If you can turn your Bibles with me to Romans Chapter 8, I'm going to be reading from verse 28 down to 30. Reading the ESV, Romans Chapter 8, 28 through 30. And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good. For those who are called according to His purpose.

For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of the Son, in order that He might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom He predestined, He also called. And those whom He called, He also justified. And those whom He justified, He also glorified.

Let's pray. Gracious and loving Father, we pray that Your Word would impact, that it would guide, lead, feed, strengthen Your church. We pray that this time may be anointed by Your Spirit, and again, allow us, Lord God, to see You and to hear from You and nothing else. So we pray that You would guard this time for the sake of Your name.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right, as you guys know, we've been studying through the book of Romans, and Paul has been just expounding and going into the details of the doctrine of justification. Justification is basically, simply put, where God, when we talk about the essence of the gospel, where Christ was crucified, He who knew no sin became sin so that we might become the righteousness of God.

He's been expounding that basically the whole book of Romans up to this point. He's going to continue to do that. But in justification, in chapter 6 and 7 and part of chapter 8, he's been talking about sanctification. All right, so if you've been genuinely justified by grace, by faith alone, it doesn't lead to licentious life, because that was the big question.

If you say that works, it doesn't add to our salvation, isn't that going to lead a bunch of people saying, "Well, then we can do whatever we want." And Paul says, "No, that's not it at all, by no means." To be justified and to be saved means that you have been united with Christ in His death and His resurrection.

Not only that, the Holy Spirit is indwelling in you, so the Holy Spirit will constantly be groaning and interceding on our behalf. So it is a contradiction for a Christian to feel safe and feel comfortable continuing to live in this world, because the Holy Spirit is constantly with us.

So he's talking about justification, and then he's been expounding in chapter 6 and 7 about sanctification. The text that we're looking at, and then on to probably chapter 9, maybe even all the way to chapter 11, he's going to give us a little bit more detail about glorification. Why we are absolutely certain that those who are justified will be sanctified, and those who are justified and sanctified, that we have absolute assurance that we will be glorified.

You know, the longer you live, if there's any one thing that absolutely becomes certain, is that nothing is certain. Nothing is certain. You know, whether it is your health, your job, you know, when you're younger, you know, any little change that happens in your life is like a big deal, but after a while, you just kind of get accustomed to whatever may come and go.

That's true in jobs, that's true in health, economy, politics, even relationships. There's nothing that is absolutely certain. And Paul has been telling us that, reminding us that, that even in our salvation, there are things that we don't know. We don't know how to reach out to God. We don't even know what to pray for at times.

We don't know how to make sense of the world. We don't know how to make sense of a lot of things that happen in our life. And so the scripture tells us that that's the reason why the Holy Spirit has been given to us as a seal, guaranteeing our salvation, because God knows that we don't know.

So even when we don't know, he says, the Holy Spirit knows, and he's groaning on our behalf. He knows the mind of the Lord, and he's groaning on our behalf, interceding on our behalf, and that's what guarantees our sanctification and ultimately our salvation. But the text that we started looking at in verse 28, we don't know.

There's a lot of things that we don't know, but here's one thing that we absolutely do know, that we know, in verse 28, that for those who are loved by God, all things work together for good. In other words, he says, we may not know how it works, we may not know how it fits together, we may not even know at times what to pray for, what is your will, but one thing that we do know is that our salvation is absolutely secure.

That no matter what happens in our walk with God, no matter what happens in our life, he says, we know that our God is sovereign. Absolutely. Right? And the confidence that we have in that is that the scripture clearly tells us that God is the altar of salvation from past, present, and future.

I don't know if you've ever had a conversation with someone in sharing the gospel, and one of the common objections that they have about the word of God is that, well, how can you trust that? That was written by man. You know, these are fishermen, tax collectors. They wrote it, and then the church decided one day to say, hey, you know what, we're going to accept these as God's word, so it's filled with errors.

You and I know that this partially true, yes, God used men. So we say Paul wrote Romans. We say Peter wrote Peter, and Matthew wrote Matthew. So we say there are specific human authors, but the reason why we have confidence in the word of God, because it was the Holy Spirit behind it.

First Peter 1, second Peter 1, 21, it says, for no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man. Right? So even though Paul wrote it in his words, in his personality, specific concerns that he had, he said, no prophecy. Nothing that we have in the Bible was simply by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

So the confidence that we have in God's word is not on Peter. It's not that the church somehow preserved the word of God, and so we have the perfect word of God. It's the confidence that we have that even though men were involved, it says it was the Holy Spirit carrying them along.

That's why we have confidence in the word. And it is no different with our salvation. The confidence that we have in our salvation is not because we made a decision, that we heard and said, that made a lot of sense to me, so I chose to do this. The scripture tells us, even though you and I may have responded to the calling, that this salvation happened long before you and I ever heard the gospel, that you and I were ever even aware of who he was.

Paul talks about, in verse 29 and 30, five separate things, five separate things that encapsulates justification. So justification is a part of these five things, but before we even understand justification, we have to understand where justification started. It didn't start when we heard the gospel. He says first, the first thing that he says in verse 39, "For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son." Those he foreknew, the doctrine of foreknowledge.

The doctrine of foreknowledge isn't simply that God looking down history and saw, he knew that what you were going to do, so he determined based upon what you were going to do, that he was going to save us. That is not the doctrine of foreknowledge. That's not the way the word foreknowledge is used in scripture.

And I think the reason why some people try to explain it that way is trying to answer the question, "Well, how can God be fair?" If he doesn't, if it wasn't based upon us, we're almost kind of like trying to get God off the hook, right? "Oh, it wasn't him, it was you." So somehow it seems to justify, well, because it wasn't him and it's you, so God didn't actually determine, he was just determining based upon what you were going to do.

It's kind of like a fortune teller. And that's absolute heresy. Not too long ago, there was a false doctrine called the openness of God theology that was kind of spreading across the country. And basically that openness of God theology is, well, how do we explain evil? How do we explain people who've never heard the gospel?

How do we explain these bad things that are happening? Well, maybe it's because God isn't sovereign. Maybe it wasn't initiated by God. Maybe God doesn't have the power to do anything about it. So the doctrine is, or openness of God is, he's completely open. He's just kind of waiting to see what we're going to do, and he's just acting upon what we do.

So if we do this, and God does this. And that's basically, in essence, what the openness of God theology was, an absolute heresy, refuted in every conservative seminary. That is not the doctrine of foreknowledge. The word foreknowledge in scripture basically means that God knew us before. We didn't initiate it.

He initiated it. The idea that you and I somehow initiated our salvation, and we thought one day, we heard the gospel and said, "You know what? That makes sense. And so I'm going to be saved," contradicts everything that we know about how we are described before we met Christ.

Romans 3, 23, it says, "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Jeremiah 17, 9, it says, "Our hearts are deceitful, above all things, desperately corrupt." Even our ability to determine right or wrong has been corrupt. We couldn't discern what was right and what was wrong.

And he says, "Don't trust your heart." 2 Corinthians 4, 4, "We were blinded by the God of this age." We're completely blind to see his glory. Ephesians 2, 1 and 5, "We are dead in our trespasses and sins." We weren't just blind. We weren't just sick. We weren't just deceived.

We were completely dead. Not weak, not sick, but dead in our trespasses. In Ephesians 4, 17, "We became futile in our mind, darkened in understanding, alienated from the life of God, and hardened in heart." So over and over again, the Bible just, it doesn't describe our pre-Christ stage as somebody who's sick, who's weak, who's just kind of drifted.

He says, "No, we are dead." Dead in our trespasses. Completely blind. We have no ability to be able to discern what is right or wrong. So to think that we were in that state and all of a sudden, one day, we decided by our own will that, "You know what?

I'm going to live." Right? That's no more, no more, does that make any sense than a blind person one day wakes up and says, "I'm tired of being blind." Right? "I'm going to see today." Or somebody who's dead just decides, "I'm tired. I'm going to wake up today." See, that's how the Bible describes who we were before we met Christ.

So the doctrine of foreknowledge basically means that before, before you were ever even aware of who he was, before you even ever heard the gospel, he says, "He knew us." In fact, that's exactly how the Bible uses the word to know. In the book of Genesis, it says Adam and Eve knew each other.

Right? We're not in elementary school, so you know what "knew" means. Right? It doesn't mean that he found out her address and found out where she lives. "Oh, and now I know her." He's talking about sexual relationship. They had intimate relationship. When the scripture says, God says of Israel, Amos 3.2, "You only have I known of all the families of the earth." Is he saying that, "Well, Canaanites, I've never heard of these people.

I only know Israel." What does he mean when he says he knew them or he foreknew them? That he had intimate knowledge of them. When the scripture says, the psalmist says that, "God knew me in my mother's womb." What does that mean? The psalmist means that even before I was born, God had his attention on me.

He chose me before I was even born. That's what it means, the doctrine of foreknowledge. You know, the doctrine of foreknowledge basically is telling us, is reminding us that long before you ever were even aware of God, God was leading you to the path of justification. He was orchestrating certain things in your life because he knew us.

And that's really another way of saying that he loved us. He fixated his thoughts, he fixated his plan and his will long before we were ever aware of him. He had foreknowledge. Based upon his foreknowledge, it says we were predestined. And that's the reason why we know that we have absolute security in God.

That his love for us was not just random, one day decided. He said, "Wow, she's cute, he's cute. They have potential. I'm going to love him." The Bible describes it as long before we were even created, we even knew he existed. He determined, he predestined, he called and justified, and then he glorified.

Years ago, I attended a mission conference and the pastor was talking about this doctrine of election and he said, "You know, a long time ago we used to call cars that had been used, used cars." And then there was a period when they stopped using the word used cars because that sounds cheap.

And so they started calling it pre-owned cars. And that sounds a little bit better. It doesn't sound as cheap. And they said, "Australia went another step. Instead of calling it pre-owned, they started calling it pre-loved." Pre-loved. In other words, it's a great car. It's been loved. Now you're going to love it.

Right? Well, the doctrine of foreknowledge is basically another way of saying that God pre-loved us. Before we ever knew him. You know, when I first met Esther, you know, I started, when I started having, you know, affections for her, I only told one person. And I told my Bible study leader.

I didn't tell anybody else but my Bible study leader. And the reason why I told my Bible study leader was because I asked him to keep me accountable. You know, because we happen to belong to this Bible study where you have to get permission from the leaders and they have to tell you yes and no or whatever.

And I was kind of on the verge of leaving, but I wasn't, you know, I didn't want to get Esther in trouble. And so I thought, you know, like, okay, we're on the same page. At least that's what I was thinking. But we're not at the time. We're not at that time yet.

So for a year and a half, I didn't, I never said anything to anybody but my small group leader. And I asked him to keep me accountable. If you see me doing like weird things, like jumping in the car because she's there or we're playing games and I forced myself into her team.

You know, if I do strange things, like keep me, call me out so that you can keep me accountable. Well, a year and a half passed by and obviously my affections for her was growing. I was praying, Lord guard my heart. And then I found out that she was going to go to the East Coast to attend pharmacy school.

So I thought, well, is she going to go to pharmacy school? This is before Facebook. This is before internet. This is before phones. At least the one that you carry on your pocket. Okay. So if she goes, we're lost forever. Right. I'm not going to be able to contact him.

So I decided it's time now. I got to tell her now. And then if for four years we can play, you know, you have a long disrelationship. This works out. By the time she comes back, I'm going to be in my late twenties. I would have finished seminary, maybe gone out to missions, come back and decide.

And so I decided to tell her, you know. And when I decided to tell her the whole time, you know, I was thinking like, I mean, I've been dropping hints and I thought she was dropping hints to me. I was like, I get it Esther. Right. So we're, we're dropping hints or at least that's what I'm thinking.

So I finally devised this plan after this, this sports day we had. And I said, Esther, I'll give you a ride. And she's like, no, don't worry about it. I said, no, I'll give you a ride. And she's like, oh, okay. And so I, I picked her up and it was like 10, 10 PM and she was living in Culver city and I was in, I think I was in Downey and I went and picked her up and I was driving and it was just dead silence for the whole car because I was like, I'm going to tell her, but you know, it was a little bit awkward.

So I was driving and then I asked her, so Esther, you know, what do you think about me? So I said, you know, you do it first. Okay. So, so she says like a brother. So I was like, that's not what you call it. What kind of brother? And she's like, well, you know, like a Christian brother.

And I'm like, well, that makes no sense. So in the context of talking, I realized, oh shoot, we're not on the same page. And I'm about 10 minutes from dropping her off. And I'm like, this is going to be awkward if I don't, if I don't say anything, this is going to be really awkward.

So I just said, okay, you know, I'm just going to have to say it. And so I just told her, you know, and she, she acted like she got hit by a truck. Like what? Like what? I mean, there's a lot of like backstory that, that, you know, like I won't get into today, but anyway, she, I told her and I said, can you pray about it?

And then she left. And then I didn't hear, I didn't hear from her for like two months. Because remember I told you I was in a Bible study where the leaders, you know, like they had to kind of get involved. And my leaders were telling me before this happened, it's like, Hey Peter, you know, you should date or whatever.

But just, they were kind of like in the middle, you know, and say, Hey, don't talk to that guy, you know? And then two months later we finally got together. And obviously we got married, you know, but after, you know, speed things up. But after, you know, we finally got together and we were able to talk and I was telling her about what happened.

I said, you know, for a year and a half, I thought, I thought we were on the same page, you know? And then she's like, I had no idea. And I said, how can you have no idea? How can you have, like after a year and a half, I was like dropping hints.

And then she's like, no, I had no idea. I said, Esther, remember that day at Cerritos College, we went out witnessing and then I, I gave you, you know, a precious moment, like a heart shaped container. And then there was Eminem inside. Remember I gave that to you in the parking lot?

And then she's like, yeah, that was kind of weird. And I'm like, what? Like, why would, why would some random guy to give you a heart shaped, you know, I put so much thought into that. I was like, precious moment, you know, it's, it's Christian, it's cute, it's heart shaped.

So she's going to know it's for me. But then I wanted her to know that I thought about it. So if I put a little bit of chocolate in there, you know, she knows that I took time to prepare this. So, you know, I put so much thought into it.

And then when I gave it to her, she's like, oh, gee, thanks. You know, so I said, okay, we'll talk later. Right. But she said, she said, I had no idea. And I was thinking about all the little things that, that I thought we were making connection. Remember I was giving that sermon and then you were looking at me, it's like, I got it.

I got it. Two years, two years went by, she knew nothing, right? Nothing. Now I share all of this because when we talk about the doctrine of foreknowledge, doctrine of foreknowledge basically is God telling us, I knew you. When we think about how we got here, you know, we're always thinking about the future.

God is always taking us backwards. He always telling us, remember, remember how you got here. I ordained all of this. The whole reason why you're here is because God orchestrated certain things in your life. There were hints of God's presence in your life before you were ever even aware.

Until after you become a Christian, you realize, you look back and say, wow, yeah, I remember that Christian. You know, when I was in high school and he would always pray for meals. And I remember that guy, he was always asking me to come to church. That missionary, when I was a little kid who came and shared, he's like, yeah, you forgot about all of that.

But there were glimpses of God's presence in your life because he foreknew you and me way before we were aware of him. And that's what the doctrine of foreknowledge is. God simply is saying, I knew you. I knew you before you ever even thought about me. That's why your salvation is so secure in my hands.

He says, based upon his foreknowledge, he predetermined, he predestined us. In Ephesians chapter one, he says, we were elected, predestined. And over and over again, it says in Ephesians, because of his pleasure, it was his plan. It was his purpose. Over and over and over again, he says it was premeditated.

You know, in the legal system, you know, the way they determine the level of guilt that you have is the level of premeditation that went into whatever it is that you did. So there's this murder that you commit just kind of at the heat of the moment. You got angry and you shot somebody or you did something.

But there's premeditated murder. It's the worst kind of murder. Because you took time to think it out. You took time to plan. You knew the consequences and you actually tried to get rid of the weapon and bury the body. You did all of that. All of that was planned.

That when was it planned? It says two years ago. What? For two years ago, you've been planning this out. Your heart is that evil? So culpability is directly linked to premeditation. So when the scripture tells us that he predestined, you know, we get so caught up as how does this work?

What about man's free will? And you missed the whole point of why he says it was predetermined. Based upon his foreknowledge, he predetermined, he premeditated. When? According to Ephesians, before the creation of the world. Again, I don't know how that works. But he says that's how deep and that's how far my foreknowledge and predestination goes.

We were predestined according to his love. And that's why Paul says in Galatians 6, 17, that in the midst of persecution, risking his life, he says, "Let no one cause me trouble for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus." You may read that passage and Paul say, "Don't mess with me.

I'll kill you." Right? That's not what Paul is saying. He's already been beaten. He's already been in prison. He's been threatened with imprisonment and beheading over and over again. And he says, they were even prophesied saying if you go to Jerusalem, you're going to be bound and beaten. You may not come back.

So when he writes the book of Galatians, he's not saying, "Don't mess with me. Jesus is on my side." When he says, "Let no one cause trouble for me for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus Christ," meaning that his crucifixion, his blood, his pain, I've been tagged by the blood of Christ.

You can punch me, kick me, put me in prison, behead me, but you can't hurt me because I've been tagged by the love of God. And that's what we're going to be getting into in verse 31. He says, "Then what then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?" See, that's the point of predestination.

If God is for us, nothing can separate us from the love of God. Not even life, not even death. See, that's the point of foreknowledge. That's the point of predestination. And based upon that, right, based upon that, this is where we finally show up in the calling. Those who have been foreknown, they were under the scrutiny of my predetermination, premeditation.

Those who are predestined, he says he called. He called. You know, a common complaint that people have of Calvinism is that, "Well, if you're Calvinist and you believe in predestination, doesn't that make you passive? Doesn't that cause you to say, 'Well, I mean, if God is in full control, you know, I don't need to really need to do anything.'" That's exactly contrary.

A nominal Christian, whether they're an Armenian or Calvinist, whether they're charismatic or non-charismatic, a nominal Christian will find nominal reason to do, to be a nominal Christian, right? So we can't determine right doctrine, wrong doctrine, simply be based upon some nominal Christian's response. A genuine Christian who's genuinely been saved, the doctrine of God's sovereignty actually empowers and strengthens us.

Because the calling that you and I have received wasn't based upon the cleverness of other people. You know, a lot of times people think, "Well, I don't want to preach the gospel because if I preach the gospel, if I do it wrong, you know, I get one crack at it and if I mess it up and because I mess it up, they can't go to heaven, so I can't take that risk.

So I'm going to bring him to the professionals at church and let the pastors preach the gospel. And I don't want to be that guy. I don't want that responsibility." Well, guess what? God didn't give you that responsibility. The way that somebody comes to Christ is because God has ordained the preaching of the gospel.

Some people may do it better. Some people may be more logical or articulate. But it was the foolishness of the preaching of the gospel that downfounded the wisdom of this world. See, the reason why he empowers us is because God uses our foolishness and he ordains that. And the Holy Spirit is the one who convicts the world of sin, not me or you.

Not because we did such a great job. And I know that some people think, you know, when we talk about the doctrine of predestination, they say, "Wow, what if my mom or dad, you know, and it's kind of sad if they were predetermined not to be saved, you know, I just can't live with that.

So the doctrine of predestination just kind of, you know, causes me to be concerned. I mean, I can do nothing." Well, think about the flip side of that. So can you live with the fact that maybe because you went home and you got an argument with your dad or your brother or sister and because of that, that somebody that you love, because you made a mistake, because you weren't doing your quiet time, because you didn't pray enough, because you didn't do the right things and say it the right way, that because of that they're going to be going to hell forever?

You can live with that? Somehow you feel more secure with that? I mean, think about anxiety. Think about the anxiousness that that would create. Instead of the people in your life that you love because you didn't do a good job, you know, you weren't perfect, that as a result of that they responded and they say they rejected God and that's your fault.

See, this doctrine of security, election, predestination, and foreknowledge actually frees us because all God called us to do is to be faithful. To be faithful. I remember the guy who caused me to open my eyes and think about Christianity because prior to meeting Christ, I grew up in a Christian home.

I never missed Sunday, you know, memorize scripture, the Lord's Prayer in Korean, English, and I knew all of that before. But I never really gave it a second thought until I went up to this retreat and this guy was cussing his head off. He was my smogger bleeder, you know, at the retreat.

He was cussing his head off and he was telling me about his background and how he used to traffic trucks from Texas to California and then he, I'm thinking back at it, like he said all kinds of heresy and I think that guy should not have been a smogger bleeder.

But God somehow used that. He didn't know, brand new Christian, but he was just excited about his faith and he was just telling us what happened to him and that caused me to, huh, maybe God is real. I never even gave it a second thought before. It's like maybe he really is real.

Maybe I don't really know him. And that's what sparked my interest and caused me to pray and to seek him out. I'm not saying that preaching heresy is good or cussing, I'm not saying any of that, but how God uses foolishness of our faithfulness and our weakness to bring about his sovereign plan.

That because God has ordained, because he foreknew you, he loved you, he predestined you, that God has orchestrated certain things in your life so that when you heard the gospel, it was his kindness, the Holy Spirit that was already working in you that led you to repentance. It wasn't because of the perfect presentation, it wasn't because somebody talented showed up, somebody who knew all their theology, it was just somebody who was just faithful, just telling you.

You know, I bet you most of you didn't come to Christ because of a great theologian. Most of you did not come to Christ and gave your life to Jesus because somebody who has a PhD in theology expounded the depth of the word of God. I bet you it was your brother or sister or mom or dad or Sunday school teacher that really was just struggling themselves with their faith and in their weakness, they shared something with you that made sense and that caused you to come and continue to seek.

See, we weren't aware of him, but it says in Romans 10, 13, it says, "For everyone who calls in the name of the Lord, they will be saved." Everyone who calls in the name of the Lord, they will be saved. The church is a gathering of called out people.

That's literally, that's what the word, ecclesia means, gathering of called out people. That's me and you. In Acts 13, 48, Paul says, "And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord. And as many as were appointed to eternal life believed." You and I believe because we were appointed to believe.

You and I believe because God foreknew us way before we were aware of him. And that's why we have eternal security. Not because you're at the right church, not because you have the right theology or you're more disciplined or smarter or more moral than the next person, but because God determined it.

He was faithful to himself. Second Timothy 1, 8, "Therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works, but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages begun." That's why we have security.

We have absolute security. And they said, "Those who foreknew, he predestined. Those who predestined, he called. And those he called, he justified." And I'm not going to go too deep into justification because we've been talking about that for the last maybe about a year. But that's how our justification came.

It wasn't random. It didn't just show up all of a sudden. It was just randomly, just certain things happened. It was not random at all. It was sovereignly orchestrated. Maybe even where you were born. Even the things that you suffered. Even the pain you experienced. It was all sovereignly orchestrated to lead you to want Christ.

Even the good things. Even the bad things. That's what he means by Romans 5.28. Romans 8.28. "Those who have been called according to his purpose." All things. All things. When we think about the suffering, think about the pain, think about the loneliness. Think about all of these things that God had orchestrated in your life to desire him more.

It was not random. It was not random. It was predestined. And those he predestined, he says he called. Those he called, he justified. And then those he justified, he glorified. You notice that it's in the past tense. Typically, when we think about glorification, we think of it as a future tense.

We will be glorified. One day we will be there. But Paul describes it as past tense. As if it just happened. It's done. He can say that because everything that he says will happen. The book of Revelation is not a book of really good guesses. The book of Revelation is revealing to us what is going to happen at the end.

Now if God is not absolutely sovereign and he doesn't have control over history, he can't write the book of Revelation. Revelation should be a good guess. I hope this happens because you haven't done anything yet. So we're waiting to see what you're going to do. So Revelation shouldn't have never been written.

But the reason why Revelation is written is because to God, past, present and future is the same. God is not a man that he should lie, nor the Son of Man that he should repent. Has he not said and will he not do it? He can say that because he's the only one who has absolute control.

I know a lot of you guys already made New Year's resolutions and you probably broke some of it already because we're almost, what, eight days removed? I'm going to read the Bible. You read the first day and then the second day it's like, this is hard. The gym starts to clear out around February.

Then March is when they start having sales because they need to get you back. We determine but we don't even know how we're going to feel tomorrow. We make promises but we don't know if we're going to be able to carry that out. The longer we live, the less we are prone to believe in promises nor even give promises because we can't keep it.

But our salvation is not random like that. It's on solid ground. That's why he says when you live according to the Word of God, it's like building your house on rock. If you just kind of live according to your will and your purpose, like sand. All it requires is a little bit of water coming and it just crumbles.

That's how uncertain this life is. But our salvation is absolutely secure. You know, obviously you guys know I have a daughter, Faith. When she was born, the curse in our home was broken. It was just all boys of 40 years, first time we had a girl and we were so happy that we had a girl.

And then the next thought we have is if one of these days some joker is going to show up, Mr. Kim, Pastor Peter, I would like to date your daughter. Esther and I always talk about that and say, well, when I talk to the young guy, I always tell him, now I'm speaking as a father, thinking about somebody is going to come to court and good luck.

You know, we have so many men in her life looking out for her. But as a father, I'm saying, if you're going to come to my house and say, I want your daughter and I want to date her. And I said, why? Why do you want to date her?

And it's like, you know, playing in the playground and when she runs, her ponytail jumps up and down and say, she's so cute. Boom, get out. It's like, I like the way she had the dimple in her house. Boom, get out. I said, don't come to my house. And you just walked around and say, oh, you know, I like the way the sun shines off of her forehead.

It's like, no, I'm not going to give you my precious daughter because you like the way she ties her hair. Get out of here. Right. I want to hear your plan. I want to hear your plan. You know, I've given my life to take care of my kids and my daughter.

And I'm not going to just hand my daughter over to some guy just coming and say, yeah, you know, play with her for a while. And then if I change my mind, you know, I'll give her back. I said, get out. Right. I want to know that you're committed.

I want to know you're serious. I want to know that you thought this out. I want to know what your plan is. So come to my house with a plan. OK. I'm giving you a heads up. Say, anybody in here. Come to my house with a plan. Like a man.

Don't show up as a boy. Right. Show up as a man. Right. Reason, again, the reason why I say all of this is because all of this is a description of his love for us. He was planned. He was determined. He knew us. He loved us. He chose us.

He foreknew us. He predestined us. He called us. And that's why he justified us. And because he justified us, he glorified us. Period. If that doesn't inspire you to respond to him in love, I don't know what will. If that doesn't inspire you to trust him, to worship him, to follow him, to respond to this great mercy, according, again, in Romans chapter 12, in view of this great mercy, offer your bodies a living sacrifice, which is your reasonable response of worship.

Reasonable. Sometimes we forget what it is that we have in Christ. And we complain about such trivial things, forgetting that you and I have been tagged by the love of Christ. Hebrews 6, 17 to 20. So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.

We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Let's pray. Again, as we invite our praise team to come up, let's take some time to really come in for the Lord and meditation.

And I don't know where you are right now in your walk with God, wherever you may be. I pray that these passages would serve as an absolute rock foundation for whatever it is that you do this week. You would respond to this love to live up to the calling that God has given and to meditate deeply.

Let's take some time to pray, but when you pray, don't try so hard to be biblical. Don't try so hard to say the right things. Be honest. If you're weak, say, "I'm weak, Lord." If you're struggling in your faith, say, "Just admit that before God." Most powerful prayer is always the most honest one.

So let's take some time as we come before the Lord in prayer as our worship team leads