Firstborn Among Many Brethren 1986

From Romans 8, 28. We know that in all things, God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

And those whom he predestined, he also called. And those whom he called, he also justified. And those whom he justified, he also glorified.

We know that in all things, in all things, God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose. When we think of all things working together for good with those who love God, we're often inclined to think of a journey where nothing goes wrong. A trip to Hawaii, everything is perfect.

A drive down Michigan Avenue where every light turns green just in time. But when we're told that in all things, God works for good with those who love him, the all things are all things. See, not just the pleasant things, but even the things that are hard, tragic, full of struggle and strife and pain.

Somehow through the all things, both the good and the bad, God brings forth a miracle. The miracle is this. Those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

The miracle that comes up through the all things is a new race, a race of men and women whose lives are absolutely conformed to the image of Jesus, who look like him in their behavior. And this happens through the all things, even through the fire licking at their lives. So when are we going to see this new race? In heaven? Well, sure, we'll see it in heaven.

And we have a description of it in this familiar passage to us all in Revelation chapter 7, verse 9. After this I looked and behold, a great multitude which no man could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the land, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, crying out with a loud voice, Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the land. And all the angels stood round the throne and round the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshipped God, saying, Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen.

Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, Who are these clothed in white robes? And whence have they come? I said, Sir, you know. He said to me, These are they who have come out of the great tribulation that is, they come up through the all things and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night within his temple.

And he who sits upon the throne will shelter them with his presence. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more. The sun shall not strike them nor any scorching heat.

For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd and he will guide them to springs of living water and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. So there is coming a day when the servants of the Lamb, when the men and women who are conformed to the image of Jesus will serve God day and night in his temple, the temple of his body. No more hunger, no more thirst, no more weeping.

They will know nothing but blazing light. But is this the first place we see this new race? In heaven? After all the battle is over? No. This new race of men and women and young people who have been conformed to the image of Jesus and children, this new race has been walking the earth for twenty centuries.

And every place where they walk and every place where they gather and every place where they live and work is a doorway to glory. Now understand, when we talk about this, we're not talking about churchianity. We're not talking about institutional Christianity and clubs for nice people.

We're talking about men and women who are committed, so committed to conforming their lives to the image of Jesus that they become like him because they love God, love God so much that they are answering his call. To these, the Spirit has been speaking all these twenty centuries in these words of 1 Peter 2, verse 9. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people. What for? So you can sit around and play church? Uh-uh.

That you may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of God into his darkness, into his marvelous light. That you may declare that to the world out there. Once you were no people, now you are God's people.

Once you had not received mercy, now you have received mercy. Now all this bears on the changes that have been going on in this clock, particularly during the past year. During these changes, many of us have been praying, Lord, where are you leading us? What are you bringing forth? The answer is I am bringing forth here and in many, many, many, many places on this earth an assembly of believers whose lives are so conformed to the image of my Son that no one with eyes to see can miss it.

I am bringing forth, I am raising up in this place and in many other places a race of men and women who bear the marks of the Lamb in their living. Now notice this is something which God is doing. He does it.

Those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son. Those whom he predestined, he also called. Those whom he called, he also justified.

Those whom he justified, he also glorified. He justifies, glorifies, does it all. Does that mean it's automatic? No.

Because it also says for we know that in all things God works for good with those who love him who are called according to his purpose. So that the all things we're talking about here become redemptive in our lives when number one, we love God and number two, we love God enough to answer his call. Those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son.

Predestined. Predestined. Does that mean that I just have to lie back and let God zap me into the image of his Son? Again, the answer is no.

Those whom he foreknew, he predestined. Meaning that God knew who would respond and who would not. For instance, you are the salt of the earth because God predestined you to be the salt of the earth.

You don't have to try to be the salt. You are. But if the salt loses its taste, it gets shoved aside and trodden underfoot by man.

You are the light of the world. You don't have to make yourself the light of the world. You are the light of the world because you were predestined to be the light of the world.

But if you play it safe and pussyfoot through your life, keeping that light under the bushel, taking no risks, doing nothing inconvenient, hanging around with those with whom you only feel comfortable, your light will be taken from you and will be given to those who will take the risks and put it up on the stand. We know that in all things God works for good with those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose. So God did everything from His side, everything He did and is now doing.

He sent His Son to die. His blood washes away our sin. He breaks the grip of evil on our minds.

He drives the curse of death from our hearts. Even now He pours out His Spirit upon us as we gather here. He sends His Spirit as life upon us.

His Word is Spirit and it is life. He does all that so that out of all this may emerge a new race, a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, so that they, we, may take the Word out, declare the wonderful deeds of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. So we come into this new race not like robots, not by getting hit over the head with a sledgehammer and then we just zombie our way into it.

We don't come into this race by being made part of a kind of brainwashed cult. We come into this new race with our minds clear and our wills free by doing two things. Number one, we love God.

Number two, we love God so much that we answer His call on our lives. For we know that in all things God works for good with those who love Him who are called according to His purpose. Those whom He foreknew He predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son that He might be the firstborn among a whole race of new people.

So if we love God, if we love God enough to answer His call, we submit ourselves to the image of Jesus in five specific ways. One, if we love God and are answering His call, we freely submit our bodies to His Lordship. Romans 12, 1, I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God that you present your bodies as a living sacrifice wholly acceptable to God which is your spiritual worship.

When Peter walked away from his fishing boat, it was a physical act. When Matthew left his tax office, it was a physical act. When Jesus refused to turn the stones into bread, refused to jump from the pinnacle of the temple, refused to bow down in front of Satan, He was, by doing this, submitting His physical body to His Lordship.

And the King of Babylon had been ruling us through our bodies. So the first step in the miracle of change which is going on now is that we take our physical body and we with an act of will commit it to Jesus. Daily, hourly, we present our bodies as a living sacrifice.

It's yours Lord. That's the question. Who owns your body right now? Who rules it? Who controls it? Who is it serving? Whoever that is, whatever that is, that's your God.

It's either the living God or a false God, but that's the God of your life. And as much as a matter of drugs and alcohol, it could be vanity, it could be money, it could be ambition, it could be any number of things. If the body serves, apart from God, we begin by giving Him our bodies.

Secondly, if we love God and if we are answering His call on our lives, we freely submit our minds to the Lordship of Jesus. Romans 12, 2. Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Most of us have had our minds controlled by Babylon since we were children in school and probably long before that.

The world, Babylon, tells us what to think, what to buy, what's worthwhile having, what's worthwhile fighting for, where to go, what to do with ourselves, how to spend our time. It tells us everything. See, but now we have a new teacher.

We become disciples of Jesus, for being a disciple means you're a learner, a pupil. He's the teacher, He's the master, and you submit your mind to Him. And He begins to speak truth to the mind.

He brings into this mind truth it has never seen before. If you continue in my Word, that is, if you do it, you can memorize the Bible and still be outside His Word. You've got to do it.

Then you are my disciples, my pupils indeed. And you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free, free from the fear of man, free from the confusion of all kinds of religion, free from anything that would keep you away from radical commitment and mighty power as a disciple of Jesus. If we love God, and if we are answering His call on our lives, thirdly, we freely submit our daily life to the Lordship of Jesus.

Our eating, our sleeping, our working, our recreation, our friendships, our relationships, our finances, our resting, our everything. Philippians 4.4 Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I will say rejoice. Let all men know your forbearance, your generosity.

The Lord is at hand, that means He's near. So don't be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

So now, as we head to work in the morning, or at night, or in the afternoon, whenever we go, or as we enter the telephone, as we walk down the street, scrub floors, change diapers, wash toilets, fix cars, we practice the presence of the Lord right there. He is there, and He is Lord, absolute Lord over the circumstances of that moment. And if I see Him and submit to Him as Lord over my daily life, then all things work together.

If we love God and are answering His call on our lives, number four, we submit our life together to the Lordship of Jesus. Romans 12, 3, For by the grace given to me, I bid everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith which God has assigned him. For as in one body we have many members, and all the members do not have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ and individually members one of another.

So we, though many, are one body in Christ and individually members one of another. That means He's the head. We are members of Him and in Him of each other.

But He calls the shots. He directs. He guides.

He rules. Not my conception of the form this body should take and not yours and nobody else's. His.

And we can be sure that if we will submit to His Lordship over our corporate life, He will absolutely direct us. And He will guide us. He will make clear the steps we yet have to take, the changes that need to be made.

He will show us. And as we submit to His Lordship over our life together, all things work together for good. Finally, if we love God and if we are answering His call in our lives, we submit our ministry to the world out there to the Lordship of Jesus.

Matthew 28, 18 And Jesus came and said to them, All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always to the close of the age.

Someday, when my affairs are in order and my children are grown, I'm going to be a missionary. Oh yeah? The one who says to the body and to all of us, Go therefore and make disciples of all nations. It doesn't say when your affairs are in order and your children are grown and you have at least 200,000 in the bank or whatever it has to be for you.

He says, Go now and make disciples not just of the people who are like you are but of all nations. What choice do we have? If we're going to obey Him and He is Lord over this. If we do it, we say, Lord, I don't even know how to do that.

I mean, I just don't know. Help me, I'll do it. And we start out and we in fact do that.

All authority in heaven and earth is at our disposal because He is with us. Jesus is with us and all things work together for our good. So as the world moves toward its final crisis and in the process as the Spirit of God stirs and shakes and moves and sits the body of Christ on earth, the Lord is raising up a people for Himself who bear a likeness to Him that cannot be mistaken.

They are moved by His love. They are inflamed by His holiness and they are anointed with His power. If we are such people answering His call because we love Him that we're going to give Him a fresh today for our bodies, our minds, our daily life, our life together and our ministry to the world.

We'll get out there and we'll make disciples of all nations starting right where we live, right where we work and right within blocks of this building. Nations, 50 nations within a couple of miles of this building. And as we do that all authority in heaven and on earth remains upon us and He will be with us all the way to the end and beyond the end and because He is with us all things, all things will work together for good.

Let's just wait upon Him in silence and let Him speak to our hearts in silence. One day pretty soon we'll be praising God aloud again but right now it's time to think, listen, repent, and wait on God and worship full cycle.