So Romans 828, in case you were wondering, since we missed last week, this is last week's lesson, but it'll still work. this was not a i generated but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but but first description of a christian and yes there are descriptions of christians and contrary to what uh... popular opinion my side that there's nothing that differentiates us from everybody else uh... that is the thought process that is nowadays because unfortunately as a knee-jerk reaction to legalism doesn't take much in modern america to qualify as a christian pretty much all you gotta do is point towards heaven, or say thank God, or some nonsense like that, and every politician, every singer, every actor, every athlete, that even so much as mentions God in their speeches is hailed as our new hero, okay? Doesn't matter that their God's not the same God we're worshiping, but you know. Whether or not their lives show any fruit whatsoever, Another plug for upcoming study of the book of Matthew when you get to chapter 7 and open up with that judge not passage Always remember that the rest of the chapter is Direct instructions for us on how to judge okay It's okay to judge another person as being lost folks it is okay for us to judge another person as being lost and uh... otherwise how would we know where and on whom to focus our prayers and our witness so now that being said what is the first thing that paul tells us a bout a christian is that they love god not always perfectly but it is consistently they love god there is no hiding love it's not subjective love is obvious It's not something that you can take out of the closet on Sunday morning and hang back up when you get home. Our primary idea of love might come from our spouses. That is the number one, Jesus said, love your wife as Christ loved the church, okay? So you can say you love your spouse, but if their ultimate welfare is not at the top of your priority list, Do you really? If you would rather do anything else than spend your time with them, do you really? If all you do is take and take and never give, do you really? It's not hard to tell. If your only feelings are in response to what you get or what they do for you, do you really? Granted, you can catch anybody on a bad day, but if you spend a few days around your co-workers or your church family or your neighbors, there is no mistaking which of them loves their spouse. Now, is there? Okay. And which does not? Paul Washer says it ain't rocket surgery. How often and in what tone do they talk about their spouse? Or would you even know that they were married at all? Love cannot be hidden. Love cannot be quenched. Do you love your spouse? Well, I sure do. Hey, did you hear what Elon did this week? Do you love your spouse? I sure do. Hey, did you get your bracket filled out for March Madness yet? Do you love your spouse? I sure do. But let me tell you what I have done this week and what I plan on doing this upcoming week. And you have to agree that I'm pretty awesome. Now, I hope you know where this is going. because the love you have for God ought to be a million times more than for your spouse. Our love for God is supposed to be on the level that by comparison our love for our father or mother or spouse or children is to look like hatred. That's what Jesus said, okay? It's a comparison thing. Your love for your father, your mother, your spouse, or your children can be like a consuming fire. And yet, when compared to our love for God, which would be, it should be more like a blast furnace, okay? Is there any wonder why Paul in God's wisdom gives us this as a definition of a Christian? They love God. God is all-consuming. God is who they talk about. God is who they want to spend time with. God is who they want to please. God is who they want to honor. Day after day, week after week, Christians love God, and that love is obvious to everyone they work with, or associate with, or just hang around with. There is no doubt. Do you love God? Every person you know, bar none, knows for a fact whether or not you love God. You can't hide it. So next time your favorite famous person mentions God, try not to get all weak-kneed because they are probably not referring to the God of the Bible, most likely. And even if they are, it's not out of love for Him that they are using His name. It's for some self-benefit. How do I know this? What gives me the right to judge? Matthew chapter 7, judge not. well to that judge not right there you know why that's in there and then you get as you have a judge does god is already passed judgment you don't have to judge god has already passed the judgment he says you shall know them by their fruit and that has already been judged first thing first description of a christian it is those who love god second description is that they are the called Now, why introduce us to that term? Because there has to be some explanation as to why it is that these Christians love God. All of humanity is at enmity with God. Why is it that these certain people have gone from hating God to loving God? Because they are the called according to His purpose. This is one of the most crucial words in scripture, so we're going to spend a little bit of time there. The word called, or to call, is used in two main ways in scripture. One indicates a general call, and the other an effectual call. Now there is a sense in which everyone hears the call of the gospel. At least anyone who has ever heard the gospel truly preached has heard the call of the gospel. That is the Great Commission. That's what we were sent to do. The gospel to every creature. This is a reference to the general call. God was not willing that any should perish, but that all, every creature, should come to repentance. Well, how many came? Nobody. Zero. Nada. Zilch. The general call goes out to everyone. but nobody comes. Many are called, but few are chosen. God commandeth all men everywhere to repent. That is the general call to all men everywhere. That's everybody for those keeping count. Everybody hears the general call. Now, when you do that, no, that's our job as disciples to go and make disciples to declare that general call. Now, when you do that, there will be some that respond and many more that will not respond. Why is that? Because the people you're talking to, for the most part, are dead. The dead people can't hear you, so they can't respond. This is where we bring in the term the effectual call. Most do not hear the general call. Some do hear it and respond, making it an effectual call. Some believe, while others do not believe. It is obvious that Paul here is using the second version of the call in our verse that we are looking at this morning. There are no promises made here that would hint at all things working together for good to those who do not respond to the call of the gospel. In fact, just the opposite is true. They are under the wrath of God, as we have studied time and again. So this is clearly referring to the effectual call. Verse 30 makes this abundantly clear. He says, And those whom he predestined, he also called, and those whom he called, he also justified, and those whom he justified, he also glorified. So those whom he predestined before the foundation of the earth, he also at the right time called effectually, and those whom he called effectually, he also justified at that same moment. And those whom he justified, he also glorified, and seated them in heaven with Christ." None of that is true of the unbeliever. The unbeliever is condemned already simply because of their unbelief, as we read in John 3.18. So we just made a judgment, but we didn't make the judgment. The judgment's already been made. We just acknowledged it and told everybody what it was, okay? So whenever this term called is used in reference to a Christian, it always refers to the effectual call. Paul refers to himself in the first chapter as called to be an apostle. It was an effectual call. He was not given a take it or leave it invitation. He was not given the opportunity to say, no, I don't think I want to do that. He was put where God wanted him. again the first chapter he refers to the romans at this church as called to be science their call was a factual and they were placed in the church under the blood of christ so it is to the uh... so it is to uh... the people who have been affectionately called in this way to be science that this great promise is made many are called generally but so very few are chosen to be called a factually There's a parable just previous to that verse. And I apologize again for stepping all over the coming Matthew study, but as I said, it is my favorite book. Chapter 22, which we won't get there for a while, so you'll have done forgot what I've got to say this morning. Chapter 22. Jesus gives us a parable of a general invitation or a general call for all to come to a feast But how many came? Nobody. Nobody came. None. God commands all men everywhere to repent. How many repented? None. God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. How many came to repentance? None. it's almost as if the same mind wrote the entire Bible so the king's servants since nobody came the king's servants went out and brought certain people to the feast more or less forcibly take that for what you will the king's servants went out and brought people to the feast more or less forcibly That is the effectual call. I will take out your heart of stone and I will replace it with a heart of flesh, says Ezekiel in 36, 26. This is the effectual call and it is irresistible. 2 Timothy 1, 9, Who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works, but because of His own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began. Ephesians 4 and 1, I therefore a prisoner for the Lord urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called. Jude, verse 1, I, Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to those who are called loved in God, the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ. Affectual calling always refers to Christians only throughout the New Testament. So just as we face the test of love, now we face the test of, have I been called? So can you say honestly, I am what I am by the grace of God? That's my favorite phrase. Why are you interested in these things? Why are you sitting here listening to this old idiot talk this morning? Why are you a member of the Christian Church at all? What has made you what you are? Was it simply some decision that you made to refrain from certain things and to do certain other things? These are all fundamental questions. Why are you doing what you're doing? Why are you what you are? Paris Readhead says, far too many are just going through the motions because they're afraid of the fire at the end. This is nothing more than fire insurance. The true Christian is the one who can truthfully say, I am what I am by the grace of God. I could not and have not changed this of myself. But we know that something has been done to us. To be effectually called means that your life has been interrupted and it has been disturbed. That God has definitely done something to you. You do not and cannot call yourself. It is God who calls the called according to his purpose. To be called means that you know that God has been concerned about you. that he has done everything to you, that he has interfered in your life, that he has interrupted your life and laid hold upon you. Can you feel the difference from our deciding to do something, of our taking up religion because it might do us some good? The people to whom all things work together for good are those who feel that they have been apprehended, that was Paul's term, apprehended, As Paul tells us in Philippians, apprehended means arrested, captured, taken into custody, no longer traveling the same path, no longer concerned with the same things. God has interfered with your life. A life not changed has not been interfered with. Simple as that. Much like love, it is obvious that one's life has been interfered with. Everybody knows it. Everybody can see it. God interferes with your life, and then you find yourself convicted of sin. What does that mean? Well, prior to the interference, your entire life was what? Sin. Okay? You find yourself convicted of your life, in essence. You do not desire this. It is against everything you believe. You do not want to be disturbed in your life. You do not want to be apprehended in your life. You're perfectly happy on the way you're going. You want to go on living in the same way, finding your happiness in the world. But all of a sudden, you are disturbed. You begin to feel condemned. You're convicted of the wrong in it all. And you're not doing any of this to yourself. No one would do this to themselves. But it has been done to you in spite of your resistance. But having struggled with it and fought against it, you begin to believe that this Word of God that disturbs is true. It is no longer the words of men, it is the Word of God. 1 Thessalonians 2.13, it says, We also thank God constantly for this, that when you receive the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers. There is a persuasion that this word is God speaking to them, to us. The call of God was coming through this human instrument, but they knew that the word was the word of God and not the mere words of a man. This leads us by natural recourse to a feeling of our own utter helplessness. Have you ever felt your own utter helplessness? You cannot arrive there on your own. Pride will not allow that to happen. The called are always convicted of their own utter helplessness. Jesus came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Anyone who has had this feeling of helplessness can rest assured of having been called. Nothing can produce this in you but the Spirit of God. It is His work to do this calling. Next thing we begin to see is the sufficiency of our Lord Jesus and His salvation. We see that He is the Son of God and we believe in Him as such. only the christian can do so we know that even the demons believe in trample rap but they don't really believe or they would be changed they believe satan to be sovereign even the religious leaders of jesus' day they knew that he was the son of god But they didn't really believe it. They believed themselves to be sovereign. It is the Holy Spirit alone that can convince a man of the truth that Jesus is the Son of God and of the truth of his atoning death and its sufficiency and the glory of his resurrection. These are the tests. It is only the man who has been called who believes these things. Now there are many who call themselves Christians who deny much or sometimes most of the teaching of Scripture because they have never been affectionately called and they are not Christians. People who deny the teaching of Scripture are not Christians. It's as simple as that. They made a decision because they didn't want to go to hell. They made a bargain with God that God was not party to. He didn't agree to it. They have no real assurance of salvation, perhaps don't even believe in assurance. Sure, they're consistent, but it is a consistent announcement that they have never been effectually called. The greatest desire of a true Christian is to know the Lord better, to know his will better. Something outside himself is constantly calling to him. The calling is not a one-time occurrence. but a lifelong response to the call of God. All things work together for good to those that are called according to his purpose. A life arrested and apprehended with the inevitable result that those that have been truly called can say with Paul, I live, yet not I, but what? Christ that lives in me. Paul constantly expressed amazement that he being the chief of sinners was still shown grace. He was amazed by that. Amazed and surprised that a blasphemer and a persecutor and an injurious person as he described himself, such as himself, still obtained mercy. Such is always the great characteristic of the man to whom verse 28 refers. True Christian, rather than taking the words for granted, is always surprised at himself as a recipient of such grace and mercy, surprised at the fact that he can read and study these words and at how they ravish his heart when all around him the world is concerned with so many other carnal things. His life. that used to be concerned with those carnal things, only concerned with those carnal things, that life was apprehended, and it is now filled with a desire for the things of God, a desire to fulfill the purposes of God. We who love God, who are the called according to His purpose, know from our actual experience that all of this is true of us. That things do work together for good for them that love God. So what is that experience? Well, do you ever have the feeling that God is dealing with you? Not merely that he brought you to the place that you are, but that he is still dealing with you. Do you ever feel that God is interfering in your life? Ain't you happy about that? that he is moving you towards certain things and moving you away from certain other things even in spite of your own desires such is the proof of your calling you find that you cannot be happy in sin a child of God cannot be happy in sin yes for sure we sin sometimes we even linger in it for a moment But there is no happiness to be found there. A backslider is the most miserable man in the world he has to be. The seed of divine life within him demands it to be so. Failure to find happiness in sin is proof of your calling, is proof that God is still dealing with you and that God is still interfering in your life. Can you say honestly that God's correction in your life has always been good for you even when it has hurt you deeply? And more importantly, do you thank God for his discipline and correction in your life? Or do you resent it? The biggest danger to us is pride. To be puffed up and to believe ourselves to be self-sufficient. Self-sufficient people have no need for God. One of our greatest gifts are those moments when God brings about circumstances in our lives that remind us just how insufficient we are for any practical purpose. Those are the moments that bring us back to communion with God. You thank God for these afflictions that bring you back to him. Thankfulness and affliction is proof of God's calling in your life. These are just a few of the tests that we have been given to bring us to an assurance of our calling and certainty that this promise applies to us, that all things work together for good to them that love God and are called according to His purpose. And so then now we turn to a consideration of why then it must be true of necessity God really does work all things together for good to those who love Him and who are the called. And the answer is immediately given to us in the next phrase, and that being what? According to His purpose. The promise has to be true. Absolutely must be true in light of God's purpose with respect to his people. In other words, the statement made is not that all things work together for good as long as we love God. That's not the stipulation there. All things don't work together for good as long as we love God. The statement is true of us because we are the called according to His purpose. You see the distinction? One of them relies on us. which is always a really poor choice. The other relies on God's purpose. All things must work together for me because yes, I love God, but more importantly because the only reason I love God, as pitifully lacking as I do, is because I am called of God and because I am included in God's purpose of salvation. had nothing to do with me. This brings us face-to-face with the doctrine of the Final Perseverance of the Saints, or Preservation of the Saints if you prefer. One of the foundational doctrines of our Protestant heritage, the working together of all things for good can never be seen as being solely in and of itself. It is the means to an end, and the vital thing is the end. And so to put this statement and ourselves in their proper perspective, we would be compelled to say that the real objective, the real objective to be found in verse 28 is not even our good. Okay? The real objective is what? God's purpose. Okay? So that our good, as well as any good that comes to us, is nothing but a part of the carrying out of that great purpose of god this thing just a little so many passages in scripture that i read every song that you listen to now just about that's why i like the hymn books better all the new songs are about how it's all about me and jesus is my boyfriend and all that nonsense it's just it's terrible But so many passages in scripture that I read, including this one, including this one, I can't help but have the words of the female prophetess, Carly Simon. You ever heard of Carly Simon? You didn't know she was a female prophetess, did you? She said, you're so vain, I bet you think this song is about you. how many verses in scripture do you read and that thing pops into your head that says you're so vain i bet you think this is talking about you wasn't talking about us it's talking about jesus christ okay yes this is for you yes verse 28 is for you yes it's a promise to you but it's not about you ultimately about the ultimate purpose of God with respect to us and that being to show forth his own glory that's why we're here to show forth God's glory the guarantee that all things will work together for our good that they always have work together for our good that they are now and will always work together for our good lies in the fact that it is all part of God's great purpose with respect to us. We need to understand it in this way because that is the ultimate ground of assurance. To do otherwise would most likely lead us to think of this in terms of the immediate and the conditional. That's where we run up on the prosperity gospel and all of that stuff. All things work together for good for me because I love God and He's sending me a new car tomorrow. It is the purpose of God upon which every other form and type of assurance is ultimately based. This is what explains every part and detail in our great salvation. There is nothing beyond this, God's purpose, okay? We've spent many months, all the way back to the beginning of chapter five, discussing many other forms of assurance. And all of those forms of assurance are true, but all of them hinge on this one, and that is His purpose. His purpose is the climax of them all. And so it is for this reason that Paul works out the steps and the stages involved in salvation in verses 29 and 30. He says, for those whom he foreknew, he also predestined, to be conformed to the image of his son in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and those whom he predestined he also called and those whom he called he also justified and those whom he justified he also glorified that's an exposition of the purpose of god why did he do all of this that's the exposition, that's Paul's exposition right there why did he do all this The original purpose of God, as we said, is to show forth His own glory. But this is how He has chosen to show forth His own glory. A complete summary of salvation from beginning to end in order to show that each step is just a part of His original purpose. So many doctrines are included right here. Foreknowledge, predestination, calling, justification, glorification, all of them showing us how god has chosen to work out his original purpose that being said we're going to approach this very carefully and as scripture says with reverence and godly fear because this is the mind and the purpose of god that god has been pleased to share with us the fallible and sinful creatures that we are This is holy ground akin to the burning bush and the giving of the law on Mount Sinai. This is a glimpse into the eternal mind and purpose of God. This is not intellectual. It's far above our intellect. Far above our intellect. It's not theoretical. It's not philosophical. His ways are not our ways. His thoughts are not our thoughts. As high as the heavens are above the earth is how far above us this is. So the idea that we can fully understand or comprehend this is already doomed to failure. And so for us to spend time arguing the points that are going to be made here would be like two kindergartners arguing the law of quantum physics. Ever seen that happen? That's what I think of when I hear people arguing back and forth about this stuff. This is just a tiny glimpse of what God has given us into His mind and into His will. It is His purpose. It is His purpose. And no sinful human mind will ever grasp it fully. as we approach this on the next week and as we study the many revelations that are contained in chapter nine in the months of coming little spoiler alert there's going to be a whole lot of things that we cannot understand or reconcile to be found in chapter nine anybody disagree with that everybody understands every word to come out of chapter nine right so if you do now you swap places with me because there's a whole bunch of stuff in there that we can understand we can't reconcile and finally this is a doctrine for believers only you don't lead with this folks as predestination stuff you don't lead with this this is for believers only no one else can possibly receive it which is true the entirety of scripture In fact, this entire doctrine is disgusting and hateful to the natural mind. It is disgusting and hateful to the natural mind. Ask me how I know. I fought against it hard for a long time. No unbeliever will ever believe this doctrine. They will ridicule it. They will hate it. They will scoff at it. They will say that they could never love a God like that. So it is safe to say that this is not an evangelistic tool, nor is it something that unbelievers need to hear. This, as we have said as we opened up with this a couple weeks ago, this is the meat of the Word. It is intended only for those who are strong in their faith. Is this the Word of God? Absolutely. Is this true? Without a doubt. Do you have to believe this in order to be saved? No, you don't. Salvation is through faith in Jesus Christ alone and in his finished work on the cross at the risk of oversimplification. At the risk of oversimplification this, this we started with in 828, 827, 826, going all the way through 9, chapter 9. This is just here to tell us how and why it happened. Okay? You know that, already know that we're going to make up for that oversimplification pretty quickly. We're going to spend a lot of time on it. Verse 28 gives us assurance to the uttermost. We could stop right there, we could stop right at verse 28, end, skip the rest of chapter 8, rest of chapter 9, we could skip all that, stop at verse 28, and be none the worse off. All the gospel, all the assurance, everything we need has been given up to us up to that point but for those who love God for those who are called according to his purpose there is this inevitable and insatiable urge to know more to know more and to know more and to know more about the one we love that's what Paul put this in here for It's for those who have an insatiable urge to know more about the one they love. So on next week, we will begin our dive into that more. Let's pray. Oh God, I do again love you so much. But I do thank you that you loved us first. Thank you for the ability to love you. I thank you that you have given us your word, the milk of your word that brings us to glory, the meat of your word that helps us to know you better. Father, grant us grace that we might understand it, and that in doing so, we might bring glory to you.