How are We Going to Get There? – Romans 8:29-30

 Verse 28 is one of the most beloved statements in all of God’s Word. “We KNOW that all things work together for good to them that love God to them who are the called according to His purpose.” Why is this so well-loved; why is this verse so comforting? Because it is a declaration of ultimate satisfaction; it is a promise of a very good ending. Not exactly. This is a comforting verse because it declares the sovereignty of a loving Deity. We notice that this doesn’t really tell us what the promised goodness is. There could be twenty different images in people’s minds tonight of what that goodness might be. And every single one of them might be incorrect. But verse 29 is the amplification of verse 28. It says that our good finish consists in our conformity to the image of Christ. And the guarantee of that is the Lord Himself; it is definitely not anything in us. The end of our salvation isn’t contained in streets of gold, the removal of temptation, and the end of pain. The end of our salvation is conformity to the image of Christ.

And how again does verse 28 begin? “We KNOW that all things work together…” But how can we be sure of that, or of anything at all, if we are unsure of the sovereignty of God? If the only guarantee of my salvation is whether or not I remain faithful to God, then I can’t know for sure that anything works for my good. If it is possible for Satan to snatch away my soul some day, then verse 28 has no meaning. If Jehovah has delegated his sovereignty to others, who are not omnipotent, then nothing is sure. But we know that all things work together for good because the omnipotent, sovereign God has predestinated it to be so. It is sad, terribly sad, that so many otherwise good pastors try to shield their people from the doctrine of the sovereignty of God. That’s like snatching verse 28 right out of their hands and minds. That’s like stealing food out of the mouths of spiritual babes.

This evening we could look at what it is to be conformed to the image of God’s Son. But as I was thinking about preaching that theme, I decided that would be putting the cart before the horse. There cannot be conformity to Christ without foreknowledge and foreordination. There cannot be conformity to Christ if conformity is dependent upon us, or of there is some doubt about it. So we start with foreknowledge and then perhaps next week we’ll look at conformity.

Without alliteration, onomatopoeia, rhythm or rhyme, we look tonight at the five links in the chain of our salvation: foreknowledge, foreordination, calling, justification and glorification.

We begin with FOREKNOWLEDGEThis is a mind-boggling and blood-boiling thirteen-letter word. Etymologically, there isn’t anything special in word which relieves it of its difficulties. The difficulties are theological.

“Foreknowledge” can mean three different things. It can mean “to know something before it happens;” theologically that would be called “prescience.” But “foreknowledge” can also mean: to love something or someone before hand. “To know” can speak of intimacy or love. And thirdly this word can mean “to choose or determine something ahead of time.” All three of these definitions are standard and accepted by most competent Bible scholars. But then those scholars are divided on which definition actually applies to what verse.

If this verse means simply: “to know something before happens,” God certainly does have foreknowledge. But the theological implication then is that – in salvation God reacts to man’s faith. When God saw that I would repent and believe the gospel, He chose to predestinate me to salvation. If this is true, then contrary to Romans 3, I have room to boast of my brains, deeds and spirituality. Hey, everybody, I was smart enough to repent of my sins and trust the Lord Jesus Christ. And if this is true, then God is glorified only indirectly in my salvation. But I do not believe that this is talking about God’s prescience of my faith.

The word “foreknowledge” refers to God’s love and decree which results in the salvation of many sinners. Let me show you the difference between these two definitions of knowledge. Turn to Amos 1:2 – “The words of Amos, who was among the herdmen of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel, two years before the earthquake. And he said, The LORD will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the habitations of the shepherds shall mourn, and the top of Carmel shall wither.” This is a prophecy, and what does it imply? God knows what the judgment is going to be that befalls those wicked nations. And God is going to judge Syria – verses 3-4. “Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron: But I will send a fire into the house of Hazael, which shall devour the palaces of Benhadad.” God knows what judgment is going to fall on the Philistines, Tyre, Edom, Ammon and Moab. This is PRESCIENCE – These are things that God knows before they occur. But is it simply because He knows, or is it because He guarantees it because it is His decree? I think it’s the latter. Now notice Amos 3:1-2 – “Hear this word that the LORD hath spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying, You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.” This verse is speaking about a different kind of knowledge, a different kind of relationship. God has one people, out of all the nations of the earth, whom He “KNOWS.” Do you mean that He didn’t “know” the others? Of course He did. But He “knew” them (first definition) without “knowing” them according to the second definition.

Speaking of this same nation, Israel, Paul showed us how he meant to use the term “to know.” Notice Romans 11:1-2 – “I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God hath not cast away his people which he FOREKNEW.” When verse 2 speaks of God “foreknowing” Israel, it is implied that he didn’t “know” others. Of course the omniscient God was aware of them all, but He had no affection them and there was no divine decree to save them. And what is the meaning of I Corinthians 8:3? “If any man love God, the same is known of him.” Every commentary that I checked says that it is the man whom God knows, not his act. And this is the way that the word is used here in Romans. It is the people whom God knows, not just what they will do. Listen to Matthew 7:21-23? “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never KNEW you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”

One other verse is important in this study is I Peter 1. Verse 18 – “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was FOREORDAINED before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you.” This word “forordained” is the same Greek word as in Romans 8:29 – “proginosko” (prog-in-oce’-ko). Did the Father know only that the Son was to become incarnate? No, this is talking about a special relationship between Father and Son. And a parallel relationship exists with those for whom all things work together. “Foreknowedge” is a special theological word with a tremendous blessing for the saints.

The second word in this text is “PREDESTINATE.”This clearly says that the people whom God foreknew, He predestinated. They became predestinated, by the will of God, to become conformed to the image of God’s Son. If it were not for predestination, nary a one of us would ever be so conformed. That conformation is completely impossible to any human being in themselves.

This word “predestinate” is the Greek word “proorizo” (pro-or-id’-zo). It is found only four times in the Bible. Twice we have it here in our text. And the other references are Ephesians 1:5 and Acts 4:28. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: 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: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.” Acts 4:28 – In prayer the Jerusalem church said, “The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ. For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.” “Prog-in-oce-ko” means “foreknowledge,” and “pro-or-id-zo” means “foreordination” or “predestination.” The soul which God has loved before birth, has been pre-determined to be conformed to the image of Christ. It is incorrect to say that God has predestinated some people to be saved. The word “predestinate” has to do with God’s glorification of those whom He “foreknew.” That may be splitting verbal hairs, but we might as well be correct. It is also incorrect to say that God has predestinated people to go to hell. He has predestinated the glorification of His chosen people. He has predestinated those He has called – to be conformed to the image of His Son. People go to hell because they are sinners – they refuse to repent and trust Christ.

This is why “all things work together for good” for the elect – because it has been planned by God that way. And beloved, the plans of God are not like the plans of men – they do not go astray.

The third word in this chain is “CALLED.”We’ve looked at this word already, so I won’t spend much more time on it. There is nothing very special about its origin or root. But it’s a nifty and complex little word nevertheless, depending on its context. As we said this morning, the word is used sometimes in the light of simple gospel preaching. Every time the gospel is delivered there is a general call to receive it and believe it. But more often than not the call is refused and the gospel is left unheeded. But there is a call of the Holy Spirit that is heard with the heart and not the ear. That call of God is irresistible. That call is always accepted, and in accepting, the sinner enters God’s salvation. Turn to I Corinthians 1 and notice verse 9. “God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.” This is not just an invitation to fellowship with Christ; it is the initiation of that fellowship. Now focus on verse 23 – “We preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence.

This is a very bad illustration, but maybe it can help just a little. There are many people who have telephone answering machines – which they use like secretaries. I may call your house, but you may choose not to answer it. Your phone machine clicks on, and I begin to tell it my purpose for calling. And you can hear my words even as I speak without ever talking back to me. That may be like the general call of the gospel. But then we have days when you were a child and your mother called you. When she called you, especially using your middle name, you had no choice but to answer or die. Her call was almost irresistible.

The “calling” that we find in this passage is of the irresistible variety. And according to Galatians 1:15 this calling has its source in God’s grace. “It pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace, to reveal his Son in me.”

The fourth word in this chain is “JUSTIFIED.”This is a word which Paul defined earlier in the Book of Romans. It is perhaps the key word to the entire book. Literally it refers to God’s act of declaring sinners righteous. Based on the substitution of Jesus’ death for those He chose, God in grace declares that sinner righteous. God declared him “justified.”

Justification summaries all that is contained in salvation from sin. It’s not exactly the same thing as forgiveness of sin, but it is related. It’s not the same thing as adoption into God’s family or the new-birth. It’s not conversion from sin or the quickening of Spirit or salvation in all its entirety. But justification is the summary of it all. I think that it is one of the greatest words man or God have ever uttered.

And justification is based upon the Lord’s sovereign election. For whom God foreknew, He predestinated; and whom He predestinated He called. And whom He called He gave salvation – He justified.

Then finally, Whom God justified them he also GLORIFIED.This is the absolutely necessary end of this amazing series of events – glorification. The foreknown ones are not just guaranteed glorification. The foreknown ones of God are already glorified in Christ Jesus. The plan of God can not be thwarted.

The whole creation “groaneth & travaileth together until now waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God.” This glorification has not been manifested as yet, but that does not mean that it is not an accomplished fact as far as God is concerned. God is bigger than time; He doesn’t have to wait for things; all things are done according to His decree. He cannot see the beginning of something without seeing the end of it at same time. And a part of the reason for that is because God completely governs both the beginning and the ending. The Lord is the alpha and the omega. What God has foreseen is accomplished in his sight, although we might still have wait to see it. So creation awaits the Christian’s manifestation, but God doesn’t wait at all. The saint of God is already glorified before God.

This is why we can KNOW that all things work together for good to them who are the called. No elect believer can ever come short of entire salvation.

And what is the practical end of this thought?First there is COMFORT for those whose lives are far short of “good” at this moment. Even if your physical crucifixion is determined for tomorrow, your pain will be temporary. All things work together for good, because you have been called according to the foreknowledge of God. Even if you were dying of starvation, or riddled with poison arrows from Indian bows all things work together for good.

And what is the internal proof of that call of God? The called of God “love God.” Can you say that you love God with all your heart and all your soul? What proof is there of that professed love of yours? Jesus said, “If you love me keep my commandments.”

Some people say that what Paul teaches here, also teaches sinful, licentious living. They say that if God’s plan of glorification cannot be stopped, then go ahead and sin. But nothing could be farther from the truth. Titus 2:11-12 – “The Grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, looking for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.”

God’s perfect plan not only predestinates the end but also every step of the way including the heart, the spiritual growth and the many victories in the life of the child of God until he reaches the glorification that the Lord ordained.