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He's working out his good pleasure and our good in our successes, in our victories, our

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blessings, and as well in our heartaches, our disappointments, and our defeats.

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He says, We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love

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

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For whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that

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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,

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and whom he justified, these he also glorified.

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God the Sovereign One works all things out for good for his own because he has an eternal

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plan for us.

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And that plan is nothing less than that we should be part of his Son's bride, the Church

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of Jesus Christ, which he has purchased with his own blood, and which he is now cleansing

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with the word that he might present it to himself, a glorious church without spot or

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wrinkle.

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That is your destiny and mine.

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For God is working in all of our circumstances.

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That purpose may be realized.

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I can illustrate this in a story about a little boy, a little boy who grew up like most children

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oblivious to what was going on except in his life.

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Children by nature tend to be rather self-centered.

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The issues of life and death were not very meaningful to him, as would be true with most

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children.

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He grew up with a carefree attitude in the early days of his youth, as is true with most

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children.

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It did not strike him that it was unusual that his father was sick when that occurred

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and was gone for weeks at a time in the hospital.

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Life went on.

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Then came the day when with two of his brothers, he went with his father to a neighbor's to

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look at an implement that had been borrowed.

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On the way back home, the father quickly stopped the car.

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The little boy said, Daddy, what's the matter?

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The daddy grabbed his chest and said, Daddy just... and he died.

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I was that little boy.

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And I have, from that time until this day, had struggles with that circumstance in my

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life.

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There have been times when I have doubted the goodness of God and I have wondered why.

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But I want to stand before you today as one who will testify to the truthfulness of Romans

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8.28, that even in the heartaches, the disappointments, and those events that are beyond our understanding,

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are being worked out by God for good to us.

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I can look back and see some of the good that God has worked out through that circumstance.

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Many of you could stand today and give testimonies somewhat similar to what I have just done.

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Because God is sovereign, He can take circumstances and bring them out for a good purpose in our

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lives, and He always does without fail.

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And to guarantee His purpose, He has taken five actions on our behalf.

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We have studied the first three that God foreknew, God predestined, and God called.

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And today we will look at the final two that He justified and He glorified.

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The Apostle Paul surveys salvation from God's perspective.

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He does not attempt to introduce man's perspective as he speaks about it in this context.

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But if we were to introduce the human perspective, this is the point where it would be interjected.

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Up to now, God is foreknown, God is predestined, and God has called.

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All of that is evidence of His sovereignty.

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It is at this point that faith on the part of man takes place.

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And that faith then makes possible the justification and the future glorification.

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What does it mean to be justified?

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Well, if you have been with us in Romans for the last year and a half or so, this is not

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the first time that you have seen this term justify.

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To justify means to declare right with God.

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It does mean to acquit of any charge, which would be reflected in Romans 8.1, where He

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says, there is therefore now what?

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No condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus.

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That is, there is no cause for blame, for judgment, for condemnation to those who are

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in Christ.

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But actually, the word justify means more than that.

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For it is not just the extraction of guilt, but it is the impartation then, on the other

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hand, of the very righteousness of Jesus Christ.

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It is a new legal position that we have before God.

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It is how we are made right with God.

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This idea of justification is illustrated in a parable that Jesus told and recorded

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for us in Luke 18.

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It says, He also told this parable to certain ones who trusted in themselves that they were

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righteous and viewed others with contempt.

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As Jesus looked around His listeners, He noticed those who were self-righteous.

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They trusted in their inherent goodness as they perceived it.

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And they looked upon others with disdain and contempt and concluded that they were better

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than these others.

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To men, says Jesus, went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax

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gatherer, the most lowly strata of society in that day.

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The Pharisee stood and was praying thus to himself, God, I thank Thee that I am not like

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other people, swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even this tax collector.

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I fast twice a week.

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I pay tithes of all that I get.

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Here is a very religious man.

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He not only attends once a week, but he attends twice a week.

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And furthermore, he puts something in the offering when he attends.

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In fact, not just something, he ties of everything that he gets.

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This is a very religious person.

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And he is a moral person.

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Unlike those who were swindlers and unfair with people or adulterers or people who sold

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themselves to the Romans to be tax collectors, he was a moral, upright person.

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Jesus continues, But the tax gatherer, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to

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lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me,

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the sinner.

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Here's the other man, a man who recognized his unworthiness, who knew he was a sinner,

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who did not put on a pretense or a show, but came to pray and would not even look up in

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prayer to God.

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But in brokenness of heart and contriteness and repentance, beat upon his chest the typical

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oriental way of showing sorrow.

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And he cried out, Oh God, be merciful to me, the sinner.

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He didn't just say, a sinner, he said, the sinner, the sinner.

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Quite a difference, isn't there, in that attitude and those two attitudes?

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He says, I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other

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man.

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Jesus says that this man who came in humility and brokenness, confessing his sin and crying

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out to God for mercy, was declared that day to be right with God.

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And it was God who said it, Jesus himself.

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He said that man went down to his house right with God, but not so the other man, who refused

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to admit his own sinful condition, but felt that he was righteous in himself.

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Today, in this auditorium, there are undoubtedly representatives of both of these men.

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There are, I would suppose, many of us today who at some point in our life came to God

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as did this man and cried out for forgiveness and mercy.

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And in brokenness and repentance, we trusted in the God alone who can save.

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And on that day when we did it, whether a few months ago or many years ago, we went

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back home justified before God.

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There may be someone or someones present who up to this point have felt moral and upright

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and certainly worthy of God's consideration as he thinks about the ones who should make

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it to heaven.

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And yet, my friend, Jesus went on to say, everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled.

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And everyone who humbles himself shall be exalted.

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If today you would be justified and made right with God, it comes alone, but through brokenness,

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confession of sin and repentance of it, and a reaching out to God to receive from him

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mercy and forgiveness.

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Now when God justifies the sinner, he cannot simply do it on a whim.

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God does not sort of pick up the rug of heaven and sweep sins under it and say, well, we'll

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just overlook those.

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No.

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God is a just God and therefore he must deal with sin.

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He must have a legal reason why he can forgive a sinner who asks for mercy.

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And God has provided that legal reason because 2,000 years ago he sent his only son, the

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Lord Jesus, into the world and he went to the cross and there died as a substitute for

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sinners.

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In his vicarious, that is, substitutionary death, he took upon himself the penalty for

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sin, death, so that sinners who would call out for forgiveness could be forgiven by God.

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Therefore, God has a reason to extend forgiveness.

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You see, when Jesus died on the cross, our sin was placed upon him.

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The Bible term is that it was imputed to him, that it was put to his account, as it were,

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before God.

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It's a bookkeeping term.

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It was reckoned to him, our sin.

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And when we trust the Lord Jesus Christ, his righteousness is imputed to us.

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You will recall that term impute from chapter 4 of Romans and it would be good for us to

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go back and review there the first five verses.

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Here we have the illustration of Abraham, a man greatly revered by the Jews, by Gentiles

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and by the like.

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What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, according to the flesh, has found?

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For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before

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God.

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For what does the scripture say?

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And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.

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He quotes there from Genesis and there it clearly says Abraham did not work to impress

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God rather he believed God's promise, and God accepted his faith and gave to Abraham

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righteousness.

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Now it says to the one who works, his wage is not reckoned as a favor, that is by grace,

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but as what is due.

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In other words, God is obligated.

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If a man is saved by his works, but he says to the one who does not work but believes

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in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness.

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That word reckoned is the word impute or put to the account of.

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And so my friend, when God sees faith, he accepts that faith in his promise.

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The sinner can bring nothing that would merit God accepting him.

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All he can do is respond by faith to receive the promise of God.

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And when God sees that faith, God gives to that sinner righteousness.

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He not only takes away the sin, removes it from the record, but God then gives to him

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the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ.

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Jesus Christ perfectly obeyed the law in his life upon the earth, thus expressing the innate

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righteousness that was his.

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It is his righteousness that is given to us when we are justified, that is declared right

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with God.

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Faith is sort of the instrument that brings this righteousness to us.

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I can remember as a boy working hard out there in the barn, the hay field, in weather just

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like we've been having, being very thirsty and going to the pail of water and there reaching

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into it with a dipper and bringing that cool, refreshing water to my lips and quenching

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my thirst.

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Faith is sort of like that dipper.

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It reaches out and receives what God offers to us.

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It brings to us, it is the instrument by which God brings to us justification.

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And never forget that when God justifies, he does it once for all.

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It's something he never has to repeat.

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When he declares us right with himself, he does not just put us into a neutral position.

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It means he takes us out of sin, or as we looked at it in Romans chapter 5, he takes

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us out of Adam, for we were in Adam by our first birth.

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And then he puts us into Jesus Christ because of our new birth.

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So that we have a new state, a new position, a new standing before God which cannot change.

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Well, you say, that sounds well and good, but it's just a little bit too simple, don't

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you think?

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For after all, it's got to be more complicated than that.

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Surely God looks for some kind of character or turning over of a new leaf or surely we

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have to do some rituals or good works.

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I mean, man has to do something, doesn't he?

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No.

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That's the marvelous truth of the Gospel.

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And it's the only Gospel there is.

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All we do is receive what God provides for us through Jesus Christ.

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Are you still out there on the treadmill of your own works, trying to do something to

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please God and to get there and to be worthy of heaven?

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And dear friend, will you realize that that treadmill is getting you nowhere?

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And that your need today is to repent of your sin, like that tax gatherer, to call out to

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God for mercy so that you can go home justified with God.

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You say yes, but doesn't the Bible also say somewhere that we're justified by works?

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Well, as a matter of fact, that phrase is found.

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Would you turn over to James chapter 2 just quickly?

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There may be somebody confused about this and I want to talk about it just briefly.

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James chapter 2, because of this passage, Martin Luther refused to admit that James

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should be in the Bible.

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And yet if you look at it, you understand that James is not at all contradicting Paul.

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They were good friends.

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Verse 21 of James 2, was not Abraham our father justified by works?

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Wow.

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When he offered up Isaac his son on the altar, you see that faith was working with his works.

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And as a result of the works, faith was perfected.

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And the scripture was fulfilled, which says, and Abraham believed God and it was reckoned

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to him as righteousness.

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And he was called a friend of God.

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You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.

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You say, aha, there's proof.

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No, it's not proof that we're justified by works, nor is it proof that the Bible contradicts

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itself.

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It's simply evidence of the fact that we have to interpret the scriptures in the light

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of its context or the basic rules.

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When Romans was written, the apostle Paul was talking about how to be right with God.

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He was talking about being justified by God.

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When James wrote his epistle, he had a different perspective.

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James was not concerned about that relationship.

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James was concerned about a horizontal relationship with other people.

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And his point is this.

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Don't say that you have faith if it's not backed up by your works.

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You see, James was talking about being justified in our profession that we believe.

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It's not enough just to say, well, I believe.

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That faith has to be proved by works.

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Faith is actually brought to maturity, to completion, to fruit, if you please, through

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works.

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It gives evidence that we genuinely are justified with God when our claim to that is justified

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before men, as James talks about here.

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We are justified with God by faith, by faith alone.

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But it takes more than that with the world around us, because lots of people say they

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have faith.

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Our profession of faith is justified, is declared to be true by our works.

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That's James' point.

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Does your life bear out that you are genuinely saved?

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I hope it does.

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Let's move ahead to the last of the verbs in Romans 8.

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This is such a marvelous truth that he glorified.

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Someone has said that this is the most daring verse in the Bible because of what is said

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in those two words, that he glorified.

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If you consider it, it is absolutely breathtaking what God says in this verse.

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To be glorified means to be transformed into the very likeness of Jesus Christ.

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It is not the first time we have seen it in this chapter, back in verse 17.

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It says, And if children heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed

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we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

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Our glorification is the inheritance that is ours because we are the children of God.

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We are sharers of God's glory.

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He says that we were glorified.

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That does not say we were beatified, made good enough to enter heaven.

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It does not say that we were beautified, well, no better than that.

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It does not say that we were deified, but it does say that he glorified.

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He glorified us.

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As you search the Scriptures for an example of what this means, you have only one.

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It is that rare.

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And that one example is Jesus Christ.

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Go back to Acts chapter 3 and look at the words of Peter as he addresses the persecutors

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of the apostles on that occasion.

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A healing had taken place.

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And Peter says, Why do you marvel at this miracle, this healing?

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Look at verse 13.

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He says, The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his

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servant Jesus, the one whom you delivered up and disowned in the presence of Pilate

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when he had decided to release him.

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Here it says that God glorified Jesus.

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Do you know that there is humanity in heaven today that is glorified?

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God the Son came into the world and took upon himself our humanity, though sinless.

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He became flesh and blood, had a human nature just like we have.

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My friend, when he rose from the dead, he rose as man as well as God.

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And when he ascended back to heaven, he ascended as man as well as God.

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And sitting at the right hand of God today, he is there as the God-man.

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There is humanity in heaven that is glorified.

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That is the illustration of what is going to happen to us someday.

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For as yet we have not experienced glorification, and yet that does not mean that we will not.

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I would have you observe here in Romans chapter 8 that he does not say, in fact, that we will

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be glorified, but he says, he glorified its past, as are all the other verbs in verses

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29 and 30.

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This is what is called in the Bible a prophetic past tense.

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It's the same thing that we find, for example, in Isaiah chapter 53 where it says, he was

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wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquity.

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And of whom does that speak?

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Jesus Christ.

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And yet Jesus Christ did not even come into the world for another 700 years after Isaiah

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wrote that.

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You see Isaiah was saying this, what I am writing is so certain to happen that I am

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writing as though it already occurred.

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And that is what Paul is doing.

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When he says that he has glorified us, he means that that event is so certain that he

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already has accomplished it in his own mind that is God has.

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Turn to John chapter 17 verse 22.

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I want to show you an amazing statement of Jesus.

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I remember John chapter 17 was prayed before he even went to the cross.

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And yet the marvel of this Lord's prayer is that he prays as though all of that were

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already past.

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In verse 22 he makes this astounding statement.

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He speaks to the Father and he says, and the glory which thou hast given me, I have given

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to them.

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The statement of Jesus Christ even before the cross as he prayed in the garden was,

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Father the glory you have given to me, I have given to them who believe on me.

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You see it ties together perfectly with what Paul says in Romans chapter 8.

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I want you to know that our glorification in the future is a part of, it is inseparable

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from our calling in Jesus Christ.

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I want you to turn now to 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 and look at this verse.

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After speaking to them of his own lifestyle which he wants them to imitate, that is a

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lifestyle that is devoted and upright and blameless, he says in verse 12, so that you

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may walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.

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Now look at that.

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It would be enough if God would say that he had called us to be a part of his kingdom.

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That is that someday we would be in heaven and be citizens of that celestial place.

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I mean that would be enough.

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But he goes beyond that.

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He says that he calls you into his own kingdom and glory.

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In other words, God has destined us for more than just being in heaven, we are going to

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share in his glory as God.

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Turn over a few pages to 2 Thessalonians chapter 1.

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After speaking about those who persecuted them, the apostle says these will pay the

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penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory

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of his power, when he comes to be glorified in his saints on that day, and to be marveled

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at among all who believe, for our testimony to you was believed.

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That day, by the way, is the rapture.

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He says, To this end also we pray for you always, that our God may count you worthy

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of your calling, and fulfill every desire for goodness and the work of faith with power.

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Look at verse 12.

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In order that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him.

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In other words, you be glorified in him according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus

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Christ.

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You begin to understand here why we will someday be glorified.

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It's because we have been called by God to that destiny.

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There is nothing that can prevent that consummation to your faith.

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What does it mean now that we will be glorified?

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Well it includes in the first place the resurrection of our bodies.

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Now we dwell in bodies that are mortal.

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Someday we will have bodies immortal.

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Now they are lowly.

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Then they will be glorious.

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Now they are temporal.

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Then eternal.

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So it does mean that we will have new bodies like Christ's body of glory.

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But folks, it means more than that.

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It means more than that.

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Now that would be enough.

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If I just knew that I was going to be in heaven, and that this body in which I live now is

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going to be raised out of the ground and glorified and with me there.

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If I knew that was my future, that would be enough.

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But there's more.

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Because you see, God's purpose for us is nothing less than that we would sit on the throne

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of Jesus Christ with Him.

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We are destined for the throne, beloved.

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Now you let that sink in.

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You let it soak your heart.

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When it says that He glorified us, it means that we will sit with Jesus Christ on His

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throne of glory.

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It means that our ultimate destiny in Christ will be higher than that which Adam knew when

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he was created.

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Perfect, innocent, to reign over this world.

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It means that the position that we will eventually assume by the grace of God is higher than

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that which the angels have, for we will judge the angels.

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It means that someday we will be higher in God's order of things than was Lucifer before

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pride was found in him and he fell to become Satan and the devil.

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And this truth underscores our security as God's children.

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You see, we perceive these things, being human beings, as successive steps.

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We look past to eternity when God foreknew and predestined.

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And we look back in our lifetime when He called us into the fellowship of His Son.

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And when we trusted in Christ and He justified us, made us right with Himself.

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And then we look forward to that time when we will be glorified.

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But God sees it differently.

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Because that whole process that we see and experience, God simultaneously and irrevocably

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purposes.

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He says, it is done.

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And so heaven is as sure as though you were already there.

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And that's why in Ephesians He says that we are already seated with Jesus Christ in

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the heavenly places.

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My friend, God has purpose to populate His new universe with the glorified sons of Adam,

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foreknown, predestined, called, justified, and glorified, all by the grace of God.

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Amen.

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That's God's purpose.

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And my friend, that's your personal destiny.

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Isn't that fabulous?

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He's glorified us.

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Unworthy, rotten though we be.

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God has purposed to lift us from fallen humanness, to exalt us to be like His Son and to reign

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with Him forever.

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Now that's the strength of verse 28.

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That's why He says that God causes all things to work together for our good.

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Because He's called us to that destiny.

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That's why God is so vitally interested and involved in every detail of your life.

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We look at Prince William, the young son of Charles and Diana, and sometimes we fantasize

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what that must be like to be a little prince.

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And as you look at that little boy, to know that someday he is going to ascend to the

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throne of England.

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But listen, that is a puny picture compared to you.

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Because you are a prince of God.

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You are the royalty of God's universe.

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It does not yet appear what we shall be.

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But we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him.

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That's our destiny.

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And that's why we can trust in the sovereignty of God and rest confidently, relax.

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Know that God is working in our heartaches as well as our victories.

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That's why we should be burdened to declare the Word of God and to share our hope with

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people because we live in a world that's heading the other direction, that is moving

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toward the destiny of destruction and eternal hell.

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And my friend out there, among that population are those who are God's.

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Just as Paul was told in the city of Corinth, as we read last week, Paul, I have many people

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in this city.

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Get out there and preach.

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So you and I should share our faith and declare the Word of God so that God can be at work

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calling out His people who are called to that destiny with us to share the throne.

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And is it too much that we should then live for the glory of God and walk worthy of our

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calling and have a lifestyle that is holy and pure?

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Dear Christian, don't mess up your life by yielding yourself to the impulses of sin

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within you.

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Live above that.

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That's your calling.

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Don't hinder the Holy Spirit by harboring attitudes that quench His holy sensitivity

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within you.

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He has sealed you for that destiny.

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Be done with sin.

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Turn from it.

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Repent of it.

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And walk worthy of the calling that is yours as one who will share the throne with Jesus

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Christ and His eternal kingdom.

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Father, show us, I pray, as much as we can understand in our finite minds what destiny

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is ours through Jesus Christ.

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We are breathtaking, we are awestruck as we ponder what you have in store for us.

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And to think that throughout the ages to come you're going to show your kindness toward

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us.

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How humbled we are by that.

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How unworthy we feel.

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What grace.

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Our prayer is that we may live lives worthy of that calling.

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And some of us today may need to make some decisions to clean up our lives and return

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to faithfulness and obedience to Jesus Christ.

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Others here today, Father, may sense their need for the Savior.

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I pray that they will reach out, as it were, with a dipper of faith and receive from you

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salvation.

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Have your way in our lives as we close this service.

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In Jesus' name I pray, amen.