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Driven by Providence: Election as the Eternal Root of Grace · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to reformed thinking. Imagine standing in the shadow
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of the Palatine Hill in ancient Rome.
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Right, not an easy place to be a Christian.
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No, not at all. Like just whispering the words
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Jesus is Lord could literally get you covered in pitch and set
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on fire. Yeah, to light the Emperor's
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gardens. It is a terrifying thought.
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It really is. So if you are living under that
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kind of daily suffocating terror, a bumper sticker slogan
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like you know everything happens for a reason, that is not just
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unhelpful, it is insulting. Oh absolutely.
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I mean, you need iron in your theology for that.
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You need a tactical manual for survival.
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For sure, and that is what we are looking at today.
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We are taking you on a custom deep dive into the unbreakable
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connection between God's daily Providence and His eternal
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decree of election. Yes.
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And we're going to unpack this by looking really intensively at
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one of the most famous and frankly, most misunderstood
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passages in all of literature, Romans chapter 8 versus 28
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through 32. Because the problem we are
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facing today, well, it is universal when tragedy strikes,
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like a terminal diagnosis or a sudden financial collapse or the
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unexpected loss of a child. Yeah, the heavy stuff.
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Right, the human heart instinctively cries out.
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Why? Always.
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And modern secular culture looks at that suffering and you know
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it blames blind, chaotic chance. Right, it just says the universe
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is a cold accidental place with 0 meaning.
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Which is bleak. But on the other hand, some
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theological camps suggest a reactionary deity.
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They present a God who is up in heaven, wringing his hands.
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Hoping for the best. Right.
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Hoping for the best, reacting to the free will of humans, but
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lacking the absolute sovereignty to stop the pain.
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Which I mean, that is terrifying to think about.
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If God is just reacting to the universe, then our suffering is
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an accident he could not prevent.
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Yeah. Where is the comfort in that?
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There is none. So what does this all mean for
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the believer? The sources we are studying
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today present a massive, unyielding thesis.
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To survive the hammer blows of earthly trials, a believer must
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trace the visible hand of God in time backward to the
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unchangeable decree of unconditional election and
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eternity past. That is the core argument right
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there. We are looking at Providence,
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that is God's holy, wise and sovereign governing of all his
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creatures and all their actions. But you cannot view Providence
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in a vacuum, right? No, you really cannot.
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To find actual objective comfort in a world cursed by the fall,
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the sources argue that you have to link the specific microscopic
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details of your suffering to the eternal blueprint of salvation.
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OK, let's unpack this, because we need to make an agreement
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right here at the start of this deep dive.
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We have to rescue Romans 8.28 from being traded as cheap
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sentimental cross stitch on a throw pillow.
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Oh, I see that everywhere, right?
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All things work together for good.
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Stripped of its context, it gets twisted into a promise of
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temporal positivity like a guarantee of an easy life.
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Yeah. And we are going to restore the
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massive objective weight of this text.
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To do that, we have to establish the historical Crucible where
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these promises were forged. Because you cannot read this
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text as an abstract philosophy written in an academic ivory
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tower. No, not at all.
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That is where a lot of people go wrong.
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I think. They detach the Bible from the
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dirt and the blood of history. So who originally received this
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letter? Because it changes everything
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when you realize who Paul was writing to.
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Well, the Apostle Paul wrote this letter to the Church in
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Rome around 8057, and Rome was the absolute epicenter of Pagan
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idolatry. And military might, right?
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Military might and imperial worship.
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To stand in that city and declare A crucified Jewish
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Carpenter as the Supreme Lord of the universe?
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Well, that was a declaration of treason against the Roman
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Emperor. It carried the constant looming
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threat of execution. It did, and the church itself
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was in a state of immense internal tension.
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You have Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians trying to
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exist together in this highly hostile environment.
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I mean, let's talk about that historical record for a second.
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The sources bring up the Roman historians.
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Pseudotonius, yes. Corroborated by the Book of
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Acts, Emperor Claudius had expelled all Jews from Rome in
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8049 over disturbances related to Christ.
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So they were just all kicked out of the city.
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Right. But then, when Claudius died and
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Nero took the throne in 8054, those Jewish Christians began
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returning to the city. But the church they came back to
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was different. Very different.
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They founded church that had become entirely dominated by
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Gentiles during their absence. So you have this intense
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internal friction regarding the law, diet and customs, and it is
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all placed inside a pressure cooker of external Roman
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hostility. And the shadow of Nero's
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impending madness is just beginning to stretch over them.
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I mean, let's think about the timeline here.
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They received this letter in 8057, right?
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Within seven years, a massive fire would sweep through Rome
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and Nero would falsely blame the Christians.
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And as we mentioned earlier, the brutality they faced was
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unspeakable. They were impaled on steaks.
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They were thrown to wild beasts in the arena for public
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entertainment. So that gathering storm is the
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vital background to Romans 8. It absolutely is.
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When Paul speaks later in the chapter about the sufferings of
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this present time or tribulation, distress,
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persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, and sword, he is not
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Speaking of minor inconveniences.
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Like a flat tire or a rude Co worker.
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Right, he is preparing them for literal martyrdom.
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Let me offer an analogy here. Reading Romans 8 is not like
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reading a postcard from a luxury resort.
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It is more like reading a tactical manual handed to
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soldiers sitting in a muddy artillery shelled trench.
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That is a great way to put it. Which raises an essential
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question. If Paul had preached a modern
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health and wealth gospel, how would the Roman church have
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reacted when the lions were unleashed?
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Oh, they would have apostatized overnight.
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I mean, if they believed God's primary goal was their physical
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health and financial success, the first side of the Colosseum
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would have shattered their faith entirely.
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Yeah, because the reality in front of them completely
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contradicted that message. Exactly.
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Spot on. Furthermore, if Paul had
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preached a weak deity who wishes to save but cannot override
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wicked men, the Roman Christians would have been paralyzed with
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existential terror. Because the executioner would
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have held the ultimate authority, not God.
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Right. So they needed something much
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stronger than a motivational speech.
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They needed the ironclad doctrine of absolute
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sovereignty. To walk into the flames singing
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doxologies, they needed to know that the Triune God was
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commanding the universe. And that even the jaws of the
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lions were orchestrated for their eternal benefit.
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A small God cannot provide that kind of courage.
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Knowing the original audience was preparing for severe
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suffering, well, it drastically changes how we read the phrase
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all things in verse 28. Let's look at the actual text.
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Let's do it. Paul says we know that for those
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who love God, all things work together for good.
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Let's stop right there. All things work together.
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We need to examine the Greek verb used there.
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It is Sinner guy. That is the root for the English
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word synergy, right? Yes, it is is.
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It means God is actively synthesizing chaotic, disparate,
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and even evil elements into a singular objective.
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So this is not a passive observation.
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No, not at all. It is not just events naturally
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arranging themselves over time, It is the active, continuous
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governance of the Creator over the creation.
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So if I am hearing you right, there are no rogue molecules in
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the universe. Every single atom, every single
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decision is marching to the drum beat of God's sovereign command.
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The sources make it clear that the scope is comprehensive.
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All things leaves no room for exceptions.
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That includes the malice of men, the stratagems of demons,
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diseases, natural disasters and state persecutions.
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But, and this is crucial, we must be very careful to define
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what the good is. Because my definition of good
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usually means avoiding pain. You know my definition of good
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is a comfortable retirement, my kids getting into a nice college
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and never seen the inside of an oncology ward.
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Yeah, human nature always leans toward defining good in terms of
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physical comfort, but the text defines the good.
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In the very next verse, the good is being conformed to the image
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of his son. Here is where it gets really
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interesting and honestly where a lot of people stumble.
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How does God exercise sovereignty over evil without
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being the author of sin? That is the big question.
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Because if God is synthesizing all things, including the evil
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actions of men, that is a massive hurdle for many people
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to wrap their minds around. Well, the sources point to the
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primary Old Testament parallel for this the life of Joseph.
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Let's look at his story. His brothers hate him.
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They throw him into a pit. Right.
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They debate killing him and eventually sell him into brutal
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Egyptian slavery. Then he's falsely accused of
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assault by Potiphar's wife. And he gets thrown into a
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dungeon for years. It is a relentless sequence of
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trauma and injustice. Yet in Genesis 50.20, Joseph
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looks at the very brothers who betrayed him, and he says, you
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meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.
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Notice the intentionality in that grammar.
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God did not just look the other way while the brothers committed
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a crime, only to step in later and clean up the mess.
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Spot on. God ordained the entire sequence
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of events to accomplish the salvation of many lives during
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the famine. But the brothers were not
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robots. I mean, they acted freely,
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according to their own wicked desires.
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They wanted Joseph gone. And that distinction is
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monumental. In Reformed theology, God
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ordains whatsoever comes to pass for His glory, maintaining
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absolute sovereignty while the creature bears the full moral
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responsibility for the sin. Because God is light, and in Him
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is no darkness at all. Right.
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He does not force anyone to sin. He simply removes his
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restraining grace and allows sinful men to do what they
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naturally want to do while perfectly guiding the outcome.
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I want to highlight a crucial limitation in the text itself.
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The promise in verse 28 is not universal.
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You hear it quoted by politicians, athletes and
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celebrities after a tough loss, but this promise does not apply
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to every human being on the planet.
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No, the syntax dramatically narrows the application.
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The promise belongs exclusively to two categories that actually
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describe the exact same group of people.
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OK, what are they? First, those who love God.
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That is the visible subjective evidence in the life of the
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believer. Second, those who are called
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according to His purpose. That is the unseen, objective
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decree of God that produced the love in the first place.
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So if someone is outside of Christ, if they are an
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unregenerate rebel who suppresses the truth and hates
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God, what does Providence mean for them?
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Are all things working together for their good?
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Based on the sources, the terrifying reality is no for the
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unregenerate rebel Providence is not working for their good.
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What is it doing then? Instead, the daily events of
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their lives, the wealth they accumulate, and the common grace
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they receive but reject are storing up wrath for the day of
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Judgement. The sun shining on their face
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and the rain watering their crops are Kindness is meant to
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lead them to repentance. Yes, and when they refuse, those
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very blessings become witnesses against them.
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The promise of Romans 8.28 is an exclusive inheritance to the
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elect. That brings us right to the
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threshold of verse 29. I want to point out the
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conjunction for at the very beginning of the verse for those
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who he foreknew. That word acts as a hinge.
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Right. The reason we have absolute
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certainty that Providence works for our good in time is because
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of what happened before time began.
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The sources refer to verses 29 and 30 as the Golden Chain of
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Redemption. It consists of five unbreakable
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links, foreknowledge, predestination, calling,
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justification and glorification. And the grammar here is
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astonishing because every single verb shares the exact same
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direct object. Let me make sure I understand
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that. Yeah, you were saying the exact
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same group of people who are foreknown are the ones
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predestined. Yes.
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And that same exact group is called Yeah.
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And that same exact group is justified and finally glorified.
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Not one single soul is lost between eternity past and
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eternity future. There is 0 leakage in the grace
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of God. God does not start a salvation
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project with a million people, lose half of them to free will
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along the way, and only bring a fraction to heaven.
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The chain is forged in steel. Let's analyze link one
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foreknowledge. I want to push back on a very
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common interpretation you hear in churches today.
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I grew up hearing this all the. Time.
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Oh me too. The idea is that foreknowledge
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just means God being omniscient. Look down the corridors of time.
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He used his foreknowledge like a crystal ball, saw who would
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eventually use their free will to choose him, and then he
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elected them based on that foresight.
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Are the sources saying that concept is flawed?
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The sources aggressively refute that synergistic view.
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It completely collapses when you examine the biblical languages
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and the broader theology of Scripture.
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How so? Well, to understand the Greek
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word prognosco, we have to look at the Hebrew background of the
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concept of knowing the word. Yet yada.
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In Scripture, God knowing someone often denotes an
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intimate covenantal love, not cognitive awareness of facts.
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I think I need an example of that from the Old Testament to
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make a click. Consider Amos 3.2.
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God is speaking to the nation of Israel and says you only have I
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known of all the families of the earth.
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OK, I see. Now let's apply the logic of
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omniscience to that verse. Was God cognitively unaware of
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the Egyptians? Did he not know the Babylonians
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or the Assyrians existed of? Course not, he knows the number
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of hairs on every Egyptian's head.
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Precisely. He was aware of everyone, but he
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only knew Israel. In a saving electing covenantal
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relationship, he set his special affection on them.
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So when Paul writes those whom he foreknew, he is not saying
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those whose future actions he foresaw, he is saying those whom
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he foreloved. Furthermore, look at the grammar
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again. God foreknows people, those whom
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He foreknew. He does not foreknow abstract
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future actions like a decision, a prayer, or an act of faith.
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He foreknows specific individuals.
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Right. If God looked down the corridors
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of time to see what fallen unregenerate humanity would do,
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He would only see spiritually dead rebels running away from
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him. Dead men do not raise
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themselves. That completely flips the
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popular narrative. It means God's choice is the
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cause of our faith, not the response to our faith, which
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leads directly to link to predestination.
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For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed
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to the image of His Son. The Greek concept here involves
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marking out a boundary beforehand.
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Think of drawing a line in the sand.
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God sovereignly drew a boundary around His elect and eternity
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past, marking them out for a specific destiny.
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And what is that destiny? Because some people look at
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predestination and say, great, I am chosen.
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I have my golden ticket now. I can live however I want.
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My sins are covered. The text shuts that accusation
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down entirely. The goal of this boundary is
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moral and eschatological, to be conformed to the image of his
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son. So election aims at radical
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holiness. It is not permission to remain
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worldly or indifferent to sin. The Father's goal is to ensure
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that Christ is the preeminent first born among many brothers.
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He is building a redeemed family that bears the family likeness.
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Right. If there is no conformity to
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Christ, there is no evidence of predestination.
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So having established this massive eternal decree before
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the foundation of the world, how does this blueprint actually
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enter human history? How does it apply to you that
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the listeners sitting in your car or walking your dog right
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now? That brings us to link 3,
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effectual calling. Verse 30 says.
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And those whom he predestined, he also called the sources draw
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a sharp distinction here. Between what?
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There is the general external call of the gospel.
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That is the preacher standing in the pulpit or you sharing the
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gospel with a Co worker declaring repent and believe.
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Many people hear that external call with their physical ears
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and actively, fiercely resistant.
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Right. They hear the words, they
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understand the concepts intellectually, but their hearts
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remain stone. So the call in Romans 8.30 has
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to be different. It is the inward effectual
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summons of the Holy Spirit. It is the call that creates what
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it commands. Wait, I love that phrase.
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Creates what it commands. Think about Christ standing
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outside the tomb of Lazarus in John Chapter 11.
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He shouted. Lazarus come out and Lazarus.
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Had been dead for four days. He was a decaying corpse.
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Right. He did not cooperate in making
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himself alive. He did not hear the command.
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Weigh his options and use his free will to restart his own
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heart. The call of Christ itself
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carried the resurrection strength necessary to grant the
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obedience it demanded. The command gave the dead man
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the life required to obey. That is what the effectual call
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does to a spiritually dead center.
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Yes, the effectual call of the Spirit does not violate the
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human will by dragging someone kicking and screaming into the
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Kingdom. Instead, it liberates the human
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will from its absolute bondage to sin.
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It changes the core desires of the heart.
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It does, causing the Sinner to willingly, freely and joyfully
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run to Christ because they finally see Him as utterly
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beautiful. Which brings us to link for
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justification. Once a person is brought to life
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and responds in faith, how does God deal with their massive
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record of sin? Justification is God's forensic
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legal declaration that the ungodly Sinner is righteous in
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Christ. It rests entirely early on
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Christ's active and passive obedience.
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His perfect life lived in our place and his sacrificial blood
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shed to absorb the wrath we deserved.
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Right. And we receive this standing by
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faith alone. The sources are very strict here
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about rejecting any view that confuses the basis of our
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acceptance with our inward moral renewal.
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Let's dig into that because it sounds like academic hair
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splitting, but it is actually life or death.
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It is a fatal error to mix them. Our inward renewal, which we
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call sanctification, is necessary and real.
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You will become more holy over time, but your inward holiness
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is never the ground of your righteous standing before God.
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Because if your justification rested, even partially on your
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own inherent goodness, you would never have a single moment of
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peace. Your goodness is always flawed,
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always tainted by lingering sin. The basis of justification is
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Christ's perfect righteousness, imputed or credited to your
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account completely outside of yourself.
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So when the judge bangs the gavel, he is looking at Christ's
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Ledger, not mine. Now I want to point out a
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jarring grammatical detail in the final step.
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Link 5 Glorification. Glorification is the final
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resurrection of the body. It happens in the future when
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Christ returns to make all things new.
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But look at how Paul writes it. Those whom he justified, he also
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glorified. Why is a future event written in
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the past tense? The sources highlight this as a
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stunning use of the Greek aorist indicative tense, which normally
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depicts a past completed action. Paul uses it here as the
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prophetic past. It conveys absolute, unshakable
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certainty. In the mind and the eternal
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decree of God, the future glorification of the believer is
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so Florida State certain that Paul speaks of it as a completed
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past action. That is staggering.
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It is as good as done. It leaves zero room for human
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synergistic contribution. Think about it.
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If your horrification depended on you maintaining your own
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salvation through your own strength, Paul could never write
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that in the past tense. It would always be pending.
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It would be contingent on your performance tomorrow.
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But because it rests entirely on God's sovereign grip, it is a
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finished reality. Looking into these secret
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eternal decrees can sometimes feel abstract.
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We were talking about eternity past and eternity future.
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Where is the historical blood stained proof that this golden
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chain will actually hold? Right when the listener is
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facing a terrifying diagnosis, theology can feel a bit cold if
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it does not touch the ground. The climactic proof is found in
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verse 32. Paul writes he who did not spare
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his own son, but gave him up for us all, How will he not also
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with him graciously give us all things?
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This is the logic of the greater to lesser argument.
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Let me offer a scenario to illustrate this logic.
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Imagine a father whose child is kidnapped by a ruthless cartel.
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OK, terrifying situation. The father receives the ransom
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demand. He willingly liquidates his
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entire estate, sells his business, drains his retirement
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accounts and pays an astronomical crippling ransom to
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rescue his child. You give everything.
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Now he gets the child back, puts them in the car and they start
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driving home. The child says, Dad, I am
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hungry, can we stop for a $5 meal?
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Is it logical to fear that after paying millions of dollars to
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secure the child's life, the father might suddenly become
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stingy and refuse to buy the child lunch?
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The fear is completely illogical.
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If the father paid the massive price, the minor provision is
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guaranteed. Guaranteed.
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Paul is applying that exact logic to the cross.
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If God the Father has already done the hardest, most
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agonizing, holiest thing possible by crushing His own Son
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under the weight of divine wrath to secure your salvation, He
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will certainly provide the lesser things.
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He will provide the faith to keep believing.
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He will provide the pardon when you stumble.
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He will provide the sanctification, the endurance
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and the final glorification required to finish the work He
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started. And the cross itself is the
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ultimate demonstration of Romans 8.28 in real time.
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Think about what the crucifixion actually was.
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It was the most wicked conspiracy in cosmic history.
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You have corrupt religious leaders acting out of envy.
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You have a cowardly Roman governor acting out of political
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self preservation. You have the betrayal of an
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intimate friend for 30 pieces of silver, all of them colluding to
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murder. Murder the sinless Son of God.
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Yet look at how the apostle Peter preaches this very event
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in Acts 2.23. He stands up on the day of
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Pentecost and says this Jesus delivered up according to the
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definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed
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by the hands of lawless men. The.
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Tension is perfectly held together in a single sentence.
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The men were lawless, they were guilty, but the event was
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delivered up by the definite plan and foreknowledge of God.
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God used the greatest evil ever committed to accomplish the
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greatest good ever realized, the redemption of the Church.
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If God can orchestrate the brutal murder of His own Son for
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the salvation of His elect without violating His own
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holiness, He can absolutely orchestrate A listener's current
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trial, their current heartbreak, or their current failure for
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their sanctification. You know, theology is not just
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about affirming what is true, it's also about actively
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rejecting what is false. The sources highlight several
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massive cultural and theological errors that this text acts as a
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Wrecking Ball against. Let's start with open theism.
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The sources said a terrifying statistic regarding this 48% of
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US evangelicals agree with the statement that God learns and
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adapts to different circumstances.
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Almost half of the people sitting in church pews believe
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in a God who is figuring things out as he goes, Which.
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Completely destroys the entire foundation of Romans 8A deity
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who reacts to the universe, who learns new information tomorrow
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that he did not know today, and adapts his plans on the fly.
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Cannot guarantee that all things will work together for your
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good. He does not have the sovereign
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authority to enforce that promise.
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Think about the implications of that on a Tuesday afternoon when
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you get a horrific phone call. If God is just learning and
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reacting, then your suffering might just be an accident that
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slipped past His radar. It means he is looking down
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saying wow I did not see that car crash coming.
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Let's see how we can salvage this.
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That offers 0 comfort. It is a terrifying way to live.
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The text also targets the prosperity gospel, the name it
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and claim it movement that dominates so much of global
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broadcasting today. The prosperity gospel teaches
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that God's primary will for your life is constant health,
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immediate wealth, and total uninterrupted success.
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You just have enough faith. You will never get sick.
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But Romans 8 guarantees conformity to a crucified
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Savior. The context of this promise
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includes famine, nakedness, danger, and sword.
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If the prosperity gospel were true, the Apostle Paul was a
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miserable failure because he was beaten, shipwrecked, and
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eventually beheaded. The promise of earthly wealth is
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exposed as a carnal dream, completely foreign to the
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Apostolic Church. What about the seeker sensitive
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movement, the pragmatism we see in so many modern church models
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today? The text takes direct aim at
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that as well. The pragmatist believes that if
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you just get the branding right, if the coffee shop in the lobby
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is welcoming, if the lighting is perfect, and if you use enough
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managerial cleverness, you can convince people to convert.
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But the golden chain proves that sinners are spiritually dead.
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They are not converted by marketing.
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They are converted by the spirits of factual call through
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the unvarnished preaching of the Word.
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And the sources also point out a growing mysticism in the church
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today. People are constantly looking
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for private revelations, signs or dreams to explain their
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suffering. They want God to speak a fresh
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word to tell them why they lost their job.
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The sources make a strong argument here.
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Believers do not need mystical extra biblical prophecies to
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explain their trials. The closed Canon of Scripture
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provides absolute certainty. We do not need a new subjective
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revelation to tell us why we are suffering.
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We have the ancient objective revelation that God is using it
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to conform us to Christ. So let's transition from
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theological combat to the pastoral heart of this text.
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I want to know how this doctrine actually changes the daily life
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of the listener. How does election alter the way
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I drive to work or the way I handle a difficult family
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member? The sources argue that the first
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practical application is the death of grumbling.
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When we complain about our circumstances, we are engaging
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in practical atheism. Wow, practical atheism.
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I will be honest, when my car breaks down on the highway or I
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get hit with an unexpected tax bill, my first instinct is not
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radical humility, right? My first instinct is to play
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armchair architect and tell God how he messed up my week.
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How is that practical atheism? Because complaining implies that
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the believer knows better than the sovereign God.
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It is looking at the architecture of your life and
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saying God, you made a mistake here.
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I could have designed this better if I were in charge,
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things would run smoother. The proper response to the
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doctrine of election in Providence, according to the
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sources, is radical humility and the total surrender of all self
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righteousness. If you know you deserved wrath
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and God gave you grace, every breath is a gift.
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I can hear a common fear rising up right now from someone
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listening. They're thinking Doesn't
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believing in predestination kill the motivation for evangelism?
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Right. Like if God has already chosen
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who will be saved from eternity past, why bother preaching?
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Why hand out tracks? Why send missionaries overseas?
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The sources completely refute that objection.
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In fact, they argue that election is the only thing that
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guarantees evangelism will work because God has an elect people
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who will be effectually called Gospel preaching is guaranteed
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to succeed. If that makes sense.
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If salvation depended on human free will, we might preach our
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whole lives, pour millions of dollars into missions, and no
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one would ever respond because the dead human heart naturally
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hates God. We preach freely, we plead with
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sinners sincerely, precisely because the sheep will hear the
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shepherd's voice. We do not know who the elect
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are. They do not have a glowing mark
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on their foreheads. So we proclaim the gospel to
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absolutely everyone indiscriminately, trusting that
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God's effectual call will accomplish His hidden decree
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through our public preaching. I want to direct this right to
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the afflicted listener. You might be listening to this
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deep dive in a hospital waiting room right now.
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You might be dealing with a betrayal from a spouse that
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feels like it has destroyed your life.
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You might be staring at a bank account that is overdrawn.
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The loss, the diagnosis, the pain.
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These are real. They're agonizing.
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We are not minimizing the tears. But they are not the final word.
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The sources offer a massive, objective comfort here.
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The hand governing the cancer cell, the hand orchestrating the
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financial ruin or the personal loss is the exact same hand that
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shows you in love before the stars were formed.
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It is the hand with a nail scar in it.
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Let's recap the massive scope of this discussion.
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We started with the gritty reality of Daily Providence, The
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good, the bad, the intense suffering.
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And that forced us to drive backward before time began, to
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the eternal decree of election. Then it drove us forward, past
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our current struggles, to the absolute certainty of final
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glorification. And all of it is anchored
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squarely in the historical blood stained reality of the cross.
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It is a closed system of grace. God initiates it in eternity
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past, secures it at Calvary in history, applies it in your life
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through the Spirit, and guarantees it in eternity
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future. You are held entirely by Him.
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I want to leave you with a challenging paradigm shift to
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ponder as you go about your day. Consider the most difficult,
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painful trial in your life right now.
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The one thing you have been begging God to remove.
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The thorn in your flesh you cannot stand.
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What if that specific agonizing circumstance is not a detour
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from God's plan, but the exact predestined chisel He is using
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to carve you into the image of Jesus Christ?
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Thank you for joining us for this custom deep dive.
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Rest securely in the sovereign hands of the King.