[This devotion is an edited and shortened version of a sermon preached August 28, 2016 on Romans 8:28-30. You can listen to the audio via this link. This sermon complements last Sunday’s sermon on John 11, showing how Jesus’ raising of Lazarus pictures the way God saves each of us – Coty]
How does God work for good for those who love Him, for those who are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28)? Does He heal them of disease? Does He give them wonderful spouses? Does He provide food for them? Does He rescue them from danger?
He might. He will for some of His people.
But in Romans 8:29-30 Paul tells us the primary way God works all things together for His glory and the good of His people. We see this since verse 29 begins with “for.” The apostle then speaks of a chain of God’s actions on behalf of these people who belong to God. This chain consists of five stupendous verbs
- God foreknew them
- God predestined them
- God called them
- God justified them
- God glorified them
So God may act in a way that humans recognize as for their good: He may indeed heal them and give them great spouses and feed them and rescue them. On the other hand, disease might ravage them. They might have difficult marriages. They might hunger and thirst. They might die at the stake. Or in prison. Or on the cross.
But always, always God foreknew them. God predestined them. God called them. God justified them. God glorified them.
And the good contained in those five statements far, far outweighs any suffering, any hardship, any tragedy they – we – may experience.
Earlier parts of Romans 8 help us to see that whatever leads us to love God more is for our good – even if it brings temporary pain.
In verse 29 Paul brings us yet deeper into God’s plan for His people, showing us this chain of actions that secures our good, our joy: We are Foreknown. Predestined. Called. Justified. Glorified.
Let’s seek to understand better each of these great steps, so that we might delight all the more in the God who is working all things together for the joy of His people
The Great Chain of God’s Actions
Consider the time in which each action takes place:
The first two: foreknown, predestined: What God determined in eternity past.
The last two: justified, glorified: What God is doing now, and will complete.
The third: called: This is the present link between God’s determination in the past and His future work in His people.
Furthermore, these five statements together show that no one is lost along the way.
This truth comes through in most English translation, but it is even more obvious in Greek. To help you see this, let’s read verse 29 in the ESV and then verse 30 in a literal translation:
For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those He predestined, these ones He also called; and those He called, these ones he also justified. And those He justified, these ones He also glorified.
That is: No one is foreknown who is not also predestined, called, justified, glorified.
Specifically in our experience: the same people experience the last three actions: Everyone who is truly called is declared righteous by God; everyone declared righteous by God is glorified. No one is lost. If one of those hundred sheep strays, the Good Shepherd seeks that lost sheep and brings him back, to great rejoicing.
That is Paul’s major point in these verses. God is working for the good of His people –and He knew His people in eternity past. He knew all about them. Yet He chose them. He decided they would become like Jesus. He then at a specific point in each of their lives calls them. They respond in faith. He declares them righteous because of Jesus’s sacrifice through that faith. Then through all the trials and hardships of this life, He brings them safely to His heavenly Kingdom, where they will shine like the sun, having been fully conformed to the image of God’s Son.
Having seen that grand overview, let’s now consider each step along the way.
God Foreknew His People
Does Paul simply mean God knows everything ahead of time? That is, He knows all about Coty Pinckney, and He knows all about Adolf Hitler?
How do we answer a question like that?
We ask: What does the Greek word mean – specifically what does it mean in similar contexts in the New Testament?
The uncommon word Paul uses here appears as a verb with God as the subject two other times in the New Testament. In addition, the noun form appears twice, each time referring to God’s foreknowledge. Each of these texts has a similar context to Romans 8, so they are helpful in understanding Paul’s meaning here. The texts are: Romans 11:1-2, 1 Peter 1:2, 1 Peter 1:20, and Acts 2:23.
None of these refer solely to God knowing about us ahead of time. Rather, each refers to God determining, foreordaining who will become His people.
For our purposes, let’s look solely at Acts 2:23 – words spoken by Peter at Pentecost:
This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.
Peter says that God had a definite plan. Thus “foreknowledge” refers not only to God’s knowing what will happen ahead of time, but also to His predetermined plan for Jesus’s death on the cross.
So: to foreknow is to foreordain, to plan ahead of time, to choose who will be beneficiaries of His grace for His glory.
This first step, then, refers to God’s choice, His determination, His plan. Before we ever come into being, God foreordains a series of events that will bring each one of His elect people to Himself, and in sum the entirety of the Bride of Christ.
That is God’s foreknowing, His foreordaining.
God Predestined His People
The second verb is to predestine.
The very same people that God foreordains, He predestines to a particular outcome: To be conformed to the image of His Son.
In His plan to bring about the exact outcome He desires, He determines that each of His elect people will take on fully the character of Jesus.
So predestination in this verse does not refer to God’s choice of individuals – that’s encompassed under God’s foreknowledge. Rather predestination here refers to what God chooses to do with us. He chooses us to what end. He chooses us to become like Jesus.
So these first two verbs work together: If you are a believer, God foreordained that you would be in Christ, and He foreordained all that was necessary to bring that about. Furthermore, He predestined you to become like Jesus, to have the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). And this will be to your joy and to the glory of God.
God Called His People
So having foreordained who would be in Christ, having predestined them to become like Christ, during our lives God calls us. He calls us effectually. That is, the call goes out with power to enable the intended, planned response.
Do you see why this must be an effectual, powerful call? Otherwise, how can God be sure not to lose any along the way? Otherwise, how can those very ones who are foreordained and predestined also be justified and glorified? This happens only if God sends forth the call with such power that all those called do indeed respond.
So God’s call is not like my calling our cat Madison. I can call him softly or loudly, with urgency or with gentle prodding. Doesn’t matter. Madison may come, and he may not. Like most cats, he does only what he very well pleases.
But God’s effectual call is instead like Jesus calling the dead man Lazarus. Now, dead men can’t hear. Nor can they respond. But when Jesus calls, the dead man is made alive! The call itself has life-giving power! Lazarus, now alive, hears Jesus’ command to come out of the tomb, and he willingly, gladly obeys. But He only responds because of the life-giving power of the call.
God Justified His People
The very ones God calls, He justifies.
To justify in Romans is to declare righteous. God takes guilty sinners and unites them with Jesus. Their sin is credited to Jesus’ account, paid for by His death on the cross. His righteousness is credited to their account, so that God sees them as righteous in Christ. So the declaration is more than “not guilty” – the declaration is “here is a righteous man, a righteous woman.”
Now: Paul has said we are justified by faith (Romans 5:1 and elsewhere). If God foreordains, predestines, and effectually calls us, how does faith lead to justification? What role does our faith play?
Paul brings out the link between faith and God’s work in Romans 3:24-25. All God’s people:
are justified by his grace as a gift [a gift from God given to those He foreordained], through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.
Thus, to be justified, to be declared righteous, is a gift – God’s free gift. Not earned. Not merited. Not deserved. Not the result of any action on our part.
But that gift must be received by faith.
How does this come together?
Consider Lazarus again. Jesus calls, “Lazarus, come out!” The effectual call gives Lazarus life. He now is able to hear, to respond, to obey. And so he has a choice. He can stay in the stinking tomb, separated from all those who love him. Or he can obey the call and walk out into the light, into the arms of the One who loves him so much He raised him from the dead.
Which will Lazarus choose? He trusts Jesus’ word and so obeys, coming out of the tomb.
Just so in the life of every believer. God works all the details of our lives together in such a way that in the fullness of time we freely, joyfully, gladly believe the Gospel and choose to follow Jesus. We have faith in Him. We make a free choice. And God foreordains that choice.
A free choice. And a foreordained choice.
Does that seem contradictory?
It’s only contradictory if you think “free choice” means “uninfluenced choice.” There is no such thing as an uninfluenced choice. Every choice you make is influenced by hundreds and hundreds of factors.
“Free choice” does not mean “uninfluenced choice.” Rather, free choice means that you choose what you most want to do, given the constraints you face. Lazarus most wanted to go out of the tomb to Jesus, to Mary, to Martha. He chose to do so. That was free.
Just so, when God opens our eyes to see Him for who He is, to see ourselves for who we are, we bow before Him and, with sorrow over our sin and joy in His beautiful holiness, we believe in Him. We love Him. We worship Him. That is what we most want to do. It’s a free choice. And it is all according to God’s plan.
God Glorified His People
This is the culmination, the end, the goal of all of God’s work in this world. God created the universe for His glory. He created mankind for His glory. And He will be glorified in His redeemed, perfected people. His Name, His character, will label us, will permeate us, will infect us (Revelation 22:4). This is the coming glory: The end of sorrow, the end of sin, the end of disappointment, the end of pain; everlasting joy as we love and are loved; an increasing vision of who God is, how glorious He is, how beautiful He is.
God says: “I foreordained you, I predestined you to be conformed to the character of my Son, I called you effectually, I justified you – leading you to faith. And I will glorify you.”
Now: I just said “will glorify.” This glorification is clearly future. You don’t have to look at me very long to know I am not yet perfected; I am not yet conformed to the character of God’s Son.
So if this glorification is future, why does Paul say God glorified these same ones?
Because it is as good as done. He has determined it. He has ordained it. It will happen. It is certain.
Therefore when you and I look at ourselves, seeing our sin, seeing our failures, seeing how far short of God’s standards we fall, we can know: If I am in Christ, my end is certain. God will complete the good work He has begun. God has predestined that I – sinful and weak, proud and anxious – will become like Him. He will glorify me. And He will be glorified by me.
Conclusion
Are you among those who will be glorified?
The question for you is not, “Did God foreordain me before foundation of world?”
You and I cannot see into the mind of God – we only know what He has revealed.
But what has He revealed? “Everyone who believes in [Jesus] receives forgiveness of sins through his name” (Acts 10:43).
So see Him for who He is – the sovereign ruler, the loving Father, the eternal king. Fall before Him! Confess your sin, your arrogance, your unwillingness to submit to His authority. Confess your desire to run your own life. Admit that you have made a mess of it. And ask: “Could it be that Jesus paid the penalty for my sins when He died on the cross? Could it be that by Your grace You would save even a sinner like me? Could You be so gracious, so loving that You knew me before the foundation of world?”
Come to Him humbly, with repentance. And He will not despise your broken and contrite heart (Psalm 51:17).
If you are among those to be glorified, Paul writes these great verses so that you might have great confidence, great joy, great boldness. God has so organized the universe that if you are among His people, your destiny is secure. You cannot fail to fulfill His plan. No decision by another, no sin by another, no sin by you can thwart that plan. There is no risk of ultimate failure.
We can only respond with delight in the God who foreordained, who predestined, who called, who justified, who glorified. We can only magnify His mercy and grace.
How we need these great truths when we struggle to overcome decades-long patterns of sin, when we suffer from persecution, when it seems as if all the world is arrayed against God and His people, when our country falls apart, when our family falls apart.
God is on the throne. So ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name. Tremble before Him. Say among the nations, the Lord reigns! Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever.
