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That was the Beatitudes put to music. Those eight Beatitudes describe the desires in the soul of the true
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Christian. We trust that characterizes each of us. We know the Lord. Let's turn to John 3, please.
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Sometimes I diverge from our notes rather significantly, but I think today, because of the amount of material and the content of it,
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I'm going to try and stick pretty close to it, to these notes. Now, we're, of course, in John chapter 3 in our study of John's Gospel, and we're addressing the larger context of John 3, 1 through 17.
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And more particularly, we're addressing Jesus, the brazen serpent, and saving faith.
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And even more specifically than that, last week we began to consider John 3 .16. And so for the immediate context, let's read verses 14 through 17.
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And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.
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For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
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For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
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Last week we began to address this most well -known and most commonly quoted verse in the
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Bible, John 3 .16. However, because of its common misuse and misunderstanding of what it actually declares and what it does not declare, we addressed last week three commonly held errors based on this verse.
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And so the first of these is there's a common but errant belief based on John 3 .16 that God loves all people everywhere in the same way and to the same degree.
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And the Bible simply does not teach that. God loves His people uniquely and specially, not those who are outside of Christ.
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There is a love of God in Christ that only His people know. And we'll address this more fully today.
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A second false doctrine that's often argued from this verse is that people have a free will and they have the ability to choose salvation for themselves.
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The whole world has that ability. They assume that because all people everywhere are offered salvation if they believe on Christ, that all people everywhere therefore have the capability to respond to that invitation.
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No, because the Bible teaches that due to sin, nobody would believe the gospel of salvation if just offered salvation.
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Because an invitation is given whoever will does not mean that anybody can. The Bible says nobody will because of sin.
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Sin has rendered people not only incapable but unwilling to embrace the gospel.
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And yet it's falsely concluded based on John 3, 16 that anybody and everybody has the capability.
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Just give them the gospel and they have the ability to respond. Now not apart from God's grace.
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It's only by God's grace that He makes us willing in the day of His power. A third false doctrine based on John 3, 16 is that God bestows salvation on a one -time decision to believe in Christ.
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And this era of decisionism has been around since the days of Charles Finney and others in the early 19th, about the middle of the 19th century.
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Decisionism where often times in evangelistic meetings, crusade meetings, people are led in a sinner's prayer so called and they are assured that on the basis of that one -time prayer asking
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Jesus into your heart to save you. Based on John 3, 16 you have salvation.
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But again we showed last week that this verse does not support that. John 3, 16 describes those who continually believe on Christ not who one -time believed on Jesus.
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It's a present tense verb. Those who believe on the Lord Jesus. Those who continue to believe on the
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Lord Jesus Christ. They have eternal life. There's no promise of salvation for a one -time decision to believe on Jesus.
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And yet the 98 % of the gospel tracts that you read and you find will have that kind of one -time decision invitation presented at the end of a tract.
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And as a result I fear that there are literally across America and the world millions of people who have expressed that sinner's prayer and they've been told by churches that they have salvation.
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And yet if they would examine their lives it's clear that they are strangers to the saving grace that is in Jesus Christ.
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Now regarding the teaching of God's word on God's love for sinners we emphasized last week that John 3, 16 does not describe
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God's affections for the world but rather it describes his loving action for God so loved the world.
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It's a verb. I didn't have time to express it today.
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I may in the future. But often times when it's expressed as a noun it's talking about affections.
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Not always. But when it's expressed in a verb it's talking about actions. For example the
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Bible does not command you to have love for the fallen world. The Bible commands you to be loving for the fallen world.
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The Bible does command you to have love for your brothers and sisters in Christ. It's an entirely different you're to have affection for your brothers and sisters in Christ.
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But we are to be loving to anybody and everybody no matter who they are throughout the world.
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John 3, 16 describes God's loving action toward everyone in the world. Even his enemies.
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Because the fallen world is at enmity with God. The world is an enemy of God.
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And this means that the fallen world hates God and it means that God hates the fallen world as well.
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And it's under his judgment. Yes God is loving in all of his actions even unto his enemies.
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In fact God is so loving toward the fallen world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes on him would not perish but have everlasting life.
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But this loving action of God in giving his son originates because God's nature is love.
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Not because he has love for all humanity. It's not because humanity is lovely in his sight but because God in his very nature is love and therefore he is loving even to his enemies.
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Even those who are in rebellion to him. Even to those who hate him. He is loving toward them.
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But there is a love that God has for his people that he does not have for all others in the world.
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The special love for his people is because of their union with Jesus Christ from eternity.
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Whom God the Father loves. That is Jesus Christ. God the Father loves his son with an infinite love.
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And before the foundation of the world he chose a certain people that he would save in history.
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And he saw them as in union with his son Jesus Christ whom he loves supremely.
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And therefore he loves them supremely. Not because they're more lovely than anybody else.
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But because he sees them in his son whom he loves with an infinite love. And so before the foundation of the world when
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God first elected his people from fallen humanity and purposed to save them unto himself from that time onward
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God regarded them in Christ. And so whereas he's merciful and compassionate to all the human race he had his own.
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He had his elect upon his heart. He desired and purposed to deliver them from sin and condemnation because he loved them with an everlasting love that's in Jesus Christ.
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Ephesians 1 speaks of this. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who's blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ just as he chose us in him, that's in Christ before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.
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Having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will to the praise of the glory of his grace by which he has made us accepted in the beloved.
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We're accepted in the beloved not because you're lovely not because I'm lovely but because Jesus Christ is lovely and because God regarded us as in him when he chose us even before creation.
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Now we addressed last week what the Holy Scriptures teach regarding God's loving action toward the entire human race.
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And again it's important to distinguish between the general love that God shows to all people and the special love that God has only for his people.
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God's general love for sinners is manifest in that he is gracious and he is merciful to sinners.
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He's slow to anger toward them and he's abundant in loving kindness to all.
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God's general love for sinners is evident in that he relents from doing them harm. But again the epitome of God's general love toward sinners is that he gave his son to die so that sinners might be saved.
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Any sinner anywhere if they come to Christ believing can be forgiven of their sins and have everlasting life.
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But again the nature of sin shows us that nobody would come apart from an inward work of grace that God himself in his sovereignty initiates and carries through.
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What do we conclude from these considerations? First the nature of God's general love gives hope to poor needy and repentant sinners.
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There's hope everywhere that God will forgive people if they come in repentance of sin and belief in Jesus Christ.
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And yet secondly the nature of God's loving action aggravates the condemnation of unbelievers.
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Every time God forestalls his judgment shows mercy waits the wrath of God builds up upon that soul and it will be unleashed on the day of judgment.
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Paul talked about that in Romans 1. It's like water building up behind a dam. Every act of God's kindness toward an unrepentant sinner brings greater guilt and responsibility to that sinner.
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Just think of the weight of guilt that people have in this nation who hear the gospel. You know they're able to hear it every day on the radio or read it in books.
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Just about every home has a Bible in it. There are other people in the world that have never had a
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Bible. They've never heard the gospel. Consider the great weight of responsibility and guilt upon those that have heard over and over and over and yet refuse to believe on Jesus and that's all going to come down upon their head on the day of judgment when they stand before Jesus Christ the
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Lord. So recognize thirdly the nature of the general love of God for sinners is insufficient to save sinners.
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There's something more needs to be done than just offer them the gospel. To tell them that God has been loving to them and that Jesus died on the cross to save sinners.
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And so all that we've said all that we've set forward about the general love of God and his dealings toward people are external to them.
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It's what God has done on behalf of them or for them or presents to them toward fallen men.
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But unless God does something in fallen men they will not have salvation. God has to do more than just offer salvation to them.
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He has to do inward work of sovereign grace in their souls or they'll never respond to the gospel because that's the nature of sin.
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Sinners flee from God as Adam and Eve did. Sinners hate God because they don't like to be judged by God.
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They want to be free to do their own will rather than do God's will. And so they will refuse because they're sinners to believe on Christ unless and until God does an inward work of grace in the soul inclining their hearts, giving them an affection, a desire for the things of Christ, a desire and love for righteousness, a love for truth, a love for his word, a love for their own soul, a love for Jesus Christ.
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And then they come and they come believing but it's because of this special love of God, this special work of grace done in their soul.
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And so only those who are the objects of special, God's special covenant love are the objects of his saving grace.
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God truly loves them with an eternal, endearing, compassionate covenant love.
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And if you're a Christian or one day if you become a Christian, God's loved you from eternity.
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Not because you're lovely but because he sees you, he chose you to be seen in his son whom he loves supremely, infinitely.
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And therefore his purpose to save your soul. Now, last
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Lord's Day we considered the grammar of John 3 .16 and then we considered the general love that God chose to all humanity.
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But today we want to give attention now to God's special covenant love for his people.
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This is a love that those who never become Christians will never know. It's a love that's in Christ Jesus.
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And those that are outside of Christ Jesus will never know or experience this love of God.
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Where do we begin? Well, we can begin in any number of places but perhaps
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I thought we would look at Romans 8. And I don't imagine, in fact, I hope that you're not going to hear anything new today.
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I hope everything I say you've heard before, maybe many times and I hope that being reinforced in these things it's something that you'll take to heart and perhaps you'll be able to teach others as well.
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Romans 8 is a wonderful and beautiful passage that sets forth the love of God that he has in Christ and for his people.
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It's an often repeated portion of scripture. I trust you're familiar with it. We're going to begin reading with Romans 8, 28.
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We know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose, for whom he foreknew, and you'll notice
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I embolden and italicize the words that we're going to be stressing here, those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
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Moreover, whom he predestined, these he also called. Whom he called, these he also justified.
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And whom he justified, these he also glorified. What then shall we say to these things?
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If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
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Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies.
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Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.
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Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword?
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As it's written, for your sake we are killed all day long, we are counted as sheep for the slaughter, yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
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For I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities or powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us and then
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I emboldened, italicized, from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus the
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Lord. Here we see there is a love of God which is in Christ Jesus our
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Lord. A love that he has toward his people. God's love for his people is an everlasting love.
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It is redemptive love. It is a love that moves God to draw effectually his chosen people unto himself in order to save them from their sin and glorify them through Jesus Christ.
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God's love for his people is of such a nature and to such a degree that he gives all for his own even giving his own son so as to secure their everlasting well -being because God loves his people with this special love.
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He saves them from sin and he glorifies them before him. The love of God for his people is seen in the working of his sovereign power to save his people as we often read in Romans 8 .28.
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It's a familiar verse. We know that all things work together for good to those who love
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God to those who are the called according to his purpose. What Paul is emphasizing in this verse is that God and his sovereignty controls all things in the lives of his people for the benefit of his people.
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Because he loved them he purposed to save them. And here in this passage of Romans 8 we read of the special covenant love that God has for his elect.
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So let's consider the various ways as we work through this passage the various ways that God manifests his love his special love for his people.
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And here we see quite clearly he does not manifest this love to those who die in their sins.
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These are for the ones he foredew the ones he predestined the ones he called the ones he justified the ones he glorified and them only.
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And these are the workings of God because he loves them with an everlasting love.
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And so first we read God's love for his people is from eternity for whom he foreknew.
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The love of God for his people is eternal outside of history as it were before history.
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We love God but it's due to the fact that he first loved us. He loved us even before the foundation of the world.
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And that pronoun us I'm talking about God's people who are elect those who are saved or those who will one day be saved.
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His love for his people was from eternity. We can say this for the scriptures tell us that we enjoy the love of God that was in his son from eternity.
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We read of this love in John 17 23 and 24 in which our Lord was speaking to his father.
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I and them and you and me. He's not talking about everybody in the world he's talking about his elect.
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I and them and you and me that they may be made perfect in one that the world may know that you sent me and have loved them as you loved me.
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I think that's the most profound statement in all of Holy Scripture. God loved if you're a
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Christian or one day you become a Christian God has loved you from eternity as he loved his son.
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Incredible. That's because he sees you in him and that's why you're lovely in his sight because he sees
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Christ in you. Father I desire that they also whom you gave me may be with me where I am that they may behold my glory which you have given me for you love me before the foundation of the world.
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He loved us before the foundation of the world. When the Bible sets forth God's love for us before time before history it often does so through the word foreknew.
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This is what we have in Romans 8 29 for whom he foreknew. He also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son that he might be the first born among many brethren.
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Before God created the heavens and the earth God foreknew every one of his people that is God foreloved them each and every one of his chosen people.
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And this is the basic idea of the foreknowledge of God. We don't interpret that as Greeks do.
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It's talking about God just knows ahead of time what people would do. It's talking about a Hebrew kind of love, a covenant love.
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He foreknew them. Adam knew his wife Eve. God knew you before the foundation of the world.
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He foreknew you. He foreloved you. That's what foreknowledge means. When you first believed on Jesus Christ you came to know him.
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But the fact is he knew you before creation. This is not simply to say that he knew all about you which is true of every member of the human race but that he foreknew you.
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You as a true Christian were one day if you become a Christian he foreknew you from eternity.
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That's an amazing statement of truth. It's hard for us to comprehend. The ones whom the father foreknew had been chosen by him.
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We read of this in a number of places but the opening verses of 1 Peter 1 speak of it.
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Peter an apostle of Jesus Christ to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, Bithynia elect according to the foreknowledge of God the father.
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Arminians say this is simply God seen ahead of time who of their own free will would believe on Jesus.
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They misunderstand the meaning of foreknowledge. It's not speaking of God's omniscience. It's speaking about God's love for his people.
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He foreknew them and therefore he chose them. He loved them and therefore he chose them.
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Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the father through sanctification of the spirit unto obedience and strengthening of the blood of Jesus Christ grace to you and peace be multiplied.
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And so here Peter describes them. They're chosen of God because they were foreknown of God. God knew them and therefore chose them to be recipients of his grace and salvation.
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God the father's choice of them was not due to any foreseen merit in them. The Bible nowhere says that God foresaw something good in you or me or us.
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Some good thing that we do and therefore God chose us. That would give his people some basis of boasting.
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Somehow we would think we would therefore think that we're better than others because God chose us and not them.
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And often times that's the accusation of the unbelieving world toward us. But that's not true.
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The choice of God is wholly due to his sovereignty. And often times it's the worst sinners that God has chosen to save to show forth the glory of God rather than he doesn't look for sinners that are less guilty than others but perhaps those who are most guilty in order to make them trophies of glory.
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To display of his sovereign grace. To display the wonder and the glory of his love and grace toward sinners.
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To argue that God foresaw ahead of time who would believe on him and therefore chose him would make
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God a respecter of persons. Some argue against election they say and that makes
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God a respecter of persons. They completely misunderstand the statement. No, God is a respecter of persons if he sees something in you that moves him to show favor to you.
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God is not a respecter of persons. He in his sovereignty makes his choice according to his own purpose and why he chose me or chose you is a wonder and we'll probably be wondering about that throughout eternity because it's a mystery as well.
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Ephesians 1 3 -4 declares this blessed be the God and Father of our
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Lord Jesus Christ who blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.
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He didn't chose us because we would be holy and without blame in love. He chose us so that we would become holy and without blame before him in love.
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The ones whom the Father foreknew and chose were given to his son. John 17 makes this very clear.
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Here we have the recorded prayer of Jesus to his heavenly Father shortly before he was crucified. Here we have insight into God's purpose for his chosen people.
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And so from this prayer, this high priestly prayer Jesus prayed to his Father, we read of this repeated idea and I've got what six of them listed here where Jesus said as many as you
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Father have given him that is the son, the men, the people whom you have given me
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Jesus said you gave them to me. Jesus is talking to his Father about giving the elect unto him.
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Those whom you have given to me, verse 9 of John 17, those whom you gave me
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I have kept, verse 12, those also whom you have given me. The elect are ones
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God the Father chose and he gave all of the elect as gifts to his son and he sent his son on a mission, you go save them.
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And he saved us because we were given to him by the Father from eternity. One does not first give himself or give his heart to the
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Lord in salvation, first in order of salvation is that certain ones who were chosen by God the
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Father were given to his son. Our relationship to the Savior is not established on the basis of anything that we do but upon what has already been done by God on our behalf.
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In all of this we are viewed as completely passive. We were chosen by the Father given to his son all because of his love that he had for us in Christ before the foundation of the world.
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Secondly, John 17 reveals that true believers were originally the Father's possession. The Savior stated to God the
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Father they were yours. Since the entire passage has a redemptive setting and believers are set apart from the world throughout, the reference is not speaking of Father's ownership of them through creation.
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This would encompass all mankind and the statement would therefore be without meaning in such a context.
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The only reasonable explanation or understanding of this statement is that God owned them, those who are elect, due to his election, his sovereign choice of them.
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This is viewed as an absolute right, so much so that they may be given as specific individuals in the form of gifts from the
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Father to the Son. Notice it's personal and it's individual rather than corporate election.
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This is indicated by the reference repetition of personal pronouns. If you're a Christian, God the
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Father chose you, not because there was anything good in you, not because there was anything foreseen in you, he foresaw you, he loved you, and therefore chose you to be saved from eternity.
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This is a special love that he has for you that he doesn't have for the unsaved world that die in their sins.
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He sees you in Jesus Christ and therefore he loves you with an everlasting love. And that ought to stir your heart, warm your heart, cause you to have a sense of wonder and amazement.
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Why me? There's no answer to that because there's nothing about you that warranted it.
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Because God in his sovereign purpose and choice determined I'm going to glorify myself in saving your soul.
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And he could have just as easily passed you by and allowed you to go to your just eternal condemnation.
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But he loved you with an everlasting love, a special love, a sovereign love. And therefore he set forth his sovereign grace to save your soul when it came time for him to do so in his purpose.
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True believers were originally the Father's possession. The believers are the objects of his mercy and ministry.
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In distinction to the world, the mass of humanity, these believers are set aside for his blessing in several respects.
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We read in John 17, 1 and 2, that God the Father gave Jesus all authority over all humanity so Jesus could give salvation to the elect.
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We read in John 17, 1 and 2, Jesus spoke these words, lifted his eyes to heaven.
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Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son also may glorify you, as you have given him authority over all flesh.
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King Jesus has sovereignty over all humanity. For what purpose? And here's the purpose clause.
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So that he should give eternal life to as many as you have given him. He's not trying to save everybody in the world.
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He's trying to save those that were given to him by the Father and he's successful in saving everyone.
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He starts out with a hundred sheep, he doesn't end up with ninety and nine. He ends up with a hundred sheep.
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He saved everyone that the Father gave to him from eternity. That's what
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Jesus Christ claims here in John 17. You can't make it read anything else. And so while our
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Lord achieves authority over all flesh, he does not grant eternal life to all. Only those previously marked out in the election gift receive salvation.
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And this is a ministry limited to the chosen ones. There is a discriminatory grace set forth here toward ones who are loved of God from eternity.
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We also read they are objects of God's intercession. In verse 9. I pray for them.
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I do not pray for the world, but for those you have given me. For they are yours.
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Again, the elect belong to God the Father. And so Jesus was praying that God the
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Father would save them. You've given me all authority, Father, and I'm going to save their souls.
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Jesus did not pray for the world, except for the ones that the Father gave him out of the world. Here is a selected group, a limited ministry.
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It goes no wider than to those who've been individually and specifically chosen by God the
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Father in election. And so we read To say that God the Father is trying to save everybody in the world and that Jesus Christ is trying to save everybody in the world, renders
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God as less than all powerful. It means that he wants to do something, but he cannot do it.
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It means he's trying to do something, but he's failing in doing it. Because it's clear the vast number of the human race is going to die and go before God in judgment for their sins.
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And that is not how God is presented in the Bible. Every time God is trying to save people, every time, every place, everyone he attempted to save or deliver, he does so.
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God cannot be frustrated or defeated in his purpose. And then they are divinely kept, verses 11 and 12.
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Jesus said, I'm no longer in the world, but these are in the world. I come to you, Holy Father, keep through your name those whom you've given me, that they may be one as we are.
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While I was with them in the world, I kept them in your name. Those whom you gave me, I've kept, and none of them have lost except the
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Son of Perdition, except for Judas Iscariot, so that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
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Worldlings and the guys of believers are not true believers, are not kept from falling. Again, Judas was one.
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Here again, we have a special but limited ministry of the Lord. It's impossible for someone who has salvation given to him by the
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Lord to lose that salvation because he's being kept by God the Father. The Lord Jesus is bringing forth his authority and power to preserve that soul unto eternal life.
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And there's no way that God fails in his efforts. And then we read in verse 24 that the elect will be with him in glory.
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Jesus prayed to his Father. Father, I desire that they also whom you gave me may be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which you have given me, for you love me before the foundation of the world.
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Those who have been given to Christ by the Father will behold his glory in heaven.
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This is guaranteed. The mere professor, however, has no such blessed hope, the one who simply claims to be a believer, but it's not really.
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This, once more, is a limited ministry of Christ, extended only to the elect. The non -elect will not see the glory of God except in his judgment.
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And so God foreknew, that as God foreloved his people to be people from eternity, and he thereafter purposed to save them in history.
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Secondly, how else is God's love for his people seen in the way he works in his people, the love he has for his people?
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And it can be seen in that God predestines them for glory. Again, Romans 8, 29 reads,
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For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son.
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And so God foreknew, God has a chosen people from fallen humanity to be the objects of his love.
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That's the nature of God's election of his people. But God chose his people for a purpose.
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Election speaks of God's choice of individuals. Predestination speaks of God's purpose for those people he chose.
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He chose his people, election, to the end that they would experience his salvation, predestination.
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Because God loved his people, he determined that they would be saved from their sinful, ruined condition.
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He saved his people by removing their guilt for having broken his laws, forgiving their sins, and also by making them holy.
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It's expressed here that God purposed that the people he foreknew would be made holy like his
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Son. God loved his Son, and God loves his people, just as he loves his
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Son. He decreed before creation that one day they would be like his Son. We can't fathom what that's like.
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This is the promise of salvation. This is the promise that they're being delivered from death due to sin to a resurrection unto everlasting life.
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God has determined that we who are Christians will be like his Son. He's predestined that this will take place.
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It's a certainty. But what does it mean to be conformed to the image of his
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Son? It means that God has determined that his people will be like Jesus Christ, and that they will share in his glory.
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God has predestined his people to be conformed to the image of his Son, I would argue, in at least four ways.
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Because of the time, we're not going to go through the details of these four things, but we'll just recite them and then move on.
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First, God has predestined that we will be like our Lord in his relationship to the Father. That is, we will be his children.
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This was predestined by God the Father. We have this in Romans 8, 29. For whom shall he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his
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Son? And here's the purpose clause. So that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
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Firstborn here is not speaking of Jesus being first created, as the heresy of Jehovah's Witnesses.
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Firstborn here carries the idea that he is the eldest son of the family. He's the head of the family.
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He sits at the head of the table. As the Father is over the family, so the elder son sits at the
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He's in his place, as it were. But God determined that his son would not be an only son in the family, that he would have many brothers and sisters within the family of God.
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And he has predestined those whom he elected that you and I will be his children in this way.
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We'll be sitting at his table, so to speak. I don't know how that's going to play out. But we're going to have a relationship with the
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God the Father as adopted sons and daughters. We're adopted now through faith in Jesus Christ.
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But there will be a day when Jesus returns, when the glory of our adoption as children will then be fully manifest.
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You and I are going to be looking at one another in amazement. Why, look at you. And you'll be looking at me. Look at you.
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You know, what's become of you? We're glorified as sons and daughters of God. And it'll be a glorification that it's just going to amaze us all.
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The fact is, you're going to be dazzling in the sight of your brothers and sisters in Christ. And we'll all be glorified in that way.
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In a measure to a degree that you and I cannot fully comprehend. We're going to be amazed at it.
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And wonder at it. Because we're going to be, of course, confirmed in our understanding it's all due to grace.
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If we got what we deserved, it would be eternal hell. Eternal damnation. Eternal lake of fire.
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But it's not just an escape from that. It's not just a cancellation of what we deserve. But it's accrediting to us what we don't deserve.
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The glorification of the children of God, we can't even fathom it. And yet, it should so be vividly in our sense and our experience, it ought to motivate us to live like children of God.
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And to attempt to conform ourselves to our eldest brother, as it were, the firstborn son of God, Jesus Christ.
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Well, God is not only the son of only intended to predestine us that we would be like our
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Lord in our relationship to the Father, but He has predestined that we'll be conformed to our
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Lord in His character, as well. We're going to become like Jesus Christ in holiness.
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He's infinite in His holiness, of course, and we can never become infinite in any way whatsoever.
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We're finite. But He's going to manifest His glory in us in ways, again, that we'll be determined to be holy, confirmed in holiness.
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Never a thought of sin. Never any temptation whatsoever again.
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Never a selfish impulse. Never a proud moment, as it were. But we will be humble, as our
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Lord Jesus is humble. And we will be wise, and as the
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Lord gives us wisdom, grants us wisdom, we will certainly be loving. We will have the kind of character of the
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Lord Jesus Christ perfected in us, in a wonderful way, glorious way.
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Yes, a finite way, but a glorious way. All of our guilt and condemnation is removed.
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We'll be holy in His sight. He treats us as righteous, and on that day, when
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He returns, we'll be made fully and wholly righteous, as well, when we're glorified.
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And then on page seven, thirdly, God has predestined that we'll be like our Lord in suffering.
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And our entire life, as Christians, is characterized by suffering. Yes, all people everywhere suffer, but the
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Lord's people suffer for good purposes. And the Lord is wise, and He knows what kind of suffering we need.
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It's never pleasant for us. It's always difficult, and sometimes it appears to be overwhelming to us.
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But God has His purposes in it. And there's the declaration all that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
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It's through much tribulation that we enter the kingdom of God. Because suffering brings spiritual benefit to God's children.
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The Lord Jesus encountered suffering throughout His entire life. Just living among sinners was a great cause of suffering of our
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Lord Jesus. The ignorance that He had to deal with, the hardness of heart that He had to deal with, the rejection of sinners, the humiliation of sinners, the humiliation that was conferred upon Him.
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And yet again, He was even glorified further because of the way He endured, responded, and reacted to those that caused
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Him suffering. And in the same way, the Lord brings spiritual benefit to us. I hope you read through those notes when you have time.
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And then lastly, of course, God is predestined that we'll be like our Lord in His resurrection glory.
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Suffering is a prelude to glory. One leads and results in the other. Suffering leads to and results in glorification.
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And Paul wrote earlier in Romans 8, I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory which shall be revealed in us.
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And notice, he emphasizes the children aspect here. For the earnest expectation of the creature waits for the manifestation of the children of God.
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There's going to be a day of manifestation again when you and you as a child of God, it's going to be shown for what you really are.
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All due to God's grace. And you'll be amazed and everybody will be amazed. And God will be glorified for it.
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Paul could write, I know Him and the powers of resurrection and the fellowship of sufferings being made conformable unto
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His death if by any means I might attain to the resurrection of the dead. Suffering leads to glorification.
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As our Lord suffered first the crown of thorns, before He was given the crown of authority in heaven, you and I suffer in this life too.
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But it's going to give way to great glory. And the greater degree that we suffer for the cause of Christ for doing right in this fallen world will be to the degree that we receive greater glory when
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Jesus returns. A third way that the special love of God is manifest to His people.
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God's love for His people is seen in His calling them to salvation. He foreknew us,
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He foretold us, He predestined us, and thirdly He called us. These He also called. Romans 8 verse 30.
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This speaks of the time and manner in history in which God brought us to experience salvation.
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He called you to salvation. Our election and predestination were from eternity before the foundation of the world.
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Our calling, however, refers to the specific occasion in history when He brings each of His beloved ones to receive
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Christ as Lord and Savior. And this is an essential aspect of the love of God that He has for His people.
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There was a time when He determined, according to His own purpose and will, when
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He saved your soul, when He brought you to understand the gospel, brought you to understand your sin, and brought you to understand the remedy that's in Jesus Christ.
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He called you by the gospel and you came to the Lord Jesus Christ in salvation.
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This is a special call of God, not to be confused with the general call. The general call of God goes out to the whole human race.
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John 3 .16 is a general call to anybody everywhere. Believe on the Son and you can have everlasting life.
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But the special call is different than the general call. The special call is not to everybody indiscriminately, but to you specifically as an individual, as an elect one from eternity.
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He called you within history in order to save your soul. This is a special This is the call that Paul wrote about in Romans 8 .29.
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For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
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Moreover, whom he predestined, these he also called. That's not speaking of the general call.
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It's talking about an individual call, a specific call, that God issues by the power of the
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Holy Spirit through the gospel to every elect person to come to Christ.
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And that's why you can have a setting of a sizable group of people, and you have one person who's bored, one person who's angry, one person who's indifferent, and you have another person that is shaken to their roots by what they hear.
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And they desire Christ. They see their sin. They're being called by God, by the
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Holy Spirit, by the gospel to forsake their sin and believe on Jesus Christ as Lord.
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And they will come to come because it's an effectual call, a special call, because it's a manifestation of the special love of God that he has for his people from eternity.
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At the bottom of page nine, we have a definition of this effectual calling. Effectual calling is the work of God's Spirit, whereby convincing us of our sin and misery, enlightening our minds to the knowledge of Christ, and renewing our wills, he does persuade and enable us to embrace
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Jesus Christ as our freely offered in the gospel. Notice Jesus Christ is freely offered in the gospel, and he's freely offered to any and all people throughout the world.
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But it's only through effectual calling does he enable us to see our misery, to enlighten our minds to the true knowledge of Christ, and to renew our wills.
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Before we were unwilling, and now we're willing. What's the cause of that change?
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Because of an effectual call of God. The call of the gospel that God, the Holy Spirit, makes effectual to the soul of the elect person.
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And then on page 10, God's love for his people is seen in justifying them. This is, of course, the result of God calling people to salvation.
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They believe the gospel, they believe on Christ, and God, one time, immediately and forever, justifies them by grace, through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone.
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This, of course, deals with their guilt. Not their guilty feelings, those may continue for a time, but with their actual guilt before a holy
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God for having transgressed God's law. He pardons them of their sin. Past, present, future sin can no longer condemn the one who believes on Jesus.
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That sinner is justified. Fully pardoned. But again, it's not just a cancellation of our guilt, but it is a crediting of Christ's righteousness to us.
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And so we're not just neutral, we're not just forgiven, but now we're regarded and treated as though we were righteous as Jesus Christ himself.
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Because Jesus Christ's righteousness is credited to us when we believe the gospel.
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And this is what justification is, of course. God forgives us, and he counts us as though we were perfectly righteous.
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The act of obedience of Christ and obeying the Father, obeying God's law throughout his entire life, is credited to the one who believes on Jesus.
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And so for the child of God, if you're Christian, yes, God, of course, is mindful of your sin, but your sin cannot condemn you.
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He regards you and treats you as though you were Jesus Christ.
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As though you never broke his law. That is, with regard to your relationship with him.
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You're his child. You're as righteous as Jesus Christ. Because the gift of righteousness was given to you, credited to you, when you believe the gospel.
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And therefore no true believing sinner in Jesus Christ can ever be condemned.
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And so we're justified. It's a judicial act of God. It's not a feeling you have.
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It's what God the Father declares when you believe on Jesus. You're righteous. You're forgiven.
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And it's forever done. You can never become unjustified. You can never become more justified.
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You'll be no more justified on the day of judgment than you are today. You'll be no more justified when you come forth from the grave on the resurrection day than you are today, than you are now.
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Every true Christian is equally justified because every true Christian is justified because the gift of Christ's righteousness is credited to their account.
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We're as righteous as Jesus Christ himself. And if that doesn't give you a sense of well -being, peace, and security,
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I don't know what will. Because the blessing, the grace of justification is a glorious basis of encouragement and assurance to the people of God.
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Justification knows no degrees. It's the same for everyone. Again, it doesn't deal with your guilty feelings.
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It has to do with your actual guilt before God. It is no longer. You're pardoned of your sin.
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And then lastly, on the bottom of page 11, God for his people is seen in glorifying them before him.
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These he also glorified, Paul declared in Romans 8 .30. Now, we haven't been glorified yet.
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That will take place on the day of the resurrection. And we'll come forth from the grave glorified.
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But Paul addresses it here in the past tense. He has glorified. And the reason he does so is to stress its certainty.
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It's going to happen. Not potentially. It is going to happen. It's in the decree of God.
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And it's going to take place. It speaks about the certainty of it. And so again, in Romans 8,
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Paul asks the question, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword?
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No, nothing can and nothing will. God's power and purpose will be realized. Of Jesus, it's written, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.
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He has especially God has a special love for you if you're in Christ. Or you can be the one who's farthest from Christ right now.
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But if you one day come to salvation in Christ, it's because God loved you from eternity. And he wasn't going to allow you to continue in your unbelief and rebellion.
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He won't give you peace. He won't give you rest until you rest in Jesus Christ. And if that were not the case, what hope would we have in this lost world today?
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But we have a hope and trust in a sovereign God. We have hope and trust in King Jesus who's authority over all flesh.
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And we know he's given us this gospel that we proclaim. And even though we speak generally to all, we know that the
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Holy Spirit will apply it specifically to individuals and they will come. And he likes to do it in a way that we're amazed.
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Why? Look who's come. I would have never thought that. And he's in the business of saving people in that way.
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All to the end, of course, that God himself has given us. God will be glorified through Jesus Christ.
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There's a special love for God. And to say that God loves all the world indiscriminately does not do the
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Bible justice. He has a love for you. A love that he has for Jesus Christ that he regards as having the same love toward you because you're in Jesus Christ.
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And it's all of God's sovereign grace. He gets all the glory. You and I get none of the credit.
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We get all the benefit, but we don't get any of the credit. That all goes to our sovereign
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God. Amen? Let's pray. Thank you, Father, for your word.
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And certainly we know our God, the salvation is of grace. That you,
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Lord, would not allow us to perish in our sin, but you purposed to reveal
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Christ in us. And you moved upon us, Lord, burdening us with the guilt of our sin, made us aware of our condemnation, and yet wonderfully revealed the glory that's in Jesus Christ as the way of pardon and life for sinners.
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Thank you for calling us, our God, enabling us to come, and help us, our
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Lord, to declare this glorious gospel to the world, for we know that you have a people, and they will come in your time.
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And so help us, our Lord, to be aggressive, confident, and prayerful, that you would expand the kingdom of Jesus Christ to the glory of Jesus Christ, we pray.