Life; A Question Mark Or Exclamation Point.

Life; a question mark or exclamation point.

Romans 8:28 -- 29. 03/14/04

The Bible is plain in teaching us that each of us is heading to a destination. The Bible is also plain in teaching there are only two places of eternity, heaven or hell. Now I want to ask you a question, is your life a question mark or an exclamation point? In other words, are you able to say with a truth I know that I know that I am saved and my destination is heaven?

I want you to turn to Romans chapter 8 and we will begin reading in verse 28. Because I want to show you in the Word of God that if you are truly saved, you have a blessed assurance.

I like the way our text begins, “and we” what? And we know. It doesn’t say and we can hope, or we can guess, but we can know.

Dr. Adrian Rogers said one time that a chain is no stronger than its weakest link. I want you to imagine yourself suspended by a chain over a flame of fire. There are five links in that chain. Four of the links are made of forged steel, and one is made of paper. How safe are you? You are no safer than that paper link. But we have in our text today a golden chain forged in heaven by the hands of almighty God. And because of this chain, I can say blessed assurance Jesus is mine. But he isn’t only mine but to everyone who has trusted him as savior.

I want to give you five links that give us assurance that we can be with God after this life. Are you ready?

Link No. 1. I want you to put down the Word FOREKNOWLEDGE. Look at verse 29. “For whom he did foreknow.” This is speaking of God. It speaks of the wisdom and the knowledge of God. And it means to know ahead of time. Known unto God are all his works, from the beginning of the world. Nothing ever surprises God. God cannot learn anything. He saw the end from the beginning. No one but God can make that statement. No doctor can make that statement. I heard about a doctor who told a man he had one year to live, then he said that will be $10,000. The man said I couldn’t pay that in one year. The doctor said I will give you one more year.

You say I don’t understand that Word foreknowledge of God. You don’t have to. You don’t have to understand everything. You do not understand all there is about God. As a matter of fact, I would not trust a God I could understand all about. But from God’s point of view, he knows all things. And God knew that I would be born and God knew when I became the age of 31 I would trust him as my savior. God foreknow, for he knows all things.

Link No. 2. Back to verse 29. “He did also predestinate.” Not only did he knows but he also did predestinate. There is the predestination of God. Now just exactly what does that mean? It means that certain things are going to happen. Now I want to emphasize that God did not predestined some people to hell and some to heaven. To believe that then you are playing right in the devil’s hands. God wants everyone to be saved. Listen, it isn’t the heart of God that rejects man but man’s heart that rejects God. God has the foreknowledge to know who will be saved and those who are saved are predestined to conform to the image of Jesus.

Link No. 3. The calling of God. Now how does God call? How is anybody called to be a child of God? That calling friend comes through the preaching of the Word of God. Whenever the gospel is being preached, God extends a call. It is the preaching of the crucified Jesus. The holy spirit of God calls a person to salvation. People say, well you don’t have to come to church to be saved. Well, it is amazing how many more get saved in church than those who stay at home.

Link No. 4. There is the Word justification. Look at verse 30. Now what is justification? Justification is an act of God. God declares you righteous after you have trusted Jesus for salvation. It’s not anything you earned righteousness is a gift of God. When God looks down on a justified sinner, God sees that sinner as justified as Jesus. Not one sin is put to our account for they have been paid for. You see, when we talk about being saved is not talking primarily of the past tense. Of course there is the past tense, I have been saved from the penalty of my past sins, glory to God. But it gets better. It is also in the present tense. I have been saved and am saved now in the present. And it even gets better. There is a future tense in being saved I will be saved. One of these days my salvation will be complete and I can look at the savior and say thank you for saving me. Salvation will be complete. Glory to God saved at last and forever. The Christian is just as sure for heaven as if he was already there.