Sermon Tone Analysis

Walking After the Spirit

The Spirit provides us a Legacy (17)

The Spirit gives us FREEDOM from Discouragement (8:18-27)

Romans 8:18-27 “18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.

20 For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, 21 Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.

23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?

25 But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

27 And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.”

The Groans of Creation - focus on future glory (18-22)

Note that KJV speaks of the “creature” in verses 19, 20, and 21.

A better translation is “creation.”

The Groans of the Christian - focus on future hope (23-25)

The Groans of the Comforter - focus on present help (26-27)

The “infirmities” of 8:26 is specifically speaking of not knowing what to pray for as we ought.

It is not speaking of “infirmities” or “weaknesses” in general.

FREEDOM FROM FEAR 8:28-30

Romans 8:28-30 “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.

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.”

God's PROMISE (28)

The Person who qualifies

The Promise that is given

The Process that is employed

God's PLAN (29-30) (Rom.

8:29-30) Paul traces God’s saving purpose through five stages, from its beginning in God’s

mind (foreknowledge) to its ultimate consummation in the coming glory (glorification).

These five stages

he names as foreknowledge, predestination, calling, justification and glorification.

Foreknowledge (29a)

God is Omniscient (knows everything).

To say God is “omniscient” implies at least two concepts: 1) God’s knowledge is total; and 2) God knows the difference between the actual future and the potential future.

God’s knowledge is Total.

1. Psalm 147:5: "Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite."

2. Isaiah 40:13-14 asks, "Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being his counselor hath taught him?

With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and showed to him the way of understanding?"

3. Isaiah 46:9-10: "I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done."

4. Psalm 139:4 tells us that "Even before there is a word on my tongue, behold, O Lord, Thou dost know it all."

5. Job 37:16: "Dost thou know the balancings of the clouds, the wondrous works of him which is perfect in knowledge?"

Does God know the future?

God knows everything, including future events and all contingencies.

He knows what will happen and what would have happened had people made different choices.

He knows the consequences of all possible choices or events.

God knows the difference between the actual future and the potential future.

There is a perfect example of God’s knowledge of the possible future in the life of David.

When Saul was seeking David to kill him, David asked God, “Will the men of Keilah deliver me up into his hand?

will Saul come down, as thy servant hath heard?

O LORD God of Israel, I beseech thee, tell thy servant.

And the LORD said, He will come down.

Then said David, Will the men of Keilah deliver me and my men into the hand of Saul?

And the LORD said, They will deliver thee up” (1 Sam.

23:11, 12).

God knew that if David stayed at Keilah, the inhabitants would deliver him up to Saul (the potential future).

This is foreknowledge.

But, since God told David what He foreknew, David left Keilah and they were not able to deliver him up to Saul.

Thus, God’s foreknowledge did not “predestinate” David’s capture.

Another example of God’s knowledge of all possibilities without determining the future is given in Luke 10:13.

Jesus said, “Woe unto thee, Chorazin!

woe unto thee, Bethsaida!

for if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon, which have been done in you, they had a great while ago repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.”

Jesus said they could have repented and would have repented if they had seen the mighty works He performed.

Therefore, foreknowledge and predestination are two different things and must not be combined.

55.

If God knows the future, does that mean He causes it?

For God to know the future does not mean that He causes it.

Knowledge does not imply causation.

Just because we know the sun will rise tomorrow doesn't mean that we will make it rise.

One may ask: “How does God know both the potential and the actual future?”

Calvinists and Arminians answer the question differently.

Calvinists understand the Bible to teach that God “hath, for his own glory, unchangeably foreordained whatsoever comes to pass in time” (Westminster Catechsim).

God’s foreknowledge is therefore the logical consequence of his foreordination of all things.

In other words, the reason God know what will happen as opposed to what might happen is because God has planned everything, and he knows his own plan.

Bottom line, the ultimate reason a person did what he did was because God foreordained the person to do it.

Many Arminians, myself included, understand the Bible to teach that God’s foreknowledge is his innate, comprehensive, cognitive awareness of all future events, both potential and actual.

“Innate” means that God’s knowledge of everything, including the future, is a natural part of who he is.

In other words, God’s omniscience necessarily includes the future and is not the result of his foreordination.

“Cognitive” distinguishes mental awareness from experiential awareness.

There are things that God knows about, but he has not and never will experience.

For example, God has no experiential knowledge of what it is like to sin or to have guilt, for none of the Triune Persons has ever sinned or incurred guilt for his own wrongdoing.

On this view, the ultimate reason a person does what he does is because he chooses to do it.

God’s foreknowledge of his choice did not cause it.

(See William Lane Craig’s essay in Divine Foreknowledge: Four Views, for a Molinist-Arminian understanding of God’s foreknowledge.)

The question often posed to Arminians is how can God know certainly what he has not determined?

Consider this illustration: If I were to go back in time to April 14, 1865 and stand outside Ford Theater around 9 p.m., I would know for certain that President Abraham Lincoln would be fatally shot by John Wilkes Booth in a few moments.

My knowledge of the assassination would in no way cause the event to happen.

In the same way, God’s knowledge of a person’s choices did not cause the choices nor rob the person of his freedom to choose otherwise.

In philosophical terms, we supply the grounds for the accurateness and certainty of divine foreknowledge by our choices, but our choices do not cause God to know them.

The cause of His knowledge of them is His nature.

He, by virtue of being divine, is omniscient.

Predestination (29b)

The term “predestinate” (proorizo) occurs six times in the

Greek New Testament,7 and is a combination of two words, pro, meaning “before,” and “horizo,”

meaning “to mark out definitely,” thus conveying the idea of “marking out beforehand” or “deciding

ahead of time.”

In the KJV it is translated three different ways: “predestined” (Rom.

8:29, 30; Eph.

1:5,

11), “determine before” (Acts 4:28), and “ordained” (1 Cor.

2:7).

II.

What has God predestinated?