Welcome to the preaching ministry of Tri-City Baptist Church in Chandler, Arizona. Our desire is that God would be magnified through the preaching of His word, and that Christians would be challenged, strengthened, and edified in their personal walk with Christ. Let's take our Bibles tonight and turn again to the book of Romans, chapter eight. And we are finishing up a series. This will be four messages from this chapter. You could easily spend much more time in this passage, but we wanted to give you a, I don't know, as I said, this is not a bird's eye view, maybe, but maybe a low-flying bird, maybe, view of this chapter. But we have been studying this chapter where Paul stresses the truth of God's loving favor towards us. He reminds us that we live under the smile of God. And that is seen by the fact that there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. And we have been, given these truths, the fact that there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus reminds us that God's favor is upon us. If he declares that there is no condemnation, then there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ. And we have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit who makes us new creatures and indwells us and gives us the spirit of adoption. He confirms his pleasure as well with his people by the eternal hope that we hold on to, even in this world filled with suffering and affliction. And tonight we're gonna see the fourth indicator of his smile in his eternal loving plan for us. I titled this message, God's Eternal Plan. By the time I got to the end of the message, I added the word loving in there. As you'll see, as we get to the end of the passage, there is such an emphasis on the love of God, the love of Christ, His love for us. And it's seen really throughout, throughout really chapter eight, but especially here in this last section, verses 26 through 39. The last section ended in verse 25. We were reading where Paul talks about how we have a hope that we do not see, but we eagerly wait for it with perseverance. He talked about how we are in this body and we groan waiting for the final adoption, the redemption of our body. And then he states that in like manner the spirit also helps our weakness. He goes on in verses 26 through 39 to state that just as our eternal hope is secure, so is God's plan for our final redemption. So we hope for what we do not see. We groan, waiting for our redemption. And then he says here that the Spirit of God helps us in our weaknesses and groans for us also making intercession for us which in groanings which cannot be uttered because he searches the hearts and knows what is the mind of the spirit is because he makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. The Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness, our physical bodily flesh. praying for us, making intercession for us because we don't really always understand God's eternal plan. We don't understand what God is doing. We don't know sometimes how to pray as we should. But God is a sovereign God in heaven who has laid out a plan for us as his people. And we take comfort in that and take hope in that. God is not surprised by the twists and turns that the world takes. I heard many times my friend, Dr. Dave Ennis, who used to pastor up in San Francisco say, ask the question, has it ever occurred to you that nothing has ever occurred to God? That's a profound statement, really, to think about, that God has made an eternal, loving plan for his people, and that is comforting to know that God will bring that to pass as he has promised. And we as God's children can find comfort in the fact that God does have an eternal loving plan for us, his people. And so tonight we're gonna look at verses 26 through 29, and we're gonna see how the Spirit helps our ignorance of this plan. We're gonna see how God has, what his purpose is in his plan, and then ultimately the final victory of that plan. But I want us to go ahead and begin reading. I want us just to read the passage together, then we'll come back and we'll work our way through it as we get into this passage tonight. Beginning at verse 26. It says, likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now he who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because he makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God. to those who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he foreknew, he also predestinated to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he predestinated, these he also called, whom he called, these he also justified, and whom he justified, these he also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulations, or distress, or persecutions, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword, as it is written, for your sake we are killed all day long, we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities and powers nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Tremendous passage of scripture, a lot that's there that we'll only touch on tonight. But let's look to the Lord for his help. Father, I thank you for your word. I thank you for this time together tonight as we open your word together. I pray that you will speak to our hearts. I pray that you will help us to leave, Lord, with an understanding, a comfort, knowing that you do have a plan, an eternal plan for us, that you are a loving God who has planned for our good. And we pray, Lord, that we might submit our hearts, our lives to thee tonight. that you might be able to do that which you desire to see accomplished in our hearts and lives. We ask your blessing, I pray that you will fill me tonight with your spirit, open our hearts to your word, accomplish your will tonight in Jesus' name, amen. Tonight we're going to look at these verses and we're going to walk through his plan and see some of these, I think, important truths of this plan. The first, I think, very important lesson we get from this is that we can take comfort from the fact that the Holy Spirit assists us even though we are ignorant of God's plan and oftentimes God's will and direction for us. In the same way as we groan waiting for the redemption of our bodies, the Holy Spirit groans. He says likewise the spirit, verse 26, likewise, like what? Like he's talking about in the previous verses, like we long and groan for the redemption of our body. Likewise, the Holy Spirit groans with a feeling too deep for words. This is not talking, not having anything, saying anything about ecstatic speech or some type of secret prayer language. Rather, he, the Spirit himself, mentions he himself, the Spirit himself is intensely interceding for the saints according to the will of God. He is interceding for you tonight. He is interceding for me tonight. He's interceding for us because we don't know what to pray for. We do not know the perfect will of God, but he does, and the Father who knows the mind of the Spirit knows because he prays according to the will of God. Twice it speaks here of his intercession for us because of our human weakness. And it's not talking about any specific weakness, other than just the, I think, the overall general weakness of our flesh, of our humanity. Because of our human weakness and general ignorance of God's most perfect will, he enters seeds for us. Have you often been perplexed as to what you should pray for? I mean, you're faced with a situation, you really don't know, what do I ask God for, what do I pray for? Maybe you've prayed for something for a long time before realizing it was not the will of God. Could be you prayed for something as a part of what you thought God was leading you to do. Maybe it was for physical healing. Maybe it was for financial or material need. And you really did not know what God's plan was. Perhaps you hoped it was for a certain thing. That's part of the problem sometimes. Our will gets in the way in our praying. We want certain things. We try to convince ourselves that that has to be God's will. But we pray and basically God says no or God leads in an entirely different way or he shuts the door in a way that makes it very clear that he was not going to do that. The spirit always intercedes according to the will of God. And there is comfort for us as a Christian when we learn to submit our prayer to his will and seek God's will first. That's actually what praying in his name means. We're talking about Jesus said pray in my name. Well, praying in Christ's name is more than just adding in Jesus' name to the end of your prayer. Praying in his name is actually asking according to the will of God on Christ's behalf. One author put it this way, he says, it's learning to pray backwards. Rather than adding in Jesus' name to the end of my prayer, it's kind of tacking that on to give it like a little stamp of authority. It's beginning my prayer asking God, Lord, what is your will? I'm seeking your will for this. And it's the premise that my prayer begins with a thought. that I am asking in Jesus' name and I am submitting my will to the will of the Father. So we should be very grateful for the fact that we have, as a part of the gift of the Holy Spirit, Him working in our lives, helping us, even though we don't always quite understand all that God's will may mean for our lives. But secondly, we can take comfort from the fact that God's eternal plan is always for our good. Verses 28 to 30, he says, first of all, we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose. We know this. Why do we know this? We know this because we understand who God is. We know this because God has told us this. We know this because we know the character of God. He is too powerful to make a mistake. He is too gracious to do that which is mean and unkind. God is always a gracious God. And he causes all things to work together for good to those who love God and are the called according to his purpose. Now, I realize we use this verse a lot. And, you know, I realize sometimes it is thrown at people in difficult times, kind of our go-to verse. Well, you know, going through, you know, all things work together for good. Well, it's easy to say when you're not going through that. And sometimes it might not be the, even though this is a great truth, it might not always be the best first approach to encourage someone who's going through a trial. Hey, it's all for good, you know, as they've just gone through some tragedy. And we take it sometimes rather glibly, and sometimes these words can seem very cynical when spoke carelessly. But the fact is that God says here that he does work all things, causes all things to work together for good. Our comfort as a believer is that God has our best interest in mind, and that's reassuring, even in difficult times. But what is good is not always what we think is good. It doesn't mean make us happy, all things work together to make us happy, or all things work together to. to give us a good time. No, good here is in context of what he's describing here in these verses ultimately here that we would be conformed to the image of his son. We'll see in the next verse. God's good is what is for our eternal good. What is for that which is best for us and best for us as a part of his plan for us. And we see in verse 29 that we are dealing with a God who is infinite in knowledge and wisdom. These verses that speak here about how whom he foreknew, he also predestinated to be conformed to the image of his son. That's his plan for us, to be conformed to the image of his son. That he might be the firstborn among many brethren, Then moreover, whom he predestinated, then he called those he called, he also justified, and whom he justified these, he also glorified. It begins this procession of statements in verse 29, for whom he foreknew. Theologians argue over the nature of this word. First Peter 1.2 says likewise that we are elect according to the foreknowledge of God. And I believe, honestly, I'm not going to solve all the problems for you between Calvinists and Arminians. And so if you're getting your hopes up, let me set your peace. I'm not going to solve any of those deep theological knots that have been tied up through the centuries. But I do believe. that the reason, I believe a lot of the debate is centered around understanding what this word really means. And I believe the reason we in theologians of the ages have struggled with the issue of God's sovereignty and man's personal responsibility is tied up trying to understand the infinite mind of God. He who sees the end from the beginning has a depth of knowledge that we cannot even grasp. Our theologies are often an attempt by frail human men to arrange and understand the deep truths of God in order and manner that we can grasp. One of the best theological lessons I learned from a seminary professor a number of years ago was this discussion about the subject of God's sovereignty and salvation versus man's personal responsibility. And he made a list of verses, two categories. One was a list of verses that probably would have been key verses for those who would hold strongly to a confidence in the sovereignty of God and salvation. And the other list would have been a list that dealt strongly with man's personal responsibilities. And each of those verses, you read them, are pretty clear. Then he made the statement. If you have a problem with any of these verses where you have to do mental gymnastics to try to make these verses fit into your theological system, you probably have a problem with your theology or your theological system. I thought about that a lot. I thought sometimes we try, because we don't understand the mind of God and we don't have the mind of God, we try to take a verse that the Bible seems to clearly teach on a subject, but it doesn't necessarily fit in my reasoning. And we try to adjust that verse so that we can cram it into that section of our mind so that we can make sense of it. And oftentimes we explain that verse away. The problem is that we talk about this subject of whom he foreknew. It is hard for the infinite mind to grasp, the finite mind to grasp the infinite mind of God. It is hard for us who barely can see what's going to happen tomorrow to understand and be able to make sense of a God who sees the beginning from the end and who is all knowing as absolutely omniscient and all powerful. I thought of human illustrations. There really is no human illustration. I've heard people try to illustrate somehow the idea of God's foreknowledge, but there really is no good human illustration for it. The fact is that we serve an infinite God, and we get sidetracked on this, and I don't want us to get sidetracked on this because the point on this passage is What Paul is emphasizing is God's loving eternal plan for his people as a means of comfort to us. Those he foreknew, it says, he predestined to become conformed to the image of his son. That's God's plan for his people. It's his plan for you and me. And to do that, we're justified, ultimately we're gonna be glorified. All of his working in my life and his causing all things to work together for good are for the purpose that you and I will be conformed to the image of his son. And I take comfort in the fact that God has a plan for me and that ultimately he will conform me someday to the image of his son. That won't be completed on earth. I'm nowhere near it now, neither are you. but he is continuing to perform a good work in us and will continue to complete that work in the day of Jesus Christ. So I can rejoice in the fact, I can take comfort in the fact that God has an eternal loving plan and the Holy Spirit helps us, assists us in understanding that plan and that plan is always for our good. But then the third lesson I take from this passage is that we can take comfort in the fact that his eternal plan will be victorious. He will accomplish what he has set to do. If he said that his plan is that we will be conformed to the image of his son, we will be conformed to the image of his son. And in these verses beginning at verse, Paul asked a number of really rhetorical questions. And I took this list of questions, I really just boiled them down to three questions. Three areas, basically, that he asks. And that is this. First of all, if God is for us, who can be against us? I mean, seriously. If he delivered up his son for us, if God did not spare his son, but freely gave him to be the sacrifice for our sins. God has already decided whose side he's on. He gave us his son. Who else do you need on your side if God is on your side? His vote overrides all other votes. So if he says there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, there's no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. I mean, you can't argue otherwise. It says here that if he did not spare his own son but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Now, again, the parameters around that is all things that are for our good. He will give us victory, He will give us, He will answer prayers that are according to His will. He will guide us, He will lead us, He will protect us all within the barriers and with the parameters of His will and His plan for us. We have all we need to live for Jesus Christ. He has given us, Peter said, everything, all that pertains to life and godliness. We have the Spirit of God who indwells us, who has made us new creatures. We have his word to instruct us. We have prayer to have access to the heavenly throne. We have everything we need to serve Jesus Christ. You know, sometimes Christians try to look for excuses as to why we are failing in our Christian walk. Well, if only I had this, or if only this were true, or if God had made me like them, I wouldn't have the problems that I have now. No, the fact is, you and I have everything we need in Christ Jesus. We really have no excuse not to live for Christ. We have no excuse not to be faithful to him. He has removed sin from us as far as the East is from the West. As far as His condemnation of us, we stand justified in His sight. We stand righteous. We stand in the righteousness of Christ. I mean, think about that. We stand in the righteousness of Christ. So if He is for us, Who can be against us? You don't have anything to be sad about in this life. I mean, sure, we have difficulties, we have problems, we have issues that rise in our lives and family and friends and work and what have you, but wow, God is for us. If he is for us, who can be against us? And then the second question really kind of comes along, summed up in this, who will bring a charge against God's elect? It's God who justifies, who is he who condemns. It is Christ who died, furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. So, I mean, who dares to bring a charge against us? But the fact is, Satan is an accuser of the brethren. And his attacks often fall at the foot of the cross and are ineffective. Ultimately, they are ineffective. It is Christ who died. It was Christ who was raised from the dead. It was Christ who intercedes for us. If he is your advocate, your judge, your jury, and he says you're not condemned, then who can say otherwise? But Satan likes to play a game with us and our minds and oftentimes brings us under guilt. Many Christians struggle with guilt. And I praise the Lord that I was saved at a young age. I did dumb things as a kid, but I didn't do dumb things that had lifelong consequences. And I thank God for a Christian family and for Christian boundaries that were in guidance that was in my life. And I understand many times that people who are not raised in that environment do some things that have lifelong consequences. And the remnants of that sin and the memories of those sins are things that Satan uses to attack and to discourage you and to bring guilt. And yet the Bible says in 1 John, if we confess our sins, he is faithful to just forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Well, if he has cleansed us from all unrighteousness, then where does the guilt come from? We have been saved, if we have repented of our sins, we have cast ourselves at the foot of the cross, where does that guilt come from? It comes from Satan who accuses us, who uses those things in our life, tries to bring those things back into your memory, tries to use those things to accuse you of your conscience before our holy God. And sometimes we fall for it. And because we fall for it, we feel like, well, I'm just not able and really worthy to serve Jesus Christ because of this or this or this. Well, the fact is, that's right, you're not worthy to serve Jesus Christ on your own, but he's made you a new creature. You're in Christ Jesus, your sins have been forgiven. And in Christ, you have everything you need to serve Christ. In Christ, you have all that you need. And so who dares to bring a charge against God's elect? If God has saved you, if he has declared you innocent, declared you righteous, then don't let Satan lie to you and be throwing those lies constantly at you to discourage you and defeat you. If Christ has declared us righteous, what can anyone else say against us? Then thirdly, what can separate us from the love of Christ? As I was reading this passage and studying this passage, I was just amazed at how much how many times, what the emphasis on the love of God, love of Christ is in this passage. Verse 35, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? And then he says here a little bit later, at the very end, nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ. And then verse 37 says, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. The love of Christ, the love of God. The love of Christ who came and shed his blood for you. The love of God the Father in sending his Son for us. Who can separate us, who can set us apart from God's love, from the love of Christ? God's plan is an evidence of his love. God's plan is a picture, a portrait, a declaration of his love for us. So can the affairs and trials of this earth cause God to change his loving plan towards us? He lists here, shall tribulation, shall distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, sword. He says, as it was written, for your sake we are killed all day long, we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Can any of those things on this earth separate us from God's love, somehow remove us out of the favor of God? Or can any of the events on earth or beings in this world separate us from God? Can spiritual powers, he mentions here in verse 38, for I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. So can any of these things on earth, events on earth, can any of these beings in the world, can anything, this is a, This is an argument, he's arguing just to the extreme, almost to the absurd. Can any of these things separate us from the love of God? And the answer is a resounding no. For we are more than conquerors, he says in verse 37. More than conquerors. We are over conquerors. We are super conquerors. None of these things can destroy us. None of these things can separate us from the love of God. cannot happen because an eternal God who sees the end from the beginning has planned for my and your eternal glorification. His loving eternal plan for us will not be sidetracked. It will not be derailed. We will someday be like him as we shall see him. So because of God's plan, we are not just conquerors, but we are overwhelmingly conquerors through him who loved us. So I want you to realize tonight, and every night, realize that you and I live under the smile of God. He has forgiven you. You have accepted the payment for sins made by Christ on the cross on your behalf. He has given you the gift of the Holy Spirit in your life. It makes you a new creature. He has revealed his glorious hope to you. And he has told us about his eternal loving plan for us that will be assured by his infinite grace and infinite power. These things will take place for us. We will be conformed to the image someday of his son. So when you think about that, how can we thank him? How can we ever thank him enough for all that he has done for us? We can't. But we will have an eternity to sing him praise and to glory in his goodness. While on this earth, our lives should be lived for His glory. Our lives should be lived to bring praise to His name. The Bible says, let the redeemed of the Lord say so. Let us lift up praise to His name. The psalmist put it this way. In Psalm 68, four, sing to God. Sing praises to His name. Lift up a song to Him who rides on the clouds. His name is the Lord. Rejoice before him. We serve a God who has an eternal plan, an eternal loving plan for us. We live under the smile of God as his people. No condemnation. the gracious gift of his Holy Spirit to make us new creatures and to adopt us into his family, an eternal hope in times of suffering and difficulty in this world, and the knowledge that he has an eternal loving plan for us. Our hearts ought to be filled with, when we read passages like this, ought to be filled with just wonder and praise for the God who has saved us. We are so unworthy, but God and his mercy, God and his exceeding mercy has provided a plan, an eternal plan for us. You know, many people in this world don't know what tomorrow will bring. We don't know what tomorrow will bring for that matter, but they have no hope. They have no hope of return. If they die, they don't know what's going to happen. If they lose whatever it is they're holding on to for security, could be a person, could be things, could be a position in life. Once that's gone, that's gone. They have nothing else to live for. The believer has everything to live for. That God has brought and causes all things to work together for good, which is for us being conformed to his image. Praise God for his plan. Praise God for what he's done for us. May we seek to live a life full of praise and gratitude for his honor and for his glory. Let's pray.