Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
I’ve heard several times these verses preached in a chronological order. Let me eplain. This list that Paul has given us: predestinate, called, justified, and glorified. I’ve heard it preached that this list has an order to it. It’s very difficult to think along these lines for me for this takes things out of the context of Romans 8. I spend an entire message explaining that this predestination has nothing to do with a sinner being saved. So when we put it to this chronological explanation, it really takes away from that and puts us right back into a Calvanist reality.
So, I just can’t go that way with scriptures. Assigning a chronological order to all this, to me, is dangerous. And I say this because Paul does not signify this in any respect other than the plain order in which they’re mentioned. Preachers, and commentaries, say that a sinner is predestinated, and then at some point he’s called, and when he answers the call he is justified, and then one day he will be glorified.
I don’t like this because that is not what the context is dealing with. And to go off on some tangent like this is incredibly short-sighted, in my humble opinion. So how should this text be preached? What are we to take from this list instead? Predestinate? Called? Justified? Glorified? I believe that Paul tells us exactly what we are to take from this in the second verse of this passage. He asks what I presently ask: What shall we then say to these things? And to this he answers: If God be for us, who can be against us? I like it when the bible interprets itself! Amen?
Has anyone heard of the first-mention principle? In bible study, the first-mention principle directs the student to always go back to the first time something is mentioned and learn that first. This is so because if the bible in inerrant then an interpretation should line up with the interpretation of the first time in was mentioned. And that’s some good stuff. You can really learn alot studying like that.
But also, consider the last-mention principle. I invented this princple. Ha! Actually, all I’m saying is that more light can be shed on a text if you just go back a few verses and look at was said about that topic to help you determine what is meant in the text at hand. It’s just contextual examination. There’s a big phrase for you! Stay in the context.
This list of things prove that God is for us. The main point to these things is that God is for us. So to look at these as a chronological lesson is to take away from the quantity and quality of this great truth that God is for us. So I want to look at these not as a sequence but rather pillars that hold up what Paul is trying to emphatically say, that God is for us. That God is on our side. That our welfare, our good, our best interests are always what God is for.
The Pillar of Predestination
Let’s remember that this has nothing to do with being lost folk being predestined to salvation, but rather saved folk being predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son. Using the last-mention principle we look back one verse to verse 29: For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Why does has God predestined us to be conformed to the image of his Son? It’s nice when the bible answers questions right off the bat. The answer is the next line there, That he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
This gets me thinking of Romans 5:14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. I’ve heard or read that Jesus is known as the Second Adam; the Second Adam, I suppose, because everything we lost in Adam, we gained in Christ. (Romans 5:18,19) Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
So when I read That he might be the firstborn among many brethren I think of Adam. He was the first man. And the bible says (Genesis 2:18) And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. And the bible goes on to say (Genesis 2:21,22) And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.
So you see Adam and Eve is a type of Christ and his church or Christ and his bride. That deep sleep that God caused to fall upon Adam is a type of that sixth hour when there was a darkness over all the earth (Luke 23:44) and when Jesus cried It is finished (John 19:30). That deep sleep was a picture of Jesus when he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit (Luke 23:46) and thus gave up his Ghost. It’s a picture of the death of Christ.
And then when God took one of those ribs out of side of Adam and made him a wife, that’s a a picture of how God made Christ his church. The bible says (John 19:33,34) But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs: But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water. It’s the water and the blood. The bible says (1 John 5:5,6) Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. Paul said to the Ephesians (5:25,26) Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, And then in Revelation, John began his letter saying (1:5) And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, Amen it’s the water and the blood.
That is how God has sanctified and cleansed Christ’s church, by the water and the blood; seen coming from the side of Christ as they pierced him after he had died; much like God created Eve out of the side of Adam after he fell into that deep sleep. Christ is the second Adam. Now God made Eve for Adam; and Cain and Abel and Seth and Enos and all his family. Now look at the family that God has created for Jesus Christ, the first begotten of the dead? (Ephesians 3:14;15) For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named.
Paul said For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. So this pillar, this foundational truth is one of family. God is for us because of predestination. God is for us because we’re family. Family is this foundation. There is nothing on this earth more concrete and stable as a good family. You look out for family. You stick up for family. You defend family. When someone is sick, it’s family that cares for him or her. When someone dies it’s family that gathers and grieves. You love family. And we are members of God’s family. If you are one of the brethren, then you are part of the family; the family of God. If you got saved, you were born again; born into the family of God.
And I don’t know of anything else more concrete and stable as family. I remember Lester Roloff said one time on the radio, “If you lose your family, you’ve lost everything!” I want to say likewise, here on earth, if you have family, you’ve got much. Your family always loves you. Your family always cares about you. Friends come and go, but family is for the long haul… here on earth. But Jesus said, (Matthew 7:11) If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? (Romans 8:32) He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
That he might be the firstborn among many brethren. I want to thank God that I’m one of the brethren. I thank God that I’m in the family of God. To be in the family is to be favored. Do you not favor your children? When Christmas rolls around are you buying gifts for everybody else’s children or yours. Do you feed everybody else’s children or yours? Do you buy clothes for everybody else’s children or yours? Why? Because it’s your family. They’re your children. God is our father and we are his children (Romans 8:17) And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; Because I’m a child, I’m highly favored, I’m loved and cared for. I’m in the family! And God is for his family. God is for us!
I know alot of things we go through don’t make sense. There’s alot of pain and suffering out there. And we wonder if God even cares; if God is truly for us. We got alot of questions. But I think we’re gonna find that alot of it is just part of being in the family, Amen. It’s because of this pillar of predestination. We that are in God’s family, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. God did not save us to enslave us. God did not save us to leave us. And God did not save us to forsake us. No, he saved us to conform us. If you got saved, you were born into the family of God. And God is not going to enslave his family, but make you free. (John 8:36). God is not going to leave his family, but he’ll be with you withersoever thou goest (Joshua 1:9) God is not going to forsake his family, but he’ll keep you from falling (Jude 1:24). God is for you. Though being conformed to the image of his Son might entail sufferings, and trials, and heartaches, remember that God is for you. And if God be for us, who can be against us?
I explained the other day about what it meant to be conformed. Conformed means to be formed together with. He wants you to be formed together with the image of his Son. Have you ever tried to mix two different colors of play-dough. To put those two together you must squeeze them and shape them and tear them apart and put them back together and mush them and mash them. And those colors never really mix. But they are bonded together, inseparable now. And you can shape (or form them) them into whatever you desire. But know this, you cannot move or touch one color without touching the other. Does that make sense? (Hebrews 4:15) For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities… God might be pushing on you, and squeezing and shaping you, I wish that we could see that he’s not forming us, but conforming us to the image of his Son, to be who He wants you to be. Amen? But why is he doing this to me? Because you’re family.
In the great Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11, it says (24,25) By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, He said No, I’m not in Pharaoh’s family, I’m in God’s family. I thank God that I’m in God’s family. There may be affliction, but God is for his family.
The Pillar of Being Called
Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: So we have the pillar of predestination which we’ll call the foundation of family. Now we come to the pillar of Being Called. Now remember, I’m using the last-mention principle as a spring-board. For predestination we went back to verse 29. Now for being called we go back to verse 28: And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. Now I mentioned this before. And I’ll go ahead mention it again. All things work together for them who are the called. All things don’t work together for them who are called. They work together for them who are the called.
You say, what’s the difference? Well, Jesus Christ himself said to us (Matthew 22:14) For many are called, but few are chosen. Everybody is called to salvation, but not everybody answers the gospel call. (Matthew 7:14,14) Wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. I believe in a whosoever will salvation. The gospel call has gone out to all the ends of the earth. But that doesn’t mean that all have heeded the call. (Romans 5:18) By the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men… That’s what is it says and that’s who the gospel is for; all men. But the book also says (Revelation 20:15) And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
So everybody is called, but only few are THE called. So all things work together for good not to them who are called, but to them who are the called. Paul said (Romans 1:6,7) Among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ: To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints. See, Paul is talking to the church in Rome; not to all of Rome, but all the church in Rome. So called is but an adjective, but the called is a title. The is a definite article. And the called are those that have answered the glorious gospel call.
Now the greek word eklesia, or in spanish it is iglesia, in english it is church; it means “the called out assembly!” To be called is to be called out, called out of a lost and dying world that is imprisoned and in bondage to sin and death. Now it used to be, we didn’t have telephones, and iphones, and things like that. Calling someone has taking on a new meaning in these recent years. In the past, though, when you called on someone, that means you visited them. When someone went calling that means they actually showed up. Can I say this? When God called me to salvation, he showed up. He showed up to personally invite me. The Holy Ghost paid me a very special visit; a visit in which I was saved. Praise God!
The church is the called out assembly. And Christ is for the church! He told Peter (Matthew 1618) I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. So the pillar of predestination speaks of the Foundation of Family and being in the Father’s family. But being called, this pillar of being called speaks to us about the the Foundation of the Church; particularly of Christ’s church.
Now being called means a few things. Being called means someone has called. There is the called and then there is the caller. Do you remember the old hymn. Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling, Calling for you and for me… Earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling; Calling, “O sinner, come home!” Jesus, our beloved, is the caller. (SOS 5:2) I sleep, but my heart waketh: it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled… Jesus is the caller and it’s His voice that knocks on our heart’s door. (Revelation 3:20) Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.
Being called means someone has called, and also that he’s calling for a reason. And this reveals to us the heart of God, the will of God, the desire of God, and the plans of God. It speaks to us of the love of God and the compassion and ardent longing that God has for us. Not that we loved God, but that he loved us first. And how that love was manifested in his Son. He stood up before all Jerusalem and declared, (Matthew 23:37) O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings… How often? How often? How often would I have gathered you? How many times has my desire been to bring you close to me? Jesus has a reason to call.
His call to us is his desire. The bride in Song of Solomon, (she represents the church) when she hears her lover’s call, (that is the Lord Jesus Christ) when she hears his call, she says (SOS 5:2) It is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled… The call of God speaks to us and tells us that Christ has intentions for us and desires. We are members of His church because Christ has called us to be and wants us to be in it.
I shared somethings similar to this with you all the other day: If I use my imagination, I can hear the angels asking me, “Why are you here?” and I can respond, “I am not here on my own accord, but I have been called!It was not my desire, but someone else’s desire and someone else’s summons and invitation that he has called me here! I stand here now in Christ’s church because I have been called to be here. Not my will that I be here, but His will be done!” O bless his holy name, that he saw fit to call me out of this old sinful world and into his beloved church. What a glorious peace just to be favored in the mind and heart of God; that it was God’s desire to put me in the church. It was his idea and his calling to me. To be part of the called out assembly, the church, is to be called by someone who wants me and longs for me. God the son, Jesus Christ has written out the invitation in his own blood, even before the foundation of the world. He has sent his Holy Spirit. He has sent forth His angels. He has propagated His Word; his holy bible. He has sent out his evangelists. He’s done so much just to present His invitation; to call me! And to call you. To build his church!
And Christ loves his church! (Ephesians 5:25) Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, How can we ever think that Christ is not for us? How can we ever think that he doesn’t love us? When he shed his blood for the church? He laid his life down for the church? He loves us and longs to be with us. He said (John 14:2,3) In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. Wherever I am, I want you to be there too. I’m gonna make a place for you in my Father’s house. And I’m gonna come back. And I’m gonna claim you and take you and bring you back with me. Everybody? No. The church! The called! The called out assembly!
God is for us! God is for his church. He said the gates of hell shall not prevail. If the gates of hell cannot prevail, then nothing shall prevail, not even death. (Romans 8:38) 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. The love of God is in Jesus Christ. The bible says, (Romans 5:8) But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. The love of God is in Jesus Christ, and the only way to have his love and return his love is to answer the call and to become the called of Jesus Christ… beloved of God, called to be saints.
The Pillar of Justification
So we’re working on that foundation. The pillar of predestination is the foundation of family and the love of God. The pillar of being called is the foundation of the church and the love of Christ. And now we come to this pillar of justification. So using the last-mention principle we go back and see what Paul had to say about justification.
I’d like to take you back to Romans 5:9 where he says this Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. I want us to see that this pillar of justification speaks to us about the foundation of Blood and the law God.
Let me say a few things before we move on. God is for us. You say, why do you keep saying that preacher? I really believe that if we can truly get hold of this, it will help us. It’s helped me. It’s that simple song: Jesus loves me, this I know; For the bible tells me so… Or that other song: He loves me. He loves me. He loves me. This I know. He gave himself to die for me because He loves me so… It’s helped me. Everything in the book of Romans is told to us with that in mind to help us. We’ve got so much going for us. So much working for us.
- (1:7) We’re called to be saints
- (1:16) We’ve got the gospel of God, the power of God unto salvation
- (3:28) We have faith
- (4:22) We’ve got the imputed righteousness of Christ on our side
- (5:1) We have peace with God
- (5:17) We’ve got abundance of grace
- (6:5) We’re raised in the likeness of his ressurrection
- (6:6) We’re crucified with Christ, and buried with him
- (6:14) We’re not under the law, but under grace
- (6:17) We’ve obeyed that form of doctrine which was delivered to us.
- (6:22) We’re made servants to God
- (6:23) We’ve got the gift of God and eternal life
- (7:4) We’re married to him that is raised from the dead
- (7:17) Even if we do sin, it’s no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
- (8:1) There is therefore now no condemnation
- (8:9) We’re in the Spirit
- (8:14) We’re led by the Spirit
- (8:24) We are saved by hope
- (8:26) We’ve got the Spirit praying and interceding for us
- (8:28) We’ve got all things are working together for good for us
- (8:28) We’re called according to his purpose
- (8:29) We’re predestinated to be conformed to the image of his Son
- (8:32) He’s freely given us all things.
- (8:33) Nobody can lay anything to our charge
- (8:34) Nobody can condemns us
- (8:34) We’ve got Christ is at the right hand of God also interceding for us.
- (8:35) Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ
- (8:37) We’re more than conquerers.
And we’ve only gone through half the book and we’ve got all these things working for us. I’m telling you church that God is for us! Why in the world do we not have the victory? Why in the world do we go around feeling sorry for ourselves? Why in the world are we in the dumps? When God is on our side? He’s not against us! He’s for us! And the Holy Ghost is inside of us saying Go! Go! Go! Why don’t we just get on board? Why don’t we just trust him? Why don’t we just chunk it all and cast ourselves upon him?
And this one more thing, the pillar of justification by the blood of Christ, we have the law of God on our side. We’re not under the law anymore. The law that was once against is now for us. No. I like the way Paul puts in in Romans 3:31 Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law. Why do we establish the law? Or how do we establish the law? Because the law requires blood to make atonement for our sins. And through the blood of Christ that atonement is made. (Romans 5:11) We also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement. You see the bible says (Hebrews 9:22) And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.
The pillar of justification, the foundation of blood, holds up and declares that God is for us. We saw the blood in the Garden of Eden, when those animals were killed to cover the nakedness of Adam and Eve. We saw the blood in Egypt struck on the door posts and the lintels, when the angel of death passed over the blood. We saw the blood flowing from the tabernacle as Moses and the Levites performed the law of God. We saw the blood at Jericho when Rahab hung that scarlet cord out the window, when the armies of the Lord passed over her and her family.
Justification is a legal term. It’s an verdict which must be obtained legally. Listen, one of the biggest questions that people ask is this: If God is so good and loving, why doesn’t he just save everybody? Why does he have hell? Why doesn’t he just forgive everybody? The love of God and the mercy of God is not going to override, overshadow or abolish the holiness of God. Neither is the holiness of God going to cancel out the love and mercy of God. Remember this scripture (Romans 12:9) Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good. That expression without dissimulation means genuine, sincere, without hypocricy. God loves sinners, but hates sin.
God is good. That means he’s just. If someone murdered all your children and the murderer stood before the judge and the judge said, “You know, I love you, I’m just gonna let you go.” Would you think that the judge was just? God being the righteous judge of all men, should he not be just? If God did not give what was just, he would cease to be holy. If he’s not holy, then he can’t be good. No God is good and God is just. And the justification that I have received was obtained legally and lawfully. The bible says to let everything be done decently and in order.
According to the law, the high priest entered into the holiest place of the tabernacle, the place where the ark of the covenant and the mercy seat was. He came in there with the blood of bulls and goats and offered it to God for the sins of himself and the sins of the people, to make an atonement for their sins. The sacrifices were performed in the tabernacle which God had instructed Moses and the people Israel to make. And then later, the vessels and instruments were brought into the temple made by Solomon. And the sacrifices were carried out in there.
Now when Moses first made the tabernacle, God shewed him what it was going to look like. Here in Exodus 25:8,9 is says And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them. According to all that I shew thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it. And when I read this, I’ve always had the impression that what was made on earth was made after a pattern. It was a copy of the real thing. It other words it wasn’t the genuine article. It was patterned after the genuine article. It was an earthly tabernacle patterned after the heavenly reality.
And I believe this is confirmed in Hebrews where it say (9:11) But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, Christ was a better high priest than the earthly one. He entered into a better tabernacle than the earthly one. The bible says (9:12) Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place. He had better blood than the earthly blood. And then the bible goes on to say having obtained eternal redemption for us. He obtained better results than the earthly results. That high priest had to go back in year after year to offer blood. Why because it was temporal and didn’t last. It wasn’t like Christ’s blood, that obtained eternal redemption for us.
I said all this to this (Hebrews 9:14) How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? We’ve been given so much in Christ Jesus. I’d tried to list some. But above all that, we’ve got the blood of Christ. We’ve been declared justified in presence of angels, before the mercy seat in heaven. We carry no more the weight of our sin or the weight of the law. We are truly washed in the blood of the Lamb. Just like Moses said before the people, Christ, our high priest, has said, (Exodus 24:8) Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD hath made with you!
My goodness. We have a blood covenant made in the holiest of the heavens on our behalf. Why? Listen to this again. (Hebrews 9:14) How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? So we can serve the living God. We’ve been given so much. And now, through the blood, through it’s cleansing power, our conscience is purges so that we can serve the living God. Why in the world don’t we serve him? Why in the world do we not submit ourselves to him? When God is for us!
This pillar of justification. The foundation of the blood; the blood of Christ. Where the law was once against us, by the blood of Christ, it is now for us. (Romans 8:3,4) God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us. (Romans 3:31) Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law. God is so for us.
The Pillar of Glorification
Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. So the last on this list is glorification. Now like I said, most preachers preach this in a chronological fashion and this glorification is usually preached as a future event. We’ve got predestination, then called, then justified, and one day soon when we cross this river Jordan, we’ll be glorified, or when Jesus comes and dead in Christ shall rise, we recieve a glorified body. That’s all good and fine. The problem is all this that is written is past tense. It’s doesn’t say that whom he justified, them he shall also glorify. No, it says and whom he justified, them he also glorified. In other words, right now, if you are saved, you are just as must glorified as you are justified.
When something is turned to stone, it’s been petrified. If some has been made beautiful, it’s been beautified. If something has been made to look bigger, it’s been magnified. If someone has been made just, they’ve been justified. So it seems to me that if you’ve been born again, born into the family of God, added to Christ’s church, washed in the blood, then there’s also something different about you that has got something to do with glory!
I want to take you for a moment back to Exodus. Remember the second tables of stone with the commandments. Well, when Moses came out with those tables of stone to speak to the children of Israel, the bible says that (35:30) the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come nigh him. The bible says that they had to put a vail upon his face. I don’t know where preachers get this, but they call that the shekanah glory of God. Now listen to what Paul said about this in (2 Corinthians 3:7,8) But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away: How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious?
I want to say this: The pillar of glorification speaks to us about the foundation of the Spirit. Ezekiel was brought in a vision to the gate of the temple and the bible says (Ezekiel 43:2) Behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: and his voice was like a noise of many waters: and the earth shined with his glory. The bible says (43:5) The spirit took me up, and brought me into the inner court; and, behold, the glory of the LORD filled the house. Do you remember the words of Isaiah (6:1) In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. That train is his kingly robe and the glory of it. The bible says that the the whole temple was filled with smoke. We see another picture of this at Pentecost when (Acts 2:2) suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting… (Acts 2:4) And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost.
Let me say again, if you’ve been born again, born into the family of God, added to Christ’s church, washed in the blood, then there’s also something different about you that has got something to do with glory! (2 Corinthians 3:11) For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious. Amen. In the dispensation of the law, God gave us tables of stone to put inside an earthly tabernacle. In this dispensation of grace, God has given us His Spirit to dwell inside of us. (1 Corinthians 6:19:20) Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s. There’s that glory again. I believe the only way possible that we can glorify God is because somehow, we’ve been glorified. When God put the Holy Ghost inside of you, he gloried you.
So let’s look back at the last time glory was mentioned in Romans and it takes us to Romans 8:18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. And I know that the text is really talking about a future event: but I want you to see that he’s not necessarily talking about the redemption of our bodies. It certainly will take place at that time. But what he says is that the glory shall be revealed in us.
And I’ll say what I’ve told you before: What is soon to be revealed is now hidden. Paul says it’s the glory which shall be revealed “in us.” I’m saying that whatever it is that God is going to reveal when the time right, is already there. The glory that God will reveal in us is already in us. It just can’t be seen. It’s yet to be revealed. It’s hidden.
Jesus prayed in the garden before he went up to Calvary (John 17:5) And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. And he went on and prayed (17:22) And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them. I have given them. I have given them. He didn’t say I will give them. No. I have given them. I have given it to them. The glory that God will reveal in us is already in us. It just can’t be seen. It’s yet to be revealed. It’s hidden. (Hebrews 11:1) Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
When Paul speaks about the sufferings of this present time that are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us he is saying that there’s something inside of me at this present time. When you think of that word revealed, what do you think of? I always think of a magician. He’s got something behind that napkin that he’s gonna let the audience see. I think of the presentation of a portrait. That white sheet hangs over the painting. Whatever is going to be revealed is already there. It’s just covered up right now. It’s behind the veil. When a bride is presented to her husband, she comes veiled. Sometime before the minister pronounces them man and wife, sometime before the husband kisses the bride, that veil is removed. One day this veil of flesh will be removed and what God has prepared for his Son will be revealed to him and all the universe.
The bible says (1 Corinthians 15:53) For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. We’re going to disrobe from the corruptible. We’re going to throw off the veil of mortality. And what will be revealed is what we believed all along. The bible says that Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness. The bible says, That he might present it to himself a GLORIOUS church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. (Ephesians 5:27)
I’ve preached some of this to you before, but O if we can ever get a grasp on that. That God has already sanctified and separated and chosen for his Son the bride. Like the Old Testament story of how Eleazar, Abraham’s servant, had gone and found a wife for his son Isaac. You know the story of how he told God, Let it come to pass, that the damsel to whom I shall say, Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink; and she shall say, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also: let the same be she that thou hast appointed for they servant Isaac… (Genesis 24:14) And how Rebekah came out and met Eleazar and it all came to pass as he had asked God. And she agreed to go with Abraham’s servant.
And along the way back home, the Bible says: And Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the eventide: and he lifted up his eyes, and saw, and, behold, the camels were coming. And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she lighted off the camel. For she had said unto the servant, What man is this that walketh in the field to meet us? And the servant had said, It is my master: therefore she took a vail, and covered herself. (Genesis 24:63-65)
Listen, I said all that to say this: That veil did not change what it concealed. And it did not change the events that would shortly come to pass. The bible says, “Isaac brought her into his mother’s tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her.” And somewhere in that verse that veil was removed. Don’t forget what is behind this veil of flesh; the beautiful, GLORIOUS bride of Christ! And whom he justified, them he also glorified.
When God put in you the Holy Spirit, he changed you for eternity. He changed your make up. Jesus said, (John 14:16) And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; God put something glorious inside of you that glorifies your soul and spirit. (Romans 8:9) Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. Now if you have the Spirit of Christ, then you are his. Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price:
I know alot of people don’t like this. They don’t want to be God’s. They want to be their own. Their own boss. Their own provider. They want to call the shots. But listen to this (1 Corinthians 3:16,17) Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are. Do you see the divine place of protection that God has placed us because he has given us his Holy Spirit? Because he has glorified us?
Do you see that this is just one more way that God is trying to tell us that he is for us. Instead he is against all our enemies. We’re the temple, and he’s against anyone that is against His temple. If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy! Don’t mess with God’s temple. He’s not talking about you. He’s talking about anything or anybody that will stand in the way of God’s holiness for us. God is for us! Amen!
Conclusion
Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
- The pillar of presdestination, the foundation of family and the love of the Father
- The pillar of being called, the foundation of the church and the love of Christ
- The pillar of justification, the foundation of the blood and the law of God
- The pillar of glorification, the foundation of the Spirit and the temple of God
These four pillars. These four foundations hold up steadfastly this great truth: That God is for you. I say to you this Christmas Eve morning. (John 3:16,17) For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. God is for you.
(2 Peter 3:9) The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. God is for you.
(John 6:37) All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. God is for you.
(Luke 2:14) Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. God is for you.
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