Truth That Changes Lives

JP Jones: You can face it on your own, and it'll just lead you to despair, or you can trust in a sovereign, loving, and good God who uses everything, and it may not change your circumstances, but it'll change you.

Announcer: Thank you for joining us on Truth That Changes Lives. Pastor JP Jones is the senior pastor of Crossline Community Church in Laguna Hills, California, and a professor in biblical studies at Biola University. Today on Truth That Changes Lives, Pastor JP will be giving us a message from a series entitled First Things First. Let's listen as JP gives us part 10 of The God We Worship.

JP Jones: God uses all things. He works in all things. It's the Greek verb sunerge. Sun is together with, erge is to energize or to work towards a purpose or completion. God is putting together everything in our lives to work for the good because we love him. We've been called according to his purpose. That's the sovereign love of God. That's the sovereign purpose of God. He's working in all things. God works. We can trust in his work. We can have confidence that he is who he is, and he's using what's happening for the good that he's called us to, you see. And all you have to do is read the Bible and the biographies of the Bible, and you understand that's true.

Joseph got betrayed by his brothers and thrown into a pit, got sold into slavery, got falsely accused by Potiphar's wife, got thrown into the darkest dungeon in Pharaoh's jail. But all of those things were part of the plan that God has to make him the most powerful man in Egypt. Daniel, falsely accused. First, he's taken out of his country. Taken off as a slave. Made to be a eunuch. Falsely accused, thrown into a lion's den. So that he could become the most powerful person in Persia and could be the man that God used to write prophetic scripture that would tell us about the coming of Messiah.

The Apostle Paul, thrown into prison, beaten, shipwrecked. In fact, the very testimony about Paul, God said to Ananias, I'm going to show him how many things he must suffer for my name's things. I'm not so sure I'd want to sign up for that one. I don't know if I'd want God to say that about me to you all. I want to show you all the things that JP must suffer for my name's sake. Yet the Apostle Paul was the guy that God used to plant churches, spread the gospel, and write most of the New Testament. What about Jesus? I mean, if there was ever a case of someone who was mistreated, falsely accused, wrongly understood, betrayed, beaten, scourged.

And yet, Philippians 2 says that God has given him a name that's above every name, that the name of Jesus, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. You see, God works all things for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose. Here's a second observation. God has already foreknown, predestined, called, justified, and glorified those whom he saves. Whoa, that's a mouthful. I just took that right out of the scripture. That might be one of those passages you skip over because you don't know what those words mean, or you skip over because you're scared of the theological implications of them.

But that's what the Bible says. God has already foreknown, predestined, called, justified, and glorified those whom he saves. I mean, that's right out of Romans 8:29 and 30. For those God foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers, and those he predestined, he also called, those he called, he also justified, those he justified, he also glorified. You might even throw in there Kentucky Fried and Re-fried. He did it all. Now, these verbs describing all these actions, these are in what's known as the eris tense in Greek.

Eris tense is a past tense verb. It means something that happened in the past. So here's the Apostle Paul ascribing the work of salvation to God, and from God's vantage point, everything that needed to be done for us to be saved has already been done. These are all spoken in the past tense. God has already foreknown us, predestined us, called us, justified us, and glorified us. There's tremendous mystery here. I mean, there's tremendous paradox. Because there is a sovereign God not bound by space and time, because he created space and time, and the sovereign God has already stated with certainty and finality his actions of foreknowing, predestining, calling, justifying, and glorifying those whom he saves.

You might be sitting there going, well, gosh, how do I know if that includes me? It's really interesting the way scripture answers scripture. Chapter 1, starting with verse 4, the Apostle Paul says this, for we know, brothers loved by God, that he's chosen you. So here's Paul talking about how you know if you've been chosen. For we know, brothers loved by God, that he's chosen you because our gospel came to you simply with words, but with power, with the Holy Spirit, with deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. You became imitators of us and the Lord, and in spite of severe suffering, you welcome the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.

He takes a theological question and it gives a practical answer. He says, this is how I know that God chose you. When I preach the gospel, you accepted it and received Jesus into your life. You want to know whether God's chosen you? Accept and receive Jesus. He chose you if you did that. Well, that doesn't seem like an answer. That's the answer God gives. You can sit and try to debate the theology, and you can try to argue with God to your ultimate judgment, or you can humble yourself and receive the offer of the gospel, and you can know with certainty you've been chosen. Isn't that wild? Well, what about me?

I'm on the other side. I already know that I've received Christ, so I already know God must have chosen me. What about me? You know what Peter says in 2 Peter chapter 1? You are to make your calling and your election more certain by obeying the commands I've given you. If you already know, obey what you know. That's how you can know that you know. You see, God will never allow himself to be leveraged by us. Not leveraged by our intellectual questions, or leveraged by our threats, or leveraged by our pride. God never allows himself to be leveraged. God is God, and we're not. God states that he foreknew us, predestined us, called us, justified us, and glorified us.

There is tremendous mystery there, but the resolution of the mystery is not going to be on this side of heaven. The response to the mystery is to bow down and worship him and to humbly receive his offer of forgiveness and salvation. So, if you're here today and you don't know with certainty that you've been chosen, this is how you know, accept Jesus Christ today. Believe in Jesus today, and you can know for sure you've been certain, you've been chosen. If, on the other hand, you know Jesus, rather than question how God did what he did, obey what you already do know and follow the lordship of Jesus Christ in your life.

That's what Paul's saying here, because what is Paul saying in the big context of Romans 8 at the end of this chapter? He's saying life happens. You can face it on your own, and it'll just lead you to despair, or you can trust in a sovereign, loving, and good God who uses everything, and it may not change your circumstances, but it'll change you, because you'll be able to have hope, and you'll be able to have joy, and you'll be able to have confidence because you know that there's a God who foreknew you and predestined you and called you and justified you and glorified you and is working in all things for your good.

That's what the scripture says. And when we process that stuff and we know that stuff, we fall down before God and we worship him. Do we still have questions? Of course we have questions, but we even present our questions to him. We humble ourselves, we surrender ourselves. We do what Romans 12 says, therefore, by the mercies of God, we present our bodies as living and holy sacrifices acceptable to God, who is our spiritual service of worship. Here's a third observation. God will protect us and keep us secure. God will protect us and keep us secure. Verses 31 to 34 say this: What then shall we say in response to this?

If God is for us, who can be against us? See, in response to what? In response to that stuff where he foreknew and predestined and called and justified and glorified. What's the response that we should have to this mysterious theological truth? The response, God is for us. Who can be against us? Don't worry about the stuff you don't know. Rest in the stuff that's clear. All that means is God is for me. God loves me. God's on my side. Verse 32. He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also along with him graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen?

It's God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus died, more than that, was raised to life at the right hand of God, and he's also interceding for us. Now here's the point. God will protect and keep us secure. Why? Because Paul asks a series of questions that anticipate opposition, antagonism, and accusation. He says, who can be against us? How will he not give us all things? Who will bring a charge against us? Who will condemn us? Now, I'm going to ask you a Sunday school question, and I want a Sunday school answer. If God asks, who can be against you? Who will condemn you? Who will bring a charge against you?

Does that imply there may be someone who will try to condemn you, someone who will try to bring a charge against you, someone who will try to accuse you. Yes or no? Yes! Let me ask, in your life, has anyone or anything, external or internal, ever tried to accuse you, attack you, or defeat you? What does God say? If God is for you, who can be against you? That's what this truth is all about. This is where theology meets life. The theology that God is bigger than we can understand, that God is in control, that God has it all planned out, that God is good, that God loves us, is meant to give us comfort and hope and security and confidence, you see.

God will protect us and keep us secure. See, Paul asks these questions and he answers the questions. There is no enemy, spiritually, physically, emotionally, relationally, psychologically, that can ever ultimately accuse us, condemn us, or defeat us. That's what this passage says. Why? Because God is for us. How do I know God is for me? He sent his son, Jesus. He didn't spare his son. He sent Jesus to die for me. How do I know God is for me? Jesus died, he was raised from the dead, he's seated at the Father's right hand, and right now he's interceding for me. That's what it says in the passage.

And God, because he did that, it says, will graciously give us all things. He uses the Greek verb charizomai. Charis means grace, charizomai means to graciously give. God graciously gives us all things. You mean, you know, I can throw a baseball 100 miles an hour and I can expect to, you know, run through an NFL defensive lineman? No, no, not all things like that. All things related to the passage. What's the context of the passage? All the stuff that would accuse us and defeat us and antagonize us and draw us down. Whatever is right now in your life accusing you, trying to pull you down, trying to defeat you, trying to rob you of who you are in Christ.

Whatever that stuff is, God graciously gives you all things to defeat that stuff, to go up against that stuff, to stand strong against that stuff. And if God is for you, who can be against you? Here's a fourth observation. God will eternally sustain us with his love. God will eternally sustain us with his love. Verses 35 to 39. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written, for your sake we face death all day long. We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Here's a passage where Paul raises a question and then he answers the question. See, the question is, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? That's the question. And then everything else that follows is an answer to the question, which the bottom line is nothing, no one, no thing. But God wants us to really understand that he means what he says.

So when he says that there's no one and no thing that can separate us from the love of Christ, he unpacks what we may think could separate us from the love of Christ, and then confidently asserts that that can't separate us from the love of Christ. Now, again, why would God go to the trouble to ask the question and then in great detail answer the question? Because it's a question that every one of us asks. It's a fear that every one of us has. We get in the nitty-gritty of life, and we think God has abandoned us. God doesn't care about us. God doesn't answer our prayers. God doesn't love us anymore.

And I tell you, you can do that a lot of ways. You can do that out of just believing your own lies. You can do that out of believing the devil's lies. You can do that out of believing the lies of other people. And here's a real subtle way, and I'm a master at this one. You can believe that by kind of twisting your theology around. See, because the backdrop of this passage is the sovereignty of God, which is certainly a biblical truth. And if you've ever been around me and my teaching, you know how much that's a truth I believe in and I believe is so powerful. But here's how it can be real subtle.

You can face disappointment and unanswered prayer and unfulfilled expectation, and you don't abandon your faith, and you don't doubt God. You kind of, out of a stoic theological resignation, kind of say, God just does what he does, and he doesn't ask me for permission. And that sounds really good, doesn't it? But what you're really doing is covering up the hurt in your own soul, because you really feel like he didn't love me. He's in charge, he's powerful, he's in control, he rules, but I don't really matter to him. I'm just kind of an insignificant player in the big game of life. And that's wrong.

That is wrong. God loves me and he loves you. That's what this passage is all about. Yes, he's sovereign. Yes, he's in control. God's ways are not our ways. God's thoughts are not our thoughts. God doesn't get our permission to do what he does, but we matter to him. So the whole point of this passage, he sent his son for us. He didn't even spare his own son. He sacrificed his own son for us. And even his revelation here of his sovereignty isn't to create within us a fear. In this passage, the revelation of his sovereignty is to create within us a hope and a trust and a belief that he's with us, even when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death.

Even when we face cancer, he's with us and he loves us. Even when we're rejected and we face divorce, he loves us and he's with us. Even when we have children who just seem to turn their backs on God and our heart prayers for them just don't seem to be answered, God loves us and he's with us and he's for us. And even when it seems like the devil is just unleashing every spiritual attack, emotional attack, psychological attack, physical attack on us that is in his arsenal to unleash, God loves us, and he's with us, and he's for us. So the Apostle Paul says, this is life-changing stuff, this is defining stuff, so I want you to get more than just a statement that nothing can separate you from the love of God.

So it gives you two lists. First list, can trouble? No. Hardship? No. Persecution? No. Famine? No. Nakedness? No. Danger? No. The sword? No. Second list, death? No. Life? No. Angels? No. Demons? No. The present? No. The future? No. Powers? No. Height? No. Depth? No. Nothing in all creation can separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. And so what's the payoff? In all these things, what things? The things in the first two lists. In all these things, we are more than conquerors. The word for conqueror is the Greek word nikke. It means victor or overcomer, conqueror. Paul, if you were with us last week, I invented a word.

I said I'm in good company because the Apostle Paul invents words. He invents a word here, hupernike, super conqueror. Translated as more than conquerors. We actually can be more than conquerors in the midst of stuff that just waylays people. And maybe it's waylaying us because we're not knowing what we know. See, it goes back to that first line, Romans 8:28. And we know this. See, do we know it? Do we know it? If we know it, then we need to bring it back to what we know so that our faith is based on what we know, so that our confidence is based on what we know, so that our life is based on what we know.

What do we know? God causes all things to work together for good to those who love him and called according to his purpose. God foreknew us and predestined us and called us and justified us and glorified us. God is for us. God didn't stop from sparing his own son. Christ died. Christ rose. Christ is at the Father's right hand right now, interceding for us. God will graciously give us all. We know this, so that no matter what we're facing, we can be more than conquerors through him who loved us. And when that stuff starts to really renew our minds and our hearts and our lives, we are truly worshiping the true God.

We are truly worshiping the true God.

Announcer: What a great message for all of us today. Pastor JP provides us with great insight. That is why we'd like to make it available to you on CD. Just get in touch and mention today's date. We'll send it your way for just 5 dollars. Or if you'd like to support this ministry, you can write us at Truth That Changes Lives, 23331 Moulton Parkway, Laguna Hills, California, 92653. Or give us a call at 949-916-0250. That's 949-916-0250. For your gift of 25 dollars or more, we will send you a signed copy of JP's new book, Facing Goliath. Please join us every Sunday at 9 or 11 a.m. at Crossline Church in Laguna Hills.

The address is 23331 Moulton Parkway, Laguna Hills, California, 92653. Or check us out on the web at CrosslineChurch.com. We're going to get to the address and phone number again in a moment, but before we do that, Pastor JP, do you have any insight from today's message?

JP Jones: Thanks, Greg. We're in a study talking about who is the true God and what does it mean to truly worship the true God. We're in Romans chapter 8, and we're seeing that God is the God of sovereign love, the God who is for us and has demonstrated his love for us in Jesus Christ. God sent Jesus to die for our sins, to rise from the dead, to ascend to his right hand, to intercede for us. God is for us, and through Jesus Christ, we are more than conquerors, and nothing can ever separate us from the love of God that God has for us in Jesus Christ. We're seeing that the true God is a God of goodness and love and sovereignty.

He is the one true God, and to truly worship him is to recognize how much he loves us. It's to surrender our lives to him and experience that love in us. It's to abide in him and allow him to work through all circumstances the good which he has for us, which is to conform us to the image of his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. This is a passage that reminds us that God is outside our categories. He's not limited by our limitations. He's not limited by time or space. He's not limited by power. He's not limited by effort. God is the omnipotent, sovereign God who can do all that he wills, and he is the God of love who's chosen to set his love upon us in Jesus Christ, and he's a God who is good, who works for us, not against us, and who can be absolutely trusted.

Have you put your trust in the true God? You see, you cannot worship the true God if you've never come to know him as your Lord and Savior. That's the most important step any of us can take in a pursuit of God, to receive Jesus Christ as our Savior, to confess him as the Lord of our lives, to trust him to forgive our sins, and to ask him to be our Lord. If you've never done that before, let me invite you to do that right now. It's as simple as expressing that to God out of your heart in prayer. Let me invite you to make my prayer your own. Let's pray together. Lord Jesus, I need you. I confess that I'm a sinner.

I believe you died on the cross for my sins. I believe you rose from the dead. I believe you're the only Lord and God. Jesus, be my savior. In Jesus' name, amen.

Announcer: We want to help you in your relationship with Christ. Please get in touch with us at Truth That Changes Lives, 23331 Moulton Parkway, Laguna Hills, California, 92653. Or call us at 949-916-0250. On the internet, you will find us at crosslinechurch.com. We hope to see you at one of our services every Sunday at our new campus in Laguna Hills. For more information and directions, please go to crosslinechurch.com. Please join us next time on Truth That Changes Lives.