God's purpose for believers is conformity to the image of His Son, Jesus Christ, which is the ultimate goal of the Christian life. It explores the three dimensions of salvation—past, present, and future—and defines justification as God's act of acquitting the guilty sinner and declaring them righteous through Christ's work, emphasizing that this is not achieved by works. The message highlights that sanctification involves cooperation with God to move away from sin and toward righteousness, and that glorification is a future act of God. Ultimately, the sermon calls believers to actively pursue a character, attitude, and actions that reflect Christ, not through outward imitation but through an intimate inner transformation.
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like to express my appreciation for the opportunity of being here with you and having this privilege of opening the Word of God among those who are definitely interested. I think that if you were not interested in the Word of God, obviously either you wouldn't be here or you won't be here the rest of the week. Would you turn your Bibles to the Book of Romans? All roads lead to Rome. Wherever you preach from the Word of God, eventually you touch on something that's brought out in the Book of Romans, the very fundamental book of the New Testament. Let us go to the eighth chapter, that is a chapter division section.
Many make a break at the end of chapter eight, but I'd like to point out that I believe the break is in chapter eight, actually if there is such a thing. Don't forget that when God originally gave Scripture, He gave no chapters, He gave no verses. He made no differentiation between small case and large case letters. As a matter of fact, He made no differentiation as far as space between words. Letter was joined to letter. The oldest manuscripts are letter to letter, letter to letter. No breaking words, no breaking paragraphs, no chapters, no verses, no diacritical markings, no punctuation marks, no breathing marks, just letters.
That should make us very appreciative we have in our good old English. If you'll pardon the text's accent, we'll proceed. Reading from... the twenty-eight verse, and we know, Romans eight, 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, 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.
Moreover, whom he did predestinate, then he also called, and whom he called, then he also justified, and whom he justified, then he also glorified. I believe it is very clear that in these three verses we can see three wondrous dimensions of salvation. I have the experience of talking with a man who is connected with a group that teaches, at least by their doctrinal stand down to the years, that water baptism is necessary or essential to being saved. However, this young man who is the pastor or minister of that particular congregation in a small Iowa town had come to see the era of that doctrine, and he and the entire congregation withdrew from the denominational organization, they are still denominational.
They still retain that denominating feature, that name. That's what denominating means, naming. However, he has learned the truth of salvation. In talking with a brother who is one of the Gospels in our assembly that meets there in Atlantic, he learned that this dear brother, was speaking primarily of salvation in one dimension. And he says, you know, I just don't believe it like that. He and the brother I'm speaking of live in the same city, or this dear brother that gathers with us and is an excellent man in the gospel, lives about twenty-five, thirty miles away, another little town called Audubon, Iowa. So Brother George Hoyce one evening invited me up to meet this young minister and talk with him about our position in Christ as well as our practice in Christ.
And in that little meeting I said something that rather amazed this young minister. I said, well, you know, there are three dimensions of salvation. I have been saved. I am being saved and I shall be saved. And immediately he said, you know, I agree with that. I see that. Well, the dear brother that he's been talking with certainly agrees with that but hasn't here to forementioned those various dimensions. And I think we can see them most clearly in these three verses. For whom he, and we know that all things, verse twenty-eight, work together for good to them that love God to those who are the called according to his purpose, 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.
It's rather unique that in this particular verse, verse twenty-nine, He brings out sanctification without using the word. In verse thirty, he brings out justification and glorification, the two dimensions of salvation that surround the one that he's really taking up. Well, you see, from chapters, the latter part of chapter five on through and into chapter eight, he's been dealing in a very primary way with sanctification. Though justification is brought out very clearly and most clearly in chapters three and four, when you get into chapter five and especially into chapter six, the argument and the appeal is to sanctification. And certainly in chapter seven, the conflict in the latter part of the chapter, giving us that which hinders sanctification.
The good that I would, I do not. That which I would not, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, it is no more I but sin that dwell within me. That's what hinders sanctification. You see, my beloved friend, I was justified, and in being justified we see it as a work of God. I'd like to give you a little definition because I feel that we don't communicate very well unless we understand the meaning of words or at least one's own interpretation. I think that if you'll bear with me in my word meanings, you'll find them in your Bible. to be most surely scriptural. Justification is not just as though I never sinned.
I'm not trying to be ugly, but I'm just trying to share with you something, and I intend to prove what I say. That's the one thing I feel that I must do is seek to prove what I say. For so many years, I flounced around with all kinds of doctrines being bombarded in my soul, being told that if I wasn't a member of a certain group, I was sure for hell. And then I found out later on some of them were not even going to make it, they said. And so that was a little despairing. And I found that the Word of God was ample to prove all things. Otherwise, God would not have said in First Thessalonians chapter five, prove all things, hold fast, which is good. Now tell me, Adam, as God made him, and before ever God made a woman and brought her to him, was Adam a potential sinner?
You must answer in your heart. And while you're answering in your heart, whether we differ or not, I'm going to give you my answer. Yes, he was. Is it a fundamental principle of God that sin brings death? It is, and you cannot change it. You may deny it. You may put it out of your mind, but you cannot change it. I can tell you, I don't believe in the morning that the sun will get up in the east, but my puny little unbelief doesn't alter the sun one way or two. She's coming up in the East, whatever we think. The wages of sin is death. Satan well knew that, you know.
By and by, God said, it was not good that men should be alone. I'm still in agreement with God about that. I have a lovely wife, and I'm thankful to the Lord for her. It's not good that the man should be alone. Let us make him in help, comma, meet for him. A woman is not a help meat. She's a help. And hopefully she'll be meat for him. And that's what God intended. And you know the course of the event of time, how that in the third chapter, the serpent came to the woman, said, Yea, has God said. And, of course, the woman being hid by someone she had never really faced before as far as we have record of, and certainly not seeming to be surprised that this serpent could speak, she took it upon herself to answer this creature.
I think she had no right to do it. Thank you. well out of place. However, she did, and she said, Ye, we may eat of all the seeds of the garden. And she gave her answer. Then Satan said a second time, Ye shall not surely die. His attack was not at ease, primarily, nor Adam. But his attack was at the infallible word of God. That's always been his attack. It will always be his attack. It has never ceased to be. his attack. He hates the Word of God because it is the very expression of the heart of God whom he hates. Ye has God said he questioned the Word of God, and then when he said, You shall not surely die, he denied the Word of God.
Now, tell me, did she eat? Obviously, she said, the servant, the gal, and I did eat. Very honest soul. Paul certainly gives us a backup of that in what we call the New Testament. In First Timothy chapter two, he said the woman was deceived. She really was. And the moment that she did eat, she was a dead woman, spiritually. Now let us define death. We're going to come back to this idea of justification in a moment. We'll get there by and by. You may think I won't, but I'm watching that clock. I'll try to quit when you leave. I always like to parallel those times. I never did like to speak to an empty auditorium.
I understand you'd like to leave right on time. Well, we'll work on that. You know, I'm not so dumb as I look. I've been checking up on you, people. Daniel may walk into a lion's den, but let me tell you, you're looking at a coward. What I'm trying to say is this. Death is separation, for as the body without the spirit is dead, So faith without works is dead also. What do we mean? You take or separate my spirit from this body, and I don't care how many pulmonary motors you hook up, our cardiovascular machines, or whatever equipment you can tie onto this piece of flesh, all you've got is a hunk of death.
You could have the greatest doctors in the world and the most expensive laboratory and hospital. But let me tell you, you removed the Spirit from this body, and I can guarantee you you've got death, because the Word of God says it. For as the body without the Spirit is dead, that's separation. It was Isaiah of all who said, The Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save. Neither his ear heavy that he cannot hear, but Your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His faith from you that He will not hear. What was it then? Sins, iniquities, separated us from God. That's what death is all about. And those who teach, and may I insert this little left jab in here, I can't seem to resist it, those who teach that you can be quickened and not saved.
And there are those who gather very much like us. And yet propound that teaching, following the doctrines of a certain man and men years ago, teaching that you could be quickened or born again and not be saved, they misunderstand death. If their premise would be right, and their reasoning correct, their conclusion would be right on target. So where they get off is on their premise. For you see, death is not annihilation. Death is separation. And God says to Adam and Eve, Of all the cities of the garden thou mayest freely, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it. For in the day, D-A-Y, thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. And that very day that Mother Eve took of that fruit, she died.
And Adam then was called upon to make a decision. He had a choice of a dead wife or a living God. And you know well his choice. And that reveals a little bit of the depravity. of our naughty hearts. Yes, Adam, made in the image of God, was a potential sinner. And subject to death and separation from God, but, bless God, I'll never be separated from Him. I've been justified. See what I mean? Justifications more than justice, though you'd never sinned. Let me tell you, Adam had never sinned, but he fell into a condition where he was separated from God and in spiritual death, he'd have been doomed for hell's dark night.
if God hadn't miraculously, supernaturally, graciously, lovingly intervened, and innocent victims died, or victims. And there they were justified in the garden. Probably the very first occasion of the truth of justification appeared in Genesis chapter three, and the definition of justification you'll find to be commensurate and compatible with your Bible, is that justification is an act of God as the just judge. And he's just. Remember Abraham said, shall not the judge of all the earth do right? Let me tell you, he does. Thank God he does.
Now, they have tremendous decline in our country when it seems that the judicial system seems to be crumbling and dissipating to such a degradation and downfall that it's alarming. And not just the judicial system, the whole society. Sociologically, America is really on a downward plunge. It looks to me like a collision course with eternal tragedy as far as a nation. I don't see her in prophecy. That looks to me like she's going down fast. I'm thankful that one brother prayed this morning. We have a place where in genuine freedom we can come together with the Word of God and talk about the Lord Jesus and enjoy His presence and fellowship one with another. So justification is an act of God.
as the just judge, whereby he acquits the guilty sinner of all charges. And some folks stop there. They think, well, you know, I got rid of all my charges. I've been freed from the court and been declared, you know, acquitted. And that's justification. No, it isn't. It's all short. That's part of it. And even though, even though in an Old Testament passage, let's turn to that. Turn, if you will, to the book of Nahum. And I can assure you the Bible, the Word of God, does not contradict itself. It just takes a little time to work out the harmony that God has put there for you and I. I mean, God knows the harmony.
God can sing the harmony of Scripture, but you and I must be careful because we have to go tediously through Scripture comparing passage with passage, verse with verse, precept with precept, and we'll see it. Nahum one and three. The Lord is slow to anger and grace and power, and will not at all acquit the wicked. Now, I've got a nice little question. Since we read in Psalm fifty-eight-three, the wicked are estranged from the womb, they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies, how many of us, and you don't have to raise your hand or answer out loud, but just for yourself, how many of us came from the womb?
Pretty simple, isn't it? Then what are we? That's what the Word of God says, isn't it? The wicked are estranged from the womb. They go astray as soon as they're born, speaking lies. My dear lady, a great abhorrence of what I had said approached me one day after speaking in your fine state here of Missouri. As a matter of fact, I've been invited for several months to come and speak at a certain lady's group, and I kept, I don't remember if I was really dodging or if my schedule just dodged for me. Anyway, I was asked one time after about six months of this lady calling and writing, she said, what do you have scheduled August such and such?
And I said, well, I looked at my colleague, I said, certainly don't have a thing. Oh, she said, we'll take that. All right. And there was a large ladies' group, about three or four hundred ladies, at a meeting in St. Joseph, Missouri. And so my wife and I drove down one day to speak to that group. At noontime, then in the evening there was another group that I was to speak to. And I was given, I wasn't going to go anywhere that I didn't have absolute liberty in the Word of God. I will not be bound if someone says, look, you can come and preach Jesus. Don't say a word about baptism. Let me tell you, my Lord, the one who gave the Commission. He said, make them, mark them, mold them. Make them disciples, mark them with water, mold them with the Word. And every New Testament preacher in the Book of Acts went out preaching baptism. And I'm not going to stop for anybody. I care what they say.
So I said, if I've got liberty to come and give what I believe God puts on my heart, I'll come. Otherwise, I ain't coming. So they said, it's yours. All right. So I came, I preached, and I tried to draw to a real sharp focus the depravity of humanity. And it's Genesis, incidentally. And so after showing that we're sinners by birth, a dear lady came after the meeting, and it was already planned that after the meeting, anyone that wanted to talk to me was free to come. And this dear lady came up and said, Mr. Wellburn, I don't agree with what you said. And I said, well, what was it that I said you didn't agree with? Well, she said, I have two sons.
And I thought, here we go. She got her polished rag out, and she's going to shine her halos. And boy, did she tell me how nice those little boys were. They, you know, you just almost could see them in the glory. That is if you listen to her. And I said, well, ma'am, I've got one verse of Scripture. I want to show you, if you've got about three or four minutes to look at it. Oh, she said, I've got plenty of time. So I reached my pocket and got my little single barrel and pulled it out. A New Testament. Got a Psalms in the back. Here's my double barrel here, both the Old Eleventh and Testament. But I didn't want to unload both those barrels. I thought, just one, I'd use one verse of Scripture. And I said, would you read this verse? And I had it to read Psalm fifty-eight-three. And I said, now you read it.
She started reading, the wicked are estranged from the womb. They go astray as she starts slowing up. Soon as they be born, speaking lies. And that poor woman, she said, you know, I never saw that in my life. And she started walking off, shaking her head. Last time I saw the woman. I don't know what she's doing. She may still be saying this. I had indicated that babies are liars. I gave a personal illustration of some of our very own. We have six. One night my wife and I were lying in bed, and I supposed that we had been asleep. You know, sometimes I don't know whether I'm sleeping or just daydreaming. Anyway, about that time I heard one of those blood-curdling screams as though one of them was dying and just about dead, and we jumped up and rushed to the crib of the baby, and my wife picked it up, and it said, Goose.
Are they liars? You know they are. Let me get more specific. Are we liars? God said, let God be true, and every man a liar. Romans chapter two. Let's face it, beloved. We started that way. My papa never took me to the barn to teach me how to tell a lie. Well, we had a few trips to the barn for another reason. Anybody says that they're not a liar has only enhanced their life. Jesus said, Ye are of your father the devil, and the lust of your father you'll do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there's no truth in him.
When he speak of the lie, he speak of his own, for he's a liar, and what? The father of it. That's where it started. That's there. Satan, sin struck the human race in Adam and Eve. Scripture makes it clear in the book of Hebrews, that a divine principle that stated there is sufficient to teach us that when Adam sinned, we sinned in Adam. Well, you get that. Very simple. Glad you asked. Levi paid tithes in Abraham. Let me tell you, Levi wasn't even born when Abraham died. But the Word of God says he was yet in the loins of his father.
Melchizedek came out, and when Melchizedek came out, Abraham gave tithes to that great man, priest of the Most High God, King of Salem, tremendous man, no beginning of days, no end of life, mysterious man. Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek, and he was blessed of Melchizedek, and the lesser is blessed of the great earth. And we're told that Levi, this is Abraham paying those tithes, Levi being in the loins of his father, Abraham, not yet born, Paid tithe in Abraham. Adam sinned against God, and Donald Wellburn sinned against God in Adam.
And so did you. He said, I don't believe it. Won't change it. One time men told me, he said, I don't believe all this business about hell. I said, you may not. Won't change hell one way. And if you reject the Lord Jesus, you're going to be there. God doesn't want you there. You're going to be there, though. You're marching right into the mouth of hell because you have not Christ. That's the issue, not if you have not religion, have not confession. Now all thousands and thousands of people have a confession of being Christians. Jesus said, Not everyone that says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom, and he that does the will of my Father, who is in heaven, many will say to me, in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and thy name cast out demons in thy name, done many wonderful works.
Then will I profess unto them, depart from me, ye who work iniquity. I never knew you. Never. A lot of professors, a few professors. Nahum had said, the Lord is slow to anger and of great power and will not at all acquit the wicked. Thank God the Lord Jesus has come into the world and became sin for us. God still keeps his word. Justification is an act of God as the just judge, whereby he acquits the guilty sinner of all charges. And, secondly, declares him absolutely righteous. on the basis of the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, and the sinners, watch now, repentance and faith in Him.
No one's ever saved apart from repentance. They don't care if they say they're saved at three years old. It's got to be repentance. God has commanded all men everywhere to repent, and no one believes to the saving of their souls. Well, first of all, there's genuine repentance, regardless of the age or the person or the place. So, in justification, We can see that God is at work. In sanctification, God is at work. In glorification, God is at work. But you see, beloved, in sanctification, we're at work, too. Not in justification. We're not justified by work.
We'll not be glorified by work. Justification is an act of God. Glorification is an act of God. But sanctification is an act of God on the saint of God in cooperation and working with God in bringing him to a place of separation from all that's wrong to that which is right. It's not a halfway house. It's not just getting away from something bad. It's toward something good, you see. So we can go back to our passage in the Book of Romans. Notice there. Thank God for the Bible. Wouldn't it be a dark world? The sun is shining in all of its resplendent glory out there in a beautiful day, but it's still a dark world.
It's night. You say, it's daytime. Yes. Physically, it's daytime. Spiritually, it's night. They were in the same country, shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over the flock by night. That's a key verse for taking oversight and pastoring. You see, in shepherding... You have in that verse, first of all, their work and their place and their time. Shepherds, that implies working. It gives you their place in the field. It gives you their specific function, keeping watch over the clock. It gives you their specific time by night.
All of our work is in a real nighttime. The enemy has come. He is the Prince of Darkness. And my how he scattered darkness all over this world. And if we're going to do a work for God, don't forget, we've got to have the light of the Word because we're in a dark world. Thank God for the Bible. Romans eight. He says there, and we know that all things work together for good to them that love God to those who are the called according to his purpose, for whom he did for no. He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn. Interesting expression, firstborn. among many brethren, moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called, whom he called, then he also justified him, whom he justified, then he also glorified. Now, you can see that justification is an act of God, and we didn't perform any works to get justified.
The whole argument of Scripture is opposed to that. And when you see in James II that a man is justified by works also, it's beyond the point of having been saved from the penalty of sin. And it's somewhere in between the point of being saved from the presence of sin. Glorification. Then you can see whom he justified, then he also glorified. I'm glorified already. He says, Donald, you don't look much like it. True enough. True enough. And whether you clean your glasses or not, don't seem to change it in you. I still look pretty bad. But the day is coming. when you're going to see something different. Now it's that in-between that I want to take up with you this morning and the remaining time that we have, and it's found in verse twenty-nine.
But before we go into verse twenty-nine, I can't say something so good and so delicious as that little part there in verse twenty-eight that I think we're going to look at. Verse twenty-eight, and we know, don't forget, on the imaginary chalkboard to my right here, I'm going to write up two words. One is the word oida, translated K-N-O-W, in our English Bible, and the other is the word gnosko, translated K-N-O-W. No, both words, two different Greek words, completely different words, are translated K-N-O-W. Here, if God gave two words, the English writers come along, give us one. What do they mean? Well, the first, oida, is a word that means intuitive or perceptive knowledge. I could say to you, I perceive that that that I'm pointing at with my crooked finger is a piano.
I look down the barrel of my finger, kind of goes off to a little right angle there. I guess off the right, I said, again. And he said, well, that's silly, okay. But, you know, I don't know it by experience. I never did go over there and touch it. I never did try to play it. I just perceive that it is. I don't hear so well. While I was hearing, I could hear the argument. I really didn't hear the piano, I guess. Certain sounds, if there are other conflicting sounds, many sounds I don't even pick up. I have ten items, and especially I said that my hearing would gradually go out and out and finally until it's completely gone. A ringing, twenty-four hours a day in my ears. Never stops. Sometimes it gets louder. So, if it's just perfectly quiet, I could almost hear a pin drop, but let there be just the slightest bit of conflict of noise, and boy, many of the sounds I just don't pick up.
Now, you say, wait, don't you know that's a... Sure, that's the word... Oida, I know it is. How do I know it? By perception, I perceive that it is. My eyes look. I can walk over with my hands. But look, let me tell you, if I sat down to eighty-eight over there and began to pound a little, I could say I gnosko. That is, I know by experience. I wish you think the word is here, and we know. Do you think it's know by experience, or know by perception, or intuitive knowledge? Well, it's the latter. You see, beloved, we haven't experienced all things yet. We haven't had all experiences yet. Life is a real rough road sometimes. It seems as though that the elements work against us at times.
So we have to say we perceive that all things work together for good to them to love God. How do we perceive that? We go back in the Old Testament and look how God has dealt with his people. We look into what's called the New Testament. We see how God has dealt with his people. And we see how God has dealt with us in life in a very practical way. And we're going to have to say, we perceive that all things work together for good, to them that love God, to those who are the called, or the called ones according to his purpose, 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. What I want to take up with you this morning primarily is this, the ultimate of the Christian life. Most of us here, if not all of us, know how to be saved.
That is, the moment that we, through the work of God, have come to see our vileness and our lostness, our own condemnation, drawn out very clearly in an old-time hymn we used to say years ago. There was a time I know when in the Book of Heaven an old account was standing of sins yet unforgiven. My name was at the top and many things below, but I, I went to the Keeper and I said a long ago, the old account was large and larger every day. For I was always sinning, and I couldn't seem to pray. When I looked up ahead and saw such pain and woe, I said, I'll settle. And I settled long ago, see. You don't come to the Lord.
He said, Come unto me. You don't come to the Lord until you see that you're lost. Because by nature you have rebellion in your heart against God. Why would you want the Lord? But when we come to see our nothingness and our lostness, condemnation, and begin to realize what's going to happen, then we begin to get an ear. for the gospel message. Too often we would be so winners go out and try to put something on someone before they're ready for it. You know, you've got to get them sizzling over the fire before you can tell them much about the bliss of heaven. Now some people don't believe that, but I've had personal experiences many times going in in gospel meetings and preach, almost preach my head off and see nothing and then preach on hell and judgment and people begin to get under conviction.
First thing you know, folks are being saved. I mean, you believe in preaching on hell? Sure, I do. All the time that I can. The Lord Jesus did. And people have to see what's going to happen. They have to comprehend. The intellect has to be bombarded with the truth. So we can see that most of us here know how to be saved from the penalty of sin. We see what's happening. We see what's going to happen. We begin to say, oh, I don't want that. And then's the time to present the glorious gospel of the grace of God. How that the Lord Jesus died for our sins according to the Scriptures. was buried and rose again the third day, according to scriptures, just like me sitting on death row. There I am in Huntsville, Texas, waiting the day of my execution. Two days ahead, I'm supposed to die in the electric chair, and some man comes screaming into death row and says, Stop!
Stop. And I run to my bars, and I look down the hall as best I can, and you can't get them through very far through them, crossbar hotel windows. What do you mean, stop? Someone has died for all people on death row, and you'll not have to die. Now, that would be one of the most fantastic things, wouldn't it? Someone died for me. Yeah. And the turnkey says, Donald, if you believe that, you can walk right out of this jail cell and go home, a free man. I can? What do you think I'd do? Oh, you said, well, Donald, you should walk right out. You'd be a fool not to walk out.
Let me tell you. Some don't walk out. Some don't. Linda Kincaid, friend of mine and I were preaching years ago in Gainesville, Texas, went down to the jail, learned about some difficult circumstances. We've been out knocking on doors, talking to people about the Lord Jesus, found a dear woman, had three little children, three or four, maybe four little children, just kind of little stair steps, and they were without food, and so we began to get some food. So where's your husband? Well, said he's in jail. Hmm. So we went down to the jail to see her husband, talked to the sheriff, said, yes, we can go and see him, we talked to him, began to tell him about the Lord Jesus, began to give him the gospel, began to share with him how we met his wife and the circumstances and how we wanted to help. So we had a good visit and then we left.
We got together and thought, well, you know, what's going to take to get this man out of jail so we can get back home, get to work, begin to provide for this family. So we got to praying about it and several Christians said, look, we'd like to have financial part in helping that man get out. We want to try to see that man get out, get back to his wife and kids. So we go down to the church and say, Can we see the men another time? It was the next day. He said, Certainly. We go down and say, Look, we found out what your fine was. We're ready to pay it. And you can go out free. He said, No. First time I ever heard that. But I was there. Nobody told me about that. The men told me himself. He said, No. I'm going to stay right here. That's exactly what people are doing today.
The Lord Jesus died on Calvary's heel, nailed to a cross, bearing our sin. God says he died for you and rose again. And you can go free if you receive him. And they say, no. Go on. Go on in your sin. And you'll walk into the very mouth of hell. But when you do, for eternity you'll remember that the Lord Jesus loved you and gave himself for you. You'll never forget one of the horrors of the halls of hell. His memory, he said, Son, remember the Sal and die lifetime. The flames of hell must be terrible, but the horror of memory must be worse.
That you stood at a time in your life when you could have been pardoned completely and declared absolutely righteous and you refused and went on in your sins. I plead with you, sir. Ma'am, if you haven't received Christ, do so today. If the poor, trembling, lost sinners, call on him, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. We know how to be saved, don't we, most of us? But here's where we're way short. Beloved, will you take it from a friend, a brother in Christ? Here's where we're really short. Look at verse twenty-nine. For whom he did foreknow, that is he knew beforehand.
He also did predestinate. And that word predestinate is two words. It's compounding of two Greek words. It is the word meaning to mark out, to set a boundary, and it is prefixed and compounded with the word PRO, meaning before. So to set a boundary before, to mark out beforehand, what did God do? And here we get the most beautiful feature of sanctification. So many people think this is the pie in the sky by and by. But no, sir, it's the reality right now. He knew us, and then he said he also did predestinate us, to be conformed to the image of his Son.
Why? That he might be the firstborn among many brethren. You see, our conformity to his image enhances his firstbornness. God is in the process of of exalting and magnifying and glorifying His Son in our conformity to His image contributes to that. That's what it says right there. What's the ultimate of the Christian life? Being able to quote the whole Bible. No. That'd be wonderful. What's the ultimate of the Christian life? Being able to speak like Paul or preach like Jesus. Oh, how great that would be. I think most of us who attempt it would like that. That's not the ultimate, though. What's the ultimate of the Christian life?
Be able to call down fire from heaven like Elijah. No. What is it? Conformity to the image of God's Son. God wants you and I to resemble the Lord Jesus. I've known the people that have lived together for many, many years and heard this expression, and I believe out of an honest heart, heard this expression. You know, Uncle Jass and Aunt Susie have lived together so long they begin to look alike. Anybody ever hear that? Now, not Uncle Jazz, you know, maybe a different name, but you haven't heard that expression? Well, they've lived so long together, they look alike. How do they look alike?
Not physically. You know, she's still a woman, he's still a man. Of course, I guess the older we get, maybe that gets a little less distinguishable. I'm not sure. I'm working on it, though, you know. I'm working on it, but I tell you what, my hair is turning two ways. It's turning gray and turning loose. I don't mind the turning gray. I wouldn't care if it's green long as I had some. But if you begin to get thin on the top, when I go down home to visit my folks in Texas, I get sunburned. Yeah, we're getting older. But you know, when two people have lived together long enough, I have heard it said, and I believe it's out of an honest heart, people say they even look alike.
But how they look alike? I'll tell you how they look alike. not in their physiological visage or features, but in their character, their attitudes, and their actions. That's what the Lord's talking about here. The so-called Jesus freaks missed the point. They were going to look like Jesus. They grew beard and they grew long hair. Of course, they're growing a long hair. They missed that point. They really missed that. They made a blundering mess there. The Lord Jesus evidently had a beard. No long hair. How do you know that? I believe the Bible. Shame for men to have long hair. I simply believe that and preach it and that settles it for me. And the Lord Jesus would not do something like that. So I said, wait a minute, he was a Nazarite. Where do you get that?
A Nazarene, not a Nazarite. Quite a difference. Read number chapter six. All right. So God is wanting us to be conformed to the image of His Son. But, beloved, that's not trying to wear a long robe and run around on the streets with a beard and shaggy hair. That's not looking like the Lord Jesus. Oh, I know that they looked a whole lot like the artist's conceptions of Jesus. I saw some that I thought almost were modeled for that kind of pain. But they're a long way from being conformed to His image. A long way. What is God getting at? I'll tell you what he's getting at. He's getting at something that's more intrinsic than the word schema.
Most of us are familiar with the word schematic. Not all, maybe, but most of us. you dear sisters who may not be so familiar as maybe some of the more mechanical and engineering-minded men, if you buy a new sewing machine, oftentimes down inside the packet that comes with it, the instructions, where to oil it and all that, you take it out. And first thing you know, you have what we sometimes call an exploded view of all the working parts. It shows how they fit together and where you oil them and, etc. Amen? Or you wouldn't say out loud, but maybe you could do this way or that a way. I don't know if you have any reason. But you, I think, know what I'm talking about. See? A schematical drawing. Okay. Now that's the word schema. It's a Greek word, and it means form.
And that kind of form means form that shows a relatedness of sitting together. That's the Greek word schema. It's outward. But there's another Greek word for form, translated F-O-R-M in our Bible. And the English reader, incidentally, doesn't really know for sure unless he's done some studying or checked up. But it's the word morphe. Completely different word altogether. Now, it's not the outward form that He's talking about. It's the inward. And that's the word Morphe there. And the word Morphe in this particular passage is joined with the most intimate word for with in the entire Greek language. There is no word for with in Greek so intimate as this one.
I am with you, generally speaking. I can see my brother Don back here, and we're at least some twelve or thirteen yards apart. I'm with him. That's the Greek word, metha. It means with in general. You're used to it. Metatarsal, metaphysical, metabist, and metabat. We're familiar with it. We use it as an English prefix. Then there is another word for with. That means alongside, such as, I'm with the speaker stand. I'm right alongside it. That's P-A-R-A-N, English, parat, in Greek, parat, right alongside. There is a very intimate one, though, in Greek. In English letters, it would be S-U-N, pronounced soon. and it means intimately with.
I am with my Bible. And the Lord is saying here, verse twenty-nine, for whom he did foreknow he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of the Son. God said he wants an intimate form in our life, intimately formed with his. It is an intimate form. It's not just a form. It's intimate. He wants us to be close in a nearness, and He wants us to be close in a likeness, and that's what He's after. And God's not going to be satisfied until it's accomplished, and it starts here. That's sanctification. That's sanctification. Oh, my brother and sister... I appeal to you, I plead with you, this to me is the ultimate of the Christian life.
What? To be conformed to the image of God's Son, to look like the Lord Jesus in our attitudes, in our actions, and certainly in our appetite. And that's what in the will of God we'll be looking at tonight. You see, how can it take place? Well, there's an answer. If God wants it, it can be done. It can be done. God never brings upon you and I any request, any desire that cannot be accomplished by His grace and power. And I'm confident we have a loving God, a good God. And oh, He wants this. And if we could just begin to really look like the Lord Jesus, the whole world, but sit up and take notice. You know, if we went down on the town, bulletin board, downtown, and said, the Christians in St. Louis area are going to be praying for the lost and tack it up on the bulletin board.
You know what had happened? The losses scoffed at us. You know they would. Do you think they'd go home trembling? I'll tell you what. we began to look like the Lord Jesus. We were conformed to His image. Might have a different effect. May the Lord get a grip on our hearts and help us to see that the ultimate of the Christian life is to be conformed to His image. And tonight, in the will of the Lord, we want to be looking at some ministry that deals specifically with this subject and how it takes place, going into the very mechanics of it, and trusting that we'll all be encouraged and blessed. You know, I need encouragement. I'm one of those souls that just needs a lot of encouragement. I'll tell my wife, I need lots of love in there.
I sure do. And you know what? I was glad the brother said something this morning about love. I really appreciated that. He gave us a little exhortation there about that. And I got to thank him. Boy, that's just beautiful. One of the great, great lacks among Christians today is L-O-V-E. We're kind of short there. Oh, may we see it. And think about now being conformed to his image. God wants this. It can be accomplished. Maybe it's being accomplished in your life in a beautiful way. We're thankful for that, but don't remember. Don't forget the rest of us need a little help along the way. So we're going to be thinking about those areas. Now shall we look to the Lord in prayer. I'd like to mention, as will always be the case throughout my series here with you, if there's any who would like to visit a little bit after the meeting is over, about the things that I've tried to bring before you feel free to do so.
I'll be available. I'll count it a tremendous privilege, and we'll look forward to meeting all of you. and hoping to try to remember your names. I have a struggle with names.