Predestined, Justified, Glorified (Romans 8:30)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:02.919 --> 00:00:12.990 Let's hear God's word now from Romans Chapter Eight. I'm going to be preaching 2 00:00:13.029 --> 00:00:19.149 again on this passage, from Verse Twenty Eight Through Verse Thirty, Twenty Eight, 3 00:00:19.309 --> 00:00:25.699 twenty nine and thirty, but focusing a little bit more on those last 4 00:00:25.699 --> 00:00:32.700 two verses today. So let's hear God's word from Romans Eight, Verses Twenty 5 00:00:32.780 --> 00:00:38.250 Eight, twenty nine and thirty. And we know that for those who love 6 00:00:38.409 --> 00:00:43.929 God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according 7 00:00:43.969 --> 00:00:50.119 to his purpose, for those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be 8 00:00:50.359 --> 00:00:56.359 conformed to the image of his son in order that he might be the firstborn 9 00:00:56.640 --> 00:01:02.039 among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those 10 00:01:02.079 --> 00:01:07.549 whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. 11 00:01:11.510 --> 00:01:15.629 The consolations that are given to us in the last couple verses of this 12 00:01:15.670 --> 00:01:25.140 hymn from Psalm Ninety eight are reminders of the consolations that God has been giving 13 00:01:25.180 --> 00:01:30.099 to us in Romans Chapter Eight, that we are safe within the fold of 14 00:01:30.260 --> 00:01:34.730 God, that he is keeping us, that he is protecting us. These 15 00:01:34.769 --> 00:01:42.129 are there here in this chapter and in numerous ways, and as I've said 16 00:01:42.170 --> 00:01:46.609 several times, pointing us to the earlier part in Chapter Eight. This is 17 00:01:46.849 --> 00:01:52.000 for a very good reason. It's because in this present time, we suffer, 18 00:01:53.079 --> 00:02:00.000 we endure, we are called even on to or endure these sufferings mentioned 19 00:02:00.040 --> 00:02:04.989 in verse eighteen and called and couldn't we're called to them in verse seventeen. 20 00:02:06.030 --> 00:02:10.669 We are called to suffer with Christ in order that we may also be glorified 21 00:02:10.870 --> 00:02:16.900 with him. This calling to suffering and the consolations that God is giving to 22 00:02:16.939 --> 00:02:23.659 us in this chapter are consistent with the calling that Jesus gives in Matthew Sixteen, 23 00:02:23.780 --> 00:02:27.500 Verse Twenty Four. Remember, he says, if any man will come 24 00:02:27.580 --> 00:02:31.289 after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 00:02:32.770 --> 00:02:35.889 You See, this is the calling of our Lord. This is what 26 00:02:36.009 --> 00:02:38.729 it means to be a disciple. It's what it means to be a Christian. 27 00:02:39.370 --> 00:02:45.479 It's to follow after our Lord, to be conformed to him, to 28 00:02:45.719 --> 00:02:51.680 follow his pattern or, as Peter says, I'm to follow his steps. 29 00:02:52.280 --> 00:02:55.719 In First Peter, to twenty one through twenty four, we are to follow 30 00:02:55.879 --> 00:03:00.389 after our Lord, we are to follow his pattern, and that includes his 31 00:03:00.270 --> 00:03:07.750 sufferings. But this is difficult and God wants us to understand. I'm not 32 00:03:07.909 --> 00:03:10.229 only that we have been called to this, but as a good and loving 33 00:03:10.310 --> 00:03:14.500 father, he sits us down and he talks to us. He puts us 34 00:03:14.500 --> 00:03:15.979 at the kitchen table. He says, look, I want to explain why. 35 00:03:17.139 --> 00:03:21.740 I want to tell you why this is necessary, why this is important, 36 00:03:22.020 --> 00:03:25.699 how I want you to understand. Whatever it is you may be going 37 00:03:25.740 --> 00:03:31.250 through in your life right now, whether it's internal sufferings and battles within the 38 00:03:31.370 --> 00:03:38.889 soul or external ones within relationships or work or your neighbor, neighborhood or community, 39 00:03:40.370 --> 00:03:46.000 these sufferings that we endure are for a particular purpose. God takes even 40 00:03:46.039 --> 00:03:50.960 the most evil things of this world, we read in Verse Twenty Eight, 41 00:03:51.400 --> 00:03:59.389 and works all things together for good. This is what we are called to 42 00:03:59.550 --> 00:04:03.509 do. I wonder if you've ever tried to follow someone and you didn't know 43 00:04:04.229 --> 00:04:09.509 where they were going? It's kind of a stressful thing, isn't it? 44 00:04:10.139 --> 00:04:14.060 Maybe a boss at work who's called you to do something and you're not really 45 00:04:14.099 --> 00:04:17.579 sure what you're expected to do, or even just a party game where you're 46 00:04:17.660 --> 00:04:23.420 blindfolded and told to go here or go there. It it's not a comfortable 47 00:04:23.540 --> 00:04:29.129 feeling is it? You're off balance, your wavering, you bump into things. 48 00:04:30.649 --> 00:04:33.050 The God doesn't call us to follow him blindly, does he? He 49 00:04:35.089 --> 00:04:40.879 tells us to press on his sufferings, knowing exactly where we are going, 50 00:04:42.040 --> 00:04:46.439 exactly how we are getting there and how good it is. And that's one 51 00:04:46.480 --> 00:04:51.240 of the reasons we have these three verses in Romans Chapter Eight. It's one 52 00:04:51.279 --> 00:04:57.269 of the reasons these three verses are some of the most precious verses to Christians 53 00:04:57.389 --> 00:05:03.310 all over the world and throughout history, for those whom, for though, 54 00:05:03.430 --> 00:05:09.259 and we know that those who love God, all things work together for good, 55 00:05:09.980 --> 00:05:13.819 for those who are called according to his purpose, for those whom he 56 00:05:13.939 --> 00:05:16.860 for knew he also predestined to be conformed. That's the goal, to be 57 00:05:17.060 --> 00:05:21.209 conformed to the image of his son in order that he might be the firstborn 58 00:05:21.250 --> 00:05:26.129 among many brothers, those whom he for knew, he also called, those 59 00:05:26.170 --> 00:05:30.209 whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. 60 00:05:31.769 --> 00:05:39.399 In these verses, God gives us insight into his goal, his desire 61 00:05:39.680 --> 00:05:44.199 for your sufferings, the objective that he's trying to meet. That's going to 62 00:05:44.240 --> 00:05:49.029 be our first point. This morning, God's goal. The second is that 63 00:05:49.069 --> 00:05:55.589 it beat. This goal becomes a guarantee for us experience and Stan what will 64 00:05:55.949 --> 00:06:00.029 thirdly, call a golden chain of salvation, a phrase that I'm borrowing from 65 00:06:00.389 --> 00:06:05.420 William Perkins, the father of puritanism. He's called, and all of this 66 00:06:05.620 --> 00:06:10.699 knowledge, this goal is guarantee, this golden chain is given for it these 67 00:06:10.819 --> 00:06:15.019 two purposes to save those, to call to salvation those who do not walk, 68 00:06:15.100 --> 00:06:21.449 to Cry Rock with Christ, and to strengthen us who do walk in 69 00:06:21.569 --> 00:06:27.490 him, who know what it means to suffer and suffer as a Christian. 70 00:06:29.209 --> 00:06:33.560 So let's think about those. First, the goal, as I mentioned. 71 00:06:33.720 --> 00:06:38.680 God tells it to us here. He's working all things together for good, 72 00:06:39.120 --> 00:06:46.000 for a very particular purpose. What's that purpose? It's that we may be 73 00:06:46.230 --> 00:06:50.509 conformed to the image of his son, and that is to achieve an even 74 00:06:50.550 --> 00:06:59.350 higher purpose in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. That's 75 00:06:59.430 --> 00:07:02.180 the thing God wants us to have in mind when we are facing our sufferings. 76 00:07:02.259 --> 00:07:05.220 But what does that mean? How are we to think about that, 77 00:07:05.300 --> 00:07:13.139 that Jesus is to be the firstborn among many brothers? Well, Paul says 78 00:07:13.139 --> 00:07:16.730 something similar. Similarly, back at the beginning of Romans. He opens up 79 00:07:16.730 --> 00:07:21.009 chapter one in this way. I'm going to read sort of jumping into the 80 00:07:21.050 --> 00:07:27.689 middle of the sentence ver three, concerning his son, who was descended from 81 00:07:27.689 --> 00:07:30.800 David according to the flesh, and was declared to be the son of God 82 00:07:31.040 --> 00:07:36.040 in power, according to the spirit of holiness, by his resurrection from the 83 00:07:36.120 --> 00:07:42.399 dead, Jesus Christ, our Lord. There was something that happened in Jesus's 84 00:07:42.519 --> 00:07:47.629 resurrection where he was declared to be the son of God. Now Jesus, 85 00:07:47.709 --> 00:07:51.149 of course, is the son of God eternally, but there's another way in 86 00:07:51.230 --> 00:07:57.189 which he's the son of God, this firstborn sense, in which he enters 87 00:07:57.829 --> 00:08:03.220 into God's presence as one who has entering into a position. It's a this 88 00:08:03.379 --> 00:08:09.139 title of firstborn as a kind of status. We still have vestiges of this 89 00:08:09.339 --> 00:08:13.610 in our world, but it's especially true in the ancient world. The to 90 00:08:13.730 --> 00:08:20.490 be a firstborn son was to have a very high position of privilege. You 91 00:08:20.769 --> 00:08:26.800 were going to receive the wealth of the father. Many sons who weren't firstborn 92 00:08:28.519 --> 00:08:33.080 would often take other kinds of professions and things like that in order to maintain 93 00:08:33.240 --> 00:08:37.840 their nobility because they weren't going to have any wealth. There was a difficult 94 00:08:37.879 --> 00:08:43.389 position to not be a firstborn son or, even worse, to be a 95 00:08:43.429 --> 00:08:46.549 daughter. Difficult, difficult, difficult. But to be a firstborn son, 96 00:08:46.629 --> 00:08:50.110 well, that's great. Means you get all this inheritance, all this honor. 97 00:08:50.149 --> 00:08:54.149 It means you get to continue on, in a sense, this family 98 00:08:54.269 --> 00:09:01.620 dynasty, this work. Now Jesus Has Been Eternally The begotten Son of God, 99 00:09:01.820 --> 00:09:07.379 but Romans tells us that there is this aim in his humanity that he 100 00:09:07.580 --> 00:09:11.970 receives this status, that he receives according to the righteousness that he earns. 101 00:09:13.009 --> 00:09:18.769 He says that he is to be the first born again, and that's in 102 00:09:18.850 --> 00:09:24.169 Romans twenty nine, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 103 00:09:24.919 --> 00:09:28.720 But we remember that that firstborn among the many brothers is not something in 104 00:09:28.879 --> 00:09:35.639 isolation. That second phrase is so important. He's not just firstborn, but 105 00:09:35.759 --> 00:09:43.309 God wants him to be firstborn among many brothers. This means that God's plan 106 00:09:43.789 --> 00:09:48.830 for his son, the father's plan for the son, the son's obedience to 107 00:09:48.870 --> 00:09:54.379 the father, is not an isolated event within the trinity. It involves, 108 00:09:54.659 --> 00:10:00.980 you, to put it another way, God's plan in making Christ super pre 109 00:10:01.139 --> 00:10:07.330 eminent above all things would not make any sense if it weren't for the fact 110 00:10:07.370 --> 00:10:11.690 of you. He is super pre eminent. He is pre eminent over us. 111 00:10:13.649 --> 00:10:18.850 He has firstborn among many brothers. The fact that we are here allows 112 00:10:18.889 --> 00:10:22.559 or doesn't allow, but it makes sense of who he is as this pre 113 00:10:22.679 --> 00:10:28.159 eminent son. But it has this other effect. This goal that God has 114 00:10:28.639 --> 00:10:33.159 for Christ means that there is a goal for us. Under him, we 115 00:10:33.320 --> 00:10:39.110 glorify him as pre eminent and under him he is a pre eminent over us. 116 00:10:41.110 --> 00:10:43.990 It establishes who we are in him and this goal that he has. 117 00:10:46.549 --> 00:10:50.899 Well, all this is to say this simple thing that God has this particular 118 00:10:50.139 --> 00:10:56.659 goal to raise Christ to this status of Pre Eminence. But it involves you 119 00:10:58.460 --> 00:11:01.740 and me, it involves us, and that's why he starts that way. 120 00:11:03.659 --> 00:11:07.490 He says that those whom he for knew he also predestined to be conformed to 121 00:11:07.529 --> 00:11:13.169 the image of son in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 122 00:11:15.409 --> 00:11:20.480 Well, how is this helpful and suffering? How does knowing God's goal 123 00:11:20.200 --> 00:11:24.720 for Christ, that the Messiah would be lifted up and would raise and would 124 00:11:24.919 --> 00:11:30.639 be seated at the right hand of the father, help us in our suffering. 125 00:11:31.639 --> 00:11:37.950 Well, it helps us because it guarantees for us certain things. It 126 00:11:37.149 --> 00:11:43.950 means that our salvation is not, is not just something that God is sort 127 00:11:43.990 --> 00:11:48.179 of working without us individually. It's something that's established in the trinity itself. 128 00:11:48.259 --> 00:11:54.299 Health. It means that God has purposed this thing in and of himself and 129 00:11:54.500 --> 00:12:01.889 he won't let that go. God's goal guarantees your salvation. It means that 130 00:12:03.009 --> 00:12:07.049 your salvation, past, present and future depends not on anything in you, 131 00:12:09.490 --> 00:12:13.610 but on everything in him. It's a guarantee that our heart, in our 132 00:12:13.690 --> 00:12:18.840 hearts, that we are caught up in something greater, that this Pre Eminence 133 00:12:18.879 --> 00:12:24.159 which the father gives to the son is something that we are caught up in 134 00:12:26.000 --> 00:12:30.669 in Christ's ascension, in Christ's resurrection, where it's like we're pulled along in 135 00:12:30.789 --> 00:12:35.590 his train. We are is is not an accident, in other words, 136 00:12:35.309 --> 00:12:39.629 and God is the God. The father is not going to drop God the 137 00:12:39.750 --> 00:12:46.299 Sun, because God is one. God would not be God if he was 138 00:12:46.620 --> 00:12:52.659 falling apart within himself. But he doesn't, he doesn't change, he never 139 00:12:52.899 --> 00:13:01.730 moves. He's eternal from beginning to end and passed both points. That's how 140 00:13:01.889 --> 00:13:09.809 secure your salvation is. It's secure in the very trinitarian nature of God himself. 141 00:13:11.289 --> 00:13:16.000 If that isn't a guarantee of your salvation, I don't know what could 142 00:13:16.000 --> 00:13:24.840 be. But it also means that we are forever in God's hands. You 143 00:13:24.879 --> 00:13:30.870 remember what Jesus says in John Ten, that no one whom the father gives 144 00:13:30.909 --> 00:13:35.029 him will be lost, that nothing can snatch us out of the father's hands. 145 00:13:37.029 --> 00:13:39.830 Do you remember why he says that? He says it's because of the 146 00:13:39.990 --> 00:13:45.460 unity that he and the father have, because of the love they have, 147 00:13:45.820 --> 00:13:50.820 because of the fellowship they that they that they share. That's how secure our 148 00:13:50.899 --> 00:13:58.210 salvation is. God has a plan, a plan to accomplish, and it 149 00:13:58.370 --> 00:14:07.250 will not be lost. Now, with this guarantee, there is this certain 150 00:14:07.649 --> 00:14:11.399 what we might call, or what William Perkins called, this golden chain of 151 00:14:11.480 --> 00:14:18.039 salvation that can be inferred. In other words, if God has this plan 152 00:14:18.840 --> 00:14:22.720 at the end of this goal that he will achieve, and if God is 153 00:14:22.799 --> 00:14:28.309 the one who is capable of working all things together for good, then that 154 00:14:28.629 --> 00:14:35.629 means only one thing, that your salvation, beginning, middle and end, 155 00:14:35.470 --> 00:14:43.100 is all the work of God. It's this beautiful chain God binds together each 156 00:14:43.220 --> 00:14:50.179 and every aspect of your salvation and into this interlocking, beautiful and, because 157 00:14:50.220 --> 00:14:58.169 of who he is, unbreakable chain. Each and every portion of God's intended 158 00:14:58.289 --> 00:15:05.129 salvation for you is locked together by his will, by his love for you, 159 00:15:05.730 --> 00:15:13.919 by his love and glory for himself, a chain that is infinitely beautiful 160 00:15:15.559 --> 00:15:22.990 and entirely unbreakable. With this goal declared, found it on himself, we 161 00:15:22.190 --> 00:15:31.549 can assume that nothing is left to chance, that all things work together for 162 00:15:31.710 --> 00:15:37.700 good. But you know what, we don't need to inferth this, even 163 00:15:37.740 --> 00:15:45.379 though we can, because it says it right here very plainly. He speaks 164 00:15:45.460 --> 00:15:50.330 to our hearts and he says, and those whom he predestined he also called, 165 00:15:50.409 --> 00:15:54.730 and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified 166 00:15:54.490 --> 00:16:00.730 he also glorified. Every single step of the way, from before you were 167 00:16:00.809 --> 00:16:07.600 even conceived, God says he chose you in love, he predestined you for 168 00:16:07.759 --> 00:16:12.519 salvation. He willed to pluck you out of the sin and misery into which 169 00:16:12.559 --> 00:16:18.309 you would be born, the sin which you would you would commit, and 170 00:16:18.549 --> 00:16:23.590 he chose, before the foundation of the world, Paul says, to save 171 00:16:23.750 --> 00:16:30.789 you from it. He predestined you, before you were born, to reach 172 00:16:30.190 --> 00:16:37.779 the end. But God doesn't merely predestine you according to his will, but 173 00:16:37.860 --> 00:16:45.700 he actually actuates that will, he causes it to come about. When God 174 00:16:45.779 --> 00:16:48.250 desired to create the world, he willed it and he said, let there 175 00:16:48.409 --> 00:16:53.090 be light. And you know what, there was light. He called the 176 00:16:53.210 --> 00:17:00.169 world into existence. And he does the same thing for you. He wills 177 00:17:00.330 --> 00:17:06.359 this and then he effectually calls you. He changes every aspect of your being, 178 00:17:06.559 --> 00:17:14.160 every sinful, perverted, destroyed aspect of you. Your Heart in its 179 00:17:14.319 --> 00:17:18.509 corruption and wickedness, your will and the way that it has bent towards sinful 180 00:17:18.630 --> 00:17:29.390 things, your mind in its darkness, in its cloudiness, in its misunderstandings 181 00:17:29.630 --> 00:17:37.500 and willful, sinful conclusions. God comes to you and all of this depravity, 182 00:17:38.259 --> 00:17:44.650 in all of this sinfulness, and says, let there be light. 183 00:17:47.369 --> 00:17:51.210 And the light which was coming into the world shined in the darkness and the 184 00:17:51.250 --> 00:17:56.450 darkness did not overcome it. And each of these aspects of us, our 185 00:17:56.529 --> 00:18:00.960 heart, our mind and our will, were changed by God in such a 186 00:18:00.079 --> 00:18:07.559 way that we are enabled and persuaded to embrace Jesus Christ. Something changes on 187 00:18:07.599 --> 00:18:14.509 us, something so dramatic that Jesus says to Nicodemus that it's called a new 188 00:18:14.670 --> 00:18:21.549 birth or being born again. It's as if there is a new creature that 189 00:18:21.789 --> 00:18:29.380 is made, a new creation that God wills and speaks into existence. He 190 00:18:29.460 --> 00:18:37.140 doesn't just predestine us for this, but he calls us to it, and 191 00:18:37.259 --> 00:18:41.210 then he justifies us. Through this faith in which we are now enabled to 192 00:18:41.289 --> 00:18:48.769 have, through this repentance in which we turn away from our sins, God 193 00:18:48.089 --> 00:18:53.769 begins to work in us and through faith in particular, we receive something from 194 00:18:53.809 --> 00:19:00.839 God, namely our justification. What is justification? It's the pardoning of all 195 00:19:00.960 --> 00:19:07.039 of our sins. It's the accepting us as righteous in his sight. It's 196 00:19:07.119 --> 00:19:14.990 taking all of Christ's merit and giving it to you, so that you stand 197 00:19:15.109 --> 00:19:18.910 before God not in your own sins anymore, but as one who is justified, 198 00:19:19.869 --> 00:19:27.539 as one who stands clothed in Christ's righteousness. In this justification, your 199 00:19:27.660 --> 00:19:33.380 legal standing changes and from that point on you walk before God not as one 200 00:19:33.460 --> 00:19:38.329 who is perpetually moving between I'm innocent, I'm guilty, I'm innocent, I'm 201 00:19:38.329 --> 00:19:42.170 guilty, I'm redeemed. I'm not redeemed, I'm forgiven. I'm not forgiven, 202 00:19:42.930 --> 00:19:47.890 but as one who is eternally and forever and ever by the unchangeable decree 203 00:19:48.009 --> 00:20:00.640 of God, justified, forgiven, innocent, righteous one who walks with the 204 00:20:00.680 --> 00:20:06.759 name of Jesus on them. Well, that justification that we have in this 205 00:20:06.960 --> 00:20:10.990 life, that we believe that God has given us, is not always very 206 00:20:11.069 --> 00:20:15.470 apparent for many reasons. One of them is that there is still corruption and 207 00:20:15.789 --> 00:20:21.700 sin inside of us. There are things which the devil brings to our minds 208 00:20:21.740 --> 00:20:27.220 and says you are not forgiven, you still have sin. And this is 209 00:20:27.539 --> 00:20:34.220 where, in our glorification, that justification of God that is promised to you 210 00:20:34.380 --> 00:20:40.529 now, that justification that you have now through faith in Jesus, will be 211 00:20:40.609 --> 00:20:45.930 vindicat hated, will be made visible that which you now see and believe, 212 00:20:45.930 --> 00:20:51.640 or see by faith, believed by faith, God will make openly known, 213 00:20:51.920 --> 00:20:56.519 visible to all, God, man, beast, Angel, devil. All 214 00:20:56.920 --> 00:21:03.759 will see you in your glorified body and say, Yep, that one was 215 00:21:03.880 --> 00:21:07.549 justified. There won't be any question, there won't be any doubt, because 216 00:21:07.549 --> 00:21:12.190 you will shine with the radiance of God. You will be made perfect in 217 00:21:12.349 --> 00:21:18.980 body, mind, soul, in every aspect of you, shining with the 218 00:21:18.140 --> 00:21:26.180 glory of God through the grace that was given to you in Jesus. Here 219 00:21:26.700 --> 00:21:30.140 in your life now, in the past. If you are believer now, 220 00:21:30.500 --> 00:21:37.089 but made open, you will be acquitted and acknowledged as a son of God. 221 00:21:38.769 --> 00:21:45.130 You will be perfectly conformed, no longer to the image of fallen Adam, 222 00:21:45.609 --> 00:21:52.039 depraved, be steal perverted, an enemy of God, a child of 223 00:21:52.119 --> 00:21:59.519 Wrath, but conformed to the image of the resurrected son of God, glorious, 224 00:21:59.559 --> 00:22:07.470 Shining, holy, fully enjoying the perfect blessings and community. And that, 225 00:22:07.589 --> 00:22:10.430 all of all that he has earned for you, that he gives to 226 00:22:10.509 --> 00:22:17.940 you. Those froom God predestined, he also called, and those whom he 227 00:22:18.099 --> 00:22:25.380 called he justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. This glorification 228 00:22:25.579 --> 00:22:29.740 is put in the past tense for two reasons, I think. One is 229 00:22:29.859 --> 00:22:36.769 that we enjoy this glorification now. We have been raised with Christ, Paul 230 00:22:36.769 --> 00:22:40.769 says in Romans six, you have been buried with him and therefore also raised 231 00:22:40.849 --> 00:22:44.920 with him. Colossians three tells us that we are seated with Christ in the 232 00:22:44.960 --> 00:22:48.319 heavenly places. Hebrews twelve says, that is, that we have now come 233 00:22:48.519 --> 00:22:53.079 to the heavenly Jerusalem Mountain, Z I, in the city of the Living 234 00:22:53.160 --> 00:22:59.069 God, in Jesus Christ, the glory that Jesus has as a glory that 235 00:22:59.150 --> 00:23:03.269 we have now. But there's also a way in which there's this kind of 236 00:23:03.509 --> 00:23:10.309 prophetic past tense being used here, I think, in which the glorification that 237 00:23:10.509 --> 00:23:15.259 is to come is so certain that it is put in this past tense, 238 00:23:15.380 --> 00:23:21.500 a sense in which we now anticipate and will be revealed on the last day. 239 00:23:21.700 --> 00:23:29.250 This too shall come. Now, you may ask yourself, she link 240 00:23:29.369 --> 00:23:36.130 these chains together and your mind, predestined called justified glorified. What about the 241 00:23:36.170 --> 00:23:40.569 middle part? What about the Saint tification part? Why doesn't Paul Mention that? 242 00:23:41.440 --> 00:23:47.759 The answer is because that's what this passage is about. Remember, it's 243 00:23:47.759 --> 00:23:52.400 about our sufferings, it's about our sanctification. This whole passage is about. 244 00:23:52.640 --> 00:23:56.950 How do we understand our sanctification? How do we understand our present trials, 245 00:23:57.390 --> 00:24:03.150 and Paul says, you understand them in this way, seeing them as a 246 00:24:03.309 --> 00:24:07.750 part of this golden chain, as sons of God, as those who have 247 00:24:07.029 --> 00:24:14.380 been adopted. You see them in this way because of the guarantee of God 248 00:24:14.579 --> 00:24:18.619 in Jesus Christ, because of this goal that he is determined before all time. 249 00:24:22.420 --> 00:24:25.529 That's how we see things. In this life, and that's how those 250 00:24:25.569 --> 00:24:32.289 things connect. The Jesus Christ would be firstborn among many brothers, that you 251 00:24:32.609 --> 00:24:38.119 would be called sons of God and enjoy with him this inheritance as co errs. 252 00:24:40.480 --> 00:24:45.599 This is God's goal and it changes our sufferings now, it changes the 253 00:24:45.640 --> 00:24:51.319 way we perceive them. Think about what life was like before you were Christian, 254 00:24:51.359 --> 00:24:56.910 or think about those whom you know who are not Christians. Do all 255 00:24:56.950 --> 00:25:02.069 things work together for good for them? Are they able to see things in 256 00:25:02.230 --> 00:25:04.549 that way? Are they able to say, because of what God has done 257 00:25:04.589 --> 00:25:08.859 in Christ, I know that I will be glorified. I know that I've 258 00:25:08.859 --> 00:25:14.619 been predestined and called. I've been justified and glorified and glorified as well. 259 00:25:15.460 --> 00:25:18.980 Do they have that kind of confidence? Do they know that they will enjoy 260 00:25:18.019 --> 00:25:22.450 the eternal blessing of God and because of that, do they know that all 261 00:25:22.650 --> 00:25:29.609 things work together for their good? Of course they don't, and you didn't 262 00:25:29.609 --> 00:25:34.210 either when you were not a Christian. You don't see things as working all 263 00:25:34.329 --> 00:25:42.519 together for good. you see them perhaps as faded but meaningless, random or 264 00:25:42.680 --> 00:25:48.720 maybe just evil and cursed. How do you deal with that? Well, 265 00:25:48.799 --> 00:25:56.150 you can pretend it away until it pushes its face in you again, or 266 00:25:56.230 --> 00:26:00.069 in your face. You can try to be stock about it, you can 267 00:26:00.109 --> 00:26:03.420 have a kind of detachment from life and say, well, it's all faded 268 00:26:03.500 --> 00:26:07.700 and it's more or less meaningless, but here we go, I'll just try 269 00:26:07.740 --> 00:26:11.700 to do the best I can. But again there's no joy in that, 270 00:26:12.859 --> 00:26:19.130 no real hope, no ultimate hope. And then there's those who see things, 271 00:26:19.450 --> 00:26:22.690 see the events of this life is not working together for good, because 272 00:26:23.130 --> 00:26:27.609 they're working together for evil. They're cursing it's cursed, that it's ending in 273 00:26:27.809 --> 00:26:32.880 death, and so they try to counteract them, perhaps by their own power, 274 00:26:33.400 --> 00:26:37.599 moral or religious, to go out into the world and conquer the world 275 00:26:37.680 --> 00:26:41.759 and make it this utopia. But all the time is staring them in the 276 00:26:41.839 --> 00:26:47.119 face their own death, the death of the world, the corruption of our 277 00:26:47.190 --> 00:26:51.990 societies, of our bodies, the continual falling apart of humanity. Over and 278 00:26:52.150 --> 00:26:56.750 over again. How many times as Utopia been tried? How many books have 279 00:26:56.910 --> 00:27:00.740 been written that say, if we would only do x, Y and Z, 280 00:27:02.019 --> 00:27:07.779 we can achieve these ends? But none of them ever account for sin, 281 00:27:08.140 --> 00:27:15.380 none of them ever take human depravity really seriously. And when they do, 282 00:27:15.619 --> 00:27:25.049 you end up with depression and meaninglessness and lostness and nihilism, because it's 283 00:27:25.089 --> 00:27:29.730 all vanity and it all ends and death. That's what it's like to live 284 00:27:29.809 --> 00:27:33.680 in a world and efface the events of the world and the events of our 285 00:27:33.799 --> 00:27:41.720 lives as unbelievers. That's before. But what happens when God speaks in our 286 00:27:41.880 --> 00:27:48.430 hearts according to his will and says let there be light? Well, as 287 00:27:48.470 --> 00:27:56.430 I said, it's the Bible says the light shines in the darkness and that 288 00:27:56.670 --> 00:28:03.619 which was meaningless, that which was evil, is overcome and is given a 289 00:28:03.740 --> 00:28:08.779 sense of purpose. Not just a sense of purpose, not just an idea 290 00:28:10.140 --> 00:28:12.730 or a thing that you might chew yourself up with a little bit, but 291 00:28:12.849 --> 00:28:18.930 the very plan of the try and God who says to you this is what 292 00:28:18.210 --> 00:28:22.769 I am doing, this is what I have done and this is what I 293 00:28:22.930 --> 00:28:27.119 will do. And so when we face our sufferings and our trials in light 294 00:28:27.240 --> 00:28:33.319 of this, we don't enter into them with detachment, just trying to cope. 295 00:28:33.039 --> 00:28:37.359 We don't enter into them trying to counteract them or go against them. 296 00:28:37.400 --> 00:28:42.829 We enter into our trials, even our trials, even our sufferings, with 297 00:28:42.990 --> 00:28:49.470 joy and love and confidence, because what God has promised to do, to 298 00:28:49.670 --> 00:28:57.140 overcome sin, to overcome death. You know, in a funny way it 299 00:28:57.380 --> 00:29:02.900 means that we don't even it's not that we not. I am sorry. 300 00:29:02.900 --> 00:29:07.460 Let me put it this way. We not only endure our sufferings as Christians, 301 00:29:08.859 --> 00:29:15.329 but when we are really acting in faith, we press on in them, 302 00:29:15.450 --> 00:29:19.170 and not just through them in a sense, but even in them. 303 00:29:21.130 --> 00:29:25.559 You, I imagine something of like a warrior who wakes up in the morning 304 00:29:25.599 --> 00:29:29.920 and says bring it right. He doesn't just say, well, here I 305 00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:33.839 am and I'm I'll go through the battle as best I can and and I'll 306 00:29:33.920 --> 00:29:38.430 see the I'll try to endure, but he says instead, where's the fight? 307 00:29:40.349 --> 00:29:42.990 I'm a warrior, this is who I'm made to be. I'm here 308 00:29:44.150 --> 00:29:49.190 to win the battle and I have already begun a been given victory. This 309 00:29:49.309 --> 00:29:55.259 is the attitude of someone who is not defeated but who knows him or herself 310 00:29:55.460 --> 00:30:00.579 to be a conqueror. He goes forward, as she goes forward into the 311 00:30:00.700 --> 00:30:04.940 world with this kind of confidence, looking for the battles. Bring it, 312 00:30:06.859 --> 00:30:11.529 they say. When it comes to trials and suffering, it's not that we 313 00:30:11.609 --> 00:30:15.769 rush in foolishly or that we bring evil upon ourselves. We pray that God 314 00:30:15.930 --> 00:30:19.170 would take these things away. We asked that he would give us our daily 315 00:30:19.210 --> 00:30:25.279 bread. But when they come and he says they're coming, when God says 316 00:30:25.319 --> 00:30:29.079 to us, provided that we suffer with him in order that we may be 317 00:30:29.279 --> 00:30:34.599 glorified him, we don't drop our heads and say, all right, well, 318 00:30:34.640 --> 00:30:41.710 I guess I'll try now. We say I'm in Jesus Christ, this 319 00:30:41.750 --> 00:30:47.430 is secured for me. Bring it on, bring on the fires, bring 320 00:30:47.470 --> 00:30:51.579 on the suffering, bring on the trials. I know I belong to Jesus 321 00:30:51.619 --> 00:30:56.299 Christ. Our confidence comes not from US finding some sort of well of strength 322 00:30:56.980 --> 00:31:03.180 that was once dry. We find our confidence in God, who promises these 323 00:31:03.329 --> 00:31:08.130 things. Notice that this is again his will. He predestines us, he 324 00:31:08.410 --> 00:31:12.970 calls us, he justifies us, he glorifies us. You don't put on 325 00:31:14.130 --> 00:31:21.960 the armor of pastor or the armor of yourself or your father or your mother 326 00:31:22.000 --> 00:31:26.279 or some hero of the faith. What does Paul tell us to put the 327 00:31:26.359 --> 00:31:34.109 armor on as we go into battle? The armor of God. We are 328 00:31:34.150 --> 00:31:38.069 equipped not with our own strength, but with his, his plan, his 329 00:31:38.269 --> 00:31:45.150 will, his work, his glory. We don't live and die, or 330 00:31:45.190 --> 00:31:52.099 rather die and live according to us, but according to him. It's his 331 00:31:52.339 --> 00:31:59.460 sword, it's his shield, it's his helmet. This is how we fight, 332 00:32:00.700 --> 00:32:04.329 this is how we live, this is how we see and press on 333 00:32:04.569 --> 00:32:09.369 in our sufferings, even against our own sins, because we are his, 334 00:32:10.890 --> 00:32:15.799 we belong to him. We are his sons to be glorified with the first 335 00:32:16.480 --> 00:32:23.160 pre eminent son. This is guaranteed from us from the beginning and to the 336 00:32:23.240 --> 00:32:29.680 end, even to eternity itself. Let us pray