Well I mean it's a great portion of scripture to be sure and certainly one that's well known and also one that's always hotly debated because of the doctrines of predestination. Well we left off talking about last time verse 28 as we're going through the book of Romans here and we will just when we get to the end of Romans 8 which I'm kind of planning to do today. It's kind of like the elder was quite surprised when he says, you want me to read 28 to the end of the chapter? Like, wow. Yeah, I might do some skimming, you know? It's kind of like sometimes, you know, the river gets blocked up. Maybe some animals put some, you know, some beaver or something, put stuff in the water and there's a building up and it makes a little dam until someone kicks the dam open. You know? Then things flow faster. And I tend to want to slow down where I think, The culture of our day needs it to slow down here. Then there's other sections where most Christians today, there's pretty much agreement. I think when we get to the last very end of this chapter, it's kind of that way. So we could sermonize towards the end of this chapter and it would be profitable. And I say sermonize, I mean in the best way. Sermonize in a positive way. Let's consider the proper application for ourselves so we can get the practical benefit out of what we're studying as opposed to just being eggheads and say, I know what it says. Well, that's not the point. The point isn't just to know what it says. The point is to say, and how does it apply to me? So if that's what sermonizing is, that's a good thing. But I think there's a lot of agreement towards the end. The problem is up in verse 28 and 29. That's why we're spending the time on it, see. So there is a method to the madness, you know. So we're talking about verse 28 and the first part of verse 29, really talking about the full knowledge of God. So in verse 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. And it only works together for good to those that love God. And who are the people that love God? The ones that He has called. And why did He call them to salvation? Because it fit the plan that He established from before the foundation of the world. It was according to His purpose, not anything in us, as is spelled out time and again here and in other passages, as you know, particularly in Romans 9. And then verse 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 amongst many brethren. And I told you last week that when it comes to foreknowledge, and that's what we spent all our time talking about, and I want a few last thoughts on divine foreknowledge. So fore, there's no controversy on fore, that means beforehand, okay? And it means beforehand with God as well, just like it would with us. But when it's for knowledge, the thing that's different is the concept of knowledge. So when it comes to God, foreknowledge. You got to remember, why is God's foreknowledge different than a man's foreknowledge? Do we have foreknowledge? Well, let's say he told the prophets. He spoke to Daniel about that which would come to pass. Daniel heard what he said, then Daniel communicates it. So he's saying this is going to happen and he tells us. But that's all Daniel knows. He just knows what he's told. And then he communicates it. See? So his foreknowledge is limited to what God gives. But God's foreknowledge is unlimited. And Daniel is going to react to that information God gives him. God reacts to nothing. He's the I Am. He's not in the past. He's not in the future. He's always present. Which means a billion years from now, he's present, and a billion years backwards, he was present. So God's foreknowledge, think of it, how can God have foreknowledge? There's no future with it. God's foreknowledge is different from our foreknowledge. So God's foreknowledge, and we talked about this, most of the sermon was talking about this, so I don't want to repeat it all, but when God knows beforehand, do you think God ever had to look into the future? to see which people would believe on him so he could figure out who to predestine to salvation. Why would God have to do that? He doesn't have to look into the future and then react to it. You see, we're treating him like he's a common man. And we're reading into foreknowledge the way it would be true for us. If we had foreknowledge of something, like all of a sudden, you know, this knowledge comes, oh, tomorrow you're going to get in a car accident on the intersection of Route 101 and Chalmers Hill Road. Oh no, I don't think I want to go there. However that came, But unless you were born with that knowledge, but let's say that knowledge came to you a week ahead of time, don't be driving there that day, I don't know how, but we would react to it, we'd have to. God, see that's, foreknowledge has to be different for God. It has to be different. He reacts to nothing. And wherever you see reaction applied to God in the Bible, it's the language of accommodation so that we understand cause and effect. Because God doesn't react to anything. He ordains things. That's why he foreknew, but in foreknowing, oh, he learned about this person would believe on me if I just give him half a chance and give him the gospel. That person won't, that person won't, that person won't, that person won't, because what they're going to tell us and we talked about this last week. It says for whom he did foreknow he did predestinate and they tell us that well what that means is that God looked into the future and saw who would be willing to be saved if I did give him the gospel and made it quite persuasive and And then when they saw it on their own, yes, I have to give them the gospel, I have to do some things to prepare, I have to give some convincing evidence, but then I leave it up to them in their lost dead condition. In their lost dead condition, this guy will say, you know what, I need to repent of my sins and do what's right and believe on Christ. But that guy won't, that guy won't, that guy won't, that guy won't, that guy won't, that one will, that one won't, that one won't, that one won't, that one will, the remnant. And so he sees They don't like to put it this way. But the Lord is looking into the future and he sees the better people. He sees the people that have a little bit more on the moral ball than others. And so God is impressed with that. He's pleased with that. And so therefore based upon that spark of goodness, he predestines them to salvation. And they say that's what foreknowledge is. God does not look in the future to learn something to decide what he's going to do. And that's exactly how they read it, like he's one of us, he's not one of us, see? And we're not him, see? So for knowledge, as I described it for you, it's a divine covenantal knowledge. It goes to eternity past. So if like, if we can put it in these terms, you know, 700 billion years in the past, He knew each and every one of us that know Christ as our Savior would be his people and he would work through us. Well, did he know it 800 billion years in the past? Yes. 900 billion, you can't go far enough. There's not enough backwards. So that means God didn't react. He's not reacting. When he made us, when he formed us in our mother's womb, these are the folks that I have ordained to this end. I'm going to allow every man to be free to choose me. But they won't because I give them free will. Free will is their enemy. They say, oh, you Galvanists, you make God a monster and we're just robots. Well, we have to have God program a little morality in us because we don't have it in our free wills. We don't. At least not sufficiently where we would ever be saved. So God is going to say, I will freely make people with free wills so that they can choose as they see fit. But because I give them that freedom, just like he gave Adam and Eve in the garden total freedom. He gave them a rule, but they were free to break it. They weren't fallen and they broke it. That's the power of free will. Now we're fallen and we break it. When they weren't fallen, they broke it. So God didn't make us like robots. I agree. We were not made like robots. And that condemns all men to the wrath of God and to sin. But the Lord says, you know, I didn't want to make them like they have to follow me. I'm going to give them free will. But I want to also show people my mercy. I'm going to show mercy to some of these people that didn't deserve it. They're as bad as the others. And that should serve if he chooses this corrupt person amongst all the other corrupt people, I'm going to show you mercy and forgive you. And he's going to renew your heart and give you a brand new heart so that you see it, you understand he does that for you, and you believe. And then the others have free will. They can hear the gospel preach. And they can come if they want. They see that man come to Christ, they see his life changing, Hey, you know, I want that. And now with that extra evidence of seeing that mercy, and they don't know anything about, you know, God changed his heart. They're free to come. And look what it does for their lives, and they still won't come. So they're only going to get justice, brethren. And we'd be in the same boat as them, unless God had shown us that undeserved mercy. But why us and not others? There's no answer for that in the Bible. Other than that, it pleased God to do it. He chose to put his love on Israel. In the same text, we'll, why did God choose Israel? We saw that in Deuteronomy. Why did God choose Israel? Well, it's not because there are more in number than anybody else. And right in the context of there, stated in verse eight, you read verses one to eight. Read the context, and he talks about their sin, their sin, their no good, their faithlessness, and God's going to have to judge them. So it's obvious the context is, well, I didn't choose them because they were morally superior to the other peoples of the world. So what we have here is the people denying unconditional election, the free willers, the Arminians, they're using eisegesis. They are reading into this foreknowledge, the idea God saw something in me, that's why he chose me. They're reading that in it. Brethren, that is not in the text. That's not exegesis, that's transporting your sense of justice into the text. That's exegesis. Okay, we saw that. But then we said, at the very end last week, But even if we accept the false view that God looked into the future, saw who would have the right heart to be willing to repent and believe if I gave them the gospel, because most won't, but there are some that will. So he's predestined them based on that foreknowledge. Even if that were true, even if we accept that as a fact, the people that are trying to avoid predestination still won't gain their point. They hate predestination. They're not going to gain their point even by accepting their premise. Well, how can that be? Because the Bible teaches that faith is a gift from God. So if faith is a gift from God, you can't say, well, we got out of that we're robots and God's just this master puppeteer. This is how they put it. I would not put it that way. This is how they put it. So therefore, God foresaw our willingness, so he, you know, we kind of deserved it. So it's a reward situation. They want to believe that. Whether they want to put it in different words or not, that's what they're thinking. But if that faith that God rewards the person with having and thus rewards them with salvation, if that faith was a gift from God, Well now you're back to it's all God. It's circular. It doesn't work. They don't make any points. Then God's still a puppeteer, we're still just robots, and they're gonna still hate him for it. Even believing he foresaw our faith. If faith is a gift from God. Now they're gonna argue faith isn't a gift from God. But I would say to you, but it is according to the Bible. And we looked at two passages last week, we won't look them up again, but John 3, Jesus and Nicodemus. And Jesus said, look, salvation, you must be born again. What is born again? Could a man enter his mother's womb a second time? The Lord was very clear. He says, you see the wind come. You don't know where the wind is coming from, and you don't know where it's going, because the wind can turn and move. The clear point is you have no control over the wind. You can't tell when it's coming, where it's coming from, and where it's going to go. And then Jesus says, and so it is with the Spirit. Now, everybody admits it's the Spirit that regenerates a man and brings salvation, the indwelling of God's Spirit. And if the Spirit isn't in our control, then salvation can't be of man's free will. See? It's not in our control. We can't tell where it's coming from or where it's going to. We can't tell who it's going to affect. It's all in the control of God, just like the wind. And so John 3 teaches faith comes from God. We also looked at John 6, 44 to 45, and then also verse 65, where Jesus makes it plain, no one believes in me unless, they cannot believe in me, unless they're drawn by the Heavenly Father. We can't, not that we won't, although that's true too, we can't come. We're too stubborn, we're too sinful, we're too selfish in our free wills. Free will is your biggest enemy because we're not good people. That's called total depravity. There's the layman's description and then there's the theological description. Evil is inherent in every person and every person to different degrees will fight and beat it down. Some of us might, you know, we might cheat on our taxes and, you know, Tell lies about our neighbors and go out and get drunk, but we're not gonna go rob a liquor store. Others, well, I do these other things, I might as well rob a liquor store and make some money, you know. And then others will go out and kill people. Then there's different levels, but to God, it's all sin. You've broken one law, you've broken them all. I'm calling mankind to holiness because I'm willing to be everything to you, supply everything. You have paradise on earth. You don't have to wait to go to heaven. You can have heaven on earth, but you won't have it. So I want to look at other texts that talk about faith coming from God, because it just shoots down the false interpretation of for no in verse 29, in addition to what we spent the last couple weeks talking about. So look at Ephesians 2. Ephesians 2 and verse 8 and 9. The question being, does faith come from God? Or does that come from man? And salvation comes from God, the faith comes from the man. That's what most people think today. So in verse eight, for by grace, i.e. saved through faith. And that not of yourself, it didn't come from you. It is the gift of God. And just to underscore it didn't come from you or it's not of yourselves. He says not of works. Man's works. Left any man should both know both things because it doesn't come from you this salvation. Now the question is and this is the debate on this passage. It is the gift of God. Is that talking about Salvation, just as the idea that, yes, we can be saved, this is how most people think of it. Yes, salvation is a gift of God. Salvation by faith is a gift from God. So that we can be saved and all our sins forgiven. Without having to literally pay for them ourselves? And just by believing God? Do we deserve to be forgiven just because we believe God? No. How does that undo our past wrongs where we hurt other people? It doesn't. Those people remain hurt. So that we could be forgiven just by believing would be a merciful condescension and exhibition of divine grace. So they're saying it's salvation that's the gift of God, not the faith. It's salvation that's the gift of God. And salvation comes through faith, but the Lord, if we'll just believe him, but that has to come from us. And if we believe him, then he gives us that salvation, which is a gift, but the faith comes from us. That's how most Christians believe it. Okay, I think we all know that. But the other view is, now wait a minute, that's not true. It's not just that salvation is a gift from God, which certainly salvation, that any of us would be saved, is a condescension of mercy and grace on God's part. No question about that, we don't question that principle. But they would say that, wait a minute, but when Paul says it is a gift of God, he is specifically talking about faith. And that's the argument and that argument's been going on forever. Now, I do want to talk about it a little bit, but I literally mean a little bit, because that can go on forever. They've been arguing for 2,000 years. Am I going to settle a 2,000-year argument and allow myself five minutes for this? No, that's not going to happen. So in Ephesians 2, 8 and 9, what's the answer? Is salvation itself the gift of God? Or is it the faith through which salvation is efficaciously activated? It's activated through faith. Which is it? Is it faith that's the gift, or salvation that's the gift? And there's actually some that say, well, it's grace that's the gift. It's the grace of God, right? For by grace, I say, through faith, and that in and of itself, it, grace, is the gift of God. and then you're left not sure what to do with that, right? So I suppose you have three, but they're basically arguing between salvation and gift, that's how you're gonna normally see. And by the way, when you see it is the gift of God, the end of verse eight, notice it is is in italics, which means it's not in the Greek, it's supplied by the English translators. People say, why'd they do that? That's not right, they shouldn't do that. No, when they do that, And not that they're always right, but what they're trying to do is you're taking something from Greek and putting it into English. So to make the sentence make sense to an English reader and have the grammar be proper, sometimes you've got to fill in. And this happens in modern day translation of languages today. If you're going to go from modern day German to modern day American, you're going to have to supply some words that might not be in the German just to make it make sense in English. So that's all that. That's innocent. And the fact that they put it in italics so you understand that's what's going, that's honorable. That's right. The interpretation of verses 8 and 9, this question of what is the gift, or better yet, not so much the interpretation, but the exegetical conclusion that faith is the gift and not just simply salvation generally, The exegetical conclusion that faith is the gift that Paul's talking about here goes back 2,000 years. I looked up church fathers, Chrysostom, Jerome, Theodoret, Fulgentius, Augustine, Augustine, Augustine, They all said faith is the gift of God. And those church fathers, that goes back to the early first centuries, right? So this is not new. Erasmus, now Erasmus was a Roman Catholic Greek scholar, theologian. He debated with Luther, right? So now you're going to the Middle Ages. But Erasmus was considered one of the greatest Greek scholars of his day. And Erasmus did not believe in unconditional election and that faith is a gift of God. But Erasmus tells us in Ephesians 2.8 that the gift is a modifier of faith. And some of the church fathers that were native Greek speakers, what I mean by that, they weren't just like scholars who learned Greek and they knew it absolutely, like imperfection, as if they grew up speaking the Greek language. But I'm talking about church fathers that actually grew up in a Greek culture, so they knew Greek was their primary language. And yet some of them were not believers in unconditional election, and yet they would say in Ephesians 2.8 that the gift is faith. And if you think about, well, how could they say that if they're not going to believe that that's ultimately really true? You know, it's the human condition, and being smart doesn't change the human condition. Those native Greek-speaking scholars from the early centuries that did not believe in predestination, they came to doctrinal conclusions that were at odds with their exegetical conclusions. Which, you know, exegetical, just what does it say? And so these guys that don't want to believe in unconditional election, they say, well, Ephesians 2a, the gift is faith. They don't want to have to say that. But they do, which shows you their scholarly honesty. to exegete the text accurately when it goes against what they want to believe, and they'll do it. Look, this is human nature. Again, being smart doesn't make you more moral or more consistent. Smart people are inconsistent. Dumb people are inconsistent. They maybe have a few more inconsistencies, but the smart people are inconsistent as well. There's no exemptions. So, you know, what can I say? And from what I read from scholarly sources, the majority of the church fathers believe that faith is the gift of God as it is rendered in Ephesians 2, 8 and 9. And now, but we're not gonna believe things based on what other people said, right? We're not gonna do that. I'm just saying this is not something crazy. Hugo Grotius, that was another Reformation age fella, he did the same thing. He begrudgingly admitted, yes, faith and Ephesians 2, 8, 9 is the gift that Paul is speaking of. So this is not new. You see that in eschatology. You see it in everything, right? It just seems like it's a part of life. Now, the Greek arguments as to whether it means whether the gift is faith or whether it's salvation. They are quite in depth of looking at them and studying them, and I'm no Greek scholar, but I know how to read and I can look at what men who should know say about it, and I think it would be dishonest for men with minimal Greek study, and I mean like you had a bachelor's degree and you took two or three courses of Greek when you were in Bible school for four years, not sufficient. Or you have your master's degree, you took a few more, not sufficient. They're deep enough where you get the guy for the PhDs, they're all arguing with each other, see? So I always say that doctrine, it's important to know some Greek and Hebrew insights, it can be very useful, but it'll never be definitive in deciding Bible doctrine. You don't need that to decide those Bible doctrines. You can, with that knowledge, you can brush up some rough areas and it can work profitably. But I'm saying, if you can't understand something over here, you're going to find the truth over there in the scriptures I'm talking. See, and that's kind of how it works. And I'll just give you the gist of the argument. So if they were going to do it literally, more literally than what we have in our English Bibles, but a little bit more literally in Romans, we want to go back to Romans 8. No, no, I'm talking about still Ephesians 2, you know, 2 Ephesians 2. For by grace are ye saved through faith, okay? So it would more literally be, for it is by grace, now it is, would it be supplied in English, okay? For it is by grace you are saved through faith. And that And then we'd supply is, and our King James Bible doesn't supply it, and some it does, and it's not that important there. And that is not of yourselves. So, for it is by grace you are saved through faith, and that is not of yourselves. It is, it is there also supplied, it is the gift of God. It's not of you, it is the gift of God. And then it is again supplied, it is not of works, lest any man should boast. So let me read that again without interrupting, with these English supplied blank spots. For it is by grace you are saved through faith, and that is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. It is not of works, lest no man should boast. Now, here's the thing. We read, for it is by grace you are saved through faith, and that is not of yourself. Now that word that in the Greek can equally mean this. It could mean this or that, literally. And in this verse, could mean this or that. Now, some Bible translations have translated it this. Our King James Bible, along with many others, translates it that. It's the exact same Greek word, okay? And these scholars, particularly the ones going back to the early fathers, but also Reformation scholars, Greek scholars I'm talking about, not just church history scholars, but Greek scholars, they'll say, yes, it could be this. And if it is this, as opposed to that, you'd read, for it is by grace you are saved through faith, and this, not of yourself. Now, when you say this, The grammatical rules change. So when you say, and that not of yourselves, it could go back to being saved. But if you say, and this is not of yourselves, that changes it to being the immediate antecedent. So this, what is this? What's the immediate antecedent? Faith. For it is by grace you are saved through faith, and this, which I just said, faith, is not of yourself. See that changes everything. So there are many that are these Greek scholars, I'm not going to settle, I'm not going to say, and I side with them, I don't have the knowledge to do that. But I see that's the division. This or that. And this demands it would be of faith. That does not demand it. So, but my point is in the overall, I just wanted you to understand that's kind of where the crux of the argument ends up going. But I don't think we need to resolve that. I don't feel like I'm in a position to do it, and I don't think people that are above where I am at in my understanding of Greek are in a position to do it either, based on the men and the scholarship they had when they weren't agreeing on it. But then, oh no, we're hopelessly lost then. No, we're not. we've got the balance of scripture. And we're gonna find out that maybe the answer to this can be found in what the rest of the Bible says, right? So we're looking at the concept of is faith the gift of God? Does faith come from God or does it come from man? Is it sovereignly dispensed as an unmerited gift? Is it a sovereign, disposed, unmerited gift? Or Does something well up in men when God gives them the facts? And the spiritual dead, when they hear persuasive argumentation, but are left to their own moral choices, some will choose him. And there he, you know, just even explaining that, it sounds ridiculous me saying it, but for some people, I guess it's not ridiculous. I guess they can live with that. So, Let's go back to Romans. Well, actually, we don't want to go back to Romans, because I've got a couple of the passages I want to look at. We want to go to Philippians chapter 1. So rather than argue Ephesians 2, 8, and 9 about the Greek, well, let's look what it says elsewhere in the Bible. So we go to Philippians chapter 1 and verse 29. For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His sake. So there's two things that are given to them, suffering, but there's something else given to them, belief. For unto you it is given to believe. It is given to you to believe. I mean, that tells us that faith is a gift. I looked up the word given, just to double check that. It is given to you to believe. And the word given, karidzamahi, is defined to grant, to give freely. That's part of the definition. The free is pretty important there. To give freely. That means it's unmerited Just freely given without any attachments, you see? To grant, to give freely, to show favor. I didn't give because, you know, that was fair. It's only fair for me to respond and give you this. It's like, you know, tit for tat. No, wait a minute. To show favor. Grace. That's the nature of this given in this Greek word. And it is given to men to believe. That means that belief is a gift. Well, who's giving it to them? If it isn't coming from them and it's a gift, who's giving it? God's giving it, okay? That's why none come to Christ unless they're drawn by the Heavenly Father. The Father's gonna give them something, His Spirit, that'll enable them to repent and believe. It's a gift. It's given to them to do that. Look at Acts chapter five. Acts chapter 5 and verse 31. Acts 5 31. Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a prince and a savior for to give repentance to Israel and the result of that forgiveness of sins. God hath exalted him at the right hand to be a prince and a Savior. For, and what does this Savior do? He gives repentance to Israel. Doesn't say he gave salvation. Oh that comes after forgiveness of sins. But before the forgiveness of sins we have repentance. And for to give repentance. Now repentance is the expression of faith. that recognizes that where sin is, we want to be saved. This is the choice to follow God and to yield to Him and to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And some Calvinists say, well, we don't decide to follow Christ. Yes, we do. That's dumb talk. Of course we do. But there's a reason we don't. You see, it was given to us to do it. Don't say we don't. I mean, how could Joshua say, choose you this day who you will follow. As for me and my house, we're gonna follow the Lord. It's time for a man to make a decision. And when we come to Christ, we do make a decision. We say, what am I doing? Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner. We are making a decision, but that decision is given to us. The Lord gave, he gave repentance to Israel, which is to say he gave faith. Go to Acts chapter 11. Acts chapter 11 and verse 18. When they heard these things, they held their peace. and glorified God saying, then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life. He didn't say he also granted to the Gentiles eternal life. He could say that and it would be true. He said something even more profound. They concluded by their observation, then God also to the Gentiles, not just to the Jews, but it's apparent to us that even to the Gentiles, God has granted repentance so that they can have spiritual and eternal life. He granted to them, He gave them repentance, faith. Repentance comes from faith, that's why you repent, because now you're believing before you didn't believe or you didn't care. It's a gift from God. We don't have to look it up, but Acts 13 and 48, same thing, as many as were ordained to eternal life believe, Acts 13 and 48. As many as were ordained to eternal life. They believe, hey, that's irresistible grace. The ones who believed in Acts 13 and 48, the ones who believed were those that God had ordained to believe. That means belief is a gift from God. So do we really have to iron out the Greek, as non-Greek speaking people, of Ephesians 2, 8-9 to figure out whether even faith itself is a gift? No, we don't have to worry about that. But now when we go back to Ephesians 2, 8-9 and say, well, Even if it isn't demanding that in the text, we certainly know that's the truth, so it doesn't really change much. Also, when you look at the word pre-definite, which is what we have in Romans 8 here that we're looking at, 28, 29, pre-definite, pro-orizo is the Greek word, and strong defines it as determined before, ordained, predestinate. In Thayer's Greek lexicon, it says to predetermine, to foreordain, appoint beforehand. You know, all those definitions make a lot of Christians cringe just hearing them, but to me, it's like music to my ears. Why is what I hear is so beautiful music they loathe? There's something wrong. For whom he did foreknow, we also did predestinate." Well, we know what predestinate means. Predestinate, your destiny pre, that's beforehand. Your destiny has been determined beforehand by God. If God predetermines a person's salvation based on that person's foreseen repentance and faith, as the other side says, Then the Bible is wrong. When the Bible says, it's not of him that willeth or of him that runneth. Yes, it is of him that willeth. Yes, it is. If God foresees all the good people that will do the right thing and feel sorry and take it a step further, not just feel sorry because some of those other bums will feel sorry, but they're not going to repent and come to Christ. But this guy will, so I'm gonna predetermine him. If that's true, then it is of him that willeth. The reason God chose him, because he saw that he willeth. It makes the Bible a lie. I mean, how far do you have to go in stuff like this? But you know, sometimes, it's amazing, fellas can come up with excuses for everything. Not that they work, but they make it sound like they work, and people that want to be, that makes total sense, yeah, you vanquished that argument, yes sir. No, you didn't. You just want that to be a vanquishing argument and it isn't. Yeah, so it's not of him that willeth. That's not true. And when God says that he causes us to will and to do of his good pleasure, I guess that's not true either. So we're back to the ridiculousness of their position. They're saying, think about it. I mentioned this last week just in passing. So God looks into the future. and he foresaw those who would have faith. But we've just established that faith comes from God. Okay, let's go back to that paradigm. So God looked into the future and foresaw that he gave that faith to that person. And based on seeing that that person has the faith that I gave him in eternity past, I choose to elect him because I foresee what I already did for him. I mean, that's crazy talk. I mean, if you don't know how that's crazy talk, I'm not sure anything I can say will make it make it. That's circular reasoning. It's like the merry-go-round. It keeps going around and around. I want to get off. I'm feeling a little nauseous. No, he's going to keep going. And this kind of makes me a little nauseous when I think about it. Who he foresaw, who he foresaw, God foresaw who he would bless so he could choose to bless them. No, no, that's just, it's not gonna work. So let's go back up to verse 29. Now, understanding this foreknowledge then, divine foreknowledge, which is covenantal knowledge, because God doesn't react, so he foreknew them in the sense, I will give all men free will, and even before they fall, they're gonna sin. So unless I make them robots, And I'm not going to do that. But yeah, I won't be known as a God of just pure wrath. I'm a God of mercy. So I'm going to show mercy on some. And when they start seeing mercy, because I change this guy's heart, and that person's heart, and that woman's heart, others will look, and they're free to come to Christ. They should be motivated. But I know they won't be. But I'm giving them all the reasons to do it. And the Lord does that, and that's the foreknowledge. So his foreknowledge is, I will create vessels of mercy. so that all the world would know that I am also a merciful God. I'll also create vessels of wrath fitted to destruction, which is only to say, I'll give them free wills, and I'll leave them alone, and I'll not coerce them in any way, and that way they'll be happy, because they don't want to be coerced into eternal life. I understand that. So I'm going to let them do their own thing, then they'll be happy with me, and then I'll judge them for their sins justly. Now, so understanding this foreknowledge is a different kind of foreknowledge. It's divine foreknowledge. God doesn't react. So he foreknew them in that he knew he was going to create an elect remnant. He had them designed in their mind before their molecules ever came into being and he made them come into being by appointment, not reaction. It was part of his plan. That's divine foreknowledge because he doesn't react, okay? So, understanding that. The rest of it then becomes easy. There's no debate. Once you get that foreknowledge down, it takes care of itself. That's why we can go into higher gear now, because the whole crux stood on that. For whom he did foreknow, so he foreordained people so he could have a remnant to show the world, I am a merciful God, so why don't you come to me now in your free will? Because look what I did for these people. What do you say? And they all say no. For whom he did foreknow or foreordain and covenantally love by grace before he made them, well, because he foreordained them, then he would predestinate them. If he's going to foreordain them to mercy, then he's going to predestinate them so that the gospel will come to them at the appointed time And the Lord would save them. So because He foreordained them, He must determine their destiny beforehand, because He made the plan in foreordination. The plan is foreordination. In predestination, He has already implemented it, even though we're not even born yet. You know, it's already in action now. He's made a decision and He's done it. In eternity past. I don't know how to describe that. So those He foreknew, He predestined of course. but he predestined to be conformed to the image of his son. We talked about this, some will say, well, we're not predestined to salvation, we're predestined to... be in the image of God's Son. Well, like I said last week, you can't be in the image of God's Son without regeneration and salvation. So to be in the image of God's Son is salvation. That's the only way we're robed with the righteousness of Christ, okay? That's the only way we're in the image of God's Son. So that is salvation. So whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, he predestinated us to salvation, that he, the Lord Jesus, might be the firstborn among many brethren. Right, Jesus was God's only begotten son. But then he brought in adopted sons through spiritual birth. And they would become the brothers and sisters of Jesus. Talk about an undeserved privilege. Oh no, you became the brothers and sisters of Jesus because God's throwing something in you. No, no, no. So Jesus was the firstborn of many brethren. Some people say, well John 3 16 shouldn't say only begotten son because we're the sons and daughters of God too. He's the firstborn. Start attacking the Bible because you think you're smarter than God. Now, okay, so he foreordained and predesigned that he would have an elect remnant. So he predestined certain people to that salvation to achieve his foreordination plans. so that Jesus would be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, he continues, whom he did predestinate to salvation to fulfill his plans. Then he also called. Well, he can predestinate them, but there's got to be the moment of the call because they're not born saved. They're born God's elect, but they're not born saved. They need to come to Christ through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ and the Lord would see to that. So he must call them. There has to be an effectual call. So every single one that he predestines, he also calls at a certain point in their life. And it's different for all of us. And whom he called, and this should be no shock, them he also justified. So by repenting and believing because he called us irresistibly, we believe and therefore we are saved, which means we are now justified, just as if we had never sinned. See, this all flows perfectly, makes 100% sense in this paradigm that I'm describing to you. And whom he justified, and this makes perfect sense, well, them he also glorified. Now I want to talk a little bit about this glorification. And all these are perfectly in order and make 100% sense when you understand it under the paradigm of God's sovereignty. Take it out of that and this becomes hodgepodge. So he's predestined us, he foreknew us, therefore he predestined us that we would be believers And because we're predestined, he has to call us so we can actually enter into his kingdom as believers. And those whom he calls, he justifies and makes right. That's why we can have fellowship with them. And those he does that for, he's going to glorify them. Because he's made them new creatures and now they're glorified. This glorification starts at regeneration. Because at regeneration, we go from spiritual death to spiritual life. From dead to living. From repugnant to glory. From rebellion to acceptance. It starts at regeneration. Spiritual death to spiritual life. We go from spiritual death, you can put it this way too, to spiritual resurrection. And resurrection is glory. Glorification. There's a spiritual glorification. Then there's the full actualization of glorification. So glorification starts at regeneration, but it isn't consummated for these believers Paul was writing to in Romans 2,000 years ago. Their glorification is not consummated until the resurrection of the saints at the second coming of Christ. in 70 A.D. because now they're resurrected with glorified spiritual bodies. And they shed their sinful inclinations and they enter into his presence in perfection in bodies similar to Christ. They're glorified. That's the full actualization of the glorification that he speaks of. But it begins spiritually in regeneration while we're still here on earth. But it isn't fully actualized. until the resurrection and entrance into heaven. And of course, glorification for us post 70 AD is the moment we punch out the time clock on earth and go into eternity and we don't need to be resurrected, we just immediately receive those same glorified bodies and that's the full act. We already have the glorification in that we're new creatures in Christ and God dwells in us, there's a glory in that. But the full actualization isn't until we're in his presence and purge the bodies of flesh and in those spiritual glorified bodies in his presence forever. That's the full acquisition of the promise. And so in a sense, it's sort of one of those theological already but not yet, you know, that you find in scripture. So let's keep reading here. So that all being true, look at verse 31. What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? Yeah, well I guess I'm not gonna finish to the end, you know. I'm looking at a time and what I got left. And in one sense it isn't that much, but it'll end up being much. So, trying to be a better boy about these things. But that's quite diverse. What shall we then say to these things? In light of everything that's described? Well, in verse 28, 29, and verse 30, leading up to verse 31, but you could include even going back further than 28, but in light of everything he's just been saying, this is a very proper conclusion. What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? If those foreknown of God and predestinated to eternal life, if those who have, because they've been predestined to eternal life, they've been justified before God for their sins, Removed as far as the East is from the West before the judge of the universe. And these people that God has predestined to be glorified. He will finally save and they will dwell with him in heaven forever. That right there has very practical ramification. in this life and the next. And that's what I was kind of going to get into, but I think I'm not going to for time's sake. But if people just slowed down their Bible study and just thought about the words and think about everything it could mean, and try and look at it from every angle. Because if you just look at it the way you want to mean it, that's all you're going to see. Try and imagine it being another way. When you try and think of the negative and try and think of the Bible the wrong way and read it into it, but you kind of know it's probably wrong, but you're reading it, you're going, wait a minute, I can see how someone could say that, but that doesn't work out over here. So you've got to begin to think like them to see how bad that is. If you don't ever think like them, you just, I think like me. I believe like me. Everything else that isn't me, it can't be true unless it agrees with what I say. So I see that and I see it. Well, it's just like a self-fulfilling exegesis. So you've got to be a Berean and you've got to be willing to test and try things. And then when you do and they're false, well, you see how false it is yourself. So without being a Berean, you can't do that. You just have blinders on. And even though you could be right, What you're saying about any particular doctrine or thing in the Bible is true. But with those blinders on, you don't know how to vanquish the enemy. And when they say stuff, then you get a little shaken. Now you were so sure until they said stuff. But if you were thinking about stuff, While you were believing the truth and thought about it, could that be? Then you start going to other passages and compare scripture to scripture. You say, wait a minute now. No, that doesn't work because look. And see? It makes you stronger. And so it's good in these passages where there's always great debate to slow down. Does that mean you're always going to come up with a full understanding of any particular text where that's like, no, because we see through a glass darkly. Now I know 70 AD, maybe they saw through a glass darkly, but we're still, we don't have eyes wide open, maybe more so than before 70 AD. But you think you know all you need to know and you'll know nothing more when you go in his presence in eternity? Oh, you're going to know a lot more. You're going to see the things that you and I were wrong on and that he was always right in. But that's a win-win, because God's a gracious God. Let's bow our heads in prayer. Heavenly Father, our goal is not just to be right for right's sake, not to be right so that we can boost our egos in relation to other men and their arguments. Our desire is just to know thy word because it's a blessing. and it brings peace, contentedness, happiness, and power, and conviction, and drive that stems from love that comes from your grace. It's just a wonderful, it's not a vicious circle, it's a blessed circle. Father, enable us through your grace to overcome our flesh and to always be engaged in that circle of faith, Bereanship, patience, grace, humility, learning, strength, grace, love. It just keeps going around and conform us to the image of thy son more and more daily in a practical way that we would honor him in our lives. And Father, we pray that those that have been offended by the doctrines of predestination, that they're actually offended because they've got blinders on. They haven't opened up the scope of their vision to see the vastness of the God who has revealed himself so majestically. If they could stand in his presence with that large swath of vision, their misconceptions would be immediately realigned. So we pray, Father, that you would just give them that vision, which only you can do. We can't force it. It'll never be done through just logic and reasoning. It has to be through the convicting power of your Spirit. So Lord, we just pray that. Your spirit would move as you would have it move. It would come from where you have sent it from, and it will go to those to whom you send it. We pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen.