Ron Dunn Podcast - Eternal Purpose

Episode Date: September 19, 2018

Ron Dunn preaches from Romans 8:28-30 on our eternal purpose.

You are listening to the Ron Dunn Podcast. Ron Dunn is a well-known author and was one of the most in-demand preachers during the latter part of the 20th century. He led Bible studies all over the United States, Europe, and South Africa. For more information and resources from Ron Dunn, please visit rondunn.com. Romans chapter 8, verses 28, 29, and 30. 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. For whom he did foreknow,

he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. 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. The message this morning is on the eternal purpose of God. I wonder if when you were a child, if you ever watched your mother embroider pillowcases. I was always fascinated by that. The only reason I didn't take up embroidering pillowcases, it didn't seem like a very manly thing to do. But it always fascinated me. And I think the part that fascinated me the most was that on one side all you saw was just

a hodgepodge of threads that didn't make sense. You could look at that side, the rough side where the rough edges were, and it seemed there was absolutely no design and no plan and no purpose whatsoever. You just couldn't make sense out of it. But then when you looked at it from the other side, there was a beautiful pattern, perhaps someone's name or perhaps the picture of a flower

or some other scene, but a beautiful picture, a beautiful design. Looking at it from one side, if all you could see from that rough side, you could say, well, there's no purpose in it. There's no meaning to it. It's just a tangled web. It's just a mess, and there's absolutely no design to it at all. But when you look at it from the other side, you see it.

It all makes sense, and it comes out in a very beautiful pattern. And as I was reading these verses, it struck me that that's exactly the way our lives are. When you view life from the human side, sometimes all you see are a bunch of tangled threads that seem to go nowhere in particular, and sometimes they're nothing more than a mess. And I'm sure that there are some here this morning that feel that way about life. I tell you it'd be pretty rough to live through life feeling that we were merely the victims of chance and fate and nobody had any idea what was going on and nobody was in control.

Whatever is going to happen is going to happen. There's not anything you can do about it and you're just left up to some blind fate. And life really has no purpose to it and things come into your life, sorrows and tragedies and difficulties, and it seems as though you're living in an eggshell, and it's just cracking all about you, and it seems to have absolutely no purpose to it at all. But one of the greatest things that I discover as I read the Word of God is that the Lord has a divine plan for every life and that God before the worlds were even thought of much less founded God laid out a design and laid out a purpose and the reason that life looks so messed up and inconsistent and

tangled to you is because you're looking at it from the wrong side and that's what Paul has been showing us in this chapter. He's talked about suffering. He's talked about the whole creation groaning and agonizing and travailing. And that's what we see. He's been showing us the human side of life. He said, when you look at it from your side, all you see is travail and agony and inequities and injustices and crime

and it seems to make no logical sense but now he's going to show us life from the divine side he catches us up into heaven and he lets us look at it from god's viewpoint and we see that the lord has a gracious design and listen when you look at your life from God's side, it's very beautiful. It has design and purpose to it. And so notice what verse 28 says. And we know that all things work together for good. You watch that woman as she sows and as she embroideries. All of it is working together for good to them that love God,

to them who are the called according to his purpose. The word purpose in the Greek language means to design something in advance, to lay out, to mark out beforehand. And before the worlds were ever created, before you ever breathed your first breath, God had a design, a purpose for your life all laid out, all laid out. Now listen, everything that God has been doing in your life, everything that God has been doing in human history

has been ultimately to work out this plan, an eternal purpose. Listen to what the apostle says in 2 Timothy 1, verse 9. You listen as I read. He says, God has saved us and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. God is working out, the apostle says, his purpose in us, and this purpose was given to us before the world ever began.

In Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 11, he says, In whom, talking about Jesus, we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated, notice now, according to the purpose of him who work of all things. There's verse 28 again, after the counsel of his own will. And then in chapter 3 and verse 11, according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. God has a purpose, an eternal purpose. And when you look at the hodgepodge of events that take place in human history, you need to look behind the scenes

and to realize that God has his hand on human history. He has an eternal purpose. He laid out a design beforehand, before the world began, and all that God is doing. What God's up to today is to work out that purpose in your life. Now, I want to say three things about this eternal purpose of God. First of all, the revelation of that purpose. Secondly, the realization of that purpose. And third, the reassurance of that purpose. First of all, the revelation of that purpose. And third, the reassurance of that purpose.

First of all, the revelation of that purpose. What is God's purpose? What is God up to? Listen, being a Christian doesn't make you immune to the tragedies of life. Being a Christian doesn't lift you above what everybody else is involved in. Sorrow, difficulty, anxieties, frustration, sin. But what being a Christian does is that it zeroes you in to the center of God's purpose. And that this is why the Bible says

that those who do not know Jesus Christ have no hope, absolutely no hope. This is why the apostle says in a previous verse that we are saved in hope, absolutely no hope. This is why the apostle says in a previous verse that we are saved in hope, that the characteristic of the Christian life is it is one of hope. For while we look at our lives from the human side and see nothing but tangled threads,

yet we understand that God is working out his purpose. Now, you know, it's easier to take if you understand what that purpose is. You don't get so uptight about the things that are happening to you every day if you know what that purpose is. And so God reveals to us that purpose. Now, look at verse 29.

For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be, and here's the purpose, to be conformed to the image of his Son. To be conformed to the image of his Son. To be conformed to the image of his Son. What's God's purpose for your life? That you might be just like Jesus. Not just looking like him, but actually being like him.

What is God's purpose in my life? Why does God let these things happen to me? Maybe sometimes you feel like Job. Maybe sometimes Job's wife comes to you and says, listen, why don't you just give up? Why don't you just give up everything you've lived for, everything you've worked for, it's going down the drain. Maybe you have some friends like Job that comes to you and says, oh, I know what's wrong with you. You committed some sin. Tell us what it is. Fess up now. Tell us what it is. And yet you examine

your life. You can't see anything that you've done that would incur God's wrath. The best you know how, you're letting Jesus Christ rule in your life, and all of a sudden the house tumbles in. You know, I've had so many people come to me in the last year and a half, and they said, preacher,

you told us that we ought to enthrone Jesus Christ as Lord in our life. And the minute I did that, everything came apart. I lost my job. I got sick. There was a death in the family. Problems came. Difficulties came. The very moment, the very moment that I yielded my life absolutely without any reservation to the Lordship of Jesus, all these things start happening. Is that your testimony? It is to a great many of you. Well, why does God let that happen? Because God is working out his purpose in my life, and God is working out his purpose in your life. And that purpose is that you might be just like Jesus.

Just like Jesus. And the only way that a sculptor can sculpt out a beautiful figure out of a piece of marble is to do some chipping and some hammering and to let some dust fly. You cannot, you cannot carve out that beautiful figure any other way. The chips must fly. Some things must be broken off and broken away. And when God takes you in hand and says, I'm going to fashion out, I'm going to chisel out of your life the image of myself, of my son, the Lord Jesus Christ, That's why these things happen to you.

You see, in the book of Genesis, the Bible tells us the original purpose that God had was that we might be like him. He said, let us make man in our own image and after our own likeness. That was God's purpose, was that man originally might be made after the image of God and after his own likeness. But man, he didn't want that. He rebelled against God. He wanted to be made in his own image. And you know what the Bible says when Adam and Eve had children? You know what it says?

It says that Adam had sons in his own image. In his own image. The image of God was marred and perverted. Now, God's eternal purpose has never changed. When God created man in the first place, it was that man might be like God, that he might be in his likeness and in his image. And God has never abandoned that purpose.

That's still what God's up to. And so it failed with Adam, the first head of the human race, and so God started all over again with Jesus Christ, the second head of the new race. You know, there are three races in the world, not two races, not Jew and Gentile. There's Jew, Gentile, and Christian. That's the third race, the third human race. God started all over with Jesus. And he says, my purpose hasn't changed.

It's that when I save you, you might be conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. To become just exactly like him in nature, in spirit, in love, in holiness, in peace, in joy, in faith. Just like Jesus. Listen to what the apostle says in 2 Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 18. Now this purpose is being worked out even today in your life. But we all, with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord,

are changed into the same image from glory to glory. That means bit by bit, gradually, even by the Spirit of the Lord. When God saved me, He saved me for a purpose, not merely to take me to heaven, not merely to give me a far escape from hell.

He said, this is the purpose I have for you. I want to change you into the image of my son. Now, we're going to talk about predestination in a minute, and there's a lot I don't understand about predestination. But I'll tell you, there's one thing I do understand about predestination, and that's the purpose of it. The purpose of it is that I might be like Jesus. Now, I want to ask you this morning, how are you getting on with your predestination?

You're any more like Jesus than you were a year ago. The Bible says that I, in this present time, in this present life, am to be being changed bit by bit into the image of Jesus Christ by the work of the Holy Spirit. And when Jesus Christ comes the second time, he will complete the process, begin its salvation, and in the twinkling of an eye, this corruptible shall put on incorruptible, and this mortal shall put on immortality, and we shall be changed like unto his glorious body.

God's going to finish the work that he began. But, you know know I got a real surprise this week as I was studying this 29th verse I decided that was the purpose that was it the purpose of God doing everything was that I might be like Jesus the purpose of Jesus dying on the cross was that I might be like him the purpose of God choosing me and saving me and justifying me was that I might be like him. But you know, I discovered that that is only the immediate purpose. That's not the ultimate purpose. Let's read that verse 29 again. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be

conformed to the image of his son. Now that's right. that's the purpose of salvation, but there is a purpose beyond that. Notice the next word, T-H-A-T, that, that, indicating purpose. In order that he, Jesus, might be the firstborn among many brethren. Now the firstborn is used five times of Jesus in the New Testament, and it is a title of dignity and supremacy and priority. And when I began to read that and the Spirit of God began to reveal to me what that verse was all about, it suddenly dawned upon me that the real ultimate purpose of God working in my life, what God is up to in the world today is that Jesus might be glorified, that Jesus might be the firstborn. That means he might have top priority. He might have the place of dignity and supremacy in my life. Now here's the whole scheme. Here's what God's up to. This

is what God's working out. He never deviates from this purpose. He wants to exalt Jesus. That's all he cares about. That's all the Holy Spirit cares about. That's all you ought to care about in your daily life is to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ, that he might bear the title of dignity and priority and supremacy. And so God says, here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to save you, and I'm going to make you like Jesus, and I'm going to surround

Jesus, my son, with thousands and thousands and thousands of people just like him. And when Jesus stands in the midst, everybody will see that he is the first, that he is the original, that he is the Lord, and this will bring glory and honor and dignity and supremacy to him. You see, what God wants more than anything else is for Jesus to be first in your life. And Jesus is going to be first in all creation and in all the universe. This is God's purpose. I don't know about you, but it humbles me to realize that the only way God can glorify Jesus is through my salvation. The only way God can glorify his son is through my salvation, through making me like Jesus. The glorification of Jesus depends upon my glorification. If I fail to be glorified in the last day, Jesus fails to be glorified. The only way that Jesus can be glorified is if I'm glorified.

Now, friends, there's the basis of eternal security. God is going to see to it that his son is glorified, and the only way his son can be glorified is if you are glorified in the last day. Now, that's the revelation of his purpose. Now, I want us to look briefly at the realization of that purpose. How does God work it out? How does God work it out? Now, I want us to look briefly at the realization of that purpose. How does God work it out? How does God work it out? Now, listen. What we're going to talk about now, Charles H. Spurgeon called a family secret. What he meant was the unsaved wouldn't understand it.

And those of you here this morning that are not Christians and do not have the Spirit of God, you will not understand what we're going to talk about. And many of us who are saved won't understand it. Man, it's a jawbreaker. And I'm not going to pretend this morning to be able to understand and explain predestination. I cannot. Listen, even the apostle Paul could not. In Romans chapters 9, 10, and 11, he struggled with predestination on the one hand and the free choice of man on the other, and he couldn't figure it out. And so he comes to the end of chapter 11 and he throws up his hands you know what he says he says oh the unsearchable riches of His grace his ways are past finding out Paul just

throws up his hands he said I cannot understand it I cannot reconcile it and if Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit could not adequately understand and explain over one hand predestination of God, and on the other hand, the free choice of man. I don't think I can either, but we're going to talk about it. Now, there are five steps. There are five words. Notice foreknowledge, predestination, calling, justification, glorification. The first two have to do with what God did in eternity. He foreknew us and he predestinated us. The last three have to do with how God worked this out on the stage of time. He called us, he justified us, and he glorified us. Let's talk about what God did in

eternity before the worlds began. Whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate. Now, I thought I had predestination figured out at one time. I never will forget I was sitting in the kitchen at my home in Fortune of Arkansas. I forget, about 18 years old. I'd been preaching three or four years. And I was reading this verse, and I'd never been able to understand predestination. All of a sudden, I thought, man, I've got it figured out. What the scholars through the ages have not been able to figure out, I've seen.

I said, I understand predestination now. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate. I said, that's it. Predestination is based on his foreknowledge. Here's what happened. God looked down into eternity, and he knew that some people would believe, and he knew that some people would believe and he knew that some people would not believe and so those that he knew would Believe he predestinated them to be saved

And that sounds good Didn't that logical man? I was so happy That's that solves it. That's simple Why couldn't anybody else see it? God just looked down. He knew everybody that was going to be born. He has all foreknowledge. He knows what's going to happen beforehand. He knew who was going to be saved. He knew who would respond to the gospel.

And so on the basis of that, he predestinated them. The only thing wrong with that is that's not what the Greek word foreknow means. And the only thing wrong with that is that completely contradicts the doctrine of grace. You see, if Ward Walker were standing up here beside me, we're two people in eternity, in time. God looks down in eternity. He sees that Ward is going to believe, and he sees that when I hear the gospel, I will not believe. And so because he knows that I am going to reject and he knows that Ward is going to believe, he predestinates Ward. Now, the only thing wrong with that is that makes the basis of God's election Ward Walker.

The only reason God predestinated him and didn't predestinate me is that God saw that Ward would do something that I wouldn't do. You see? That makes it a salvation of works. The only reason God elected and predestinated Ward Walker is because God knew Ward Walker would do something, and that something was believing. God saw something in Ward Walker he didn't see in me, and so he chose it. And that contradicts the doctrine of grace,

because then that means the reason God elected me is because I was going to do something. And the Bible says in Ephesians that the basis of God's predestination is the good pleasure of his will, not anything he sees in man. But the word foreknow doesn't mean what we normally think it means. We always have the idea that the foreknow means you're going to know in advance what people are going to do. Now, it is true that God does know in advance what people are going to do, but that's not what the Greek word for know means in the New Testament. The word know is used of Joseph knowing his wife Mary. Remember it says that he knew her not until the firstborn.

Now, he was acquainted with Mary, but he did not know her in a marriage relationship. What does Jesus say? I never knew you. In the New Testament language, in the Greek language, the word know means to be acquainted with, to set your affection on, to have a relationship with. It never refers to knowing what people are going to do.

It refers to knowing people, being acquainted with them, having a relationship with them, like a man and his wife having a relationship, or like God and his people having a relationship. Let me read it out of the Williams translation. And the Williams translation is the most accurate translation of the Greek text that I know anything about. Let me read verse 29. For those on whom he set his heart beforehand, that's what the word for know means,

he marked off as his own to be made like his son, that he might be the oldest of many brothers. Let me read it again. For those on whom he set his heart before him. That's what it means to know us when God knows us. You remember he said of Israel, I knew you in the wilderness. Now he didn't mean I knew you were there. He meant I knew you when you were there. I knew you when you were not even in existence. That's what he said of Jeremiah. He said, Jeremiah, I knew you in the womb. Now, he didn't say I knew you were there.

He said, I knew you. I had a relationship with you even before you were born. That's what he's talking about. I don't understand it, but before I was ever born, before the world was ever created, God knew me. He knew me. And because he knew me in that special relationship, he predestined me.

He marked me off as his own. That's what predestination means. Predestination means that you draw a circle around something, you say, that's mine. That's mine. Now, you say, explain that. I can't. I really can't.

And nobody else in the world has ever been able to understand it or explain it. But let me just try to throw one little bit of light on it. In Ephesians chapter 1, and verses 3 and 4, you listen very carefully as I read. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Now notice verse 4.

According as he hath chosen us. Now that's the same Greek word translated elected or predestinated. He hath chosen us. Now notice the next two words and you underline them for there is the only human explanation for predestination.

He hath chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world. He hath chosen us in Christ. Now let me just give you this illustration, and the only way I know to explain it. I go out to Love Field. There is an airplane sitting on the runway that is going to Denver, Colorado next Sunday afternoon. That plane is elected, is predestined, has been marked off, a circle has been drawn around that plane, it has been marked off as going to Denver, Colorado. Now, remember Ephesians 1 4 he chose us in him before the foundation of the world now everybody who's in that plane is chosen to go

to denver colorado everybody who's in that plane is marked off to go to Denver, Colorado. Everybody in that plane is predestined to go to Colorado. Everybody who is not in that plane and who does not enter that plane is not predestined to go to Denver, Colorado. Predestination focuses in Jesus Christ. God never just predestined somebody to be saved regardless of Jesus Christ, and God never predestines anybody to be lost regardless of Jesus Christ. Predestination must always funnel through Jesus Christ, and it goes through Jesus Christ. And those who are in Jesus Christ are predestined to be saved

and predestined to be conformed to the image. Those who do not come to Jesus Christ are predestined to be saved and predestined to be conformed to the image. Those who do not come to Jesus Christ, those who are not in Jesus Christ, are not predestined. Because Jesus Christ said, whosoever will, whosoever will, may come. God never predestines anybody to go to hell. God never fixes anybody's damnation beforehand. And predestination always refers to those who are saved going to heaven and being conformant. It never refers to anybody being lost and going to hell. It never does. In eternity, God knew me before I even existed. He knew me before my mother knew me.

He knew me. He set his heart on me, what William's translation says. He set his heart on me. Can you imagine that? Boy, I tell you, that just, that does something to me. Before I, I had no chance to do good works or bad works. God just set his heart on me. He knew me.

And see, Romans chapter 3 says that God has the power to speak to those things which do not exist. He knows them by name. He calls them by name, those things that do not exist. That them by name he calls them by name those things that do not exist that's amazing that's God he said his heart on me he said his heart on me said I'm gonna draw a circle around you and your mind and so when I was born God carried out that purpose and he called me by spirit I respond to that call he justified me made me as though I had never sinned in his sight. And then notice the last verse, Dr. James Denny, one of the greatest theologians who ever

lived, said the greatest affirmation of the entire word of God is the last word in verse 30. Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called, and whom he called, them he also justified, and whom he justified, them he also what? Glorified. Past tense. You mean that? You mean I've been worried about my salvation, I've been worried about falling from grace, I've been worrying about eternal security, and God says that I'm already glorified in his sight. That's right.

And you say, well, I don't see how. Well, it doesn't matter what you and I can see. You say, that doesn't seem logical. It doesn't matter what's logical to you and me. It's the book. It's the word of God. God says that if he called you and if he justified you, he also glorified you. And notice how he uses the word also them he also called them he also justified and those alsos are the knots that

tie it all together and make it a unit listen if god has called you and if you've responded to that call if god has justified you and saved you listen you're already glorified in god's sight you say i don't understand how that can be. Well, it's just like this. Let's suppose I'm walking down one of the main streets of Dallas, the city of Dallas. Now, right where I am right now is my present. Right where I was a block back, that's my past. And there's a block up there, there's a street corner up there that I'm heading towards, that's my future. You see, time is an invention of God to accommodate humans. God invented time for our sake. And time is a line on which you and I walk. Where I am right now is my

present. That other block, that other intersection, that's my past, and this intersection up here I'm moving towards is my present. I mean, it's my future. Now, someone is on top of that skyscraper up yonder, and they look down, and they watch me as I walk up that street. And when they look at me, this is their present. They look back where I was, they look up to where I'm going to be, and it's my present. I look back to where he was, that's his past, but it's not my past. It's my present. You see, it's all present with me.

From my vantage point, I can see the line from beginning to end. And the end is my present, and the beginning is my present. I see it all in one glance, in just one look, in one moment of time, in my present tense. I can see it all. I can see where he's been, I can see where he is, and i can see where he's been i can see where he is and i can see where he's going from my vantage point that's how god sees it god is the eternal i am he is the eternal present and god has no time there's no time with god time is a invention of god to accommodate us humans it's a line on which we walk, but it's all God's present.

And so I was saved when I was nine years old. That's my past, but it's God's present. He looks at it. He can still see it. One of these days I'm going to die

or Jesus is going to come and I'm going to heaven. It's God's present. God sees it now. And so this is why God is able to say, remember now we're looking at it from the divine side. This is why God is able to say, if I have called you and you've responded, and if I have

justified you, you are already glorified. Well, that's eternal security. It's already settled. It's already done. All that has to be done now is just to be acted out on the plane of everyday experience. Now, let me just say one word in closing about the reass plane of everyday experience. Now let me just say one word in closing about the reassurance of this purpose, and this brings us back to verse 28. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, now notice, to them who are the called according to his purpose. Now, if you do not come to Jesus, if you do not get in that plane, if you do not get in Jesus,

then the purpose of God for your life is frustrated and destroyed. But once you enter that plane, once you get inside Jesus Christ there is no power on heaven or hell that can frustrate the purpose of God once you are a part of that purpose once you respond to that call of God and you're called according to his purpose then God sees to it that there is not a single thing

that happens to you that can thwart or frustrate that purpose. Reassurance. Reassurance. God takes everything in my life. He says, listen, your goal is glorification because unless you're glorified, Jesus can't be glorified. And I want Jesus to be glorified. Now listen, everything that happens to you, if it's bad or good, ill or fair, no matter

what it is, I'm going to work it out. I'll work it out. You keep on looking at those tangled threads. It doesn't make sense to you, but listen, you stop once in a while and flip it over and see the other side. See the other side. See it from God's side. He said, I'm working it out. Don't worry about it. Don't get uptight. Don't fret. Don't get anxious. Just side. He said, I'm working it out. Don't worry about it. Don't get uptight. Don't fret. Don't get anxious. Just let me handle it. I'm working it out.

I'll take care of it. I'll work it out. Everything. Lord, what about this sorrow? I'll work it out. Lord, what about this tragedy? I'll work it out. What about this horrible experience I'm going through now?

I'll work it out. But Lord, you don through now? I'll work it out. But Lord, you don't know that I'll work it out. I'll work it out. Listen, I'm glad I'm a part of his purpose. God has a purpose for your life, a glorious plan for your life, but it's in Jesus. God doesn't do anything aside from Jesus.

Everything comes through him. You'll never know the glorious purpose that God has for your life until you know Jesus. Are you in that plane? Are you in Christ this morning? You can be. Jesus says, whosoever will may come,

whosoever heareth, let him come to the water and drink freely. The great word of the gospel is whosoever will, let him come. Will you come to him this morning? Ron Dunn's podcast is available only for personal edification, not to be duplicated, uploaded to the web, or resold without prior written consent.

It is managed and operated by Sherwood Baptist Church. For more Ron Dunn materials, sermon outlines, devotions, and scanned pages from his study Bible, please visit rondunn.com.