First Baptist Church of Crawfordville Florida - Sermons Teaching Preaching Inspiration Help and Hope

Let's open our Bibles to Romans 8:28-30.

1. Misconceptions

a. Perseverance does not mean that Christians are exempted from all spiritual dangers

b. Perseverance does not mean that Christians are always kept from falling into sin

c. Perseverance does not mean that those who merely profess Christ without actually being born again are secure

i. Those whom God has foreknown and predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son will indeed come to that great consummation

2. Trouble Passages

a. Passages that seem to suggest that we can "fall away" from grace

i. Gal 5:4 You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace.

1. The contrast is between grace and law

2. Believers are being warned not to be led from grace to legalism

ii. Matt 13 The four kinds of soil

1. Jesus distinguishes between those who only "hear" the word and those who "hear the word and understand”

2. Those who understand and have the root of genuine life in them show it by their endurance and fruit

iii. Matt 25 The ten virgins

1. In the church many who are not genuinely born again will pass for believers...until the end

iv. 2 Pet 2:1-2 refers to people "denying the sovereign Lord who bought them."

1. Peter is speaking of people who have learned about Jesus

2. They have escaped much of the external pollution of the world

3. Yet Peter refers to them as "Dogs that returns to its vomit"

4. Their inner nature has not changed

b. Passages that seem to suggest that our salvation is uncertain

i. Heb 6:4-6 It is impossible...if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance

1. The author is encouraging the Jews to go on to full faith and not draw back again into Judaism

2. V. 9 We are confident of better things in your case - things that accompany salvation

3. The author considered his readers to be genuine believers who would not draw back

ii. Phil 2:12 Work out your salvation with fear and trembling

1. V. 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose

2. We work out what God is working in us

3. Warning Passages

a. Rom 11:20-21 Do not be arrogant, but be afraid. For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either

b. Heb 2:1-3 Pay more careful attention...to what we have heard

i. How shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?

c. 1 Cor 9:27 so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize

d. We need these warnings from God in order to persevere

e. These warning passages don't bother unbelievers

f. Only believers are troubled because they are concerned about their relationship with God

4. Perseverance Passages

a. John 10:27-28 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand

b. John 6:39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day

c. Phil 1:6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

d. Rom 8:31-39 We will persevere because this is God's plan for us

e. Hebrews 10:14 For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified

f. Ephesians 4:30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption

g. 1 Peter 1:5 who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time

h. John 4:14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life

Let's open our Bibles to Romans 8:31-32.

To endure opposition, focus on God's great love as seen in His gift of His own Son

The truth of God's sovereignty in saving us demands a response of worship and total submission

If you can just shrug off the glorious truths of vs. 28-30, something is seriously wrong with your heart before God

The truth that God is for us in the gospel means that we must evaluate all opposition and difficulties in light of God's grace

Paul is not denying the reality of strong opposition

Rom 8:35-36 mention tribulation, distress, persecution, and even death

Anyone who comes against us when we are standing for the truth of the gospel is actually going against God Himself

Evaluating Critics

Make sure that God is for you

Examine your heart by asking whether God could be using the opponent or critic to get you to deal with some blind spot, shortcoming, or sin

After you have honestly taken the first two steps, don't take the attacks against you personally

The truth that God has done the greatest thing for us in the sacrifice of His own Son means that He will supply us with all that is needed for life and godliness

God has done the greatest thing imaginable for us by sacrificing his own son

Christ's death was not ultimately a humanly caused tragedy, but a divinely ordained solution to our sin and guilt

Christ's death was substitutionary

Christ's death was particular, personal, and effectual

Christ's death was the supreme demonstration of God's love and grace for us sinners

God will graciously supply us with all that is needed for life and godliness

Let's open our Bibles to Romans 8:28-30.

Called - those whom he predestined he also called

There are two types of call:

External: general and ineffective for salvation

It is an invitation to all people to repent of their sin and turn to Jesus

Matt 11:28 Come to me all who are weary and burdened

Matt 16:24 If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself

John 7:37 If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink

Jesus is the light of the world, yet they crucified the lighthouse

Internal: specific, and effective for salvation

The call effectively saves all those to whom it is spoken

Rom 1:6-7 you are among those who are called to belong to Jesus Christ

Rom 11:29 God's gifts and his call are irrevocable

1 Cor 1:9 God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son

Eph 4:1 live a life worthy of the calling you have received

2 Tim 1:8-9 who has saved us and called us to a holy life

2 Pet 1:10 be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure

Why is the internal call effective? It is the call of God.

Isa 55:11 So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty

The effective call of God causes the regeneration of the one called

Jesus called Lazarus (who was dead) and he came to life

Justification - those whom he called, he also justified

The source of our justification is the grace of God

The ground of our justification is the work of Christ

The means of our justification is faith

The effect of our justification is union with Christ

Glorifies - those whom he justified, he also glorified

When Jesus returns, we shall be like him

Glorification is glorification with Christ

Glorification of the believer is bound up with the renewal of creation

Paul uses the past tense to declare the certainty of glorification

Sanctification - why isn't sanctification part of this list?

Our security does not depend on what we may or may not do

Sanctification is an inevitable consequence of justification

Sanctification is inevitable also from the standpoint of our glorification

Let's open our Bibles to Romans 8:28-30.

Let's open our Bibles to Romans 8:28.

"When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die." - Bonhoeffer

Main Idea: God uses suffering to grow us for His glory, according to his perfect plan.

We Know

This knowledge is not something we earn through external toil, but given to us through the salvation that He calls us to according to His purpose

Those Who Love God

We must continue to grow in our great affection for Him.

All Things Work Together For Good

For Those Who Are Called

According to His Purpose

Let's open our Bibles to Romans 8:26-27.

Knowing that the Holy Spirit tenderly prays for us in our weakness should encourage us to pray

1. All of us are weak, which is why we need to pray

a. A sense of our weakness will drive us to pray

i. Paul included himself with us as one who was weak

ii. We fail to pray because we think we are strong enough to handle life without God

b. Our weakness extends to our prayer lives

i. Concerning his thorn in the flesh, Paul didn't know what he should pray for

2. God graciously gives the Holy Spirit to help us by interceding for us in our weakness

a. The Holy Spirit is a person, the third member of the Godhead

i. The fact that the Spirit prays for us shows that He is distinct from the Father, to whom He prays

b. The Holy Spirit helps us

i. To help means to come alongside someone and take the other end and bear the burden with him

c. The Holy Spirit helps us by interceding for us on an emotional level

i. These may be the groans of the Spirit Himself, of which we are not aware

d. The Holy Spirit helps us by interceding for us according to the will of God

i. The Spirit takes our deepest feelings and unexpressed needs to the Father, who understands everything perfectly

e. The Holy Spirit's prayers for us are always according to God's will and thus are always answered

i. We should pray according to God's will as best as we can, but if God's decreed will differs from our prayers, the Spirit will correct our requests to line up with God's sovereign will

Don't let the fact that you don't know how to pray as you should discourage you from praying

Don't let the fact that prayer isn't easy discourage you from praying

Don't let the fact that your prayers don't seem to be answered keep you from praying

Let's open our Bibles to Romans 8:18-25.

To persevere in present sufferings with hope, keep your eyes on the future glory that God has promised us

The present time is marked by sufferings because of man's fall into sin

The whole creation suffers because of man's fall into sin

This text assumes that God is the creator of all that is

Even though the creation is fallen, it still bears witness to the majesty and glory of the Creator

All believers suffer because of man's fall into sin

Paul and Jesus suffered - we are not exempt from suffering

We need to think biblically about suffering so that we will grow through it rather than being destroyed by it

Our present sufferings are relatively short compared to our eternal sharing in the glory of God

The weight of our present trials is like a feather on the scale

Our future glory with God is absolutely certain

The fact of suffering does not undermine the fact that God has a plan and that he will accomplish his plan

John Piper - The point of our miseries, our futility, our corruption, our groaning is to teach us the horror of sin

The future will be marked by glory for believers as God fulfills all that He has promised us

The future glory is not totally revealed to us yet, but it includes the revealing of all that God has promised for us

Glory includes all of God's promises to give us the unfathomable riches of Christ

The future glory includes the full renewal of creation to its original perfection and purpose

The future glory includes our freedom from sin and its corruption, including the full redemption of our bodies

Keep your eyes on the future promised glory and you will persevere in present sufferings with hope

We hope for it because we have not yet received all that has been promised

Let's open our Bibles to Romans 8:17.

The Problem of Suffering

Q: Why does Paul drag the subject of suffering in here?

A: He knew that the people he was writing to were suffering

John 13:33 In this world you will have trouble

He was aware of many non-Christian approaches to suffering

Anger - they blame or even curse God for their misfortunes

Avoidance - they try to find something easier or more rewarding

Apathy - they adopt the attitude, "It just doesn't matter"

Suffering as proof of our relationship to God

Persecution

Matt 5:11 Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.

John 15:20 If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also

Jesus suffered - suffering proves that we are on the side of Jesus

Purification

Heb 2:10 it was fitting that God... should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering

God purifies us as a refiner purifies the metal

God disciplines us as an earthly father disciplines his children

Training

2 Tim 2:3 Endure hardness with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus

1 Cor. 9:27 I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize

The Power of the Christian's Witness

The witness of Christians carries particular weight when it is given under duress

Physical suffering gives particular clout to the witness of Christians

When Christians bear witness to Jesus when they might suffer the loss of all things for it, it's even more convincing

Suffering is the ordained path to glory

Suffering is necessary - Luke 24:26 Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?

Suffering is not the end - 2 Tim 4:8 Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness

Let's open our Bibles to Romans 8:17.

The Lesser Inheritance

A heavenly home

John 14:1-3 A place prepared especially for all believers

A heavenly banquet

The banquet stories present our inheritance as joy and secure fellowship

Rule with Christ

2 Tim. 2:12 If we endure, we will also reign with him

Likeness to Christ

1 John 3:1-2 We shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is

The Greater Inheritance - God is Our Inheritance

This is taught in the Old Testament

Psa. 73:25-26 God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever

Num. 18:20 I am your portion and your inheritance among the people of Israel

Josh. 13:33 But to the tribe of Levi, Moses gave no inheritance; the Lord God of Israel is their inheritance, just as he said to them

We are "co-heirs with Christ"

The only thing that can properly be said to be Jesus' inheritance is the Father's glory

John 17:4-5 Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began

Christ's inheritance is the glory of God

The Holy Spirit is given to us as the "earnest" or "deposit"

An earnest is a pledge of something greater and a part of what is actually to come

If the earnest of our inheritance is the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit is God, then the full inheritance must be God himself

The heroes of the faith in Hebrews 11 did not receive the promises while they were here on earth

They have gone before us to take possession of the inheritance prepared in heaven for God's saints

Let's open our Bibles to Matthew 28:5-6, 16-20.

v.18 All authority has been given to me…

Over politics, armies, industry, science, research, entertainment, media, sports, weather, planets, time, life and death

If this is true, following Jesus is the most urgent thing in our lives

If Jesus had not died, there wouldbe no need for the resurrection

If Jesus had not risen, there would be no significance to His death

Jesus was Crucified

The crucifixion of Jesus was public

Tacitus (Roman historian) recognized the crucifixion as historical

The crucifixion of Jesus was painful

Description of crucifixion from the article on “Cross” in the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

The crucifixion of Jesus was planned by God

Jesus predicted it – Matt 17:22-23a

The apostles acknowledged it – Acts 4:27-28

The New Testament teaches that Jesus was crucified by design

The crucifixion of Jesus was punishment for sin, but not His own

Christ gave Himself for our sins – Gal 1:4

Christ died for our sins – 1 Cor 15:3

He was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities – Isa 53:5-6

The crucifixion of Jesus was precious

We were ransomed with the precious blood of Christ – 1 Pet 1:18-19

To you who believe, therefore, He is precious – 1 Pet 2:7

Jesus was raised from the dead

He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said – Matt 28:6

It was public, physical, and productive

The resurrection of Jesus was powerful

All authority has been given to me – v.18b

Jesus is at the right hand of God - Acts 2:23, 7:56; Col 3:1; Heb 12:2

The resurrection restored Jesus to a place of authority

He cannot fail.

The resurrection of Jesus was personal

Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age – Matt 28:20

His personal presence makes it possible for us to love as we should