We're gonna have food, and we do that every week, so we invite you to come along with us if you want to at the house. So, I'm getting ready to go to my house. All right, let's take our Bibles and turn to the book of Romans and chapter number eight. The book of Romans and chapter number eight. And we're going to read a few verses here, verse number 28 through 39. So I might ask you the question, what is your most valuable possession? Do you have things in life that are priceless? Or things in life that are invaluable? They might have little monetary value, but to you, they're priceless. Now I have two of those things today. I decided to bring two of those things. Many of you know what this is. This was the rooster that sat on my great aunt's coffee table when I was a boy. And when I went to Aunt Minnie's house, I wasn't allowed to touch anything. I had to sit in a chair and not say a word and not move. And definitely, I was not allowed to touch the glass rooster. When my great-aunt Minnie passed away, because my dad was in her will as a brother, we were able to go to her home and, you know, we were able to take some things, and I acquired the glass rooster. You know why I acquired the glass rooster? Because I can touch it all I want to now. You see, when I went to Minnie's, there were some things I knew was going to happen. I was going to get my walking papers, which mean Dad was going to grab me by my ear, and he was going to bend it real hard. And he was going to grab me. He's missing these three fingers. And he was going to grab me underneath the arm right here. And he was going to pinch as hard as he could. And I was going to get my walking papers. And I knew that I better sit in that chair and not move. And I also knew I was going to get big red lipstick right there, because Aunt Minnie was going to give me a kiss. And you know what? It was beneficial because later her husband was had season tickets to UK. And I got to go to many UK basketball games. But anyway, but that you know what? I have no clue. That's probably not worth 15 cents. But you ain't getting it. As long as I'm living. Many, many of you might know what this is. This is a flag. That was given to my family upon my father's death by the US military. Again, they give them away every day. And it's sitting on my corner cabinet, and you may not have even noticed that it's there. But it's priceless to me. So there's things in our life that's priceless. Again, they might not hold much monetary value, but they're priceless to us. They're valuable to us. And have you read the passage of Scripture in the book of Matthew that speaks of a pearl of great price, where it says, Again, the kingdom of heaven is likened to a merchant man seeking goodly pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it. For the last few weeks, I've been attempting to show you what it means to be in Christ. I've been attempting to hold Jesus up to you as that pearl of great price. I've been attempting to show you the value of your salvation. That's why a few weeks ago I preached that salvation is all of grace. Then I talked about justification. I want you to see the value of being in Christ And that when it comes to the work of salvation, that God has done all of the work. And the work of salvation is His work. And He's working in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. And we'll see this a little bit later on. One day He's going to present you faultless before the Father. My hope is that your love for what God has done for you will grow. and that you will begin to value your salvation as priceless. I also have a goal for why I want you to value Christ so much. I want you to see your love for Christ to grow. It's because I'm going to start talking about His bride also. And because we love Christ, we ought to love His bride. And we're going to talk about the church and why the church should be valuable to us. And we'll go through the book of Acts and some other things. but again, we've talked about being justified and we've been justified freely by his grace and we Looked at Romans chapter number eight to talk about that We know that we've been declared righteous by God So as we think about that, there's going to be some outworkings of that in our life. What's that mean? That I have been justified, I've been declared just, I'm now righteous in Christ. What's the outworkings of that in our lives? And that's what we're going to look at. Derek Thomas says that Romans chapter number 8 is the greatest chapter in the Bible. And we're going to read some of the more familiar verses today. Romans 8, 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. For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed in the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom He did predestinate, them He also called, and whom He called, them He also justified, and whom He justified, them He also glorified. What shall we say then to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword, as it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long. We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. As we go through this, I want you to see if you can pick out the three outworkings of being in Christ, being justified in Christ. Heavenly Father, as we come to you today, we just pray that your Holy Spirit will speak to hearts. And we thank you that we can worship you today because we are in Christ. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen. So in Romans chapter number 8 we have the golden chain, the order of salutis, the order of salvation, and it is the golden chain that tells us about security. And the golden chain is foreknowledge, predestination, called, justified, and glorified. And so we know, for whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son. Verse 30. Moreover, whom He did predestinate, and whom He called, and whom He called, then He justified, and whom He justified, then He also glorified. And we talked about that the last time we were together. But I do want to think about a few things. And I want you to think about, notice to what you are predestinated. Predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son. And so here's what we know. Those who have been justified by the blood of Jesus Christ, those who are in Christ, God has already predetermined before He brought this world into existence that you were going to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. That's God's will for you as His child to be conformed to His image. Predestinated means to determine beforehand. to predetermine. God has predetermined that you would be conformed to the image of His Son. See, it's not whether you should be conformed to the image of His Son. No, in those who He saves, this is what they do. You've been justified, and God's going to work in you to conform you to the image of Jesus Christ. What is conformed? The Greek word that is translated conformed is somorphos, which means having the same form as another. Webster defines that word as made to resemble. And so God has determined before the world began that His Spirit would work in the hearts of His people to conform them to the image of Christ. And I will say this, that you ought to be able to see how the Holy Spirit is conforming you to the image of Christ. You ought to see the places where the Holy Spirit is working in you to conform you to the image of Christ. You can't continue on like you were, dead in your trespasses and sins. No, you've been justified, you've been made alive, and so now the Holy Spirit is working in you to conform you to the image of Christ. Because of this passage of Scripture, it's why later on in Romans chapter number 12, Paul is going to say, Therefore be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. We understand that we're going to be transformed first and foremost in our mind. Our mind is going to be renewed. We're going to begin thinking about things differently. Our mindset is going to be conformed to the mindset of Christ. So we want to understand that as the golden chain is working in you, God has predetermined that you would be conformed to the image of Christ. The heart and the mind are the first thing that changes. When you are regenerated, you are given a new heart. And the Holy Spirit comes in and begins to change your mind. This is regeneration and it is conversion, but the Holy Spirit works on your heart and mind to produce an outward change in your life. And so we must stop and pause here and ask ourselves this question. As one who is in Christ, how are you resembling Christ you know it's interesting this week if you are following along our our daily Bible reading in the Old Testament in the Old Testament we read some instructions for the children of Israel on how to respond to life I think it was Exodus chapter 23 and and the situation that was put before them was if if you see your enemy And you're walking down the road, and you're walking by your enemy's house, and you see your enemy's ox, and their enemy's ox has got out of the field and it's going astray, how should you respond? Should you say, oh boy, good, I'm glad his ox is going astray. I'm glad he's getting what is coming to him. Is that how you ought to respond? Again, this is Old Testament. It's not New Testament, it's Old Testament. No, you go and you get that ox, and you take it back to the field. Or, you see, again this is your enemy, someone that despises you. And you see their ox underneath a burden. In other words, they've fallen down and they can't move the burden that they're carried with. What should you do? Should you rejoice? No, you go and you help your enemy restore his ox and get the burden off the ox and take it back to where it needs to go. You see, Even in the Old Testament, those who were followers of God responded differently to the circumstances of the world than those who are in the world. And as Christians today, we respond differently to life than those who are in the world because our thinking is different. We're conformed to the thinking of Christ. And so we view the world from a totally different perspective. And so we're going to be different Because we're in Christ and because we're in Christ our minds are changed about life Circumstances the way we respond to life Will change and just like I told the men in our Sunday school class this morning if we begin to see some negative circumstances in our life Instead of crying out to God and saying God what you let this happen to me we ought to view the circumstances of life in the negative circumstances and say I God, what are you trying to teach me through this? You know, because maybe there might be sin in your life that needs to be removed and those negative circumstances are coming because God wants you to see the sin that's in your life. And so instead of saying, God, why'd you let this happen to me? Maybe you need to start thinking, God, what are you trying to teach me? So I want you to ask yourself this question. Do you think about your thought process in life? How your thought process is changing because you are in Christ We want to remember this When we are following Christ when we are following his word when we're doing things God's way It's so much better than the world's way It may not be popular But following Christ and following the Word of God is so much better than the things of the world so We're being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. And this conforming happens because we are born again of the Spirit. And the Spirit is now living inside of our heart. And the Spirit begins to change our mind. And our mind begins to change our actions. And so we begin to conform to the image of Christ. And so the first outworking is that. you will be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. And you will see the spirit working in you to conform you to the image of Christ. And so we read there, those that he predestinated, he called them, he called, he justified them, he justified them, he also glorified. Notice all of those things are in the past tense. Justification and glorification. Justification declared just by God. Glorification is going to happen in the future. But in between that process is the process of being conformed to the image of Jesus, which is called progressive sanctification. So we can see that process taking place in our lives. But then you'll notice each one of those things in the golden change, foreknow, predestinate, called, justified, glorified, all of those things are in the past tense. Already accomplished. How can that be in the past tense? How can it be in the past tense that all of those things are already accomplished? And that can be true because we understand that the work of salvation from its beginning to its end, from its inception to its completion, is all the work of God. And we want to think about this. Remember, God is not willing that any of His sheep should perish. And so we want to look at a couple of passages really quickly. We want to go to the book of John in chapter number 6. And we want to, these will be familiar passages for some of us, but what does Jesus say about His sheep? John chapter 6 and verse number 36. But I say unto you that you also have seen me and believed not, All that the Father giveth to me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of him that hath sent me. And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day." What does the Bible say there about the promise of God? That all that had been given to Jesus by the Father, they're going to lose none of them. And all of them that were given to Jesus by the Father, He's going to raise them up at the last day. None of the Lord's sheep are going to be lost. If you'll turn over, I feel like saying amen, whether nobody else does or not. I'm going to turn over to the book of Philippians in chapter number two. The book of Philippians in chapter number two, I'm going to read verses 12 and 13 Philippians chapter 2 verses 12 and 13 where it says wherefore my beloved as you always observe not as in my presence only but now much more in my absence work out your own salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who worketh which worketh in you both to willing to do of his good pleasure here's what we know because you are in Christ that God is going to work in you both the will and the do of His good pleasure and all that have been given to the Son by the Father, none of them are going to be lost." So, we see, it's all the will and the work of God. And that work is called the work of preservation. We see that in the person for perseverance of the Saints. That's what Saints do They persevere but they're able to persevere because they have been preserved by God. This is the work You can turn to first Peter chapter number three. This is the work that God does in those that are his he does the work of Preservation listen to these verses first Peter chapter number three verse number. I'm sorry first Peter chapter number three and verse number three Who's adorning? Uh-oh. See, I always like to read those verses first because I know I made a mistake. Well, Mark, Well, here's what we're supposed to be able to read there, and I don't know where I'm at, so I've just lost it. We're kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation. Somebody will look that up real quick and tell me where I went off. Kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. But anyway, that God's going to keep us through our faith, and He's going to accomplish in us salvation. Now, while somebody's looking that up, we'll turn to the book of John, chapter number 10. And we'll read verse 27, where it says, My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand. My Father which gave them Me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of My Father's hand. I and My Father are one. What do we see there? His sheep hear His voice, they follow Him. That's called the perseverance of the saints. Jesus gives them eternal life and they will never perish and the life is eternal It's not conditional. It's internal and no one is able to pluck them from the father's hand You see that work there the sheep hear the voice and they follow him and he gives them life life is not earned He gives them life They never perish that was 1 Peter chapter 1 verses 3-5 and if I was able to read my own notes I would see that I have that right here on my notes 1 Peter chapter 1 verses 3-5 Blessed be the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again into a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus from the dead to an inheritance uncorruptible, undefiled, that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time." You see what He's given you? He's given you an inheritance that's incorruptible, it's undefiled, it fades not away, and you are kept by the power of God Through faith unto salvation, and one day its completion is going to be revealed. What a blessed truth to know that there is preservation in us because we are in Christ. Now, passage of Scripture, you probably know, Jude 24. Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the Father, before the presence of His glory, with exceeding joy. Notice, He keeps you from falling. He's going to present you faultless before the Father with exceeding joy. What accomplishes this work? The only wise God, it says in verse 25. You see, the work of justification is the work of preservation. We're going to be preserved because we have been justified. And so again, we stop and ask the question, What does perseverance and preservation look like in your daily walk? Again, because you're kept by the power of God, because you're in the Father's hand, and nothing's going to be able to pluck you out of your Father's hands, and so you know that you're preserved. And one day, He's going to present you before the presence of His glory with exceeding great joy. What does it mean to you that God has told us in His Word that you are preserved, that He has given you eternal life, and you will never perish? What does that look like in your lives? Well, first of all, you can walk securely. You're in Christ. You've trusted Christ for salvation and you're never going to perish. You shouldn't have to worry about whether you're going to heaven or hell or not. You know you're going to heaven because you know you've trusted in Christ. You shouldn't have to worry about what God is doing in your life and whether God loves you or not. You know He loves you because He gave His Son to die on the cross for you. You can walk securely in this life. You can know that all things are going to work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. You know that's going to happen. Why? Because you're secure in the Father's hand. You see, it should impact Our lives and you will walk through life with a different perspective And the perspective is is that you know that God is working in you both are willing to do of his good pleasure You may not always understand all that God is doing But you know that God's working and so every circumstance that comes to you in your life You're able to look at that through a different perspective and you're able to see a listen he foreknew me He predestinated me. He called me. He justified me. He's going to glorify me. And so I'm able to look at life through that lens. And instead of difficulties hindering you, you can say, how is God conforming me through this circumstance? Again, remember, lots of times conforming requires pressure. Conforming requires pressure. You put clay in a mold, And you have to press it together in order for that clay to take the shape of the mold. And so sometimes it takes pressure in your life to conform you to the image of Christ. And so we think about that and as we think about the circumstances of our lives, I know that I'm a child of God. I know that I've been born again. And so I know that God's going to work all things together for my good. And so I know that He loves me and He cares for me. He's allowing this to come in my life for some reasons and so so he is trying to conform me to the image of Jesus and so I look at life through that perspective and you look at Life through the perspective that God is for you We're gonna see that in a little bit as we look in Romans 8 a little bit more But it's God before us who can be against this. Here's what we know. We're in Christ. So God is for you He's on your side You think about the perspective that He gave His Son for you. He that spared not His own Son, but gave Him up freely for us all. God's for you. He loves you. And He gave the best He had for you. So you look at life and difficulties happening and things are hard and you're full of fear and anxiety and you might be saying, but God, why? And you might want to crumble and give up. Take your view back to the cross and see that if God gave his son for me, Is he going to let these circumstances destroy me? You see how we look at things differently? And we understand that this life is only a preparation for the life to come. And really, sometimes the difficulties that we face in life are to help us see that we're not to set down roots in this world. This world is not supposed to be the best. This world is broken by sin and corruption and death. And it's to cause us to long for that place where there's no sickness, no crying, no pain, no death. So sometimes those difficulties come because we're in love with the world too much. And it's to try to get us to long for the world to come where Jesus is. So we can look at life through a different perspective because we're conformed to the image of His Son. And then I love this as we go back to the book of Romans in chapter number 8. So what do we say? He knew you beforehand. He predestinated you to be conformed to the image of His Son. He called you to Himself. He justified you. And you know that the past tense, that one day you're going to be glorified. And I love what the next thing Paul says. As you look at verse number 31, Romans 8, 31. What shall we say then to these things? What do we say to the fact that we know that we've been justified? And that God is working in us to conform us to the image of His Son. And one day we know we're going to be glorified. What shall we say to these things? I like it. We've already kind of mentioned it. God before us, who can be against us? Now again, this is talking to those who are in Christ. This promise here is not for everyone. If you've never trusted in Christ, this promise is not yours. God's not for you if you're not in Christ. You can't claim these promises. But if you are in Christ, Notice, God is for you. And I know I've already mentioned this briefly, but have you ever thought of that? God is for you. God is on your side. God is working in you to accomplish His purpose. God is for you. He's for you to be conformed to the image of Jesus. He's conformed for you to be faultless. And He's for you that one day... I mean, I've tried to picture this in my mind so many times. Where it said there in Jude that one day He's going to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding great joy. I've tried to imagine what it's going to be like. To be a saint of God. to come in with Jesus and to come before the glory of God and for Jesus to present me to God as one for whom He died. Can you imagine what that's going to be like? That Jesus is going to present us before the glory of God as one of His own. God's for us. And He's going to present us faultless because we are in Christ. You see, we have security. And our security is founded upon who God is. If God is for us, who can be against us? Can Satan be against us? I mean, he might try to be, right? But can't he get a victory? No. He can't overcome us. He can't overwhelm us. He can't bring anything into our lives that God won't allow. Satan cannot be against us because God is for us. Nothing in his life can defeat you because God is for you. Hey, you can't even be against yourself. If God is for you, you can't even be against yourself. God's not going to allow your past to defeat you. God's not going to allow your personality to defeat you. God's not going to allow your fear and anxiety and anything you might conjure up in your heart. God's not going to allow that to defeat you because God is for you. And your security, victory, overcoming is secure in who God is. So how do we know that God is for us? Again, we've already mentioned Romans 8, 32. But He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him freely give us all things? Listen, if God spared not His only begotten Son, If He gave His only begotten Son, He spared no expense to give His all, to give His best for you, so that you might be redeemed, so that you might be declared just, if God gave His best and His all. You know He's for you. That He said, there is no cost too great to redeem My child. Notice it says, delivered him up for us all. Delivered means to surrender or yield up. And again, I've tried to go into my mind and think about what this is going to be like and what it would be like, though, to sit in the courtroom of God, the Ancient of Days, the Holy One standing there. And all of sinning comes short of the glory of God. And the wages of sin is death. And so everyone is guilty. Everyone deserves hell. Everyone deserves the justice of God. And if God would deal in strict justice, you would hear the gavels. I declare you sentenced to death and hell forever. That's what we all deserve. But can you hear the judge of all the earth saying, guilty? And as they're about to lead you out to the executioner, the judge goes to the side, takes off his robe, and goes and picks up his only son and carries him in his arms. and goes to the executioner and says, that one deserves to die, but I'm going to give you my child to die in that one's place. And they take the judge's son, and the executioner ends the life, and the one that is guilty is set free. Can you picture what that must be like? But that's exactly what God did. The judge of all the earth declares us guilty, but he delivered up his Son for us all so that we might be set free. You see why I want you to see the value of your salvation? What shall we say then? Verse 33, who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. He'll freely give us all things. Let's get into verse 32. What are those all things? 2 Peter 1, 3, According as his divine power hath given us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue, whereby are given to us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these ye might be partaker of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. What shall we say? God has given you all things that pertain unto life and godliness. He's given you those great and precious promises. that's going to help you live according to the will of God and going to help you to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. What shall we say then? God's given you everything that you need to succeed in this life. And so therefore, who shall lay anything to charge of God's elect? Can Satan lay anything to your charge? No. Because you've been justified. Satan might try to accuse you. Satan might try to get you to think about how weak you are and how nasty you are and all of these things. He might try to get you to see how much of a failure you are. He might try to tempt you, but all you've got to do is to go back to the blood and see that in Christ I'm justified. And so Satan can't lay anything to God's elect. Can men, other men lay anything to the charge of God's elect? No. Romans 8 and 1 says, Therefore there is no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus." Because you are in Christ Jesus, you cannot be condemned by man, by Satan. There's no condemnation. And the reason you know that is because Jesus is making intercession for you. So no one can lay anything to the charge of God's elect. What else shall we say to these things? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? No! In all of these things, nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. Grab a hold of that today. Who can separate you from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus? No one. No one can separate the sheep from the good shepherd. No one and no thing can separate us. That's what these verses teach us. He goes on to list tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, sword, all of these things that the world might throw at us, all these things that Satan might throw at us to try to get us to tempt us. The worst that Satan can throw at us cannot separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. He goes on to say, now in all those things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. Vincent says that is a victory which is more than a victory a holy arrogance of victory in the might of Christ We can stand there in the armor of God behind the blood of Jesus Christ and we can have a holy arrogance of victory Because we are in Christ we're more than conquerors because we know the love that Jesus has for us is love that is eternal and It's a love that never ends. Gil says, whose love engages his power to stand by them and protect them against all their enemies. See, we're more than conquerors through him that loved us. So Jesus is standing with you and before you to protect you from all the enemies, from all this world might throw at you. He's protecting you. Then, what shall we say to these things? Verse 38, for I am persuaded. persuaded to prevail upon, to win over by bringing about a change of mind. The change of mind that we need to have is that we need to be persuaded in our minds that we are victorious in Christ Jesus. No matter what our thoughts might have been in the past, we can be fully convinced that death, life, angels, principalities, powers, things present, nor anything to come, nothing is going to separate me from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. You see, I've thought about those who are not in Christ, and I've thought about what separates them between between them and Christ, and here's what it is, it's their sin. Some of you here today are not in Christ, and what is separating you from Christ is your sin, and what you need to do today is to repent of that sin and trust in Christ, and you can have these promises that we're discussing. And what can we be fully persuaded? Again, that list in verse 38 and 39, and all of those things We can be fully persuaded. We can be fully persuaded even into the future. No creature, it says, nor any other creature, I want you to understand that includes myself. Because of the golden chain of salvation, I cannot be separated from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. One who has been justified can never be separated from the love of God because they are in Christ Jesus. So have you noticed the three outworkings which we find in Christ today? Number one is that we're going to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. That's because you're in Christ, you're going to be going through the process of being conformed. Second of all, you're preserved in the hand of God forever. And thirdly, you can have confidence Because you know that you're in Christ. Your confidence is not in yourself. Your confidence is not in what you've done. Your confidence is in Christ and Christ alone. So, at the beginning I ask you the question, what's your most valuable possession? And what do you possess that is priceless? Today, my prayer is that you will see that your most valuable possession in this life is that you are in Christ Jesus. And I pray that you'll begin to see that your position in Christ is priceless. Heavenly Father, we just thank you for this day, and we thank you for the opportunity. And God, we thank you for what Christ has done for us. Now pray that your Holy Spirit will speak to hearts. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.