Preach-A-Thon 2017 - Ferdi Steinmann

Pastor John MacArthur said this about this, excuse me, this word.

He would be preaching for three months straight on this one verse, and he would not have scratched the surface of the richness of what it gives us.

You have heard Pastor Mike last week preach on the sovereignty of God, about that passage.

Thank you, by the way, Pastor Mike, for preaching on it, because we do need to hear it. Even though you are here to hear brothers, fallible men preach

God's word, we can take a stab at it. And for those who have been to the

Steinman Home Group, it took us a year to go through 26 verses in Philemon.

And when somebody like Pastor MacArthur says he can preach for three months on one verse.

So, with that said, let's strap up. Open up your

Bible to Romans 8, verses 28 to 30.

Romans 8, verses 28 to 30. And we know that for those who love

God, all things work together for good. For those who are called according to His purpose.

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 the 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. What a passage.

A famous theologian once said that if you come to the book of Romans, with its highs and lows, peaks and valleys, it's like coming to a seven course meal.

You know that I would talk about food. And he said when you get to that, when you get to the eighth chapter, that that would be the main course.

Well, I want to think that the eighth chapter is not just the main course, but that verses 28 to verse 30 is the hors d 'oeuvres.

It is the main course. It's the dessert. It's everything. But I would be remiss if I just jump right with both my feet in here, and we start talking about it because we need to think about Romans 8.

How does Romans 8 start? It says, There is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

You are standing as a person with no condemnation.

But God also knew that even though He's justified you in chapter 5,

He's declared you righteous, that you would need help. And also

Romans 8 is seen as the chapter around the Holy Spirit being in fellowship and how the

Holy Spirit helps you and encourages and takes you through this. And I'm going to go through this a bit fast because, as I said, it took

Pastor Mike a whole Sunday to preach on that and then also John MacArthur.

So before we go into that, let me just take a step back and say that there are four elements to this promise that we just heard, talking about assurance.

When you think about it, it says, And we know that for those who love

God, all things work together for good. For those who are called according to His purpose.

God gives us the assurance. He gives you the assurance. So what we are going to do today is we're going to look at the four elements of this promise of security that we have in our salvation.

First, we're going to look at the extent to what God is making this promise. Who's the recipients of this promise of salvation?

The purpose of God's promise. Why is He doing it? And then the certainty of God's promise in salvation.

Because what's sad is that we as Christians have been struggling for years and years, wondering, am

I secured? Am I really safe? Can I lose my salvation?

Well, today, we are going to put that to bed because we have security and we have the

Holy Spirit. But let's look at chapter 8, and let's look at how God provides the helper, the

Holy Spirit. He says here, the Holy Spirit, who secures us. When you look at verses 2 to 3, it says it frees us from sin and death.

Verses 4, grants us the fulfillment of the law by giving us the righteousness of Christ.

Verses 5 to 11, changes our nature. The Holy Spirit empowers us to victory over sin, in verses 12 to 13.

In verses 14 to 16, it confirms our adoption as sons and daughters, as we heard already this morning.

But then, verses 17 to 27, the Holy Spirit guarantees our eternal glory, and in particular, verse 27, where the

Holy Spirit intercedes for us with groanings, with words too heavy to utter.

And then, we get to verse 28. So let's look at this extent of God's promise.

What is the extent of His promise? Well, it says here, and we know, for those who love

God, all things work together for good. All things.

It's not a qualifier, it's an all -inclusive word that has been used here. It means everything.

Now, you might say, hmm, everything? Well, what about if I'm suffering?

Is that really working for my good? Yes, you will suffer.

Christ suffered, and it says, we will be suffering to be conformed to the image of Christ. So yes, you are going to suffer, and you're also going to think about suffering as what's done to your outer body.

But when you think about that, we also struggle. We struggle in our mind because of temptations.

And we know James says, count it all joy when you go through trials and tribulations. So that is one component.

But I have another point for you to consider today. Sin. Sin itself works for your good, for your eternal salvation.

How is that possible? How is it possible that God can use sin and use that for your good?

Well, let's look at 1 Peter 5, verse 10. It says, after you've suffered for a little while, the

God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.

Let's look at Job. Sometimes we think about Job as somebody that has been gone through the ringer, and yet we think about that's a man that has been faithful.

It's not about a man being faithful. It's about God showing that nothing can take you out of his hands.

It's about God and his sovereignty. So let's look at it a little bit closer to what sin teaches us.

It teaches us to hate sin. When you look at Lazarus' death in Luke 16, verse 31, when

Jesus comes and he cries, he's not crying because he's lost Lazarus. He created him. He's crying because he's looking at the depravity, the decay of what sin has brought, and he hates that.

It also helps us to see our own brokenness, our corrupted hearts. When you sin for so many a time against your wife, your kids, it brings you and it also humbles you, and it drives you to God.

And ultimately, it brings joy in Job 5, verse 17, and it conforms us to the suffering of Christ, Philippians 3.

So, struggling is focusing on our moral, spiritual battles, and suffering is also helping us to look to Christ.

But let's take a step back. If we think it's about what we get from this, we are mistaken, because it's

God's grace, God's infinite wisdom, to be able to bestow the grace that you need, to give you the mercy, so that when you sin and you come to him, that he freely forgives you.

It's not about you. It's about the fact that Christ has done a perfect work that you could not do, but that God is able to forgive you in that showing us his love and his mercy.

So, with everything that happens to us, bad things, they are bad in themselves, but God turns to them for his purpose.

So, I'm going to give you a quote here about how John MacArthur talks about sin. He says, you say, and I start the quote,

How in the world could sin work together for good? How can God cause sinful things to come out of good?

It's not by the nature of sin, but it is by the nature of God's grace and mercy, because it is

God who brings light out of darkness and sweet out of bitter.

This is no way less than the vile, filthy nature of sin, but it shows that sin, listen carefully, cannot ultimately triumph in the believer, because God overrules it with his grace, and it turns out good.

How can it be good? Because it gives an opportunity for God to demonstrate grace, and that's good, because it's covered by the righteousness of Christ, and that is good.

So, we saw that the extent that God provides covers all things.

It covers sin, it covers our suffering, it covers our challenges, our battles.

So, who did God then provide this promise of security in our salvation?

You might say, well, that's actually where I'm really struggling, because how do

I know? Well, let's look back at verse 28. It says,

And we know that for those who love God, all things work for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

There's two statements here that I want you to pay close attention. Did you see it? For those who love

God, and those who he called. Well, now you can say to me, well, hold a second,

Brother Freddie. I cannot love God always perfectly, so that means

I can lose my security. Hmm, that's a dilemma, isn't it?

No, it's not, because God knew that you could not love him perfectly, and that's why he sent you the helper.

He called you, because knowing that you and your sinful nature would not seek and look after God.

I'll give you an example. Ivan, my son, goes to school, sits at lunch table, and there's another kid there, and he's using the

Lord's name in vain. And so he says to him, Would you please stop, because that offends me, and it's my

God that you're talking about. And this little boy turns around, and he uses cuss swear words, talking about God.

And think about it. Even in that, God uses it for good.

So, would you do it out of your own? Because we know that we cannot, out of our own, see God. We could see it with this boy, saying that, and knowing that,

Ivan, even though he's young, he might not be saved. He sits in a home. How many of you sit here, grew up in a

Christian home, heard the word, and think, I'm good, I check the boxes. Unless God calls you, you are death and your trespasses and your transgressions.

You need God to intervene. And then, he gives you faith.

Faith that enables you to love him, and to love him back.

And he gives you the Holy Spirit in order to support you to do that. So when people say,

Yeah, but I chose God. Well, that's another three months of preaching right there.

But you know what, actually it's not. Because the word is crystal clear on this.

He even gives here the whole plan, the purpose. He says, in verse 29,

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 called.

And those whom he called, he justified. And those whom he justified, he glorified.

Think about it, when God declared you as just, he didn't procure your standing now.

He procured your glory. Think about it.

And he would not spare his own Son for you, that he would go willingly and die.

And when Christ did that, and he was sitting on the right -hand side of God, sitting as the priest, which means his work was done, he didn't sit, he's interceding.

The Holy Spirit is interceding. God is willing this. It takes the

Trinity to make this work. So who are you to think that you can lose your salvation?

It's clear. God awakens you. He gives you a new life.

And then he gives you the faith, so that you can walk by faith. He uses bad things.

He uses good things. And then he brings you to glory. So why is he bringing you to glory?

He's bringing you to glory because he has a purpose. What is that purpose? Let's look at it.

It says, Whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his

Son. While you are here on earth, you are in the process of being conformed to the image of his

Son. Why? Because at the end times, so that Christ might be the first among the brothers.

So that we can give glory to his Son. So if he's giving you the greater thing, by declaring you as just, why would he then say,

Lenten, you're too much of a hassle man. I don't know. Might have made a mistake there. Why would I do that?

He's not doing that. Because if he called you, he called you before the foundation of this earth was created.

Before the heavens. And because of that, think about it. He's called you, and he's going to see it through.

Now, how can I really know? Because I know there's sometimes people saying,

Yeah, it's all good and well, but I don't know. Am I the person that God has called?

Interestingly enough, let's go back to scripture. It says, For those who are called according to his purpose, for those whom he foreknew, and also predestined to the image of his

Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many. And let me take a step back here.

It says, That all things work for good, for those who are called according to his purpose, for those whom he foreknew, and those who love.

Okay? So think about it from that perspective. How can you know? Well, I'm going to propose three things for you to consider.

It starts with, You are no longer condemned. You have the Holy Spirit that intercedes for you.

So, how do you know? The Holy Spirit. How do you know?

You have faith. Faith that does not come from yourself. And yes, thankfully,

God is not looking at us and say that you have to be faithful, because if it depended on our faithfulness, and being faithful, we would lose it, faster than we could imagine.

But it's the faith in the perfect work, in Him who was faithful, in every single possible way.

And yes, sometimes, I don't read the Bible like I ought to. Maybe you feel like that's not necessary, you're not in a good place mentally, and you're not necessarily doing devotional the way you should.

Luckily, it doesn't depend on you, because if it did, we would lose it. Okay? So, we know that He uses everything, all for the good of those who believe, and also those who love

Him, and who He has called. We also now know the purpose, so that He can bring us to glory, and that we can be conformed to His Son.

But how do we know? And you might say, well, Ferdy, when you started reading, you kind of skipped a few words up there in the front.

It was for a reason. It says, and we know.

There we have it. We know. You can look at me and say, well, hold a second.

How do we know? What do you think we hold here? This is the infallible

Word of God. Okay? He's given it to us.

And because we have this Word, we have the security.

We have the certainty. And He's given us the Holy Spirit, that is interceding.

So today, if you were encouraged to know that God uses all these things, He's giving you the salvation.

My words of encouragement to you is to continue to live as people who have been saved.

That is thankful. And if you are here sitting and saying, hmm, maybe

I never had this faith. Maybe I didn't. I'm into the emotions.

Well, it's great news. Paul was so excited when he was writing this that he goes straight to verse 34.

And he says in verse 34 that He gave His Son, His death,

His burial, His resurrection, and He's interceding for us. You have the champion who was faithful, who lived a perfect life.

Put your faith and trust in Him. And knowing that you cannot do it yourself, knowing that God can call you and He will call you and He will bring you to Him.

You now have that. And you have God's words. But don't take time.

Don't delay. Don't think, well, yeah, I'm still young. Let me first get through college. Or, yeah, let the kids get out.

I'll get there. I'll get around. No. Don't delay. Because you have the security in Christ.

And we have the Holy Spirit. And we've got God's words. May He be praised and magnified in our word as we're getting conformed to His image so we can give glory at the end time when

God calls us. Let's pray. Father, we sometimes are looking very seriously at these things.

But in fact, we should be leaping for joy knowing that You would send

Your Son, that You would humiliate Him to be incarnate as man and then be tempted and suffer and deal with Satan and live a perfect life that we could never ever do.

And as that, we go to the cross willingly to pay the price for those whom

You've given Him that no one may be lost. And as He did it, and He raised

Himself from the dead, Father, that He conquered death, that He conquered Satan and sin, that He would ascend into heaven with the work finished but not stopping so that we may come to glory.

And He's interceding with the Holy Spirit, with You working for our ultimate glorification.

Father, thank You for that knowledge. May we please live a life that is thankful for what

You've given us. And thank You for giving us this faith that we can walk by faith even if we are going through trials, sickness, health, persecution, uncertainty, knowing that we have the assurance of Your Son, Jesus Christ, paying the price.