street person.

So what the Bible's saying here

is that the Holy Spirit's not interceding for us like that.

He's not interceding for us in a mechanical way.

He's not interceding for us in a heartless way.

In a sense, he's emotionally connected

and involved in what we're going through.

So likewise, the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness,

for we do not know what to pray for as we ought,

but the Spirit himself intercedes for us

with groanings too deep for words.

And he, that's referring to God,

God, who searches hearts,

knows what is the mind of the Spirit.

And here it says,

because, or it can also be for,

for the Spirit intercedes for the saints

according to the will of God.

This is another great comfort.

We never have to worry in the Christian life

that God has these plans

and the Holy Spirit has these plans,

that God the Father is,

he's sort of really hard,

he's like a really mean and nasty God

that writes Ten Commandments

and has high standards,

and the Holy Spirit is warm and fuzzy,

and the Holy Spirit and the Father

have to have a bit of an argument

about what's going on.

No.

It's not like that at all.

The Father knows what's going on in our lives.

The Father knows the mind of the Spirit.

The Spirit's heart is for us and with us.

And the Holy Spirit is always interceding for us.

As you sit here right now,

and maybe some of you are sitting here right now,

your life is a horrible mess,

maybe you're feeling unbelievably depressed,

maybe you feel like you're all alone,

that nobody knows, nobody cares,

but the Holy Spirit, even now,

is interceding for you.

If you're in Jesus,

the Holy Spirit is interceding for you.

You never have to pray alone.

You're never praying alone.

And that's what the Bible is telling us here.

So here's the thing.

Andrew, if you could put up the first thing,

and what I've done this morning,

some of you who are used to coming here,

sometimes my points are in the forms of prayers.

And if you don't have time to write these down,

they'll be on the webpage once Shirley gets back from holidays.

They'll be on the webpage Tuesday or Wednesday.

And, you know, one of my roles is just to try to help myself to learn how to pray

and help you to learn how to pray.

And rather than just putting down an abstract type of point,

I've put it in the form of a prayer.

Heavenly Father, please grow in me a humble, trusting knowing

that I am weak,

but the Holy Spirit always intercedes for me.

Like, I want to encourage you to sometimes pray

in acknowledgement that you're weak.

I know that we don't like to show weakness to our friends

and maybe to our family.

One of the persistent hard parts in marriages for men

is that men don't like to share their weakness with their wives.

It's one of the things that makes wives wonder

whether their husbands trust them and love them

because they don't want to share that they're weak.

The wife can see that the husband's struggling with something,

and yet the husband won't share with his wife

what it is that he's struggling with and is overwhelming him.

It's often a cause of marital problems.

And sometimes we Christians feel that we have to just always come to the Father

with our strengths, but listen,

this text is reminding us that we need to know

that God knows we're crappy prayers.

You don't have to zip that out.

Oh, Andrew's not here.

Crappy.

It means sometimes we're crappy prayers.

And so this text is encouraging you and me to say,

Heavenly Father, please grow in me a humble, trusting,

knowing that I am weak,

but the Holy Spirit always intercedes for me.

Now, just before we get to this whole thing

about predestination and God foreknowing us,

we have this other text,

and it's very interesting that on one hand,

we don't like the doctrine of predestination,

but often this next verse is on posters and on cups and on fridge magnets.

And on one hand, lots of us love it because it makes us feel that we can do anything,

that we can accomplish anything.

It gives us this positive spirit and this positive attitude.

And for those of us who aren't as positively inclined in life,

we hate texts like this,

although you can never say that you hate a text in the Bible.

But what we do is we don't get fridge magnets like this.

And when we go to a house that has fridge magnets like this,

we sort of roll our eyes at fridge magnets like this

because we have more of a sense of the tragedy of life

and the weakness of life

and how things just often all seem to fall apart.

And so this same text encourages fridge magnets

and the same text in our culture

encourages lots of eye-rolling up to the ceiling.

And it's verse 28.

It goes like this.

Some of you optimist types didn't realize

that your fridge magnets are causing people to go,

oh, good grief.

At least not in public.

It's after they leave.

Oh, good grief.

Did you see all those fridge magnets?

Anyway.

It's fine for optimists to find that out

about some other Christians, right?

Anyway, here's verse 28

without eye-rolling or overly being optimistic

like you're the top 1% sales agent in the world for real estate.

And we know, verse 28,

and we know that for those who love God,

all things work together for good

for those who are called according to his purpose.

It's a great verse to memorize.

The big problem with this verse

is that usually we just want to memorize this verse

and we never read verses 29 and 30.

And part of the reason we don't read verses 29 and 30

is because we don't like this whole idea of God

foreknowing and predestining things.

But actually, verse 28 only makes sense

if you read verse 29 and 30.

We're just going to look at verse 29 right now

and it can be seen because the word for is there in verse 29.

In other words, 28 assumes you're going to keep reading

at least to verse 29 if not verse 30.

So let's look at verses 28 through 29

when you read them all together.

And we know that for those who love God,

all things work together for good

for those who are called according to his purpose.

For those whom he foreknew,

he also predestined to be conformed

to the image of his son

in order that he might be the firstborn

among many brothers and sisters.

Ah.

So when you look at that text with verses 29 and 30,

you'll see that all things work together for good

for those who have put their faith and trust in Jesus.

It's not saying that all things work together

for good for everybody.

Like, it couldn't just be a business logo.

Business logo.

And that's a bit of a frightening thought for some of you,

for all of us, I guess, to a certain extent.

I'm not going to say that much about it

other than to just lay it there.

It's not a statement that the world

is unfolding the way it should

and that everybody is going to just have

everything work out for them.

It's referring to those who are in Jesus.

And it's saying that God is making you

to be like Jesus.

And that as God is making you to be like Jesus,

all things work together for good.

Bible is not talking about your circumstances.

You can't take this text to take it to mean

that, you know, guys who are single,

that God's going to give you a trophy wife

with trophy kids

and a job that gets you seven figures.

And I'm not counting the pennies.

I'm just the dollars.

And that the senators are going to win the Stanley Cup

and all sorts of other things

are just going to work out the way that they should.

It's not talking that God is going to

make circumstances work in your life

in such a way that in the eyes of the world,

everything about you is a great success.

That's not what the text is talking about at all.

Now, the Bible here isn't forbidding you

to pray about your circumstances.

There's lots of texts, not this one,

but there's lots of texts to tell you

that you should pray about your circumstances.

The Bible is not telling you

not to pray about your circumstances.

But what the Bible here is talking about

is that for those who are in Christ Jesus,

the things that are going on in your life

are under God's sovereign control

and God is using the things in your life

to make you more like Jesus.

That can include tragedy.

In fact, it will include tragedy.

And it will include times of brokenness.

It might involve being unemployed.

It might involve having a really hard time

with your kids or your family.

And it's not telling you

that all of your circumstances,

it's not telling you to have rose-colored glasses.

But it's actually a profoundly hopeful text.

You know, there's that serenity prayer

that really comes out of this.

I'm going to probably get it mixed up

because I should have written it down.

But, you know,

Lord, grant me the courage to deal,

to change the things in my life I need to change

and the serenity to accept the things

which I cannot change

and the wisdom to know the difference.

And that's really fitting in with this text.

But everything that's going on in your life,

God is using in a good way

to make you more like Jesus.

And sometimes we need to just look at the circumstances

in our life and say,

well, Father, are you humbling me?

About some way are you teaching me patience?

But we know that whatever it is,

that it is infallibly,

in an unbroken way,

not by George's word,

but by the Bible's word,

in an unbroken way,

it is making you more like Jesus

and it will culminate in you being like Jesus.

I'm not saying that on my authority.

I have no authority.

I'm saying that's what the text...

Listen to the text again.

And we know that for those who love God,

all things work together for good

for those who are called according to his purpose,

for those whom God foreknew,

God also predestined to be conformed

to the image of his Son,

conformed to the image and likeness of his Son

in order that he, that's Jesus,

might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.

If you could put up the next point, Andrew.

Once again, I put it in the form of a prayer.

Heavenly Father, please grow in me

a humble, trusting knowing

that you work all things together for good

as you make me like Jesus.

Heavenly Father, please grow in me

a humble, trusting knowing

that you work all things together for good

as you make me like Jesus.

That's what this text is inviting us to pray.

It's a very, very, very profoundly important text

as we're dealing with failure,

as we're dealing with success,

as we're dealing with ambition working out,

as we're dealing with our ambitions not working out,

as we're getting stronger and stronger,

and for those of us who are older,

as we get weaker and weaker.

It is a prayer for all of our life.

And it's very funny.

We like this thing,

but on the other hand,

it also implies that God is sovereign

over something like predestining

and actually working in a sovereign way.

But then when it actually talks about things

like predestination,

we get very, very worried.

Let's look at verses 28 to 30,

and we're really just sort of going to camp

for a moment here in this whole text of terror

for many Christians of predestination.

Let's look at 28 to 30.

And we know that for those who love God,

all things work together for good

for those who are called according to his purpose.

For those whom God foreknew,

he also predestined to be conformed

to the image of his son

in order that he might be firstborn

among many brothers and sisters.

And those whom God predestined,

he also called.

And those whom he called,

he also justified.

And those whom he justified,

he also glorified.

Amen.

Sorry.

Probably doesn't bring out an amen

in a lot of Canadian congregations.

Well, hopefully we'll change that.

It's a terror text.

So today we're going to just talk

a little bit about this text tomorrow,

next week.

God, you can pray for me

when we look at Romans 9, 1 to 29.

We'll talk more about it

sort of in a more general philosophical

and theological way.

But what we need to understand here

is this text is working

in a particular context.

And the word of God

is always addressing our heart,

the reality of our heart

in the context of the living God.

And the reality is

that our hearts love to boast.

that our hearts love to boast.

And that even when we seem

to be most Christian,

we're often boasting.

I was at a gathering

a couple of years ago

where a man gave a testimony

as part of the sermon.

And part of it was

he talked about the fact

that he had sex

with a girl when he was 12.

And then he went on

to talk about

the huge number of women

that he'd had sex with.

He was boasting.

He was boasting to us all.

He was trying to have it both ways.

He was very pious.

A very pious expression on his face.

But he was actually boasting

both of that he,

in our culture,

the sinfulness was actually,

he was boasting about it.

And then, of course,

he was boasting about

how great God's grace was

in his life.

And many testimonies

are actually a form of boasting

in evangelical contexts.

And human beings

love to boast.

And human beings

hate feeling helpless.

So here's the thing.

Before we look at this text,

I'll just put them up

very briefly.

Andrew, could you put up

the next point?

Here's the first thing

for us to remember

when we look at this text.

Okay?

In the presence of the living God,

all boasting ceases.

In the presence of the living God,

all boasting ceases.

If you're thinking,

gosh, I can't wait

till I get to heaven

till I can tell God

about this great successful

pro-life ministry I've had

or my, you know,

I don't know.

You know, if Bill Hybels

is thinking,

I can't wait to tell God

about getting the 30,000

a Sunday at my church.

Like, if we think that at all,

we just have to remember

that in the presence

of the living God,

all boasting ceases.

And the other thing

is that in this context,

because the thing

that we worry about

when we boast

is if we can't boast

that we're feeling helpless,

the thing that we worry about

is, you know,

that if we can't boast

that we're going to be helpless.

That leads us to the next point,

if you could put it up, Andrew.

I am helpless,

but God is the helper

of the helpless.

If I just said I am helpless

and said, okay,

now let's go and move on

to communion,

that wouldn't be very helpful

to anybody,

and it wouldn't be

what the Bible is telling us.

But the Bible wants us

to understand

that in God's presence,

in the presence

of the living God,

there will be no boasting

whatsoever.

I mean, the person

who's in heaven

because they died

in the womb

through abortion,

the person who was born

profoundly mentally handicapped,

and the person

who won gold medals

in the Olympics,

and by their work

and their energy

was able to make

billions of dollars,

all of them

will be completely equal

before God.

None of them

will be able to boast.

None of us will boast.

And God wants us

to understand

that we are helpless,

that there is a helper.

In fact,

see, what often goes on

in churches,

and here's something

that we Anglicans

can be very guilty of.

I could introduce myself

as I'm the Reverend Cannon,

George Sinclair,

rector of Church of the Messiah,

principal of Ryle College,

regular speaker

at Parliament Hill

Christian Fellowship,

speaker on CFRA radio,

chair of being

biblically faithful

in my denomination,

original chair.

I could go on

and on and on, okay?

And that's often

how people like

to get introduced,

especially if you go

to some Anglican gatherings.

It's not just, you know,

George and Fred

and Sarah and Alice.

It's the Reverend Cannon,

George Sinclair.

Too bad I don't have

a doctorate,

then I could be

the Reverend Cannon

Dr. George Sinclair.

Not putting down

people with doctorates,

not at all.

But what we should really do,

what this Bible text

is saying is that really

every church service

should be like

an AA meeting.

In an AA meeting,

if you're a multimillionaire

and you go to the AA meeting,

you don't say,

hi, I'm George,

I'm a multimillionaire.

What do you say?

Hi, I'm George,

I'm an alcoholic.

And really,

in church,

we should introduce ourselves

by saying,

hi, I'm George,

I'm helpless.

I'm George,

I'm helpless.

And then Daniel would say,

hi, I'm Daniel,

I'm helpless.

And Anne would say,

hi, I'm Anne,

I'm helpless.

Because you see,

what we want to do

is we want to try

to make it look

as if at some point in time

we are in fact

not helpless,

but we are responsible

for making ourselves

right with God.

Andrew, could you put up

the Romans 1 text?

Those of you who are guests

might not know this,

but every week

that we've talked,

we're going through

the book of Romans

and every week

we read this text.

Because the way

the book of Romans

was written

was that there's

the first,

like a greeting type

of thing

in the first few verses

and then Paul says,

I'm going to do this,

I'm going to do this,

I hope to see you soon.

You know,

and then he says

verses 16 and 17

and it's like an explanation,

a precie of everything

that's going to go on

in the book of Romans,

summarized right at the beginning

and then he basically,

the rest of Romans

is just unpacking this.

So could you read

Romans 1 with me out loud?

For I am not ashamed

of the gospel,

for it is the power of God

for salvation

to everyone who believes,

to the Jew first

and also to the Greek.

For in the gospel,

the righteousness of God

is revealed from faith

to faith

as it is written,

the righteous

shall live by faith.

That's what the whole book

is about.

And notice up there

it says,

for I am not ashamed

of the gospel.

And one of the reasons

you're not ashamed

of the gospel

because the gospel

is going to try

to make people realize

that they're helpless.

And God's word

is going to regularly

try to humble you

and me

to make us understand

that we're helpless.

It is the power of God

for salvation

to everyone who believes.

For in the gospel,

the righteousness of God

is revealed.

And what the righteousness

of God means

is that not only

is God going to act

in a way that

at the end of the day

when everybody looks

and sees everything

that God has done

to make human beings

right with himself,

there'll be no one

who can't say

that God did the right thing.

He acted in a way

that was right.

And God acted in a way

that was right.

He did what was right

to make human beings

right with him.

He does it all

with nothing left over.

Nothing of ours.

It's God's power,

not God's power

plus George's power.

Not God's power

plus the Anglican Church's power

or the Roman Catholic Church's power

or the Pentecostal Church's power.

It's not God's power

plus somebody else.

It's the power of God

for salvation.

And he will act

in a way that is right

to make us right with him.

He does it all.

That we will have

no cause for boasting.

And what is it that we do?

How is it the different ways

that we subtly try to go

in that we're boasting?

The fact of the matter is

is that many of us

carry around within ourselves

is, you know,

there's really something

a little bit special about me.

You know,

there's something special about me.

In fact,

there's something so special about me.

It's no wonder

that I'm a Christian.

It's no wonder,

like, I'm just, you know,

good at Bible studies

and good at witnessing

and good at this

and good at that

and there's something

just special about me.

No wonder God chose me.

No wonder I'm a Christian

because I'm special.

Now, we're Canadians

and we don't go out,

you know,

we don't begin our prayer

by saying,

Father, thank you so much

that I'm special.

Thank you so much

that I'm just really special

and that I'm so special

that no wonder you chose me.

Like, we don't say that

in our prayers.

We're too well behaved, right?

But what happens

in our periods

of depression

and tragedy

and sadness

is that our sense

of being special

is lost.

So what we don't realize

is that this sense

of there being

something special

is part of the background noise

of our souls

and our hearts

and we only know

that it's there

when it seems

to be gone.

And we feel depressed

and we wonder

how God could love us

because we're not special.

And in the face

of us thinking

that there is something

about us

that brings out

God's love,

the Bible says

that God foreknows us.

Foreknows here

doesn't mean omniscient.

Foreknow could also

be translated

as foreloved.

Know is the relational word

know.

In terms of entering

into a relationship

and before we thought

there was anything special

about us

or we did anything

at all before

anything like that

before there was

anything about me

God foreloved me.

And some of us

in our testimonies

when we talk

to other people

we talk about

all the things

we did

and all the things

that we figured out

and the whole process

that we went through

to come to a saving

faith in Jesus.

Jesus.

But the Bible says

that He,

God,

organized all the events

that He predestined us

that He set the course.

The word there

predestined

just to get your worries

up on one hand

but it's not to be a worry

because all of this

teaching here

is in the context

of the profound

human lust

and addiction

to boasting.

and the profound

human need

for us to understand

that we are never

gods with small g's

but that we are

always creature

dependent upon God

fallen creature

even more

dependent upon God

that we are helpless.

But the word here

predestined

is exactly like

when you go to

the Star Wars movie

and Han Solo

and Chewbacca

or whatever

and they're in the front

of their spaceship

and they do this

and they do this

and they do this

you know

whatever that means

and then they've

set the course

and then they go

into hyperspace

and after they've

set the course

they can spend

the rest of the time

arguing or flirting

or you know

doing whatever

you know

preparing weapons

because the ship

flies itself.

That image

is what predestined

does mean.

So I can't boast

about all of the things

that I did

and how I went

to this speaker

and had this experience

and was seeking

this thing.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Bible saying

I set the course

is what God said

and some of us

might be able

to have these times

where we have

our profound

spiritual experiences

where we called out

to God

and it gets us

on focus

on the family

on the radio

and it gets us

on that crazy

afternoon radio show

on CHRI

about virtual

online community

is an oxymoron

just so you know.

Okay?

Online community

is an oxymoron.

Two words

that contradict

each other

and

excuse me

and we can have

these things

about how we

called out to God

and we had

these emotional

breakthroughs

of calling out

but Bible says

no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

I called you first.

I called you

and justified

that's the thing

that we sort of

get our minds around

that we have to

trust in Jesus

that God is the one

who does something

in Jesus for us

and we put our faith

and trust in him

and that he then

makes us right

with himself

but we're so

deeply addicted

and lustful

after boasting

and we're so

deeply afraid

of ever being

helpless

that as soon

as we understand

that we have been

made right

with God

through faith

in Jesus

that it's by grace

alone

through faith

alone

and Christ alone

the second we

understand that

we immediately

want to think

that it's all

dependent upon

how good we are

at doing things

how good I am

at leading the church

how good I am

at preaching

how good I am

with my family

how good I am

talking to outsiders

how good I am

and that somehow

or another

if I'm not being

really really good

at these things

then it's almost

as if my justification

doesn't count

because it's all

about me being able

to accomplish

these things for God

and if I can't

accomplish these things

for God

then God's not

going to accept me

as his child

it's going to be

revealed that I'm

helpless

and it's going to

be revealed

that I'm not special

I am George

I'm helpless

and in terms

of prayer

I'm weak

but God

is the helper

of the helpless

and this profound

text

these five

active verbs

five active verbs

listen to verse 29

for those

whom God

foreknew

God also

predestined

to be conformed

to the image

of his son

in order that

God

that Jesus

might be the firstborn

among many brothers

and sisters

and those

whom God

predestined

God also

called

and those

whom he called

he also

justified

and those

whom he justified

he also glorified

I am helpless

I have no ground

to boast

God does it all

and this text

should be

once again

I don't encourage

tattooing

but if you're going to

do a tattoo

tattoo this

on your arms

so you can look at it

every day

on your hand

as you're paying bills

tattoo it there

or something

don't get a tattoo

but if you're going to do it

get something like this tattooed

that once we stand

in Jesus

it's as if there's

an unbroken chain

I should do it

from your point of view

from there to there

unbroken chain

that he wants us

to stand there

and look down

the course of our life

and understand that

before anything

about myself

God foreloved me

before anything

about myself

God predestined me

before anything

about myself

God called me

that Jesus

is the one

who justified me

and as I look

to that

which is my future

the word glorified

is in the past tense

because Paul

wants you to understand

the Bible

wants you to understand

that once God's

power for salvation

has been received

by you

by grace alone

through faith alone

and Christ alone

that once you have

received that

your future glory

is so certain

that it's written

in the past tense

it is so certain

that it is in the past tense

that you

one day

will stand

on the far side

of judgment

in the new heaven

and earth

that God will create

where the entire

created order

is freed up

and completely

and utterly unleashed

and you will stand

there with your

resurrected body

and your new soul

and spirit

still completely

and utterly you

at one with your creator

at one with the creation

at one with your brothers

and sisters

and that future

is so certain

that Paul writes it

in the past tense

Andrew could you put up

the almost final point

this text is inviting us

to pray something like this

heavenly father

please grow in me

a humble trusting

knowing

that by your grace

you foreknew me

and predestined me

and called me

and justified me

and glorified me

heavenly father

please grow in me

a humble trusting

knowing that by your grace

you foreknew me

and predestined me and called me and justified me and glorified me.

And for some of you, for some of us, this just makes us go like this.

Because we feel, you know, dang it.

And, you know, I just knew that God picked some people to be special and that I was left outside of that.

You know, George, when I was in elementary school and they were picking sports teams, I was never picked first.

In fact, there were some years when I was the last one left and the two coaches fought over who had to take me.

And, you know, I get passed over for promotions.

You know, my parents seem to have rejected me.

My family seems to have rejected me.

I don't get any dates.

If I do get dates, it just is some loser guy who just wants to use me and then I get dumped.

And I haven't done well at school and I'm not doing that well financially and I've never been picked for anything.

And now you're just telling me that this whole Christian thing is just God telling me to shut up and just get used to the fact that I'm just sort of rejected as well.

But God doesn't write this to you who are hearing this today to stop the conversation.

But this is God poking you on the shoulder and saying, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, my precious one.

This text is for you.

I'm not saying this so you will turn away and think that I've rejected you.

This is your opportunity today to know that this text talks about you.

I don't care about your litany of failures.

Just like I don't care about your litany of success.

I didn't say this to you so that you would walk away thinking that the conversation's over.

I said this to you because it's true and I'm talking to you.

I'm talking to you.

Friend, we're going to just read this wonderful text of 31 to 39 in a moment.

But just before we do that, if you are here and you've never put your faith and trust in Jesus, there is no better time than right this instant.

I'm not going to tell you some fancy magical prayer.

I remember the early days of going to evangelical churches.

I talked to somebody about the gospel and I think, oh, dang it, what's the right words for that prayer?

Like, what am I supposed to say?

And I get all confused.

And like, that's just magic.

That's like the minister's a shaman and teaching you a spell.

God doesn't have to know a fancy set of prayers.

There is no better time than right now just to call out to God and say, Jesus, I want you to be my savior.

What George has just talked about, I want that.

And I know that you called me first.

Just call out to God in your own words.

There's no better time than right now.

No better time.

Won't be better next week or when it gets warmer.

Just no better time than now.

And one other thing for those of us who are really tongue-tied evangelists, I can just think of, I had a terrible, not a terrible experience, but not a very good experience yesterday talking about somebody, talking to somebody about Jesus.

And, you know, this text is a profound encouragement.

We don't have to carry the weight of evangelism.

God foreknows.

He predestines.

He calls.

He justifies.

He glorifies.

All we have to do is bear witness.

And the wonderful thing about this text is there's people in Ottawa who have not yet recognized that God is calling them, but they are here in this city.

And he just asks us to play a small part in bearing witness and praying for them.

Andrew, if you put up the last slide, because we're going to pray this last slide together in a moment as a congregation.

Or, yeah.

But before that, let's just stand.

And after we now have this sense that maybe this whole thing about predestined is something that if I was going to get a tattoo, I should tattoo on my hand so I could remember it every day.

Because it's a profound truth that you're helpless and you're weak, but God is the helper of the helpless.

That God does what is needed to make you right with himself.

That there's no boasting.

And so mindful of that, listen to verses 31 to 39.

What then shall we say to these things?

If God is for us, who can be against us?

He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all.

How will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

Who shall bring any charge against God's elect?

It is God who justifies.

It is God who justifies.

Who is to condemn?

Christ Jesus is the one who died.

More than that, who was raised.

Who is at the right hand of God.

Who indeed is interceding for us.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?

As it is written, for your sake we are being killed all the day long.

We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.

No.

No.

In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

For I am sure that neither death nor life nor angels nor rulers nor things present nor things to come.

Nor powers nor height nor depth nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Amen.

Let's pray this together in closing.

Heavenly Father, may your Holy Spirit grow in me a humble, trusting knowing that there is no condemnation for me in Christ Jesus.

And that in Christ Jesus you are always for me.

And that nothing can ever separate me from your love in Christ Jesus my Lord.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.