Introduction

 Ten Converts in Twenty-seven Years - On September 4, 1807, Robert Morrison arrived in Canton as the first Chinese missionary of modern times. He quickly applied himself to learning Mandarin Chinese, hiring Chinese instructors who risked their own lives in teaching him (it being illegal to teach a foreigner to read or write Chinese). He completed his Chinese translation of the New Testament in 1813; the Old Testament in 1819. In September, 1814, seven years after he arrived, he secretly baptized his first convert. When he died in 1834 after 27 years in China, he had only baptized ten Chinese believers. Yet, his work became the foundation for much of what is happening in China today.     

1.  OUR PREDESTINATION
1.       The Calling Wherein We Are Called (1 Corinthians 7:20-24 [20] Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called. [21] Art thou called being a servant? care not for it: but if thou mayest be made free, use it rather. [22] For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord's freeman: likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ's servant. [23] Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men. [24] Brethren, let every man, wherein he is called, therein abide with God.
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2.             According to the Good Pleasure of His Will (Ephesians 1:3-5 [3] Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: [4] According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: [5] Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
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3. To the Praise of the Glory of His Grace (Ephesians 1:6-7 [6] To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. [7] In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
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2.  OUR PRAISE
1. Gifted According to His Pleasure (1 Corinthians 4:5-7 [5] Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God. [6] And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes; that ye might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another. [7] For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?
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2.  Placed According to His Plan (1 Corinthians 12:21-24 [21] And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. [22] Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary: [23] And those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness. [24] For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked.
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3.  OUR PURPOSE
1. Set to Ministry According to the Grace of God (Romans 12:3-8 [3] For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. [4] For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: [5] So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. [6] Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; [7] Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching; [8] Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness.
   See All...; Ephesians 4:7-8 [7] But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. [8] Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.
   See All...; 1 Peter 4:10-11 [10] As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. [11] If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
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2.   According to the Needs Determined by God (1 Corinthians 12:15-17 [15] If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? [16] And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? [17] If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?
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Our Limited Freedom – A. W. Tozer in The Attributes of God: Volume Two (p.151-152) illustrates man’s limited freedom of will. Suppose, he says, “a ship leaves New York City bound for Liverpool, England, with a thousand passengers on board. They’re going to take a nice, easy journey and enjoy the trip… After they leave New York and wave to the people on shore, the next stop is Liverpool. That’s it… They are out floating around on the ocean. What do they do? Is everyone bound with chains, with the captain walking around with a stick to keep them in line? No. Over here is a shuffleboard court, over there is a tennis court and a swimming pool. Over here you can look at pictures; over there you can listen to music. The passengers are perfectly free to roam around as they please on the deck of the ship. But they’re not free to change the course of the ship. It’s going to Liverpool no matter what they do… And yet, they’re perfectly free within the confines of that ship.      “In the same way, you and I have our little lives. We are born and God says, ‘I have launched you onto the sea from the shore of birth. You’re going to go into the little port we call death. In the meantime, you are free to romp around all you want—just remember that you are going to answer for what you’ve done when you get over there.’ So we throw our weight around and make demands, declaring that we can do as we please. We boast about our freedom. We’ve got a little freedom, alright, but remember, we can’t change God Almighty’s course.”
1.  GOD’S PROVIDENCE
2.   Working All Things Together for Good (Romans 8:28And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
   See All...; Ecclesiastes 3:11He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.
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3. Conforming Us to the Image of God (Romans 8:29-30 [29] 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. [30] Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
   See All...; 2 Corinthians 3:18But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the LORD.
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1.  GOD’S PLEASURE
2. The Purpose for Which We Were Created
3. All things made for Himself (Proverbs 16:4The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.
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4. All created for the glory of God (Isaiah 43:7Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.
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5.  All created for the pleasure of God (Revelation 4:11Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.
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1. The Plan by Which We are to Serve God
2. To walk unto all pleasing (Colossians 1:10That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;
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3. To abound more and more in this grace (1 Thessalonians 4:1Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more.
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Conclusion:

Sacrificing Self for Another – “One day the people of a southern town were startled by the sight of a runaway team attached to a carriage. Clinging desperately to the reins was a man being trampled beneath the hoofs of the horses. He stopped the horses but at the cost of his life. A needless sacrifice, thought the people, till they discovered in the carriage his little child unharmed. He gave up his life for his little one because he loved it. Who can say the sacrifice was too great? How feeble the comparison of this love with that of God who gave His Son to die for a world at enmity with Him!” –from Deliverance from the Penalty and Power of Sin by Orson R. Palmer (p. 16).