Our text tonight is Romans 8:28. While you are turning to the text, let tell you something that happened nearly fifty years ago.
Whenever you read, or quote, or even think of Romans 8:28, be sure you do not leave out those last four words. You will never understand anything in this Book, you will never understand anything God does, you will never understand the mystery and wonder of Divine Providence until you understand that God does everything "according to his purpose".
(Romans 8:28) "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."
When I read those last four words of this text, the first thing that comes to my mind, the first thing I want to know is – "What is his purpose?"
You may think, "Bro. Don, It is impossible for us to know the purpose of God." In a sense that is certainly true. It is written, "Secret things belong unto the Lord" (Deut. 29:29). We must never attempt to pry into the future. What God has purposed for us is God's business. Our business is to trust him.
However, the very next line of that text reads, "Secret things belong unto the Lord: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever." Tonight, I want to show you that which is plainly revealed in Holy Scripture about the purpose of our God.
Proposition: The reason why these things are revealed is, according to Deuteronomy 29:29, "that we may do all the words of this law;" that is to say, THAT WE MAY LEARN TO TRUST THE LORD OUR GOD.
Just hold your Bibles open on your laps at Romans 8:28, and I will show you what the purpose of God is by which all providence is ruled. It is written out as plain as the nose on your face in verses 29 and 30.
(Romans 8:29-30) "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."
Notice the connecting word – "for." That word links what we read in verses 29 and 30 to what was just stated in verse 28. In other words, Paul is saying, "Now, let me explain what I mean." Then, he explains himself in the rest of the chapter, beginning right here in verse 29.
I. "Whom he did FOREKNOW..."All that God designed for our eternal happiness and glory he has graciously decreed and shall infallibly accomplish for us in Christ.
I want to spend a little time here because the word "foreknowledge," as it is in the Scriptures does not mean what men generally think it means. Foreknowledge with God is not merely a prescience, or knowledge beforehand. The counsels, decrees and works of our great God are not caused, do not depend upon, and never bow to the frail and fickle will of men.
Well, if foreknowledge does not merely mean knowledge beforehand, what does it mean? Let me show you from the Scriptures. The word foreknow in the Greek is proginosko. The noun form of the verb we translate foreknow is prognosis. You know what a prognosis is. It is commonly a medical term. A doctor first makes a diagnosis of a patient's disease. Then he makes a prognosis. His prognosis is the direction and course he expects the disease to take. But the doctor's prognosis is really a very fickle thing. It depends on many variables.
With God, foreknowledge is much, much more than a prognosis! There are no variables with the Almighty! With him, there are no unexplainable turns for better or worse. I have said all that because I want you to understand that God's foreknowledge is much, much more than a mere knowledge beforehand of what we will be or do.
I repeat myself deliberately. The counsel and decree of God does not depend, even slightly, upon the frail, fickle, will of man. Contrary to popular opinion, God's eternal purpose of grace in Christ was not the result of him foreseeing man's repentance and faith.
A. God's foreknowledge of his people is his everlasting love wherewith he loved us from eternity (Jer. 31:3).(Jeremiah 31:3) "The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee."
B. When the Scriptures speak about God knowing his people the meaning is that he owns us as his people.
In other words, the Lord's foreknowledge of us implies his election and ownership of us (Ps. 1:6; Jn. 10:14; 2 Tim. 2:19. See ch. 11:2.).
(Psalms 1:6) "For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish."
(John 10:14) "I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine."
(Romans 11:2) "God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. Wot ye not what the scripture saith of Elias? how he maketh intercession to God against Israel, saying,"
(2 Timothy 2:9) "Wherein I suffer trouble, as an evil doer, even unto bonds; but the word of God is not bound."
C. God's foreknowledge of his elect in Christ is his foreordination of his chosen unto salvation and eternal life in him.It is in this sense that Peter uses the word in 1 Peter 1:2, where he says we are "Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father." The word translated foreknowledge in verse two is exactly the same word used in verse twenty, where it is translated foreordained where the Holy Spirit describes the Lord Jesus Christ as the crucified Lamb of God by whose precious blood we are redeemed.
(1 Peter 1:20) "Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you."
Just as our Lord Jesus Christ died at Calvary by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge (foreordination) of God the Father (Acts 2:23), all God's elect are saved by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge (foreordination) of God. So foreknowledge is God's sovereign, free love determining from eternity the salvation of his elect.
D. God's foreknowledge necessarily implies the infallible, everlasting security of his elect as well.
If the Lord God knows me all is well. That means he loves me, owns me as his and approves of me. If he foreknew me from eternity, as our text declares, that means that all is well for me from everlasting to everlasting. His knowledge of me is my security!
Think of it! If you are a believer, a child of God, you are known of God from eternity! You are one of those "whom he did foreknow!" God almighty, in amazing grace and infinite love, determined to save you before the worlds were made! This is God's foreknowledge – He loved you, he owned you, he chose you, he foreordained you, he approved of you, and he secured you in Christ before he created the universe!
II. "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."
Don't ever be afraid of that blessed word predestinate; and don't ever be ashamed of it. We are predestinarians because we believe the Bible. Let those be ashamed who do not believe this Book.
The doctrine of predestination is a Bible doctrine full of comfort and joy to every believer's heart. Predestination is God's infallible purpose of grace regarding his elect, whom he foreknew. That simply means that our eternal destiny was settled by our heavenly Father before the world began according to his great, everlasting love toward us in Christ.
Now look at what Paul is telling us here. Those whom God foreknew in electing love, he predestinated to be conformed to the image of his dear Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
A. Salvation is conformity to the image of Christ.B. God's chief design in predestination is the glory of his Son. – "That he might be the first born."
1. The firstborn is the first to be born. Christ is the firstborn both as God and as man.
C. Notice this too– God has predestined many to be sons in the family of grace.
Our Lord Jesus Christ shall "be the firstborn among many brethren!" At any one time in history, or at any given place in the world, God's elect appear to be just a few. But when they are all gathered in from the four corners of the earth, they shall be a multitude which no man can number! Why not me?
This is predestination: God determined from eternity to save a great multitude of sinners for the glory of Christ. Let us never cease to be amazed at his goodness and grace toward us, putting us among his elect! It is amazing that he should choose to save any. It is even more amazing that he should choose to save many. But it is infinitely amazing that you and I should be numbered among that many!
(Ephesians 2:4-7) "But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, {5} Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) {6} And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: {7} That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus."
(1 John 3:1-2) "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. {2} Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is."
III. "Whom he did predestinate those he also CALLED."Matthew Henry wrote, "All that God did from eternity predestinate to grace and glory he does, in the fulness of time, effectually call."
"Them he also called" that the purpose of God, according to election, might stand: We are called to that to which we were chosen and predestinated.
Sinners come to Christ when God the Holy Spirit calls them to Christ and graciously makes them willing to come. He convinces the heart. He bows the will. He enlightens the mind. He inclines the soul. He makes chosen, redeemed sinners willing in the day of his power.
The word called here was a legal term in the Roman world. It means summoned, as when a person is called to appear in court. The call of God the Holy Spirit is not an invitation. It is a divine summons, issued upon legal the grounds of blood atonement. All who are thus called to Christ come to Christ, and come most gladly!
(Psalms 65:4) "Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple."
(Psalms 110:3) "Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth."
The only way to make our election sure is to make sure our calling (2 Pet. 1:10). If you now come to Christ it is because God the Father chose you in eternity, Christ redeemed you at Calvary, and the Holy Spirit has effectually called you. Your faith in the Son of God is the fruit and evidence of all God's saving operations of grace toward you and in you.
Now, look at the next line… IV. "Whom he called those he also JUSTIFIED."All that are called by the Spirit of God are justified, absolved from all guilt, and accepted as righteous in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. We are right in court. No sin we have ever they have been guilty of, no sin we are guilty of, and no sin that we shall yet be guilty of shall come against us to condemn us. The book is crossed, the bond cancelled, the judgment vacated, the debt is paid, the indictment is reversed; and we are no longer dealt with as criminals, but owned and loved as friends and favorites. Blessed is the man whose iniquity is thus forgiven. None are thus justified but those that were foreknown and predestinated, and are effectually called. And all who are predestined and called are justified. Listen to me now. Children of God, we stand before the holy Lord God in Christ as righteous people, justified in him, completely, fully, immutably justified…
I can't talk much about this now because I don't know much about it yet; but I hope to know more soon.
Of this much I am certain – Glorification is exactly the opposite of condemnation! God removed the guilt of sin from us in justification He broke the reigning power of sin in us in effectual calling. Soon, he shall deliver us from the presence, influence, and being of sin, and from all the evil consequences of it in perfect, complete glorification.
Why are all these works of grace spoken of as things already finished?Here is a golden chain of grace. It has five unbreakable links – foreknowledge, predestination, calling, justification, and glorification. This is like the ladder Jacob saw, reaching up to heaven, upon which the angels of God ascend and descend as ministering spirits sent forth to minister to those who shall be the heirs of salvation. Each rung of the ladder was fixed by our great God in his eternal purpose of grace, before time began.
God's goal for his elect is absolute, full, eternal glorification in Christ and with Christ. Nothing less will satisfy his purpose or honor his name.
(Romans 8:28-31) "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. {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. {31} What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?"
*