Conformity to Christ

Transcript

GR 1444
10/03/10
Conformity to Christ
Romans 8:29-30
Gil Rugh

This morning we are in Romans 8. One commentator that I was reading made the observation that Romans 8-9 are the greatest chapters on the sovereignty of God in all the scripture. And it's sometimes hard to pick a chapter or two that is the greatest on a subject, but I think a case could be made when we talk about the sovereignty of God and His work in salvation, we find a very clear and somewhat detailed presentation of this matter that has become and has been, not just become recently but became early in the church history, a point of disagreement and debate.

We've noted several times Romans 8 is the chapter that refers to the work of the Holy Spirit, referring to the Holy Spirit by name more often than any other chapter in the Bible. Interestingly Paul has unfolded God's work of salvation beginning with our sin and the hopelessness of our condition as sinners guilty and condemned before God. He moved on to talk about the righteousness God provided in Jesus Christ for all who will believe in Him. He has proceeded to talk about the provision that God made for us to live new lives as a result of having been justified by faith in Christ. But it's not until chapter 8 that the central role of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer is developed and explained. And the new life we have in Christ is not lived in our own energy and strength, but the Holy Spirit of God now dwells within each and every believer. And what a great blessing to know the Holy Spirit dwells in each and every believer, not for a select group of believers. The division is between those who belong to God through faith in Christ and those who do not, and everyone who has been born again by faith in Christ has the Holy Spirit of God dwelling in them.

In Romans 8:9 we are told “. . . if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.” Verse 11: “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.” And in the section we are looking at in our time together today, Paul will be talking about this very fact—the work of the indwelling Holy Spirit which will culminate in His giving life to these physical bodies and bringing about the remarkable transformation called glorification, where this body is transformed from a body of humility and weakness and suffering and so on, to a body of indescribable glory, a body like Jesus Christ Himself had after His resurrection from the dead. And the same Holy Spirit that gave that glorious resurrection body to Christ will give us our resurrection body as well.

Down in Romans 8:17, talked about the fact that we are heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, fellow heirs with Jesus Christ, if we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him. When we talk about the glory and so on, we have to explain the suffering. And the sufferings of this present time, verse 18 told us, are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is going to be revealed to us. So it's important that we as God's people understand God's plan of suffering and the part that it plays in His work of preparing us for ultimate future glory. And much of the bad theology being bantered about today and being proclaimed from pulpits in different places is a result of failing to understand and appreciate and faithfully deal with the word of God on this subject.

God does not say because we have become His children, we will be spared from suffering. He does promise that because we are His children, we will ultimately experience glorious victory over all suffering. And even the suffering we go through is part of the purpose of the sovereign God to prepare us for coming glory. Down through that section, verses 18-25, he talked about our anticipation of the promised hope, that future glory.

He told us in verses 26-27 that the Spirit of Christ who dwells in us helps us in our weaknesses and infirmities, the difficulties and trials, the struggles of living life in this fallen world. In all of it the Holy Spirit is working on our behalf. He is interceding for us with God the Father. Even when we don't know what to pray for or how to pray, the Holy Spirit prays, intercedes, from the mind of the Spirit to the mind of the Father with unspeakable communication---couldn't be put into words. It takes place on the divine level.

So verse 28, a section where we've been looking. “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” Sometimes you'll hear people say, maybe that you work with, something goes wrong or there are some problems in their lives and they say, well everything works for the best. That's not true. Everything does not work for the best; everything does not work for good. For some people the tragedies in life are final tragedies, they are hopeless losses, they are crushing defeats. There is nothing good in it for them. All things work together for good by the sovereign work of God to those who are loving God, to those who are called according to His purpose, according to Romans 8:28. You can have two people in a hospital, rooms next to each other with the same crushing disease that is destroying their bodies, causing overwhelming pain and suffering. For the one who is not loving God, who has not been called according to His purpose that is a great tragedy. There is no good in it, it is bringing misery to their life, it will bring their life to an end and break all the relationships that are dear to them. It will end all their hopes and dreams. It is not working together for good to them. But for the believer in the next room enduring the same suffering, the same pain, the same devastating and crushing disease that will bring their life to an end, they can have the inner peace and confidence that their heavenly Father is working even this together for their good. Because it is love for them, even this awful disease is being used for good as He prepares them for the marvelous glory of His presence. It can be no greater difference and distinction. And we as believers in Jesus Christ don't want to play down the tremendous difference.

Terrible tragedies come in this life, but the worst things to come in the life of the child of God are governed by the sovereign hand of a loving God and are part of His purposes for good in our lives. Outside of Jesus Christ no one has that confidence. An unbeliever will say to me, this is the worst tragedy that has ever come. It has brought hopelessness and despair to my life. All I can say is I can understand that, your life is hopeless, there is no purpose in it. But I can tell you One who can bring purpose to your life even in this tragedy. And this tragedy can be turned to great good because perhaps soon you would come to realize your need of a Savior.

That's what Paul is unfolding here. God causes all things to work together for good to those who are loving Him, to those who are the called according to His purpose. We have looked already at this verse and that last statement “called according to His purpose.” The two statements here are parallel, two participle phrases. They are being called according to His purpose, they are loving God. Called according to His purpose. What is the purpose of God? What he does for us in verses 29-30 is unfold the eternal purpose of God, and he takes us back before the creation of the earth to found the purpose of God and the action of God. Then he'll take us to the future glory when this sin-cursed earth is totally transformed as we see the sovereign purpose of God and how He is working His salvation in the lives of those that He has placed His love upon.

So verse 29 says, “For those whom He foreknew He also predestined. . .” We talked about this word “foreknow.” When you talk about God foreknowing something, and I realize I am repeating, but you must be clear on this. The major difference between Calvinism and Arminianism hinges on this word “foreknow.” What does it mean that God foreknows? Is it like a human being who foreknows something? We just have a good idea about the future. You go to the doctor as we've talked about and you say, what is your prognosis? That's the Greek word,” prognosis.” “Pro” means “before” and “gnosis” is “knowledge.” It's the knowledge beforehand. But you're asking the medical doctor in light of his expertise and experience and training, what is his best guess about the outcome of your condition, about the hopes of survival and so on. When we talk about God, we're not talking about just knowing something ahead of time. We're talking about an action. And we've looked into the Old Testament references.

You have to go back to the Old Testament. The word “know” in the Old Testament is often used of an intimacy, a love. Genesis 4:1, Adam knew his wife and she conceived. It's used of marital love. We use it that way, we talk about carnal knowledge. We're talking about sexual activity, using the word “know” with more than just having facts about something. So that's the background. In the Old Testament you have about the knowledge of God and His people, He's placing His love upon them. We looked at Amos 3:2 where God said to Israel, you only have I known of all the families of the earth. You're the only nation on the earth that I placed my love upon, that I chose for Myself, is the idea.

So when we come to the New Testament when you are talking about the foreknowledge of God, that word is used of God five times in the New Testament, we looked at those passages, you're talking about what God did beforehand, His foreknowledge. He placed His love upon them, He chose them before.

So we see in verse 29, for those whom He foreknew, that He placed His love upon, that He chose for Himself. We'll get more into the details of that when we get into chapter 9. But for right now, He placed His love upon them. When He foreknew them, that goes back before the foundation of the world, that goes back before the creation of the earth. Ephesians 1 tells us that.

Whom He foreknew He predestined, He predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son so that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. So he goes from “foreknow” to “predestine.” Then when you come to verse 30 he'll go from “predestine” to “called,” then he'll go from “called” to “justified,” he'll go from “justified” to “glorified.” And in those five words you have summarized in concise statements, in a concise way the sovereign work of God in salvation, from beginning to end. It begins with foreknowledge, it ends in glorification. So all those whom He foreknew He predestined, He destined beforehand, He foreordained. Predestined. So when He placed His love, He chose these individuals, He predestined them. Predestined them for what? To be conformed to the image of His Son. Conformed to the image of His Son.

You know you understand, when we sometimes think of God--- saved us from the penalty of hell, now we can go on with our life, knowing we don't have to be concerned where we will spend eternity. But you understand when God placed His love upon us in eternity past, He then predestined us, He destined us for something sure—to be conformed to the image of His Son, Jesus Christ. Conformed to the image of His Son. God's intention is that we be like Jesus Christ. _______________ say that we be a mirror image, a mirror image of Jesus Christ.

I've shared with you that when I was a Bible college student many years ago, I had a professor who would often pray at the beginning of a class, “Lord, make us little christs.” I thought, little christs, that just doesn't sound good. But the point was clear—make us just like Jesus Christ. Not that we become deity, you can't become deity because one of the attributes of God is eternality. He has always been God. But I become like Him in my moral character, my conduct reflects the character of God. That's why we can be described in verse 28 as those loving God. Jesus Christ loved His Father, and what is connected to that, and He always did the things pleasing to Him. We noted the connection of love and obedience in our previous study. We are predestined to become conformed. Everyone foreknown is predestined to a certain destiny—conformity to Jesus Christ. Whom He foreknew He predestined.

I want to look at just a few passages with you. Go to Philippians 3. There are two aspects to this conformity that I want you to pick up. This one is the future one where we are going to go in a moment in Romans 8:30, the work of God will reach its culmination when we are glorified. Look at Philippians 3:20: “For our citizenship is in heaven,” in contrast to those who don't know Christ. Paul says with a broken heart, according to verse 18, “. . . they are enemies of the cross of Christ,” their end is destruction, their God is their appetite, fleshly desires. Their glory is in their shame, they set their mind on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for a Savior, waiting for the coming again of Jesus Christ, who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity. There is our word, “into conformity with the body of His glory.” Remember we read earlier in Romans 8, the Spirit who indwells us will bring life, resurrection to our bodies at a future time. That's what we're talking about here. This body of our humble state, the body of humility, the body of suffering and pain will be transformed to bring it into conformity with the body of His glory. We're going to have a body just like Jesus Christ had when He was raised from the dead. We spend a lot of time trying to salvage this body, and the older we get the more attention it takes. We have all kinds of treatments today and things to be done, and I'm not against beautifying the body. But we understand you can't save this body. I mean, it's going downhill. Some of you are young, but you get older you find out you just solved the problem by not looking in the mirror as often. And you definitely wait until you have put on some decent attire before you look. That's fine, but you know what? This body is undergoing a transformation. This body that gets overtaken by pain and suffering and ultimately death, some day is going to be a body just like Jesus Christ had when He was raised from the dead. That's what it says, conformity with the body of His glory.

How is that going to happen? By the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself. Only God could do it, take this mortal body of weakness and transform it just like the body the Son of God had when He was raised from the dead. That's the transformation, to bring us into conformity to Christ.

Turn over to Colossians 3. And here again, talking about those who have experienced the spiritual resurrection already with Christ, as we talked about in Romans 6. That's how Colossians 3:1 opened up, “. . .if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.” Set your mind on things above, not on the things on earth. Verse 5, “. . .consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, greed which amounts to idolatry,” because these things will bring the wrath of God on the sons of disobedience. Remember believers are those loving God, and those who love God obey God. We saw where Jesus Christ explained in the gospel of John that unbelievers are characterized as sons of disobedience, they are characterized by lives of disobedience to God.

And we were all like them, verse 7, “and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them.” Now you also put them all aside—anger, wrath, malice, slander, abusive speech, don't lie to one another. You have laid aside the old man with its evil practices, note this, and have put on the new man who is being renewed to a true knowledge. Remember that expression, “renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him.” So you'll note we are not only predestined to be conformed to Christ in the bodily glory that is His, but we are predestined to be conformed to the character of Christ. Another process that begins the moment we believe in Christ---we are born again. We are born into the family of God. Paul wrote to the Corinthians and said, if any man be in Christ he is a new creature, a new creation. Old things have passed away, behold new things have come. I'm not the man I used to be, I'm a new man in Christ. Now I live as that new man and the process is going on of “being renewed,” verse 10 says, “to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him.” That's the work of God.

Come back to II Corinthians 3:18: “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord.” Now the analogy comes, there are people who look at the word of God and they have a veil over their face. They can't see the truth of the revelation God has given. But we all who have believed in Christ have had the veil lifted because of what he has said earlier, the veil is lifted in Christ. “We all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord.” As we are looking into the word of God, beholding the glory of Christ as it is revealed in the word, you see what is happening. We are looking into the word of God, it's like a mirror. We look into the word and see Christ. But what if something supernatural is happening in the mirror of the word. We are being transformed into the same image, we are being transformed into the image of Christ from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit. That process is underway and the process of being conformed to His glory is already at work and it will culminate in the glorification that will take place when my body and my character are completely brought into conformity to Jesus Christ and His moral character and His bodily glory.

It is going on now. Why are we here studying the word? Not just to learn facts but to have the Spirit of God take that truth and so use it in our lives that that change takes place, change that takes place like our children. They eat properly and day by day, little by little growth and development to maturity take place. So with us, we take in the word and we submit to that word and a supernatural process is taking place because it happens from the Lord the Spirit. It's the Spirit of God working. That's why an unbeliever can sit and hear the word of God week in and week out, nothing happens. But a believer takes it in and submits to it and a life is changed and more of the character of God is seen in that life day by day, week by week, month by month. And we will ultimately experience that transformation by being brought into His presence.

Come back to Romans 8. There is both the present aspect and the future. And for those that are predestined to be conformed to His glory, He is going to carry it to the ultimate end when we are glorified in His presence. But we see the scripture says we are being transformed into conformity to that image, began when we were born into His family, partakers of the divine nature. I John 3 says that's why the believer can't live in sin—the seed of God dwells in him. Now it's the character of God being produced, the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5.

Back to Romans 8. God's intention for those that He foreknew, placed His love upon, chose for Himself. It predestined them to be conformed to the image of His Son so that His Son might be the firstborn among many brethren. What we read earlier in Romans 8:17, if children of God, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ. He is to be the firstborn among many brethren. The firstborn has the priority, the place of supremacy. But God's intention was that through Christ, a whole host of children would be born. The work of salvation was to provide for us. So Christ is the firstborn to experience the glorification of the body as a man. But for mankind, that was to provide a way for our salvation. As the Son of God dwelling in eternity, He had glory. Isaiah 6, the seraphim of heaven cried holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, referring to Jesus Christ. John 12 tells us, but as man he experienced suffering and ultimate death, resurrection and glory. And He was providing that for us so that we could share. He is the firstborn, He has the priority but He has provided for all who believe in Him.

What a privilege. We are privileged to be identified with Christ. We don't become God, what we do is become the children of God. Now we do have a unique relationship of intimacy with Christ and with His Father. But how can we grasp it with these finite minds. I am a child of God, I belong to Him, He is my Father. That relationship of intimacy is eternal. We are predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son---the ultimate realization so that we can join with Him as fellow heirs.

Now he goes back to pick up. He elaborated on predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son so that His Son might be the firstborn among many brethren. But now let's go back and pick up that word “predestined,” what follows it. So those whom He foreknew, He predestined. Verse 30, those whom He predestined, He also called. Every person foreknown by God was predestined by God; every person predestined by God to be conformed to the image of His Son was called by God. The call here, as we talked about in connection with verse 28, believers are described as those being called by God, refers to what we call the effectual call, remember. It's the effectual call because it's the call that is always effective. There is a general call that goes out to all people, inviting them to come. “Come unto Me all you that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest,” Jesus said. God commands all everywhere to repent, for He has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead. But there is the more specific call of God that reaches out to those that He foreknew and predestined. That all happened before the foundation of the world, the foreknowing and predestining. The call brings us into time. He called them. That is the gracious work of God in calling---where the Spirit of God so moves upon a heart and life that that person opens his eyes to see and realize he is a sinner, and Jesus Christ is the only Savior. He bows before Him, believing that He died for him, and he trusts in Him. That's what we're talking about with the call here. He called them. It's a call that has brought them to salvation because everyone foreknown was predestined; everyone predestined was called. Everyone called will be justified, we'll see in a moment.

Come back to I Thessalonians. I just selected some verses from I Thessalonians and II Thessalonians to show this use of called. That way we won't have to move through a number of books. It's just an example of how “the called” refers to believers. Paul only uses it to refer to believers, not the general call for all to come and believe in Christ who would, but the specific call that results always in the person responding in faith. So in I Thessalonians 2:12, he writes to them and implores them “so that you would walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.” You see ultimately that call of God to salvation is a call to His eternal purposes. And the kingdom that will be established and its glory, the glory of God, we will share in that. So you see it's the God who calls you. Walk in a manner of the God who calls you to His kingdom and glory.

In I Thessalonians 4:3, “. . . this is the will of God, your sanctification.” We've been talking about the doctrine of sanctification in Romans, we picked it up in chapter 6. That is, you abstain from sexual immorality. Verse 7, “For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification,” in holiness. Sanctify, holy, saint, all come from the same basic Greek word. Those to be set apart from sin for God, to live holy lives. So he who rejects this is not rejecting man, but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you. You'll note that God has called us. He has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but He has called us in sanctification. That's the call of God, and that call that brings us to salvation is to be conformed to His Son. It is for sanctification, for holiness, it is the character of our Savior, His holiness. He was totally sanctified, set apart from sin. God calls us, not so we can now be sure of eternity and we can live in impurity if we want. He has called us in sanctification, in holiness, to live lives set apart for Him. And if you reject that you are rejecting the ministry of the Holy Spirit in your life. That call.

Look in I Thessalonians 5:24, “Faithful is He who calls you, and He will also bring it to pass.” And that's basically a one statement summary of what we have in the verses we are looking at in Romans 8:29-30. It's the sovereign purpose of God. So faithful is He who calls you, He will bring it to pass. That's settled and secure. So that effectual call that brought you to salvation, He'll bring to pass, its appointed result. So, He who calls you.

Look over in II Thessalonians 2:14. You see how the sovereign work of God occurs. Verse 13, “we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord because God has chosen you from the beginning. . .” That's what we saw. Foreknown, we go back before the foundation of the world. That would be His foreknowledge, His choosing, for salvation. How does that happen? Through sanctification by the Spirit, the work of the Spirit setting us apart, and our believing in the truth and faith in the truth. We'll say more about that in a little bit. It was for this, note this, “He called you through our gospel, that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Remember Philippians 3:21? We are looking for the Lord from glory and He'll transform this body into conformity with the body of His glory. It was for this He called you through our gospel. The saving work of God always occurs through the proclamation of the gospel. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ, we'll see when we get to Romans 10. No one is ever saved apart from hearing the glorious message of Jesus Christ. And no one is ever saved by just hearing that message. We are saved by hearing that message and believing it. Faith. He called you through our gospel that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's where we're going in Romans 8.

All right come back to Romans 8. Those whom He foreknew, He predestined; those that He predestined, He called; those that He called, He justified, in Romans 8:30. So you'll note everyone that He foreknew, He predestined; everyone that He predestined, He called; everyone He called, He justified. Justified, declared righteous, declared absolved of all guilt. It's a legal term, remember. It's used that way in the Old Testament. Deuteronomy 25:1 talks about it in the context of judges exercising their ..... If there is a dispute between men and they go to court and the judges decide their case, they justify the righteous. There is our word, they justify the righteous, they declare them absolved of guilt. And condemn the wicked. The opposite of being justified is being condemned. There is no condemnation, Romans 8 started out, to those who are in Christ Jesus. We have been justified because the work of Christ has provided righteousness for us. So when it says He justified them........

Come back to Romans 3. Romans 3:21-5:21 was about God's work of justification, providing His righteousness for sinful human beings. Verse 21 said, “now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested. . .” That's what we need. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. God demands the perfection of His character in the person that will be acceptable before Him. The righteousness of God has been manifested. Verse 22, “even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. . .” And if you were part of that study when we were in Romans 3, 4 and into 5, you may have your Bible marked with all the words “faith” and “ believe.” The noun and the verb are the same Greek word, “faith, believe.” How is it applied to us? Well, when we hear the gospel, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ. You hear the word of Christ and by the gracious work of the Spirit you come to believe. The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ.

You know we want to be careful. We talk about faith and we have faith-based initiatives, and people of faith getting together. In other words, faith is used as no matter what your particular religious beliefs are, we are people of faith. You understand that is nothing, it means nothing, faith accomplishes nothing. Everyone has faith, the atheist has faith, he believes there is no God; the agnostic has faith, he believes you can't know. Every religion is a religion of faith. It does nothing to save a person. Faith does nothing to save a person. Hell will be filled with people of faith. There is only one object of faith that saves. Romans 3:22, “the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ.” That's it, and there is the verse I just referred to. Verse 23, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation, a satisfaction to satisfy the demands of His holiness and paying the penalty of your sin, in His blood through faith.

You see only those who have come to understand their sinful, lost condition and believe that Jesus Christ's death on the cross is the full and complete and only payment for sin---that is saving faith. James reminds us, even the demons believe, they have faith. Their faith is so great they tremble before God, but they are not saved. Every single demon will spend eternity in hell. Yet they are beings of great faith, but it is not saving faith.

So we are justified by faith. And if you weren't here and don't have your Bible marked, you ought to go through Romans 3, 4 and into 5 because chapter 5 begins, we have been justified by faith. Why? Because verses 24-25 of chapter 4 talk about the finished work of Christ. So justification, we have been declared righteous. So everyone called is justified, but that call always results in their believing. And as a result of their believing in Christ they are justified, declared righteous by God.

So come back to Romans 8, and those whom He justified, He also glorified. That's the culmination, that's where it is all going. So you see we've gone from beginning to end. From before the creation, God knew us and predestined us. In time, He called us and justified us and in the future for all eternity we will be glorified, brought into complete conformity to Jesus Christ, both as to His character and to His bodily glory.

Now interesting, as I noted for you, all five of these verbs here, starting with “foreknew” and ending with “glorified,” are in the aorist tense, usually used for past tense events. All these events for us as believers—foreknew, predestined, called, justified—we've all experienced that. Glorified, well Romans 8:17 says, if we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him in the future. Verse 18, “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” This glory is called a hope in that section in Romans 8. But here Paul uses the aorist tense for “glorified” as well, past tense. Why? Well, remember we are talking about, verse 28, those who are called according to His purpose. Those called according to His purpose---all things work together for good because you understand the purpose of God. We are called according to His purpose. That purpose started in eternity past when He foreknew us and predestined us. Now as those that He has called to Himself, we have experienced His justification. And since it is the purpose of God, it cannot be frustrated, so we can talk about our glorification as done as well. It's all done, it's set, it's accomplished, it's sure. We just haven't taken possession of that part yet. But there is no doubt.

That's why we can back up to verse 28 and say, we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who are loving God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. How can you say that? Well, you understand this purpose of God goes back before there was a world, and this purpose of God includes after this present world. I mean, it is all encompassed. So I am a child of God for time and eternity. He is working His purposes in me and I am secure. We're talking about the sovereignty of God. We'll get more into that as we move along and go into chapter 9. It's one of the great comforts for the child of God. I don't understand much about it---there are questions I have. God is totally, absolutely sovereign and I am completely and fully responsible. How does that just fit together in a nice ........... I don't know. I know He is sovereign and working His purposes. I take great comfort in that. I am responsible before Him. I must believe in Him.

Some are sitting here who have never believed in Christ, thinking well, He didn't foreknow me, didn't choose me, I guess I can never be saved. You know the Bible puts the full responsibility on you. Whosoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. If you believe in Him, He will save you. God commands all everywhere to repent, turn from your sin and place your faith in Christ. That's your responsibility, it's my responsibility. Yet it's the sovereign God who is working His purposes from eternity past. I will never be able to shift the blame to Him. I will never be able to stand before His throne on the judgment day and say, “You didn't choose me” because the Judge simply will say, “You should have chosen Me, you should have called upon Me.” Why didn't you? You sat there and heard the gospel, you heard the message that if you call upon Me, I will save you. If you believe in My Son, I will forgive you. But you didn't. You can't shift the blame. God explains how He is sovereignly working---we'll talk about that more in chapter 9. But the reality of it is these are days of salvation. God is graciously calling upon men to believe. Peter wrote that some people think that Christ is not coming because it seems like a long time. And we keep saying that Christ is coming again. He is going to establish a kingdom. And one generation lives and dies, the next generation ...... You know what Peter says? The Lord is long suffering, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to the knowledge of the truth. God gives this day as a day of salvation. He says today is the day of salvation. God is sovereign, working His purposes, calling His people and yet by the same token, it is a day of grace for all to be exposed to the truth, to hear the truth, be invited to respond to the truth. It is a great time of comfort for us as God's people.

As one who has believed in Jesus Christ, I give God all the glory, all the credit because of His sovereign work and placing His love upon me and choosing me for Himself, to predestine me to be conformed to the glory of His Son, calling me to Himself, justifying me by faith in Christ and assuring me of ultimate glory. He is a God of great grace. All things work together for good to those who are loving God and those being called according to His purpose. There is no greater comfort, there is no greater security than knowing that the sovereign God is working His purpose in each of our lives as His children.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for the greatness of your love. Thank you for the magnificent provision of your Son to come to this earth to suffer and die on the cross to pay the penalty for our sin. Lord, what an awesome plan of redemption when you would pay such a price so that we might experience your salvation, we might be born into your family, we might be your children, we might be your heirs and fellow heirs with Jesus Christ. Lord, may these wonderful truths put the suffering and pain and trial of this present life, this now age into proper perspective. May in the worst of times humanly speaking, may we find our peace and comfort and joy in knowing that You, our heavenly Father, are working all things together for our good as You prepare us for Your glory. We praise You in Christ's name, amen.