Turning the page from Volume 1 to Volume 2

The Bible is a unified story.  It is as some would say a collection of writings over several thousand years of time that were brought together and called the Bible.  The Bible is a unified story.  The Unifying factor of the Scriptures (which is a word I prefer over the word Bible) is that it is the story of how God redeems a sinful world through the death, burial and resurrection of his Son, Jesus Christ.

"The Bible is a book that not only do we seek to understand, but a book that so clearly understands us." - Alistair Begg

The more we value the story of Jesus' redemption for us, the more we understand what God is doing, and what God wants to do in our lives.  Salvation is not the END, it's merely the beginning of LIFE in Christ Jesus.  Romans 8 reminds us that God has a much bigger picture in mind for what salvation is meant to do.

Romans 8:28-30
²⁸  And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.  ²⁹  For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.  ³⁰  And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.



Most Christians are familiar with the first of these verses...but that verse is merely the caboose of a train that is lead by God's connected work in Salvation that Paul reveals after it.  What words?

• God foreknew - NOT God saw what you were going to do and put his stamp of approval upon it.  Instead, God knew those who he set his Electing Grace upon.  Paul opened this book with those words in Rom. 1:6.
• He Predestined - His foreknowledge and Predestination explain God's purpose in vs 28.  The plan of God is worked out in sovereign saving gracee and it is what guarantees what is to follow...in other words, the whole of Salvation is in his purpose of foreknowledge, Predestination that then lead to:
• He Called -  What I experienced at age 20 and was revealed to me over time was that God came to a lost sinner who was dead in his trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1) and he awakened my Spirit - literally "making me alive" in Christ Jesus.  This Call is not an outward call of "come to Jesus" although that may have occurred, but this call is an Inward Call done by the Spirit of God to our dead and hardened hearts.
• He Justified - He took our Sins upon himself and he gave to us (imputed is the theological word) his righteousness.  2 Cor. 5:21 says it so beautifully..."he who knew no sin was made sin for us that we might receive the righteousness of God."  Paul said it in Romans 3 when he said Romans 3:21-24
  ²¹  But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.  ²²  This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference,  ²³  for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,  ²⁴  and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.  
• He Glorified - The end goal is our standing before our Savior, glorified in our redeemed selves.  He glorified - "past, present, and future".  All of Salvation is begun...heaven has begun. We simply wait the final act of this end.

We turn the page this week from Volume 1 to the glorious story of Volume 2, when Jesus is revealed and his Message and Mission are made known.  The Salvation we long for begins... to get your started in reading this story, here's a Video about the Gospel of Mark.  Read the story...it's beautiful.