Acts - The Church and the Brethren - Colossians 1:24-27 & Romans 8:28-30

Good morning and happy Mother's Day to all you mothers out there. And yeah, I have a mother, believe it or not. And my wife is a mother. And it's amazing. We have two sons and they married gals and they became mothers. And we have a daughter who's a mother. So anyway, very personally significant day. But happy Mother's Day to you all. I have some bad news and some good news. The bad news is we're going to cover the entire New Testament today. The good news is not really. Okay? All right. So anyway, here we go. We have some really, really big words to cover.

There was a young lady at that point in time who lived up the hill from us on the farm. who ended up, well anyway, I'll cut the story a little bit short. At any rate, she would come down from time to time and eat with us. At any rate, we happened at various times to have actually way too much milk from the cows, to the point where we even threw whole buckets full sometimes to the pigs. At any rate, so this gal who lived up the hill would come down for meals at times, and you know, you've heard it where, you know, somebody is pouring something for someone else, and they say, well, say when? You know, you ever heard that? You know, say when? Well, I started pouring some milk for this young lady, and I say, say, Pneumonotra Microscopic Cilia Volcaniconeosis, which is, by the way, is black lung disease. Okay? And guess what? She couldn't quite repeat it in time, so I poured the whole pitcher out, you know. But anyway, that was just kind of fun because we had way too much milk at the time. Anyway, we won't be doing that here, okay?

I won't be asking you to pronounce any big words, but these words are big in significance. The book of Acts contains at least four key words or terms that have great significance and implications for us who are in the church, the body of Christ. And you may be wondering why I'm showing Leonard Nimoy with the Vulcan hand signal. There's a reason for that. We'll get there. So these four terms are church or churches. Those terms here begin with that, church or churches.

The next one is brethren or brother, and actually another one very closely related to it is sister, which is also used in the New Testament. A disciple or disciples, and there are related words to those, of course, and we'll be talking about that as we go through the book of Acts. And the fourth one is the faith, sometimes pronounced the faith, right, but the faith. And so the faith, to state it succinctly, is the set of teachings of the apostles. That's the faith. So we're going to have church or churches, brethren or brother, or sometimes sister, disciple or disciples, and the faith. And so we'll cover that in more detail.

Each of these four terms, words in some cases, or the term, the faith, begins in Acts 5.11, which we covered last Sunday.

Or it's interesting, brethren and disciple and the faith begin in Acts 6.1-7. And it's interesting, these terms get carried on throughout the book of Acts and as we'll see on into the rest of Scripture. So we'll Handle it this way, we'll take on the first two of these today and the last two on June 11th, which explains Lent.

It does? Well, here's why. Because these first two are going to be church and brethren. So we'll let that be. And then the next two are disciple and the faith. So you can go ahead and do that and walk around with each other knowing what that means. Forgive me for that. Okay, here we go. So let's take it from the beginning.

The beginning of the church, later known as the body of Christ, took place as recorded in Acts chapter 2. You will find those who contest that. But we're going to go on that assumption. It's going to become clearer and clearer as we go through the book of Acts, why that makes sense. That it's Acts chapter 2 is the day that is the beginning of the church. They have Pentecost, and as that has more recently been very clearly established, that was Sunday. May 24th, 33 AD. That was the day. As a matter of fact, it was about nine o'clock in the morning. Even more specific to that.

All of those who believed before that day became members of the church that they lived on into that day. As did all those who came to believe from that day until the day of the rapture of the church when Christ comes to take us all home. Now, so let's go through this.

John the Baptist, was he saved? John the Baptist was saved. It was he who said, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, right? This is John chapter 1. John the Baptist was saved, but did he live up to the day of Pentecost? No, he did not. The Bible records that. Didn't even live up to the time of Christ's own crucifixion, much less the day of Pentecost. So John the Baptist, though he was saved, was not a part of the church. Here's the thief on the cross next to Jesus. Jesus says, today you'll be with me in paradise.

Is he a part of the church? No, he's not, because he, though a believer, and boy, he just in the nick of the last few hours. By the way, does the last few hours count? Yes, it does. My grandmother, on my dad's side, died at age 87, just like my grandmother on my mom's side. They both died about age 87. But on my dad's side, she only believed in the last few weeks of her life. So is she a part of the church? Yes, right? Matter of fact, they both are. Okay, so now here you have that. Here you have Mary. Ah, now this is a big question.

Was she a part of the church? She is last mentioned along with Jesus' four earthly brothers, essentially half-brothers, right? Along with Jesus' half-brothers mentioned in Acts chapter 1. And we know that James and Jude lived on into New Testament times, the rest of the New Testament. James died in 62 AD, right? And the evidence being that Mary lived on, so was therefore a part of the church.

Can you imagine, here is Mary who bore Jesus, who later on, starting the day of Pentecost, gets to be in Christ, whom she bore. Isn't that amazing? But spiritually speaking, so Christ was in her. physically, right? She was in him spiritually. That's really kind of astounding and mind-boggling to ponder. So the day of Pentecost, all who believe up to that day and believed into that time were saved, as well as those who are saved subsequently, including all of us and including up to the last day of when the rapture takes place and takes us all home.

I hope it's today. I hope I don't get to finish this message. I hope this place is really, really empty. But anyway, we'll see. So the word church means, we use the word church and we'll say, boy, I've got to hurry or I'll be late for church. That's not what this is. Or, we've got to hurry and, you know, that song, Get Me to the Church on Time, right? That's the building, right? So that's not what this is talking about.

In the pages of the New Testament, the church refers to all those in the body of Christ, of all time from the day of Pentecost to the coming day of the rapture, when Christ comes for us. That's the church. Was Paul a part of the church? Yes. Was Peter a part of the church? Was Mary a part of the church?

Was Hal Malloy a part of the church? yes alright so now the word church is also used of a specific local church in one location the church Paul would address many of his letters to the churches or to a specific church to the church in Corinth or churches plural as we'll see examples of that may mean a group of churches it may mean all the local churches at one time instance of one specific church in the first Corinthians 16 1 & 2 he says now concerning the collection for the Saints as I directed the churches of Galatia okay so you also by the way that this verse 1 okay but that's Galatia now you have the bottom of page 1 and kind of a half page slide there and we're going to kind of step through it a little differently from the way we usually do things you can handle a little different can't you I mean, if you can handle Leonard Nimoy, you can handle this a little different.

OK, so here's how we're going to do it. So here's Colossians 1, 24 through 27. He says, now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake. So here's the Apostle Paul, who didn't believe on the day of Pentecost. Here's the Apostle Paul rejoices in his sufferings as an apostle for your sake, for the believers in Colossae.

Acts 9.16, guess what? The Lord Jesus, after confronting Paul directly, and we're going to talk about the way He does that, after confronting Paul directly, He tells Ananias, because imagine what's going through Ananias' mind. Not the one that's Ananias and Sapphira, but the Ananias who was in Damascus. You want me to talk to who? This is a guy that goes around killing Christians every chance he gets. Yes.

And so Jesus says, Acts 9.16, I will show him how much he must suffer for my name. And guess what? Did the Lord show him? Oh yeah. Oh yeah. I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake. These are the ones that the Lord showed him and also appointed him to. In my flesh, that is in my body, this isn't the flesh being the expression of the sin nature, but in my body I do my share, I do my apportioned, appointed part on behalf of His body which is the church.

Ephesians 5.23, Colossians 1.18, His body which is the church. in filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions. By the way, people see this. In filling up what's lacking in Christ's afflictions, how could Christ possibly be lacking in any afflictions? Right? I mean, that almost sounds heretical. Why would Paul write that? Here's why.

Acts 9, 4 through 6. How did Christ talk to the Apostle Paul when he confronted him there on the road to Damascus? He did not say, Saul, Saul, twice, right? Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting these believers? He didn't say that. Why are you persecuting me?

He took it personally. So that's one thing that's very important for us to recognize. is persecution and all the things we're going through, God takes it personally, and specifically, Jesus Christ takes it personally. He's not up there saying, you know, we shouldn't be thinking, oh, He's up there and He's having a great time up there in heaven, partying away, while I'm down here in misery. No, that's not the way the Lord looks at it.

Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? What is lacking in Christ's afflictions is all the persecution and suffering up to the day of the rapture. So your going through things is a part of what Jesus is talking about. Ever go through things? Maybe it's today. Maybe it's this last week.

Christ does not look upon those things that you're going through And some of them can be pretty rough. He does not look upon those things that you're going through as a believer, as, I'm up here, it's too bad you're down there having a rough time. Instead, he looks at it as being personally connected with the sufferings. And those will not be complete until what day? The day of the rapture. I hope it's complete today. Right? What is lacking in Christ's afflictions up until that last day. Right? And then of this church, which is the body of Christ, I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God. A stewardship is something entrusted to another.

Paul was entrusted with the gospel. He was also entrusted to a particular ministry. He was not given as a primary responsibility the Jews in Jerusalem, even though he had spent lots of time there. The Lord said, no, I have entrusted you with the gospel specific to be carried out to Gentile lands.

Bestowed on me for your benefit. You're the beneficiaries, but I'm the one entrusted. You're the beneficiaries, but I'm the one entrusted. so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the Word of God, and this is not simply the gospel of salvation, although it most certainly includes that, but the full teaching of the Word of God. As the Apostle Paul spoke to the elders at Ephesus, Acts chapter 20, we're going to get there. He says, I gave you the whole counsel of God, all the Word of God. I did it for three years, day and night with tears. He was not dispassionate.

Then we have this word, the mystery. If you're wondering, yes, this means the return of the moose. Because it's musterion, right? which had been hidden from ages past generations but has been manifested to the Saints. That verse is the definitive verse regarding defining the word mystery. What does the word mystery mean in the Bible? And this actually applies for both the Old and New Testaments, the whole Bible every bit. The word mystery means exactly what he defines it as, It's something that's been hidden from past ages and generations but has now been manifested to his saints. Has the church and everything about it been hidden in ages past? Yes. Has it been revealed, manifested, made known and made shown to the believers in the church age? The answer is most certainly yes.

That's the definition of the word mystery and that's the definition that fits throughout the whole Bible. even the Old Testament. So this is mystery defined is what we call it. It is Paul's definitive description and explanation of that word mystery that he uses multiple times. This is only one of them. And now has been deliberately made known to us in the church. This is key. Paul uses the word mystery numerous times from the Greek word musterion, which we jokingly but seriously picture with a moose, right?

Musterion, so you can remember that word, okay? It made known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery, same word again, okay? And what's glory? Glory is the radiant essence of who God is, okay? Very important to keep track of. The Bible uses it, and as you go even on into the last chapters of the book of Revelation, that's glory. Glory is the radiant essence of who God is.

Among the Gentiles, here is this mysterion word, this mystery, something that does not remain mysterious. Sometimes people in the church will say, well, that's a mystery. That's an improper use of the term. because it's something that does not remain mysterious, but something that is now revealed. That's how the word is used biblically.

And among the Gentiles means in the Gentile lands, because when Paul went to a new city, who did he go to first in that Gentile city? He went to the Jews first and then the Gentiles. That was always his sequence. He spelled out that sequence as he wrote in his letters. He lived it out, as we'll see in Acts, and he spelled it out as he wrote his letters.

And finally, Christ in you, the hope of glory. Galatians 2.20 is the central point with that.

Christ in you. Did the Jews in the Old Testament, even those who believe and we look upon as holy, did they have Christ indwelling them? No. Isaiah did not have Christ indwelling him. Was he an inspired author? Yes. But Christ in you is a church age truth that starts at the day of Pentecost. That's why we could say, here's Mary who physically had Jesus in her until his birth, right? But there on the day of Pentecost, Christ was in Mary. Isn't that amazing? That's an astounding thing to ponder.

So here's Colossians 1, 24 through 27. So we have at least four characteristics of the church as a mystery, that word musterion as used biblically, distinguishing the church from Israel. This is very important. This is part of our compare and contrast. This is the contrast part of it, right? And we have this use of the word mystery, mysterion, repeatedly in these passages. Number one, the Jewish and Gentile believers are united into one body, Ephesians 3, 1 through 12. So that would be an example. Here's Peter at the house of Cornelius. Acts chapter 10 was where that understanding began. By the way, that's not with Paul even, but with Peter. That understanding began.

Oh, you mean this gospel is supposed to go to the Gentiles too? What a concept! Right? What a thought! And so this would be the first one. In Ephesians 3, 1 through 12, it's stated as a mystery. Here is what is astounding about the last half of Ephesians chapter 2. Paul tells Oh, this is amazing. He tells the Gentiles and the Jews that the Messiah, imagine the Jews, this is going to blow their circuits, the Messiah took the law of Moses out of the way. Yeah, the Messiah did it. Wow, this is astounding stuff.

OK, next, Christ indwelling every believer, Christ in you, in this passage we just looked at, that's the next use of mystery and that is unique. to the New Testament epistles, it is unique to the church. Israel did not have that. The church as the bride of Christ is a mystery.

Paul says in Ephesians 5.22-32, ending in verse 32, this mystery is great, and he doesn't mean by that, this is really, really mysterious. What he means by that is this mystery, something just now revealed that hasn't been revealed before. You won't find this in the Old Testament. You won't even find it in the Gospels, right? But this mystery here, just now been revealed, and it is a great mystery.

Why? Not because it's really, really mysterious, but because it has huge significance. The church is the bride of Christ. The rapture, the catching up of the body of Christ to meet Him in the air, 1 Corinthians 15. Verses 50 through 58 calls that a mystery. Something revealed never revealed before. If you look for rapture passages in the Old Testament, you're not going to find it. Why?

It has just been revealed through the apostles and prophets, Ephesians 2.20, through the apostles and prophets who are a foundation to the church saints. That's it.

Okay, here's first Corinthians 10 31 and 33 that's not in your handout But this is whether you eat or drink or whatever you do do all to the glory of God verse 32 Give no offense either to the Jews or to the Greeks or to the Church of God So the Jews are also known as Hebrews or Israelites, right? And we'll see other reference to to them shortly The Greeks were the representative Gentiles in the Eastern Mediterranean because of what Alexander the Great had done a few centuries earlier. The Greeks were the dominant Gentile culture in the Eastern Mediterranean, so he uses that.

And then finally, the Church of God, the body of Christ. And that's the, of course, when he says Church of God, this is not a specific local church. This is what's called the universal church, the entire church body from the day of Pentecost to the rapture, all included. Give no offense to the Jews, the Greeks, or the Church of God. Don't stumble them over something stupid. That's what he's talking about. Ever hear of a church split? That's something stupid, right? That's something stupid, quite often.

Okay, now here you have this table, it's on page two. And just in case you want to keep a copy of this printed out, you know, like this and all, we've got some additional copies on the cabinet to the right as you exit this room. And we'll also have some posted on the website so you can print them out and fold them up and put them in your Bible. You don't have to fold them if you have a really big Bible. and you can put it under your pillow or whatever suits you, right? So, at any rate, this is great stuff. All right, so we'll look at it.

On the left-hand column are categories of comparison. Remember we talk about comparison and contrast and how important that is? These are categories of comparison of these different groups, Gentiles, Israel, and the Church. And then Gentiles, Israel, and the church are the categories of comparison and contrast. Comparison, what is the same? And contrast, what is different?

So we'll step through that. One is Gentiles. Those are non-Jews. Sometimes people come here at Holly Hills and, what's a Gentile? Well, it's non-Jew. That's all it means. It's that simple. Isn't that nice? Next we have Israel, and then the third one is the church.

The distinction between these two ends up being a point of controversy in the church for centuries. It needn't be so. The tendency among people who look at the Bible is either to mix them all and say they're pretty much the same thing, Or, the other tendency is to say, well, they're entirely different and they have nothing to do with each other, and that's not exactly true either. Let's instead compare and contrast and look at these objectively, as they were revealed.

So Gentiles is often called in the Bible, Old Testament and New, the nations and the peoples. You will find only very rare exception, and even in the Book of Acts, Very rare exception to that, the Gentiles being called the nations or the peoples. Israel is called Hebrews, Jews, sometimes Jacob, especially in the Old Testament. The nation and the people, singular.

And again, that's a pattern to Old Testament and New. Very rare exception to that use. There is one exception that I've found so far in the Book of Acts. The church is the body and bride of Christ. Notice that we have these three categories. The category that they are being compared to is they are also called. So this is contrast, isn't it? Contrast. Next.

We have the churches, excuse me, so now we have when did they begin? When did they begin? And that's the Gentiles begin in Genesis 1 through 11. So you can read about their beginning in that passage. So here, for example, was Noah. Was he a Gentile or Jew? Gentile, right? Now, Israel, the Jews, Jacob, right? All that. Genesis 12 through 50. Here is Abraham who is a representative Gentile brought out to originate the Jews. That's what this tells about is how the Jews were separated from the Gentiles. from Genesis 12 through chapter 50.

And finally Acts 2 through 28, and we've begun in those chapters, Acts 2 through 28 is the beginning of the church. So that's one of the reasons why I'm so excited to be able to go through Acts 2 through 28 with you. As a matter of fact, the whole book, but especially these chapters. It's the beginning of the church. This is God is starting, forming an entirely new group. Let's take a look at that. So you have Gentiles started first, Israel and all the terms that go along with it started secondly, and the church, including both some of Israel and some of the Gentiles, right?

I don't know about you, but I'm a northern European mongrel. So far as I know, I have no Jewish blood, unless it's very obscure. I have various kinds of northern European family connections, ethnically. I'm a part of the church, which actually is a prior category. It is a higher category than whatever my genealogy happens to be.

All right, so then we also have who is the primary steward primary steward. So Adam and Noah will be the primary stewards. Are there others? Yes, there certainly are, but you see Adam at the beginning and Noah at the pivotal time of the flood, where he and his wife, his sons, and their wives were the ones who were kind of passing on the population and other things. Next, for Israel, we have Moses. And we'll see the identification truth regarding the Jews and Moses soon. The Church, Christ. Now, so think about it.

Each of those handed off the stewardship to another, didn't they? So did Adam say, well, you know, I'm going to stick around for years and years and years and years because I have the stewardship I have to carry on. No, he's going to die at some point, even though he lives a lot longer than most of us do. But he ends up passing on his stewardship, even though it's broken. Noah had to pass it on to others. He didn't live forever.

Moses passed on his stewardship to whom? Next one in line was Joshua. And then to the leaders of each of the tribes. Then for the church, we have Christ passing on his stewardship to the apostles. Now we have the reigning principle as the law of conscience for the Gentiles. This is spoken about in Romans chapter 2. We have the law of Moses. All 613 laws of the law of Moses, 365 of them, like the number of days in the year, are things not to do. You've got them all memorized, right? The Law of Moses.

And then finally, the Church Grace. So next, whose works? For both the Gentiles and Israel, it's self. But for us, we are reliant upon Christ's works. an entirely different basis for works. Christ died for all. That's why you'll see them Gentiles, Israel, and the church. Christ died for all the sins of the whole world of all time. Jew, Gentile, and all those Jews and Gentiles who make up the church. He died for the sins of all. Christ died for all. Next, saved for both Gentiles and Israel. who are ethnic distinctions.

Some are saved and they're saved by faith. So let's ask, was Noah saved? Yes. By how? Faith. Would Noah have been saved if he didn't build the ark? Yes. On the other hand, we wouldn't be here, right? So then we have Israel Some are saved by faith. Just because, and this is what Jesus kept telling the Jews, just because you're descended from Abraham doesn't mean you're getting into the kingdom. That, to them, by the way, was shocking news. The church, all are saved by faith. If you're not saved by faith, you're not a part of the church.

Very different from Gentiles and Israel. Identification and baptism in Adam is the identification for Gentiles, with Noah, and among the nations. That's the designation for those who are identified among the Gentiles. In Israel, it's baptized into Moses. By the way, the reference for that is in 1 Corinthians chapter 10. Baptized into Moses and in Israel, repeatedly in the Old Testament. For us, we are baptized into Christ and in Christ are some of the primary terms used for identification. They're not the only terms. But identification and baptism are phrased interestingly differently for each of those groups.

Here is the nature of the blessings. Initial blessings for Adam and Noah regarding earthly production. And God blessed Adam, right? Be fruitful and multiply, right? And then Israel, it was conditional and earthly. That's Deuteronomy 28, the primary passage. Verse 14 verses, there's your blessings. By the way, in the land twice. From verse 15 on to the end of the chapter, many, many, many, many verses, curses. And by the way, in the land twice. So it's conditional, it's earthly.

When you read Psalm One, blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly. Guess what? That's the man who walks. What about the one that doesn't walk? You're not blessed. For us in the church, however, it is unconditional and it's heavenly. So we can't read Psalm 1, which is the first one of the Israel's national hymn book. We can't read Psalm 1 and assume that the blessing is the same. It's not. Our blessings are unconditional, no conditions upon it, and they're heavenly. That's where we're blessed.

Earthly difficulties. The interpretation or understanding of earthly difficulties was, for the Gentiles, it was the fall. Limitations cause people to seek God. And by the way, that's what the Apostle Paul says, as we will soon see, in Acts chapters 14 and 17. Limitations are to cause people to seek God. For the church, there is conformity to Christ, that's why things happen that are bad, or for discipline.

All the way from, ouch, that hurts, but I'll get over it in a minute, to Ananias and Sapphira, you're coming home. For Israel, curses are for disobeying. That's again, Deuteronomy 28, starting in verse 15 to the end of the chapter. Curses are for disobeying for Israel.

Now, so then a difference. For the Gentiles, who are not under the law of Moses, still the principle of law mixed with grace. See, people want to mix law and grace. It's already been done. God already did that, okay? Law and grace are mixed for the Gentiles. Let's even ask for Adam. What law did he have? Don't eat from that tree. It's that simple, right? So how do you do with that? Not so good, right? Law and grace.

If God says, that's it, you're gone, right? He said to Adam beforehand, if you eat of it, the day that you eat of it, you will surely die. And actually, the Hebrew says, you will die, die. You will die, die. Israel, law and grace. In both cases, What's salvation by? Remember we talked about that earlier? The Gentiles are saved by faith. The Jews are saved by faith, not by following the law. A person could be saved by faith, but pick up a piece of firewood a half an hour too late on the Sabbath. And guess what happens? He's going to die, even though he's saved eternally.

For the church, full on, full out, pedal to the metal, maxed out, pure, absolute, and total grace. Mountains of grace, fountains of grace, all grace, all the time. No exceptions. Got that? Do I need to go over it again? No, I won't. Okay. So grace is partial. Grace is partial for the Gentiles, except that salvation is entirely by grace, right? Israel grace is partial. For us in the church, grace is the reigning principle. Grace is the reigning principle.

Next, the Spirit's role for the Gentiles will be poured out in the kingdom. The Spirit also has some role prior to that, but the full expression of the Holy Spirit's ministry will be poured out upon the Gentiles. during the coming millennial kingdom, which can start as soon as seven years from today. Next, Israel has the new covenant in the kingdom.

This is very, very frequently mistaken by people as they read the Bible and interpreted, I have heard it here, at churches where people went to good solid seminaries, supposedly, and they'll teach the law was written on your heart. The law was written on your heart. Was the law written on your heart? No. That is taking a promise to Israel and applying it to us in the body of Christ.

The Church, the Spirit, indwells each believer always. And that has multiple purposes. As we've handed out a number of times, Hal put together a list of 22 different ministries of the Holy Spirit to us in the Church. Great summary. And I think looking at it here, the Spirit indwells each believer all the time.

Next, Christ's kingdom title, the bridegroom with whom will reign here in the church. For the Gentiles, however, it will be King of Kings and Lord of Lords. That's recorded in Revelation chapter 19, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And King of Israel and the Messiah is the title with Israel. So those titles. Now, finally, what's the gospel? The gospel of substitution is the primary gospel aimed at the Gentiles.

Christ died for your sins, was buried, and rose again. Earlier on, they didn't have all the details to that, and so believing in what God would do without having the details was considered sufficient. Did Abraham know that Christ would be born in Bethlehem and grow up in Nazareth and that he would be crucified? No, he didn't know any of that. But he believed God for what God did reveal at the time, and that was accounted unto him as righteousness.

So substitution is the primary gospel directed to the Gentiles. Kingdom and substitution is the primary gospel aimed towards Israel. We are going to see that throughout the book of Acts, both Gospels, specifically with the Kingdom Gospel given to the Jews throughout the book, all the way to the last few verses. Finally, substitution is the primary message given to the church.

We have a place in the kingdom. It is not the primary gospel presented to us in the church. It is, however, a relevant gospel and one that we should know. So you have this as a page two in your handout. We have additional copies so you can keep it under your pillow, right? Okay.

Now, Romans 8.28-30, we're going to do similar as we did with the Colossians passage, and we know, and by the way this is a passage we covered in our electives here just a little bit earlier, and we know that God causes all things to work together for good. And by the way, are Christians intended to know what God has revealed? Yep. Okay? Are Christians intended to be able to understand what God has revealed and to have certainty about it? Yep. Okay?

And we know. This, by the way, is perfect tense. Not always brought out. And we know perfect tense. What does that mean? And we have known in the past completely with ongoing effect on into the present, on into the future, implying permanence unless the context says otherwise, which it does not here.

And we already know with full effect on into eternity that God causes all things to work together for good for those who love God. Does that mean everything's good? No. We are free as believers to say, no, it wasn't good. But God works all things for the good. What's the good? For those who love God and are called according to His purpose, for those whom He foreknew, He also predestined." Predestined! Are we all Calvinists now? No. Predestined to what?

This is not predestined to be saved. It's predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son. And this is comforting. This is not the perseverance of the saints. This is comforting because, guess what? Even if I blow it badly, if I'm a believer, I'm predestined to what? To be conformed to the image of His Son.

That's the good! Right? That's the good. It doesn't mean that a Christian has to go out pretending everything's good. Oh, it's all good, it's all good. No. some things are really, really, really bad. And we're free to say so. That was not a good thing. But everything for the believer has a purpose, and each believer is ultimately predestined to be conformed to the image of his son. And that's good.

So he would be the firstborn among many brethren. That's actually the theme of what we have here. So to predetermine is to Determined in the past to be true in the future to be reality, okay? So that he would be the firstborn among many brethren Christ right with the firstborn among many brethren.

That's you and me and These who excuse me these he also predestined whom he predestined he also called a So He determined these things to be in the past. What? He also called those whom He called, He also justified, and these He justified, He also glorified. He determined it to be in the past.

Okay? Done deal. So predestined is not, oh no, I don't get to make any decisions, God made them for me, and if I blow it, God made that decision too. No. Okay? Predestined means, and this is something people quite misunderstand, don't worry it's all going to turn out okay it doesn't mean that everything that happens is okay it doesn't mean everything that we do is okay it's all going to turn out okay is not adequate really really really good right even if it seems here on earth really really really bad and it might be God foreknew you and determined in the past, He predestined, for you to be conformed to the image of His Son, Jesus Christ. And by the way, please take that personally. This isn't theoretical. This isn't hypothetical. Please take this personally, very personally.

Jesus Christ was the firstborn among many brethren, including you, if you're a believer here this morning. his brethren whom he also called justified and glorified done deal it is so certain that if it hasn't happened yet it is expressed as if it had including the glorified thing that's not all done is it So what is amazing, and this also includes this predestined word, here is Ephesians 1, 3 through 6, and what's going to happen, I cut this off at 6, because otherwise we'd be here all afternoon, and you don't want that. This is Mother's Day, right? Okay.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing, with a few of them? A couple of them? Two or three? A handful? No. Every spiritual blessing in the heavenly place is in Christ. Where? In the heavenly places, in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, He chose you in Christ before the foundation of the world.

And by the way, that's before He said, let there be light, and it's in Him. Frankly, if it wasn't in Him, I'm not choosable. I'm just not a candidate, except that I'm in Him. So when does in Him start? Before God said, let there be light. That we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons, which by the way is not just adopting a baby. This adoption of sons was one Greek word that signified the Roman custom of adoption. according to the kind intention of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace which he freely bestowed on us and the beloved."

And I'm going to truncate my message. Why? Because I've gone way too late and we need have time to take the Lord's table. Okay? All right, let's pray. Lord, we want to thank you for what you've laid out here. Thank you for the ways that you've blessed us. Thank you, Lord, that these key words, that we are brethren, that we are in the church, are things that you have designated as having eternal significance. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.