Being led to Glory

Being led to Christ

Spirit of slavery / adoption

James Innell Packer July 22 1926 - July 17 2020 (93)

General Editor of the ESV

Ministry ended in 2016 due to macular degeneration

The service began at 8:15 PM. The preacher was an elderly Anglican parson named Rev. Earl Langston, from the resort town of Weymouth. The first half of the forty-minute sermon consisted of biblical exposition that left Packer bored. But the second half was a personal narrative of how Langston had been converted at a boys’ camp. The key component of that conversion had been a challenge posed to the youthful Langston by a camp leader as to whether or not he was a Christian. Langston had been jolted by this question to conclude that he was not actually saved. That, in turn, led to his coming to personal faith in Christ as Savior...

He found a picture arising from within his mind. The picture was that of someone looking from outside through a window into a room where some people were having a party. Inside the room, people were enjoying themselves by playing games. The person outside could understand the games that they were playing. He knew the rules of the games. But he was outside; they were inside. He needed to come in.

Packer was particularly convicted by the latter awareness: “I need to come in.” So by the Spirit’s prompting he came in. The sermon ended as evangelistic services in the Oxford milieu (and more universally) did—with the preacher emphasizing the need to commit oneself to Christ and the singing of the hymn “Just As I Am.”...

Packer states simply, “I had given my life to Christ.” He also recounts, “When I went out of the church I knew I was a Christian.”

We are His Children - v16

How often do you have to ask if you are your parents’ child?

To whom are we a debtor?

Matthew 16:17 ESV

And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.

Not to the flesh (people)

Not to the flesh (self)

We are a debtor to the Father who elected to save us in eternity, to the Son who willingly lived, died, and was resurrected for our salvation, and to the Spirit who led us to that salvation by means of awakening, faith and repentance; the new birth

Being led thru suffering

Suffering as normative - v17

provided… You will be led thru suffering. Will you follow?

2 ways to follow

subjective heart leadership - only you know

objective conforming to scripture - everybody knows

Suffering can be as drastic as losing possessions, relationships, loved ones, or your own life, or as ordinary as having to swallow one’s own pride, preferences, and personal convictions that are not based on scripture

Matthew 10:34–36 ESV

“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household.

Suffering as unworthy - v18

It is the believer with a view to the eternal that understands this

saving

dieting / exercise

working

schooling

medicine / physical rehab

The problem is not that we don’t understand the concept; it’s that we are so consumed with now and down here that we stop looking forward and up.

Suffering for purpose - v20-21

We did not and would not choose suffering

God chose the suffering for our salvation

Matthew 13:30 ESV

Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, “Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.” ’ ”

Being led to Glory

Romans 8:29–30 ESV

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his 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.

Adoption as sons - v23

Redemption of body (not just souls) - v23\

Everything that is begun in conversion finds its completion adn fullness in glorification, and it makes everything in between worth it

1 Corinthians 15:32 ESV

What do I gain if, humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”

Hope and patience - v24-25

Knowing we were led to Christ in faith, that we are being led even now through suffering in this life, we also know that we are being led toward Glory, so we wait in imperfect patience.