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Boys and girls, I'm sorry there are no more puppets, just a dummy will be speaking to us.

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So you'll have to put up with that.

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On a more serious note, I know that a number of you are curious as to the arrangements for Karen Harrison's memorial service.

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Arrangements have not been made yet, and they expect to make those tomorrow.

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So if you will watch the paper, I think you'll see it there, or you may call the church office.

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Of course, we'll have the information there by late tomorrow afternoon, I would think.

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My guess is that the service will be on Wednesday, and the last I talked to the family, they would like to have it here at church.

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So as many of you as would be free to come for that service, probably sometime Wednesday, that would be a great thing.

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It would be an encouragement to the family, even if some of you don't know the family directly involved.

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But I know that many of you do, because Walt was one of our elders for a number of years when we first got started.

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Would you open the Word of God with me please to the book of Romans and the eighth chapter.

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Tonight we want to think about the certainty of God's purpose.

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We've been working our way through Romans chapters 6 through 8, and tonight we come in our study to verses 28 to 30,

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which we're going to actually divide into two messages.

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And we know that God causes all things to work together for good.

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To those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose,

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for whom he foreknew, he also predestined to become conformed to the image of his Son,

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that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

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And whom he predestined, these he also called, and whom he called, these he also justified, and whom he justified, these he also glorified.

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In a day and age when certainty about anything is not very fashionable,

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and in a time when if a person says, I know something to be true, which cannot be proven scientifically,

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and he's considered rather non-intellectual,

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in a day like the day in which we live, the child of God is nonetheless able to say that there are some things that he or she knows.

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Because the Christian life is not a life of guessing, it's a life of knowing.

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For example, we may know, the child of God may know, that he is saved.

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He can know that for sure.

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1 John 5, verses 12 and 13, he who has the Son has life, he who has not the Son of God has not life.

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Couldn't be more clear could it?

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Black and white, one or the other, on or off.

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Either we have the Son of God or we don't have the Son of God.

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And he goes on to say, and these things I write unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God,

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that you may know that you have eternal life.

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So we can know that we're saved.

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Secondly, the child of God may know that he is secure in his faith in Jesus Christ.

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As the Apostle says in 2 Timothy 1, 12,

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For I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him until that day.

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What day? The day of Christ's coming.

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So the Apostle says, I know whom I believed and I know that he is able to keep me and my eternal soul

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until that day that I see him face to face.

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The child of God may know that he's saved and he may know that he is kept secure in his salvation by the grace of God.

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The child of God may know, thirdly, that his service for Christ is not fruitless.

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As we read in 1 Corinthians 15, 58,

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You know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

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You and I can have absolute assurance and knowledge about that as something we can be certain of.

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That our service for Jesus Christ is not in vain, although sometimes we don't see the fruit we would like.

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Even though we get disappointed in our service at times.

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It is never in vain.

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And the child of God who serves the Savior with faithfulness, with a sincere heart,

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can know beyond any shadow of doubt that in the end his service will count for something.

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It's not in vain.

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Then again, the child of God may know that his body will be resurrected.

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In 2 Corinthians 5, 1, the Apostle says,

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We know that if our earthly house, this dwelling place, were dissolved,

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we have a house eternal in the heavens, not made with hands.

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We are talking about the new body.

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The child of God may know that one day, though he may die,

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and his body be placed into the ground in decay,

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that he will stand before his Redeemer one day, whole, body, soul, and spirit, redeemed entirely.

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He may know that.

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The body will be resurrected.

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And then, the child of God may know that he will be like Christ.

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We don't have to guess about that. We can know it.

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1 John 3, 2, we focused on this this morning as part of our worship service.

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We know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

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So not only will our bodies be resurrected, but one day we shall be entirely like our Savior in every respect.

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We have also the certainty of God's purpose.

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We have confidence that our Lord is now, right now, today,

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working in our every circumstance for our good and his glory.

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We may know that because he is sovereign, and we need not fear.

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His purposes will be realized, and we can trust him.

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The certainty of God's purpose is guaranteed by five actions in the text that we have read tonight.

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They are the verbs in verses 29 through 30 that God foreknew, he predestined, he called, he justified, he glorified.

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These five verbs form an unbroken chain.

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These verbs are links that fit together.

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This chain reaches from eternity past to eternity future.

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God sees the beginning and the decrees of all future events as fixed as history itself, because he is God.

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Here in this text he surveys salvation from his divine perspective.

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He does not introduce here, he does not attempt to reconcile, the human perspective regarding salvation.

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But here we have in this wonderful statement five actions of God declaring to us his sovereignty,

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upon which rests the assurance and the certainty of his purpose, something we can know.

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I would like for us tonight in the remaining minutes to look at the first two of these verbs.

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The first one is this, that God foreknew.

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He foreknew.

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What does that mean?

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Well, obviously by looking at the verb you see a combination of know and fore or before.

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So it means to know before.

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Because God is God, he knows before everything.

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Not only the things that do happen, but the things that could happen.

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He knows what would have happened if what did happen had not happened.

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Don't ask me to repeat that.

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He knows all possibilities as well as all realities.

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He knows before.

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Nothing ever catches God by surprise.

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But there's more here in this verb foreknow than just that.

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For this verb in the Bible not only means that God knows ahead of time what will happen,

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but that God fixes ahead of time what will happen.

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That God makes a choice is implied in this verb.

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The word foreknow in the New Testament involves designation of something or someone.

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This is illustrated to us in the book of Acts, the second chapter,

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if you wouldn't mind turning there for a moment.

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Just look at a phrase in Acts 2, 23.

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It's talking here about what happened to Jesus the Nazarene.

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It says in verse 23, Peter here is preaching, you recall the great sermon at Pentecost.

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He says, this man delivered up, now look at the next phrase,

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by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God you nailed to a cross.

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Notice the human responsibility here for the crucifixion of Christ.

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But notice the ultimate cause of it.

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It is what he calls here the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God.

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Notice those two phrases there, the predetermined plan, foreknowledge of God.

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There is one article before that combination of phrases, the article V.

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You say what difference does that make?

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Well in the language in which the New Testament was written,

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it implies the close association between those two ideas,

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the predetermined plan and the foreknowledge of God.

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Those two things in other words overlap.

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Not being exactly identical, they nonetheless are closely associated in thought.

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In other words, the foreknowledge of God mentioned here overlaps with,

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intertwines with the predetermined plan of God as well.

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Now it's in a noun form here, foreknowledge.

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It's in a verb form in our text in Romans chapter 8, but the thought is the same.

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To foreknow not only means to know something ahead of time,

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but it is to designate ahead of time something about that person or that thing.

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Now this verb is used in a variety of ways in the New Testament.

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Let me just mention these briefly in passing.

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We don't have time to study them, but I encourage you to write down the Scripture and look it up.

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Check me out.

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In Romans chapter 11 and verse 2, the verb is used regarding the nation of Israel.

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And it says that that nation of people, the Jewish people, were foreknown by God.

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In other words, God chose them to be His own.

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Just as we read in Amos 3, 1 and 2,

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God says out of all of the nations of the earth I have chosen you.

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And He goes on to say, and I will judge you.

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That's a warning through the prophet Amos.

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You see, they had greater privilege than the other nations of the world,

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and therefore they had greater responsibility to God.

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They were God's chosen people, but they were not exempt from judgment.

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He says I have chosen you out of all of the nations of the world.

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The same idea as Romans 11, 2.

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That God foreknew the nation of Israel.

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The verb is used likewise of Christ in 1 Peter 1, 2.

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That He as the sacrificial lamb was foreknown before the creation of the world.

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What does that mean?

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Not only that God foreknew,

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in the sense that He knew ahead of time what happened to Christ,

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what would happen to Christ,

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but that God planned ahead of time what would happen.

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He predetermined He was the cause of the crucifixion.

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It was not an accident that does not at all negate human responsibility

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by both the Jews and the Gentiles as to what happened to Christ.

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The world is responsible for rejecting the Christ.

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But nonetheless, God determined ahead of time

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that Christ would be sacrificed for our sins.

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He foreknew Him.

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Likewise, in 1 Peter 1, verses 1 and 2,

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it says that you and I have been foreknown.

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Just as it says here in Romans 8, the same thing.

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And so to foreknow is used of Israel as a nation, it's used of Christ as the sacrifice,

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it's used of Christians in this age.

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The implication, beloved, is this, that before you were born,

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God had already chosen you.

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He had foreknown you.

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He had designated you to become one of His own.

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Indeed, it's even more than that.

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Revelation, rather, 13, 8 says

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that even before the creation of the world,

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God foreknew you and designated you

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and chose you to be one of His own.

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Well, there are those that say, well, what about my free will?

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Well, did you realize that the term free will

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is not a biblical term in the context of salvation?

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It is used in the Old Testament regarding free will offerings, for example.

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But never is the term free will used in a soteriological way,

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that is, with respect to salvation.

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The concept of man having a free will is really a fallacy in this sense.

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Because all men are free only to sin

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because of the nature that they have inherited from Adam and Eve.

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The Bible says that our hearts are desperately wicked.

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It describes us by nature in Ephesians 4, 17, and 18

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as being hardened and darkened.

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In no true sense does man have a free will.

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He has a will that is depraved by sin,

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ruined by sin, and which will not of its own initiative come to God.

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You say, I chose, though, to believe on Christ, yes.

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That is one aspect of the truth.

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You chose to believe the promise, whosoever will may come.

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But the greater truth is this,

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that God acted upon your will and enabled you

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to respond to that invitation to believe on Christ.

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You see, beloved, salvation is all of grace.

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Ephesians 2, 8, and 9.

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It's not that we cooperated with grace in getting it done.

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We were the recipients of grace.

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It's not that God did 95% of it and we did 5%

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because then God would get 95% of the glory

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and we would get 5% of the glory.

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The Bible says that God gets all the glory

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because salvation is of the Lord.

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But there are some that say, well, that means

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then God elects some to go to hell, doesn't it?

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No, in fact, it does not.

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Because the Bible never uses this term for no.

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It does not use the term choose.

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It does not use the term election with regard to unsaved people.

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Never.

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It is always and only used with regard to God saving,

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not to God judging.

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Because you see, judgment is the destiny

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that the lost deserve, indeed that all of us deserve.

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Sometimes we view mankind as though

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he is in a great line before God.

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God rather arbitrarily goes down the line and says,

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well, I guess I'll take you, I'll take you, I'll take you,

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and the rest of you can go to hell.

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I want you to know that that is absolutely not the way it is.

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Each man is responsible before God

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for his own attitude, his own response to the Lord.

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And every person that goes to hell goes to hell

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over God's broken heart.

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For God does not delight in the death of the wicked.

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God is long-suffering.

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He is not willing that any should perish,

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but that all should come to repentance.

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That's what the Bible says with respect to God and the lost person.

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The fact is that God in grace chooses some

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when none, none, none deserve to be saved.

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Man is not neutral.

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Man is not lined up in some great row

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begging God for salvation, hoping to be chosen.

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Quite the contrary.

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Man is running from God because of his sinful heart.

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He hates God.

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He is a hostility against God.

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And the fact that God in love and grace reaches down

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and chooses some is a marvelous act of His love.

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There are those who would say,

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there are those who are not chosen then.

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Are they responsible for their sin?

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The fact is yes.

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For everyone is.

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Romans 2 verses 4 through 6 concludes by saying,

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and God will render to every man according to his deeds.

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Everyone is responsible before God for his sin.

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Time doesn't permit us to elaborate more on this.

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There are tapes that do elaborate more on it

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if you want to get further teaching about it.

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But there is a response that some make.

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They say, I reject this.

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You know, I can understand that from a human perspective.

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But the fact is that we had better be very careful

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in rejecting this because it's what the Bible teaches.

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There are those who say, I reject the sovereignty of God.

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Be careful, my friend.

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I believe actually all Christians believe in the sovereignty of God,

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although there are mysteries about the sovereignty of God

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that none of us understand.

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But we do believe in it, or else why should we pray?

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Do you pray?

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Do you ask God to do this or that?

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Do you pray that God will intervene or provide there?

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Why do you do that if you don't believe in the sovereignty of God?

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The fact that you pray says that you ultimately believe God is sovereign.

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Do you thank God for your salvation?

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Do you sing the chorus, thank you, Lord, for saving my soul,

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thank you, Lord, for making me whole?

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Or do you say, thank you, Lord, in me for saving my soul,

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thank you, Lord, in me for making me whole?

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Of course not.

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Ultimately you believe in the sovereignty of God

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that he is the one who has saved you.

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Do you pray for others to be saved?

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Why?

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If God is a victim or if God can't control,

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then why should we pray for God to bring conviction and to save others?

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We ultimately believe in the sovereignty of God.

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Then there are those who say, well, I can't understand this.

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I cannot reconcile in my mind how God has chosen, yet man is responsible.

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Well, welcome to the club.

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That's the only thing I can say.

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Because those two lines of human reasoning cannot be reconciled in our finite minds.

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They are revelations to us from an infinite God.

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And it says regarding him in Deuteronomy 29, 29,

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the secret things belong to the Lord.

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Beloved, there are some things that in this world we will never understand.

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We will never reconcile in our little minds.

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Because this truth is truth about God.

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And of him it says his ways are higher than our ways.

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What should we do?

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We should praise God for the truth.

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Though we may not fully comprehend it, understand it, and do not,

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we can praise God for it.

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And thank God that in his grace,

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before he even spoke the world into existence,

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he looked down upon his plan for the ages.

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And though you and I were undeserving, he said, I will save you.

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I will make you an object of my mercy.

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I will show my grace in your life.

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How grateful to God we should be for that.

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And quickly let's look at this second term that's used here.

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We're talking about the certainty, beloved, of God's purpose.

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It rests upon his sovereignty.

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If God is not sovereign, then there's nothing very certain in this whole universe.

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If God is sovereign, then he foreknew.

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And secondly, he predestined.

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This term predestined means to mark something out with a boundary ahead of time.

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Or it means to fix a destiny beforehand.

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This term is never used in the Bible regarding unbelievers.

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Again, it is only used of believers.

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Only believers are said to be predestined.

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Now here in Romans 8, look at what it says about that.

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It says he predestined us to become, this is verse 29,

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to become conformed to the image of his Son,

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that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

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Now you can go to Ephesians 1, verses 4 and 5, again verse 11.

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It says basically the same thing.

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God as an act of grace and love has predetermined, predestined,

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that those whom he has chosen would one day be fully conformed to Jesus Christ.

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This term conformed that we see here.

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This word means having the same form with, inwardly,

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not merely in an outward sense, not merely superficially,

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but inwardly, in the essence of the person,

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to be made like what one is conformed to.

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What this verse says is that God has predestined that everyone whom he has chosen,

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with no exception, would one day be fully inwardly as well as outwardly,

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resemble Jesus Christ.

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The term image, conformed to the image of Christ,

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means not merely resembling Christ, but actually representing what he is.

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It is a term that is used of Christ representing to us the fullness of God,

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2 Corinthians 4, 4, Colossians 1, 15.

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It is used here of Christians, as in 1 Corinthians 15, 49,

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fully representing what Jesus Christ is.

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Now why has God predestined us to this?

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That he, Christ, might be the firstborn among the brethren.

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This term firstborn has been twisted by the Jehovah's Witnesses.

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They use this word to mean, well you see Christ was born, he was created,

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he was the first of all the created things, they say.

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That is not what firstborn means.

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This word means in the original language, the one that is supreme.

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It refers to the preeminence of the position.

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It means that the one who is firstborn has the highest place among all others.

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In this context it says that Jesus Christ is the head of the new race of humanity.

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That God is redeeming and calling out for himself.

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And when he creates that new heaven and new earth one day,

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this new race of humanity conformed to the image of Christ will live there.

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Someone has said that God is so pleased with his son

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that he wants a heaven full of people just like him.

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And that is exactly what he has predestined will happen to you, child of God.

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God has a long ways to go with most of us, doesn't he?

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A lot of conforming to do.

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But we have the assurance that it will be done.

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How do we know?

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How do we know the certainty of this purpose?

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Because God is sovereign and he has said it will happen.

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You and I can trust a God like this that we're describing.

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And that is why verse 28 is stuck on there as kind of a bridge from what went before.

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He says, and we know, not we guess, not we hope.

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We know that God causes, the sovereignty of God, God causes all things,

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not some of them, all things, to work together for good.

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Even the heartaches, the tragedies, the disappointments, all things.

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God causes them to work together for good.

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To those who love God, who are they?

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Well, there are a lot of people who say, oh, I love God.

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What is it, 94, 95% of Americans say they believe in God?

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And I would dare say that most of those people say, yes, I love God.

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That's not the way love is used here.

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This love is that love that we have for God because we have experienced his love in our hearts.

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The love of God is shed abroad in the hearts of his own.

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And now we love him because he first loved us.

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To those who love God, do you love God that way tonight?

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Not in some general way, but do you love him because of what he did for you and his son?

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Do you love him because your faith is resting in Christ tonight?

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My friend, if you do love him that way, then you have this certainty that God is working out every affair in your life.

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No exceptions.

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You say, even when I've blown it, even when you've blown it, God is working all things out for your good.

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Isn't that great?

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You and I can trust a God who will do this.

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To those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose.

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How wonderful to be one of God's own, to be one of God's called.

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To look up to him and say, Father, I don't deserve it.

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You've saved me, Lord.

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It's an act of grace.

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It's all you.

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Nothing here.

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And I trust you.

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I trust you with my life.

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I trust you with my future.

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I trust you with my problems now.

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You're bigger than them all.

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I trust you.

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Two Christians were once speaking of their experiences, and one of them said,

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It is terribly hard to trust God and realize his hand in the dark passages of life.

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And the other responded and said to him,

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Well, brother, if you cannot trust a man out of your sight, he's not worth much.

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And if you cannot trust God in the dark, it shows you do not trust him at all.

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Let's pray.

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Is it dark in your soul?

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Child of God, please.

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I know it's a verse that perhaps you have said a hundred times, a thousand times,

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but will you look afresh at it and let God bring light to your darkness?

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The same God who foreknew you before you were born and before the world started,

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the same God who predestined that one day you will be like his Son,

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is the same God who today, tonight, is at work in your life.

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Believe that.

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Sing with me.

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Only believe, only believe,

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All things are possible.

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Only believe, only believe,

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Only believe, all things are possible.

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Only believe, only believe,

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Only believe him, child of God.

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Believe him now.

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And afresh give yourself to him to live under his Lordship.

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And, oh friend, here without Christ, God loves you.

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He gave his Son for you.

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Don't go into eternity without the Lord.

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Don't perish apart from Christ.

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You will never be able to say, I'm lost because God didn't choose me.

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No, my friend, even that rich man that Jesus told about in Luke who went to hell

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did not complain because he was there.

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He knew he deserved it.

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His concern was for his brothers who are still living, that they might hear someone preach the word of God to them.

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You will never be able to excuse yourself before God.

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You are responsible to God.

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How wonderful of God to make it possible for you to be forgiven,

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for all of us to be forgiven who will trust Christ.

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Will you trust him tonight?

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The invitation is open, if you will, you may.

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No exceptions to that.

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Father, may there be some friend here tonight who would trust the Savior

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and believe on him to eternal life.

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Thank you for meeting with us.

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Thank you for the truth of your word.

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Thank you for the Church family.

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Thank you for making us one in Christ.

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Lord Jesus, come soon.

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Amen.

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Good night.