Blessed Assurances for the Believer
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Romans 8:
29 For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; 30 and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.
Introduction
Introduction
As Christian we yearn for some blessed assurances in light of the struggles we experience everyday as a result of our faith.
33 “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”
In we are guaranteed with an inheritance, both good and bad. The good we are co-heirs of Christ, the bad, we also share in His sufferings.
17 and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.
Oh Lord if you can just let this cup of suffering pass from me! But it is also through our trials that we also grow in our faith. So we just have to accept it confidently that:
6 For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.
So as Christians we look forward to the end product of God’s work in us! But as we await for that moment we live by and trust in some assurance from God. Today let’s cover the first three and next Sunday let go through the other three. These assurance will be a source of courage, hope that we may persevere in our faith.
Assurance 1: God works all things out for those who love Him (v. 28).
Assurance 1: God works all things out for those who love Him (v. 28).
28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
This is one verse that you really need to commit to memory.
Note FIVE key words or phrase within this glorious assurance of deliverance.
1. Assurance 1: God works things out for those who love Him (v. 28).
God causes - He is the one will orchestrate it and cause it. He is going to do it.
if it were a recipe - His role is beyond the role of a chef. He is the one who causes the ingredients to put out the taste as He allows the each chemical to react to one another creating a taste and texture.
if it were a building - His role is beyond the architect and beyond the worker. He is the one that cause the plans to work.
if it were healing the sick - His role is beyond the work of the doctor. DOCTORS TREAT GOD HEALS!
All things - God not only controls the events of the world, from the most insignificant to the significant. It is more than just control, HE RULES, He is SOVEREIGN of ALL. But our text today specifically mentions or refers to with regards to the events happening in a believer’s life. Are you a believer? He is in charge thus the more reason we trust in Him. Apart from Him we are incapable.
Work together - causes all aspects involve in the moment, event, or process to engage producing a result that is considered favorable in accordance to His plan and will making count as GOOD! With this thought comes other procedural idea such as:
create
forge
place
connect
interrelate
shape
operate
control
guide
arrange
influence
and many other more.
FOR GOOD - referring to God’s divine ultimate standard of good. Our good is not good enough base on what kind of good God is capable of producing. On top this he is able to orchestrate event that are negative to begin with and at the end produce something good. The closest I can relate to is the end result of a forest fire. God causes desolation to produce new life.
ONLY AMONG HIS CHILDREN - there is one limitation on this promise, one that needs to be pointed out. God will only do it for those who LOVE GOD and are CALLED according to His purposes. Something that we only Christians can look forward to. The reference of THOSE WHO LOVE GOD is a way of saying THE CHRISTIANS.
CALLED ACCORDING TO HIS PURPOSE - As children of God we have a purpose in the overall picture of God’s plan to restore the world to Himself being creator who loves His creation. In answering this call we care also called to suffer with Him. God created us with a purpose and that He saved you tells us that you have a value. God’s purpose is different from our personal purpose. It His purpose that we ought to follow.
Scripture makes sure that the point is not missed.
God only looks after the affairs of the person who loves Him, specially those who seeks and is engaging in the purpose God has given you.
Let’s take for instance here in the church. God sent you hear for a reason. That reason has something to do with the church fulfilling its purpose in this community. It is the “members” (not the occasional nor visitors) that should and will be part in making this church fulfill its purpose. Members minister to the visitors who potential become a member and repeat the cycle.
Leadership Ministries Worldwide. (1996). Romans (p. 163). Chattanooga, TN: Leadership Ministries Wo
OTHER BIBLICAL REFERENCE TO ONE’S PURPOSE AND CALLING:
He chose to save us by setting us apart from worldly ways.
The Holy Spirit convicts having been given the Gospel.
13 But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.
14 It was for this He called you through our gospel, that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
He has called us to holiness, and godly living.
7 For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification.
1 Thes
God delivers the person who is positioned in Christ and is following through His calling, one of them is to live a pure and holy life. The person who truly loves God works on living a godly life and he is the kind of believer who experiences all things being worked out for his good. It is the godly person who loves God that will be delivered from the struggling and suffering of this corrupt world.
God delivers the person who is positioned in Christ and who lives a pure and holy life. The person who truly loves God and is living a godly life is the person who experiences all things being worked out for his good. It is the godly person who loves God that will be delivered from the struggling and suffering of this corrupt world.
Leadership Ministries Worldwide. (1996). Romans (p. 163). Chattanooga, TN: Leadership Ministries Worldwide.
Assurance 2: God has determined to fulfill His purpose for the believer (v. 29).
Assurance 2: God has determined to fulfill His purpose for the believer (v. 29).
29 For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;
29 For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.
This is the second assurance of deliverance.
This passage is often abuse and misused. One controversial interpretation of this verse is that “God supposedly has chosen some to be save and some to eternal damnation.” This view is quite opposite to one of God’s obvious trait that does not need a theologian to interpret that’s is His unconditional love for man.
Assurance 3: God has set the glorification of the believer—once for all (v. 30).
Assurance 3: God has set the glorification of the believer—once for all (v. 30).
Salvation is offered to everyone.
16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
b. God is not wishing for any to perish.
9 The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.
With the verses I sighted ( and ), let us set aside the this controversial interpretation which is not what v.29 is teaching.
Instead let’s read the terms PREDESTINED AND FOREKNEW as God wanting the believers to take heart for He has assured their salvation. Don’t you think as a Christian fighting with sin would want to hear this, that despite of our shortcomings and failures our salvation is intact.
God is aware of the struggles we go through daily. Paul has clearly spelled this out in . Let’s look at it again:
15 For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.
16 But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good.
15 For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.
17 So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.
18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.
19 For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.
20 But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.
Rom 7:15
Can you feel Paul’s frustration? Focus on:
v.17 I don’t understand...
v.18 …for the willingness is there but I still end up not doing it.
v.19 …the good I want to do, I end up not doing, in fact I end up doing what I don’t want to do...
v.24… Paul describes himself a WRETCHED MAN… NASB and MISERABLE …NLT.
God searches the heart, the Holy Spirit knows the God-loving Christians’ spirit is willing to follow Him but at the same time it is subjected to the flesh’s desire.
God foreknew the Christian - He knew what they where going to go through, he knew His children before we were created, before the foundation of the world.
But despite the ongoing struggle and frustration, no matter how great the opposition, no matter how great the struggle, since God has “predestinated [believers] to be conformed to the image of His Son,” He is going to complete His purpose for believers and absolutely nothing can change that. Why? So that “Christ might be the first-born [have the preeminence] among many brethren” ().
But no matter how great the suffering, no matter how great the opposition, no matter how great the struggle, God is going to complete His purpose for believers. God has “predestinated [believers] to be conformed to the image of His Son,” and absolutely nothing can change that. Why? “That Christ might be the first-born [have the preeminence] among many brethren” ().
29 For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;
Leadership Ministries Worldwide. (1996). Romans (p. 164). Chattanooga, TN: Leadership Ministries Worldwide.
29 For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.
The point of predestination and foreknowledge:
God has ordained and predetermined that His Son shall have numerous siblings (by adoption) who will love and serve Him as the first-born, that is, as the first Person or the most preeminent Person of the universe.
God has ordained that Jesus Christ shall hold the highest rank and position: that He be the exalted Head of all creation and the One to whom all men look (see , ).
God loves His Son in the most supreme way possible. God has ordained that His Son shall have many brothers (adopted brothers) who will love and serve Him as the first-born, that is, as the first Person or the most preeminent Person of the universe. God has ordained that Jesus Christ shall hold the highest rank and position: that He be the exalted Head of all creation and the One to whom all men look (see , ). Therefore, God is going to allow nothing to permanently defeat believers. God is going to allow no fallen child of His to ever remain down permanently. God is going to fulfill His purpose in every child of His, and nothing can stop His purpose. Jesus Christ, His Son, will have a multitude of brothers and sisters who worship and serve Him throughout eternity.
Therefore, God, by predetermination, HE IS ASSURING BELIEVERS that nothing will permanently defeat them. God is going to allow no fallen child of His to ever remain down permanently.
HOW DETERMINED IS GOD? Notice Paul’s conviction stated in
38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
God’s will continue to love you no matter what, and through this conviction it will cause our spirit to shape up and serve God faithfully until the time we get shipped out to eternity.
God is going to fulfill His purpose in every child of His, and nothing can stop His purpose. Jesus Christ, His Son, will have a multitude of brothers and sisters who will worship and serve Him throughout eternity.
KNOWING AS HIS CHILD, AS I GO THROUGH STRUGGLES IN LIFE, THAT GOD KNEW ME BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD (FOREKNOWLEDGE) AND HE DESTINED AND FOREORDAINED ME is a tremendous assurance which will inspire me and be patient and hang on.
He predestined us to become conformed to the image of His Son, He chose them to become like His Son, SO THAT his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.
TO BE CONFORMED - to be the very same form or likeness as Christ: PERFECTED, HOLY without blame, incorruptible, immortal, taking on the same form of His glorious body and ETERNAL. Without DISEASE, PAIN, SIN, DEATH. We shall be transformed to His likeness (except the deity part).
4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love
5 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,
11 also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will,
Observe the essence of the same message causing Paul to persevere in his faith and calling. See
10 For this reason I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen, so that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory.
For Paul to endure all things, God predetermination is action here. He is determined to usher in the chosen people God who will glorify and lift up Jesus as preeminent.
Assurance 3: God has set the glorification of the believer—once for all (v. 30).
Assurance 3: God has set the glorification of the believer—once for all (v. 30).
30 and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.
30 since indeed God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith is one.
Roman
Look out one thing build from the former:
He PREDESTINED, then He CALLED, then He JUSTIFIED eventually leading to BEING GLORIFIED with the SON.
Note that all three steps are in the past tense; all three steps are something already accomplished. The believer’s glorification has already taken place in the plan and mind of God. God already sees believers glorified; He already sees believers in His presence. It is assured and predestinated—already written down in the annals of heaven, never to be erased.
This is the third assurance of deliverance.
It must be remembered throughout this passage that Scripture is talking about the genuine believer. A genuine believer is a person who sincerely believes in Jesus Christ and diligently seeks to please Him by living soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world ().
It is the genuine believer whose glorification is predestinated, set forever and ever by God. The true believer can be assured, he/she canrest in this glorious truth, for God has done three wonderful things for him. God has called, justified, and glorified him.
It must be remembered throughout this passage that Scripture is talking about the genuine believer. A genuine believer is a person who sincerely believes in Jesus Christ and diligently seeks to please Him by living soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world (). It is the genuine believer whose glorification is predestinated, set forever and ever by God. The true believer can rest in this glorious truth, for God has done three wonderful things for him. God has called, justified, and glorified him. Note that all three steps are in the past tense; all three steps are something already accomplished. The believer’s glorification has already taken place in the plan and mind of God. God already sees believers glorified; He already sees believers in His presence. It is assured and predestinated—already written down in the annals of heaven, never to be erased.
Leadership Ministries Worldwide. (1996). Romans (p. 165). Chattanooga, TN: Leadership Ministries Worldwide.
LESSONS LEARNED:
LESSONS LEARNED:
Ultimately God gives His children special treatment. God deals with His children differently. If a man does not love God—does not place his life into the hands of God—how can God take care of Him? If the man turns his back on God’s free gift of salvation and walks away from Him, how can He look after him? God is not going to force His care upon any of us. He is not going to make mechanical robots out of us, forcing us to live at His beck and call. What God wants is love that flows from the heart working in conjunction with man’s FREE WILL. The choice is ours: we either turn our lives over to Him in love, or we continue to take our lives into our own hands.
Ultimately God gives His children special treatment. God deals with His children differently. If a man does not love God—does not place his life into the hands of God—how can God take care of Him? If the man turns his back on God’s free gift of salvation and walks away from Him, how can He look after him? God is not going to force His care upon any of us. He is not going to make mechanical robots out of us, forcing us to live at His beck and call. What God wants is love that flows from the heart working in conjunction with man’s FREE WILL. The choice is ours: we either turn our lives over to Him in love, or we continue to take our lives into our own hands.
Think about it for a moment, for it is the only reasonable conclusion. If a man does not love God—does not place his life into the hands of God—how can God take care of Him? If the man turns his back and walks away from God, how can God look after him? God is not going to force His care upon any of us. He is not going to make mechanical robots out of us, forcing us to live at His beck and call. Such is not love; it is only mechanical behavior. What God wants is love that flows from a heart that chooses to love Him. The choice is ours: we either turn our lives over to Him in love, or we continue to take our lives into our own hands.
Does God’s PREDESTINATION of believers mean that some are destined to hell and some to heaven? No, a thousand times, no! God’s purpose of this message is to give enormous assurance to the true believers:
Leadership Ministries Worldwide. (1996). Romans (p. 163). Chattanooga, TN: Leadership Ministries Worldwide.
They shall be delivered from the struggling and suffering of this sinful world. They are going to be freed—if he/she is a true believer—freed from all the sin and shame, failure and shortcoming, pain and death. They are going to be glorified right along with God’s dear Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Again, does this mean that some are destined to hell and some to heaven? No, a thousand times, no! This is not the purpose of this Scripture. God’s purpose is to give enormous assurance to the true believer: he shall be delivered from the struggling and suffering of this sinful world. He is going to be freed—if he is a true believer—freed from all the sin and shame, failure and shortcoming, pain and death. He is going to be glorified right along with God’s dear Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Everyone will be given a chance but only those will choose to answer are what Paul considers THE CALLED!
These assurance should cause believers to get up when they are down. Every time he comes short or stumbles and falls, he needs to get up and begin all over again. He must not become discouraged and defeated, self-accusing and incriminating, feeling unworthy and undeserving, or unwanted and rejected. Such a state of mind is one the most useful strategies of the devil—a strategy which he uses to defeat believers by the multitudes. As a believer God has called you, so you must arise and begin to diligently follow Christ once again. If you have been walking about defeated—no matter how great your fall— arise and turn back to Christ. Answer your call to duty!
17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost.
If the believer has been truly called, if he has been truly saved, then his deliverance from struggling and suffering is assured. His deliverance is a past fact and it is set eternally by God. No matter how deeply the believer senses his shortcoming and failure, his struggle with the sin and suffering of this world, he is a child of God. Every time he comes short or stumbles and falls, he needs to get up and begin all over again. He must not become discouraged and defeated, self-accusing and incriminating, feeling unworthy and undeserving, or unwanted and rejected. Such a state of mind is one the most useful strategies of the devil—a strategy which he uses to defeat believers by the multitudes. God has called the believer, so he must arise and begin to diligently follow Christ once again. Every believer who is walking about defeated—no matter how great his fall—should arise right now and turn back to Christ. This is our call, our duty
Rev.
Leadership Ministries Worldwide. (1996). Romans (p. 165). Chattanooga, TN: Leadership Ministries Worldwide.
started with clear declaration of the believer’s predicament:
God assures deliverance (freedom) from struggling and suffering—through Christ. This is the whole point of all that has been written before. Man desperately struggles against the pressures and forces both within himself and alien to himself. He struggles against the weight and discouragement of trials; against the pollution and corruption of life; against the relentless accusations and bombardments of conscience and law; against the pain and decay of his body; against the striking fear and hopelessness of an eternal judgment hereafter. He struggles against the unknown and against pain, hurt, sorrow, loneliness, alienation, aging, death, and hell (see ). Somehow, through his suffering and struggle throughout life, he feels that his suffering and struggling are due to a wrong relationship with God.
assures deliverance (freedom) from struggling and suffering—through Christ. This is the whole point of all that has been written before. Man desperately struggles against the pressures and forces both within himself and alien to himself. He struggles against the weight and discouragement of trials; against the pollution and corruption of life; against the relentless accusations and bombardments of conscience and law; against the pain and decay of his body; against the striking fear and hopelessness of an eternal judgment hereafter. He struggles against the unknown and against pain, hurt, sorrow, loneliness, alienation, aging, death, and hell (see ). Somehow, through his suffering and struggle throughout life, he feels that his suffering and struggling are due to a wrong relationship with God.
Leadership Ministries Worldwide. (1996). Romans (p. 162). Chattanooga, TN: Leadership Ministries Worldwide.
1 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Then Paul
Blesses Assurance No.1
Blesses Assurance No.1
God works things out for those who love Him.
God works things out for those who love Him.
28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
God works things out for those who love Him
You need to commit this to memory and live by it.
5 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,
Eph 1:5
11 also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will,
22 “Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.
20 “Unless the Lord had shortened those days, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect, whom He chose, He shortened the days.
12 and if she herself divorces her husband and marries another man, she is committing adultery.”
27 “And then He will send forth the angels, and will gather together His elect from the four winds, from the farthest end of the earth to the farthest end of heaven.
12 So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience;
Mark 13:27
4 knowing, brethren beloved by God, His choice of you;
21 I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of His chosen angels, to maintain these principles without bias, doing nothing in a spirit of partiality.
10 For this reason I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen, so that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory.
1 Paul, a bond-servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of those chosen of God and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness,
1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen 2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure.
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;
1 Peter 1:1-2
10 Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble;