Does God Have a Pre-Arranged Plan for You?
Romans 8:28-39
Intro:
1. Everything is working out for your benefit according to God’s pre-arranged plan - v28.
2. How?
I. v29 - Is There a Pre-Arranged Plan?
A. God knew beforehand that people would fall away.
1. You can fall away!
2. Lord Jesus said, If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and with- ers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. - Jn 15:6.
3. I Tim 4:1 - The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.
4. The Apostle Paul even stated, No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. - I Cor 9:27.
5. KJV says, . . . when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.
6. Heb 6:4-6 - It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.
B. God planned beforehand the means by which you could be redeemed.
1. Predestined (προορίζω) = to set the limits or boundaries beforehand. We get our word “horizon”.
2. This does not mean that God chose individuals beforehand to be saved or lost; but that He pre- arranged the limits - the horizons - by which individuals could be saved.
3. Rom 16:25-26 - Now to him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations might believe and obey him.
4. Living Bible says it this way - I commit you to God Who is able to make you strong & steady in the Lord, just as the gospel says, & just as I have told you. This is God’s plan of salvation for you Gentiles, kept secret from the beginning of time. But now, as the prophets foretold & as God commanded, this message is being preached everywhere so that people all around the world will have faith in Christ & obey Him.
5. I Cor 2:7 - No, we speak of God’s secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God des- tined for our glory before time began.
6. Col 1:25-27 - I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness — the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
II. v29 - What is the Pre-Arranged Plan?
A. That you would be conformed to the image of His Son.
1. God had planned all along that people He created would be in His image & likeness. Gen 1:26-27 - Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
2. After the fall, man became less & less of what God created him to be. The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. - Gen 6:5-6.
3. Mankind desperately needed a plan to get back to God’s original purpose for Him; God’s image & likeness!
B. That you would identify with His Son through the gospel message.
1. Rom 1:16 - I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of every- one who believes . . .
2. The initial identification with the Lord & the gospel message is your Christian Baptism.
C. That you would identify with His Son through your transformed life.
1. Rom 12:2 - Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
2. The Lord told His disciples, If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. - Matt 16:24.
3. v29 - The goal: that Jesus, as firstborn, may be one of many brothers.
a. Remember - you are adopted by God when you are in Christ!
b. This implies Christian growth! ILL: “It Takes Time.”
III. v30-39 - How Does the Pre-Arranged Plan Benefit You?
A. What does this pre-arranged plan result in? - v30
1. You are called = the church is the eκκλησία, the ones who are “called out” from others.
2. You are justified = being declared “not guilty”.
3. You are glorified = being honored as a result of God’s good opinion of you.
B. v31-33 - Who can accuse you when God justifies you?
1. v32 - The reason the Father allowed Jesus to die on the cross was so you could be justified.
2. v33 - Those of you who respond to this plan become God’s elect - His “chosen”.
C. v34 - Who can pass judgment - sentence you - when Jesus Christ intercedes for you?
1. Intercede (eντυγχάνω) = “falls in” with you, so - petition, plead for, intervene.
2. v35-37 - Even in a rough life when everything seems to be going against you - you are a super con- queror when Jesus waits at the end of it to welcome you home.
3. Now v38-39 - There is no external being or force - “nothing else in all creation” - that can separate you from God’s love.
You are the only one who can make the decision to turn around and walk away!
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