God's Goal for Every Christian

The Believer’s Greatest Goal: To Know God

I'd like to speak to you this morning of God's goal for every Christian. God's goal for every Christian. We look back at the last year and we see how faithful God is in bringing us this far. Yesterday's gone.

There's nothing we can do about that now, but we have today. We have today.

Today's the day of salvation.

Today we can do something about it because God's given us another opportunity. Last year we looked at, on New Year's Day, the greatest goal of all, which is to know God. That is the greatest goal, is to know God personally.

I spoke from Psalm 42, As the deer pants after the water brooks, so pants my soul after thee, O God. We must follow hard after God. That's our responsibility, to pursue God. I believe the pursuit of God is the greatest thing that we can do.

This is, to know God, this is the believer's greatest goal, is to know Him personally. Jesus said this as He prayed in John 17, 3, And this is eternal life, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent.

Wonderful, wonderful verse. To know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent.

But I'd like to reverse that.

That's on this side of eternity. What does God have in mind for us? What is God's goal for us? What is God's goal for the believer? Another question, and to rephrase that, would be, What is God's best for you?

You ever thought about that? What's God's best in this life, for each and every one of us? Now, as we go forward and journey to the unknown, and the unknown future is unknown, And it's only known to God, because God knows everything from past, present, future.

We don't know. We're creatures of the dirt. God is the creator. He's all-knowing, all-wise, ever-present God. We put our trust in Him. So, there is a blessedness of the unknown. There are some things we can know.

We can have an assurance that's in Jesus Christ, and know Him. Luther said, I may not know where I may go, but I know the One who leads me. That's really all that matters. There is a blessed assurance that we can have, and a peace that passes all understanding.

A joy unspeakable that's full of glory. As we looked at last Lord's Day, John 3, 16, that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.

I'd like to draw from that, and use that as a premises, because that speaks of regeneration. That speaks of new birth. God is the unchanging God. He's immutable, as Brother Keith has already mentioned.

He remains the same. God is never going to change. We're the ones that need changing. And I'm not talking about just a new leaf. You have a lot of people making resolutions today, turning over new leaves, reforming.

But the change I'm talking about is a change of heart. There has to be a transformation. There must be a change of mind. That's really the Greek word of repentance. There's a change of mind, a change of direction, a 180 degree change.

So starting from that point, you know, the Lord says, I am the Lord, I change not. Isn't it wonderful to know that we go into an ever-changing world, but God is never changing. He never changes. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever.

He is the same God that was when He created the earth over 6 ,000 years ago.

Isn't that wonderful?

The same God that led Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and Moses, and the patriarchs, and the prophets. It's the same God that leads us today. There's no compromise with God. He never changes. So if anybody's going to change, it's going to be on our end.

We must change toward Him. And that change, that's what I'm going to speak to you about today. I'm going to be speaking to you about what to put off and what to put on. But the Creator God never changes.

The change must be on our part, and we must change. You know, Jesus said, as I spoke last week to Nicodemus, Nicodemus needed changing, didn't he? Jesus told him, most assuredly, verily, verily, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

That's the greatest miracle there is. Everybody wants miracles. But the greatest miracle is a changed heart, a transformed heart. And Jesus said to him, unless this happens, you cannot see the kingdom of God.

You cannot enter into God's kingdom unless you are born from above. That is regeneration. That is the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit. That is an act of God. That is something that God does. Now, in link with regeneration, there is conversion.

Conversion is somewhat on our end of the repentance. Jesus said, repent and believe the gospel. They are tied together. They're very closely related. Now, conversion is that change. That means repentance.

2 Corinthians 5 .17, Paul says, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. Think about that. All things have become new. What a great transformation.

What a great truth. An amazing change. Beloved, this is the greatest of all miracles. Regeneration. When old things have passed away, all things have become new. All things. Don't miss that. All things.

Not some things. Everything. So, how does that look like? Now, that's what we're going to look at. God's goal for every Christian is this. And it's found in Romans chapter 8. Isn't that a wonderful chapter?

Don't you love the book of Romans? So, go with me to Romans chapter 8. Now, I'd like to find... I'm not going to exposit this, but I'd like for us to look at this. And I want to break it down just a little bit as a foundational verse.

And then we're going to go to Colossians chapter 3. But I want you to notice with me in verse... Let me start with verse 28, because that seems to be one of the great promises that God makes for His children, for His beloved.

And verse 29 is really where I'm going to. But notice what it says in verse 28. And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God and to those who are called according to His purpose.

Isn't that an amazing verse? It's a verse that we could stand on. Notice what he says. We. That's God's elect. That's God's children. We, every believer in Jesus Christ. We know. We know that's assurance.

That is the blessed assurance that the believer has. We know that... What? All things, not some things, but all things in this life, whether it be good or bad, whether they be crosses or losses, whether it be sunshine or rain or mountaintops and valleys, we know that all things, whatever life may hit us with, we know that all things under God's loving care and His providence will work out for the good.

Who's good? God's good. It's God's good ultimately, but God's good is our good. Because you and I are part of the family of God. If you're God's elect. If you're a believer in Jesus Christ. And it is what God has ordained.

Let's not miss this. That whatever God has ordained providentially that comes our way.

In life's journey.

We would have never known this as a youngster, what God has for us in the future, would we? And by the way, think of it. Even as a child, and if God were to come up to you as a child and tell you all that was to come your way, it would overwhelm us.

We could not handle it. But God lovingly guides us and leads us and cares for us one step at a time. Because He's gracious, and He knows, and He can handle it. We can't do it alone, can we? But notice what He says.

Whatever comes our way, all things, all things work together. They work together for what? For good. No matter what kind of suffering, what kind of heartache, what kind of pain, what kind of hardship comes our way.

As a child of God, it is always for the good.

Always.

Because God is good.

What has marred us is sin. What has marred us is sin. And that's what's blinded people's eyes. The goodness of God is what really leads us to repentance.

Isn't that wonderful?

David said it. I love this.

Me and Brother Keith talk about this quite often, but surely goodness and mercy, two hounds of heaven. Goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

And that's talking about God's eternal home. Goodness and mercy follows you. David knew, didn't he? He knew that God was good, and he knew God was merciful. He knew that everything God did was always good, and he knew everything God did out of His heart, out of His deep heart of love, was always tender, compassionate.

Always toward Him. For the good, to those who love God. See, this promise is not for everybody. It's to the elect. It's to those who love God.

Isn't that wonderful?

And I don't know about you, when I was singing, My Jesus, I love Thee, I think to myself, Oh, I've come so short of loving God as I should. But God can help us make up the difference by the Holy Spirit.

And this is a promise from God to His people. And notice this, it's to those who are the called, according to His purpose. Now we're getting a little bit closer to verse 29. The called, according to His purpose.

This calling is the effectual calling. You know, in John 3, 16, it speaks about the general call. That the gospel is for all peoples. God does not exclude no one from His common grace. But here, the effectual calling is talking about this love that God has for His own.

There's a special love. A good way to illustrate this is, you and I have a special intimacy within our own family. That we don't have of those that are outside of our family. And it's the same with God.

God has a special love to those that are His children, His beloved, than He does those that are outside. Even though God is love, and He loves all, and He does not desire anyone to perish, but He does have a special love for His own.

And that's what He's talking about here. Those that are effectually called, those are God's hand-picked children, I like to put it, those that God has marked out to be His own. His elect that He brings to salvation.

Isn't that wonderful? Think about that.

You're hand-picked.

You're marked out. If you're in God, in Christ Jesus. If you're God's child today. Now notice with me, Paul ends in verse 28, and then in verse 29, he talks about predestination. Predestination. Look at verse 29, and this is a starting point in which we are looking at.

For whom He foreknew, that's God's people, He also predestined. What did He predestine them to be? Listen, to be conformed to the image of His Son. That He might be the firstborn among the brethren.

He foreknew.

God is, that is a very controversial word, but it's a very important word. And the reason why I say it's controversial, there's a lot of different views among theologians today of this word. A lot of theologians believe that this refers simply to God's omniscience, that in eternity past, He knew who would come to Christ.

Now He does. But rather, in the context here, Paul is basically saying it speaks of a predetermined choice that God has made in the past, eternal past. It's not that God is just looking in the future who's going to be saved.

God has already, in the past, the eternal past, has handpicked His people. And a lot of people within the church has a hard time grasping this, because they feel, how can God show more love to a group of people than to this people?

How can He show more compassion to a group here than He does over here? And the way people are thinking is, God somewhat owes them that God has no, in a sense, has no right to do that.

But He does.

Isn't it amazing? And that's why in Romans 9, that God says, and Paul speaks of Moses, and quoting Moses, that God will have compassion on whom He desires to have compassion. He will have mercy on whom He wants to have mercy on.

And He talks about Esau, and Jacob. Esau, I hated.

Jacob, I loved.

And a lot of people said, they think, I have a hard time getting my mind around, why does God hate Esau?

But the question really is,.

Why did God love Jacob?

That's the question.

Why does God love any of us? Why does God have compassion on any of us? And when you really look at it, from a biblical viewpoint, when you and I see our sin, that we are deserving of hell, God owes us nothing but death and hell in the grave, folks.

He owes us justice.

Amen.

Now, this is where actually He goes to, and then eventually, there's like a trail, that there's an order, and the next verse is the golden chain of redemption. I don't want to get into this, but He talks about more of whom He predestined, these He also called, whom He called, these He also justified, and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

The golden chain of salvation, of redemption.

Isn't that beautiful?

You cannot disconnect that. It's linked. There is the predestined, marked out, the called, the justified, and whom He justifies, He will glorify. It will eventually lead to heaven, because when one is truly a child of God, born of the Spirit of God, He will be justified, He will be glorified.

Eventually. That's the perseverance of the saints.

Now,.

We're talking about some really deep, deep waters here, and I don't have time to go into that, that's for another time. But, to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ is the goal that God has predestined, in His purpose, for His own people, and that is, summed up in one sentence, and I'm going to say it, to be like Jesus Christ.

Folks, that's God's goal for each and every one of us. Now, as I was studying this, I was thinking, I need this so much, this is such an important message, not because I'm preaching it, folks, it's because of what God has to say, because our sanctification should be a primary goal in our life as a Christian.

I like the way Pastor John MacArthur put it, there's a wonderful message he's preaching, I would encourage you to listen to it. He calls it the honorable obsession, sanctification. Isn't that beautiful?

The honorable obsession. It is an honorable obsession. We should be obsessed with sanctification. Sanctification means our cleansing, but it also means to be set apart from the world unto God. And, the more you grow as a Christian, you know this, and the more passionate you become in love with Jesus, and the more God just lavishes you with His love, the less you want to be part of this world.

Now, you want to share it with the world and tell the world about it, but this passion that God shares with you burns away all the desires of the flesh. This is what Paul called the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Now, we're going to see how this looks like. Ephesians chapter 1. Turn with me very quickly to Ephesians 1 and look at verse 3 and 4. I'm going to connect this with Romans 8 .29. Ephesians chapter 1. Look at verse 3 and 4.

Paul begins a wonderful, almost like a long, beautiful praise to God. And he begins by saying, Blessed be the God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy.

There it is.

He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy. This is God's purpose. And without blame, before Him in love. So God not only predestines our salvation, He also predestines your sanctification.

It says it. And this again is the upward call of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. To be conformed into the image of His dear Son. Now, if we are to seek God and pursue God, it is God that has first pursued us.

I love what Jesus said in Matthew 6 .33, Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these other things will be added unto you. But did you know, before we seek God, before we seek His righteousness, He's already sought us.

He was there.

I like what A .W. Pink says, and he put it this way, It was not Adam who sought God, but God sought Adam. And this has been the order ever since.

Amen?

That's been the order. Man does not seek God. How many times in Scripture Paul says, No one seeks God. No one. No one. No one. Then why does God tell us to seek Him? Well, because He desires us to come to know Him.

And I like Spurgeon kind of put this together. He said the only reason we seek God is because He's first sought us. And if we are seeking Him, and as we look back when we sought Him, we think at first it was us seeking God, but God has already been there and He sought us.

Now that's deep waters because.

God is there first. He's always first.

That's why the writer to the Hebrews said in Hebrews 12 .1, Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith. He's the beginner.

He's the perfecter.

Basically, as Romans 8 .28 has said, as a result of God's choosing those who will be saved, John MacArthur says in his commentary concerning the statement of Romans 8 .29, unrighteous persons are declared righteous, unworthy sinners are declared worthy of salvation, and all because they were chosen in Him and in Christ.

This refers to Christ's imputed righteousness granted to us a perfect righteousness which places the believers in a holy and a blameless position before God through daily living. Inevitably, fall short of His holy standard.

Now, end quote. We do fall short of His holy standard, don't we? But in Jesus, in Jesus, when God looks at us in Jesus,.

It's perfection.

That just absolutely boggles my mind that if you're covered in the righteousness of Christ, His righteousness is imputed to you. When God looks at you, He does not see you.

He sees Christ.

And by the way, that's the only way you and I can get into heaven.

No other way,.

Because our righteousness is filthy rags. They're dirt. Dirty. Before a holy God. And to enter into heaven, one must be perfect.

Perfect.

And how can people go around and say, I'm such a good person. I've gone to church all my life. I have prayed prayers all my life. I've done this. And the Bible says in one statement, by grace are you saved.

Through faith.

That not of yourselves,.

It is the gift of God.

Not of works, lest anyone should boast. No one will boast on that day.

When we enter into heaven.

Listen to this.

Philippians chapter 2, verse 12 and 13. Talking about sanctification. Therefore my beloved, Paul again. My beloved. He's talking to God's people. As you have always obeyed. He's talking about those who have obeyed God.

Not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence. Work out your own salvation.

With fear and trembling.

Now what he's talking about there is not working for your salvation. He says work it out. It's first in you through regeneration. Now he's talking about sanctification. He says you work it out.

Work it out.

Now folks, this is the hard part. This is the hard part about Christian life. Let's just be honest. The Christian life is hard in sanctifying us. I found it very difficult. But I like what Thomas A. Kempis said this.

I never would have forgotten this. I read this years ago. He says carry the cross patiently and in the end, the cross will carry you. Hallelujah. In other words, you yoke up to Jesus Christ and he said that come unto me all you labor and heavy laden and I'll give you rest.

If we're yoked with Christ and not with the law, we're not condemned but we're yoked with God's gracious son. Jesus has taken all of it. And no matter how hard life hits me and what I go through in this life, I know I can lean on him and he can carry me through.

Isn't that wonderful? Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. And then he says this. For it is God who works in you both to will and to do his good pleasure. It's all about God's good pleasure.

God's working in you but you work out your salvation and we do it with an attitude of what? Fear and trembling. Well, we need to see that, don't we? I need to see it in my own life. Sanctification, folks, is never passive.

It's always active.

In other words, when you and I receive the grace of God, we don't sit back and say, okay, God, you've done it all. Yes, he has done it all and I do nothing. No, no, no. Again, like I mentioned this last week, you have the sovereignty of God and you have man's responsibility.

They are parallel but they never intersect.

Never.

Now, with saying all that, there's much more to be said about our sanctification because sanctification is God's working in us but it is also us working. It's our cooperation in this sense, not in salvation now.

Salvation is not cooperation with God. God has done it all through Jesus Christ. But sanctification is a cooperation with God. It's synergistic.

Amen.

Salvation is monergistic. Basically, that means that God has done it all. Synergistic means I have a responsibility in this. That's why the Bible says cleanse yourselves in the fear of God, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

Sanctify yourselves. It speaks to us as commands to do something. And as you grow as a Christian, you're more and more concerned or I should say obsessed as Pastor MacArthur says with your sanctification.

Listen to this.

1 Corinthians 6, 18 -20 says this. Here's a command. It's strong now.

Buckle your seatbelts.

Flee sexual immorality. Does that not hit people today?

He's speaking to a church.

Flee sexual immorality. In other words, what he's saying, run from it. Why is he saying that? Because he knows the desires of the flesh. The pleasure of sin is attractive. The Bible doesn't hold back from that.

Scripture says there's pleasure in sin but for a season. And eventually, it would be a ruin toward you. Just all you got to do is look at the life of Samson. Look at the life of Solomon. Look at what happened to those men.

They were the richest man, the most wisest man. The most wisest man, Solomon,.

Fell.

Fell into idolatry. He knew better. He had the fear of the Lord. Samson, he had a knowledge of God but yet, a Delilah came along and took him away from his God. And you know the story. Flee sexual immorality.

Every sin, Paul says, does is outside of the body but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body, the body matters, is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God and you are not your own?

In other words, if you're a child of God, that body does not belong to you. What he's saying is, the eyes, the ears, every member, every part belongs to God. Be careful what you hear. I like the children song.

How's it go? Be careful. Little ears, what I hear. Be careful eyes, what you see. And even as a child of God growing up in the Lord and maturing in the Lord by God's grace, I still have to remember that because so much is thrown out in front of us.

Is it not? Just cut the TV on. Cut the phone on.

Put it on Facebook.

Next thing you know, you got all kinds of lewd and flaunting and fleshly desires and sensuality. It's everywhere. It's in the books, in the stores, on the billboards. It's thrown out constantly and folks, you got to flee it.

You see this, look. For you were bought with a price.

What's the price?

It cost the blood of God's Son to purchase you and me.

Jesus paid a heavy,.

God paid a heavy price for our salvation. But also, you must see this. Not only your spirit belongs to God, but your body belongs to God.

And he says this,.

Therefore glorify God in your body and your spirit, which are whose?

God's.

Now, sanctification. I got to move on because we got a lot to cover here. We got to see how this looks like. Go with me to the book of Colossians now. Colossians chapter 3. How does sanctification look like?

How does being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ look like? These verses tell us. Now, I'm going to break it down as I go. And this is powerful, folks. This is so powerful because, look where he begins.

The starting point. The starting point is in verse 1. If you then have been raised with Christ, seek those things which are above. Where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. This is the basics.

This is the foundation. Paul calls for a different ethical standard for the living for the Christian. He says seek those things which are where?

Above.

We talked about that. If you're born from above, you're born of God, you're going to seek those things which are from above, right? Why? Because you have a new heart. God has written his laws in your heart.

Now, that means you have new desires. You have new affections. You have new everything. All things, old things have become, has been passed. All things have become new. Seek those things which are from above.

Jesus said it. Seek first the kingdom of God. Then he says, not only seek in verse 2,.

He says set,.

Seek and set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.

Seek, set.

Above, above.

In other words, we should be eternally minded. We must be heavenly minded. This will take the church a long way if we do this and obey it, folks. If we have been born from above, again, we seek and we set our things, our mind on things above, where Christ is.

Sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind. This could be translated, think, think. The illustration here comes to mind,.

It's like a compass.

MacArthur brings this out. It's like a compass that points north. The believer's entire disposition, he says, should point itself toward the things of God and heaven. Amen? It's like the compass pointing north.

Pointing north. Heavenly thoughts comes by what? Saturating ourselves in the word of God. And, now we must remember this. We must beware of having a form of godliness. Because the Pharisees and the scribes had a form of godliness.

They searched the scriptures,.

But Jesus says,.

You searched the scriptures.

And you have not seen that they testify of me. That's what Jesus is saying to them. In other words, they were looking at all these great things in the scriptures by the prophets, but they missed who God really was in flesh, Jesus.

And they ended up crucifying him, right?

Well, there's a communion with God that we are to have. Notice what in verse 3. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. In other words, you have already died in Jesus Christ and buried with him and risen again.

Isn't that what the Christian life is about? Galatians 2 .20, Paul says, I've been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I that live, but Christ that lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.

Hallelujah.

What a statement.

I've mentioned this before and this is nothing to me, folks. But when I was first converted to Jesus Christ, I was quoting this out loud all the time. And I didn't realize that it was a girl in church that was committing fornication.

And I'm telling you, she didn't tell me that, but we pretty much had a feeling because she was constantly, and her boyfriend was constantly going to her house when the parents would leave. And she told me this later on.

She said, David, you had no idea. Every time you quoted that verse, it hit my heart. She said, it convicted me so much, and I was going to church, going to church, play acting. And I was committing fornication.

Sexual immorality. And she said, every time you mentioned that I had been crucified with Christ, I was pricked to the heart. She said, that was a verse that as you were constantly speaking it out loud, not knowing that I was lost, the power of the Word of God.

Took a hold of her heart,.

And she was later on born again.

Because of that seed.

We don't realize the watching world. We don't realize what they're seeing and they're looking at you. You're the only open Bible. Even people that go to church pretending to be Christians that are not Christians.

And this was one.

She eventually was converted. Glory be to God. Amen? But see, we speak God's Word. You speak God's Word. It has life-giving power. Well, Jesus Christ is the power. He's the one. My question is, have you died?

Have you died with Christ?

The verb's intent indicates that a death has occurred in the past. Have you died with Jesus Christ? Are you buried with Him? Have you arose with Him? Are you risen with Him? Is your life hidden with Christ in God?

And then He says, when Christ who is our life, is Christ your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

You know what that talks about?

That's what we've been talking about in 2 Peter.

The second coming of Jesus.

When He comes back. Does not this tie in with Titus 2, verse 11 -14? Listen to the Word of God. For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. God's grace teaches us something. Teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live soberly and righteously and holy and godly in this present age.