Romans – The Play Part 8, Ep 2

But He has given you a witness that you will inherit everything the Son has inherited. You have already inherited most of it. You haven’t gotten a body. You are like the planet Earth, groaning, that went through the fall like you went through the fall, and is presently in travail like you are in travail. And I really want to emphasize this again. I’m going to use the term: the earth is down in the dumps. Now you know this colloquial expression. You are also down in the dumps. Camille, when’s the last time you were down in the dumps about Camille? One second ago.  (laughter) Chronically insecure believer. The earth is down in the dumps; it remembers. It’s worse than you. It can remember the fall; you can’t remember that. You only remember what you— the mess you’ve made out of things. The earth remembers the fall and groans and travails. It’s down in the dumps, and it keeps one eye on you, waiting for the day when you get your body, knowing that it’s going to get all new too.

That literally the entire creation is giving birth in the presence of your awaited glorification as a son of God and a daughter of God. Creation waits. But God gave you the first fruits of your new body. He gave you again the indwelling Holy Spirit. Praise the Lord. A Holy Spirit that witnesses that you are a child of His. That prays. That tells you. That comforts you. I don’t care how many times you’ve been down in the dumps. You have also been comforted by an indwelling spirit who is the first fruits of your new body. The only thing you’ve got left to complain about is that you don’t have a new body, and that’s all. And even there, you have the first fruits.

All right. Why did He do all this for you, Camille? Because He’s for me. Does that mean anything to you? Does that mean something to you? Camille, tomorrow, is that going to mean anything to you? If it doesn’t, and tomorrow this message is gone, He’s going to do one more thing. Praise the Lord. You are going to get down in the dumps— with the earth— with the earth. And you’re going to feel really terrible because you pulled a big one. And God, your Father, is going to use that horrible moment to get some of the best praying done that is done.

Do you feel inadequate in your praying? Yeah, I think we all do. But when do you feel the most inadequate? I used the illustration the other night because this illustration is one I can identify with so well. I pull bad ones, I pull big ones, but God is for me. But the kind I dread the most is the kind I pull right before a meeting when I have to speak. Those are the ones I dread the most. Oh, you don’t know what that is like for me, and I get morose. Do you know that word? That’s a big, strong word. I get morose, but I’m going to repeat to you what I said the other night. I have the good sense to go and be morose; that’s a big word, isn’t it? Morose in the presence of God. And I groan. I hurt. I travail. Don’t you? Don’t you literally ache sometimes? That is because you don’t have a redeemed body. That’s the only reason there is. That’s all. Everything else is covered. There isn’t any other.

It’s the isolation of the flesh that you’re still carrying around with you. But in that moment, He has given you prayers from the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit is sitting there saying, “Really bad kid we’ve got down here, God.” I have the feeling, I have the feeling that we cannot get over this feeling that God is really against us. He’s watching everything we do. And in one of these moments, we really feel that He doesn’t like us. “He doesn’t like me anymore.” That is the psychotically insecure saint. But while that is going on, He’s for you. He is for you. And He’s going to work it out to good, and He uses those moments to search your spirit. And your spirit’s sitting over there, just as far from your flesh as east is from west, as heaven is from hell. And your spirit is over there just doing so well. And His Spirit searches your spirit and prays the prayers of your spirit: “Lord, I am sanctified. I am holy. I am righteous. I am justified. I am a son. I have the first fruits of the inheritance. I am cleansed. I am forgiven. I am dead to sin. I am dead to the law. I am one with Christ. And I am hidden in God.”

And the Holy Spirit takes that inventory of your spirit and reports it back to God— God the Father. “Father, he’s one with Christ. He’s hidden in the Holy Spirit. He has the first fruits of redemption of the body. He is chosen by You; he has Your inheritance and Your sonship in Him.” And the Father then is inventoried by the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit discovers God’s will for you.

God the Father reads Romans chapters 1 through 8, and He reports back to the Holy Spirit your present status and what His will for you is. “Oh, do I buy a new car tomorrow?” That’s not the will we’re talking about here. His will is that you are foreknown. His will is that you are predestined. His will is that you are justified. His will is that you will be glorified. That is the discovery of God’s will for you by the Holy Spirit. And this is reported back to your spirit. And that’s why, Camille, you eventually get resurrection. Amen. He is taking care of you, Camille. He has taken care of you, and He is, in your worst weaknesses, caring for you. Now, why does God take such good care of Camille? That’s right, tell her, would you? He is for you. And He has worked out even the worst possible thing that does happen to you today when you get down in the dumps. Use that time for the communion of spirit to spirit, deep to deep, cataract to cataract, to know the will of God in your life.

Brothers and sisters, He was determined to work all things out for good, and now we come to this passage again. That’s where we ended, right there. And He makes intercessions for the saints according to the will of God. And now then, we know. Follow with me now. This is what we know. Are you awake? Wake up. Are you in any way convinced that God is for you? Camille, a little bit? All right, praise the Lord. Linda, is God for you? Yeah. Oh, there’s another really secure Christian(laughter). Here we go. I’m going to just read this the way you need to hear it.

And now you know that God caused everything to work together for your good. Everything that has preceded this in the book of Romans, every bad thing, He turned to good. Every possible situation that came against you, He turned it to good, because you are one He loves, and you are one for whom He has fulfilled His purpose. You, before any of this happened, before you knew any of this was going to happen— long before these terrible and wonderful things— He imagined you. And when He did that, He fell in love with you. And then He was for you. He was as much for you as His own dear Son from the moment He imagined you. He foreknew you before you were. At that moment, you were utterly secure in God. Amen.

And after He foreknew you, He marked you off. You! You! He marked off. And He said, “For this one, I have imagined him. And now I have marked him off. I have predestined him. I have set him aside. I have made him unique. And this is his final destiny. When I have finished with him, when I have finished with her, she will be utterly, totally, absolutely, completely, in every way, in the likeness of My eternal Son.” He was that much for you. And that was settled before you were born.

Don’t kick it. Don’t kick against it, saint. Go ahead and accept it. He predestined you to be utterly like His Son. And then you got more. And He called you. Why did He call you? Yes, sister, He was so utterly for you by now, He’d already decided you were going to be in the very likeness and the perfection of His Son, so He called you.