Well, we're not zooming along in this passage right here. That's because there's so much Christian rebellion in some very plain spoken portions of scripture. And the rebellion comes from those that claim the faith of Christ. And the deception is soul-deadening, more so than it appears on the surface. And I say that from the principles of Scripture, not my own logical reasoning. And of course, we did a series on God's sovereignty And are you offended at God's sovereignty, right? And so we were doing predestination election. We went through Romans 9 before we went through Romans 8, because we happened to be going through Romans. And I said, well, let's do a series on this. And this is when we were earlier on in Romans. So we ended up doing Romans 9 before Romans 8. So when we're finished with Romans 8, I don't think there'll be a need to go through Romans 9 again. And I suppose this lesson ought to be attached to the series on election and predestination as well. I don't know what you'd call it. In the world of the Internet, there shouldn't be a limitation on the length of a title. Come on, it's the Internet. What, you're running out of paper in your computer? I think I would just entitle it, For Whom He Did Foreknow, He Also Did Predestinate. But that's probably too long. I mean, you could title it, God's Foreknowledge, or you can entitle it, foreknowledge to predestination, question mark, I don't know, whatever the best way, you guys have to figure it out, I'll back out, I'm gonna take my time to do that. But look, it's so fundamental, and last week we just covered 28, you know? 28, was that important? And really, right now, we're just really gonna cover the first part of verse 29, because this is where the revolution takes place. It almost always is going to come back to Romans 8, 29, for whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate. Right there, that's the excuse. That's the thing. Well, see, you're not understanding. And this is where the shell game begins to take place. And that's what it is. It's a shell game. I'm going to show you that. And not like I haven't shown you that before from these other texts, but I'll show it to you here. And it's just such a go-to text for the naysayers of God's sovereignty. And I think it does so much spiritual harm to the peace and happiness of God's people. Because you know what? You don't believe what we're telling you? Then you take on the responsibility to defend everything God does, and you think you have to do that to the enemies of Christ. And the truth is, you don't have to do that. God doesn't need defending. You've got to get that as a principle in your mind. It's good to give an answer to those who criticize, to give a reason for the hope that is within you. I'm not denying that. But there are some things you don't have to defend about God to the worst enemy, other than with a general principle that will not, to them, appear to be an answer. That's the way it's gonna be sometimes. And we as Christians need to understand that. Okay, having said all that, just to remind you of the flow of thought here, verse 28, and I'm not, you know, we spent an hour on it last week, so I'm not gonna do that now, but, and we know that all things work together for good. All, I mean, it's such an all-inclusive word, right? All, all things work together for good. And we made emphasis of that, and that means even The bad things. Well, you're saying the bad things are good? It's exactly what I'm saying. No, come on. Well, if this is true, woe to Zion when Zion is at ease, then it's the blessing of God to make sure that they're not always at ease because they'll destroy themselves if they're always at ease. So sometimes the hard things are there so that we'll be stronger believers. more useful believers. You know who the best soldier is? I started to flip into that old thing. Years ago, I started to say, shoulder, soldier, shoulder, soldier. And it lasted about seven years. It's like I broke a mirror or something, as I say. Seven years. Well, it was something like seven years. I couldn't keep from making a mistake. But your best soldier is probably the hardened soldier. who's maybe been in more wars than he'd prefer. But because he has, he knows something these younger fellows don't. And he has a better chance of surviving than those guys. And in the spiritual battle of life, the Lord is fully aware of that. And the reason that's true is because we're weak. We're human beings. We're in flesh. So the hardened soldier. All things work together for good, even when bad things come to us. We have to, as a go-to, a go-to response. Well, the Lord's doing something. He'll do it for my good and for the good of the elect. And sometimes even the righteous must suffer, which may not feel good for them, But it is, because they have the honor and privilege of being used by God to be of help and aid to someone else who watches you go through that and how you respond to it. So it's a go-to reaction, which comes from faith. All things work together for good. And we emphasize, but for whom is this true? For all men? No. To them that love God. And that's a very profound statement. All things work together for good to a specific group of people. And the people for whom it's true is those that love God. Not those who raise their hand and say, I'll join your team. They walk the sorter's trail. and volunteer their services than now those that love God. Because there's people that volunteer and they don't love them. They don't love them. They join the army, but they don't love the general. They like the army. They like being in the army. Yeah, you get a little reputation when you're in the army, right? And people join churches and you know, I'm a good, decent person. I contribute to society. I'm a moral, honorable person. I teach my children to love God and love their nation. And there's something upright. It's a place that your children can be safe and learn good principles. That's not the same thing necessarily as loving God. All sorts of unconverted people would like to have that. And if they can join our little clique and get that reputation and get some of the net benefits, that's what they want to do. But does that mean they love God? No. Some people They want a certain job at a certain corporation, because they got really great benefits, and the pay's really good, but they know things aren't always kosher with that company. Maybe you're going to join a union, and the particular union that you have to become a part of to join there, they're a bunch of thugs. But the gravy train's pretty sweet. So they volunteer for that company. Do they actually love that company and all that they do? No, but there's some perks, see? All things work together for good, not to those who sign up for the team. All things work together for good to them that love God. That's God inspiring that, and he means it the way he says it. And that makes it far more narrow than most think, according to Jesus in multiple places in the New Testament. Okay, be careful not to preach this all again. But all things work together for good to them that love God. Who are those that love God? Well, he tells us. It's those who are the called. The called. That means God called them, not they called God. But for those who are the called, and why did God call them? Well, see, this is the issue we're gonna get in verse 29. Oh, because he foresaw Something in them that was better. So he called them. No, he called them according to his purpose. That's the explanation. There is no explanation in verse 28. Well, he did that because he foresaw their faith. Where does it say that? That is not exegesis, that's eisegesis, importing a thought into the text. You didn't extract it from the text. So verse 28 is pretty plain, right? So it should make 29 easy to interpret. But no, 29 is where they go hog wild. And I know when we went through the doctrine of election and predestination, I think, you know, I brought this up for like a five minute passing, because, you know, it's one that always gets hashed, and like, I had so many things to do, like, but now that we're going through Romans 8, you know, I gotta, you know, let's straighten out this idea of foreknowledge. That's all this morning is about. What is foreknowledge? because this is where the shell game comes in. And when that, while they're busy playing a shell game, all I want to do is just gently into the room and kick the table over. Take my cue from Jesus, overturn the tables. That's enough of that, right? Yeah, that's right. Verse 29, so verse 28 plain, he called them according to his purpose. If you want to know why? He loved them. And who is it that loved them? Those that he called. And who is it that he called? Why did he call those people? He didn't call everybody. Why did he call those people? He called them according, this is why, he called them according to his purpose. Well, that doesn't really answer the question. Well, not to your satisfaction, but it does, that's the answer God gave. He called them according to, he has his reasons. He has his purposes. Oh, well, yeah, his purposes is to look into the future. Well, wait, wait, there's nothing in there about that. He said, yes, it is, foreknow future. All right, then let's talk about that. So verse 29, for whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son. Let's get one thing clear. This predestination is to salvation. Now remember when we were going through Romans 9, they say, oh, we're just going through election generally in that series. And I read to you men that said, oh no, predestination isn't to salvation. Predestination is to service. We're predestined to service, like maybe a man was called to be a minister or you were called to be a Christian in this family at this time in this geographical area, but we're called to service. We're not predestined to service. We're not predestined to salvation. And of course, we vanquish that idea that's false, although our particular duty as believers was also prearranged by God. And we chose it by our free wills because, well, he causes us to will and to do, OK? This is to, but wait a minute, if not, they'll say, this is not predestination to salvation, they're being predestinated to be conformed to the image of his son. We're predestined to holiness, it doesn't say we're being predestined to salvation. Now wait a minute, how can you be predestined to be conformed into the image of his son without being regenerated? Can anybody be made in the image of Christ without salvation. That's not possible. It's impossible. So if we're predestined to be conformed to the image of Christ, that means we are predestined to salvation because the only way we can enter into the image of Christ is by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit Through the exercise of the ministry of the Spirit, we repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thus we are imputed with the righteousness of Christ. Now we're in his image because we have his imputed righteousness, which does not happen without the new birth. Yeah, we're predestined to salvation. Okay. Now we've got the parameters here. All right then. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be saved. Now let's think about this. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be in the image of his son. Well, that's to be saved, okay? So let's think about this. Those whom God foreknows, it's those people he predestinates to salvation. Have I misrepresented anything in saying that? For whom He did foreknow, He also, and that word also is showing, yeah, the people that He foreknew. The very people that He foreknew, He predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, which demands of us, they had to be also predestined to be saved. They can't attain that predestined end without salvation, okay? So those that He foreknew, He predestined to be saved. Now I want you to think about that. Those whom God foreknew, those were the people that God predestined to salvation. Did He predestine others to salvation? Did He predestine all men to salvation? No. The ones He foreknew, He predestined to salvation. The naysayers of God's sovereignty in election to salvation will say, oh, yes, okay. Now some of them won't even acknowledge what I've just said. There's no way around it. That doesn't even deserve an answer. So many of them who are trying to be a little bit more biblical, they'll say, okay, all right. So they were predestined to salvation. That has to be true. But they're predestined based on his foreknowledge. And what that means is God looked for knowledge. He looked into the future. It's for beforehand. Knowledge, it's about the knowledge. He looked into the future and he saw certain people. And he says, okay, this guy, I can give him the gospel all day long. I can make his life good. I can make it bad and save him and do good things for him and then give him the gospel and he won't come to Christ. No matter how I come at it, this guy won't come to Christ. He's hardened. He's not predestined. I'm not calling him. I looked in his future and he's got nothing going. He's got nothing going. She's got nothing going. She's got, whoa, look at this one over here. Now, if this guy, if I gave him the gospel at the right time and the right way and the right circumstances, is something in him that that other guy didn't have. He'll believe. He'll actually repent when he hears it. And he'll believe on my son. And I'm a God of love. So seeing he has that spark, that small spark of goodness that so many others don't have, I will not let that man go without the gospel. So I am going to, based on my foreknowledge of seeing he'll choose Christ if I give him half a chance, based on that foreknowledge about my able to look into the future, Then I examine and I see he has that in him. So therefore I predestined him to be conformed to the image of my son. I predestined him to have that gospel. I'm going to make sure he gets it. It was kind of funny. The first half of the world, they all lived in one spot. And this little spot on the earth, as I said, you know, it's called Israel. All the people with the little spark of goodness happen to be in the same geographical location. Don't you find that a little odd? Yeah, I find it a little odd. Nowadays, you see a lot of them in America. Not too many in China. Why is that? Same thing. Yeah, it's where the gospel goes that you find them. So, they just come in pockets? I mean, is it genealogical? Is there an ethnic superiority to Western civilization that makes us better than the rest of the world? You see what I'm saying? And I'm just arguing from logic, but we don't have to go from logic. We're talking about the Bible. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be saved. So they say, for God, look, yeah, but pastor, okay, they're predestined to be saved, but that's based on foreknowledge. So he looked into the future, saw that willingness of their own volition without me having to force them. Maybe I'll prod them, present the facts a certain way, and touch their conscience, and they'll come. But if I do that to all these other people, they won't come. So this guy has something the rest don't have. I'm predestining them based on my foreknowledge. That's how the average Christian believes today. It is a swaggering arrogance that is obnoxious and does not comport with Scripture, one iota. If they have to stand before the Lord one day, I think they'll be ashamed they ever said it. Now, I'll show you what I mean here. I mean, by the way, do we have to go back and review? I mean, we took over an hour on verse 28. Well, no, we're not gonna review it. Remember Deuteronomy 7, 1 to 8? We looked at Deuteronomy, remember? And so, well, why did I choose Israel? Because you were more in number than anybody else? Nope. Why did I choose Israel? And what we saw in essence, when you looked at the whole context, well, it wasn't because you were better than anybody else. And that's why I went back to verse one, not just verse eight, but go back to verse one and read the whole context. Unbelieving, apostate, idol worshiping, faithless people, a perverse and crooked generation in a sense, but Jesus' generation, same as Moses. And the Lord goes out of the way to show us, I chose you because I chose to put my love on you. Well, he chose to put his love on him because he foresaw that there's something better in them. Well, read the context of Deuteronomy there. No, that's not the message at all. You talk about your massive ice of Jesus. Why are they fighting what God's saying? I know they might take offense at this, and they might not think of it this way, and they might just be a contradiction. But if they thought about it, the answer really is because you don't love God as he is. You don't love him as he's revealed himself. And because you don't like it, you're going to change what he said to make him more acceptable. I don't want to do that. I don't see the need to do it. It's confusing to me. Do we have to review Psalm 115.1? Not unto us, Lord. Oh no, not unto us. Unto thy name glory give, for truth and righteousness sake. That glory doesn't go to us in any way. It's all you. But no, we're not going to do all that. If anybody's listening to this sermon, say, well, this is a guy talking about, go listen to the sermon before on the sermon from a week ago, Romans 8, 28. So we're going to talk about this foreknowledge in verse 29. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son. Those that God foreknew, God predestinated those people to be saved, okay? Now, if foreknowing means what the election naysayers say it means, it just means seeing into the future. That's all foreknowledge is to them. Well, foreknowledge, fore beforehand and knowledge. So God can see into the future, and then they supply us With what that means, they supply us. Well, he foresaw that this person was better than that, that, that, that, that person. Hell, he's still a sinner and he's, you know, deserves judgment and everything, but he had one little spark of goodness. And that is in the deadness of his sins, as he's dead, he would choose to believe me. The others wouldn't. So I choose him because there's something better in him. This is what most people, they don't like you talk that way, but we're just describing what they're thinking and they don't want to admit it. And so they see the word foreknowledge, they're just looking as God can see into the future. He knows beforehand. That's all that means. That is not all that word means. I'm going to show you that. Now, linguistically, if you look up the word, it just means having knowledge beforehand, yeah. But like so many words in the Bible, there's just the plain, the secular meaning, and then there's the way the Bible might use the word. Like you talk about salvation. I was saved. I got in a car accident. The car was on fire. And some guy came along and dragged me out. And I was saved. That's a legitimate use of the word. But in the Bible, in most instances, particularly within the New Testament, But even probably in the Old Testament, too, I didn't quantify it, but salvation has a far deeper spiritual meaning. Are they two different words? No, but it's the divine application of the word. The same thing with foreknowledge. Yes, foreknowledge can simply mean seeing into the future, looking beforehand, and knowing. But in the parameters of God's foreknowledge, it's going to have a deeper meaning to it, is what I'm saying. So they say foreknowledge just means God being able to look in the future. All right, I think that presents a problem. I think that's a problem. Let's read it the way they say, just foreknowledge, God looking in the future. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate. All those that are foreknown, God has predestinated. Well, that would mean universal salvation. Doesn't God foreknow everyone in the simple definition that the election naysayers give it? All it means is God knowing a person beforehand. Well, we're told for whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate. Doesn't God? You can take the worst atheist enemy of Christ that lives and dies in the sins. You're going to tell me God was ignorant about him? God didn't know that man in eternity past. Every single action, every single thought, every single nuance of every single motivation. He knew that man better than he knew himself in his self-deception before he was ever born. He's God. God knows everything about everyone. The heads of everybody's heads are numbered by God. He knows all details. So if we're just gonna read into this word foreknowledge, he's looked ahead, he knows these people, because he can see into the future, then everyone's saved. For whom he did foreknow, that's everyone. He also did predestinate. Now, if the Bible doesn't teach universal salvation, and it doesn't, that means this foreknowledge must have a narrower definition than what we normally think of it when it's related to God. Yes, okay, we're making progress when you realize that. This foreknowledge here and in many other scriptures does not simply mean God knew these people and all about them beforehand. And because he did, then he knew, I can choose this one because I have foreknowledge of him. But this guy, Man, I don't know that much about him. Is that what it is? So I can't predestinate him because I don't foreknow him. No, he foreknows everyone. But not in the covenantal sense. That's why I said when we were singing that psalm, it talked about covenant love. The Lord can show love even to the unconverted in that generic sense, but there's covenant love, which is a whole other ball of wax. There's God knowing about a man, and then there's God knowing a man. That's the Bible. You say, well, that's not the way in the English language in 2025. Well, yeah, no kidding. What, in the world? Yeah. Just like the word salvation in the Bible has far greater meaning than just I was saved to anyone you talk to on the street from this, that, or the other. I was rescued out of a burning building by a fireman. I was saved. So we've got to understand this word foreknowing in the divine sense, as it's given in the Bible. It doesn't simply mean the Lord knew about us ahead of time. If that's what predestination is based on, then you are believing in a merit-based predestination. God saw something in you that others didn't have, and therefore he rewarded you by saying, well, because he will follow my son and believe on him and repent, if I give him half a chance like all those other people won't. Therefore, I'm gonna predestinate him to salvation. I'm gonna make sure, because he has a certain degree of a good heart to do that, I'm gonna make sure he gets the gospel. He's born in a place where there is a gospel. He'll come into contact people that can give him that. And I'm gonna make sure he has that opportunity, because he has a good heart. That is merit-based. I don't say that about myself. I can't imagine saying it about myself. Only liars would say that about themselves, who are in denial as to who they are. I think a lot of people that hold this, they wouldn't say that about themselves, but then what I'm saying is they hold a contradiction. See what I'm saying? Which people do. See, when I say that this is all evil and stuff like that, that doesn't mean every person that believes it is utterly evil. because people have contradictions. But if you get a contradiction, that means there's something wrong. And you're supposed to be looking to fix it. And if the spirit of God lives in you, sooner or later, he's going to get you to looking or take you to the woodshed. Then all of a sudden you'll change your mind and you want to look closer into your contradiction. So sometimes we go dragging our feet, but he has a way of bringing us around. Lord chastens those whom he loves. So this foreknowledge is not merit-based. It means that God has this type of foreknowledge. God has an omnipotent, sovereign, special regard for these people that he foreknows. and that these people have been mercifully dealt with by God in his sovereign love and concern because God has foreordained their salvation from the very, very beginning. They were a part of his plan. Now, I wanna give you some scriptures to show you how this is. It's not just me saying this, okay? We'll stop light and we'll build up, okay? So we'll go to Jeremiah 1. Jeremiah 1. Yeah, even this sermon, you know, I put an ax to this sermon this morning, you know. I think I chopped off about the last third, say that might be tonight, you know, I don't know. I'll figure that out, but I said, no, I'm not gonna rush through any of this. Let's tiptoe through the tulips, not go running willy-nilly. And I do mean the tulips. Jeremiah one and verse five. Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee. That's supposed to be communicating something. So, but I think the average election denier is just leaning up against the, you know, the railing saying, well, of course he did. He's God. He knows everybody. So, you know, he's not really saying much there. Really? So that's what you think that means. Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee. But before he formed Joseph Stalin in the belly, the Lord knew all about Joseph Stalin. That's not the no that's being communicated here. This is the divine knowing, okay? Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee, and before thou camest forth out of the womb, before you even came out of the womb, I sanctified thee and ordained thee a prophet unto the nation. Jeremiah, before he was created, was created with that design. Appointed. I mean, in the belly of his mother. He knew him. You say, but you could spin that and make it mean something else. Okay, you could. But as we continue going through these texts, You'll have to go back to Jeremiah and then say, oh, no, you can't. So rather than arguing that here, let's just keep going, okay? Because some verses leave no wiggle room. Some will leave wiggle room if you want to play around. Well, let's leave, you could do wiggle room with this one. But as we keep going, you'll have to come back and say, oh, you can't play around, Jeremiah 1.5. So we'll see that as we go. So just as a time saver here, go to, because it's very similar, right? He says, Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee. Now that is just like Romans 9, isn't it? Go back to Romans 9 from the Roman 9's day or 9's day or whatever that was a couple months ago. But Romans 9 is the same thing as verse 11 to 14. God chose Jacob over Esau. They were both the literal biological sons of Abraham, of Isaac. And Isaac shall thy seed be called, two twin sons. And Esau was the firstborn, who is normally the one to get the covenant. The Lord says, okay, just to show you who's boss, I'm going to give it to the younger one because I can do it. And let the Pharisees go all huffed up about it if they want to. The Lord's making a point. But watch this, for the children being not yet born, Talking about Jacob and Esau. He's explaining why he chose Jacob, the younger son of Isaac, over Esau, the older son of Isaac, and Isaac shall thy seed be called. But remember, not all who are of Israel are Israel. So this might explain Esau. For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, So before they were born, before they had done right or wrong, I chose Jacob, but I hated Esau, verse 13. Okay, here's the question. Why did he say, neither having done any good and evil? What's the point of that? What's the point? Is it the point to say, I chose Jacob and not Esau. I chose Jacob and hated Esau. before either one were born. And I chose Jacob, and hated Esau, when neither one had done anything right or anything wrong." What is the point of saying that? Isn't it to say that selection on my part of Jacob had nothing to do with any more merit in Jacob than he saw? Isn't that the point? And if that's not the point, please tell me what the point is. Or is it wasted verbiage on the part of God that communicates nothing? Just try and ignore that, please. Which is what they do. You know what it means. People don't like what it means. Why don't you like God? Why? Won't you trust him that he has some good reason? Yeah, but he didn't share the reason with me. Oh, so now I'm not going to trust him. He needs to explain himself. If God doesn't explain himself, I don't know if I want to trust him. This is Christianity today. This is not about the doctrine of election. You say it isn't? No, no, it's not really. It's about attitude. It's about humility. See, it's not that I think the doctrine of election is the most important doctrine because you really got to get it down because it's so practical in everyday life. I think it is practical in a certain sense, but it's practical not in the sense of what you're thinking, maybe. It's not practical just because, hey, I was predestined, I was predestined. The point is to receive the fullness of the blessings of God. We have to live by faith. The just shall live by faith, which means whether God explains himself or not, I trust him. That's the power of God's people. The power of God's people is the covenant relationship he has with them. And so in Daniel chapter 12, when he breaks the power of the holy people, he destroys and shatters and scatters the power of the holy people. Then, you know, everything's gone. Why? Because what's the power of the holy people in Daniel 12? The power of the holy people was that covenant relationship they had with God. God said, I'll fight your battles. I'll give you corn and wine. I'll give you everything. So if he breaks his covenant, they got no power. Which brings us right back to Deuteronomy. Why did I choose you? Because you were nothing. I mean, we read that other text where, you know, I found you and you were bleeding in the ground. Your umbilical cord was still attached. There was nothing attractive about you. You were quite uncomely. You had nothing going for you. But I chose to love you. And there was no merit. I told you it was like choosing Bob the Beagle. He didn't, if anything, there was a greater danger he was lacking things the other puppies had, because they were just all happy, running around, and seemed to be all together, and how do I know this one's not sick? There was no merit. It was just unmitigated compassion. That is the only way any of us were ever saved. You say that's not fair. Why isn't it fair? Because the gospel can go to all men, and all men are free to come to him and repent of their sins, be convicted by what Christ did for them, but none of them will do it. They are free to do it. They have free wills, but none will do it. The fact that one person out of the history of the world would ever be saved is a testimony to the pure mercy of God, because what's the matter with, believe me, do what is right, and I'll give you salvation. And I'll try and make it easy for you. I'll lay it out on silver platter, but no one will come to him. No one will come to him unless they're drawn by the Heavenly Father. So if God judges the people that despises love and hate him and spit in his face when he tries to give them grace and peace and love through Christ and salvation and the forgiveness of sins through his mercy, well, they just getting what they asked for. If you rob a liquor store, you go in front of the judge, he puts you in jail for 10 years, what do you expect? Isn't that justice? Salvation is all about divine mercy. It's almost like these other folks say, well, if there was true divine mercy, he'd just forgive me, because I'm generally pretty good. We got a different set of laws than God. So in Romans 9 here, he says, the children, now Jacob I chose, Esau I've hated. And this was an election. This was a choice I made before either one were born. So it doesn't have anything to do with their birth before either one had done any good or any evil. That even includes the exercise of faith. So the clear implication is it wasn't based on that. Well, then what was it based on? Why did God choose Jacob if he didn't choose Jacob because Jacob was more good than Esau? He would believe, but Esau wouldn't, so he chose Jacob. But if it's not based on any good or evil, then what is it based on? He tells us, he chose Jacob that the purpose of God, according to his sovereign election, might stand and come to pass. You say, that's not a reason. It is a reason. The reason he did it is because God has a plan and he was choosing that man. Well, he needs to explain himself. He did to the degree he wanted to. He said, I did it because it fulfills my purposes. And then he waits to see if we humble ourselves and say, we trust you, Lord, okay. There's something good you're doing that we don't know about. Like I said last week, son, you do this. Why, dad? And you can't explain them to him. He is five years old. What are you explaining? Because I'm telling you to do it. You need to do it. So he chose Jacob over Esau that the purpose of God according to election might stand. And look, it's brought up again. Not of works. He didn't choose Jacob and hate Esau because of any good works that came out of either one of them or out of Jacob, really, because we know it's Jacob he's choosing. That's the same thing as neither one had done good or evil. I didn't choose them because either one was better than the other. I didn't choose them because of works. He's repeating himself and constantly the Christian community is fighting against every word he's saying. Well, then why did he do it? He repeats himself here, but of him that calleth. That's the same thing as the purpose of God. So he didn't choose Jacob over Esau because of any good or evil. Well, why did he do it? That the purpose of God according to election might stand. He didn't choose Jacob over Esau because of works. Well, why did he choose Jacob over Esau? Because it's of him that calleth. Because he chose to do it. Or to put it in terms last week, because he chose to put his love on Israel. Yeah, well he didn't explain why, but he did explain that's the reason that they were chosen, because he chose to put his love on them. I want more of an explanation. You didn't get one. Oh, so you're going to invent one and then impose it on God. That's the, God foresaw our goodness and so he chose us. Yeah, I don't think you'll find that in the Bible. Now, if everything I'm saying is true, I don't know how it couldn't be. It's taken right from the text. So look at the question, verse 14. What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Why would that question come up? Because what we've said about the previous verses are true. And so the average unconverted man, wait a minute, so you chose Jacob over Esau and didn't have anything? Like Jacob just didn't have more faith? You mean he didn't foresee Jacob was willing to believe you and he would be more faithful and therefore you chose him and it wasn't based on any of that? You just chose, yeah that's right, I chose him because I chose to put my love on him. And the universal cry for mankind is that's not fair. That's verse 14. And so why would verse 14 make sense under the paradigm of the explanation of the people who reject predestination? Oh, he was just calling Jacob to service. He loved Esau just as much. It's just that he was giving Jacob more important jobs, so he predestined him to service, which of course we went through that when we went through Romans 9. But let's look at another example. Go to Matthew 7. We're explaining foreknowledge. Matthew 7. I like chopping my sermons in half. Gives me a chance to talk more about, you know. Like, let's look at it from this angle. Wait a minute, let's go over here, and let's go from underneath. You gotta look from underneath, because sometimes there's something hiding under there. Matthew 7 and verse 22. Jesus says, many will say unto me in that day, Lord. See, they call him Lord. This is Jesus now. They're calling Jesus Lord. Oh, Lordship salvation. They must be mean people. Okay. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? Now to prophesy in the name of Jesus, these people are believing in Jesus. They're calling Jesus their Lord, and they are prophesying in the name of Jesus. And in thy name cast out devils, performing miracles in the name of Jesus. They believe in Jesus. They do it in his name. And in thy name do many wonderful works. Doing these wonderful works in the name of Jesus. And they believe in Jesus, and they call him Lord. How does Jesus respond to them? Then will I profess unto them, I never Knew you. I never knew you. Well, the no, no is a simple word. He has knowledge, right? It's like foreknowledge. He foreknew them. It just means he was able to look in the future. Really? What's this mean? I never knew you. Did Jesus never know about these people he's talking to or about? He didn't know them in eternity past? He didn't know their every move? He didn't know their hearts and intents? He didn't have the number of hairs on their head? He didn't know when they'd live and die? He knew nothing about them? Wait a minute, I thought Jesus was gone. Yes. Jesus knew these people before they were ever born. They were vessels of wrath fitted to destruction. Jesus knew everything about them, but yet he says, I never knew you. Now see, this is the difference between foreknowledge the way The opponents of predestination speak of it. Oh, it just means God looked ahead of time and saw their faith. So it just means he can see ahead of time. No. It isn't the fore part of foreknowledge that's at issue. It's the knowledge part. The fore just means beforehand, and that's what that means. But the knowledge, see, just like here. What does it mean for God to know someone? According to the Bible and how it's used. Now, when we talk about ourselves, say Moses knew that man. Well, that means in his normal abilities and within the context of the things he knew about them, he understood the man. But when God knows a man, when we look at the Bible's usage of it, we see there's something more to it. Because Jesus says, I never knew you. He was completely ignorant of these people? No, he wasn't. He totally knew them. But he never knew them. These are two different sets of knowledge. Depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Well, obviously, he knew something about them. He knew they worked iniquity. And here they are boasting about all the good things they did. Yeah, he knew them. But he didn't know them covenantally. He never covenantally knew them. To covenantally know someone, as it's used in scripture, is to, in essence, say, I have preordained you. I have known you before the foundation of the world because I have a plan for you. That's what he's saying. I have known you beforehand because I have designed you to serve me in a world I gave everybody the freedom to follow me, everybody a good reason to repent and come to me and ask for mercy because their consciences that I gave them, because they created my image, convict them and they know I'm right, but they won't come because I gave them free will. This is where their free will took them. But instead of destroying them all, I have foreknown certain people before I ever created the world. to serve me, to show my unbelievable, unmerited, indescribable love to people completely unworthy, so people would understand God is love. If God wasn't love, he wouldn't give you your free will to choose what you want. But he gave Adam and Eve free will. Don't eat of that one tree. He didn't force them to, you can't eat of it, I'm going to eat it. He said not to, I'm going to grab it. Ah, there's some magical, there's God keeping you. They think that's what we're teaching when we teach election. That's not what we're teaching. We're just teaching, we're so bad, we're all going to grab it sooner or later. You know better than the worst sinner. Neither am I. Maybe they grab it sooner than us. Well, we'll get around to it. Was Adam necessarily worse than us? I don't think so at all. I think every single person would do that. It'd just be a matter of timing, probably. I never knew you. I mean, just think about that. I never knew you. Yeah, so this is a preordained end. Let me give you another example. Go to 1 Corinthians 8. 1 Corinthians 8. In verse 3, But if any man love God, the same is known of him. So, let the wheels turn. Let the wheels turn. Grease the wheels. You don't grease the wheels. You know, there'll be some oxidation taking place. They'll begin to get rusty until finally they freeze up. You don't want that happening. Grease the wheels with the scriptures, you see. You'll say, I read through the Bible. No, I said grease the wheels. Not drive 50 miles an hour through the car wash and say, see, I did it. I checked off the box. It's like Paul and I were talking about, she's talking to me and I'm like half listening, you know? I'm listening and I heard everything she said, but I'd be processing information, like I'm thinking about something deep in thought. You can't tell, I'm just like, you know, but I'm thinking about something. Then she starts to talk to me about something, you know, some detail about some consequential, well, somewhat inconsequential, but you know, like if we're gonna have this for dinner or whatever, you know, whatever. And like, you know, okay, you know, I don't want canned peas for dinner on top of, You know, I don't know, what else don't I like? Cauliflower, I guess, you know, maybe that's... Canned peas on top of cauliflower. Oh, wait a minute, let's stop here, and I'm becoming a little more important. But if she's saying something to me, and it has a value to it, but I'm thinking about something, and I'm always worried about losing a thought. when I'm thinking about something serious. Oh, I don't want to lose that thought. Oh, I'm going to hold on to it. So she's saying like this, da, da, da, da, da. I go, OK. And I hear what she says, and I give her an answer. So I heard what she said. I understood the concept. And then I said, yes, I'm going to do that. but it was like a half paying attention, because I was so afraid of losing this thought, because I got a, this is like, and so I'm holding on to it. And then two days later, I told you that, and you didn't, like, oh no, you did? You weren't listening. Well, I was listening, but I was half listening, because this is how it happens, I'm sorry. If I had a better memory where I could just multitask and remember it, and it all sticks and iron, that's not me, okay? Some people have that, I don't have that, never did. I have to work harder than most people. See, I don't have one of these natural, computer brain, everything I said, he just remembers. I remember going to school, there was guys like that. They never brought their books home. They got a pass on everything. I brought my books home, I studied for hours. I might go and get an A, but they get an A while they're picking daisies. I get an A and I'm sweating. He chooses the foolish things to confound the wise. I qualify. Look at this. But if any man loved God, Now, once again, if any man loved God, those are the ones that are called those who love him, right? Romans 8. But if any man loved God, the same, in other words, that man is known of him. God doesn't know anybody else. If know just means foreknowledge, he foreknew. That just means he knew them because he could see in the future. It just means knowing. It doesn't mean anything special. It doesn't. If any man loved God, the same is known of him. Now if God, if this just means simply he knows them in the generic sense, and you admit that God knows everyone because he knows everything, then he loves every man. Covenantally, because that's obviously the context. If any man loved God, the same is known of him. Those that love God, who are his people spiritually, they've been regenerated, they're God's people, he called them, he predestined them, they have salvation. Those are the people God knew covenantally. This foreknowledge in Romans 8, this foreknowing, I want to go back to Romans 8 because I'm going to end here for time's sake here. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate, well, to be saved. The people he predestinates to salvation are the people he knows ahead of time. But God knows everything about everybody ahead of time. So the foreknowledge does not simply mean what the naysayers say it means. You'll be forced into universal salvation. You know that's a lie. So this is a more narrow, Particular, covenantal knowledge. Depart from me, I never knew you. I never knew you as my covenant people. I created you and gave you free wills, you won't come to me. I gave you, you have every chance, you have free will, just come. Go ahead, come. Well, I like it, and then they got an excuse. They're not going to. After all, I gotta be practical, I gotta get, I need to keep this job. I got my girlfriend on the side for my wife, and I like it too much, so I mean, but I'm a pretty good person. Whatever their excuses are, this is mankind. And that's everyone, but those that are foreknown. In other words, he's gonna raise up a Jeremiah, and before he's ever born, he's gonna raise up Jacob, before he did any good or evil. And it's not according to works. I'm designing this man to show forth my glory. I want the world to know, rather than destroy them all, if I destroy them all in holiness, the world might conclude, God is not love. I'm gonna show you I am love. I'm not going to destroy you all. I'm going to take completely unworthy people and cause them to repent and believe without violating their free wills. But I'll open up doors in a way you don't know how I do it. But I have to make that happen. And I want you to see, I'm able to save, I'm desirous to save. And by doing that for the elect, that ought to be all the more reason for the rest of mankind to say, okay, he chose that guy, he did that, this guy's life totally changed. You know what, I want the same thing. And no one will do that, but there are people that do that. Why is that? Because they were foreknown of God. The elect are meant to be a blessing to the elect to come. You say, well, if we're a blessing to the world, how come so many people don't respond? Because God isn't going to save so many people. He's going to save the remnant. The remnant are raved to be a blessing to the remnant. And none of us, including the original guys that are blessing the other guys, deserved it because we're as bad as everyone else. You say, that's not fair to everybody else. No, yes it is. They're free to come. Come on. You mean go to church twice on Sunday? I mean, I can't go do this, I can't go do that. I have to do this and I'm supposed to forgive this person, I can't forgive them. Or whatever they're, you know, and they turn around and walk away. They all want God until they find out that God really is holy, and he expects us to be holy, and then they don't want him. But rather than admitting they don't want him, a large segment of them will say, let's pretend we still want him, and we'll go to this church over here, and they'll take us just as I am, without one plea. And there is a market for that. And those churches, as I say, need to be bordered up with three-quarter inch CDX and deck screws right over all the windows. First sign of revival. So, I think we're going to just finish this off tonight, just so we don't have to revisit. There's so much to read. If we go a week, then I feel like I have to review even more, because the time goes by, you know. So we'll finish this off tonight, and then Well, yeah, because I was going to do Psalm 95. We've got to finish going through Psalm 95. I almost forgot about that. So I guess we'll just do that next week. And we're doing this because we're going through Romans 8. And because this argument in Christian community, it's been around for like 2,000 years. People have been arguing about this forever. And it used to be that Far more people, I would say the majority, many years ago, would not argue what we're saying. But you always had both sides all along. And that's true with every doctrine. But this was not such an issue hundreds of years ago. It is now. And they actually will charge us with being evil and painting a picture of a god that's a monster. If you really understand what we're saying, God's a completely inexplicable, merciful God, that he would show any of us mercy, because we're all free to come to him. And Jesus couldn't have said it plainer, they can't come unless my Father intervenes and draws them. Why should he do that? They got free will, let them choose like Adam and Eve. They chose the apple, not the apple, but they chose the fruit of the knowledge, the tree of good and evil. So they had to be expelled from the garden. That's meant to make a point to us. But in spite of the freedom we have and the ability we have to choose, we won't choose because we're that corrupt and selfish and whatever. The Lord says, I'm still going to save some. That's the truth. So where is their pride in this? You know, there's only pride and it's on the other side. It's not on our side. You've got Calvinists filled with pride because they don't understand, you know, they call it Calvinism. I don't like the name really so much, but it's the people that hold to the doctrine of predestination that become prideful and arrogant about it. They're not really understanding it themselves. And they become the worst people you want to speak on its behalf. But I think a lot of the perceived arrogance that some people that believe in predestination have is just that. It's perceived. It's because people are feeling offended. So, so, you know, you're a predestined and I'm not, you know, you say you think I'm unsaved and they make all sorts of charges. I did not believe in predestination. I became a Christian like at nine and I didn't come to doctrine and predestination until I was I don't know, 29, I think. So I went for years. I wasn't an enemy of it, but I thought, well, it can't be like that. But I didn't give it a lot of thought. Then when I heard Pastor Guggini, the first time Pastor Guggini was on the radio and he was talking, you know, he would mention it and talk about it, I said, oh, he means like, you know, predestination, predestination. I thought, oh. Really? No, I can't. How can that be fair? Could that be? I didn't even have an antagonistic view to it. And I totally didn't believe it. And I've never even really thought about it. When I first heard him, I thought, huh, that would make us like robots. But he just quote a few verses. I say, but those are, no, I can't be. And so I had to go through a process. And I did. I studied. In about two weeks, I came out and said, well, I can't defend it, but that's what God did. I mean, I'm not going to read things in the scripture, and he's so plain in so many places. Yeah, it's true, and it's right somehow, although I can't explain it. So I said, Lord, I believe it. But I've told you so many times, I believe it, Lord. I actually prayed it. Lord, I believe it, but I'm not going to talk about that much because I'm not sure how to defend it. It doesn't seem right. So I'm just going to kind of have to be like a closet believer. But unless you add some knowledge, Lord, but I just, it's true. And within a week, I didn't keep a diary. I couldn't shut my mouth about it. And did I have a deeper understanding of it? Nope. I didn't. I just, I don't know. I think a little bit of Father Abraham overtook me that, you know, that just shall live by faith. Abraham believed God and it was contrary to him for righteousness. Is it such a big deal to believe when the whole thing's laid out in a silver platter and it makes sense and you've got nowhere else to turn? Abraham believed when God seemed impossible. That's the great lesson of predestination. It isn't about the technicalities and the inner workings of the divine being, how we came to Christ. When you think about it, how important is that? Why it's important, it's how we think about God, how we think about his providence in our lives, and whether or not we feel free to question his integrity. It's about humility, and the greatest sin is pride. It's about avoiding that, and we all have to struggle with it. Let's bow our heads in prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank thee for your patience with each and every one of us. We would not be alive without it. We would have had to have perished the moment we were born. But Lord, you have shown patience, as you have with all mankind, to different degrees, but you have shown patience with all mankind. that men would live out their full lives hearing the gospel, but rejecting it till death, and some of them dying very old people. Is this not the patience and kindness of God? Did not the sun shine upon their faces? Yes, it did. Didn't the rain fall upon their grass? Yes, it did. Weren't they free to come to Christ and know peace and the forgiveness of sins? and to get away from the bondage of the sin, which in many instances, the people knew they were in bondage to it. They were trapped, they were addicted, whatever the issue was, and yet they still continued. The history of the world is the exercise of the patience and grace and love of God. So Father, help us to see these things. Make us like little children, to believe your word, all of your word. And when we can understand it, we want to, and when we should, and the things that are not for us to know, and you pretty much make it plain in Scripture, then we are content with that too. Teach us to trust and to love Thee, because when we learn to trust and love Thee, Lord, well, I have a sneaky suspicion that will help us to love others around us and to be more patient in the light of the trials that come our way. and we'll be the stronger and happier Christians for it, and more productive ones. Help us to be all those things. In Jesus' name, amen.