Sermon

Romans 8 | Week 6

New Life Community Church

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  1. If you have your Bible, you can open the Romans chapter 8,

    Romans 8 chapter mention

  2. Romans chapter 8. We are in week 6 of Romans 8,

    Romans 8 chapter mention

  3. all of Christ for all of life, all of Christ, for all of life,

  4. than this is not particularly A Mother's Day sermon, right?

  5. It's just you've been here long enough to let the Giroux to let

  6. the do dry out. So then, you know, that we do

  7. not arrange our preaching schedule, according to Hallmarks

  8. calendar. All right.

  9. So, breathe, easy mothers. I don't intend to beat you over

  10. the head today or to overly celebrate, you either.

  11. So but I intend to encourage you from the scriptures.

  12. The Bible has greater instructions.

  13. Greater help greater encouragement.

  14. It's some mothers and non-mothers than any afternoon

  15. Hallmark movie with the glass of wine can do for you promised.

  16. All right. So I intend to encourage you

  17. with the word of God today. We're going to examine verses 28

  18. through 30 of Romans chapter 8. Romans 8:28 through 30.

    Romans 8 chapter mention Romans 8:28–30

  19. And these verses here is what we see.

  20. This is the main point. I want to give to you today and

  21. you can write this down. If you're taking notes,

  22. admittedly, it's a bit lengthy. All things work together for the

  23. Eternal good. All things work together for the

  24. Eternal good. I want you to note that word

  25. Eternal, there of those who love God and are called according to

  26. his purpose, all things work together for the Eternal good of

  27. those who love God, and are called, according to his

  28. purpose, and everybody said, amen.

  29. Amen? See, it's not a Mother's Day,

  30. sermon specifically, right? Yet this is not mean that a

  31. mother will not find great instruction in its great help.

  32. Great encouragement from from this passage to be crystal clear

  33. though, so that we're all on the same page as we begin today.

  34. I believe this sermon is for everyone of us, I believe these

  35. encouragement sore for you. Whether you are a man or a

  36. woman, a boy or a girl. Today, like these things are

  37. glorious truths, mid for you to take.

  38. Hold of, and to believe with all of your heart, mind and

  39. strength. Amen.

  40. Which stand your feet. Now, as we read God's word, I'm

  41. going to start in verse one today, even though our text is

  42. 28 through 30 because I think it's worth getting the context

  43. of everything that's happening. As we look at what is the

  44. foundation for all of these glorious blessings.

  45. These privileges that Paul has laid out for us in verses 1

  46. through 27. And so, beginning in verse 1,

  47. there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are

  48. in Christ Jesus, the law of the spirit of life has set you free.

  49. Free in Christ Jesus. From the law of sin and death

  50. for God has done what the law weakened by the flesh.

  51. Could not do I sending his own son in the likeness of sinful

  52. flesh? And for sin, he condemned sin in

  53. the flesh. In order that the righteous

  54. requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk, not

  55. according to the flesh, but according to the spirit for

  56. those who live, according to the flesh, set their minds on the

  57. things of the flesh. But those who live, according to

  58. the spirit set their minds on the things of the spirit for to

  59. set the mind on the flesh is death.

  60. But to set the mind on the spirit is life and peace, for

  61. the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God.

  62. For does not submit to God's law.

  63. Indeed, it cannot those who are in the flesh, cannot please God,

  64. you however, are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if, in

  65. fact, the spirit of God, dwells in you.

  66. Anyone who's does not have the spirit of Christ does not belong

  67. to him, but if Christ is in you all, although the body is dead

  68. because of sin, the spirit is life because of righteousness,

  69. if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in

  70. you, he who raised Christ Jesus from.

  71. The dead will also give life to your mortal bodies, through his

  72. Spirit who dwells in you. So then Brothers, we are debtors

  73. not to the flesh to live, according to the flesh for if

  74. you live, according to the flesh, you will die.

  75. But if by the spirit you put to death, the Deeds of the flesh,

  76. you will live for all who are led by the spirit of God are

  77. sons of God for you, did not receive the spirit of Slavery to

  78. fall back into fear but you have received the spirit of adoption

  79. as Sons by which or by whom sorry we cry, Abba Father The

  80. spirit himself Bears witness with our spirit that we are

  81. children of God. And if children then heirs Heirs

  82. of God and fellow heirs with Christ provided we suffer with

  83. him in order that we may also be glorified with him verse 84.

  84. I consider that the sufferings of, this present time are not

  85. worth comparing with the glory. That is to be revealed to us for

  86. the creation Waits with eager longing.

  87. For the revealing of the sons of God for the creation was

  88. subjected. Ejected to futility, not

  89. willingly, but because of him who subjected it in hope, that

  90. the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to

  91. corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the

  92. children of God. For.

  93. We know that the whole creation has been groaning together in

  94. the Pains of childbirth until now.

  95. And not only the creation, we ourselves who have the first

  96. fruits of the spirit groan inwardly as we.

  97. Wait, eagerly for adoption as Sons, the Redemption of our

  98. body. For in this hope we were saved.

  99. Now hope that is seen is not hope for who hopes for what he

  100. sees. But if we hope for what we do,

  101. not see we wait for it with patience.

  102. Likewise the spirit helps us in our weakness.

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

  104. But the spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings

  105. too deep for words and he who searches Hearts knows, what is

  106. the mind of the spirit because the spirit intercedes for the

  107. Saints, according to the will of God.

  108. And we know that for those who love God, all things work

  109. together for good. For those who are called

  110. according to his purpose. For Those whom he foreknew.

  111. He also predestined to be conformed, to the image of his

  112. son in order, that he might be the firstborn among many

  113. brothers. And Those whom, he predestined,

  114. he also called, and Those whom he called, he also Justified,

  115. and Those whom he justified, he also glorified.

  116. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God, let me pray

  117. for Heavenly Father, we thank you for today.

  118. Thank you for your word and this time we have now in it, holy

  119. spirit, we ask that you would guide us direct our hearts

  120. direct. Our minds to see to believe to

  121. understand these truths and build our lives into fruitful

  122. organisms for the kingdom and the glory of Christ alone.

  123. It's in the name of Jesus. We pray.

  124. Amen. Amen.

  125. You may be seated. Before I get into the content of

  126. this text that I wanted to remind us of the context, I

  127. wanted to draw our attention to that which is why we read all of

  128. those versus just now. But Paul is building toward his

  129. closing argument which is more doxology than arguments and

  130. we'll see that next week, but in verses 28 through 30, he

  131. striving to ground the hope of Christians that we see all

  132. three. Throughout verses 1 through 27,

  133. he's grounding those hopes. Those privileges that Christians

  134. know in the Providence and the sovereignty of God, it's an

  135. argument that he strengthens and next week's passage as well.

  136. He goes on to explain why you can believe what you see today

  137. with next week's passage. So some summaries of the truths

  138. that we've observed so far in verses 1 through 4.

  139. We established that in an act of astounding Grace, God condemns

  140. sin in Christ setting. A free from condemnation and

  141. free to live lives according to the spirit of God and verses 5

  142. through 11. We said that that same Spirit

  143. which we've received the one that has set us free.

  144. Grants us live and peace at the Spirit enables our minds to be

  145. set on the things of the spirit. We are able to walk.

  146. According to the spirit of God and verses 12 through 17.

  147. We saw that God by his Spirit bestows on his people life.

  148. But he adopts them as his own children and he appoints them to

  149. be co-heirs with Christ. Then in verse 18, the focus

  150. transition to the sufferings that we must endure with Christ.

  151. So that we saw in verse 17 if we were going to be glorified with

  152. Christ also and so in verse 18 we saw that the key to Christian

  153. suffering verses 18 through 25. The key to Christian suffering

  154. is to keep your eyes on future glories.

  155. See if your eyes on the hope of Evan and then last week we saw

  156. that the holy spirit in verses 26 or 27 is our Advocate and

  157. prayer. He's a help to us.

  158. He is and he's carrying literally our prayers to God and

  159. he is working. God's will in us, as a result of

  160. those were dangers prayers by faith.

  161. In Christ, what we have seen then is that we have everything

  162. we need for life and godliness, truly.

  163. It is all of Christ for all of Life, by faith in.

  164. See, the God has graciously, the God is utterly transforming your

  165. life. He's giving you the spirit as

  166. your helper, in all things unto the transformation of your life.

  167. So that as our Tech shows today, you would be conformed to the

  168. image of God's own son. These are supremely glorious

  169. truths. Any one of which could cause you

  170. to stand up and dance a jig if you weren't so Baptist, right?

  171. Yet when we suffer, we are tempted to doubt the goodness of

  172. God's plan. For us when we go through

  173. hardship, when we go through suffering, when we go through

  174. pain, we are tempted to doubt whether or not God could

  175. actually work together. All things for the good of his

  176. people. We wonder is this true which

  177. brings us to the content of today's passage?

  178. Because last week we saw that the spirit is taking our prayers

  179. to the Lord. He's working the will of God in

  180. us but you might still be tempted to say, yes.

  181. But I suffer Somebody read those verses for you, again, that

  182. we're looking at now and we know that for those who love God, all

  183. things work together for good, for those who are called

  184. according to his purpose. For Those whom he foreknew.

  185. He also predestined to be conformed, to the image of his

  186. son in order, that he might be the firstborn among many

  187. brothers. And Those whom, he predestined,

  188. he also called, and Those whom he also, Those whom he called he

  189. also Justified and Those whom he justified, he also glorified I

  190. want to show you that in verse 28, you have another statement

  191. of truth. It's another privilege of the

  192. believer, similar to the Privileges.

  193. We've been seeing. It's all of these things that

  194. you've received as being in Christ.

  195. Again, all of Christ for all of life.

  196. This is another privilege that all things work together for

  197. your good because you love God and are called according to his

  198. purpose. It's a great privilege that we

  199. have, but in verses 29 and 30, what he's doing is laying out

  200. the foundation on which all All of those truths.

  201. All of those privileges must stand.

  202. It's the truths. There of God's predestiny,

  203. things to work in this fashion. I would like to issue to you a

  204. pastoral statement if you will. It's vitally important to

  205. remember. When you read God's word, you

  206. are reading what you are reading.

  207. Is divinely breathed by God through the spirit to men.

  208. Meaning it's inspired by God. It's sufficient because it is

  209. from God. It is infallible because it has

  210. its root in God, it cannot fail, it is inerrant because God never

  211. airs. Amen.

  212. And so to his word, never airs, God.

  213. Spoke these things, by his Spirit, to these biblical

  214. writers for the edification of his people.

  215. And so, therefore, these words, all of them, every word from

  216. Genesis 1:1 to the end of Revelation.

    Genesis 1:1

  217. Elation. Is spoken written down for your

  218. edification. They are trustworthy and true.

  219. In other words, these are not Paul's words.

  220. While Jesus may have said something different, It is not

  221. Paul's words, why Peter may have wrote something else.

  222. These are not Paul's word. While Moses may have wrote

  223. something. That would be contrary to what

  224. you read. Everything works together in the

  225. scriptures to to explain to us to show us to reveal to us God's

  226. truths. These are not opinions of man,

  227. devoid of God's truth. These are not just mere

  228. meanderings of a mind, written down that look wise.

  229. They are wise because they come from God himself.

  230. This is the very word of God. And if we are unsure about what

  231. they say, if we were uneasy about the words that he uses,

  232. then we need not find fault in the text, we need find fault in

  233. our own hearts and Minds. We must seek the Lord, in

  234. prayer. We must ask the spirit to help

  235. us in our weaknesses. It's good for us to check any

  236. man-made presuppositions at the door when we come to the

  237. scriptures. Amen.

  238. Romans 8:28 and we know that for those who love God, all things

    Romans 8:28

  239. work together for good, for those who are called according

  240. to his purpose. So we've seen a great deal of

  241. privileges afforded to the saints of God in this.

  242. Glorious chapter of Romans questions and scoffing and

  243. mockings may arise. Anyway.

  244. Neither from outside, or from, within your own heart and mind.

  245. Yeah, the spirit intercedes for you in trouble, the spirit

  246. intercedes for me and my trouble.

  247. But to what benefits because I'm still suffering greatly.

  248. Or someone might look at you and say, you can say the spirit

  249. intercedes for you, but I can observe your life and its marked

  250. by suffering great suffering. So what benefit is the spirit of

  251. God, why don't you just abandon him as Jobs wife would have

  252. encouraged joke to do. You might hear things like bad

  253. things, seem to happen to good people and good things seem to

  254. happen to bad people. If all things work together for

  255. good, for those who love God, how can this be?

  256. Might be a question, a scoff. A mock that comes your way.

  257. But what Paul describes is the greatest privilege of God's

  258. people that sits atop all other Privileges and that is that all

  259. things are working together for good.

  260. And so first, I want you to observe the character of these

  261. people. It's not all things work

  262. together for the good of all people.

  263. It's for who, for those who love God, they love God right there.

  264. They're over wounds with great. Actions for and deep loyalty

  265. towards God as their Chief good. As their highest in, he is

  266. supreme above every other being. They love him, they are devoted

  267. to him. It is your love for God.

  268. That makes every Providence in your life sweet and profitable.

  269. Now, word on Providence. Providence is according to James

    James 5 chapter mention

  270. chapter 5 providence's, the merciful and compassionate work

  271. of God in every moment of Our Lives.

  272. It's the Mercer, merciful and compassionate work of God in

  273. every moment of Our Lives. And so what we're saying is

  274. there are no Maverick moments. You understand what I mean?

  275. There are no Rogue moments. There are no Rebel moments every

  276. moment. Every millisecond is the working

  277. together of all things for a glorious Eternal good.

  278. According to God's wise counsel alone, everything works to that

  279. end, it must Because God is God. Those that love God, make the

  280. best then of all that he does. And they take all the comes

  281. their way in faith that he loves them and he means good for them.

  282. Everything The second thing we see about these peoples, not

  283. only that they love God, and that the character of these

  284. people set their called, according to God's purpose.

  285. He calls his people and they come to him, he calls them

  286. according to his purposes and they come to him just as Christ

  287. describes as the shepherd and the Sheep who hear his voice and

  288. John chapter 10. He says all who are sheep, hear

    John 10 chapter mention

  289. the voice of the shepherd and they come to him and we do not

  290. deserve the call by any Merit of our own.

  291. We have not worked on to this. We have not hyped ourselves up

  292. to be looked on as beautiful and lovely.

  293. And so God says well, I'll take that one or two hype.

  294. Ourselves up and says look how unlovely he is.

  295. I'll take that one like picking a puppy at the pound.

  296. This is not adoption. Thatthat's.

  297. Not that it's not that kind of adoption.

  298. This is adoption. According to the love of God,

  299. the loving call of God on someone's life to come and to be

  300. his child, we don't deserve the call but his call is effectual

  301. through his own gracious purpose.

  302. I'm s what we want to observe. Here is the privilege of the

  303. sites, all things work together for good for them.

  304. It's a privilege of those who love God, that all things are

  305. going to work together for good. Now, I want you to have in mind

  306. the Eternal good so that mean that everything and every moment

  307. looks good in that moment though.

  308. There are terrible tragedy. There are terrible things that

  309. happen to us that don't look good in the moment, but we must

  310. trust that that is according to the providential plan of God for

  311. our lives and it is working together for good even when we

  312. can't see it. Everything that God carries out

  313. every action. Every moment, every millisecond

  314. that comes into our lives. And every single day is

  315. according to the Eternal good plan of God, which is meant for

  316. the good of his people. The glory of his own great name,

  317. these two go hand-in-hand for when his people enjoy the

  318. splendors of his Providence. For when his people see that he

  319. is amazing, that he is all inspiring.

  320. Even in great distress has even in great sufferings, they will

  321. then magnify his name in all the Earth.

  322. We see that God is good. We magnify this good God.

  323. And so he works all things together for the good of his

  324. people, those who love him. Those whom he loves according to

  325. his providential purpose, so that his people will know his

  326. goodness and magnifies night. Now in this way, God's people

  327. Truly Come to do with the psalmist describes in Psalm 34

    Psalms 34:8

  328. Verse 8 where he says taste and see that the Lord is good take

  329. refuge in him and find him to be a good reference.

  330. Huge. It's a tasting and seeing as you

  331. trust the Lord and his providential plans for you.

  332. You taste and see that he is good.

  333. All the Providence of God belongs to us, merciful

  334. Providence has afflicting providence's personal

  335. providence's public Providence. Is there are all for our

  336. Eternal, good weather suffering or blessings.

  337. They are good. Those things are good, which do

  338. your soul, Eternal, good. Do you understand what I'm

  339. saying? If it's a suffering thing that

  340. comes to you. From the providential hand of

  341. God than it is meant for your Eternal good.

  342. And so anything that comes to you for the good of your soul is

  343. could amen. It's good under that end.

  344. And so this was a realization that Patricia and I had an

  345. October went on vacation. We're sitting out back this

  346. little cabin and Pigeon Forge and we're drinking coffee in the

  347. morning, reading the reading our Bible.

  348. And so, we're just over right out of months.

  349. Just just passed from when he's pass and we're reflecting on.

  350. And we're just leaning into the Lord as much as we can praying

  351. singing. And this moment was really a

  352. defining moment, I think, for me and probably for Patricia as

  353. well, and our pursuit of the Lord amid these things.

  354. What we saw, what I what I came to understand.

  355. I guess what the Lord showed us in this moment is that if all

  356. things work together for good, for those who love him, then

  357. whinnies death is good. That's a hard thing to admit.

  358. It's a hard thing to trust the Lord for, but carry that a bit

  359. further, what we're saying is that it was more good for

  360. Patricia and I, and for our family, and for you all and for

  361. our faith. And for our Eternal good, it was

  362. more good for when he too passed and to remain with us.

  363. That's what we're saying about. God's merciful loving

  364. Providence, as right, nothing thoughts, him.

  365. Nothing changes his plans. Nothing nothing can can stop

  366. those things from happening, so, if he's working together all

  367. things for the good of those who love him and are called

  368. according to his purpose, then I must see that all that comes to

  369. me is the ultimate good and therefore you can rejoice as

  370. James says in trials and afflictions not rejoicing over

  371. the Affliction, you're not rejoicing over the loss of life.

  372. You're not rejoicing over the loss of a Daughter and a sister

  373. and a granddaughter and a friend or not rejoicing.

  374. In that necessarily rejoicing that God is good, no matter

  375. what, and that he means good for you and all of these things.

  376. Now, one always hold myself up as a hero of the faith.

  377. I am not, I have liked much Faith through all of this but

  378. that was one moment where I can still to this day.

  379. Look back and say that's a truth.

  380. I need to hang on to When I summon my faith is felling when

  381. I'm questioning. Yeah.

  382. But God is, if you're working together, all things are good.

  383. I don't understand this. If I'm questioning that that I

  384. looked back to that moment and I say, wait a minute, it's for

  385. good. Also, It's for good too.

  386. I don't know all the ways yet, but it's for good also and then

  387. it's a tough thing to understand.

  388. And so, every Providence is doing something unto Eternal

  389. good for you. This is what we're saying, they

  390. may be breaking you away from sin.

  391. They may be bringing you nearer to God.

  392. They may be weaning, you away from the world, they may be

  393. fitting you, they are all sitting you for heaven.

  394. Every Providence is fitting you for heaven.

  395. We know this because Paul says all things work together for

  396. good. And he's already grounded the

  397. good in the Eternal good. He's already grounded the good

  398. and previous verses in the Eternal glories to come right

  399. for. You will share in the glories of

  400. Christ provided you suffer with him.

  401. Also, there's Eternal good to come even though there will be

  402. bad moments now. But these are all from the

  403. providential hand of God, meant for your good, Like a Surgeon,

  404. who cuts and stitches back. He's working on to the

  405. patient's. Good.

  406. So does God work all things together for our good?

  407. Even if he has to cut away something and Stitch something

  408. back together? He's working for our good.

  409. Remember, all of this is not according to the providence's

  410. themselves. It's not according to the

  411. moments themselves, the moments are nothing apart from the hand

  412. of God, who is working those moments together for something,

  413. right? Apart from his power, and his

  414. grace, they're just moments. Right?

  415. And if we think they're just moments than we might, as well

  416. be fatalist. If we think they're just

  417. moments, we might, as well become determinist.

  418. We might as well think that God is distant from us and that he

  419. has nothing to do with every moment of our lives.

  420. But I refuse to serve that God because the Bible doesn't

  421. describe that God, the Bible describes.

  422. The God, who is intricately involved in?

  423. Intimately involved in your life and every single moment of the

  424. day. Weather in The Taking of things

  425. or the blessing of things. He's good.

  426. Is good and we any means for you to know this.

  427. Paul says we know this It's to be known with certainty.

  428. This is why I told you earlier that what you're reading is the

  429. word of God. It's not the opinion of a man

  430. who was, you know, caught up in some spiritual excitement.

  431. This is a man who has devoted to the word of God who is

  432. experienced much hardship and he's riding this saying.

  433. I know this and we can know this God wants you to know this which

  434. is why pins it in. God breathed scriptures for you

  435. but you can also note as you test God in it as you trust him

  436. in it. You'll know it in your own

  437. experience as well but God is working together.

  438. Good for you. All things work together for the

  439. Eternal good of those who love God and are called according to

  440. his purpose. Now foundation in believing this

  441. Our foundation and believing this is what has long been

  442. called the Golden Chain of redemption children on your

  443. coloring sheet. You have the golden chain of

  444. redemption. Romans 8:28 through 30.

    Romans 8:28–30

  445. And we know that for those who love God, all things work

  446. together for good. For those who are called

  447. according to his purpose. For Those whom he foreknew.

  448. He also predestined to be conformed, to the image of his

  449. son in order, that he might be the firstborn among many

  450. brothers. And so, you see the ultimate

  451. good. There Christ is the son.

  452. You are being as ones. Have been adopted for known

  453. predestined, you were being conformed to the image of the

  454. Sun. So that Christ might be the

  455. Firstborn among many brothers so that there will be a multitude.

  456. In heaven. One day, singing the Praises of

  457. the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

  458. And Those whom he predestined, he also called, and Those whom

  459. he called, he also Justified and Those whom he justified, he also

  460. glorified his chain again, verses, one through Twenty

  461. Eight. Men are statements of Truth.

  462. The Privileges of the believer in verses, 29 through 32, serve

  463. as the foundation on which all of these truths stand and that

  464. Foundation is laid in the predestination of God.

  465. We receive these privileges and our covenant with Christ were

  466. founded in his blood. Which comes to us by grace

  467. through faith, according to Ephesians 2:8, but they are

    Ephesians 2:8

  468. founded in the wise counsel of God which eternally secures the

  469. time, the entire work for his people.

  470. All that God is doing in your life, is eternally secure in God

  471. because he's the one doing the work and so this is good.

  472. What this means is that Christ is not labor, in vain Christ did

  473. not die on a cross. In vain Christ.

  474. Did not rise again in vain. He Has not exercised.

  475. His lordship over all creation, even now in vain There is a

  476. people of God, reserved for the Son of God as a bride to be

  477. enjoyed for eternity in the new heavens and new earth.

  478. This is sure. And this is what we are seeing

  479. here. In these verses, these verses

  480. have long been referred to as a Golden Chain of redemption.

  481. Those whom he foreknew, he predestined Those whom he

  482. predestined, he called Those whom he called he justified

  483. Those, whom he justified, he glorified each link, then his

  484. interest intricately connected to the leaks before and after

  485. them if you remove any He one of these links, it becomes a shaky

  486. chain. It becomes a shaky hope that you

  487. have a hope really that you cannot stand on its more of

  488. that. Hope like that when you cling to

  489. like, I hope this works out for me as you jump out of the

  490. airplane and prepare to pull the Chute, right?

  491. You're hoping that thing works but that's not the sure and

  492. steady hope that the Paul's been describing here.

  493. What he's been describing is something that you could take to

  494. the bank as we talked about, right?

  495. It's something that you can bet your life on.

  496. It's guaranteed for you, it's reserved for you in heaven.

  497. It's kept Incorruptible and undefiled by anything in this

  498. life and so it's yours because God holds it.

  499. It's in his hands. He works it together and if you

  500. remove any one of these things, You are left to say, well, this

  501. might work out for my eternal good, but I'll have to wait and

  502. see. And that's no hope at all.

  503. That's no Comfort at all. Whether you lose a daughter and

  504. you have to say, well, this might be good.

  505. There's no comfort in that. I just told you, what comforted

  506. Us in that moment was seeing in Scripture, that God means all

  507. things for good. That's comforting.

  508. That's comforting because I can trust that God is.

  509. Sure and steady, everything that God designed for Glory,

  510. everything that he designs for Glory and happiness, is the end

  511. goal, everything that he has a waiting us, he decrees by his

  512. own purposes, to Grace, and Holiness, as the way to get that

  513. in. So he's working in Us by Grace,

  514. making us, holy unto the image of Christ.

  515. So that we enjoy the happiness of God, the blessedness the

  516. joyfulness of being in Christ's what Christ says, if you will

  517. Bay me, John 15. If you will obey me, my joy will

  518. be in you and your joy will be complete.

  519. It'll be full So, you have a happiness now in your Holiness

  520. and that Holiness is working to unto you.

  521. And eternal, good in which you will be glorified with Christ,

  522. forever, his glory, Your Glory, as we saw in John 17, just as he

  523. prays there in John 17, a few weeks ago.

  524. Father, restore to me the glories that I had with you

  525. before the foundation of the Earth.

  526. And then he prays later, I have given my glory to them.

  527. Right? It's his glory is your glory.

  528. He's wanting you. He's saving you unto this

  529. experience that you'll know the glory of God as if it were your

  530. own. And then he Paul writes here,

  531. Those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed, to

  532. the image of his son. Everything that God designed for

  533. Glory and happiness, is the end goal.

  534. He decrees in this, by his purposes, right notice the text

  535. doesn't say Those whom he foreknew to be holy.

  536. It's not saying he Those whom he foreknew to be holy.

  537. That's this understanding as some would hold out that God can

  538. look through because he's God, he can look through the

  539. corridors of time and he can see who will be holy and so he

  540. chooses them. Well, no, that's, that's wrong

  541. because it doesn't say that if you leave out the word

  542. predestined and you could argue that, but that's not what it

  543. says. It says, Those whom he

  544. predestined to be holy Those, whom he predestined to be

  545. conformed, to the image of his son.

  546. Those are the ones who for nude and so is cow.

  547. Counsel is his own. His wisdom is his own as

  548. Providence belongs to him. They do not waver with the fell

  549. with a frail and fickle will of men he's not waiting on your

  550. bidding. They are sure.

  551. God's foreknowledge is best understood in light of his love

  552. for his people. He chooses to love each.

  553. One of us, he's lucky his love for us is the same as his owning

  554. us as his children. We were adopted because he chose

  555. to do so therefore we love him. And that's what we see in verse

  556. 28. We love him.

  557. Those who love him. That all things work together

  558. for good. We love him because he chose us

  559. to be his children as we've seen in previous Passage. 1st John

    John 4:19

  560. 4:19 says, we love because he first loved us.

  561. And first Peter 11 through to Peter, the Apostle, Peter opens

  562. his book. This way, he's riding to a bunch

  563. of Christians and a bunch of different areas in the

  564. dispersion, he says, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ to those

  565. who are elect Exiles of the dispersion according to the

  566. foreknowledge of God. So, they're elect Exiles

  567. according to the foreknowledge of God, the father in The

  568. sanctification of the spirit for the obedience to G4, obedience

  569. to Jesus Christ. And for sprinkling with his

  570. blood, May Grace, and peace, be multiplied to you.

  571. So he attributes this as a work of God as well.

  572. And so Those whom he foreknew those, he predestined to be

  573. conformed, to the image of a son Holiness is consistent being

  574. conformed to the image of Christ.

  575. When we call God, holy, we are saying that he's altogether set

  576. apart. When we say that it is our one.

  577. Let me start here. First, the Bible says for you to

  578. be holy as God is Holy It's command from God for you to be

  579. holy as God has held that. That means you don't get out of

  580. Holiness by saying. Well, this is just the way God

  581. made me. No God didn't make you sinful

  582. and messed up, right? But that is how you are because

  583. of the fall, but God Is recreating You, by his Spirit to

  584. be conformed, to the image of his own son.

  585. He's redeeming everything about you.

  586. You don't get to look at Holiness and say, well, this is

  587. just me, I'm just an angry bitter person.

  588. I just easily upset by things, I'm just whatever.

  589. I got, I just lost, you know, just I just love women, you

  590. know, like, you don't get to say those things.

  591. You don't get out of Holiness because you think that your

  592. sinfulness is too great Christ. Died to save you from your sins.

  593. If you think your sinfulness is great.

  594. What you're in effect saying is that Christ's death is of no

  595. effect for your life. What a terrible place to be.

  596. Well, we know that he died, we know that he rose again.

  597. We know that we have the spirit of God in us as we read in

  598. previous verses Romans 8:13 she put to death the Deeds of the

    Romans 8:13

  599. flesh. According to the spirit is alive

  600. in you, you will walk according to the spirit, right?

  601. So there is work to do but Holiness is becoming like

  602. Christ. It's to Behold The Glory of

  603. Jesus Christ for so long and so well and and to continue looking

  604. at him and when you take your gaze away, it's to repent and to

  605. turn back into look at Christ again and say he is my example.

  606. He's my Mark, he's the affection of my life, he is what I long to

  607. behold, I will Look at him unto psyched if ocation I'll be

  608. Sanctified as I Behold Him. That's what Paul says in 2nd

  609. Corinthians Chapter 3 beholding The Glory of Christ.

  610. We are transformed from one degree of glory to the next.

  611. And so Christ is the image of the father.

  612. We were told that he is the exact imprint of his nature.

  613. And here what we are told is that we are the image of Christ,

  614. we're supposed to be we are being worked into made into

  615. shaped into the image of Christ. We have the spirit of Christ if

  616. we are meant to walk and to live as Christ, did we ought to Bear

  617. our sufferings patiently as Christ.

  618. If You see it's by the work of God for us in Christ Jesus that

  619. we have the image of God restored to us and God's

  620. likeness renewed upon us. This is how he's molding and

  621. shaping us into the image of Christ.

  622. It's by faith in Christ. It's by all of his work through

  623. crisis by saving us from our sins in crisis, by putting his

  624. Spirit on us because of the work of Christ.

  625. Everything comes down to Christ, doing the work, and God using

  626. the work of Christ. By the spirit of God to

  627. transform us into the image of Christ.

  628. It's Christ Christ, Christ through, and through That's what

  629. salvation and sanctification and glorification are about their,

  630. about praising the name of Jesus.

  631. They're about looking unto him. And so we cannot conform

  632. ourselves to Christ rather. We give ourselves to Christ and

  633. that happens it takes rise in us because God has given us to

  634. Christ. You understand that like you

  635. don't want you don't have desires for Christ except that

  636. God has given you to Christ already.

  637. He works it in you and insu in doing so he predestines you to

  638. be conformed to the same image of his son.

  639. This is how, you know, if you were yet called by God beside,

  640. you know, if you were yet in the faith family, are you being

  641. conformed into the image of Christ?

  642. Do you desire? Do you desire Christ?

  643. Do you desire to put off sinfulness and to be holy as God

  644. is? Holy does your love for God?

  645. Reflect the sun's love for God. I don't mean perfectly.

  646. We'll never do it perfectly. I just mean, is there any

  647. remnant of such Desires in you? Is there any examples of such

  648. Desires in you? If so, then you are a brother or

  649. sister to the firstborn among many brothers.

  650. He has preeminence in all things.

  651. He is the head of the family of God.

  652. He deserves all honor and praise and glory due.

  653. His name, and praise be to God. For seeing fit to call us as

  654. Sons and Daughters to himself in Christ.

  655. Jesus, he is Christ, is the Son of God.

  656. And so we are now the children of God through God's gracious,

  657. adoption, it may seem that there are only a few children of God,

  658. right? You might look around the world.

  659. Look at the news. News and think, man, there are

  660. just a few children of God in this world.

  661. Well, if you look at any one day or any one place, or any one

  662. time, it might seem that way. However, when all the children

  663. of God come together on the last day, it will be a multitude.

  664. That John says in his Revelation ID, that is too great to number.

  665. A multitude that is too great to number a people from every tribe

  666. tongue and Nation called, by God, to be his children and

  667. co-heirs with Christ, when God takes Abraham out and out of his

  668. tent and into the dark lit night.

  669. He tells him to look into the sky and to Number the Stars, if

  670. he can What she could not do. And he tells him.

  671. So will the Nations be blessed in you?

  672. There's this will be your people.

  673. And we know that we are in Abraham if we have faith in

  674. Christ. Amen.

  675. We are numbered among Israel. If we have faith in Christ, I

  676. don't mean Israel. The current Nation.

  677. I mean, Israel, the people of God in the Old Testament, were

  678. numbered among those whom were reading on now.

  679. Those whom he predestined, he also called, and Those whom he

  680. called, he also Justified everyone that is affectionately

  681. called by God will be justified. This means they are declared

  682. free from the debt of sin, which is death, Romans 6:23, the wages

    Romans 6:23

  683. of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal

  684. life through Jesus Christ. Our Lord you are accepted, you

  685. were adopted, I should say as righteous through Jesus Christ.

  686. Second Corinthians 5:21 for our sake.

    2 Corinthians 5:21

  687. He made him to be sin who knew no sin.

  688. So that in him, we might become the righteousness of God, our

  689. sin on him was laid. Amen.

  690. His righteousness on us was Laid in John chapter 6, as Jesus is

    John 6 chapter mention

  691. describing himself as the bread of life and anyone who will eat

  692. of him will have eternal life. He says this, he says all that

  693. the father gives me will come to me.

  694. Your effectually called, you are Justified.

  695. All that the father gives me will come to me, and whoever

  696. comes to me, I will never cast out John 6:44.

    John 6:44

  697. No one can come to me, just a few verses later.

  698. No one can come to me. Unless the father who sent me

  699. draws that person and I will raise him up on the last day.

  700. Glorified right? You see it there.

  701. I mean, Jesus teaching in John chapter 6, The the calling the

    John 6 chapter mention

  702. justification, the sanctification and the

  703. glorification of the believer, John 6:47, truly, truly just a

    John 6:47

  704. few verses later, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal

  705. life, whoever believes in Christ as Lord, and Savior has eternal

  706. life. Amen.

  707. Boo. Because of the work of the

  708. father and calling us to himself through Christ.

  709. We are free from the guilt of every sin.

  710. We have committed your free from the guilt of every sin.

  711. You've committed or will commit. No sin, can condemn you Romans

    Romans 8:1

  712. 8:1 right there is therefore now no condemnation for those who

  713. are in Jesus. So for all who believe in Jesus

  714. Christ, the Declaration is made. The Declaration is final.

  715. It will not be reversed. We are no longer criminals and

  716. Heavens cork. We are owned and loved as God's

  717. children. His favor is on us as it is on

  718. his own son. Blessed, are you who have had

  719. your sins erased by God's forgiveness, none or justified

  720. in this way except those whom God calls to himself, those who

  721. will not hear the call of the Gospel?

  722. We remain under guilt and wrath but to all who will repent of

  723. their sins and believe in Christ Jesus, as Lord this day they

  724. will be saved and they will receive eternal life.

  725. Those whom he justified, he also glorified the power of our sin

  726. is broken and God's calling us. The thing that keeps you from

  727. coming to Christ, is the power of your sin over.

  728. You, you are a slave to sin. Your slave to sin, you're dead

  729. in your trespasses and sins. Ephesians 2, 1 3, 3 sets.

  730. But the power of sin is broken when God calls you.

  731. The guilt of sin is removed when God justifies you.

  732. Everything. This is what this means.

  733. Now, there, everybody pay attention to everything, which

  734. stands in the way of you, receiving the glory of Christ,

  735. your sin, and your sinfulness, your guilt of sin.

  736. Everything was stands in the way of Glory has now been removed by

  737. God's calling you and by God's justifying, you praise the Lord.

  738. There's nothing that stands in the way between you and the

  739. Lord, nothing can hinder your soul.

  740. So from reaching Glory, if you believe these things you believe

  741. that Christ is Lord notice here that glorified is in the past

  742. tense, so it just gets better. It was better than a while.

  743. Man was that guy's eye anyway, whatever.

  744. Billy something, the commercials, right?

  745. And wait, there's more right notice that glorified is in the

  746. past tense. That you're not yet glorified

  747. Paul riding this wasn't yet glorified.

  748. The people he's riding to he expects.

  749. They're going to read it so they're not yet clarified,

  750. right? It's in the past tense.

  751. It's a thing which is already been accomplished in eternity

  752. future. God is saying through Paul here.

  753. Your glorification is certain yes it's spoken of as oh I've

  754. already done it. God has saved us.

  755. God has called us with a high and holy calling in his loving

  756. and providential purpose. He accomplishes the salvation of

  757. his people. When Christ was Sent in Matthew

    Matthew 1 chapter mention

  758. chapter 1, we read that he will be called Jesus because he saves

  759. his people from their sins, but there wasn't a mission with no

  760. with no Victory inside. It wasn't a mission that was

  761. just like well we roll the dice here and see if this works.

  762. God talking to the sun, you can see it in heaven, right?

  763. Like I'm going to send you down, the people are going to reject

  764. you real bad. Like they're going to nail you

  765. to a cross. They're going to kill you.

  766. And then we'll just see all right.

  767. This is all I know to do. We'll just see if this works

  768. out. No.

  769. No, no, no. The atonement of Christ is

  770. definite for his people. But it's not lacking, it's not

  771. lacking, right? He dies, because there was a

  772. people already predestined by The Calling of God to become the

  773. people of God. People who were going to be

  774. Sanctified and glorified a people who were going to be in

  775. heaven, ones that John lays eyes on us as man.

  776. It's a number two. Great to count.

  777. The multitude is large and its people from every tribe tongue

  778. and nation in there. Singing the Praises of God It's

  779. sure Those whom he justified. He also glorified.

  780. There's nothing about that. That you would say, no, it's

  781. past tense, it's done. Its accomplished.

  782. This is what he longed for this is what God was doing in Genesis

    Genesis 3 chapter mention

  783. chapter 3. When he looks at the serpent he

  784. says I'm going to put enmity between you and the woman.

  785. Well, the seed of the woman. You'll bruise his heel but he

  786. will crush your head. God knew this is why he calls

  787. Eve. The mother of all living it's

  788. not simply I mean it is that she's a woman and that is women

  789. are made to be motherly. Absolutely.

  790. But it's even further than that right?

  791. It's it's that she was going to be the mother of all living

  792. according to God. What was the pronouncement of

  793. the Judgment death? In the day that you eat of it,

  794. you will surely die, Eve will be become the mother of all living.

  795. Was that me? It's going to be the mother to

  796. all who place their faith in Christ in a sense, right?

  797. Christ is going to come. He's going to make a way for all

  798. to, to be made, right to be redeemed from their sins

  799. Justified freely glorified, right?

  800. She's the mother of all living in that sense that she was going

  801. to that through her seed was going to come Christ.

  802. The head. Crusher, amazing, nothing less

  803. than this satisfies. The purposes of God, this is

  804. what he means. When he wants to show the

  805. glories of a redemption in full, he means for us to see that

  806. there is a real people of God, just as there was always a

  807. remnant of Israel and all the dispersions, and all the

  808. Captivity Tsar was always a Remnant who would repent and

  809. return to the Lord. So, is there a remnant of the

  810. church? There's a remnant of God's

  811. people. Who will dwell in heaven with

  812. him and his so all that he does for us all that he does in US

  813. Works unto this great end of glorification.

  814. Are God's people, chosen. Yes, unto salvation.

  815. Are they called if so does unto his kingdom and Glory?

  816. Are they born again? It is unto an Incorruptible

  817. inheritance. Are they Afflicted?

  818. Well, it's working for them and exceeding and eternal weight of

  819. Glory. So you could things for 16

  820. through 18. We do not lose heart though.

  821. Our outer self is wasting away. Our inner self is being renewed

  822. day, by day. For this life.

  823. Momentary Affliction is preparing for us, an eternal

  824. weight of Glory beyond all comparison.

  825. As we look not to the things that are seeing, but the things

  826. that are unseen, Seen for the things that are seen are

  827. transient, but the things that are seen, are things that are

  828. unseen are eternal. All things, all things work

  829. together for the good, the Eternal good of those who love

  830. God and are called, according to his purpose.

  831. I want you to notice we're Hope rest.

  832. The author of all of these works is the same.

  833. The author of every one of these is the same.

  834. It's not Paul, it's not you, it's not your grandmother went

  835. to church, all right, it's God. That's God.

  836. What we see here is that God predestines God calls, God

  837. justifies God, glorifies his people.

  838. And if he's doing the work, you can have sure, hope because he's

  839. doing the work, you have sure. Hope our created Wills are so

  840. fickle. We don't know what we want from

  841. day to day. Created powers on this Earth are

  842. so feeble compared to God. They're not all powerful, they

  843. may have power, but they're not all powerful. if our submit, if

  844. our Salvation depended on our will or on some created Power,

  845. and we would be doomed. But God himself undertakes, the

  846. work of Salvation, from beginning to end.

  847. It is his work so that we might constantly depend upon him so

  848. that we might constantly subject ourselves to his providential

  849. care of our Lives even when we go Kicking and Screaming into

  850. it. In doing so.

  851. Promise. From the scriptures.

  852. And from my own experience, you will taste and see that.

  853. God is good. You'll taste and see that.

  854. He is good. When we ascribe all praise and

  855. glory to his great name, It's because you have tasted and seen

  856. that he's good. And we will one day, along with

  857. the multitude of saints in Heaven cast every Crown Before

  858. the Throne of Christ, declare him righteous and holy declare

  859. him, lovely and perfect. Declare ourselves unfit, for

  860. such a great king, and Kingdom, these truths of Romans 8 must

  861. serve. They must serve, it's the

  862. greatest chapter in the Bible. They must serve as a mighty

  863. encouragement to your faith and your hope in these truths, we

  864. see that God's ways and works are perfect from beginning to

  865. end. He's working together for the

  866. good of all who love God and are called according to his purpose.

  867. It's working together. All things for the good of all

  868. who love God and are called according to his purpose.

  869. Amen, you stand to your feet. Let's prepare to receive the

  870. Lord's Supper this morning. Go ahead and bite the ushers to

  871. come forward. Only give you a couple of

  872. instructions about the Lord's Supper here.

  873. First of all, if you are a believer in Christ Jesus,

  874. whether you're a member here or not, you're a believer in the in

  875. Christ. Baptized.

  876. Hot then we invite you to receive the Lord's supper with

  877. us today. There is on the tray, any gluten

  878. free peoples. There's a gluten-free option,

  879. that's marked. So, make note of that, and I'm

  880. going to invite the worship team to sing.

  881. Now going to bite you to worship the new song called day by day

  882. and sing the words of it. And then I'll come and lead us

  883. in worship. Let me say this real quick and

  884. the Lord's Supper, there are two great promises and I want you to

  885. think about these things. As you see, As you examine your

  886. own heart and mind, as you prepare to receive the Lord's.

  887. Supper you confess your sins now.

  888. There's two great promises for you to remember as you trust

  889. that God is working all things together for the good of those

  890. who love him and are called according to his purpose.

  891. The first is this Christ died for Sinners.

  892. That's what the Lord's Supper showing us.

  893. That there was a real broken body.

  894. There was a real event where blood was spilled for the

  895. Forgiveness of the sins of God's people and when you eat and you

  896. drink, you're saying, I'm feasting on Christ.

  897. I'm trusting in this new covenant in his blood.

  898. And then the second grade truth to help us see that he's working

  899. together. All things for good is that he's

  900. coming again. He's coming again, Paul rides at

  901. the end of his instructions on Lord suffered that as long as

  902. you as often as you eat and drink this, eat this bread and

  903. drink this cup you proclaim, the Lord's death until he comes.

  904. Christ is coming for you. Heaven is coming for you.

  905. It's there. It's sure you will be glorified.

  906. So eat and drink today and Faith, repent of your sins and

  907. Eden drank take of the Lord in faith today.

  908. But sing