P137_043025 Rom. 8:29,30 Put A New Value On Yourself: You Are Predestined

SPEAKER 01 : 0:05

So, as we saw last time, all things work together for good to those who love God and to those who are called according to his purpose, for whom he foreknew he also predestined. And that, as I mentioned yesterday, gives many Christians great trouble because they think in terms of the few. These verses cause their faith to shrivel down to little pockets of saved people and those whom he foreknew, that is, the few he foreknew. But that’s a terrible mistake, because Paul has been revealing to us all through this book how God is saving all mankind. Remember what he said in Romans 5, verse 18—well, the chapter 5, verses 12 to 21, but the high point is 18— Therefore, as through one man’s offense—that’s Adam’s, of course—judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation—for all men, of course, and women—even so, through one man’s righteous act—that’s Jesus Christ—the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life.” And so Paul is talking in terms of the salvation of all humanity. And when he speaks of our being called and God foreknowing us and predestining us, he’s not talking about the few. He’s talking about all mankind whom he calls and predestines at various and different times. That is, he predestines all, but he calls at different times. Well, having said that review, given that little review of the last time we talked, then think of this. How do you, by faith, respond to the idea that before the creation of the world, before the universe was ever formed, God saw you, knew you, and predetermined your destiny, predestined you for eternal life? First of all, let’s think of this. We all go through the terrible struggle and difficulty of sin, and sorrow, and disappointment, grief, and all kinds of negative emotions that sometimes just overwhelm us. We wonder whether there is a God, or if there is, whether He cares, or whether He notices only a few and not us. And then there are our addictions and our sinful struggles where we are overwhelmed by our own corruption and we cannot get out of our addiction maybe for decades or if ever, and we wonder, will I make it? Perhaps you became a Christian years ago. And decades ago, and you accepted Christ, you found freedom from your addiction for a few weeks or months, and then it came crashing back down on you, and you’ve been struggling ever since. And you wonder whether your salvation is secure, whether you’ll ever make it, whether you will endure to the end, and whether Jesus loved you in the first place, or whether it was all a delusion. And these thoughts come through your mind and almost overwhelm you. In fact, there are so many, many Christians who started off on the journey but were overwhelmed by the thorns and the troubles in their lives and walked away. What do you think of that? Well, let me tell you first of all, that if you can believe, yes, you can, not if, but as you believe that Jesus Christ has predestined you, that means that God knew all the troubles and all the difficulties and doubts you would go through and all the falling away, and still he set his mind and heart upon you and his love upon you. You can still say, dear God, though I’m absolutely embroiled in this struggle of mine, I thank you that you have predetermined that I shall have eternal life and I will keep looking to you and I will believe in you even though the heavens fall. That is the kind of faith you can have when you know that you are predestined. All people are predestined. Now, what about those people who fell away? Well, they will fall away and they will go into darkness, but God will still work with them. He works through people who become hardened. He works through people who have been overwhelmed by their darkness. He uses that hardness and that darkness to bring them to the place where they come to an end of themselves so that they call out to him for mercy. Because he has declared, according to Isaiah chapter 45, verses 22 to 24, As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow before me, and every tongue shall take an oath that in me alone is their righteousness and strength. And so, you see, the truth of predestination is not to be a fearful truth. It is not to be a truth that you fear applies to only a few and you might not be one of them. It is a message, and we’re going to see this so clearly in Romans 9 through 11. that God has set his heart upon this lonely blue planet, and he has set his heart to save it, to cause it to flourish, and to reveal his glory throughout all eternity. And so when you are down, You can say, Father, I am so discouraged, I am so overwhelmed, and yet I thank you and I will praise you even contrary to all my most logical sense of mind that you have determined my salvation for eternity. You have set your heart upon me and I will not be denied. I thank you so much in the name of Jesus. And so, you see, this is how our faith is. It is a jubilant faith. Well, let’s be frank. It’s not always jubilant. It’s sometimes crying out with great sorrow through our struggles and unbelief, but we still cry out with the sorrow of belief, Lord God, I am overwhelmed, but I thank you that though you slay me, I will trust in you. So you lift up your heart. Faith, remember, is not intuitive. It is not from the natural mind. It is not a power of your will. Faith is a gift from God. God gives faith when he gives the news of Jesus Christ as our salvation. And so when you’re in a state of doubt and feeling overwhelmed with worry about whether you’re saved or not or whether God loves you or not, you lift up your heart and say, Father, I thank you for the faith that you have given me. It seems so small. It seems so little. It seems so weak. It seems like a mustard seed. But, Father, I know it will grow into a great tree. I will trust in you in all my ways. And so, you see, faith is what enables us. to walk through the darkness, to take this journey of life and not to give up, not to kill ourselves, not to say, I’m out of here. No, you’re not. You are going to continue on because Jesus is walking with you and he is the lamp of your life. He is the light one foot ahead of you and you can keep going. That’s how we believe and that’s what we believe in, that God has predetermined He didn’t, your sins, your troubles, your defeats, your addictions are not a surprise to God. God did not say, oh, I can’t save him because he’s an addict. God didn’t say, God was not unaware and saved you and then suddenly realized, oops, I’ve saved the wrong man, he’s addicted. No, no, no. God knew you before you were born, before you were created, and he said, I can work with this. I can work with this man. I will work with this man, a woman, and I will bring my grace through his or her addiction. That’s how it works. That’s how God does things in this world. What else has he to work with? I mean, there are no perfect people around. So he just works with sinners, you see. Now, on the other side of this coin is this fact. Since God has predestined us, for what purpose? To be conformed to the image of his Son that he might be the… Let’s read it again. “…for whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.” Now, when you look at that, you say, I’m destined for the skies. I’m destined for eternity. I’m destined to be like an angel. I’m destined to be like the Son of God himself. And that sets your sights upon the heights. It enables you to stop piddling around in the muck. Look, when you look at the world, what an incredible waste. of creative energy the world goes through, right? I mean, people are endlessly, what shall I say, occupying themselves with trivia in order to escape the pain of their lives. They go from one party to the next, from one social event to the next, from one grouping together to have another drink, any excuse to have another drink, and you realize that the world is escaping from its own sense of meaninglessness. But you and I have found something so very, very different. We are destined. Now, this doesn’t mean that we can’t take time to have recreation with our friends, to have a bit of fun, to laugh and have joy. Not at all. But it means that those activities and spare time occupations do not become the identity of our lives. We realize that we are children still growing up to be men and women. We realize that we are destined to be like Jesus himself, whose love was his true manhood, and whose love was so great that any other human being, any other man in his presence felt like a sham. Well, we’re not going to be shams. We are going to trust in Christ, who is our righteousness. But the paradox about that is that when we do trust in Christ, who is our righteousness, we realize that we are shams. But that doesn’t overwhelm us. It helps us to see that though I am a sham, dear Lord, you are making a genuine person out of me. that I am gradually becoming something in your image. I will not trust in that sanctification. I will not trust in that righteousness. I am a sinner saved by grace, and I always will be. And what you do for me and do in me to make me more like your Son, I won’t even see it until I’m in the kingdom and realize it. So we are humble, and yet we are big-minded. We’re broad. Our shoulders are broad. We’re ready to take on big issues because Christ is our righteousness and because we are predestined to be conformed to his image. So the truth about our predestination, our final destiny, helps us to avoid two disasters. One, that we give up because we’re overwhelmed by our sins and our darkness. No, do not give up. Do not be overwhelmed by your sins and darkness. No matter how dark you are, you can speak in the light and you can say, Father, I thank you that you have destined me for eternal life and you will bring me through. And on the other side, we recognize that since God has destined us, predestined us to be conformed to the image of his Son, then we’re going to make more out of life than just piddling around in social trivia for the rest of our lives. We’re going to make something of this world. We’re going to justify our little patch of existence. We are going to look up to God and say, Lord God, I may not be much, but I’m going to light a candle and not curse the darkness. I’m going to be somebody who draws people to himself because I have peace, I have joy, I have purpose, and they can see it, and they will know by that that they also can have such light and joy. There we have it. You are predestined by the God who loved you before ever you were created. Thanks for joining me today. Colin Cook here. You’ve been listening to my broadcast, How It Happens, and you can listen to it any time of the day or night on your smartphone. Simply download a free app, soundcloud.com or podbean.com, and key in How It Happens with Colin Cook when you get there. Consider a donation, would you, if you can. It’s listener-supported radio now in its 27th year. You can send your donation to FaithQuest, P.O. Box 366, Littleton, Colorado, 80160. Thanks. I’ll see you next time. Cheerio and God bless.