Romans 8:24-29 — Does God Choose You or Do You Choose Him?

Hello and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick. An Oklahoma rancher and farmer, Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. Good to have everybody back, and once again we're going to go right in and pick up where we left off in Romans chapter 8. I hope people don't get tired of hearing the same chapter over and over and over, but after all we're not on a set format, we're not trying to get at a certain place at a certain time, so we're just going to study it and take it as it comes. Again we do like to invite our television audience to the fact that we have our books available which are transcriptions of the tapes of all the previous programs, and we try to get them out as reasonably as we can so that as many people can afford them as possible. So if you're interested in the videos or in the little books you call us, and I guess I shocked one of our station managers here a while back, he called and I was picking up the call in the kitchen. He said, ìYou mean you operate out of your kitchen?î And I said, ìWell, as much as any place.î He said, ìYou don't even have special offices?î And I said, ìNo, heavens no.î He said, ìWe don't have a staff.î I said, ìIt's just my wife and I, and now our little daughter-in-law comes in part time and helps us.î So anyway you call us, and if possible try to call us between 8 in the morning and noon when we're always around on the phone. After that it may not be as likely. Let's come back into Romans chapter 8, and we left off at verse 24 where Paul continues now that we are saved by hope. Now somebody will throw a curve at me and say, ìWell I thought you said we were saved by faith.î Well we are, but faith and hope are in the same meaning actually, and so hope that is seen is not hope, for what a man seeth, what doth he yet hope for? In other words when we enter into the realm of the invisible, what do we have to depend on? Faith. Go back to Hebrews. In fact someone just reminded me that this was one of the verses I used at least in our Muscogee class when I gave the plan of salvation, and so since I missed it in that series I will get it here. But in Hebrews chapter 11, verse 1, Hebrews 11, verse 1, and we've looked at this verse time and time again. Now faith, taking God at His Word, is the substance, it's the very meat of things, oh what's the word, hoped for, just like He used in Romans 8, see? So faith is the substance of things hoped for, it's the evidence, the proof of what kind of things? The unseen, see? So when we enter into the realm of the spiritual, into these things that we cannot just tangibly touch, it has to be on the basis of faith. And there again, if I didn't know that this was the Word of God I couldn't believe it. I mean some of these things are just so far beyond human comprehension that you can't believe it unless you are positive that this is the Word of God, and I am. There is so much in here to prove the validity of this Book, that I don't have to have any doubt. And so someone may say, that's just blind faith. No it isn't. My faith isn't blind, my faith is documented, and that's what the Word is all about. So faith is the substance of things hoped for, it's the evidence of things not seen, for by it, by faith, the elders obtained a good report. Now here it is in verse 3, "...through faith, by simply taking God at His Word, we..." Now remember Paul is always dealing in the realm of the believer. The unbeliever can't comprehend this, I know they can't, but we believers can, and we understand that the worlds, the universe, were framed by the Word of God. He spoke it, and boom, it all came into being. And if we can believe our astronomers, not the astrologists, but the astronomers, that everything is still being created. It's still moving further and further, and I can believe that, because God is infinite. There is no putting an outer shell on God's creation. Alright, so it was framed by the Word of God, so that things which are seen, the things which are tangible, were not made out of things that appear. What does that mean? Everything that's been created, that we can now see and handle, came out of nothing. Out of nothing. I think I shared maybe on this program, I sometimes forget what I put on the program and what I've shared in our local classes, but I remember a few years ago reading an article in a scientific magazine written by a great physicist who had devoted his whole life trying to arrive at the origin of the universe. Of course there are a lot of people trying to do that, but his whole article had brought himself and the reader to the conclusion that at the beginning, whatever that was, everything had come from a single source of light. And I said to myself, that's God! God is light! This guy was so close, and yet I'll bet he was a rank unbeliever, but he was so close to the truth that everything had come from one source of light, and had just expanded out from that, so consequently he says, I can see the day when everything could go back like putting genie in the bottle, everything could go back into that source of light. So can I, and in fact I think that's exactly what God is going to do when everything will be destroyed, and the elements are going to melt with fervent heat, and God is going to create new heavens and new earths, and I think that's exactly what He'll do. He'll just pull everything back into that original source of light and energy, and from there He'll create new heavens and a new earth, Revelation tells us, and so does Peter. So faith and hope then are so intricately intertwined, and I'll come back to Romans 8. So if a man sees something, then there's no need to hope for it. I've given the expression that I've learned over the years, that anticipation is far more exciting than realization. When you look forward to something, and you look forward to it, that's a lot more exciting than when it finally gets there. Now verse 25. But if we hope, and again by faith, for that which we see not, then we do with patience wait for it. Now you see with God, time doesn't mean that much. God isn't concerned whether He will finally bring everything to its fruition tomorrow, or whether it's 10 years from now, or 100 years from now. But we know it's coming, and we can't push God to do it faster, so what do we do? We wait patiently. But in your patience never lose sight of the fact that it is going to happen. Christ is going to return, and we feel it's getting sooner every day. Verse 25. So if we hope for that which we see not, then we do with patience wait for it. Now verse 26. Now we move into a little deeper area, and we see that the Holy Spirit, who is now indwelling us according to Paul's teaching, also helpeth our infirmities, our weaknesses. Not much we can do about it, because we're dealing with the invisible, we're dealing in the realm of the Spirit. But let God do it. God can strengthen us in our places of infirmity, for we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Holy Spirit Himself maketh groanings, or intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now that verse is kind of hard to comprehend, except to say, I think there come places in our life where we just don't know how to pray. We have an idea of what we want, but we can't put it into words. I've told my classes over the years, when you get to that situation, just be quiet, just shut up, and let the Holy Spirit commune for you. Now this is not necessarily a tongues experience, that's not what Paul's talking about. But we get to this place where the Holy Spirit actually intercedes on our behalf. Now come back to 1 John. This is a different intercessory power than John talks about in his little epistle, 1 John 2. First John, way at the back, just before you get to Jude and Revelation, the three little epistles of John, 1 John 2, verse 1, my little children, now even John, who is he talking to? Believers. He doesn't call the unbelieving world his children, but it's the believing element again that is being addressed. My little children, these things I write unto you, that you sin not. Now what have I stressed over the years that I've been teaching that we're under grace, not under law? That grace is not license. Just because we're under grace, and just because the sin is always less than God's grace, that doesn't give us license. And so John says the same thing. He begs the believer, sin not, don't sin, but if any man sin. It's conditional. So what are we going to do? We're going to sin. You might as well admit it. And if any man sin, now we have an advocate, an intercessor. We have someone that is intercessing for us to the Father. Now back in Romans chapter 8, you see the Holy Spirit is interceding on behalf of us, I think the God, the Son. And again we have all three persons of the Trinity involved, even in our prayer line. All three persons are working for us constantly, and a little later in this chapter, no wonder Paul will write, Well if God be for us, who can be against us? We've got all three persons just constantly working on our behalf. Alright, read on. If any man sin, in I John chapter 2 verse 1, we have an advocate with the Father, who is it? Jesus Christ the Righteous, absolutely He is. He is there 24 hours a day, every day of the year. I've told my classes over the years, and I think I've even said it on the program, this is one of the miracles of our God. I'm sure that any one moment of time there are probably a million believers in all areas of the world that are approaching the throne room. But you know what? He hears everyone as an individual. He doesn't hear just a mumble jumble of voices coming up before Him, and so when we pray we have that assurance that He hears us, and He knows all about us, the person. Back to Romans chapter 8, verse 27, Romans 8, and he that searcheth the hearts, see this is the area that God works. You and I can't look on each other's heart. I can't judge anyone, I would never try, but God does. And He searches the hearts, and He knows the mind of the Spirit. Now hold it, where so far as you and I are concerned is the Spirit? He's in us. Now that's a concept that we can't understand. A person of the Godhead dwelling in me? Absolutely! That's what the book says. And again we take it by faith that that third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, is indwelling the believer. And it's through that Holy Spirit then, that God searches the heart of the believer, because it's the Holy Spirit who maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. Does that leave out the Son? No. It just involves all three. The Holy Spirit intercedes on our behalf to the Son, and the Son intercedes on our behalf to the Father. Oh it's just fantastic. And now verse 28 can say what? Here's a verse that the whole world rests on, and it says, "...all things work together for good." For everybody? No. There's a qualification here. Who is it? The believer. All things work together for your good and mine as a believer. Not for the world necessarily. Now everything is working to the fruition of His eternal plan of the ages, absolutely it is. But in our everyday moment by moment experience, it's only the believer that God is working out the best for him. Now that may also include some things that aren't so good, but you know what? I've found in my life, all the things at the time I was going through them, I'd say, Lord why? Why are you doing this to me? But years later I can look back and I can say, praise the Lord that that took place because it brought me to where I am. And you're the same way. And this is the joy of being a believer, that yes, God may bring some tough things into our life. He may bring some bad experiences, but it's for His own purpose to bring us to the place that He wants us to be, and that's what I think every one of you have already experienced. So all things work together for good to them that love God. Remember the illustration I gave you of the young lady when they invited her to partake of the love of God, and she says, I hate God. Well that's where most people are. You have to get them in a tight spot to express it, but that's where they really are. They don't love God, and they're the first ones when things go a little bad, they can say, well see where's God? Well God's there, but it's their problem, not His. Verse 28, to them who love God, to them who are called according to His purpose, now we're going to get into a few areas that are a little bit sticky, I know they are. For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate. Now right here I always have to stop and warn people. We've got those around us, and I'm sure I've got them living around me down in my little neck of the woods, and I'm sure you have them around you who are of the persuasion, and I don't know what to call them, fatalists or whatever, but their idea is, well God is already predetermined that if I'm supposed to go to heaven, I'll get there, and if I'm going to be predestined to go to hell, there's nothing I can do about it, I'll be going there. So don't worry about it. Well that's not what the word predestination is talking about. In fact what I've done in my classes over the years, is get people to see what are we predestined to. Look at it now real carefully. For whom He did foreknow, He did also predestinate to hell, no it doesn't say that. For whom He did foreknow, He did predestinate to go to heaven, no it doesn't say that. See what I mean? We've got to look at what the Book says. Now what it really says is that whom God did foreknow, He predestinated to a position, to a position which in this case is being conformed or being made like to the Son. Now that's not heaven or hell. That is a position that God has reserved for every individual believer. Now let's look at another one on that same basis, Ephesians chapter 1, and let's go right back to verse 4. Ephesians 1, verse 4, and I know some of these things are mind boggling, but hopefully before the half hour is over at least, we'll be able to reconcile some of these things. Ephesians 1, starting at verse 4, Ephesians 1, verse 4, Ephesians 1, verse 4, "...according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy, set apart, and without blame before Him, in love." In other words, as a result of that love extended on the cross. Now watch verse 5. Ephesians 1, verse 5, "...having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will." Now if you remember a program or two ago I defined the word adoption as Paul uses it, and as it was practiced in the Roman and the Greek culture, and that was that when the The child born of the husband and the wife was put under tutors, he was educated and trained and prepared to come in at an equal level with the father, we�ll say for a business. And when that child reached that point in life, he went through the rites of adoption. Now the one that is akin to that in the Hebrew culture is the Bar Mitzvah when the boy reached the age of 14. But it was not on the same category as the Romans and the Greeks did because they were in the secular world, and they were preparing their child to come in and be a co-worker in the business. But Paul teaches that the moment we become a believer, we don�t go through years of tutoring and training, we are immediately placed as an heir with the Father and the Son. Now that�s exactly what he was saying here, that we were predestinated not to heaven, not to hell, but we were predestinated as a believer to this position right there with Christ from day one, as a joint heir in the process of the adoption. Now I think he uses it once more here in Ephesians chapter 1, down to verse 11. "...in whom also we also have obtained an inheritance, that we are joint heirs with Christ." Now if you�re a joint heir, that means what�s the other parties? The other parties are yours. Now, in the secular economy, if the other half passes off the scene, who ends up with it? The heir does. Now we�re joint heirs, and of course Christ is never going to die and pass off the scene, so we�re going to be joint heirs forever. Now verse 11 again, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him, who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will. Do you know what that means? God has predetermined everything. Go back to Acts chapter 2, a verse we�ve looked at periodically, but it�s almost the same kind of language and that�s why I think it behooves us to look at it. Acts chapter 2, verse 23, and of course He�s speaking of Jesus of Nazareth up there in verse 22, and so now in verse 23 the hymn is referring to Jesus being delivered, that is up to be crucified, being delivered by the determinate counsel, same word. See that? Same word as you just saw in Ephesians, the determinate counsel and the foreknowledge of God, same language. Now flip back and forth because see this is the only way we can learn. Come back again to Ephesians, keep your hand in Acts, back to Ephesians, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, verse 11, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will. Now back to Acts, Him being delivered by the determinate counsel. Now what�s a counsel? Well it�s a meeting of the minds, that�s plural. So who had a determinate meeting of the minds? The Trinity! See? The Trinity! Way back in eternity past, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit came together and by a determinate agreeing of their three minds, they decided to create the universe, and they decided to put in little old planet earth, and on it they would put the human race. They knew in foreknowledge that the human race would fall in the man Adam, and they knew in that predeterminate counsel that one person of that triune God would have to be a Redeemer. Isn�t that beautiful? And so everything according to that predeterminate counsel of Acts chapter 2 brought the whole thing moving. Then as the small part of that whole big picture, here you and I come. And again according to that same kind of triune counsel, that same triune meeting of the minds, God put the finger on every one of us and said, �I have a place waiting for you.� Now if that isn�t enough to thrill you, to send you home with, I don�t know what could be. But that�s where we are. We are in that predetermined position that was put there by the counsel of the triune God before anything was ever created. Now then the big argument comes up, �Well now wait a minute. Are we elected? Are we chosen before we ever had anything to do about it?� And the opposite party comes and says, �It was all of our own free will.� We decided to choose salvation. And I say, �Well now wait a minute. Yes, whosoever will sits over here. You cannot deny it. The Scripture is full of it, that Christ died for every man. He tasted death for every man. He�s not willing that any should perish. But over here the Scripture says, �You were chosen before the foundation of the world.� Now maybe you can, but I can�t. I can in no way explain those two facts of Scripture. But I�m going to let them set in Scripture by faith. This is what God has said, and I�m going to let Him settle the controversy. I can�t. You remember I put it on the board several years ago, and I still think it�s as good an application as it ever was found. Here is the river of humanity. Ever since Adam, the human race has just been flowing like old man river. But all along the banks of the river are these doors of opportunity. And who remembers what�s on the front part of the door? Whosoever will may come. So the whosoever that goes through that door of opportunity, when he gets to the other side he looks back, and now what does he see on the other side of the top of the door? Chosen in Him, when? Before the world was ever created. I can�t put it any better, because that is exactly the way it is. We have to decide for ourselves, and yet the moment we decide God says, �I chose you.�