47) For the Glory of God
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Pastoral Reminder: Head Heart Hands
16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
Let us take out our bibles and turn to Chapter 8 of Romans.
26 In the same way the Spirit also helps us in our weakness, because we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with inexpressible groanings. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because he intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. 28 We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also justified; and those he justified, he also glorified.
Let us pray.
As Christians we live a spiritual life has three aspects to it,
One aspect is the portion of our lives is where God has completed and finished the work.
Justified, redeemed, adopted, ...
These are these wonderful facts about who we are and what has been accomplished at the point of of salvation. We trust in these, we rest in them, we are anchored to them.
Another aspect of our lives is the yet to be completed. Paul wrote of an eager anticipation for the promises of God to be fully revealed. Specifically when the full adoption will be recieved, along with the full inheritance, when all things are made new. This is where hope is found. In the looking forward to the day when all will be revealed. Truth will no longer be hidden.
Last week we examined the reality that what has been started will continue on until full completion. Paul wrote about the anticipation and hope that encourages the Christian, as they look forward to the day all will be revealed. He spoke of his own conclusion of the comparison of todays suffering with tomorrows glory.
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us.
Just you wait he says. I have concluded that the worst that we can experience here cannot even be compared to the future experience. Then pointing to an analogy from creation. It too longs with eager anticipation for creation itself to be remade anew in glory.
19 For the creation eagerly waits with anticipation for God’s sons to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility—not willingly, but because of him who subjected it—in the hope 21 that the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage to decay into the glorious freedom of God’s children. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together with labor pains until now.
The day that the curse that God put on the earth along with the fall of man will be lifted and creation will be set free from the bondage of decay into freedom.
And finally, Paul point out that we ourselves groan inside as we too wait for what is to come.
23 Not only that, but we ourselves who have the Spirit as the firstfruits—we also groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. 24 Now in this hope we were saved, but hope that is seen is not hope, because who hopes for what he sees? 25 Now if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with patience.
Full adoption with the complete redemption of our bodies, this is what we long for. We are turned from seeking this world to eagerly waiting for the next. It is in this hope that we are saved and for the reward that we trust will be given to God’s children the full inheritance of eternal life.
Paul looks forward
Creation groans to be set free
And the Saints of God eagerly wait with patients for that day.
The third aspect is the here and now. Where our spiritual life is ebbing and flowing. Maturing or backsliding, increasing or decreasing. Never removing what has been finished or changing what will be completed in the future. but we live a life of here and now. With affliction, sin, suffering and other trials. Life is not easy and can be discouraging. Much of the new testament is encouragement to endure and continue on.
With three truths that should encourage and comfort the Christian as we wait and live here today.
Encouragement 1 - The Spirit Helps Us Pray According to God’s Will
Encouragement 1 - The Spirit Helps Us Pray According to God’s Will
26 In the same way the Spirit also helps us in our weakness, because we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with inexpressible groanings. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because he intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
In this time where we wait for all to be revealed, Paul says in the same way the Holy Spirt comes along side to aid and to help in our weakness.
We live in a world that is always trying to prove strength. We are taught to never be weak.
We find over time that we cannot conquer the world. That we cannot achieve all that we want. That we cannot climb every mountain. But we also learn that even though we have been saved we are still spiritually weak as well. We have not been completely transformed into the image of our Lord.
But what we find in the realization of our weakness, is the strength and help of God. The Spirit of God helps in so many ways but here Paul points out how the Spirit helps us in prayer. For we do not know what to pray for as we should.
From our understanding prayer is
Prayer is the worshipful communion of believers with God, in which, through the mediation of Christ and by the enabling of the Holy Spirit, they offer adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and petitions according to God's will.
In prayer, we worship bending our pride, by submitting and acknowledging that we are in need of God to live out our lives. It is a privilege to present our praise, petitions, and desires to the Holy creator of the universe.
On our own, we tend to have the wrong motives when we come to the Lord. It is easy to pray in a way that trusts in ourselves.
9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and looked down on everyone else: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee was standing and praying like this about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I’m not like other people—greedy, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of everything I get.’ 13 “But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even raise his eyes to heaven but kept striking his chest and saying, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this one went down to his house justified rather than the other, because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
We may not be as obvious as this parable but the is a weakness in the flesh that still affects our desire to pray trusting in ourselves. Seeking the Lord because we feel justified, or like we have earned something. Or we just forget that what is inside was the point of the parable.
3 You ask and don’t receive because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.
The Spirit knows the hearts of men. As all are stripped bare before God.
4 Instead, just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please people, but rather God, who examines our hearts.
As God examines our hearts we don’t always have pure motives. Many times we are just ignorant of what we are asking. Or we are unaware of the will of God in a situation. But the Spirit in his unity with God intercedes for us with inexpressible groanings of his own, that are given on our behalf, according to the will of God.
We are taught to pray continually as we are continually in need of God’s provision in our life.
18 Pray at all times in the Spirit with every prayer and request, and stay alert with all perseverance and intercession for all the saints.
We are to pray in intersession for others as the Spirit and Jesus intercede for us.
34 Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is the one who died, but even more, has been raised; he also is at the right hand of God and intercedes for us.
The first encouragement given is that the Spirit comes along side the believer and intercedes on their behave as we make our petitions to God. Who better to aid us in our prayers to God than God himself.
14 This is the confidence we have before him: If we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
Knowing that we are not alone in our prayers should give us confidence to lift our requests to God. The second encouragement is found in verse 28.
Encouragement 2 - God Works All Things According to His Purpose
Encouragement 2 - God Works All Things According to His Purpose
28 We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.
Here we are encouraged by the fact that we know that all things work together for the good of these that love God.
How do we know that this is true? We can look to the word as God has given us countless examples of seemingly bad circumstances that were found to be good and according to God’s purpose. One very clear example is the story of Joseph.
A man who was spoiled by his father who loved him more than the others and thought life was pretty good. He was given special treatment and knew it. As he strutted around in his fancy coat he would was living the good life. He had dreams that his older brothers would bow down to him. And he wasn’t hesitant about sharing those dreams with them. Things were looking good.
Then he finds himself attacked by his brothers, sold to a foreign land as a slave, accused of accosting Potiphar's wife, thrown back into prison. This cannot be the will of God right. Well the end of the story goes like this.
5 And now don’t be grieved or angry with yourselves for selling me here, because God sent me ahead of you to preserve life. 6 For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there will be five more years without plowing or harvesting. 7 God sent me ahead of you to establish you as a remnant within the land and to keep you alive by a great deliverance. 8 Therefore it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household, and ruler over all the land of Egypt. 9 “Return quickly to my father and say to him, ‘This is what your son Joseph says: “God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me without delay.
Many times when we look at scripture we see times of great trial and suffering and they don’t all end like Joseph as lord of all Egypt. But the point is that God is working according to his purpose and his will. So the question is, can we know God’s will? and the answer is yes and no.
The scriptures reveal the parts that he wants revealed. It is revealed to those that the Spirit is renewing the mind to see God will.
2 Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.
In the context of chapter 8 of Romans we have the God’s purpose in bringing his adopted children home.
4 For he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in love before him. 5 He predestined us to be adopted as sons through Jesus Christ for himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace that he lavished on us in the Beloved One.
Because God works it all out according to the plan and will of God.
11 In him we have also received an inheritance, because we were predestined according to the plan of the one who works out everything in agreement with the purpose of his will, 12 so that we who had already put our hope in Christ might bring praise to his glory.
This is God’s eternal purpose
9 He has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.
We are not given the full revelation of what God is doing for who can know the mind of God, but he has given us ample evidence in our own lives, in the testimonies of the saints of the scriptures and the saints of history. The encouragement here is that we come to know that God is always at work and always accomplishing his purpose according to his will for those that love him.
Encouragement 3 - God’s Plan Is Assured
Encouragement 3 - God’s Plan Is Assured
29 For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also justified; and those he justified, he also glorified.
The Westminster Catechism asks the question:
What is the chief end of man?
In other words what is man’s primary purpose. The answer to the question is
Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.
As adopted children of God, we are brought into the household of God with the ultimate purpose to Glorify the one who is showing his greatness through the work of his hand.
16 The Spirit himself testifies together with our spirit that we are God’s children, 17 and if children, also heirs—heirs of God and coheirs with Christ—if indeed we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.
And to that end Paul points out that the children were foreknown and predestined to be conformed to the image of his son bringing glory to God. Though we are God’s children now bringing glory to him as we live, there will be a full completing of the work when we are revealed to be like him.
2 Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when he appears, we will be like him because we will see him as he is.
There is a transformation that we cannot fully understand but one that will be accomplished.
21 He will transform the body of our humble condition into the likeness of his glorious body, by the power that enables him to subject everything to himself.
Adam and Eve were made in the image of God and that image was corrupted at the fall. Sin, decay, weakness, and death entered in. But that tarnished image will be made new once again as we will be made into the likeness of Jesus, we will be made into the image of the invisible God as Jesus’ image is the image of God.
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
Jesus is the firstborn over all of creation. As all things are appointed to him as ruler over all.
2 In these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son. God has appointed him heir of all things and made the universe through him. 3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact expression of his nature, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
As the firstborn of many brothers and sister for he was the first to rise from death to take the first place in everything.
4 John: To the seven churches in Asia. Grace and peace to you from the one who is, who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has set us free from our sins by his blood, 6 and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father—to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
This plan of God’s, to send Jesus, to shed his blood and to set men and women free from their sins was not an after thought, it wasn’t a contingency plan or a correction for mistake. Jesus was the determined plan.
23 Though he was delivered up according to God’s determined plan and foreknowledge, you used lawless people to nail him to a cross and kill him.
Paul says that those that were foreknown were also predestined to be conformed to the image of Jesus.
4 For he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in love before him. 5 He predestined us to be adopted as sons through Jesus Christ for himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace that he lavished on us in the Beloved One.
Before the foundation of the world the children of God were chosen and predestined to be adopted. Those that were chosen were called. To be called has the idea of being summoned forth. I call my children 1234 .…
Called through the gospel preached.
13 But we ought to thank God always for you, brothers and sisters loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God has chosen you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and through belief in the truth. 14 He called you to this through our gospel, so that you might obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Through the call of the gospel the chosen are justified.
The first five chapters of Romans focused on Justification by faith. If we remember and turn back to chapter 3.
21 But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been revealed, attested by the Law and the Prophets. 22 The righteousness of God is through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe, since there is no distinction. 23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; 24 they are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. 25 God presented him as the mercy seat by his blood, through faith, to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his restraint God passed over the sins previously committed. 26 God presented him to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so that he would be just and justify the one who has faith in Jesus.
God’s own righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. Freely justified, not by works but through grace. God presented Jesus at the right time to demonstrate his righteousness, and this was so that Jesus would be just before the law and also justify the one who has faith in him. To be found right before the perfect laws of God.
Those that are justified will be glorified.
1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 We have also obtained access through him by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we boast in the hope of the glory of God.
The boast of the believer is in the hope of the glory of God. That the promises of God are true and the demonstrate there there is no one greater than our God. This third encouragement comes in knowing that the work of the Spirit of adoption that brings God’s children home will continue his work until the final chapter is started. When death does not old us and we are raised with him in eternal life. When we are glorified by God as he receives all the glory.
The closing of this letter ends this way.
25 Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the proclamation about Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept silent for long ages 26 but now revealed and made known through the prophetic Scriptures, according to the command of the eternal God to advance the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles—27 to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ—to him be the glory forever! Amen.
Conclusions
Conclusions
In this passage Paul writes out three encouragements of comforts for a child of God as we live out our lives here as we wait eagerly for the eternal life to come.
We have comfort knowing that the Holy Spirit comes along side us in our prayers. Lifting up groanings to deep for words and intercedes on our behalf according to the will of God. That even when we don’t know what to pray or how to pray that we have a helper and councilor joins us in our prayer and journey.
We take comfort knowing that even though we don’t understand all that is going on in the world around us, that we don’t understand all of the ways of God. Why he allows what he allows or why we face suffering or affliction, that we can take solace that for those that love God, he works out all things for our good.
We take comfort in the promise that we were foreknown and predestined to be the adopted children of God before the foundation of the world and according to God’s plan. The plan will continue from start to finish. That nothing can change it or redirect it. That we who were predestined by his plan, called by his gospel, justified by his blood, will be glorified by his hand when we pass from this life to be with our savior.
This is all the work of God’s plan, through the Son, by the Spirit. We can take comfort and encouragement in the fact that the life we live as a Christian is one that is by the work of the Spirit.
We live according to the Spirit. We put the deeds of sin to death by the Spirit. We are led by the Spirit, and we wait patiently by the Spirit.
In this spiritual life, we have confidence in what has been accomplished, hopes in what will be completed, and trusts in the work of God in the everyday life of the Christian.
Let us pray.
Let us pray.
Prayer
Blessing/Benediction
25 Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the proclamation about Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept silent for long ages 26 but now revealed and made known through the prophetic Scriptures, according to the command of the eternal God to advance the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles—27 to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ—to him be the glory forever! Amen.
