Trials in the Plan of Our Loving God

Transcript

GRM 917
10/03/2004
Trials in the Plan of Our Loving God
Romans 8:28-30
Gil Rugh


Romans chapter 8. We’ve talked for the last couple of weeks about the relationship of the law to the believer. Then in our study in I Timothy we referred to the call of God today. I just want to focus tonight on a couple of verses out of Romans chapter 8 that put our salvation in the perspective of the sovereign plan of God and the work of grace He is doing in our lives. God is preparing us as His people for eternal glory. What is going on in this day in time is that the gospel which is the power of God for salvation is going out to all the world. By His grace some are being saved, we’re going to talk about that process in a moment. Those are people that are being prepared for the glory of God’s presence for all eternity. The present aspect of that work of God is usually referred to as sanctification. The word sanctification simply means that we are those set apart from sin to God, and that occurs initially when we place our faith in Christ, and we become His possession. But there’s an ongoing process of sanctification where the character of God is built into our lives in all aspects, and we become more and more conformed to the beauty of His character. Romans chapter 8 focuses on the work of the Spirit. We’re going to focus on just a couple of verses, but you ought to be familiar that Romans chapter 8 is about the ministry and work of the Holy Spirit. Note a number of things that have been emphasized about the Holy Spirit’s work in chapter 8.

First, we’ve been told that He gives us life and peace, verse 2 of chapter 8. The Holy Spirit is called the spirit of life because He is a life-giving spirit, and it is through His work that we receive eternal life through faith in Christ. He brings us peace in verse 6, the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace. The Spirit of God brings life and peace to the life of the one who trusts in Christ.

Second, the Holy Spirit has set us free from sin. In verse 2, the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.

Third, He directs our lives, verse 4, the end of the verse, we are those who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. Walking according to the Spirit means we walk under His control, His direction. Down in verse 14, for all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. We’ve been born into God’s family by faith. Now as His sons we are those being led by His Spirit.

Fourth, He dwells in us, He doesn’t just direct us from a remote location, but He dwells in us, verse 9. However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. He dwells in every believer because if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ he does not belong to Christ. Everyone who belongs to Christ has the Spirit of Christ dwelling in Him.

Fifth, He guarantees our resurrection. If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead, verse 11, 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. The indwelling Spirit of God is God’s guarantee that we will experience resurrection, the glorification of this body. It’s the same Spirit who raised Christ’s body from the dead.

Sixth, He placed us in God’s family, verse 15, for you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons, by which we cry Abba Father. He’s placed us into God’s family.

Seventh, He gives us assurance, verse 16, the Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God. That’s an ongoing ministry of the Spirit, that He confirms with our spirit that we belong to God. He gives assurance.

Eighth, He gives us hope, verse 23, not only this but we ourselves having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. For in hope we have been saved. Hope is not something you see, but you hope for what you have not seen. But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it, verse 25. We have the first fruits of the Spirit. His initial work, and that just increases our anticipation for the completion of His work when we are glorified in His presence. That is our hope, the Spirit gives us that hope. In verses 26-27 the Holy Spirit interceded for us; He prays for us. We are weak people; He knows our frame that we are but dust. The Holy Spirit intercedes for us, in verse 26, with groanings too deep for words. End of verse 27, He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. Awesome, the work of the Spirit of God--that we, vessels of clay, mere human beings, sinners by birth and by practice, should experience such a powerful salvation, that the third person of the triune God, the Holy Spirit, Himself should come and dwell within us and perform His powerful ministries in our lives.

What Paul is doing in the last part of Romans chapter 8 beginning with verse 18 and down through the rest of the chapter, he’s putting the difficulties of this life into the perspective of glory. We talked about Paul’s commands to Timothy as a man of God. We noted that one of those commands was to take hold of eternal life, get a grip, a grasp on eternal life so that all your life is shaped by who you are and what you are and what you have in Christ. So that’s what Paul is doing here in Romans chapter 8—putting the sufferings and difficulties and trials that seem at times so overwhelming, that seem that they may crush us. Reminds us that they are all part of a plan, the plan of a sovereign God in preparing us for the eternal glory that is our assured destiny. There is no getting around it, life in these physical bodies will be characterized by difficulty and trials. That doesn’t mean that every day is a day of overwhelming trial and difficulty. We all know that at least those periods do come to every one of us. There are difficulties, there are trials, there is pain, there are painful unpleasant experiences, there are heartaches.

Verse 18, Paul talked about the sufferings of this present time. Interesting, when he says the sufferings of this present time, the phrase translated this present time, or literally the sufferings of the now age. Reminding us of the temporalness. This is the now age and sufferings are associated with this present period of time, but they are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. Our comfort, our confidence, our peace is knowing that even the most unpleasant, the most painful trials that come into our lives are part of the plan of a loving God to prepare us for overwhelming glory.

We’re going to look at verses 28-30, 3 verses here. We need to see that these verses that sometimes we quote, verse 28, that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. You understand this is in the context of suffering. The context that began with verse 18 of the sufferings of this present time; of verse 35, who will separate us from the love of Christ—tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, sword, all the difficulties and trials. Nothing. In this context we remember that God is working together for good.

Let’s look at verse 28. Paul says and we know. This is something that is generally recognized as true among believers. We would acknowledge this. We know that God causes all things to work together for good. This becomes one of our favorite verses, but we need to remember it in the context of putting it into practice. God causes all things to work together for good. The context of these verses indicates God is the sovereign actor in all of this. Verse 29 will talk about that sovereign work of God in causing all of this to come about. He is the one working all things together for good. All things, all things. You have that underlined in your Bible, probably, or circled. Well, you should. There are no exceptions to this. I am His child. Everything that comes into my life is part of His plan—the things I don’t understand, the things that seem so unnecessary and all they do is add to the pain and heartache. All things are part of that plan, all things work together for good.

That doesn’t mean all things are pleasant or enjoyable. Obviously in this context we’re emphasizing the things that are not pleasant and enjoyable. When the pleasant, enjoyable things come we’re quick to say, isn’t God good, thank you Lord for the blessings. It’s under the tremendous pressure that I need to remind myself, this is part of what is working together for good also, even though it’s painful. They work together for good because they are part of God’s plan to prepare me for glory. Isn’t that good? We heard testimonies tonight, weren’t the trials and difficulties that came into these lives good when they result in salvation. Now we can look back and thank God for trials and difficulties because we see now that drives a person to despair and the end of themselves. We rejoice in the salvation of our children. It is in our lives--everything being worked together for good to those who love God. This sovereign work of good is for God’s children. Those who don’t know the living God, who do not belong to Him are on a road of misery that leads to more misery that leads to the ultimate misery--the broad gate, the broad way that ends in destruction. This is not a promise or encouragement to all people. This is a word of encouragement to a special people—to those who love God.

We mention word order in the Greek text, and as Paul wrote this under the inspiration of the scripture, the first thing in this sentence in verse 28 is to those who love God. That’s the emphasis here. This is what we’re talking about—to those who love God, all things work together for good, those special people who love God. But you understand, a I John makes this clear, the Bible does repeatedly, and we’ll see this in a moment. I John 4:10, it’s not that we love God, but that God loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation, the satisfaction to pay the penalty for our sin. The initiator in this love relationship was not me, it was God. Now I am one who can be called one who loves God, because He first loved me and graciously initiated the work of salvation in my life.

To those who love God, and so we get the other side now, to those who are called according to His purpose. To those who are called. This is those who love God, those who are experiencing the good work of God in their lives. To those who love God emphasizes my response to God. I love God, He’s changed my heart, He’s made me new, He had His Son die for me, I love Him. But I love Him because I am one of those He has called. This stresses God’s sovereign action in the work of salvation, and that’s what is going to be developed here. God called me to Himself, and we noted this expression, to be called of God in our study of I Timothy. It’s the efficacious call, the effective call, the call that always results in salvation.

Turn back to I Corinthians chapter 1, just after the book of Romans, I Corinthians chapter 1 verse 9. This is a similar context to what we have here in Romans chapter 8. Verse 8 Paul says that God will confirm you till the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. You were assured that ultimate arrival, that ultimate successful arrival in the glory of God’s presence when we will be presented before Him as holy and blameless and beyond reproach. Blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. God is faithful through whom you were called into fellowship. There is that effective call. I noted in the gospels the word called is used a little differently. In Matthew chapter 22 verse 14 we are told, many are called, few are chosen. There the call refers to a general call or invitation that goes out to all people, but only a select number of those who receive that general invitation are chosen of God. When we come to the epistles, the writings of Paul, he only uses the word called to refer to the call that results in salvation. The call only applies to the elect, those that God has chosen, who have been brought into fellowship with God as a result of His work.

They are called, back in Romans chapter 8, according to His purpose. God’s purpose is to save us, that purpose is rooted in Himself. Why did He purpose to save us? Why did He purpose to save us as sinful human beings and not purpose to save angels who sinned? Remember Hebrews chapter 2, Jesus Christ did not die for angels. He didn’t become an angel and die to pay the penalty for angels, so angels who sinned can never be forgiven. They are doomed the moment they sinned to an eternity in hell. There has never been an angel who has experienced the saving grace of God. Why were we saved by God’s grace? It was according to His purpose. I know, but why did He purpose to do that? I don’t know. I know it will bring Him glory, but the destruction of the wicked will bring Him glory also. Why? It’s in His purpose.

Turn over to chapter 9 verse 11 of Romans. We won’t go into the context, but here is God choosing among two children, and why? Wasn’t on the basis of their works according to verse 11, but it was so that God’s purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls. Why is any sinner saved? Because God has purposed in Himself to save some among fallen humanity.

Ephesians chapter 1, we are like our children—you tell them something and they say, why? We answer and they say, why? We give a further answer, and they say, why? We finally say, why don’t you go to your room and clean the room. Because we reach a point, I don’t have any further answers to why. We as God’s children, we reach a point, why? We go to the Word. Why? We go to the Word. Then we come to that point where God says because I did it. There is no further, you can’t go back any further than that. Ephesians chapter 1 verse 11, we have obtained an inheritance, talking about the glory that will be ours in the presence of God, having been predestined according to His purpose. Here’s His purpose, oh we’ll find out more. Who works all things after the counsel of His will. God counseled with Himself and determined this is what He would do. Why do we have an inheritance in glory? Well, we were predestined according to His purpose, and His purpose was to fulfill His will, and His will was to save from among fallen sinful human beings a group for Himself. Why these and not them? I don’t know. Why me and not someone else? I don’t know. There must have been some reason in God. I’m sure there was, but He didn’t counsel with me. It says He acted after the counsel of His will. We’ve come back as far as we can, as far as we can go. The revealed things belong to us, the secret things belong to God, the book of Deuteronomy tells us. God’s revelation on this matter stopped here, it’s my will to do it. Sometimes don’t we tell our children that? Why? Why? Bottom line in this case is because I have decided to do this. But why? There is no other reason, I have decided this would be best. Now the confidence we have is God always acts consistent with His will, and so we submit to that. So why are some called and not others? It’s according to God’s purpose.

Come back to Romans chapter 8. This is a doctrine that sinful human beings find hard to accept. We have to be careful; we cannot make God accountable to ourselves. This is where Paul goes in Romans chapter 9 as he proceeds on in Romans chapter 9 before we go back to chapter 8. Verse 19 of Romans 9, you will say to me then why does he still find fault? For who resists His will? The point is nobody resists His will. But I don’t have an answer to that question, Paul says, we’ve gone as far as we can go. On the contrary, who are you, oh man who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder why did you make me like this? The point is God doesn’t owe you an answer. Your responsibility is to submit to what God has revealed. My responsibility is to submit what God has revealed. Now we find that unacceptable and we are reminded, we are the creation, and He is the creator. He does not owe me an explanation that will satisfy me. That helps me in dealing with these matters that sometimes seem overwhelming, that I go as far as God reveals and I submit to what He has revealed. I can go no further than that.

Come to Romans chapter 8 verse 29. Paul is going to explain it. God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. We elaborate on this being called and why they are always assured of God’s goodness at work in everything He brings into their lives. For those whom He foreknew He predestined. We’re going to start the process, and you’ll note, those He foreknew He predestined, those He predestined He called, in verse 30, those He called He justified, those He justified He glorified. We’re going to take the process from beginning to end, from the beginning to the culmination. The culmination we’re clear on—it’s glorification, the transformation of this body so it is suitable for the glory of God’s presence for all eternity.

But we start at the beginning, those whom He foreknew, and you’ll note, those whom He foreknew. These are individuals that God foreknows. It’s not something about these individuals like their faith, it is the individual himself that is foreknown. Those whom He foreknew. Now obviously God knows everything, He is omniscient, all-knowing. When He says He foreknew someone there is something more involved than just His omniscience, because there is no one, there is nothing that God does not know everything about. When He speaks about people, He foreknew it means more than just having complete, thorough knowledge about them, because there is no one that God does not have complete, thorough knowledge about because He is omniscient. He knows everything about everyone and everything. Those whom He foreknew, the Greek word is the same as the English word, compound word, to know before. When it’s used of God it means something more than just having knowledge ahead of time. It means to have special knowledge or place special favor upon someone.

The background for it comes from the Old Testament. We’ve done this before but I’m going to just remind you of a few passages because it does come up. Genesis 18 verse 19. I’ll just take 3 passages. You’re familiar with the use of the word knowledge in the Old Testament, the context. Adam knew his wife and she conceived. Obviously, it’s a way of expressing the sexual relationship between a man and a wife that leads to the conception of a child. Didn’t mean that Adam came to know his wife. Of course, he knew her. Oh, you’re Eve, nice to meet you. No, he knew his wife, they had sexual relations. It’s a special emphasis on the knowledge talked about. Look in Genesis chapter 18 verse 19. God has just said Abraham will surely become a great nation, verse 18, in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed. For I have chosen him. Many of you probably have a note in your Bible, there’s a little #1 in the front of my Bible in front of chosen. Go to the margin, verse 19, and it says literally know. The word here is the word know. For I have known him. This is what will happen to Abraham for I have known him. Again, there is something more than just the omniscient knowledge that God has of everything, but He has chosen Abraham. I have known him, I have placed my favor upon him, I have made him the special object of my love is the idea.

The book of Jeremiah chapter 1, Jeremiah, one of those major prophets about the middle of your Bible, after the book of Isaiah and before the book of Ezekiel. The prophecy of Jeremiah and the first chapter, chapter 1 verse 5, God says to Jeremiah, before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Well, the psalmist wrote that before he was formed in the womb God intimately knew him, knew all about him and so on. God again knows everything about everyone. But there is more to this than just general knowledge. Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, I placed my favor on you, I chose you. Before you were born, I consecrated you and appointed you as prophet to the nations. Jeremiah, I determined what you would be and what you would do before you were ever formed in the womb. I placed my favor upon you, I knew you. I set you apart for myself, I appointed you a prophet to the nation. You see that idea of the word to know when it’s used of God’s action.

The final one in Amos chapter 3 verse 2, and you may choose not to go to Amos. It’s a little more of a challenge—Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos. In Amos chapter 3 verse 2 God says to Israel, you only have I chosen or literally have I known among all the families of the earth. God says there of all the nations on the earth you are the only one I have known. Does that mean God was ignorant of all the other nations? Then He wouldn’t have been omniscient. What’s He saying to Israel? You’re the only nation I have chosen. That’s why some of your Bibles have it, you only have I chosen. It’s the word to know, again—you only have I known, you’re the only nation. The only nation that God ever placed His favor on in this special way or ever will is the nation, Israel. That doesn’t mean the United States of America has not been blessed of God, but it has not been chosen of God, has not had God’s favor placed upon it as the nation Israel has, because Israel is the only nation chosen by God for Himself as a nation. That’s the background--passages like that in the Old Testament. When you come to the New Testament and you talk about God foreknowing something, it doesn’t mean He just knew something ahead of time. It means He determined something ahead of time, He placed His favor upon someone ahead of time.

Go to I Peter. The word foreknow or foreknowledge is used of God five times in the New Testament. We’re not going to go to all five references because we don’t have time, I’ll mention them. It’s Acts chapter 2 verse 23, Christ was crucified according to the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God. The grammatical construction in the Greek there is according to Granville Sharp’s Rule of Grammar, that foreknowledge refers to the same thing as predetermined plan. The predetermined plan and the foreknowledge of God are referring to the same thing. God’s foreknowledge is His predetermined plan, because to foreknow something is to put His favor upon it ahead of time.

Romans chapter 8 verse 29 is another reference, that’s where we are. Come to I Peter chapter 1, there are two references here and 2 in Romans. We’ll pick up the other one in Romans in a moment. I Peter chapter 1 verse 2. Here at the end of verse 1 Peter is writing to those who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God. Some people say well see you are elect because God foreknows that you would believe. Well, that might seem to make sense if you didn’t examine the background for God’s knowledge in the Old Testament and the use of foreknowledge in the New Testament. You are chosen according to the predetermined plan of God, according to God’s determination to place His favor on you. You’re still in I Peter chapter 1, look down in verse 20. I’m reading a man’s book that is well-known that some of you have read many of his writings. Wrote a book on this subject and he deals with foreknowledge and argues that it simply means to know ahead of time. God looked ahead and saw and made His decision. But for some reason there are only five references for foreknow or foreknowledge relating to God in the New Testament. He refers to four of them but does not refer to verse 20 of I Peter chapter 1, where it refers to Christ. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world. You meant that Christ suffered and died, not according to God’s plan from before the creation, but God just looked ahead in time and saw what would happen to His Son. That’s ludicrous, no wonder he leaves it out. No believer has that kind of theology, everyone recognizes that Christ suffered and died on the cross because God planned our salvation from before the creation of the world. Here in verse 20, He was foreknown, Christ was foreknown in the sense that that was God’s plan, what He determined would happen to provide for the salvation of sinful people.

Come back to the book of Romans chapter 11 verse 2. Verse 1 says, I say then God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be. Magalito, such a thought is inconceivable. Verse 2, God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew, that He chose, that He placed His love and favor on.

When you come to Romans chapter 8 verse 29, those whom God foreknew are those that God chose for Himself beforehand, before the foundation of the world. Again, why? I don’t know. Why didn’t God choose everyone? He could have. I don’t have answers to those questions. Remember God acted according to the counsel of His own will, according to His own purpose. There is no other explanation. I wish I could resolve this; I could write a book and retire. You can’t go back any further than that. God did it because He determined to do it. Be careful we don’t set a standard outside of God for what is right, God is the standard. In that sense God doesn’t do what is right, what God does is right. There is not an external standard that God has to conform to, that would be something greater than God. God Himself is the standard. In that sense I don’t say God does what is right, I say what God does is right. He is the standard; He doesn’t conform to a standard outside Himself.

So, whom He foreknew, those that He chose to put His favor and love on. These are sinful human beings. God is not choosing among innocent people, but He is choosing among sinful human beings. He has selected some for Himself. If He didn’t select anyone that would be right, that would be fair, that would be just. That’s what He chose to do with angels. They sinned; He determined their just punishment would be eternity in hell. That settled it forever. If He had done that with every single one of us and we had gone to hell all we could say is God has been just, He meted out the penalty that our sin deserved. If no human being had ever been saved, we would be in the same position as fallen angels, and we would not be able to charge God with anything contrary to His character because He is not obligated to show His mercy. So, whom He foreknew.

We spent a lot of time on that, the rest will flow out of that. He predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son. That’s the process. Those that He chose, He chose for a purpose, and they would conform to the image of His Son. They would require the righteousness and the perfection of the Son of God that would make them acceptable in the presence of God the Father. That’s the work of sanctification. That’s part of the process that God is working now to bring us to the culmination in glorification, that Christ might be the firstborn among many brethren. What He is doing in us and for us is for the preeminence of Christ. It’s to bring honor and glory to His Son, that He would be the firstborn, He would have priority. We don’t have time to discuss the whole concept of firstborn, it doesn’t mean that Christ had a beginning. But He has preeminence and priority. The firstborn in the Old Testament, remember, it was the child who had preeminence, priority, received a double portion and so on. But it wasn’t always the one born first in time. We talk about Christ being the firstborn, He is the one who has preeminence and priority.

The development of this, verse 30, whom He predestined. Remember whom He foreknew He predestined. The predestined was to become conformed to the image of His Son. He selected a group from among sinful humanity that by a marvelous plan of redemption would become conformed to the image of His Son and have His perfection. Those whom He predestined He called. Now we come to our word called. Those called according to His purpose. We understand that call to result in us believing in Christ goes back before the foundation of the world. As Ephesians 1 develops it, to the counsel and purposes of God, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. The one God existing eternally in three persons counseled with Himself and determined this is what He would do. He called them. This is the outworking of His plan, now, and so we heard the testimonies, different times they heard the gospel, they heard the gospel, but there was an effective call that brought them to faith in Christ.

Those He called He justified. You’ll note everyone He foreknew He predestined, everyone He predestined He called. The experiencing, that brings us into time, now, when the work of God reached into the heart and brought us to faith in Christ. Everyone He called He justified, declared righteous. In II Corinthians chapter 5 verse 21 we are told that God made Him who knew no sin to become sin on our behalf that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him, justified us, declared us righteous. Those that He justified He glorified. Interesting, all of these things are in the aorist tense in Greek. It’s a timeless tense but it’s often used to refer to past things. Here He foreknew, that did happen in the past, and He predestined that would happen in the past. He called, that happens in time, and some haven’t experienced that call yet, even among those He foreknew because they have yet to turn to Christ for salvation. But the work is viewed, even the glorification, the final phase, none of us has been glorified. But it is just as settled a fact. Each of these things is settled in the purpose and plan of God. I haven’t been glorified yet, but I will be. How can you be so sure? It doesn’t depend on me; it depends on Him. That does not mean I do not have responsibility, but let’s face it, the plan of God would unravel very quickly if it hinged upon you, or it hinged upon me. So he glorified us. But you see God was in charge from the beginning to the end, He determined this is what would happen and it’s His sovereign grace that brings it about. He foreknew them, He predestined them, He called them, He justified them, He glorified them.

Now this is in the context of why we can have confidence in the worst of trials, in the most painful situations. I may honestly say, God, I don’t understand this, I don’t know what you are doing in many ways, but I do know what you are doing. I’m never without knowledge of that. I don’t understand it. Well, my understanding may be limited, but I do understand. God is using this in His plan of preparing me and perfecting me for the time of ultimate glorification. Now there are a lot of the details I don’t understand—why would I lose this child, this loved one, why would this sickness come into my life, why would this ___________ (fill in the blank). But I do know the ultimate answer, and that’s all I need. That’s where get a grip on eternal life, fasten your hold on it. I don’t know everything, but I know everything I need to know in that sense. Why are you suffering so much, why are you going through this? God is preparing me for glory. But someone else is not going through this. Isn’t it beautiful, you know just as we work differently with different of our children, we understand they are different and we don’t have a cookie cutter mold, so God is dealing with us differently. I don’t have answers for everything except ultimately, we know it’s for good. It’s not trite. We say oh that’s so trite just to say God has brought this in for good and it’s going to……….. It’s not trite. You have a grip on eternal life, that’s what gives you stability. It doesn’t say He’ll take away the pain, doesn’t say He’ll take away the suffering. It does say that there’ll be no pain or suffering or trial or difficulty that comes into my life that is not part of His plan and ultimately bringing me to glory in His presence.

Now what else do I need to know? That puts life into perspective, doesn’t it? This really helps me understand how I have a grip on eternal life, how I put the events of this life in proper perspective. I serve the living God who is the sovereign God and He has chosen to love me. I know. You say I think I could have made a better choice. Who couldn’t? We look around and say why would God choose them? Why did not God choose; I don’t know who He chose and who He didn’t. I see the evidence in some lives that He’s chosen some. There are others He has chosen that I haven’t yet seen. That’s why we present the gospel, that’s why Paul said I endure all things for the sake of the elect that they might come to the salvation which is in Jesus Christ. Because if it weren’t for His sovereign work of grace, no one would be saved.

Let’s pray together. Lord we are blessed to belong to you. That blessing is greater than even we can understand. Lord, we want to be men and women of faith, we want to grow in our faith, we want to learn to trust you more. Lord, that faith grows in the context of things sometimes we can’t understand. We fail to see how it can be for good, but our confidence is your Word is always true. We are encouraged in our hearts. Lord, I pray for those going through special times of trial now, that your truth might be the comfort to their heart, that they might rejoice to know this is part of your plan for them for their good in shaping and preparing them for glory beyond compare. Lord, we agree with Paul that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that will be revealed to us who belong to you. We praise you in Christ’s name. Amen.