back to index2017-01-08 Absolute Security in Our Salvation
00:00:00.000 |
If you can turn your Bibles with me to Romans Chapter 8, I'm going to be reading from verse 00:00:10.040 |
Reading the ESV, Romans Chapter 8, 28 through 30. 00:00:19.200 |
And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good. 00:00:23.240 |
For those who are called according to His purpose. 00:00:26.080 |
For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of the Son, in 00:00:30.680 |
order that He might be the firstborn among many brothers. 00:00:33.320 |
And those whom He predestined, He also called. 00:00:37.800 |
And those whom He justified, He also glorified. 00:00:41.360 |
Gracious and loving Father, we pray that Your Word would impact, that it would guide, lead, 00:00:53.680 |
We pray that this time may be anointed by Your Spirit, and again, allow us, Lord God, 00:00:57.960 |
to see You and to hear from You and nothing else. 00:01:01.320 |
So we pray that You would guard this time for the sake of Your name. 00:01:06.360 |
All right, as you guys know, we've been studying through the book of Romans, and Paul has been 00:01:10.280 |
just expounding and going into the details of the doctrine of justification. 00:01:16.080 |
Justification is basically, simply put, where God, when we talk about the essence of the 00:01:21.240 |
gospel, where Christ was crucified, He who knew no sin became sin so that we might become 00:01:27.360 |
He's been expounding that basically the whole book of Romans up to this point. 00:01:33.840 |
But in justification, in chapter 6 and 7 and part of chapter 8, he's been talking about 00:01:41.320 |
All right, so if you've been genuinely justified by grace, by faith alone, it doesn't lead 00:01:47.480 |
to licentious life, because that was the big question. 00:01:50.280 |
If you say that works, it doesn't add to our salvation, isn't that going to lead a bunch 00:01:54.680 |
of people saying, "Well, then we can do whatever we want." 00:01:57.200 |
And Paul says, "No, that's not it at all, by no means." 00:02:01.380 |
To be justified and to be saved means that you have been united with Christ in His death 00:02:07.840 |
Not only that, the Holy Spirit is indwelling in you, so the Holy Spirit will constantly 00:02:15.160 |
So it is a contradiction for a Christian to feel safe and feel comfortable continuing 00:02:21.240 |
to live in this world, because the Holy Spirit is constantly with us. 00:02:25.240 |
So he's talking about justification, and then he's been expounding in chapter 6 and 7 about 00:02:32.600 |
The text that we're looking at, and then on to probably chapter 9, maybe even all the 00:02:36.520 |
way to chapter 11, he's going to give us a little bit more detail about glorification. 00:02:42.600 |
Why we are absolutely certain that those who are justified will be sanctified, and those 00:02:48.840 |
who are justified and sanctified, that we have absolute assurance that we will be glorified. 00:02:56.800 |
You know, the longer you live, if there's any one thing that absolutely becomes certain, 00:03:07.080 |
You know, whether it is your health, your job, you know, when you're younger, you know, 00:03:12.040 |
any little change that happens in your life is like a big deal, but after a while, you 00:03:15.640 |
just kind of get accustomed to whatever may come and go. 00:03:19.960 |
That's true in jobs, that's true in health, economy, politics, even relationships. 00:03:30.320 |
And Paul has been telling us that, reminding us that, that even in our salvation, there 00:03:40.600 |
We don't even know what to pray for at times. 00:03:43.800 |
We don't know how to make sense of the world. 00:03:46.120 |
We don't know how to make sense of a lot of things that happen in our life. 00:03:49.280 |
And so the scripture tells us that that's the reason why the Holy Spirit has been given 00:03:52.880 |
to us as a seal, guaranteeing our salvation, because God knows that we don't know. 00:03:58.640 |
So even when we don't know, he says, the Holy Spirit knows, and he's groaning on our behalf. 00:04:04.200 |
He knows the mind of the Lord, and he's groaning on our behalf, interceding on our behalf, 00:04:08.880 |
and that's what guarantees our sanctification and ultimately our salvation. 00:04:14.200 |
But the text that we started looking at in verse 28, we don't know. 00:04:17.680 |
There's a lot of things that we don't know, but here's one thing that we absolutely do 00:04:21.160 |
know, that we know, in verse 28, that for those who are loved by God, all things work 00:04:30.780 |
In other words, he says, we may not know how it works, we may not know how it fits together, 00:04:36.000 |
we may not even know at times what to pray for, what is your will, but one thing that 00:04:40.000 |
we do know is that our salvation is absolutely secure. 00:04:44.800 |
That no matter what happens in our walk with God, no matter what happens in our life, he 00:04:53.800 |
And the confidence that we have in that is that the scripture clearly tells us that God 00:05:00.080 |
is the altar of salvation from past, present, and future. 00:05:04.800 |
I don't know if you've ever had a conversation with someone in sharing the gospel, and one 00:05:08.880 |
of the common objections that they have about the word of God is that, well, how can you 00:05:16.120 |
You know, these are fishermen, tax collectors. 00:05:20.580 |
They wrote it, and then the church decided one day to say, hey, you know what, we're 00:05:23.560 |
going to accept these as God's word, so it's filled with errors. 00:05:29.220 |
You and I know that this partially true, yes, God used men. 00:05:37.880 |
We say Peter wrote Peter, and Matthew wrote Matthew. 00:05:40.840 |
So we say there are specific human authors, but the reason why we have confidence in the 00:05:45.160 |
word of God, because it was the Holy Spirit behind it. 00:05:49.000 |
First Peter 1, second Peter 1, 21, it says, for no prophecy was ever produced by the will 00:05:56.280 |
So even though Paul wrote it in his words, in his personality, specific concerns that 00:06:05.860 |
Nothing that we have in the Bible was simply by the will of man, but men spoke from God 00:06:09.500 |
as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. 00:06:13.540 |
So the confidence that we have in God's word is not on Peter. 00:06:16.940 |
It's not that the church somehow preserved the word of God, and so we have the perfect 00:06:22.420 |
It's the confidence that we have that even though men were involved, it says it was the 00:06:33.680 |
The confidence that we have in our salvation is not because we made a decision, that we 00:06:38.840 |
heard and said, that made a lot of sense to me, so I chose to do this. 00:06:42.480 |
The scripture tells us, even though you and I may have responded to the calling, that 00:06:47.560 |
this salvation happened long before you and I ever heard the gospel, that you and I were 00:06:57.160 |
Paul talks about, in verse 29 and 30, five separate things, five separate things that 00:07:06.120 |
So justification is a part of these five things, but before we even understand justification, 00:07:11.060 |
we have to understand where justification started. 00:07:18.480 |
He says first, the first thing that he says in verse 39, "For those whom he foreknew, 00:07:22.720 |
he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son." 00:07:25.940 |
Those he foreknew, the doctrine of foreknowledge. 00:07:29.240 |
The doctrine of foreknowledge isn't simply that God looking down history and saw, he 00:07:35.440 |
knew that what you were going to do, so he determined based upon what you were going 00:07:44.240 |
That's not the way the word foreknowledge is used in scripture. 00:07:47.720 |
And I think the reason why some people try to explain it that way is trying to answer 00:07:55.600 |
If he doesn't, if it wasn't based upon us, we're almost kind of like trying to get God 00:08:04.820 |
So somehow it seems to justify, well, because it wasn't him and it's you, so God didn't 00:08:10.520 |
actually determine, he was just determining based upon what you were going to do. 00:08:21.200 |
Not too long ago, there was a false doctrine called the openness of God theology that was 00:08:30.140 |
And basically that openness of God theology is, well, how do we explain evil? 00:08:34.360 |
How do we explain people who've never heard the gospel? 00:08:36.520 |
How do we explain these bad things that are happening? 00:08:39.520 |
Well, maybe it's because God isn't sovereign. 00:08:44.960 |
Maybe God doesn't have the power to do anything about it. 00:08:47.360 |
So the doctrine is, or openness of God is, he's completely open. 00:08:52.120 |
He's just kind of waiting to see what we're going to do, and he's just acting upon what 00:08:59.600 |
And that's basically, in essence, what the openness of God theology was, an absolute 00:09:04.920 |
heresy, refuted in every conservative seminary. 00:09:13.420 |
The word foreknowledge in scripture basically means that God knew us before. 00:09:23.960 |
The idea that you and I somehow initiated our salvation, and we thought one day, we 00:09:32.640 |
And so I'm going to be saved," contradicts everything that we know about how we are described 00:09:40.240 |
Romans 3, 23, it says, "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." 00:09:45.580 |
Jeremiah 17, 9, it says, "Our hearts are deceitful, above all things, desperately corrupt." 00:09:51.660 |
Even our ability to determine right or wrong has been corrupt. 00:09:56.520 |
We couldn't discern what was right and what was wrong. 00:10:01.460 |
2 Corinthians 4, 4, "We were blinded by the God of this age." 00:10:09.220 |
Ephesians 2, 1 and 5, "We are dead in our trespasses and sins." 00:10:19.200 |
Not weak, not sick, but dead in our trespasses. 00:10:23.180 |
In Ephesians 4, 17, "We became futile in our mind, darkened in understanding, alienated 00:10:28.000 |
from the life of God, and hardened in heart." 00:10:30.620 |
So over and over again, the Bible just, it doesn't describe our pre-Christ stage as somebody 00:10:36.820 |
who's sick, who's weak, who's just kind of drifted. 00:10:43.380 |
We have no ability to be able to discern what is right or wrong. 00:10:48.660 |
So to think that we were in that state and all of a sudden, one day, we decided by our 00:10:56.820 |
That's no more, no more, does that make any sense than a blind person one day wakes up 00:11:06.860 |
Or somebody who's dead just decides, "I'm tired. 00:11:10.060 |
See, that's how the Bible describes who we were before we met Christ. 00:11:16.580 |
So the doctrine of foreknowledge basically means that before, before you were ever even 00:11:22.580 |
aware of who he was, before you even ever heard the gospel, he says, "He knew us." 00:11:28.140 |
In fact, that's exactly how the Bible uses the word to know. 00:11:32.980 |
In the book of Genesis, it says Adam and Eve knew each other. 00:11:36.860 |
We're not in elementary school, so you know what "knew" means. 00:11:40.500 |
It doesn't mean that he found out her address and found out where she lives. 00:11:50.100 |
When the scripture says, God says of Israel, Amos 3.2, "You only have I known of all the 00:11:58.180 |
Is he saying that, "Well, Canaanites, I've never heard of these people. 00:12:04.540 |
What does he mean when he says he knew them or he foreknew them? 00:12:11.900 |
When the scripture says, the psalmist says that, "God knew me in my mother's womb." 00:12:20.140 |
The psalmist means that even before I was born, God had his attention on me. 00:12:28.860 |
That's what it means, the doctrine of foreknowledge. 00:12:33.460 |
You know, the doctrine of foreknowledge basically is telling us, is reminding us that long before 00:12:42.500 |
you ever were even aware of God, God was leading you to the path of justification. 00:12:48.460 |
He was orchestrating certain things in your life because he knew us. 00:12:53.100 |
And that's really another way of saying that he loved us. 00:12:57.900 |
He fixated his thoughts, he fixated his plan and his will long before we were ever aware 00:13:05.660 |
Based upon his foreknowledge, it says we were predestined. 00:13:10.280 |
And that's the reason why we know that we have absolute security in God. 00:13:14.300 |
That his love for us was not just random, one day decided. 00:13:22.780 |
The Bible describes it as long before we were even created, we even knew he existed. 00:13:30.020 |
He determined, he predestined, he called and justified, and then he glorified. 00:13:37.460 |
Years ago, I attended a mission conference and the pastor was talking about this doctrine 00:13:41.040 |
of election and he said, "You know, a long time ago we used to call cars that had been 00:13:47.780 |
And then there was a period when they stopped using the word used cars because that sounds 00:13:52.980 |
And so they started calling it pre-owned cars. 00:14:00.420 |
Instead of calling it pre-owned, they started calling it pre-loved." 00:14:12.820 |
Well, the doctrine of foreknowledge is basically another way of saying that God pre-loved us. 00:14:24.500 |
You know, when I first met Esther, you know, I started, when I started having, you know, 00:14:38.260 |
I didn't tell anybody else but my Bible study leader. 00:14:40.300 |
And the reason why I told my Bible study leader was because I asked him to keep me accountable. 00:14:45.380 |
You know, because we happen to belong to this Bible study where you have to get permission 00:14:48.900 |
from the leaders and they have to tell you yes and no or whatever. 00:14:52.300 |
And I was kind of on the verge of leaving, but I wasn't, you know, I didn't want to get 00:14:56.940 |
And so I thought, you know, like, okay, we're on the same page. 00:15:04.780 |
So for a year and a half, I didn't, I never said anything to anybody but my small group 00:15:13.260 |
If you see me doing like weird things, like jumping in the car because she's there or 00:15:17.100 |
we're playing games and I forced myself into her team. 00:15:20.500 |
You know, if I do strange things, like keep me, call me out so that you can keep me accountable. 00:15:26.140 |
Well, a year and a half passed by and obviously my affections for her was growing. 00:15:33.140 |
And then I found out that she was going to go to the East Coast to attend pharmacy school. 00:15:38.100 |
So I thought, well, is she going to go to pharmacy school? 00:15:43.180 |
At least the one that you carry on your pocket. 00:15:57.320 |
And then if for four years we can play, you know, you have a long disrelationship. 00:16:03.140 |
By the time she comes back, I'm going to be in my late twenties. 00:16:05.500 |
I would have finished seminary, maybe gone out to missions, come back and decide. 00:16:13.100 |
And when I decided to tell her the whole time, you know, I was thinking like, I mean, I've 00:16:16.700 |
been dropping hints and I thought she was dropping hints to me. 00:16:25.940 |
So we're, we're dropping hints or at least that's what I'm thinking. 00:16:28.460 |
So I finally devised this plan after this, this sports day we had. 00:16:40.580 |
And so I, I picked her up and it was like 10, 10 PM and she was living in Culver city 00:16:45.940 |
and I was in, I think I was in Downey and I went and picked her up and I was driving 00:16:50.340 |
and it was just dead silence for the whole car because I was like, I'm going to tell 00:16:53.780 |
her, but you know, it was a little bit awkward. 00:16:56.820 |
So I was driving and then I asked her, so Esther, you know, what do you think about 00:17:24.780 |
And she's like, well, you know, like a Christian brother. 00:17:31.060 |
So in the context of talking, I realized, oh shoot, we're not on the same page. 00:17:38.340 |
And I'm about 10 minutes from dropping her off. 00:17:40.900 |
And I'm like, this is going to be awkward if I don't, if I don't say anything, this 00:17:47.220 |
So I just said, okay, you know, I'm just going to have to say it. 00:17:49.700 |
And so I just told her, you know, and she, she acted like she got hit by a truck. 00:17:57.500 |
I mean, there's a lot of like backstory that, that, you know, like I won't get into today, 00:18:03.420 |
but anyway, she, I told her and I said, can you pray about it? 00:18:07.980 |
And then I didn't hear, I didn't hear from her for like two months. 00:18:12.220 |
Because remember I told you I was in a Bible study where the leaders, you know, like they 00:18:17.820 |
And my leaders were telling me before this happened, it's like, Hey Peter, you know, 00:18:22.380 |
But just, they were kind of like in the middle, you know, and say, Hey, don't talk to that 00:18:27.420 |
And then two months later we finally got together. 00:18:29.460 |
And obviously we got married, you know, but after, you know, speed things up. 00:18:35.740 |
But after, you know, we finally got together and we were able to talk and I was telling 00:18:40.980 |
I said, you know, for a year and a half, I thought, I thought we were on the same page, 00:18:51.740 |
How can you have, like after a year and a half, I was like dropping hints. 00:18:58.220 |
I said, Esther, remember that day at Cerritos College, we went out witnessing and then I, 00:19:05.260 |
I gave you, you know, a precious moment, like a heart shaped container. 00:19:16.780 |
Remember I gave that to you in the parking lot? 00:19:20.460 |
And then she's like, yeah, that was kind of weird. 00:19:28.860 |
Like, why would, why would some random guy to give you a heart shaped, you know, I put 00:19:37.300 |
I was like, precious moment, you know, it's, it's Christian, it's cute, it's heart shaped. 00:19:44.460 |
But then I wanted her to know that I thought about it. 00:19:46.660 |
So if I put a little bit of chocolate in there, you know, she knows that I took time to prepare 00:19:53.500 |
And then when I gave it to her, she's like, oh, gee, thanks. 00:20:09.100 |
And I was thinking about all the little things that, that I thought we were making connection. 00:20:14.020 |
Remember I was giving that sermon and then you were looking at me, it's like, I got it. 00:20:19.380 |
Two years, two years went by, she knew nothing, right? 00:20:24.820 |
Now I share all of this because when we talk about the doctrine of foreknowledge, doctrine 00:20:29.780 |
of foreknowledge basically is God telling us, I knew you. 00:20:33.660 |
When we think about how we got here, you know, we're always thinking about the future. 00:20:43.620 |
He always telling us, remember, remember how you got here. 00:20:48.900 |
The whole reason why you're here is because God orchestrated certain things in your life. 00:20:53.380 |
There were hints of God's presence in your life before you were ever even aware. 00:20:58.980 |
Until after you become a Christian, you realize, you look back and say, wow, yeah, I remember 00:21:03.660 |
You know, when I was in high school and he would always pray for meals. 00:21:06.780 |
And I remember that guy, he was always asking me to come to church. 00:21:10.180 |
That missionary, when I was a little kid who came and shared, he's like, yeah, you forgot 00:21:16.020 |
But there were glimpses of God's presence in your life because he foreknew you and me 00:21:23.540 |
And that's what the doctrine of foreknowledge is. 00:21:29.740 |
I knew you before you ever even thought about me. 00:21:32.100 |
That's why your salvation is so secure in my hands. 00:21:36.580 |
He says, based upon his foreknowledge, he predetermined, he predestined us. 00:21:42.460 |
In Ephesians chapter one, he says, we were elected, predestined. 00:21:45.940 |
And over and over again, it says in Ephesians, because of his pleasure, it was his plan. 00:21:52.100 |
Over and over and over again, he says it was premeditated. 00:21:57.380 |
You know, in the legal system, you know, the way they determine the level of guilt that 00:22:02.840 |
you have is the level of premeditation that went into whatever it is that you did. 00:22:08.940 |
So there's this murder that you commit just kind of at the heat of the moment. 00:22:12.280 |
You got angry and you shot somebody or you did something. 00:22:23.260 |
You knew the consequences and you actually tried to get rid of the weapon and bury the 00:22:34.620 |
For two years ago, you've been planning this out. 00:22:39.700 |
So culpability is directly linked to premeditation. 00:22:46.620 |
So when the scripture tells us that he predestined, you know, we get so caught up as how does 00:22:53.300 |
And you missed the whole point of why he says it was predetermined. 00:22:58.020 |
Based upon his foreknowledge, he predetermined, he premeditated. 00:23:03.220 |
According to Ephesians, before the creation of the world. 00:23:09.740 |
But he says that's how deep and that's how far my foreknowledge and predestination goes. 00:23:19.860 |
And that's why Paul says in Galatians 6, 17, that in the midst of persecution, risking 00:23:24.980 |
his life, he says, "Let no one cause me trouble for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus." 00:23:33.860 |
You may read that passage and Paul say, "Don't mess with me. 00:23:47.220 |
He's been threatened with imprisonment and beheading over and over again. 00:23:51.300 |
And he says, they were even prophesied saying if you go to Jerusalem, you're going to be 00:23:58.580 |
So when he writes the book of Galatians, he's not saying, "Don't mess with me. 00:24:04.300 |
When he says, "Let no one cause trouble for me for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus 00:24:07.700 |
Christ," meaning that his crucifixion, his blood, his pain, I've been tagged by the blood 00:24:17.020 |
You can punch me, kick me, put me in prison, behead me, but you can't hurt me because I've 00:24:27.020 |
And that's what we're going to be getting into in verse 31. 00:24:29.180 |
He says, "Then what then shall we say to these things? 00:24:37.380 |
If God is for us, nothing can separate us from the love of God. 00:24:49.660 |
And based upon that, right, based upon that, this is where we finally show up in the calling. 00:24:57.920 |
Those who have been foreknown, they were under the scrutiny of my predetermination, premeditation. 00:25:08.340 |
Those who are predestined, he says he called. 00:25:13.460 |
You know, a common complaint that people have of Calvinism is that, "Well, if you're Calvinist 00:25:19.980 |
and you believe in predestination, doesn't that make you passive? 00:25:24.760 |
Doesn't that cause you to say, 'Well, I mean, if God is in full control, you know, I don't 00:25:32.540 |
A nominal Christian, whether they're an Armenian or Calvinist, whether they're charismatic 00:25:37.420 |
or non-charismatic, a nominal Christian will find nominal reason to do, to be a nominal 00:25:43.900 |
So we can't determine right doctrine, wrong doctrine, simply be based upon some nominal 00:25:50.780 |
A genuine Christian who's genuinely been saved, the doctrine of God's sovereignty actually 00:26:00.700 |
Because the calling that you and I have received wasn't based upon the cleverness of other 00:26:05.260 |
You know, a lot of times people think, "Well, I don't want to preach the gospel because 00:26:08.620 |
if I preach the gospel, if I do it wrong, you know, I get one crack at it and if I mess 00:26:13.700 |
it up and because I mess it up, they can't go to heaven, so I can't take that risk. 00:26:17.540 |
So I'm going to bring him to the professionals at church and let the pastors preach the gospel. 00:26:29.380 |
The way that somebody comes to Christ is because God has ordained the preaching of the gospel. 00:26:35.880 |
Some people may be more logical or articulate. 00:26:39.820 |
But it was the foolishness of the preaching of the gospel that downfounded the wisdom 00:26:48.180 |
See, the reason why he empowers us is because God uses our foolishness and he ordains that. 00:26:56.140 |
And the Holy Spirit is the one who convicts the world of sin, not me or you. 00:27:03.980 |
And I know that some people think, you know, when we talk about the doctrine of predestination, 00:27:07.100 |
they say, "Wow, what if my mom or dad, you know, and it's kind of sad if they were predetermined 00:27:14.340 |
not to be saved, you know, I just can't live with that. 00:27:19.700 |
So the doctrine of predestination just kind of, you know, causes me to be concerned. 00:27:32.060 |
So can you live with the fact that maybe because you went home and you got an argument with 00:27:35.700 |
your dad or your brother or sister and because of that, that somebody that you love, because 00:27:41.900 |
you made a mistake, because you weren't doing your quiet time, because you didn't pray enough, 00:27:46.660 |
because you didn't do the right things and say it the right way, that because of that 00:28:01.820 |
Think about the anxiousness that that would create. 00:28:04.940 |
Instead of the people in your life that you love because you didn't do a good job, you 00:28:12.260 |
know, you weren't perfect, that as a result of that they responded and they say they rejected 00:28:18.100 |
See, this doctrine of security, election, predestination, and foreknowledge actually 00:28:24.220 |
frees us because all God called us to do is to be faithful. 00:28:33.980 |
I remember the guy who caused me to open my eyes and think about Christianity because 00:28:39.180 |
prior to meeting Christ, I grew up in a Christian home. 00:28:42.540 |
I never missed Sunday, you know, memorize scripture, the Lord's Prayer in Korean, English, 00:28:49.180 |
But I never really gave it a second thought until I went up to this retreat and this guy 00:28:55.380 |
He was my smogger bleeder, you know, at the retreat. 00:28:58.700 |
He was cussing his head off and he was telling me about his background and how he used to 00:29:03.300 |
traffic trucks from Texas to California and then he, I'm thinking back at it, like he 00:29:09.500 |
said all kinds of heresy and I think that guy should not have been a smogger bleeder. 00:29:20.260 |
He didn't know, brand new Christian, but he was just excited about his faith and he was 00:29:24.940 |
just telling us what happened to him and that caused me to, huh, maybe God is real. 00:29:32.780 |
I never even gave it a second thought before. 00:29:37.620 |
And that's what sparked my interest and caused me to pray and to seek him out. 00:29:43.220 |
I'm not saying that preaching heresy is good or cussing, I'm not saying any of that, but 00:29:47.380 |
how God uses foolishness of our faithfulness and our weakness to bring about his sovereign 00:29:57.140 |
That because God has ordained, because he foreknew you, he loved you, he predestined 00:30:01.140 |
you, that God has orchestrated certain things in your life so that when you heard the gospel, 00:30:05.660 |
it was his kindness, the Holy Spirit that was already working in you that led you to 00:30:11.060 |
It wasn't because of the perfect presentation, it wasn't because somebody talented showed 00:30:16.140 |
up, somebody who knew all their theology, it was just somebody who was just faithful, 00:30:22.300 |
You know, I bet you most of you didn't come to Christ because of a great theologian. 00:30:28.100 |
Most of you did not come to Christ and gave your life to Jesus because somebody who has 00:30:31.900 |
a PhD in theology expounded the depth of the word of God. 00:30:36.700 |
I bet you it was your brother or sister or mom or dad or Sunday school teacher that really 00:30:40.840 |
was just struggling themselves with their faith and in their weakness, they shared something 00:30:47.600 |
with you that made sense and that caused you to come and continue to seek. 00:30:52.580 |
See, we weren't aware of him, but it says in Romans 10, 13, it says, "For everyone 00:30:59.000 |
who calls in the name of the Lord, they will be saved." 00:31:04.000 |
Everyone who calls in the name of the Lord, they will be saved. 00:31:08.640 |
The church is a gathering of called out people. 00:31:12.420 |
That's literally, that's what the word, ecclesia means, gathering of called out people. 00:31:18.380 |
In Acts 13, 48, Paul says, "And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing 00:31:25.600 |
And as many as were appointed to eternal life believed." 00:31:32.220 |
You and I believe because we were appointed to believe. 00:31:36.100 |
You and I believe because God foreknew us way before we were aware of him. 00:31:45.780 |
Not because you're at the right church, not because you have the right theology or you're 00:31:48.740 |
more disciplined or smarter or more moral than the next person, but because God determined 00:31:57.540 |
Second Timothy 1, 8, "Therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor 00:32:01.980 |
of me, his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved 00:32:07.560 |
us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works, but because of his own purpose 00:32:12.820 |
and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages begun." 00:32:23.740 |
And they said, "Those who foreknew, he predestined. 00:32:30.380 |
And I'm not going to go too deep into justification because we've been talking about that for 00:32:43.260 |
It was just randomly, just certain things happened. 00:32:59.940 |
It was all sovereignly orchestrated to lead you to want Christ. 00:33:10.580 |
"Those who have been called according to his purpose." 00:33:16.780 |
When we think about the suffering, think about the pain, think about the loneliness. 00:33:22.460 |
Think about all of these things that God had orchestrated in your life to desire him more. 00:33:49.300 |
Typically, when we think about glorification, we think of it as a future tense. 00:34:04.540 |
He can say that because everything that he says will happen. 00:34:08.460 |
The book of Revelation is not a book of really good guesses. 00:34:14.260 |
The book of Revelation is revealing to us what is going to happen at the end. 00:34:19.660 |
Now if God is not absolutely sovereign and he doesn't have control over history, he can't 00:34:31.900 |
I hope this happens because you haven't done anything yet. 00:34:34.820 |
So we're waiting to see what you're going to do. 00:34:36.740 |
So Revelation shouldn't have never been written. 00:34:40.300 |
But the reason why Revelation is written is because to God, past, present and future is 00:34:47.100 |
God is not a man that he should lie, nor the Son of Man that he should repent. 00:34:54.140 |
He can say that because he's the only one who has absolute control. 00:35:00.220 |
I know a lot of you guys already made New Year's resolutions and you probably broke 00:35:04.040 |
some of it already because we're almost, what, eight days removed? 00:35:12.540 |
You read the first day and then the second day it's like, this is hard. 00:35:21.820 |
Then March is when they start having sales because they need to get you back. 00:35:28.940 |
We determine but we don't even know how we're going to feel tomorrow. 00:35:34.820 |
We make promises but we don't know if we're going to be able to carry that out. 00:35:38.060 |
The longer we live, the less we are prone to believe in promises nor even give promises 00:35:52.300 |
That's why he says when you live according to the Word of God, it's like building your 00:35:58.220 |
If you just kind of live according to your will and your purpose, like sand. 00:36:03.100 |
All it requires is a little bit of water coming and it just crumbles. 00:36:14.420 |
You know, obviously you guys know I have a daughter, Faith. 00:36:20.700 |
When she was born, the curse in our home was broken. 00:36:24.620 |
It was just all boys of 40 years, first time we had a girl and we were so happy that we 00:36:31.940 |
And then the next thought we have is if one of these days some joker is going to show 00:36:36.500 |
up, Mr. Kim, Pastor Peter, I would like to date your daughter. 00:36:42.820 |
Esther and I always talk about that and say, well, when I talk to the young guy, I always 00:36:47.460 |
tell him, now I'm speaking as a father, thinking about somebody is going to come to court and 00:36:56.260 |
You know, we have so many men in her life looking out for her. 00:37:02.380 |
But as a father, I'm saying, if you're going to come to my house and say, I want your daughter 00:37:09.940 |
And it's like, you know, playing in the playground and when she runs, her ponytail jumps up and 00:37:22.420 |
It's like, I like the way she had the dimple in her house. 00:37:32.460 |
And you just walked around and say, oh, you know, I like the way the sun shines off of 00:37:37.740 |
It's like, no, I'm not going to give you my precious daughter because you like the way 00:37:51.220 |
You know, I've given my life to take care of my kids and my daughter. 00:37:54.740 |
And I'm not going to just hand my daughter over to some guy just coming and say, yeah, 00:38:02.460 |
And then if I change my mind, you know, I'll give her back. 00:38:37.140 |
Reason, again, the reason why I say all of this is because all of this is a description 00:39:00.420 |
And because he justified us, he glorified us. 00:39:08.260 |
If that doesn't inspire you to respond to him in love, I don't know what will. 00:39:15.180 |
If that doesn't inspire you to trust him, to worship him, to follow him, to respond 00:39:22.500 |
to this great mercy, according, again, in Romans chapter 12, in view of this great mercy, 00:39:26.940 |
offer your bodies a living sacrifice, which is your reasonable response of worship. 00:39:35.400 |
Sometimes we forget what it is that we have in Christ. 00:39:39.580 |
And we complain about such trivial things, forgetting that you and I have been tagged 00:39:52.540 |
So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable 00:39:57.680 |
character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath so that by two unchangeable things 00:40:03.260 |
in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong 00:40:09.180 |
encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. 00:40:13.180 |
We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner 00:40:18.020 |
place behind the curtain where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become 00:40:23.100 |
high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. 00:40:31.060 |
Again, as we invite our praise team to come up, let's take some time to really come in 00:40:43.620 |
And I don't know where you are right now in your walk with God, wherever you may be. 00:40:49.300 |
I pray that these passages would serve as an absolute rock foundation for whatever it 00:40:59.360 |
You would respond to this love to live up to the calling that God has given and to meditate 00:41:08.100 |
Let's take some time to pray, but when you pray, don't try so hard to be biblical. 00:41:19.120 |
If you're struggling in your faith, say, "Just admit that before God." 00:41:22.940 |
Most powerful prayer is always the most honest one. 00:41:26.860 |
So let's take some time as we come before the Lord in prayer as our worship team leads