The Destination of the Spirit Life
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Romans 8:28-30
There are two basic schools of thought that exist concerning the matter of how we are saved.
There are many views within these schools, but the all views can be grouped into one or the other.
First, there is the school of thought known as Arminiansim
This view of salvation gets its name from a man named Jacobus Arminius.
People who hod to this viewpoint typically believe that man cooperated with God in his salvation.
Salvation is through faith in Christ, but we choose Christ and we can choose to leave Him.
In extreme form it fully depends on the will of man.
The second viewpoint is known as Calvanism.
This viewpoint gets its name from the 16th century preacher by the name of John Calvin.
Calvanism says that God selected some people for salvation and others for Hell and that those selected have no say in the matter.
In Calvanism, the will of man doesn’t matter…Only God’s sovereignty determines our salvation.
I don’t think either of them are right.
Christians have argued these points for millennia.
I don’t think we will every be able to to fully comprehend in this life the truth of this.
We certainly will not be able to convince everyone about it.
Tonight, I entitled this sermon, “The Destination of the Spirit Life”
What is the destination, the fulfillment of living the life filled with and controlled by the Holy Spirit?
Let’s look at these verses.
I. Where God’s Promises Take Us
I. Where God’s Promises Take Us
28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Outside of John 3:16 This is probably the best known and most quoted verse.
There is good reason for it!
Life is difficult and full of trouble!
to know that all things work together for good…well that gives us hope.
We see first of all:
A. There Is A Confidence
A. There Is A Confidence
This is a promise of God!
Not all things are good, but all things will work for good.
F.B. Meyer, "If any promise of God should fail, the heavens would cloth themselves in sackcloth; the sun, the moon and the stars would reel from their courses; the universe would rock, and a hollow wind would moan through a ruined creation the awful fact that God can lie."
What confidence we can have in this life, not only knowing things will work together for good, but this verse is telling us God already knows the end from the beginning.
Not only is there a Confidence
B. There Is a Completeness
B. There Is a Completeness
“All things”
That means Good Things work for Our Good
That’s easy to understand (Home, family, health, wealth, etc)
These are the things that make life good.
in fact the Bible tells us that this ought to bring us to become better Christians.
4 Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?
the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance.
But not only Good Things
But Sorrowful Things Work For Our Good
There are many examples in Scripture where God took sorrowful things and worked tehm for good in the end.
Joseph - Genesis 50:20
20 But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.
The Psalmist
71 It is good for me that I have been afflicted; That I might learn thy statutes.
Those who suffer the most have the greatest opportunity to show forth the glory of God.
Yes Good things, Sorrowful things, even the Enemies things
7 And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.
8 For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.
9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.
Paul endured attacks from Satan himself.
But God allowed it, and through it Paul was made strong.
I told my son, “Pain is weakness leaving the body.”
It was in a joking manner at the time, but we can often see how God uses our pain for us to become stronger.
But there are times that we don’t see it.
In those times, we just have to trust the promises of God.
There is a Confidence
There is a Completeness
C. There Is a Condition
C. There Is a Condition
This promise is not for everyone on earth.
It is for those who love God.
Those who are called according to his purpose.
Preaching of the Bible blesses the obedient but it bruises the disobedient. Billy Sunday used to say, “If I’m rubbing the cat’s fur the wrong way, turn the cat around.”
We need to yield to his purpose, yield to His will…even if His will is something we do not like
But to realize that all these things can be a part of the big picture plan of God by His careful working it for good.
So we have seen Where God’s Promises Take Us
II. Where God’s Purpose Takes Us
II. Where God’s Purpose Takes Us
Where does God’s Purpose take us? I’ll give you a hint - God’s purpose is our Glorification
29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
I have to admit I do not have all the answer to the questions that come from reading and studying these verses.
But what I do know is that we cannot take these verses by themselves and build our theology.
We have to take the whole of God’s Revealed Word as a whole to see the true picture of Salvation.
Denominations are born by lopsided emphasis on one passage.
I don’t want to know what our denomination says, I want to know what God’s Word says.
But we know that God’s purpose is Glorification.
To get to that purpose we can see five links in this chain.
One thing is clear once we reach the end - It is all God!
There is nothing we can do to add to or take away from it - God does it all!
Dr. H.A. Ironside used to tell about a man who gave his testimony, telling how God sought him and found him, saved him, forgave him and cleansed him. Another brother, somewhat deficient in Bible doctrine, came to him on one occasion and said, "You didn't say anything about your part. Salvation is really part us and part God, and you should have mentioned your part." "Oh," the man said, "I apologize for that. I should have mentioned that My part was running away, and His part was running after Me until He found me"
So what is this process - what are the five links of this chain?
A. Foreknew
A. Foreknew
“For whom He did foreknow...”
This verse starts with the word “for”.
God is going to accomplish his purpose for us because in eternity past He knew us.
Foreknowledge means more than just knowing ahead of time what we would do as far as yielding to Christ.
The fact is it doesn’t say what he foreknow…it says whom he did foreknow.
He knew me…he knew you, if you know Christ today…personally from eternity past.
5 Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.
2 You only have I known of all the families of the earth: Therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.
The Word know in scripture is often synonymously used with love.
The idea is to know with delight and affection.
Before we were even born, God set His love upon us and entered into a unique love relationship with us.
B. Predestined
B. Predestined
“For whom he foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first born among many brethren.”
As soon as some people hear the word predestination they immediately think that God said something like, “Ok, you, you and you come over you get to go to heaven....and you, you and you …you have to go to Hell.”
But no where in the Bible is predestination used or applied ot unbelievers or hell.
Simply…in eternity past God made a decision about us that he foreknew.
He decided that He would use every circumstance in our lives to accomplish one great purpose: to make us like Jesus.
The process we are going through now is called Sanctification - we are set apart from the rest of the World and are becoming more like Christ the more we yield to Him.
We won’t look exactly like him physically…we will just look more like him in character - we will be...
more loving
more gracious
more gentle
more unselfish
more patient
more kind
more compassionate
and more holy!
We were created in the image of God, but we sinned, and sin marred that image.
God has been in the process of restoring us little by little everyday to be more like us
Little by little everyday
Little by little every way
Jesus is changing me.
He’s changing me.
Since I made a turn about face
I’ve been walking in His grace.
Jesus is changing me.
18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
And one day he will finish the job and make us perfectly like Christ.
“…that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.”
There will spiritually be a lot of little Jesus’ - The family resemblance will be uncanny!
L.S. Chafer said, “God was so pleased with His Son that he purposed to make many more just like Him.”
After foreknowledge and predestination comes...
C. Called
C. Called
“Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called:”
Now this moves out of the realm of eternity past and into the realm of present time.
This is how we are brought to Christ.
In one sense, the call goes to all...
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
30 And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:
22 Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: For I am God, and there is none else.
28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Over and over it is made clear that he call is to every man…but there is another aspect of this call.
14 For many are called, but few are chosen.
Not all are convinced of their need and drawn by the Holy Spirit to trust in Christ.
44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
That is not saying that God refuses to draw some…it is not stated that way anywhere.
But we cannot come to God without him calling us…without him drawing us.
The next link in this chain…if you will is...
D. Justified
D. Justified
“whom He called, them he also justified:”
we have learned what justification is as we have studied Romans…it is a major theme of the book.
The sinner who trusts Christ as Savior is justified - declared just as if I had never sinned.
This is only by the grace of God!
God declared us righteous.
Right before God.
Those He foreknew he predestinated.
Those He predestinated he called
Those He called He justified
And then those whom he justified, them he also...
E. Glorified
E. Glorified
“…Them he also glorified”
This is the purpose of God!
Glorified - is the final destination
We are justified when we accept Christ
We are sanctified all along the Christian life
We will be glorified at our resurrection.
This is what creation has been groaning for.
This…is the purpose - the complete conformity to hte image of Christ.
It is such a sure thing that in these verse from God’s perspective it is as if it has already happened…Each of these words…foreknow…did predestinate…called…justified…glorified…they are all in the past tense.
As far as God is concerned it is a done deal!
That’s eternal security!
This is the purpose God has for you…this is what all things are working together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose.
Conclusion
In the book The Hiding Place, Corrie ten Boom relates how when she and her sister Betsie were transferred to a concentration camp during World War II, they found their beds infested with fleas and lice. Betsie insisted that they thank God for them. Corrie resisted. How could God use fleas and lice for good? When they began to have Bible study with their fellow prisoners, they realized that they were never interrupted by the guards, even though Bible study was frowned on. They later discovered why the guards never came near their barracks: They wanted no part of the fleas and lice. Satan probably sent those fleas and lice to make them miserable and discourage them from Bible study. But God wanted to use them for good--to make them more like Jesus: thankful, and compassionate, and concerned about the eternal destiny of their fellow prisoners. And they let Him accomplish His purpose in their lives.
He wants to use the trials in your life for good. Will you let Him? Will you view them as opportunities to grow more like Jesus? After all, reflecting His glory by expressing His likeness, is God's purpose for your life. That's why He made us.
Do you view the circumstances of your life as an opportunity to grow in the likeness of Christ, or have you been complaining so much you can’t see what God is trying to do?
Make a decision here tonight that you will, by God’s Grace, look at every event in your life as if it were an opportunity to grow in the likeness of Christ.
There will be days when you fail…we all do…we are human.
But By God’s grace you will get back up…and you will yield to the Holy Spirit and what he wants for your life.