Blessed Assurances of Salvation in Romans 8:28-31 - God's Purposes in Christ and The Gracious Call of the Spirit

Romans 8:29-30a "For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; 30 and these whom He predestined, He also called."

Introduction:

        In the last post we began considering God's blessed assurances of salvation in Romans 8:28-31. We looked at the first "golden ring" of Paul's chain of five words in these verses: namely foreknowledge. We noted how this term could be rendered: "foreloving" or "pre-loving". The great Baptist preacher, C.H. Spurgeon, notes about foreknowledge:

"We find that the word 'know' is frequently used in scripture, not only foreknowledge, but also for favor, love...". 

Spurgeon then states:

"In Romans 11:2 we read: 'God hath not cast away His people which He foreknew', where the same sense evidently has the idea of "fore-love", and so it is to be understood here."

        Like mighty pillars of a great bridge sunk deep into the ocean, wherefore we cannot see their bottoms but nonetheless know their ability to uphold the bridge, so it is with these five pillars of blessed assurance in salvation: foreknowledge, predestination, calling, justification and glorification. In today's post we are going to consider predestination and calling in Romans 8:29-30.  

God's Purposes in Christ - Romans 8:29
        

        Romans 8:29 introduces us to the anchors of God's plan: foreknowledge and predestination. These words are not revealed in scripture to scare us, but rather to comfort us. Foreknowledge, as we've explored already, could just as easily be rendered "fore-loving" or "pre-loving". God's eternal pre-love of each believer before they were born and even before all creation is one of the foundations for blessed assurance. Another way we could state this first truth in Romans 8:29: God knows where you're at before you ever arrive at where you're at.  

So what about predestination? 

        Predestination has to do with God "marking out" the boundaries of each and every individual Christian's life before they were born. Foreknowledge speaks of God's loving intent for each believer before they were born and predestination can be likened unto a set of blueprints. 

        In roughly 100 places in the Bible we find the truth of God's elective purpose of grace as expressed in predestination. Such a truth, like God's foreknowledge, is not based upon anything the Christian would be seen to do but only upon God's loving choice for them in eternity (Ephesians 1:4-5; 2 Peter 1:1-2). Ephesians 1:5 notes: 

"He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will." 

        So why would God begin planning each believer's salvation in eternity? Paul tells us the point of plan in Romans 8:29: "to become conformed to the image of His Son". The Baptist Faith & Message 2000 explains for us God's total elective purpose in this regard: 

"Election is the gracious purpose of God, according to which He regenerates, justifies, sanctifies, and glorifies sinners. It is consistent with the free agency of man, and comprehends all the means in connection with the end. It is the glorious display of God's sovereign goodness, and is infinitely wise, holy, and unchangeable. It excludes boasting and promotes humility."

        Predestination covers God's purposes which He has marked out for the Christian. Sometimes people err in thinking God has a parallel form of predestination for those who die in their sins, resulting in God sending some to hell and others to heaven. The doctrine of predestination only covers God's purposes for the Christian - a gracious, active outworking of His salvation decree. As for the remainder of sinful human beings, God ordained to let them continue in their freely chosen path to reject Him - a passive outworking of His decree of judgment called "reprobation" or just rejection of sinners. Predestination is a free act of God's grace and reprobation is a passive act of God's judgment letting the sinner go onward in their free rejection of him. 

    This is the testimony of Scripture: God has mercy upon whom He has mercy and He metes out justice, never injustice (see Genesis 18:25; John 3:17-18; Acts 13:46; Romans 9:14-15). 

        Predestination in Romans 8:29 unfolds what is meant by "the purpose of God" in Romans 8:29. Notice how Paul emphasizes God's Sovereignty operating in the believer's life. God "causes" all things. Christ is the pattern and end goal of the believer's salvation in God's work of predestination. God is the Orchestrator of human affairs. Even when mankind sins, God can still use the foolish decisions of sinful men to achieve His ultimate purpose. 

        Were it not for the Ultimate purpose of God at the end of Romans 8:28 and the assurances of foreknowledge and predestination in Romans 8:29, the entirety of life and salvation as we know it would fall to the ground. God is for the Christian, as stated plainly in Romans 8:31. This speaks of the goal God has established for you dear Christian to glorify Him and enjoy Him forever.

Gracious Call Of The Spirit - Romans 8:30

        So, when it comes to the blessed assurances of salvation in Romans 8:28-31, we've noted God's pre-eternal love (i.e foreknowledge) and God's purposes in Christ (i.e predestination). But now what of that third assurance: The gracious call of the Spirit? This third link of the "golden chain of salvation" brings us from eternity past into this present world and the specific lives of individual sinners. The Holy Spirit comes to people in their sins and calls them to leave their love affair with unbelief and trust in Jesus Christ for their salvation (John 16:8-12).

        A great author of the past, A.W Tozer, notes what takes place the moment the Spirit calls the sinner to salvation: 

"The moment the Spirit has quickened us to life in regeneration our whole being sense its kinship to God and leaps us in joyous recognition. That is the heavenly birth without which we cannot see the Kingdom of God."

        When it comes to the Spirit's working in the human heart of calling the sinner to salvation, perhaps no clearer text can be found than 2 Corinthians 4:6 "For God, who said, 'Light shall shine out of darkness,' is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ." 

        The Spirit was sent forth from heaven by the Father in the name of His Son, following the Son's ascension. Why? To call forth sinners, all who have ears to hear, to respond. The calling of the Spirit in Romans 8:29 assumes there to be hearts for Him to open. Unless those human hearts are exposed to the light of His grace, there will be no blooms to reach up to God and to receive His well-meant offer of salvation. 

Closing thoughts for today

        So far, we have considered three blessed assurances of Christian salvation as found in Romans 8:28-29 - foreknowledge (i.e God's pre-eternal love); predestination (i.e God's purposes in Christ) and calling (i.e The gracious call of the Spirit). I want to close out with this quote from a commentary on the Baptist Faith and Message that is edited by Charles S. Kelly Jr., Richard Land and R. Albert Mohler Jr:

"Throughout the history of the church, Christians have struggled to find the best way to reconcile God's Sovereignty and humanity's free will. Although Baptists have included believers who hold different understandings of how these truths are to be affirmed, we stand together on the great truth that God alone saved sinners. We are united in affirming both divine sovereignty and human responsibility. This is our common faith."

Blessed Assurances Of Salvation In Romans 8:28-31 - God's Foreknowledge or Pre-eternal Love

Romans 8:28 "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose."

Introduction:

     In our home we have what is called a "hope chest". The hope chest contains the most precious and important memories, pictures, children's artwork and other treasures that are most meaningful to Debi and me. 

    The other day I was looking in the hope chest for some items from our wedding day. I was reminded of so many things when I opened it. I'm certain if my children had been with me, they would have inquired about what this item means and that item represents. Even though they may not had been able to complete grasp the significance of everything in the hope chest, I'm certain that what they would comprehend the love their mother and I have for them and one another. 

     Do you realize that the Bible presents to us a hope chest of sorts? In Romans 8:28-31 we find some blessed assurances for Christian salvation. Contained within those verses are some profound truths that have taxed the abilities of even the most able minds. These truths bring comfort all of God's people. 

       Many Bible teachers have referred to Paul's exposition of Romans 8:28-31 as containing "five golden rings" of salvation. This hope chest for the believer will certainly, at times, cause us to not fully comprehend the depth, height, and width of these realities. However, we like the illustration above can come away from this text with the sense of how much God loves the Christian and how much love there is within the Trinity. 

       We want to begin considering the blessed assurances of salvation as spelled out in Romans 8:28-31. We will focus our attention on five particular words that we find in the text: foreknowledge, predestination, calling, justification and glorification. Today's post will be devoted to the first of these blessed assurances - God's foreknowledge.

God's Pre-eternal Love. Romans 8:28-29

       Paul states in Romans 8:28-29a 

"And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. 29 For those whom He foreknew....". 

       In Romans 8:28 we arrive at our first "golden ring" - "foreknew". What is foreknowledge? The word "foreknowledge" in the original Greek is the word we derive our English term "prognosis". The word within "prognosis" is the word "gnosis" and is often times used in the sense of someone "loving" another with the deepest, most intimate of love. In the Old Testament, we see this notion used to describe Adam "knowing his wife Eve" in Genesis 4:1. God is described in Amos 3:2 as having "known" only Israel among the families of the earth."  

       The way the Bible uses the term "known" in these verses does not mean God had restricted knowledge. Rather, the term refers to God's special love for Israel, just as Adam "knew" or "loved" his wife as only a husband could. 

       God's foreknowledge or "foreloving" deals with what God already knew about each of His people as He saw them in His Son from all eternity. His "foreloving" included His choice to for them despite their sin. God's eternal love for His people was rooted in His own motives, rather than in any foreseen actions of the people.  Deuteronomy 7:7-8a states: 

“The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples, 8 but because the Lord loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers...". 

       The New Testament also equates God's foreknowledge with an eternal "preloving" of believers.  1 Corinthians 8:3 states - "but if anyone loves God, he is known by Him." Then 1 John 4:19 tells us - "We love, because He first loved us."  The Apostle Peter begins his first letter to his Christian readers, implying that God's choosing of them was based upon God's "foreknowledge" or "pre-love". In short, God's foreknowledge is simply another way of saying God's "foreloving".  

God's Love is at the center of Divine Foreknowledge

        We've already mentioned the relationship between love and God's foreknowledge, but such insights merit some important questions. Why does God choose anyone?1 Love! So why did God choose Israel? Love! Why did He choose the individuals to whom Peter wrote? Love! How about people who get saved to today or who have yet to believe the Gospel? One reason - love! 2 

        God's eternal love for those whom He sees in Christ is what prompts Him to choose them. Ephesians 1:4 notes - 

"just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love".

Closing Thoughts:

        Thus, this first blessed assurance or golden-ring of salvation is rooted in the eternal love God had for each of His people. Only God could design a salvation that is all at once rooted in His pre-eternal, loving purposes of grace and which requires the consequent response of faith and repentance to receive such a salvation. As the Baptist Faith and Message notes: 

"Election is the gracious purpose of God, according to which He regenerates, justifies, sanctifies, and glorifies sinners. It is consistent with the free agency of man, and comprehends all the means in connection with the end."

Endnotes:

1. Election, and thus God's foreknowledge, are not based upon God seeing what people will do or not do with the Gospel.  If anything, all mankind does apart from grace is reject the gospel. God doesn't send anyone to hell, since people who die in their sins do so of their own accord and decision to reject God's well-meant offer of the Gospel. 

        So, what about those who believe? Does that mean that God does not know who will believe? Of course not! Rather the basis for God's elective purpose of grace is simply His loving choice of them. In examining the over 100 verses on election in the Bible, not once is God's elective purpose ever based upon foreseeing what man would do or not do. 

2. Only in the mind of God can the truths of Sovereign election and human free-moral agency in salvation be fully comprehended. Although we as human beings may never be able to resolve how these truths go together, this does not mean that they are irreconcilable nor contradictory truths. Scripture asserts both. Just as in the Person of Jesus Christ there is both a Divine nature and will and a human nature and will that co-exist together without contradiction, harmonization, confusion nor separation, so it is in the salvation for which He achieved. There are scriptures that thankfully give one reason behind the otherwise inscrutable act of God's election of the saints: love.  As Romans 8:31 reminds us: "If God be for us, who can be against us." 

P2 - Introducing What Southern Baptists Teach On God's Sovereignty And Human Responsibility In Salvation

John 1:12-13 "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God."

Introduction:

In our last post we began considering article V of the Baptist Faith and Message on the subject of God's Sovereignty and human responsibility in salvation. Today we plan to conclude what is an introduction to the Southern Baptist position on these two subjects. God's Sovereign Election should not be cause for pain, but rather praise of God. Studying the nearly 100 Biblical passages that speak on the subject of Sovereign election should be cause for humility, rather than haughtiness. In like manner, we must also include man's free-moral agency, or human responsibility in the realm of human salvation. As true as it is that no one wills to be saved apart from God's willingness to save; yet we also equally affirm that none can be saved unless they exercise faith and repentance in response to the Gospel. This tension is with us and mustn't be erased nor relieved, since scripture affirms both without erasing one on account of the other nor attempting to harmonize both. The above opening text in John 1:12-13 puts side by side these two realities of human responsibility in salvation (verse 12) and God's Sovereign purposes in such salvation (verse 13). With those opening thoughts, lets continue on in our introduction to these subjects. 

Some further reflections on what Southern Baptists teach regarding God's Sovereignty and human responsibility in salvation

Southern Baptists have historically held to both the so-called "God-side" of salvation (election, foreknowledge, predestination) and the "man-ward" side of the same subject (believe, repent, response). Like a pair of tennis shoes with shoe laces running through them, tying the shoes requires me taking two strings in my hands to tie them. Yet, it is ultimately one lace that runs through eyelets of the shoe. 

The one lace of course is God's Sovereign will in salvation, which runs from beginning to end. God is to be credited for our salvation and the ultimate reasons why any Christian perseveres in their sanctification. The Baptist Faith & Message 2000 notes in the same article quoted above: 

"All true believers endure to the end. Those whom God has accepted in Christ, and sanctified by His Spirit, will never fall away from the state of grace, but shall persevere to the end." 

Viewing Biblical Salvation Through Both Lenses Of God's Sovereignty and Human Responsibility

So does the Southern Baptist statement above match with what we find in scripture? Short answer: yes. We can only do a thumbnail sketch, since over 100 passages speak on God's elective purposes of grace and the human responsibility to believe and be saved. Both truths are needed in order for us to have the proper perception of Biblical salvation, much like a good pair of 3-D glasses.  

The first lens is that of human responsibility. We know that the Bible teaches the necessity to believe and repent in order to be saved. 
God plainly says in Ezekiel 33:11 that He does not take pleasure in the death of the wicked, but actually urges them to turn from their choice of rejecting Him. This first lens of human responsibility steers us from committing the error of thinking that God sends people to Hell. God does not send anyone to hell. Man does. This insight matches with what we read in 2 Peter 3:9, namely that God is not desiring or willing that anyone would perish, but all come to repentance. 

So what about that second lens: God's Sovereignty? Whenever you turn to 1 Peter 1:1-2, you are still looking at the same Biblical salvation. If we were to ask the question: "who is to be credited for anyone believing the Gospel freely and willingly?" Answer: God. Peter opens His epistle by noting how his readers were those who, being scattered throughout the Roman world, were "chosen according to the foreknowledge of God" (1 Peter 1:1-2). 1 Peter 1:1-2 views our salvation through the lens of Sovereignty by the appearance of such words as "foreknowledge", "chosen" and "caused" (1 Peter 1:2,3). 

In as much as the Apostles Peter and Paul taught that God is Sovereign in salvation and that no salvation could begin without His election, foreknowledge and predestination, Peter is quick to make sure we are also using that other lens of human responsibility. Peter presents this same salvation through that second lens - the lens of human responsibility to salvation by such words as "to obtain" (1:4) and "faith" (1:5, 7 and 9). 

Peter reminds us that our salvation from beginning to end is bounded by God's Sovereign purposes of grace (1:2, 20). As noted already, Peter also affirms that salvation is received by the gifting of faith and lived out by believers who obey the truths of scripture (1 Peter 1:10-17).  

Closing Thoughts: A Voice Of Southern Baptist History Weighs in on Biblical Salvation

As the late pastor of the First Baptist Church in Dallas, Dr. W.A Criswell stated about these two truths in a sermon  he preached, "God Hath Chosen You":

"Truth is a big, great, mighty mountain, and you can’t see to the top of it.  The highest-most pinnacle is shrouded in mists and in clouds and in thick darkness.  No man can see all of it.  The most a man can see in the great mountain of truth is just one side – one side at a time.  A man is so limited in his mind that he cannot even see two great truths together and make them fit."

Dr. Criswell was a champion of Biblical preaching and was a voice for his generation. He goes on further in his remarks:

"For example, there is no man that has ever lived that could make fit together these two truths, though you can talk about them one at a time: the sovereignty of God, and the free moral agency of the man.  You can look at one at a time, one side at a time, but you can’t see them both together.  You can’t even see all the truth if you were in an airplane and had an air view of it." 

Criswell then closes:

"So when we come to look at the mountain of truth – at God’s work and God Himself, who is light and life and truth – it behooves us to be very humble."

Humility and awe are the twin pillars that must be in the heart whenever we approach the Bible's teaching on salvation. 

P1 - Introducing What Southern Baptists Teach On God's Sovereignty And Human Responsibility In Salvation

1 Peter 1:1-2 "Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen 2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure."

2 Peter 3:9 "The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance."

Ezekiel 33:11 "Say to them, ‘As I live!’ declares the Lord God, ‘I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways! Why then will you die, O house of Israel?"

Two lenses needed to grasp the one truth of Biblical salvation: God's Sovereignty to save and man's responsibility to be saved 

Two lenses are necessary in a good pair of glasses. Why? Because in order for us to see clearly, we need two eyes to process depth perception. Depth perception is a vital component of our experience of the external world. Many people pay extra money to see "3-D" movies because of the perceived "depth-perception" in the film. Without depth perception, our world would look pretty "flat" and featureless". In like manner, without the Biblical twin-emphasis on God's Sovereignty and human responsibility, any teaching on salvation will be "flat" and "incomplete".

What Do Southern Baptists Teach On God's Sovereignty and Human Responsibility in Salvation?

The Baptist Faith and Message 2000, Article V, notes concerning Sovereignty and human responsibility in salvation - "Election is the gracious purpose of God, according to which He regenerates, justifies, sanctifies, and glorifies sinners. 

This first sentence of "Article V" in the Baptist Faith and Message affirms God's Sovereign elective purpose of grace in human salvation. The next sentence of the same article then states these words about election: 

It is consistent with the free agency of man, and comprehends all the means in connection with the end. It is the glorious display of God's sovereign goodness, and is infinitely wise, holy, and unchangeable. It excludes boasting and promotes humility."


In both of the above quotations, we observe what the Bible already declares: there is no need to reconcile what are truly friends. Only God could design a salvation wherein there is no conflict between God's Sovereign intention to save and whosoever believes as being saved. Both of these truths: God's Sovereign elective purpose of grace and free-moral human agency in responding to such grace are the two lenses needed to grasp the totality of the Bible's teaching on salvation. 

In the next post, we will consider some further thoughts on this article in the Baptist Faith and Message regarding God's Sovereignty and Human Responsibility in salvation. 

P2 - Principles Of Effective Prayer - Romans 8:26-28

Romans 8:26-28 "In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; 27 and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. 28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose."

Introduction:

In our last post we began considering some principles for effective prayer. Romans 8:23-28 is our target text. As a Christian and a pastor, I desire to be more effective in my prayer-life. There are some 600 prayers recorded in the Old and New Testaments. Author Richard Foster captures the importance of effective prayer in the opening of his book: "Prayer, Finding The Heart's True Home":

"We do not need to be shy. He invites us into the living room of his heart, where we can put on old slippers and share freely. He invites us into the kitchen of his friendship, where chatter and batter mix in good fun. He invites us into the dining room of his strength, where we can feast to our heart's delight. He invites us into the study of his wisdom, where we can learn, and grow and stretch...and ask all the questions we want. 

As Foster continues on with this metaphor of God's relationship with us as that of a home, he later writes:

"The key to this home, this heart of God, is prayer."

In the last post we looked at the first two principles for effective prayer: persistent expectancy of God to act on our behalf and reliance upon the Holy Spirit. Today we will close out this short study by considering two other principles. 


Acknowledging Your Weakness. Rom 8:26b-27a

This may be the most difficult of the principles to follow. No one that I know of (including myself) likes to admit they're weak. Weakness of any sort is viewed as a great liability in our world and sadly, a greater liability in the church. Only when we are acknowledging our weakness will the Spirit lend His aid.  

If there is one thing missing in our American church world, it is the sense of dependency on God. We like to come off like we have it all together: showing of strength, human ingenuity, professionalism, cleverness, no problems, personality and the like. The American church has by-and-large pursued such "shows of strength" to appeal to what it perceives the public desires. Such an environment can never foster the type of atmosphere wherein the Spirit of God will show up in supernatural power. 

Only when we are broken by God will we then be fit candidates for His deeper and healing work. I ran across this quote by Vance Havner:

“God uses broken things. It takes broken soil to produce a crop, broken clouds to give rain, broken grain to give bread, broken bread to give strength. It is the broken alabaster box that gives forth perfume. It is Peter, weeping bitterly, who returns to greater power than ever.”

Consider again what we learn in prayer, and apply it in your Christian life or the church world: "His power is made perfect in weakness". We must approach our Heavenly Father as a little wee child comes to their daddy with upheld arms, moistened eyes and quivering voice saying: Daddy, please help me! Would any decent father reject such a plea? Hardly! How much more our Heavenly Father will grant the co-equal, co-eternal Spirit in powerful aid to those crying out in prayer (Luke 18:1-8). Our strength lies in our weakness. This message of "finding His strength in our weakness" is so alien to our culture. Nonetheless, this is what is called for in praying with power: namely praying in our weakness or dependence upon God.

Yearning by faith to do God's Will. Rom. 8:27b-28

Roman 8:27-28 contains two phrases that indicate the need to yearn for God's will as a pre-condition to effective prayer. Paul writes in Romans 8:27-28 "and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. 28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." 

The first underlined phrase could be literally rendered: "according to God". God is the standard that everything moral, spiritual, physical and human relies upon for its existence. God's will is His desire and determination from which everything proceeds and by which He governs our world. Praying according to the will of God is prerequisite to having any assurance in prayer (see Matthew 6; Luke 11; 1 John 5:14-15).

Some aspects of His will He has chosen to not reveal and others He has chosen to reveal in His Word (see Deuteronomy 29:29). There are other matters that God permits by way of secondary causes such as historic events and free-moral agents - whether they be human beings or angelic hosts. God's revealed will is the domain of human responsibility and is found within the pages of scripture. 

As we pray according to God's revealed will - we meet one of the preconditions for God acting on our behalf, since we are aligning our will with His own (see 1 John 5:14-15). As the late preacher Adrian Rogers wrote in his book: "What Every Christian Ought To Know", page 212:

"As Christians we must realize that nothing lies beyond the reach of prayer except that which lies outside the will of God. Prayer can do anything that God can do, and God can do anything!" 

The second underlined term is found in Romans 8:28 and deals with the realm of faith - or what the Christian can know to be the case in terms of God's will. Romans 8:28 is a flagship passage for bolstering faith, since it affirms God's Sovereignty in matters of spiritual life and life in general. Sovereignty is defined in Psalm 103:19 "The Lord has established His throne in the heavens,
And His sovereignty rules over all."

The sphere of "all things working together for the good" includes all the details of our world: human sin and righteousness, working to their Divinely appointed ends to achieve God's Divine purposes in Christ. Faith, according to Hebrews 11:1, is the substance of things hoped for and the certainty of things not yet seen. Thus, when we put these two underlined concepts together - we arrive at our final point of yearning by faith to do God's will. 

Closing thoughts

Today's post aimed to lay-out the remaining principles of effective prayer that we find in Romans 8:23-28. It is hoped that this study has encouraged readers. The following principles were uncovered in our study of Romans 8:23-28 -

Persistent Expectation
Reliance upon the Holy Spirit
Acknowledging your weakness
Yearning by faith to do God's will

P1 - Principles Of Effective Prayer - Romans 8:23-26a

Romans 8:26-27 In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; 27 and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

Introduction:

Paul's main theme in Romans 8 has to do with unfolding the Christian's new inheritance in Jesus Christ (compare Romans 8:16-17). As one explores Romans 8:1-25, we find that those who are in Christ by faith have the following "new" heritage as His people:

1. New Position - Romans 8:1-4

2. New Guest - the Holy Spirit - Romans     8:5-11

3. New Relationship with God - Romans     8:12-17

4. New Hope Because of God - Romans     8:18-25

In today's post, we are going to consider principles for effective prayer as spelled out in Romans 8:23-27. What is a principle? Authors Elmer Towns and Douglas Porter in their book, "The Ten Greatest Revivals Ever", page 214, note:

"A principle is an eternal rule that governs the conditions God will bless and the ways He will respond in all revivals, such as prayer, repentance, seeking God, and being filled with the Holy Spirit." 

Although their primary discussion is on the subject of revival, the inclusion of prayer and the overall idea of principles still apply. I include 8:23-25 along with Paul's main discussion of prayer in Romans 8:26-27 due to the fact that Paul begins Romans 8:26 with the phrase: "in the same way". Since Paul is dealing with the particulars of effective pray, we want to explore what it takes to have an effective prayer-life - since every person that trusts in Christ by faith has access to effective prayer. I know for my own sake, I all the time want to know how to be better and more effective in prayer. So with those thoughts in mind, let's consider for now the four particulars of effective prayer as we find them in Romans 8:23-28. 

Persistent Expectation. Rom 8:23-25

Romans 8:23-25 emphasizes persistent eager expectation of what God can and will do. Note the underlined words: "And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. 24 For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it."

This eagerness of which Paul speaks flows over into Romans 8:26-28. Do we expect God to move in prayer? Whenever we observe Jesus praying in the Gospels, we find Him ever expecting the Father to both hear His prayers and to move in accordance to what He prays. Oftentimes I find my lack of asking God for specific requests stems from my lack of expectation that God will move on my behalf. James 4:2b reminds us: "You do not have because you do not ask." 

Reliance on the Holy Spirit. Rom 8:26a

The Holy Spirit is our Helper, our Encourager, in prayer (see John 14:26-28; 15:26). Four times we find reference to the Spirit in Romans 8:26-27 "In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; 27 and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God." I'll admit that there are more times than not that I find myself not knowing how to pray. We have the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Trinity, Who is by nature God Himself. How we need Him! Praying in the Spirit means to pray in dependence upon Him. Jude 1:20 reminds us: "But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit." Praying in the Spirit involves praying with the Word. Before we close our eyes in prayer, we must make sure we have opened our eyes to read the words of scripture. 

More next time.....

P3: A Great Question: Did God Know Adam And Eve Were Going To Sin? If So, Why Did He Create Them? - Conclusions

Romans 8:18-21 "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God."

Introduction:

In our last post, we covered five key Biblical concepts that can aid greatly in answering why it was that God created a world, wherein He knew about the fall? Those five concepts were:

1. God is good
2. God is Sovereign
3. God's Permissive Will
4. Man's free-will or responsibility
5. God's Morally Sufficient Reasons

In today's post, we are going to attempt to put everything discussed in the last two posts into a final summary. 

Putting it all together

We began this short series by asking the question: "Did God know Adam and Eve were going to sin? If so why did He create them?" If we utilize the five above terms that we introduced in the last post, we can offer the following response to this question. God is good, as plainly seen from the above passages and the fact He declared all that He had made "good" or "very good" some seven times in the Bible's opening chapter. The goodness of God is the basis for how He carries out that second concept, His Sovereignty. 

Passages such as Romans 8:28 tell us that God works together all things for the "good". The idea of "all things" in terms of the believer's Christian life includes blessings, trails, triumphs and testings. If this be true of the Christian life, then on a much broader scale we can include this understanding of life in general (see Genesis 50:20; Job 42:1-2; Romans 11:36). We then see the third concept, "God's permissive will", included in this scenario of Adam and Eve. God created them with the ability to choose, which is our fourth idea mentioned above. God did not create people to be machines, but persons endowed with freedom of the will. Adam and Eve concluded in their minds that the serpent's deception represented a "greater-good" than God's revelation. God permitted this to happen in order for Him to bring about His purposes for reconciling creation and redeemed human beings and His glory. Such purposes can be fleshed out in the fifth concept of God's morally sufficient reasons. Thus we return back to Romans 8:21 "that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God."
I close with a quote from Bible teacher Chuck Swindoll: "Although God's Sovereignty may not answer all of my questions, yet, God's Sovereignty calms all my fears."