Romans 8:26-28
26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our
infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for
as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us
with groanings which cannot be uttered.
27 And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth
what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession
for the saints according to the will of God.
28 And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are
the called according to his purpose.
(Vs 26.)
What does the Spirit of God do for us? With what
kind of infirmities does He help us? Remember from I Cor 2:10-13
that the Spirit teaches us from God’s word so we can
know the things
of God. The "
infirmity" that He helps us with
is our lack of
knowledge, and therefore our prayers. God speaks today
through His written word
(I Cor 14:37), so for
prayer to be a
two-way conversation with God, we must have some
knowledge of God’s word that the Spirit can bring to mind to apply to the
situation being prayed about.
(Eph 6:18; Phil
4:6-9; I Thes 5:16-19)
God does not save us and then leave us alone here groaning
in aging bodies in a sin-cursed world. (Vs. 22,23)
His Spirit is right here in us groaning in sympathetic
intercession for us every step of the way. We are never alone.
(Eph 3:16,17; 4:30; I Cor 6:19)
(Vs 27.)
Who searches the hearts according to
Heb 4:12,13?
And
Who is the Word of God?
(John 1:1-3,14)
The Lord Jesus! Both the
Son (vs 34)
and the
Spirit (vs 26) of God make
intercession for us to the
Father. The Son connects us to the
Father by paying for our sin, and the Spirit connects us by teaching us
God’s word and helping us pray.
(Eph 2:18)
Who are "the saints"?
Ps 50:5 says saints are those who have made an agreement with God by
blood sacrifice to cover their sin. (Lev
17:11) Christ is our sacrifice. (Eph 1:7;
Heb 9:12,26) Are you a saint? Paul addresses most
of his letters to the saints. (examples:
Rom 1:7; II Cor 1:1; Eph 1:1) Beware how religion changes the
meaning of words.
(Vs 28.)
In the context of verses 18-25, "
all things"
include the
sufferings that come from living in an aging body in a
sinful world. These sufferings are
NOT from God, but God
uses them to work good for us who love Him.
How can suffering work
good? Tribulations work patience, experience and confidence (hope)
(Rom 5:3-5), and they work "for us a far more
exceeding and eternal weight of glory"
(II Cor 4:17)
at the
judgment seat of Christ.
(Rom 14:10,12;
II Cor 5:10) This particular judgment seat is
not to determine
our salvation, that is already accomplished, but it is to award our
service.
(I Cor 4:5; 3:8-15)
God has called those who love Him for a purpose. To
"love God" means to value and esteem God
and His word, and is not necessarily emotional. God’s "purpose" is revealed in the 5 step
sequence of the next verses. God (1.) foreknew us, (2.)
predestinated us (3.) called us (4.) justified us, and
(5.) glorified us. II Cor 5:1-5 says that God "hath wrought us
for the selfsame thing". So let’s read on to see what God made us
for.
Romans 8:29
For whom he did foreknow, he also did
predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he
might be the firstborn among many brethren.
30
Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also
called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he
justified, them he also glorified.
(Vs 29)
"
For whom he did
FOREKNOW..." God knows what would happen in every possible
situation. For example, Mat 11:21,23
shows that God knows what people
would do if their circumstances had been different. In I Sam 23:9-13, God
knew what the people in the town would do if David stayed there. He did not
want or cause them to do it, but He allows man
free choice. Before
the foundation of the world, God knew who would later be born and who would
believe Him.
God’s foreknowledge in no way determines our decisions.
He lets us choose what to believe, but He knows beforehand what our
decisions will be.
I Cor 1:21 says "it pleased God ...to save them that believe".
I Tim 2:4-6 says that Christ "gave himself a ransom for all", and
that God wants "all men to be saved". So the fact that all do
not believe and get saved demonstrates that God has given man
free will, even though man’s will is often in opposition to His.
Because we have free choice, we can have a relationship with God based
on love (mutual esteem), instead of force or ignorance.
PREDESTINATED means to have a pre-planned destiny or a
predetermined destination. God has prepared a destiny for those He
foreknew would believe Him. That destiny is "to
be conformed to the image of His Son".
(Phil 3:21) Rev 1:13-16 describes Christ as He is now, after
being raised from the dead. We are destined to be like that!
Eph 1:4-6 shows God has "predestinated us unto the adoption of
children by Jesus Christ". Remember from the previous 2 lessons that
adoption in the Bible happens when the father declares his child to be
an adult and gives him his inheritance. Our adoption by God happens
at our resurrection when we step into our destiny (inheritance). Our
destiny is to be in Christ’s image occupying positions of authority
(I Cor 6:2,3) in the heavenly places (Eph
2:6), as the heirs of God (vs 17),
living demonstrations of God’s glory (Eph 1:11,12)
and kindness. (Eph 2:7)
Colossians 1:18 shows that Christ "is the beginning, the
firstborn from the dead", with many brethren to follow.
Christ is the first man to be raised from the dead in glorified,
immortal form, and at our resurrection, there will be many more
of us coming.(I Cor 15:20-23,49-54; 6:14)
"For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the
voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in
Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be
caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in
the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord." I
Thes 4:16,17 (Others before Christ were raised from the dead, but not in
glorified bodies, so they died again. John 11:39-44; I Kings 17:17-23)
(Vs 30.)
God prepared a destiny for those of us that He foreknew would believe
Him, and then He
CALLED us
by Paul’s gospel.
(II Thes 2:13,14; Rom 16:25) On our own we
would never seek God
(Rom 3:11) and could never
believe Him.
(Rom 8:7,8; I Cor 2:14) But God
sent the
gospel of Christ out into the world which is the
power
that He uses to bring people to believe.
(Rom 1:16; I
Cor 1:18) This good news is that Christ died to pay for all of our
sins, and then rose from the dead so that we can too.
(Rom 4:22-25; 5:8-10; I Cor 15:3,4)
When we believed this gospel, God JUSTIFIED us, declaring us
righteous. (Rom 3:22-25; 5:1) Our past and
future sins are all forgiven (Col 1:14;
2:13) and God’s own 100% righteousness is put to our
account. (II Cor 5:21)
Anyone who is justified is also GLORIFIED, raised from the dead
in Christ’s image to reign for Him in the heavenly places.
(Our destiny in vs 29)
(Vs 31.)
What shall we then say to these things?
Wow!
If God be for us, who can be against us?
Once we’re in Christ, God is "for us" and
we’re part of His purpose which no one can stop. For us, God’s
purpose began when we first trusted Christ. But long before that God
knew we were coming and planned for us. Each step in this sequence is
God’s doing, not ours, so we can be confident "that he which hath
began a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ."
(Phil 1:6). Our eternal destiny is
secure in His hands.