WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:01.919 Good morning, Redemption Church. 00:00:02.080 --> 00:00:03.439 Thanks for joining us this morning. 00:00:03.600 --> 00:00:05.599 Let's go ahead and read our scripture for today. 00:00:05.839 --> 00:00:09.279 This is Romans eight, verses twenty-six through thirty. 00:00:09.919 --> 00:00:14.240 Says, likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. 00:00:14.640 --> 00:00:22.719 For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us, with groanings too deep for words. 00:00:22.960 --> 00:00:40.560 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God, and we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 00:00:41.119 --> 00:00:50.320 For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined, to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 00:00:50.560 --> 00:00:53.280 In those whom he predestined, he also called. 00:00:53.439 --> 00:00:56.000 In those whom he called, he also justified. 00:00:56.159 --> 00:00:58.799 In those whom he justified, he also glorified. 00:00:59.039 --> 00:01:00.079 This is the word of the Lord. 00:01:00.240 --> 00:01:01.600 Would you pray with me? 00:01:02.320 --> 00:01:32.239 Holy Father, I pray for our church, although separate today, pray for each person who is gathered in front of their TV this morning, that the power of your word, proclaimed and applied by your spirit, might be transformative in our hearts, that we might be nourished by your word, in the same way that you say we don't live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the Father's mouth, why might we be nourished by your word this morning and live by it as a church? 00:01:32.560 --> 00:01:39.040 Lord, while we are apart, would you give us the comfort in your presence to mourn our absence from one another? 00:01:39.280 --> 00:01:46.239 In this our eighth week, separate from one another, would you apply your comfort to our hearts? 00:01:46.480 --> 00:01:55.760 That what we miss by being apart in body, Lord, would we learn a new sense of comfort by the presence of your Holy Spirit with each of us? 00:01:56.640 --> 00:02:05.439 And Father, I pray that we would be able to gather together again quickly, that you would bring healing to our country and you would bring healing to our world. 00:02:06.079 --> 00:02:11.120 Lord, we ask these things because you call us, you call yourself our healer. 00:02:11.360 --> 00:02:16.879 And it honors you and glorifies you to ask these things from you. 00:02:17.120 --> 00:02:19.520 So, Lord, we lift this up in Jesus' name. 00:02:19.759 --> 00:02:20.400 Amen. 00:02:21.199 --> 00:02:22.639 Thanks for joining us this morning. 00:02:22.800 --> 00:02:24.080 My name is James Rathman. 00:02:24.159 --> 00:02:26.879 I'm the pastor here at Redemption Church Denver. 00:02:27.120 --> 00:02:34.240 And today is really exciting because we are uh hosting our first membership class today. 00:02:34.400 --> 00:02:38.080 So that class is going to take place immediately after the service. 00:02:38.319 --> 00:02:41.759 And the link to join the Zoom call that the class is on. 00:02:41.840 --> 00:02:48.400 Yes, you get another Zoom call in your life, is in the description of this YouTube live stream. 00:02:48.560 --> 00:02:54.560 Uh so if you just click that link in the description, right after the service, it will take you to join the membership class. 00:02:54.719 --> 00:03:10.000 And it's about 90 minutes, and we're going to cover what membership is and why it's so important and biblically grounded for a church to have members who commit formally to the church body and to one another. 00:03:10.639 --> 00:03:14.400 Likewise, we'll be going over our statement of faith. 00:03:14.639 --> 00:03:37.039 So at Redemption Church, we want to clarify exactly what it is that we hold to as our core and make sure that what we're committing to is not uh our organizational structure or uh the particular elders that happen to be in place at this moment in our church's history, uh, or even the particular congregants that happen to be here. 00:03:37.199 --> 00:03:43.439 But rather what we're committing to are the truths of scripture, uh, the gospel of Jesus Christ. 00:03:43.599 --> 00:03:48.080 And so we're going over our belief statement to uh bring some clarity and understanding. 00:03:48.159 --> 00:03:51.199 And then finally, we'll be covering the membership covenant itself. 00:03:51.439 --> 00:04:03.840 So if you consider yourself, or if you consider Redemption Church Denver your church home, then I ask that you would join us uh today, right after the service for our membership class. 00:04:04.080 --> 00:04:11.439 Now, if you aren't able to join today, then we'll be offering it again this week, Wednesday evening at 5 p.m. 00:04:11.840 --> 00:04:13.599 Um, it'll be the same Zoom link. 00:04:13.759 --> 00:04:16.399 You can find that Zoom link in our app as well. 00:04:16.639 --> 00:04:19.120 So that'll be right after the service today. 00:04:19.519 --> 00:04:20.720 It's such an exciting thing. 00:04:20.800 --> 00:04:24.639 I could keep rambling on about it forever because it feels like such a culmination. 00:04:24.800 --> 00:04:37.680 And this is the direction we want our church to be heading in, to be growing in health and togetherness as a body, uh, as we learn better, to make disciples, to learn obedience uh under the proclamation of the gospel. 00:04:37.839 --> 00:04:41.279 So uh yeah, this is a really exciting day. 00:04:41.519 --> 00:04:45.600 Now, we're continuing our series through Romans chapter eight. 00:04:45.759 --> 00:04:59.439 Uh, this is one of the most encouraging chapters in all of scripture, and it's been such an important part of my life that when things seem off the rails, I tend to just find myself going back to this particular chapter to rest my soul. 00:04:59.759 --> 00:05:08.160 And this uh section of the chapter that we're going over today, it shows us how we find our help amid suffering. 00:05:08.399 --> 00:05:14.399 The Spirit offers a present help amid the sufferings of life that we experience. 00:05:14.959 --> 00:05:43.759 Last week we saw how our culture and society have these normal dispositions towards suffering, and that both the religious disposition towards suffering, which often views it just in terms of punishment, and the irreligious disposition towards suffering, which often views suffering just in terms of attachment, both teach us to view suffering with contempt, meaning it's something that we don't need to necessarily engage with. 00:05:43.920 --> 00:05:50.319 But in fact, if suffering comes upon us, then we either just need to learn our lesson and get out of it quickly. 00:05:50.720 --> 00:05:58.959 And even better, we can just detach ourselves from the suffering from the situation and no longer truly experience that suffering in our hearts. 00:05:59.199 --> 00:06:09.199 What culture teaches us is if suffering comes upon you, then it's because you just haven't figured out the right strategy or the right mental framework to be living in. 00:06:09.360 --> 00:06:17.040 And once you figure that out, you'll learn that suffering in life is just optional and able to be avoided. 00:06:17.279 --> 00:06:23.199 But scripture actually teaches a very different uh method of understanding suffering. 00:06:23.759 --> 00:06:42.560 We see that in the life of Christ, although he lived perfectly in complete obedience to the Father, in perfect rhythm with the created uh uh order of creation, he still experienced a life full of constant suffering. 00:06:43.040 --> 00:06:47.759 So scripture teaches us that suffering is not an accident to be avoided. 00:06:48.160 --> 00:06:54.879 Now, it's not something that we can just strategize our way around, but it's a fact of life. 00:06:55.600 --> 00:06:58.959 In this life, we will suffer. 00:06:59.439 --> 00:07:10.240 And so rather than giving us strategies to avoid suffering, Scripture encourages our hearts so that we're able to keep moving through the suffering. 00:07:10.480 --> 00:07:27.839 Last week we saw that Scripture offers this incredible encouragement through suffering as it paints this picture of the glorious hope that we are moving towards, that in the end we will be finally resurrected with Christ, and the whole of creation will be redeemed. 00:07:28.000 --> 00:07:37.360 And so all of the death and all of the decay and all of the entropy that seems to reign in our lives, and all of the difficulty and bewilderment that we experience will be done away with. 00:07:37.519 --> 00:07:41.839 And God Himself will be present with us, wiping every tear from our eyes. 00:07:42.079 --> 00:07:45.040 We'll be able to enjoy Him forever. 00:07:45.360 --> 00:07:47.519 Now, that type of glory is amazing. 00:07:47.600 --> 00:07:58.319 And it's so it's so great that Paul even says that uh the sufferings of this present time aren't even worth comparing with the glory that is to come. 00:07:58.560 --> 00:08:03.920 So that means when we're experiencing that glory, we'll look back on the suffering and say, yeah, that was bad. 00:08:04.079 --> 00:08:11.439 But it did not in any way merit this type of incredible glory that we're experiencing now. 00:08:12.000 --> 00:08:36.000 Now, that type of hope is so great that if you were to just consider it at face value, I think we'd expect, okay, if I just know that, if I just know that I'm heading towards such a glorious hope, then that should be enough mental furniture to be able to reach back from that hope way off in the future, pull it up into the present, and just swallow up any suffering that I'm experiencing now. 00:08:36.240 --> 00:08:55.759 So that the argument I get in with my spouse or the loneliness that I'm experiencing during this pandemic or the fear of loss of income that I'm experiencing or health concerns or family drama or whatever it is, I might be able to sit in and just know, you know what, this is bad, but that glorious hope in the future is going to be so much better that it doesn't even matter what this feels like now. 00:08:56.799 --> 00:09:04.080 Now, uh there's a sense in which it is helpful and it is motivating to see that glorious hope way off in the future. 00:09:04.240 --> 00:09:19.600 But if you've been a human person for any amount of time, you'll know that uh it's not so simple, that our present experience of suffering is not so easily swallowed up, no matter how glorious a hopeful future we may be moving towards. 00:09:19.840 --> 00:09:29.600 And so what we need is help in our present experience of our weakness. 00:09:30.159 --> 00:09:52.159 A lot of the difficulty we experience with our present suffering is we can't connect the difficulties that we are currently going through with the glorious outcome that we are moving towards in the final resurrection, living with Christ in the new heavens and the new earth. 00:09:52.480 --> 00:10:09.919 You know when you're running a marathon, for example, you know that each step you take, although contributing to your pain, is also moving you directly towards your goal of the finish line. 00:10:10.399 --> 00:10:17.679 And you can make that connection from your hope in the future to the present movement of each step. 00:10:18.159 --> 00:10:21.919 But in our lives, it's much more difficult and much more complicated. 00:10:22.000 --> 00:10:26.240 It's far less clear than the steps running a marathon. 00:10:26.399 --> 00:10:35.039 What does the loss of a loved one have to do with moving me towards this glorious future in the new heavens and the new earth? 00:10:35.360 --> 00:10:45.679 What does this argument that I can't seem to find my way out of with my spouse have to do with moving me towards this glorious future and the new heavens and the new earth? 00:10:45.759 --> 00:10:47.679 What does this loneliness have to do with that? 00:10:47.840 --> 00:11:00.240 You know, it's far more difficult to draw a line from our present experience of suffering to and connect it to this glorious hope that we're experiencing off in the future. 00:11:01.919 --> 00:11:09.279 This week, we see that we are offered a help in our present suffering. 00:11:09.759 --> 00:11:21.279 And that help is the spirit connecting the present moments of our lives to that glorious future that we will experience in the kingdom of God. 00:11:22.879 --> 00:11:27.440 The Spirit helps us in our current suffering by showing us the future glory. 00:11:27.679 --> 00:11:42.480 So what we're going to see today is the Spirit's help in our weakness, the Spirit's help for our good, and the Spirit's help towards our glory. 00:11:43.039 --> 00:11:52.000 So it helps us in our weakness, it helps us for our own good, and it helps us move towards our future glory. 00:11:53.519 --> 00:11:54.240 Let's begin. 00:11:54.399 --> 00:11:56.960 This is Romans 8, verse 26. 00:11:57.600 --> 00:11:59.440 Help in our weakness. 00:12:00.399 --> 00:12:04.320 It says, likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. 00:12:04.559 --> 00:12:07.919 See, that's where I got the section title. 00:12:09.679 --> 00:12:20.159 For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 00:12:22.080 --> 00:12:28.639 Now, it's a wonderful thing just to hear, okay, the Spirit helps us in our present weakness. 00:12:28.960 --> 00:12:38.639 But then at a first reading of this verse, we might think, okay, but it seems to be limiting where the Spirit helps us in our weakness, because it's just talking about prayer. 00:12:38.960 --> 00:12:44.960 Spirit helps us in our weakness because we don't know what to pray for, as we ought to know what to pray for. 00:12:45.200 --> 00:13:00.159 So perhaps the rest of our life where we experience lots of weakness, you know, we we don't know what job to apply for, we don't know whether to stay or leave, we don't know whether to engage in this drama or to remove ourselves. 00:13:00.480 --> 00:13:06.480 And all those other areas of weakness that we experience, perhaps we should just be able to figure those out. 00:13:07.039 --> 00:13:10.720 But in prayer, we can count on the spirit's intercession. 00:13:11.759 --> 00:13:19.039 Now, uh, this isn't actually a limiting of the weakness in which the spirit helps us. 00:13:19.200 --> 00:13:28.240 What's being given to us here is a maximal example showing, look, this is the weakest you could possibly be. 00:13:28.480 --> 00:13:31.360 You don't even know what to pray for. 00:13:31.600 --> 00:13:42.879 And so if the spirit helps you at the weakest you could possibly be, then of course it will help you in the weakness that you experience in all other areas of your life. 00:13:43.039 --> 00:13:46.399 Of course, he will help you in all of those areas. 00:13:48.240 --> 00:14:01.360 Now, the reason this is a maximal example is it wants you to consider if we don't know what to pray, then how weak are we in all other areas of our lives? 00:14:01.919 --> 00:14:13.440 Basically, what it's saying is the situations that you're in right now, it may feel like you have to claw your way out of this suffering. 00:14:13.679 --> 00:14:25.600 That you're going to have to figure out some magic riddle, some relational dynamic or some financial jujitsu in order to figure your way out of this suffering, and you're going to be able to make it by the skin of your teeth. 00:14:25.840 --> 00:14:30.320 And if you summon the strength and you summon the effort, perhaps you'll be able to make it out. 00:14:31.120 --> 00:14:45.279 But what this imagines is what if, in order to make it out of this suffering, in order to even just make it through this suffering, you just had to ask for the right thing. 00:14:46.399 --> 00:14:50.320 What if all you had to do was ask for it? 00:14:52.080 --> 00:15:03.679 What this verse is saying, this description of our weakness, is even if all you had to do was ask, you wouldn't even know how to ask for the right thing. 00:15:04.399 --> 00:15:08.480 You wouldn't even know what to pray for as you ought. 00:15:09.360 --> 00:15:21.440 Now, this shows us one of the worst parts of suffering as a human is it's not just the pain itself of whatever it is that we're going through. 00:15:21.679 --> 00:15:25.360 It's the bewilderment that that pain causes. 00:15:26.000 --> 00:15:35.360 This past week, my uh son, who's three, uh, he's getting to that age where he's working himself into more and more sermon illustrations. 00:15:35.600 --> 00:15:38.320 So we're all just gonna have to deal with that together. 00:15:38.559 --> 00:15:49.120 He was riding his new strider bike, um, which uh is one of those one of those little kid bikes that you see where it doesn't have pedals and they just kind of push themselves and they learn how to ride a bike. 00:15:49.440 --> 00:16:04.480 So he's riding that and he's getting pretty good, pretty confident, and he was going down a hill, and he just went off the hill and over the side of the road and down this bigger hill on the side of the road and like full-on wipeout, big, gigantic wipeout. 00:16:04.720 --> 00:16:08.559 Um, but he's a toddler, so they're all just drunk all the time. 00:16:08.720 --> 00:16:12.399 So he wasn't hurt uh uh physically. 00:16:12.639 --> 00:16:19.759 But the the fall was so big that it just terrified him and really surprised him, and so he just started crying and crying about this fall. 00:16:19.919 --> 00:16:29.759 So we pulled him up and I was holding him, and the first thing that he said through his tears was uh, I was just sure I could make it down the hill. 00:16:29.919 --> 00:16:35.279 I was sure I could, which was so sweet and completely heartbreaking. 00:16:35.440 --> 00:16:41.039 Uh, but that perfectly captures the way that we often experience the pain of life. 00:16:41.360 --> 00:16:46.879 You know, except for us, it's not, I was just sure I could make it down the hill on my bike. 00:16:47.039 --> 00:16:55.840 Uh it's I I was just sure that if I approached this conversation with with you know more directness, that things would go better. 00:16:56.159 --> 00:17:02.559 I was just sure that this job was going to have a different outcome than the one before it. 00:17:02.799 --> 00:17:08.960 I was just sure I if I got my ducks in a row, I wasn't going to be taken advantage of again. 00:17:10.079 --> 00:17:25.440 And then when we're experiencing it the hurt of the situation, we're driven into this bewilderment, which is I I just I was just sure everything I knew about myself and the hill was that I could make it down it. 00:17:25.599 --> 00:17:30.720 And if I can't even make it down that, then what do I know about the world? 00:17:33.359 --> 00:17:44.160 And that what that leads to, I think, is is a type of maturity because it's a deeper understanding of the reality of our weakness. 00:17:44.720 --> 00:17:48.079 That we don't even know what to pray for as we ought. 00:17:50.799 --> 00:18:05.440 You know, to be acquainted with our weakness in a genuine way is to see that the problems in the world are not just us missing out on what we want. 00:18:07.279 --> 00:18:12.319 But they're just as often us receiving what we want. 00:18:13.440 --> 00:18:17.519 They're just as often us getting what we've asked for. 00:18:19.440 --> 00:18:32.000 Now, when we're that acquainted with our weakness, and when we find the world and its complexity that bewildering in our suffering, what incredible news it is. 00:18:33.359 --> 00:18:46.480 That the Spirit, the Holy Spirit of God intercedes on our behalf with groanings too deep for words. 00:18:47.279 --> 00:18:48.559 We pray. 00:18:49.519 --> 00:18:59.359 We don't know whether to ask for God to heal this person's sickness or to to take them away and in their life so that their suffering might cease. 00:18:59.599 --> 00:19:01.279 We don't know what to do. 00:19:01.680 --> 00:19:05.279 Either, we could argue the case for either one, we don't know what to pray. 00:19:05.519 --> 00:19:06.799 So what do we pray for? 00:19:06.960 --> 00:19:13.119 We pray what seems good to us, and on the inside we groan in the tension. 00:19:13.680 --> 00:19:19.200 Now, this is the third time that this term groanings has come up in the chapter so far. 00:19:19.440 --> 00:19:29.279 First, it was used to describe how the creation itself groans as it looks forward to the redemption of the sons of God, which are Christians for us. 00:19:30.400 --> 00:19:47.119 And the next is that we ourselves groan as we physically experience the decay of the world and as we come to the bewilderment of an existence in which uh an eternal life is impossible to discern from the evidence. 00:19:48.160 --> 00:19:51.599 And here, the Holy Spirit groans. 00:19:52.480 --> 00:20:00.720 Now, look, the Holy Spirit of God is not confused, He is not bewildered by our circumstance. 00:20:01.039 --> 00:20:04.240 These are not His groanings. 00:20:05.359 --> 00:20:31.440 Instead, the Spirit is taking on our groanings, the groanings of creation that we share in, because of the corruption of sin, and taking those before the Father, and perfectly relaying them so that he might bring them into glorious conformity with God's good purposes for the world. 00:20:31.680 --> 00:20:33.680 Here's more the the mechanics of that. 00:20:33.759 --> 00:20:45.599 In Romans 8, 27 says, And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. 00:20:45.839 --> 00:20:49.359 Okay, that's just like a word salad, so let's slow down. 00:20:49.599 --> 00:20:53.200 And he who searches hearts, that's referring to God the Father. 00:20:53.359 --> 00:20:56.640 He's the one who searches out our hearts. 00:20:57.119 --> 00:21:01.039 Now, God the Father knows what is the mind of the Spirit. 00:21:01.279 --> 00:21:06.400 Now, of course, God the Father knows the mind of the Holy Spirit. 00:21:06.640 --> 00:21:09.039 They have the same mind. 00:21:09.279 --> 00:21:14.400 They are one, perfectly united as one, the Father and the Spirit. 00:21:14.640 --> 00:21:22.640 And so he knows the mind of the Spirit because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. 00:21:22.799 --> 00:21:32.960 So the Spirit's intercession in our prayers, taking on our groanings, is for us, for the saints, those who are in Christ. 00:21:33.200 --> 00:21:38.960 And he's interceding for us according to God's perfect will. 00:21:39.599 --> 00:21:45.200 So, what does that mean of our weak prayers where we don't even know what to ask? 00:21:45.519 --> 00:21:54.319 We don't even know uh how to ask for what we want or or what we should want when we're when we're asking or how to say that sentence. 00:21:55.839 --> 00:21:58.079 In our weakness. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:11.359 The Holy Spirit brings our groans into perfect conformity with God's will, which makes our prayers completely effective. 00:22:11.599 --> 00:22:16.640 This means that our prayers are not like wishing to a genie. 00:22:17.200 --> 00:22:36.640 You know, when you wish to a genie, after you first you have to find a cave, a magic cave, and awaken the cave from its slumber, and then find a lamp, and then, and then when you wish to that genie, uh basically the purpose of those wishes are to show you that you don't know what to ask for. 00:22:36.880 --> 00:22:41.279 Uh, because when you finally get it, you realize, oh, this did not work out at all. 00:22:41.759 --> 00:22:44.640 Our prayers are not like wishing to a genie. 00:22:45.119 --> 00:22:59.599 Our prayers are like coming and groaning before our perfect father, who who hears beneath the particulars of our request, and he hears the groan of our heart. 00:22:59.759 --> 00:23:06.880 And then the Spirit Himself takes that groan before the Father and says, Look, he doesn't know what to ask for. 00:23:07.119 --> 00:23:09.519 So he's asking for this thing. 00:23:09.759 --> 00:23:11.519 You know, he doesn't know what to ask for. 00:23:11.599 --> 00:23:15.920 So so he's asking for the sickness to be healed. 00:23:16.160 --> 00:23:24.720 But he doesn't know that that through this sickness, you're bringing this family together and you're you're showing the glory of your healing that it's just going to take longer in this time. 00:23:25.759 --> 00:23:31.279 Uh, so what his groan is really for, this is the Holy Spirit talking now to the Father. 00:23:31.519 --> 00:23:36.160 What his groan is really for is for your good purposes in this thing. 00:23:36.559 --> 00:23:41.359 So work out those good purposes in this pain. 00:23:42.319 --> 00:23:48.480 See, we're not praying to a genie, and that means we can be fearless in our prayers. 00:23:48.880 --> 00:23:52.240 We don't need to get our requests perfectly worked out. 00:23:52.400 --> 00:23:55.200 Instead, we can pray like you see people praying in the Psalms. 00:23:55.359 --> 00:23:58.640 We'll read through the Psalms and it's like, I can't believe you're talking to God like that. 00:23:58.880 --> 00:24:00.960 I can't even believe you're asking for some of these things. 00:24:01.039 --> 00:24:18.160 It seems um uh wrong or uh a little India self or whatever it may be, but uh they're praying to God, knowing that they're coming to a Father who will give them precisely what they really want. 00:24:19.359 --> 00:24:22.960 What they would really want if they knew everything that the Father knew. 00:24:23.440 --> 00:24:29.200 That's our hope, this present help that the Spirit offers. 00:24:30.960 --> 00:24:39.920 Now we hear, okay, the Spirit intercedes for us according to the will of God. 00:24:41.200 --> 00:24:44.640 Now that should be enough for it to just be good news. 00:24:45.519 --> 00:24:48.000 But here's what our minds do. 00:24:48.559 --> 00:24:58.960 We think, okay, according to the will of God, who knows whether the will of God is really going to be good for my life? 00:24:59.920 --> 00:25:05.279 Will the will of God, uh sure, he's in control, he's seeking his own glory. 00:25:05.440 --> 00:25:08.720 I've seen so much pain and suffering take place in the world. 00:25:08.799 --> 00:25:16.480 If I'm honest about the way the world seems to work, uh it doesn't seem to be arcing towards any particular justice or anything like that. 00:25:16.640 --> 00:25:23.440 Uh so if he's interceding for me according to the will of God, is that actually good news for me? 00:25:23.680 --> 00:25:31.039 Or is this more just like casting myself upon the fates and things will work out however they work out? 00:25:31.759 --> 00:25:35.519 Well, Paul understands the weakness of our hearts. 00:25:36.160 --> 00:25:53.200 And so when he is encouraging us that the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God, he brings us and grounds us on this fact of God's will that we can absolutely know about him. 00:25:54.720 --> 00:26:02.240 And when we know this thing by settling this on our hearts, we will be so deeply encouraged by the Spirit's intercession. 00:26:02.400 --> 00:26:10.319 So this is how we see that the Spirit offers us help, and it is a help that is for our good. 00:26:11.519 --> 00:26:13.279 This is Romans 8 28. 00:26:13.440 --> 00:26:15.119 You've heard it before. 00:26:16.000 --> 00:26:29.759 And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 00:26:33.839 --> 00:26:36.640 Just in case you're thinking, I couldn't possibly have said that. 00:26:36.880 --> 00:26:38.240 I'll read it one more time. 00:26:38.480 --> 00:26:48.640 And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 00:26:50.400 --> 00:27:03.759 Oh an older pastor named John Stott, he describes this verse as a pillow on which we can rest our weary heads. 00:27:04.000 --> 00:27:10.480 And I think for the church, probably since it was first written by Paul, it has served that purpose. 00:27:11.839 --> 00:27:16.960 That we can rest our weary heads on this verse, more than explain it. 00:27:17.279 --> 00:27:20.319 Uh, I think this is something we should just meditate through together. 00:27:20.400 --> 00:27:22.559 So let's just look at the different parts of it. 00:27:22.960 --> 00:27:24.880 Paul begins, and we know. 00:27:26.480 --> 00:27:29.039 Think of how much we don't know. 00:27:31.599 --> 00:27:35.119 You know, we don't know what to pray for as we ought. 00:27:36.240 --> 00:27:41.119 We don't even know what to ask for, let alone how to get it. 00:27:42.880 --> 00:27:44.319 But what do we know? 00:27:46.240 --> 00:27:49.119 God causes all things to work together for good. 00:27:49.440 --> 00:27:52.880 Those who love him, those who are called according to his purpose. 00:27:53.519 --> 00:27:54.799 We know that. 00:27:56.160 --> 00:27:58.960 That's not something that as a Christian you need to wonder. 00:27:59.200 --> 00:28:01.200 Yeah, but is he really for my good? 00:28:01.440 --> 00:28:03.680 I've felt pretty out of step with his plan lately. 00:28:03.839 --> 00:28:05.599 Is he really for my good? 00:28:06.079 --> 00:28:08.960 I've seen nothing but difficulty for years. 00:28:09.279 --> 00:28:11.440 Is he really for my good? 00:28:11.920 --> 00:28:13.200 You can know it. 00:28:14.079 --> 00:28:15.680 We know it. 00:28:17.680 --> 00:28:24.640 There's sort of a tendency towards of I think it can be motivated by a good thing. 00:28:24.720 --> 00:28:48.400 It can be motivated by a sense to want to demonstrate a sort of humility, which is to be sort of constantly wavering or or waffling in our faith, saying, like, sure, but but I have more questions, and I want to be honest about my questions, I want to be honest about my doubts, and we do desire that honesty and that truth and that authenticity in our faith. 00:28:48.559 --> 00:28:58.160 But when Scripture tells us that we can know that God is for our good, then it's time to stop waffling. 00:28:59.359 --> 00:29:02.400 It's time to rest your head. 00:29:03.039 --> 00:29:04.319 Say, I know. 00:29:05.519 --> 00:29:11.680 I can't see it from here, perhaps, but I know that He works all these things together for our good. 00:29:12.160 --> 00:29:21.920 Next is uh these two clauses that sort of bookend that central part says, for those who love God and for those who are called according to his purpose. 00:29:22.079 --> 00:29:28.559 Here are these two descriptions of those for whom God is working all things together for good. 00:29:28.640 --> 00:29:33.200 It is a particular audience, a particular slice of humanity. 00:29:33.359 --> 00:29:41.599 That is those who love God, and that's the same as those for whom God called according to his purposes. 00:29:41.920 --> 00:29:45.519 So what we see in that is that uh why is it that we love God? 00:29:45.680 --> 00:29:46.480 What is the church? 00:29:46.640 --> 00:29:54.640 We are the ones who were called upon by God, and because he called upon us, we are able to love him. 00:29:55.920 --> 00:30:12.640 This is towards, this is particularly towards those who are in Christ, this promise, that all things are working together for their good, that they might be resurrected eternally with him, that they might see the glory of their suffering truly revealed. 00:30:13.920 --> 00:30:16.720 This has a particular object. 00:30:17.119 --> 00:30:23.519 Third is that middle section, all things work together for good. 00:30:27.759 --> 00:30:37.599 This is the truthful grounding of every pithy statement that you haven't been comforted by. 00:30:38.880 --> 00:30:54.480 All the time someone has told you that look, it's just going to be okay, everything happens for a reason, all of those useless platitudes that do nothing for your heart and yet seem to stick around in our vernacular for some reason. 00:30:54.799 --> 00:31:06.480 This is the foundation, this is the bedrock that could make a phrase like, everything happens for a reason, actually be true. 00:31:08.480 --> 00:31:16.400 We know God causes all things to work together for good for those who love God. 00:31:18.400 --> 00:31:29.920 So I want you to consider the present suffering that you're experiencing and this far-off hope of the incredible glory of the new heavens and the new earth. 00:31:30.960 --> 00:31:38.000 I want you to be as present with that suffering as you possibly can be, as small and even detailed and minute. 00:31:38.160 --> 00:31:52.960 You know, it may be just like a nervousness about today that's sort of uh difficult for you to explain, or uh a background sort of argument that you're having with somebody that you haven't spoken to in a long time. 00:31:54.000 --> 00:31:56.319 Zero in on that suffering. 00:31:56.559 --> 00:31:59.200 Something as simple as those things. 00:32:01.440 --> 00:32:03.359 What can you know about it? 00:32:05.200 --> 00:32:07.920 It's working together for good. 00:32:09.200 --> 00:32:13.599 To those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose. 00:32:14.160 --> 00:32:18.960 I was just sure I could make it down that hill, and it turns out I couldn't. 00:32:19.119 --> 00:32:20.799 I'm so bewildered. 00:32:20.960 --> 00:32:22.079 Why is this happening? 00:32:22.319 --> 00:32:29.039 Somehow that wreck is working together for good. 00:32:31.359 --> 00:32:33.279 You can know that. 00:32:36.079 --> 00:32:39.279 I think somebody who knew that would live very differently. 00:32:40.799 --> 00:32:46.559 Now, finally, this shows us help towards our glory. 00:32:52.079 --> 00:32:59.200 It says, For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his sin, of his son. 00:32:59.759 --> 00:33:06.480 Hope not, to the image of his son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 00:33:06.720 --> 00:33:09.599 In those whom he predestined, he also called. 00:33:09.839 --> 00:33:12.480 In those whom he called, he also justified. 00:33:12.640 --> 00:33:16.079 In those whom he justified, he also glorified. 00:33:16.319 --> 00:33:27.519 Now, if Romans 8.28 is like the pillow that we can rest our head on, then this grounding of Romans 8.28, this is like the rest of the betting that we can crawl into and be comforted by. 00:33:28.079 --> 00:33:32.400 This is referred to as the golden chain of salvation. 00:33:32.640 --> 00:33:35.839 This is what we are resting our faith in. 00:33:36.000 --> 00:33:44.319 And it is all the work of God that He Himself rescues his people, that he saves us. 00:33:44.480 --> 00:33:49.359 So let's just work through this golden chain of salvation, just word by word. 00:33:49.599 --> 00:33:51.440 Let's begin with this first part. 00:33:51.599 --> 00:33:55.680 For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined. 00:33:55.759 --> 00:34:03.519 So it begins with those whom he foreknew, those whom God knew beforehand, those whom he foreknew. 00:34:04.880 --> 00:34:14.159 Now, it's oftentimes this verse is understood as saying, okay, who is it that God is working on behalf of? 00:34:14.320 --> 00:34:15.920 Who is it that he is saving? 00:34:16.159 --> 00:34:24.639 Well, who he's working on behalf of is those whom he knew in advance would be the people who would choose him. 00:34:25.440 --> 00:34:31.599 So God has sort of stood back from history, I guess, in the beginning, and he saw history unfold. 00:34:31.760 --> 00:34:39.360 And he's able to look forward into the unfolding history, into the particular lives of individuals and say, see, this person chose me. 00:34:40.079 --> 00:34:50.960 And because they chose me, I know, I foreknow that they will be one of the people who are saved. 00:34:51.360 --> 00:34:58.639 So ultimately, this rests our salvation on the choice that we made. 00:34:58.800 --> 00:35:05.199 That is still the governing, preeminent factor in that story of what foreknowledge means. 00:35:07.280 --> 00:35:15.599 Ultimately, God looks and sees, okay, there was a character in them that deems them worthy of salvation. 00:35:16.079 --> 00:35:19.519 But look, we know that's not the case. 00:35:20.239 --> 00:35:35.679 Consider in this book just earlier, in Romans earlier, in Romans 5, 8, uh says, but God demonstrates his own love towards us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 00:35:36.320 --> 00:35:49.280 So it Jesus didn't die for us because he saw some righteousness in us, but it was in fact while we were yet sinners that he offered himself for us, that his grace was poured out towards us. 00:35:49.599 --> 00:36:02.239 Or consider Titus 3, 5, which says he saved us not because of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but because of the great love with which he loved us. 00:36:02.559 --> 00:36:15.599 So in the in the previous understanding of foreknowledge, where God stands back from history and sees those who choose him, ultimately he's choosing them, he's saving them because of deeds which they did in righteousness. 00:36:15.840 --> 00:36:24.960 But we know because Scripture testifies, he did not save us according to deeds which we did in righteousness. 00:36:25.920 --> 00:36:28.079 That's not why he does it. 00:36:29.039 --> 00:36:35.920 Or not to mention, there is nobody who chooses God of their own accord. 00:36:36.079 --> 00:36:44.880 If God were to look forward into history without his intervening grace, then there would never be anyone who chose for him. 00:36:45.199 --> 00:36:51.679 His foreknowledge, if that's what foreknowledge meant, would be useless for determining those who come to him. 00:36:52.000 --> 00:37:03.119 Just consider earlier in this very same book in Romans verse 3.11, where he clearly says, No one seeks for God, no not one. 00:37:05.519 --> 00:37:08.239 That's very exhaustive. 00:37:12.239 --> 00:37:19.679 Likewise, at just sort of like a more fundamental level, it's difficult to imagine what that foreknowledge process would even be like or mean. 00:37:21.519 --> 00:37:34.559 None of us exist without a context, and none of us exist without a story that we are a part of that uh it plays a large determinative factor on our coming to Christ or not. 00:37:34.639 --> 00:37:46.239 And so he would have to imagine people that are completely disconnected from any sort of story and just be assessing the blankness of their hearts that happened to make a decision for him one way or the other. 00:37:46.400 --> 00:37:50.639 But did he not of his own accord make that person's heart? 00:37:50.960 --> 00:37:53.840 At a certain point, this always comes back to God. 00:37:53.920 --> 00:37:57.280 And so what do we understand by God's foreknowledge? 00:37:57.440 --> 00:38:07.920 Well, knowledge throughout scripture, when God knows someone, when he knows you, it means love. 00:38:11.199 --> 00:38:15.119 It's those whom he loved in advance. 00:38:16.559 --> 00:38:24.719 Those whom just of his own accord, not because of anything that they did or anything that they did to deserve or any intrinsic thing in them. 00:38:24.880 --> 00:38:28.800 No, it was because of his great love towards them. 00:38:29.199 --> 00:38:36.559 We see this picture of God's foreknowledge so clearly in uh Deuteronomy chapter 7, verse 7 through 8. 00:38:36.719 --> 00:38:58.480 Moses is talking, and uh uh he's he's describing what God had shared, and he says, it was not because he's talking to the Israelites, and he says, it was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you. 00:38:59.360 --> 00:39:02.320 For you were the fewest of all peoples. 00:39:03.199 --> 00:39:07.039 But it is because the Lord loves you. 00:39:10.480 --> 00:39:13.360 Why did the Lord set his love on them? 00:39:14.079 --> 00:39:18.880 Why does the Lord foreknow, for love those whom he loves? 00:39:19.199 --> 00:39:23.519 The answer that the Bible gives is because he loves them. 00:39:27.920 --> 00:39:41.199 It's all completely the love that drives our salvation is completely one hundred percent sourced from the God who is love. 00:39:44.000 --> 00:39:46.719 Love is not an acknowledgement of merit. 00:39:48.880 --> 00:39:50.960 It blasts right past that. 00:39:55.119 --> 00:40:13.119 So in foreknowledge, we see those whom he loved beforehand, those whom he foreknew, he predestined to be conformed to the image of his son in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 00:40:13.280 --> 00:40:16.079 So those whom he loved in advance, he predestined. 00:40:16.159 --> 00:40:27.360 So that means he decided their destiny beforehand, and he set them on their particular course to fulfill that destiny that he had purposed for them. 00:40:27.599 --> 00:40:29.280 And what was the purpose of that? 00:40:29.519 --> 00:40:47.840 It was that they might, that we in our lives as Christians might be conformed into the image of Christ, so that Christ's righteousness might become our righteousness, and we might live as adopted sons and daughters of God in his glory forever. 00:40:51.119 --> 00:41:04.960 Now, predestination, this word is is uh this is such a hang up for so many people, and I know, I know it is, and I know that there are many of you who are just being kind of like riled up by this whole chain that we're moving down. 00:41:07.119 --> 00:41:23.199 But what this means is just like Paul writes in Philippians, where he says, I am sure that the good work which was started in you will be brought to completion. 00:41:24.159 --> 00:41:31.039 So that means when you find yourself trapped in your weakness, thinking, I'm not growing in Christ at all, you can know. 00:41:31.280 --> 00:41:33.760 No, he has predestined me. 00:41:34.639 --> 00:41:37.679 He will bring this to completion. 00:41:38.239 --> 00:41:47.280 I rest secure in God's love, not because of anything that I bring to the table, but only because God's love is that secure. 00:41:48.559 --> 00:41:52.400 Those whom he predestined, he also called. 00:41:52.559 --> 00:41:53.119 Excuse me. 00:41:53.360 --> 00:41:54.400 Yeah, yeah, that's where I'm at. 00:41:54.559 --> 00:41:56.559 Those whom he predestined, he also called. 00:41:56.719 --> 00:42:04.719 Now, the call, his foreknowledge and his predestination, those take place in eternity past, just in the mind of God. 00:42:05.039 --> 00:42:10.719 But those he called, that takes place in history, in your life story. 00:42:11.440 --> 00:42:13.199 He calls us. 00:42:14.079 --> 00:42:16.639 He calls to those whom he wants to save. 00:42:16.800 --> 00:42:18.400 And what is the call of God? 00:42:18.480 --> 00:42:25.760 But it is the very word of God that goes out and is perfectly effective on our hearts. 00:42:26.000 --> 00:42:34.559 The call of God is what enlivens our spirits so that we are able to turn to him in repentance and in faith. 00:42:36.239 --> 00:42:44.480 The call of God is that very same thing that said, Let there be light. 00:42:45.119 --> 00:42:46.639 And then what does the light do? 00:42:46.800 --> 00:42:48.239 Does it say, okay, great. 00:42:48.400 --> 00:42:50.159 Uh God says, let there be light. 00:42:50.320 --> 00:42:54.400 That means he has provided me with the option to shine. 00:42:56.079 --> 00:42:59.920 So long as I choose to shine for him. 00:43:01.199 --> 00:43:05.440 No, when God says, let there be light, there's light. 00:43:06.159 --> 00:43:08.239 His word is effective. 00:43:09.360 --> 00:43:19.760 When God went to Lazarus, when Jesus went to Lazarus' tomb after Lazarus had died, and he says, Lazarus, come out. 00:43:22.719 --> 00:43:24.719 Lazarus isn't dead. 00:43:25.119 --> 00:43:29.440 They're like, okay, he's given me the option to become alive now. 00:43:30.480 --> 00:43:34.880 Now that I have this option to become alive, I guess I'll take it and I'll walk out. 00:43:35.440 --> 00:43:35.760 No. 00:43:37.199 --> 00:43:40.159 You know what he was thinking when he was sitting in there dead? 00:43:42.159 --> 00:43:43.039 Nothing. 00:43:44.800 --> 00:43:46.320 He was dead. 00:43:46.880 --> 00:43:52.719 And then Jesus said, come out, and he's alive. 00:43:54.159 --> 00:43:59.840 Because the call of God is effective to bring us from death to death. 00:44:00.159 --> 00:44:00.639 To life. 00:44:00.800 --> 00:44:04.320 So when he calls us, then all of a sudden our hearts are enlivened. 00:44:04.480 --> 00:44:08.159 We are able to turn to him in faith, in repentance. 00:44:08.559 --> 00:44:17.360 If you are a Christian, you have a story of this in your life where you were able to repent, you are able to turn towards the Lord and trust in him. 00:44:17.679 --> 00:44:23.199 Look, that was no less than responding to the call of God. 00:44:25.360 --> 00:44:27.440 That he had enlivened your heart. 00:44:27.840 --> 00:44:31.599 Those whom he called, he also justified. 00:44:32.800 --> 00:44:50.960 Everyone who turns to him in faith in repentance, just as we read in the very beginning of this chapter on Easter Sunday, therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 00:44:51.280 --> 00:44:55.679 We are perfectly justified by faith in him. 00:44:56.159 --> 00:44:58.880 His death is counted as our death to sin. 00:44:59.119 --> 00:45:04.719 His life is counted as our life, so that we live in his righteousness. 00:45:04.880 --> 00:45:12.880 When God looks at us, he sees us justified by the death of Jesus Christ and enclothed in the very righteousness of Christ. 00:45:13.039 --> 00:45:15.840 That's why we are conformed to the image of Christ. 00:45:15.920 --> 00:45:26.559 We're treated as brothers of Christ, which this passage calls us, that we are brothers of Christ in that same family, co-heirs with him. 00:45:26.800 --> 00:45:28.480 We are justified. 00:45:28.880 --> 00:45:31.199 Why is it that we could stand before God? 00:45:31.360 --> 00:45:39.840 Why is it that we could heap up these weak prayers where we don't even know what to ask for, and those be heard by the living God? 00:45:41.199 --> 00:45:44.559 It's because we are justified. 00:45:47.360 --> 00:45:50.480 Those whom He justified, He also glorified. 00:45:52.400 --> 00:45:55.679 Glorified hasn't happened yet. 00:45:56.239 --> 00:45:58.880 The new heavens and the new earth hasn't come yet. 00:45:59.679 --> 00:46:01.519 Christ has not yet returned. 00:46:01.760 --> 00:46:05.039 We have not yet experienced the final resurrection. 00:46:05.599 --> 00:46:08.159 We are not in our glorified bodies. 00:46:08.960 --> 00:46:14.719 We are not face to face with the presence of God in that new Jerusalem. 00:46:15.440 --> 00:46:25.519 But Paul is so certain that it will absolutely happen, that he writes it here in the past tense, as though it's already taken place. 00:46:26.079 --> 00:46:34.239 Because who can imagine that if God forloved them, then how would he not predestine them? 00:46:34.800 --> 00:46:38.000 And then how would he not call them in their lives? 00:46:38.480 --> 00:46:41.360 And then how would he not justify those who turn to him? 00:46:41.599 --> 00:46:46.639 And those who are justified in his sight, how would he not glorify? 00:46:48.000 --> 00:46:51.840 You see, this chain is completely unbreakable. 00:46:52.639 --> 00:47:04.880 And if we are in that chain, then how could it possibly be that God is not working all things together for our good? 00:47:05.760 --> 00:47:33.760 So that when we're stuck in the present moment and we say, I don't, I don't even know what to pray for, let alone what decision to make, the Spirit Himself intercedes, says, In this present moment, I will take your groans for that glorious new future, and I will present them before the Father perfectly, so that even your weak prayers now will be as effective as the call of God was on your behalf to rescue you. 00:47:33.840 --> 00:47:35.599 They were, they are that certain. 00:47:36.559 --> 00:47:51.119 They will be fulfilled because the Spirit makes our groans his groans and presents them into in perfect accord with the will of God. 00:47:52.159 --> 00:48:00.400 And we know God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose. 00:48:02.000 --> 00:48:09.679 This is one of the greatest helps that we could possibly imagine to receive in our present experience of weakness. 00:48:12.639 --> 00:48:17.280 Now we've talked so much about predestination and call and those sorts of things. 00:48:17.679 --> 00:48:24.400 And I know that those uh can just be like trigger words for people that take them out of the conversation immediately. 00:48:25.760 --> 00:48:31.119 But I want you to see, look at how those are used in scripture. 00:48:32.000 --> 00:48:46.960 If you understand your weakness, then resting your confidence and your salvation in a decision that you have made will not bring you any real rest. 00:48:48.400 --> 00:49:10.000 But if you understand your weakness truly, and you see that you are able to rest your confidence and your salvation in the clear action of God towards you for your good, that it's completely out of his love towards you, what an amazing rest that would be. 00:49:11.840 --> 00:49:13.599 What could you endure? 00:49:13.920 --> 00:49:17.119 What present suffering could possibly snuff you out? 00:49:17.920 --> 00:49:19.360