Welcome to the broadcast ministry of Finding Purpose with Russ Andrews, where we seek to glorify God by making Him known and guiding others towards their true purpose in life.
No one is here by chance. God put us here for a reason. And the most important thing we can do is discover His plan for us and commit ourselves to it. Keep listening as we learn from the Bible how to live wisely in God's world, which is the first step towards finding your purpose. . OK, so if you will, open your Bibles up to Romans Chapter 8. I've entitled this message, God chose us for glory.
God chose you and me for glory. And now before we get to Romans 8, and we're going to be looking at verses 28 through 39, I want you to take your Bibles and turn with me to the Book of Ephesians. Ephesians Chapter 1. I want to look at five very important verses in Ephesians that echo what we're going to see in Romans Chapter 8. And in these verses, Paul is explaining how salvation works from God's perspective. So here's what he writes, beginning with verse 4. And then look at verse 11. And we could spend the next two or three days just going through the deep theology that's in these verses, and we're delving into the mind of God, and we're delving into some things that we can't fully understand. I mean, words like chosen and predestined.
What do these words mean? Well, here are three key truths that you learn just quickly from these five verses. First, you need to understand this truth, and it's hard to understand, but you have to accept it because it's in God's Word. God chose us before He created the world, and He chose us, why? To be adopted as His sons in order that we might belong to His family forever. In other words, from the beginning of time, God has been building an eternal family, a heavenly family, His family.
And the only way you enter His family is if He chooses you. Second, God is at work by His omniscience and His omnipotence to make sure that He delivers on everything He's promised in the Bible. Everything is going to be worked out, guys, according to His will. That's why you don't have to worry when you go to bed at night. When you look at the world that's falling apart, God is in control.
He's working everything. It's actually order in the midst of chaos because God is working in it. Third, God chose us to be His sons, why? To conform us into the likeness of Christ so that we, in turn, listen, will display and proclaim His glory to a watching world.
So here's the main question I want to answer tonight. How and why did God save us? If you're in Christ tonight, how and why did God save you? Well, now, to answer this question, we're going to look at Romans 8, verses 28 through 39, and I want you to see three incredible promises that are in these verses.
And here's the first promise. God makes everything in a believer's life, everything, work out for His eternal good and for God's glory. Many Christians have memorized verse 28, Romans 8, 28.
It gives the greatest encouragement and hope to all believers, particularly when they're going through trials and difficulties. Look at what Paul writes. And we know that in all things, how many things?
All things. God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. So to understand this verse, you need to understand two key words and one key phrase. You need to understand the word we, the word no, and the phrase works together. So I want you to notice that Paul begins verse 28 with this phrase, and we know. What does Paul mean? Who's he referring to when he says we? He's referring to himself along with all the believers specific in Rome, but he's also referring to any believer that picks up the Bible and reads through Romans. He's talking about you if you're in Christ. So this promise only applies to believers. It does not apply to non-believers. God is not working out everything in their lives for good because they're making their own choice separate from God. But when you belong to Him, He's going to receive to it that you're in the palm of His hand.
He's going to receive to it that everything comes into your life, the good, the bad, and the ugly, that He works it out for your eternal good and His glory. Second, the word no comes from the Greek verb order. There's another word for no. It's called ginosko, but the verb that's used here is order, and what it means is to know fully and to know with complete certainty.
In other words, you have no doubt. So we can read verse 28 as if it's saying this. For those who love God, God powerfully and providentially works in their lives to guarantee that all things work together for their good and for His glory.
So how does He do this? Well, look at verse 3. Here comes the phrase works together. Now, this phrase comes from one Greek word and it's pronounced synergeo, synergeo. Can you all hear the word synergy in that? Synergeo, synergy.
When things work together synergistically, this means that the outcome or the result is more than the sum of its parts. And so that's what God is doing. He's working all things out together for good synergistically to guarantee that they work out again for our good and His glory. So let me ask you this. Are you going through a trial tonight as you sit here? You got something you're really facing that's difficult? Did you come here tonight deeply burdened with something, whatever it may be? You lost your job, you've got a loved one, a child or your wife that's going through cancer.
Do you think the people out in Western North Carolina are going through a difficult trial? Well, here's what the Bible says. Whatever it is, if you're in Christ, then God not only hears your prayers for help, but He's going to work this painful trial out for your ultimate good and His glory. And He will eventually deliver you from it.
It may not be till you die, but He will deliver you from it. John MacArthur says that the Lord causes even evil things to work for our good. Think about the cross. The cross was the worst evil ever carried out in the history of the world, and yet it's also the greatest good that's been carried out in the history of the world.
How is that possible? Because God worked it out for good. MacArthur goes on to divide evil things into three categories, suffering, temptation and sin. You see, even our filthiest sins, it's hard to believe. Even your filthiest sin, you've got to confess it and turn from it. But when you do that, God is going to take that in your life, and He's going to somehow work it out for good. I don't know how, but He will.
Because He says, how many things? All things, so it's everything. Even suffering. God used our suffering, whether it be persecution or some type of illness or financial loss, He works it out for good. By the way, I don't know if you know this, but suffering, when it happens in your life, is allowed or caused because it's God's will.
That's a hard thing to accept, but it is. 1 Peter 4.19 says, So then, those who suffer according to God's will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good, knowing that He's going to work it out, and He's going to deliver you from it. One of my heroes, and I've mentioned her before, I think even this year, Erikson, she broke her neck in a diving accident when she was 17 up in the Chesapeake Bay when she dove off a platform, and it was about, it was shallow, she didn't know it, and she broke her neck. She's been a quadriplegic, she's now 74, for 57 years. She's been confined to a wheelchair for 57 years. In her book, When God Weeps, she offers 37 reasons.
I'm not going to give you all 37, I'm going to give you three. 37 reasons, and she has scripture with every one of them, why God allows suffering into the lives of His children. She says, God uses suffering to refine us, to perfect us, to strengthen us, and catch this, to keep us from falling into more sin. Suffering, she says, bankrupts us, making us dependent on God. What's the best condition or place that you can be in as a Christian? If you're the center of God's will, but it's to be dependent upon Him. To be a man on your knees, and when He sees you're dependent upon Him, He's going to take care of things. Why?
Because He knows you're trusting Him. She says, suffering teaches us that the greatest good of the Christian life is not absence of pain, but Christ's likeness. God takes suffering in our lives to chisel away the dross, so that we become like pure silver. I heard Johnny Erickson taught her, she was on the David Jeremiah Sunday morning, or it might have been in the evening, but she was in his church out of California, and this was her first public appearance in about six months, because she had had some kind of vertigo, where she not only had to stay in bed, but she had to stay prostrate. She said, you're talking about claustrophobic, for six months like that. So this was in Furthermore, she also had breast cancer. You would think, God, I think she's had enough. But here's what she said, she said, when I go to Heaven one day, I want to take my wheelchair with me, so that I can thank Jesus for it. She said, without the wheelchair, I would have never known my Lord the way I do. And then she said, I'm going to ask Jesus to cast it into Hell. And that's exactly what it's going to do. And then she's going to be set free, in fact, she would have already been set free when she gets to Heaven, and she's going to run and laugh and rejoice in Heaven for how long?
Forever. And here's the greatest news, promise two. See, once you've been chosen by God, He places you on the unbreakable path to glory. It's the unbreakable path to glory. Look at verses 29 and 30. Paul writes, for those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, in order that He might be the firstborn among many brothers. So who's the firstborn?
Jesus. And those whom He predestined, He also called. And those whom He called, He also justified. And those whom He justified, He also glorifies. So if He's the firstborn of many brothers, what does that make us if we're in Christ? His brother.
Did you know that? God becomes your heavenly Abba, and Jesus becomes your elder brother. Now listen, when God places you on this unbreakable path, here's the good news.
You can never be removed from it. Once you begin, God will see to it that you've completed. And once you are foreknown, you will be glorified. Being foreknown is the beginning of our salvation in eternity past. And then once you've been justified in this life, declared righteous, you will be glorified.
It's just a matter of time. I want you to think, by the way, of these five words. Foreknowledge, or foreknown, predestined, called, justified, and glorified. It's links in a chain. One chain with five links.
John MacArthur says that these five links in the chain of God's saving work are unbreakable. Don't you like that promise? Now you need to notice that all the verbs here are in the past tense.
Do you know why they're in the past tense? Paul is so certain that we will be glorified, for example, that glorified is in the past tense. It's as if it's already happened. So we kind of live in the already but not yet. We have been glorified, we have been justified, we have been redeemed, we have been sanctified, and we have been glorified, but not completely yet. And we're in the process of sanctification. So we need to understand these five words.
They're very important. So let's look at the first link, the verb fornew. So what does it mean to be foreknown by God? Well, it comes from the Greek word proginosko.
Can you see the word prognosis in there? That's to make a prediction about something, a prognosis, which means to, and so what it means here, to be foreknown by God, it means to be known, listen, to be known intimately and personally beforehand. In other words, God knew you, if you're in Christ, as belonging to His family before creation. MacArthur says it refers to a predetermined choice by God to have an intimate relationship with His chosen people. It's when God said to Jeremiah in Jeremiah chapter 1, verse 5, before I formed you, Jeremiah, what did he say? In the womb, I knew you. I knew you, Jeremiah, as belonging to me. I chose you before you were even born. 1 Peter chapter 1, verses 1 and 2 echoes the same truth.
Peter writes, to God's elect, there's another word, elect, it means to choose, to select. I know these are, this doesn't make sense to me, just don't worry about it. If you don't understand it, don't even worry about that. Just get to heaven, God will explain it to you better than I can. By the way, you get to heaven, you won't really worry about it.
Hey, how you got there? So Peter writes, to God's elect, strangers in the world. You know, the closer you walk with the Lord, the more you're going to feel like a stranger. You all feel like a stranger, like you don't really fit in. You don't want to fit in.
Do you know why? This is not your home. Your home is in heaven. The world is always going to look at you as strange and you look like an alien to them.
That's okay. So to God's elect, strangers in the world who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, and that is such a powerful verse there and it says so much. So the reason that God chose us, because he wanted a family and he wants to know each member of his family intimately, just like you know your wife if you've been married. The longer you've been married to your wife, I've been married almost 46 years coming December the 2nd. That's when we got married. But anyway, the longer, so Krishna, we know each other better now, good, bad, and ugly, than we ever knew each other. And we're closer friends than we've ever been.
The longer she does what I tell her, everything's okay. So here's a question. Why did God choose Russ Andrews in eternity past?
I have no idea, because I would have never chosen me. Listen, I love what Charles Spurgeon says. Charles Spurgeon was considered the prince of preachers.
He lived during the late 1800s. He had a church in downtown London called the London Metropolitan Church. It's seated 5,000 to 6,000.
I heard you had to get a ticket to get in. And the royalty came and the poor came. Everybody wanted to come to hear Spurgeon. Listen to what he says, and this is the way you should think about it. Spurgeon says, I am quite certain that he chose me, because if God had not chosen me, I should never have chosen him. And it must be true in my case that he chose me before I was born, because he certainly would never have chosen me afterwards.
Don't you like that? I told Thursday morning, the Bible said that I lead with about 20 men. I told them this last Thursday. I said the only reason why I'm sitting here and teaching you is because of one word.
What is it? Grace. The only reason. So if you are in Christ, it's only because God foreknew you personally as his son, long before he created you. Why do we believe that? Because that's what the Bible says. Do we have to understand it?
No. Now let's look at the second link, predestine. This link is closely joined to the first link, foreknowledge. MacArthur says, I like the way he says this, foreknowledge looks at the beginning of God's purpose in choosing us, and predestination looks at the end of God's purpose in choosing us. Predestination simply means to determine beforehand, just like it says.
It's determined beforehand. Do you all know that Jesus' death on the cross was predetermined and foreknown by God? Did you know that?
Do you know how we know that? In Acts 2, verse 23, Paul confronts the Jews with this truth. So Paul is speaking to the religious Jews.
Actually, I think it's Peter. This man, talking about Jesus, was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge. And you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.
I want you to understand this. The cross was never plan B. God didn't create the world and, well, gosh, boy, these guys really sinned. I didn't know they were going to do that, and he had to come up with another plan.
No. Before he created the world, he knew that he was going to send his son into the world on a rescue mission. It was always plan A.
So here's the third length. So you've got foreknew, predestined, and called. So we're saved by God's foreknowledge and because of his, catch this, effectual calling. There are two callings going out from God into the world. There's the outward call through the preaching of the gospel. This is essentially what Billy Graham did for 70 years all over the world. He proclaimed the gospel. He was calling people to come to Christ.
But listen to this. No one will ever respond to the gospel unless he hears the inward call of the Holy Spirit, basically wooing him. Effectual means that when you hear the Spirit's call, it will take effect upon you. You will come to Christ.
You won't be to resist it. It's like a strong magnet. Why is this? Because when God calls a man, that man will always come. That's why if you've got a friend who's lost, a lover who's lost, just say, Lord, please call him to yourself. I pray that for all my grandchildren every day. John 6 44, here Jesus says, listen to this.
This affirms this truth. No one comes to me unless the Father who sent me draws him and I will raise him up at the last day. Now, listen, there's a lot of mystery in here that you can probably figure out. We don't understand God's ways.
You know why? Because his ways are higher than our ways. So we take scripture as far as it will carry us.
And if we don't understand it, we have to trust God. Why do we trust him so much? Because we know his character.
He's good and he's always acting for our good. So if you want a tough answer, if somebody says, well, that's not fair. Why didn't God choose him or her? Well, first of all, he may not be finished with him or her. But here's what Paul says in Romans nine, 19 through 21. One of you will say to me, then why does God still blame us? For who is able to resist his will? But who are you, O man?
Listen to this. He's talking to that person who's questioning. Who are you, O man, to talk back to God? So what does form say to the one who formed it?
Why did you make me like this? Does not the potter, that would be God, have the right to make out the same lump of clay, some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use? So in the same way that a piece of pottery, if you could talk, should never question the potter, we should never question who?
God. We have to come to his word with great humility, because he is God and we're not. And as I said last week, we need to be thankful that there actually is a way into heaven.
He could have made no way. By the way, when we get to heaven, Jesus says in John 16, 33, in that day, you will no longer ask me anything. I believe that in that day, when we see the Lord, we're going to be given a complete understanding of how God worked in salvation. And if he had not worked the way he did, no one would be saved. So let's look at the fourth word, justified. I'm just going to say this briefly because we covered it in detail last week in Romans 3.
Justified means to what? Declare someone righteous in the courtroom of heaven. And when God declares you righteous, you stand holy, innocent, pure and righteous in his sight. And it's a declaration that can never be changed.
It stands firm. And this is why Paul says in Romans 8, 1, Therefore, there's now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Now, listen, I was talking to Grant tonight before we had our leaders meeting. And I said, you know, Grant, to be declared righteous by God is the greatest thing that can happen to a man or woman in this life. It's the greatest thing. Once you're declared righteous, it's a game changer.
It basically removes the sting of death. Fifth, glorified. I think that glorified is when God, you remember we're image bearers, but in the fall, our image was tainted. It was cracked. It was bent.
It was almost destroyed. But we still have a little bit of that image in us. But I believe that when we're glorified, it means that we will be restored perfectly into the image of God so that he sees us completely.
He sees himself completely in us. Paul is so certain of our glorification that he says those whom he justified. He also glorified Dr. John Hammett, who was one of my favorite professors at Southeastern.
I took systematic theology under him and a couple of other courses, which I loved. He says it is the he says glorification is this. It is the final, complete transformation of our total being. The end of the process of salvation and the necessary preparation for a heavenly life.
And catch this. We will have a resurrected or restored body, just like the one that Jesus had when he arose from the grave. And one day, man, we will share in the glory of God. Listen to this now on a glorious, restored earth in gloriously restored new spiritual bodies that are suited to last forever. You learned about that this week in First Corinthians 15, which says, if I remember the five words, immortal, imperishable, glorious, spiritual and powerful. Did you all learn that?
That's what you're going to be like one day. First John 3, 2 says, when is this going to happen? I believe it's going to happen at the moment of the second coming, when we see the clouds part and we see Jesus returning to this earth. And every believer that's in the grave and every believer that's still alive will perhaps, I think, be caught up to meet him in the air. That's what it says in First Thessalonians chapter four. But in that moment, in the twinkling of an eye, Paul says, we will be transformed so that we are like him. Are you ready for that moment? Philippians 3, 20, 21 echoes this, but our citizenship is in heaven and we eagerly await a savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. Here's the promise three. So Paul is this incredible passage with this promise.
You ready? Every man or woman chosen by God is eternally secure in Christ. That's why we can sing what him blessed assurance.
You cannot have blessed assurance in this world unless you're in Christ. And Paul gives us five rhetorical questions. But here's what I want to end with. It's one less promise that's not found in Romans. It's found in the book of Isaiah, chapter 25.
And by the way, if you go back and read, there's a section in there, I don't remember. It's like verses six through 10 or 11. I don't know exactly, but we're going to look at verse eight. And in this Isaiah is looking into the future. Remember, he was born about 550 years, I believe, before Christ. He's looking into the future. You know who he's looking to? He's looking to Revelation chapter 19, the wedding supper of the Lamb.
And he describes this banquet that will have aged meats and the finest of wines. There are going to be a lot of uncomfortable Baptists, but I won't be one of them. So when you look out there at western North Carolina, it almost looks like the land has vomited up, people and trees and carnage. It's like hell on earth. I can't imagine anything worse. Can you imagine that? I've seen images that I don't want to see of children. And, you know, it's just horrible. And right now we've got a world that's about to break out in World War Three. And if you look around the world today, Christians are being more and more isolated and more and more judged and persecuted and shamed and disgraced. Did you know that? When you look at Christians and characters that play so-called Christians in movies, they always look like idiots and they're ugly. They never have somebody good looking and sharp like me in the movie. Why is that?
Because they're ridiculing Christians. We are disgraced around the world. But listen, here's the last promise. One day, and I believe this could be pretty soon, God is going to remove disgrace from His people and make His true children the very envy of the world.
Did you know that? He's going to flip the tables. We'll go from being disgraced to being envied. Here's what Isaiah says.
I love this. The sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from our faces. Where else does it say that? Revelation 21. I'll wipe away all tears from their faces.
And then look at this. The Lord, it says, He will remove the disgrace of His people from all the earth. How do we know this is true? Because it says the Lord has spoken. And in that day, they will say, in other words, we're going to be in heaven and we'll be looking at Jesus and we'll say, surely this is our God. We trusted in Him and He saved us. This is the Lord.
We trusted in Him. Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation. You've been listening to Finding Purpose with Russ Andrews. This broadcast is made possible because of the prayers and financial gifts of listeners like you. If you want to learn more about our ministry or support us as we reach others with God-centered Bible teaching, please visit us at findingpurpose.net. .
