Provisions For The Journey

Well, recently, Al Morgan and his daughter, Christie, made a cross-country journey. And as you can see from the picture of the moving van and the car on the screen, this was not a pleasure trip. This was not a vacation. The purpose was to move Christie from Orlando, Florida to Seattle, Washington. You talk about a cross-country journey. That's not just straight across the country. That's diagonal. That's about as far as you can go. From one extreme to the other. 3,253 miles, Al tells me they traveled, took the better part of five days. This is not the kind of trip you just launch out on with no thought. This is not the kind of trip that you just say, well, wake up today. Let's take off. Let's go. Why don't we just travel to Seattle today? No, this is the kind of trip that you plan for. This is the kind of trip that you make provision for. It's the kind of thing you sit down. You map out your route. You plan out your finances and make sure you've got adequate resources for this kind of a trip. You make sure that you plan ahead. You provide adequate resources for that kind of journey. Life is a journey. The Bible speaks of the Christian life as a journey. Paul says that it's a walk. He says to the Ephesians that they are to walk worthy of the vocation where what they've been called. He calls the Christian life a race. He says I do not run as one that is uncertain to the Corinthians. He said to the Philippians that forgetting those things that are behind, he stretches forth toward the finish line, pressing toward the mark for the call, the upward call of Christ Jesus. He likens it to a race. He likens the Christian life to a course. He says to Timothy at the very end of his life, I've finished my course. The Christian life is a journey. It has a definite beginning when you trust Christ. It has a clear destination in heaven and it is a journey in between. There is movement, growth and progress in between that initial beginning and the destination. We've been going through the book of Romans on Sunday morning and we find ourselves in chapter 8 this morning. We've seen that chapters 6 through 8 really describe the Christian life in terms of a journey because Paul is describing how we can grow, how we can grow in righteousness to become more like Christ. This growth, this progress in righteousness is a part of the journey. What we've been looking at in chapter 8 is the fact that God makes adequate provision for the journey. God doesn't save you and just throw you out on the road and say, okay, hope you find your way. Okay, now he has made adequate provision for our journey. He has thought this through ahead of time and he has given us all that we need to make this journey. We have seen for instance in the first part of the chapter that God gives us the potential for victory over sin through the presence and ministry of the Holy Spirit in our lives. God also gives us a new identity, the Holy Spirit testifies and witnesses with our spirit that we are the children of God, we are the sons of God, we are the heirs of God, so we have a new identity and we also saw last week that the Holy Spirit provides us with a new hope for this journey because the journey gets hard sometimes as we just heard Scarlet sing about. The journey gets hard and they are difficult and bad wicked things that happen in life and God has provided us a hope, a certain looking forward to the promise of heaven and that will be when everything is made right. So we have all of those provisions but Paul's not done, he gives us more provisions for the journey and we will find them today, a couple of them at least in verses 26 through 30, Romans chapter 8, verse 26, where we find that the first provision we are looking at today that God has made for our journey through life in this Christian walk and race and course is his prayer for us, his prayer for us, verses 26 and 27 describe an amazing thing, an amazing fact of scripture and that is that on this journey God himself through the Holy Spirit is praying for you. And we know that Christ intercedes for us and heaven he prays for us but in a very unique way the Holy Spirit prays for us. This to me is one of the most comforting, amazing truths in all of the scriptures. Let's see what Paul says about it, how he describes it. In describing his prayer for us he speaks first of all about our infirmity, our infirmity, look there at verse 26, in the same way the Spirit helps us in our weakness, some translations actually use the word infirmity. The idea is that we have an infirmity, a weakness in life as we go through this journey from the moment of salvation until the time we get to heaven, this journey is characterized on our part by a weakness. There's a particular weakness that hinders us in this journey and Paul defines what that weakness is in his next words. He says the Spirit helps us in our weakness, here it is, here's the weakness, we do not know what we ought to pray for. That's the weakness that we all experience. We do not know what we ought to pray for. Now what what Paul is saying is not that you know I don't know how to pray. Paul knows the general content of prayer, Paul knows how to pray. He challenges many of his readers and his letters about the content of prayer and how to pray. What to pray? That's not the issue here. But what Paul is saying is that there are some parts of our journey in life, some things that happen to us in life, some particular situations or difficulties in which we do not know what to pray. Sometimes you simply don't know what to pray for. It may be a situation where you simply don't know what to ask. Maybe there is a serious need on the part of someone in your family or in your own heart or life and you're so burdened and so deeply troubled about it. You don't even know what to ask. You don't really know what to pray for. It could be that in a particular situation in your life you can't pray. You may be so seriously ill lying in a hospital bed. You can't even pull your thoughts together. You don't even have the mental clarity to know what to say or in that particular situation you may not have the physical strength to even word your prayer. It could be that in a particular situation in life you are so burdened. You're so troubled. You're so perplexed. You're so shocked at what's happened that you don't know what to say. You don't even know how to begin to pray. Either for your own needs or for the needs of someone else. It may be that in life you are confused about what to pray. It's just not clear to you how you should ask God for something in a particular situation. It may be that you even pray the best of your knowledge and you're praying the wrong thing. You don't know it. You have every good intention but sometimes we pray the wrong thing when we pray. Paul did. Paul admits that he himself did that. In 2 Corinthians 12 he said three different occasions. I ask God to take that thorn in the flesh whatever physical ailment that may have been. I ask him to take that away from me and finally God made it clear to me. My answer is no. In fact, Paul I have a reason for leaving that physical infirmity. I've given you unique privileges and special revelation and so forth to communicate to the church and so that you will not become proud of that opportunity I've given you. I'm going to keep you humble through this thorn in the flesh and I'm going to remind you that you are human. You have human limitations and my power will be seen through your weakness and so Paul you're praying the wrong prayer. My answer is no. I will not remove that thorn in the flesh. So you see sometimes we find ourselves in situations in life that we simply are clueless. We don't have any idea what to pray for or we can't pray we're too physically weak or spiritually confused. We just don't know how to pray. That's our infirmity. That's our weakness. And in the midst of that weakness and the midst of that infirmity notice what Paul says about the spirit's intercession. He says in verse 26 the spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for. Here it is but the spirit himself intercedes for us. Now to intercede means to pray for someone else. It means to take their burden their request their need upon your heart as though it were your own and actually pray what they need what they need pray their prayer. That's intercession. And the wonderful promise here is that the Holy Spirit intercedes for us when we don't know what to pray for when we can't even pray when we're so confused or shocked or angry or whatever it might be that we don't know what to say the Holy Spirit steps in and begins to word our prayer. The deep burden and agony and pain and sorrow and confusion in our hearts the Holy Spirit sorts all that out and begins to pray and makes our prayer known to the Father and notice how he does it. He does it with groans Paul says with groans that words cannot express. His praying is with a groaning and I don't think Paul's referring here to he's praying in audible words or in things that can't be expressed. No he's praying he's interceding he's wording our prayer but he's doing it with a groaning. Isn't an interesting choice of words because Paul has just talked about groaning in this very context hasn't he? Back in verse 22 he's talked about creation groaning under the curse under the judgment because of man's sin the whole creation groans and is awaiting its release from from that bondage and then he says in verse 23 that we groan even we who have the first fruits of the spirit even we who have the promise of eternal life we groan too and we talked about that last week how we groan under the the troubles and difficulties and sorrows and evil things that happen in life we groan but now it's the Holy Spirit that groans for you see as he prays your prayer that you can't even begin to know how to word when he prays your prayer he does so with the same inner agony and groaning seeing what you're going through you know we saw last week that Jesus groans with us like he did with Mary and Martha the tomb of Lazarus he groans and the Holy Spirit also groans longing for that day when we will be released from these kinds of situations that that throw us into such confusion that throw us into such agony and pain and grief and the Holy Spirit as he words our prayer groans with us and as he prays he's groaning that groaning that we are groaning longing for the day when we will not face this anymore and will be released from the effects of man's sin the curse on this fallen world he groans with us that's the spirit's intercession but that's not the end of this wonderful truth Paul also describes the Father's interest in verse 27 as the spirit groans with us notice what verse 27 says and he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the spirit because the spirit intercedes for the saints in a chord with God's will now let's unpack that just a little bit the Father's interest in this verse is expressed in two directions first of all the Father's interest in what's going on in our hearts he searches our hearts as we're going through that agony that pain that sorrow that suffering that difficulty that confusion whatever it may be as we're going through that the Father's keen interest is focused on our hearts and he searches what's going on in our hearts this is not a searching to find out if there's sin here that's not the context the context is he's searching in the sense of knowing what's happening in our hearts he knows the groaning so he sympathizes he himself groans with what's going on in our hearts but his interest is focused also in another direction not only on our hearts but also on the spirit's praying because the one who searches our hearts also knows the mind of the spirit he knows exactly what the spirit's communicating in his prayer because as Paul says the Holy Spirit always prays in accord with the will of God they are one the Holy Spirit the Son the Father are one in essence in nature they think the same thoughts they share the same concerns they know the same things about us they have the same passion and desire for us and so the Father knows exactly what the Spirit is thinking and communicating because their thoughts are one and so he knows and he responds to what the spirit is praying as the spirit intercedes for us and the Father's interest the Father's interest is upon the agony of our hearts and also upon the words of the Spirit as he communicates his mind and he communicates our hearts what a blessing that promise is you know I don't try to write chapters of the Bible or write promises but if I did that this one would be right near the top this is one of those promises that you've got to cling to sometimes when nothing else makes sense but it is a wonderful promise to know that when I can't pray when I don't even know the words to say when I'm not physically capable or mentally clear enough to do it when I am such shock or agony that I don't know what to say or even when I'm praying to the best of my ability but it's the wrong stuff the Holy Spirit takes over and prays on my behalf and the Father who loves and agonizes for what's in my heart also listens to what the Spirit is saying wow that is a fantastic promise cling to that promise when you don't know how to pray God's made that provision for you in your journey what a wonderful provision that is what a wonderful provision that is his prayer for you but he's not done there's another provision for this journey and that is his plan for you God's plan for you do you know God has a specific plan for you God has a plan for your life and he's going to tell us exactly what it is in this passage he has a plan for you and Paul unfolds how that plan works and what it looks like and how God accomplishes it in these next three verses now it would be very easy to start with verse 28 that's what comes next but but we're going to skip that for now we'll read it but I want to get to the core of what the plan is in verse 29 because I want to begin with the goal of this plan we've got to know what the goal is what the plan really is what does the plan focus on look at verse 28 and we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him who have been called according to his purpose for those God for new he also predestined and we'll come back to that in a moment but here's the goal he predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his son that he might be the firstborn among many brothers you know what God's plan is for you I don't know specific details I don't always know specific details about my own life but here's the plan here's the big picture here's the plan that God is working toward in your life and that is to make you more like Christ it is to conform you to the image of Christ the word conform literally means to shape like to bring to the same form as to render something like something else God's goal for you the goal of his plan his purpose for you is that you'd be more like his son and I love the way he says it there so that Christ might be the firstborn among many brethren or brothers that word firstborn is used a couple times in Paul's epistles and it means to have the highest position so here he's talking about in the family Christ occupies the highest position in the family but he's a part of a family that has a lot of other members of that family who share a family resemblance who look like him and it's not outward looks it's not the color of your hair or the shape of your body it's your character it's your heart that's what God is forming to be like Christ and ultimately he is going to shape all of us to be like him so that Christ is the most important one in the family holds the highest position but all of us are like his brothers and sisters who look like him we share the same family resemblance now that's the goal that's the the goal of God's plan and purpose for you please get this please understand that it's not God's goal for you to be happy the American dream is to be happy what we often tell people is why I just want you to be happy that's not what God's saying it is not God's ultimate goal for us to be happy in life it is for us to be holy it is for us to be Christ like it is for us to be like his son and shape in that image it is not God's ultimate goal for you to be wealthy now if he gives that that's that certainly fine it's a blessing it's not that there's anything wrong with that not that there's anything wrong with being happy that's wonderful we all like it when we're happy but that's not God's ultimate goal for you God's ultimate goal is not for you to be wealthy God's ultimate goal is not for you to be healthy not necessarily I mean it's wonderful when we enjoy good health we all rejoice in that and blessed by that that's wonderful nothing wrong with that but like we saw with Paul God may actually use physical difficulties and limitations to bring about his ultimate goal and that is to be like Christ so God's ultimate goal is not for you to be healthy God's ultimate goal is not for you to be fulfilled in this life God's ultimate goal is for you to look like his son for you to be like Christ that's his ultimate goal to conform you to shape you to mold you in your heart your character and your lifestyle and your thoughts the way you approach life you're your outlook and worldview and that's the way you behave the way you respond to situations he wants all of that to look more like his son and so his goal the spirit will look like Christ that's his purpose the goal of his plan is Christ's likeness but then Paul describes the process it's wonderful that he tells us exactly how God goes about accomplishing that goal the process of his plan is described in verse 28 here's the process he used and we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him and he describes those who love him as those who have been called according to his purpose those who have been called to fulfill God's purpose and according to his purpose those who love him he's talking about believers there those who know Christ God is working in all things for our good now Romans 8 28 has become so familiar that we often just throw out the reference and expect people to know what we're talking about oh just believe in Romans 8 28 brother or that's a Romans 8 28 situation thank God for Romans 8 28 and we know what we're talking about at least we think we do and we hope everybody else knows what we're talking about it's one of those verses though that because it's so familiar we have a tendency to slide right over its meaning so what I want us to do for just a few moments is to wrap our souls in this verse I want us to take a few moments to see what it's really saying first of all we need to clear out some undergrowth and underbrush we need to talk about what it's not saying what this verse does not say Romans 8 28 does not say that everything that happens is good it does not say that people use it that way people say Romans 8 28 now just look for the good in this thing brother Paul is not saying that everything that happens is good there are things that happen in life that are bad that are wicked that are evil that are unjust don't sugarcoat that don't try to look through at it with rose colored glasses there are bad things that happen Paul is not saying that everything that happens is good secondly Paul is not saying that everything will turn out okay in this life he's not saying that he's not saying just wait just wait five years down the road everything will turn out okay in this life he's not saying that there are things that that will not turn out okay as we've already seen in Romans 8 until the curse is lifted and we're released from the bondage in the the curse and and of living in a fallen world so it's not like everything will turn out okay in this life things will turn out okay everything will be okay when we get released from the curse and we're in the Lord's presence Paul's not saying everything will turn out okay in this life thirdly Paul is not saying God calls his all things now I know enough the obvious you know just a little bit I know enough to know that ultimately God sovereign his decree and purpose will be fulfilled and it includes everything that happens in the universe but God is not the immediate cause of evil God is not the sending cause of wickedness or of bad things that's not what this verse is saying notice what it is saying and we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him in all things or some translations say God works all things together in the midst of whatever circumstances come your way obviously God is ultimately in control anything that comes your way he ordains or he allows and some things that he allows are just a natural part of living in a fallen world they are not good things they are not fun things they are not comfortable things they are sometimes very very hard things and they're suffering in this life whatever God allows he works together for good in our lives now notice again in the context the good is not what makes me feel good it's not what makes me happy it's not what makes me healthy or wealthy or fulfilled it's what makes me more like Christ that's the ultimate good that God is working toward in my life and in yours so it's not always going to feel good it's not always going to look good but the good in fact the word used here for good there are two Greek words for good the one that's used here is of moral good moral good it's always used that way in the New Testament and so he's talking about that moral likeness to Christ in God's eyes that's what's good so God is always working everything together for good I was studying and thinking about this message this week and happened to remember that I had just seen the new issue of Christianity day that just come out and I kind of scanned through it and I remembered it's the October issue and they had done an interview with Johnny Eric Suntata and so I pulled it back out and read it it's priceless that very name will ring a bell with many of you here this morning Johnny Eric Suntata who's you know been featured in Christian films about her life written the book about her life written some other wonderful books one about heaven one about suffering just an amazing woman at age 17 dove off of a pier at a harbour in outside of Baltimore didn't realize the water was so shallow her head hit the bottom broker-neck she was paralyzed from the neck now age 17 she's age 60 now so she's been in a wheelchair all of her adult life it hasn't stopped her she's done some amazing things to serve God but she's lived a very difficult life 10 years ago at age 50 she began having chronic pain and she's lived for 10 years in constant pain just a month ago they discovered she has breast cancer I mean here's a woman who's been through all kinds of suffering for 43 years she has suffered every day every night and she's just written the book that I'm going to get a book that they featured in this interview on suffering and the sovereignty of God but I want you to read her or listen to her response I just tore this article out of the the Christianity they on Friday and and they're asking a question about can you elaborate on new ways you think about God's character now that you're suffering again and you don't know what the future is going to hold and she answers that I wish I could read this whole article it's it's amazing but the next question is this you've hinted at a classic question how can a good God allow such suffering in the world how does your latest book on God sovereign to address that now that is the piercing question how can a good God allow suffering what what purpose does suffering have how does God use that how does why does he allow that and here's her answer when people ask that question even I struggle with that question she says and I do too you do too when people ask that question she says we aren't accepting the fact that this earth is wired to be difficult the rule of thumb is that we experience much suffering because we live in a fallen world and it is groaning under the weight of a heavy curse that is Romans 8 that's good Bible theology now notice what she says next notice the perspective that brings to her she says if God's being if God being good means he has to get rid of sin it means he would have to get rid of sinners God is a God of great generosity and great mercy so he is keeping the execution of suffering in other words he's continuing to use suffering and allow it to happen and work it together for good to conform to Christ he's continuing to keep the execution the carrying out of suffering he's not closing the curtain on suffering until there is more time together more people into the fold of Christ's fellowship that answer suits me and I think it would suit others if they stop and think suffering is connected to sin remember it was brought into the human experience because of Adam's sin if God were to get rid of suffering he'd have to get rid of sin and then he'd have to get rid of sinners and God is too merciful to do that now there are other questions and other excellent answers in that interview and and I would encourage you to get her new book on suffering in the sovereignty of God which helps peace all of this together and give a biblical perspective on suffering but what she's saying comes right out of Romans 8 Paul is not saying that everything is good or that God causes the immediate cause of everything that God sends evil that God causes evil God causes bad God causes suffering he's not saying that what he is saying is that in all things God works toward Christ's likeness for those who love him so here's how it works evil bad things have come into this world as a part of God's judgment upon mankind because of the sin of Adam it's a part of the curse it's a part of living in a fallen world and so we all experienced those things those difficult hard things those those things in a fallen world and Satan would love to use those things to destroy us and to defeat us and God says I will use them to make you more like Christ so I'll defeat Satan's purpose I will redeem I will buy back for my purposes even the bad things that happen as a natural result of living in a fallen world and I will work all of that together I will work in all of those things for your good in other words to make you more like Jesus and sometimes it is the hard things that we go through that conformist best to the image of Christ it was for Paul Paul said that's how I learned about God's strength was in my weakness that's how I learned that his power is made perfect in my weakness it was through that physical infirmity that I learned that I became more like Christ you see God is at work in your life using everything that happens even the things that naturally come into our life as a result of living in a fallen world and the groaning that we go through God is working all of those things together to produce Christ like this his good in your life that's the promise of Romans 828 someone has illustrated it this way it's like when you make a cake you know when you make a cake you put a different ingredients into that cake right you you might put flour I don't know what's in a cake I don't I don't even know what's in a box you know that you make them out of but I think some things like this will go into it you may use flour you may use butter you may use ladies what do you use you may use some salt you may use eggs raw eggs you know you may use some vinegar you use vinegar in cakes whatever you may use cocoa if it's chocolate cake there are different things you put into a cake right now would you eat any of those things by themselves I mean would you just chow down on flour would you eat a stick of butter I know some of you would do that but you're sick you do that would you just eat a stick of butter would you just eat raw eggs would you drink vinegar would you just chow down on salt no no none of those things are good by themselves are they but you mix them together in the right proportions and you put them in the heat and guess what comes out something that is wonderfully delicious and although this can be debated good for you it's good none of us likes to chew on the salt experiences of life or the vinegar experiences of life flower and raw eggs and the things that sometimes come our way none of those things by themselves are good they're not pleasant they're not easy but God has a way of mixing them all together and putting us through the fire and what comes out is something that looks and tastes and acts and responds like his son it's good it's good it's his good it comes out of the oven she's that's what Romans 828 is talking about God works in all things works together all things to produce something that is good for us to be Christ like that is the process that he uses one of my favorite sporting images is from the 1975 World Series when the Boston Red Sox were playing Cincinnati Reds in game six it's still played on television carton fisk the Hall of Fame Catcher from the Boston Red Sox hits a ball that looks like it's going to go foul and he's he's jumping toward the first baseline and waving his arms for the ball to stay fair and it did and it was a home run and at the classic sports shot still played on sports center today that home run and his reaction to the hit you know what that never should have been caught on camera the camera man who was focused on home plate was out in this in old Fenway Park where they had holes in the scoreboard and the camera was shooting through the scoreboard at the batter and it was his responsibility to follow the ball that was the camera man's responsibility but there was a rat down there around his feet and he was trying to figure out where is that thing and the camera stuck on carton fisk and we would have never seen that wonderful shot if it hadn't been for the rat you know some of the best things that will ever come out of our lives the best thing the image of Jesus Christ sometimes comes because there are rats at our feet God works in all things toward producing Christ likeness in us it's the process of this plan but there's more Paul doesn't even leave us there Paul says I want to tell you about the certainty of this plan in other words those who are in this plan of God those who know Christ and are going to be made Christ like it is absolutely certain that God is going to accomplish that plan in your life there's no question about it it is absolutely certain in fact what Paul does here is he takes us back into eternity past and starts with a five step process really the plan of salvation so let's describe here a five step process by which God assuredly certainly will end up making us like Christ and the amazing thing is this starts back in eternity past it doesn't start when you get saved that's step number four in this process when you get saved but it starts way back in eternity past and there are five steps in it let me quickly explain them the first step and this goes all the way back in eternity past the first step is in verse 29 for those God four new four new let me take just a moment on that word it's a very important concept but it's one that's often misunderstood a lot of people see this and they think well okay God looked ahead and he saw that I was going to trust him so he decided to save me that is not what the word means the word used seven times in the New Testament it has a Hebrew correspondence in the Old Testament the Hebrew word Yada and the word always means to set one's love on to enter a relationship with to know in that intimate sense it doesn't mean just having awareness of the future that's a misrepresentation of this word the word means to set one's love on to choose or to enter into a relationship with in fact the Hebrew word is so strong that it is used to know in the sense of having sexual intimacy with a husband or a wife it's the word that's used for instance in Genesis 4.1 and Adam knew his wife and she conceived an abhor son in an ancient set it's to know in that intimate sense of experiencing life with someone of having an entered into an experiential relationship with one and that's what the word means here now don't ask me to explain all the logic of that I'm not talking about logic I'm talking about Bible talking about the audience don't my Bible truth and I can't water down that word I can't make it mean something it doesn't mean that is what the word means in the Bible so what we're talking about here is that God somewhere in eternity past Paul says according to his own purpose in Ephesians 1 according to his four knowledge in 1 Peter 1 Peter says he chose us and entered into a new relationship with us I don't understand all that I don't I can't explain it all but that's what the Bible teaches that's step number one and then those those who he for new notice step number two he also predestined now that scares people that word scares predestination you're going to talk about election and predestination in church on sunny morning well let me explain what the word predestined means it's a Greek word pro or redzo it's pro horizon we get our English word horizon from it before horizon it means to establish the horizon before or ahead of time literally what the word means it means the horizon that you see you know like on the at the edge of the sky what what's going to be out there in the future is is determined ahead of time that's what the word predestination means but hold on if you're going to be true to this text and the other ways the word is used in the New Testament it's not it's not predestining us to be saved that's not what he's talking about that which is marked out ahead of time that that horizon that future certainty which is determined ahead of time is clearly described here what are we predestined do what is the horizon it is to be conformed to the image of his son the likeness of his son so for those whom God for new he has purposed that the horizon is already clear for you he knows where you're headed you're going to be like his son you're going to be conformed to his son I love the way Stuart Briscoe in his fine commentary on Romans describes this he says it's like this he says it's like my wife inviting guests to dinner and she decides ahead of time she predestinates that the meal is going to be roast beef now that doesn't keep the guests from turning down the invitation they don't have to come they've just been invited they have a responsibility to respond to the invitation and come it doesn't even mean that if they come and they respond the invitation that they eat they could sit there at the table and not take of the food if they want to have such a choice they have a responsibility what is determined ahead of time what is predestined is that if you come and if you eat you're not going to eat roast lamb and you're not going to eat chicken you're going to eat roast beef okay that's exactly what Paul's saying here he's saying for those that are believers what is predestined for you what is on the horizon what God has already decided will happen to you is that you'll be like Christ if you hear the gospel you have a responsibility to trust Jesus as your Savior to respond to the invitation and when you do that and you trust Christ as Savior then the what's marked out ahead of in your future is to be like Christ that's what God is predestined for you as a believer so those he for new he predestined now notice the third step those he predestined verse 30 he also called you know I get weary of people getting all been up in theological terms and not using the Bible if you study this idea of calling in the Bible there are two kinds of calling one is the universal calling general invitation to all people with the gospel that we are responsible to respond to but this is a different kind of calling this is a second kind of calling this is the work of the Holy Spirit in the heart of the person who's going to be justified everybody who hears this calling is going to get saved because the same people that are called here are justified also they're saved and so this calling is a special work of the Holy Spirit to to get someone to where they understand the gospel and they respond and they trust Christ that's the calling that's talked about here at Jesus talks about both kind when he says many are called fewer chosen you see there's a general invitation to everybody that we are responsible to respond to but there's a special sense in which the Holy Spirit irresistibly calls convicts people of their need of Christ and they trust him as Savior they're justified but justifications all the way done step four you see those he called he also justified that's to be declared righteous at the moment you trust Christ the Savior that's the moment of your salvation and that's step number four in this in this certain process that God is following to glorify you and make you like Christ justification is when you trust the Savior and you get saved and you're declared righteous in God's eyes so whom before new he predestined marked out to be like Christ whom he marked out to be like Christ ahead of time he called worked in their hearts by the spirit to draw them to himself and those that he called he justified he declared righteous now notice here's the best part well it's as good as the other four at least those he called he also justified those he justified he also glorified past tense notice that you haven't been glorified yet neither have I just check your body out you haven't been glorified yet look in the mirror you haven't been glorified yet that's still future glorification is when you get your new body and you get to heaven and you're like Christ but it is so certain that Paul speaks of it in the past tense the same people he for new he predestined he called he justified he has also in his mind already glorified that's eternal security I mean that's one way to state it but the biblical way to state it is everybody who's justified is already in God's mind glorified that doesn't mean I can live any way I want to the person who believes that doesn't understand the grace of God because Titus 2 the grace of God teaches me that to deny ungodliness and simple us I live soberly rightously in God in this present age if you understand the grace of God you don't want to live any way you want to but if you do understand the grace of God and you're saved you're already glorified in God's eyes quote Paul on that it's done that's how certain this plan is you will be in his presence someday you've trusted Christ it's that certain and this five step process that expands back into eternity past and reaches all the way into eternity future assures us of the certainty of his plan you will be like Christ someday now what he wants for you while you're here on this earth is to make as much progress as possible toward that but when he calls you home you'll be like Christ it's that certain he is praying for you yes plan for you those are wonderful provisions for this journey I love the story of Joseph I think the best biblical illustration of this passage is Joseph Joseph is 17 years old in the book of Genesis and he's especially chosen by God for a particular purpose that God is going to work out in his life but at age 17 he's receiving these dreams that communicates some of this information to him about how God's going to bless him in the future and he's not quite sure how to handle that but he tells his brothers all about it and they get mad at him and they hate him so much that they want to do away with him and so one day when they're out miles from home tending the flocks and Jake of the Father sends Joseph to check on the brothers they decide okay now's our chance we can get rid of this guy we hate him get rid of him and so they start out to killing but one of the brothers gets a little guilty about that and says you know we'll not do that look at the there's some traders over here coming by let's sell Joseph to them and they sell him into slavery and he goes into slavery into Egypt he's 17 years old now Joseph has the right outlook on things and he decides if this is where God has me for now I'm going to make the best of this I'm going to be the best slave I can possibly be and so he rises to a position of responsibility in the household of his master but what happens he is unjustly accused by his master's wife and thrown into prison is that good no it's not good it's bad that's unjust that's wicked just like what his brothers did is wicked we're trying to find a good in that that's wicked that's wrong but God is going to use all those things and use them as ingredients to put in a cake you see so he gets thrown into prison he just decides if this is where God has me for now I'm going to be the best prisoner I can be and so he serves the Lord faithfully there and gets some responsibility in the prison when Pharaoh has a couple of these guys who work for and thrown into prison they have dreams Joseph interprets them and they turn out to be right and so when the butler goes back to serve Pharaoh he says the but don't forget me remember me tell Pharaoh I'm here unjustly I shouldn't be here in prison and what happens the butler forgets all about him is that good no it's not good is that just notes not is it evil yes it's evil but God's going to use all that work it all together and finally when Joseph is 30 years old please note this has been 13 years we read it in 20 minutes in our Bibles and forgets been 13 years that Joseph has suffered as a slave and as a prisoner and finally his dream is recognized he is called out of prison to interpret Pharaoh's dream is lifted to the right hand of Pharaoh to be a ruler in Egypt but that's not the end of the story that's not yet God's purpose it's not God's purpose just to make him feel comfortable get out of prison it's God's purpose seven years after that when there's seven good years of crops and they're stored up by Joseph's direction and then the famine starts and a couple years into the famine his brothers have run out of food back in Israel back in Canaan and so they come to get food 20 plus years after it finally starts becoming clear how God is working all things together and even years later when Jacob their father dies and Joseph's still with his brothers and this is after the nation has grown and become mighty Joseph's brothers say now he'll kill us now that dad's gone and Joseph says the most amazing thing it's the Romans 828 of the Old Testament Genesis 50 verse 20 you minute to me for evil but God minute to me for good to save many souls alive he was able to see how God worked all of those things for 20 plus years to bring about good God's purpose here's the point my friend whatever your journey involves you can trust him whatever your journey involves you can trust him whatever twists and turns your life takes whether you see high mountain peaks or you're in the dark deep valleys whether your journey leads you to beautiful vistas or to dark gloomy rainy days whatever your journey involves you can trust him you can trust him because he's praying for you as he groans with you and he has a plan for you to become more like Christ and he will accomplish that plan you can trust him let's pray together Father thank you that we can trust you or there are times when this is all we have to lean on and I pray father for those who are hurting here today who are going through those dark valleys and those deep struggles and trials of their lives and maybe so confused and so shocked and so much in agony they don't know how to even have a pray Father I pray that you would encourage them today and comfort them with the realization that your spirit's praying for them and you are deeply interested in what the spirit's doing comfort them with the realization that you have a plan for them and that you will work all things in all things to produce the good of Christ's likeness in their lives ultimately you will accomplish your purpose help us to trust you when we cannot see you to trust your way when we cannot understand your way oh God comfort hearts who are hurting in Jesus name we pray amen