Your Bibles to Romans chapter 8 verse 28 Romans chapter 8 verse 28 This morning I spoke a little bit on God's purpose as a part of the message this morning. And I want to pursue that topic that is God's purpose a little bit more this evening, especially as it relates to the redemption of God's people and to eternity. So we're gonna read from Romans 8, 28. and then many other places as well tonight. So the message tonight is God's purpose. Let's bow our heads for prayer. Our kind and most gracious heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you for this time we have together here this evening, together to worship you, and I just pray, oh Lord, for your Holy Spirit to touch us, to reach out to us, and minister to us, oh Lord, in this service. to enlighten us, to encourage us, Lord, as you see the need or you see fit for us. Help us to indeed understand more about your eternal purpose. I just pray this in Jesus' name, amen. All right, Romans chapter eight, verse 28. And it says there, we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose. So we're focusing in on that last word in that verse, his, last two words I guess, his purpose. God has a purpose in all that he does, especially the redemption of his people. Now it's difficult, in fact, really it is impossible for us to know the full purpose of God. But we can know what he has revealed to us about that in his word, and he has revealed much about his purpose, some of the things that he purposes to us in his word. And one of those is that he has called a people to himself, and he does this with an irresistible call. We know that all things, again, work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. So he gives a specific call to his people that has been redeemed by Christ on the cross, and this according to his eternal purpose. You see, turn to Acts chapter two. We'll be at a couple of different passages in Acts now. Acts chapter two, verse 22. We know that he purposed in regards to the redemption of his people, a people for his son, he purposed to deliver his son into the hands of men for crucifixion. In Acts chapter two, verse 22, it says, ye men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know. Him, that is Christ, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be holden of it." What I want you to see in this is God's purpose to deliver the Son into the hands of wicked men for the purpose of crucifixion. There was no loss of control there. There was nothing that happens in regards to our Savior and his betrayal and his crucifixion that was by accident or that happened beyond God's control. God delivered Christ up for that purpose. And this was accomplished through the wicked betrayal of Judas and the evil judgment of the Sanhedrin and of Pilate. Now God did not force any of them to do this, but he made use of their willful sin to bring about the crucifixion of Christ for the sins of his people. Turn to Acts 4, verse 28 now. Another verse, Acts 4, 28, where it says, for to do whatsoever thy hand, and thy counsel determined before to be done. He determined beforehand for these things to be done. This was decreed from eternity. Gil says, what they wickedly did, God designed for good and hereby brought about the redemption and salvation of his people. This neither makes God the author of sin, nor excuses the sinful actions of men, or infringes the liberty of their wills in acting. So what these men did for wicked purpose and wicked intent on their part, they did and they are responsible for, and God made use of this in his predeterminate counsel that Christ must suffer at the hands of men and die the cruel death on the cross that his people might be redeemed. This makes the redemption of God's people a matter of glory to God alone as he determined to work this out according to election. Turn to Romans chapter nine now. Romans chapter nine. Now, election is something that he has proven in his scriptures in accordance with the lives, in particular, of Jacob and Esau, Isaac and Rebekah. We find this taught here in Romans nine, verse 10. Starting there, we'll read down through verse 16. And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by her father Isaac, for the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth. It was said unto her, the elder shall serve the younger. We'll pause for a moment. What Paul asserts here in his letter to the Romans is that God determined beforehand which one would be blessed and which one would not be. He determined which one would serve the other and which one would be served. He did this not based on what they would do, not based on anything that they might earn for themselves, not based on any merit to be found in them. In fact, if you look at them for much of their lives, there's not much of merit to be found in either one of them. He did this to prove that he can do this, that he is sovereign. and that he is the one who has elected a people for himself. He can elect as he chooses. Verse 13, as it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For he said to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. And I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. You see, that is something reserved for God to do and to have. And whatever God does is always good and perfect. And it is always right and it is always just. God can act in no other way. So if he determined this and he purposed through election to bring this to pass, then we must know he can certainly do that when it comes to the salvation of a people for himself. Verse 16, so then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. I wanna go now to Ephesians chapter one, verse 11, a verse we've read a couple of times now last Sunday night. I think again this morning, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him that worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. God does not have to take counsel with man to figure out what he wants to do. Now, among men, that's common. In fact, it's a wise thing to do for a human, to take counsel with someone else, others who are wise, to help figure out what to do in a situation. And that's because we're limited. I don't know everything, you don't know everything, but together we might be able to piece some things together, you know, and figure out a wise course of action. God doesn't have to work that way because he knows all things. He, his wisdom is all-encompassing. He doesn't have to consult anyone, nor does he. He makes his decisions as he will. Look to 2 Timothy 1 now, verses 9 and 10. 2 Timothy 1, verses 9 and 10. It says here, who has saved us and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. He saved us, he calls us with a holy calling, And again, this isn't because of anything we do, not of our works, but according to His own purpose and grace. And this was determined before the world began. Verse 10, but is now made manifest. What He determined in eternity is made manifest in time by the appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. So we see in all of these things God's purpose, that he has a purpose in all that he does, especially the redemption of his people. Now let's focus in more narrowly on the eternal nature of God's purpose. In Ephesians 3, verse 11, we read, according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus, our Lord, God works with an eternal purpose. Now you and I cannot say that about ourselves, right? All that we do or that we plan to do is constrained by time and other things. This is not so with God. We can determine from the scriptures certain things. Again, as I said earlier, we may not know all the purpose of God, but we can know that which he has revealed to us, and he has taken pains to reveal to us certain things. The scriptures teach us, for instance, as we've stated numerous times already, the purpose of God is eternal. It is from everlasting to everlasting. When God decrees something or determines something, the impact of that is eternal. Once again, you and I can't do that. All we can do is hope to affect time for a little bit, for a little while, maybe. But God goes beyond time. He is in eternity. In His decrees, His actions have eternal consequences, eternal impact. Secondly, the purpose of God includes all things. Now, God permits us to make certain choices and to do certain things by choice. In other words, He does not predetermine every one of our actions or our decisions. but he is still in control and in charge of these things. An illustration I heard a long time ago to help explain this, it's like God creates a pond and he creates fish and he puts those fish in that pond. And those fish can swim wherever they want to, do whatever they want to within the pond, but they are constrained overall by God. So what they do will not be outside of his eternal purpose. But he is God of the choices that those fish make. So we're like those fish, okay? We make certain choices, we make certain decisions. And God is in overall charge of what happens. Now, we should understand, though, a little bit of of clarity on this, that he can prevent us from, say, committing a particular sin. He can, and I think does, prevent that from happening, okay? He can intervene as it pleases him to do so. He also, for that matter, can prevent us from doing, maybe making a choice that's not necessarily sin. And I'll give you an example of this from the scriptures. The Apostle Paul on a missionary journey is traveling across Asia Minor. And he and those traveling with him, and I forget which one they choose first, they either chose to kind of veer to the south first, and God led them not to do that, impressed them with his Holy Spirit not to do that, then they decide they're gonna veer to the north, and God stops them from doing that, he leads them against that, and they end up continuing on basically straight, and that carries them on into Europe, into Macedonia. So God was in charge. He overrode their thinking and their decisions and led them in a different direction. God can do that. That's because he is sovereign. There is a fine line there between his sovereignty and human responsibility and human choice and human action of will, but God will always prevails over our will. We can understand that, we can know that. And when it comes to a contest of the wills, who always is going to win that contest? Well, God will. to accomplish his purpose as he sees fit. But we can know that his purpose takes in all things, and even those times when we do, and he may permit us to make a sinful choice, he does not author that, he does not make us do that, but if we do make that sinful choice, he is still God over us, that doesn't change anything. and he can still take our sinful choices and accomplish his purpose even yet. That is the amazing sovereignty of God. Number three here, the purpose of God has for its peculiar design the everlasting benefit of God's elect. In other words, everything that God has purposed is for the ultimate spiritual and eternal benefit of his covenant people. Fourth, the purpose of God is immutable and sure. The Lord himself says in Isaiah 46, 10, my counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure. And in its ultimate end, God's purpose will accomplish the eternal salvation of his chosen people. and the glory of his own great name. Psalm 33 11 says, The counsel of the Lord standeth forever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations. Proverbs 19 verse 21, there are many devices in a man's heart, nevertheless the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand. And then Isaiah 14, 24, the Lord of hosts has sworn saying, surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass. And as I have purposed, so shall it stand. We cannot must not overlook the eternal nature of the purposes of God. And we can take great assurance in this because if he has decreed that his people shall be given spiritual life and that they shall live forever, that can't be changed because God is immutable. There is nothing that can change or make God, force God to change that. There is no circumstance that can arise. There is no other power that can contest with God over this when he has declared that it will be so when it is so. And that should give us great assurance and great hope to know that when the Lord quickens us, and we come to understand that we have been given spiritual life, and we make a profession of faith in the Lord as our Savior, and we then have hope for eternity, we can know that that hope is sure, and that we will experience eternal life as it must be defined, eternal. It cannot be lost, it cannot be taken away. It will be ours to enjoy forever to the glory of God and most certainly to our great benefit. From all of this, we must conclude that the rebellious sinner must bow the knee to God and repent. And I'm going to tell you, every rebellious sinner will do so. Those whom God quickens here on this earth will do so, as they acknowledge God as their sovereign God and Christ as their Savior. And I hope we do so often, as long as we're on this earth, we bow that knee before the Lord in repentance as needed. But that rebellious sinner, the ones not quickened by the grace of God, they will bow the knee to God on the day of judgment. They will declare Christ to be the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. They will speak that out, for they must. They will no longer be able to deny it. They will no longer be able to rebel against the idea. It will be before them and there is nothing they will be able to do about it. So we can conclude that. We can also conclude that the obedient saint must then In light of this, raise the voice in praise to God. Raise the voice in praise to God. How we should do that. How we should ponder the attributes of God. How we should consider who he is. his great characteristics, his sovereignty, and raise our voices in praise to him and thanksgiving to him because he is our God. Where are you? Are you the rebellious sinner? Or are you the obedient saint at present? Either way, there's a call to you to respond. In repentance or in praise, where are you at tonight? What do you present to God? Who is God to you? And how much? Does this determine? What you're doing in the choices you're making? Sometimes there's a great disconnect. Among those who say they are Christians. Among those who have made professions of faith. In their actions, they say one thing in their actions show another. You know it should not be so. Let us turn to Christ. Let us follow him. and let us show by our actions that we belong to him, that we love him, that we worship him. Let's pray. Our kind and most gracious heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you for this day you've made for us. It's a wonderful day to be in your presence, to worship you together as a congregation. I pray, Lord, that you would speak to our hearts concerning these verses that we've just heard. Lord, I come to you now as well, asking your blessing upon this business meeting that we are about to undertake. I just pray, Lord, that your Holy Spirit would lead us and guide us in the decisions we need to make, that they might always speak for your honor, for your glory, and that it would be for the good of your people in this congregation. Lord, we trust in you. We follow you. We ask these things in Christ our Savior's name and for his sake, amen.