Well, maybe we ought to sing a verse of 554, too. I hate to be wrong, too, John. Well, let's open our Bibles together to our study in Romans, chapter 8. The Christian life is one of knowing, not guessing. It's interesting to study the Word of God to see what we may know. Among the things we know is that God is working out all things for the good of His people, Romans 8.28. Because He is sovereign, we need not live in fear of the future or live in fear of anxiety regarding our circumstances.
God is bigger than all of them. His purpose will be realized. And as the gentleman said, whom we quoted last week, if we cannot trust God in the dark, we can't trust God at all. So whether it's a dark time or it's a time of joy and light and happiness, we can trust God because He is at work this very moment in the life of each one of us who is His. The certainty of God's purpose is guaranteed by five actions which He has taken and which are listed for us in verses 29 and 30 of Romans 8.
For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. And whom He predestined, these He also called. And whom He called, these He also justified. And whom He justified, these He also glorified. Last week we looked at the verb where it says that God foreknew. It means that God knew beforehand, but it means more than that.
This verb implies a designation on the part of God, that God designates something or someone as a part of His foreknowledge. We saw that this verb was used of the nation of Israel that God foreknew and chose the Jewish nation for its special purpose. Likewise, we saw that God chose, He foreknew Jesus Christ to be the Savior who would shed His blood. And then we have seen here in this text and in another one I'd like us to turn to right now that He foreknows the Christian.
Would you turn with me please to 1 Peter chapter 1, where Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, writes to those who reside as aliens or pilgrims, if you'll pardon me, who are scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. Sounds like a Holy Land tour, doesn't it? Who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. Now notice that. Foreknowledge of God has to do not only with Him knowing ahead of time certain things will happen.
He does know that, of course, but it means that He also designates ahead of time. And according to that designation, it says here we've been chosen. Now how does that take place? He says, well, it's by the sanctifying work of the Spirit. That's one side of the coin. The Holy Spirit works in the hearts of those that God has chosen. That's the sanctifying work of the Spirit, setting them apart to that purpose that God has for them.
But then He speaks also about the fact that you may obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood. There is the human side. It is our obedience to Jesus Christ. That is, our obeying Him and believing on Him. Bowing the knee to Him, our obedience, our believing of Jesus Christ so that we're sprinkled with His blood. And so locked up here in these phrases tightly in this verse is a tremendous amount of truth, both from the divine perspective and the human regarding our salvation.
Now it is this divine perspective that is in view primarily in Romans chapter 8 where we go back right now. We have seen that God foreknew, the implication being that before we were born, yes, even before God created the world, that God foreknew those that would be His. Now it says that those whom He foreknew and designated, He also predestined. The word predestined means to mark out with a boundary beforehand. That's what God did.
He marked out a certain boundary ahead of time for those that would be His. This is a term that is used of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is predestined by God to do the work that He did on the cross of Calvary. But we're going to limit our thinking tonight to this word in relationship to the Christian. It says here that He predestined us to become conformed to the image of His Son. That's the goal that God has in mind for those that He has foreknown and chosen.
He has ahead of time marked out this boundary around us, this end for us, this destiny for us, that we should be conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ so that He might be the preeminent one, the firstborn among many brethren who would reflect His likeness as children in the family of God. Now I'd like you to turn over to Ephesians chapter 1 for a moment where we see this term used again.
Here beginning in verse 3 of this chapter we have the blessings that God gives to us in Jesus Christ. He describes these blessings as every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. In other words, there's not a thing that you and I lack spiritually as the children of God.
Sometimes we are intimidated by those who claim to have some kind of an experience that's beyond where we are, and they suggest and sometimes even proclaim to us occasionally that we're missing something, that there's something we haven't had yet, that we need to pray for this or seek out something. But the fact is that God's Word says that already in Jesus Christ we have every spiritual blessing. Now we may not be appropriating it.
We may not have entered into the experience of it, but it's ours. We lack it. It's there. But we haven't opened the treasures of it yet, and of course we need to do that. Now he goes on in verse 4 to say, Just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that's equivalent to the foreknowledge we've talked about, that we should be holy and blameless before him.
Now he says, In love he predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to himself, according to the kind intention of his will to the praise of the glory of his grace, which he freely, lavishly, abundantly bestowed on us in the Beloved. Now here he says, he uses this language, We're predestined to this destiny, adoption as sons. Now to the culture in that day, that was of great significance. Adoption wasn't like we think of adoption today.
Those who were naturally born children were adopted at a certain point, and at that point they became adults in the eyes of the parents and legally before the law system. Adoption was a process or a declaration by which children became adults. And when they did, they had all of the rights and the responsibilities of adults.
Now here what the Word of God says is that we have been predestined to this, that we should all who are saved, chosen by God, that we should all be placed into God's family as full grown children. Now you and I realize that we have to grow from a human perspective, that we mature spiritually. But from the standpoint of our position in Christ, from the standpoint of our legal rights and our responsibilities, at the moment that we're saved, we enter into adulthood.
We are the sons of God. We are adopted by God. Now what did this? Well, God's motive was love. God being a God of love is always seeking and providing for the very best of those who are the objects of His love. And in love, in love God did this for us, that we might be the full heirs, not just servants or friends or little kids in God's family, but that we might be the full heirs of all that He has for us in Jesus Christ. Now what's the means by which He's doing this?
Well, He says that it's through Jesus Christ. In other words, it's because of the saving work of Christ on the cross, His redemptive work, all of that made this possible. It's through Jesus Christ, no other way. The only way into God's family and the only way that we are brought into that family as full grown heirs is through the cross work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what's the basis?
Well, He says, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, the basis of it all is grace. As we said last week, salvation is not 95% God and 5% us. Else we would have to give ourselves 5% of the praise. The salvation is of the Lord, and therefore we give to Him to His saving grace the fullness of praise. Now we want to move ahead tonight to another verb here in Romans, chapter 8, then we'll be on our way, and that is in the verb called.
He says, whom He predestined, these He also called. Now this is not the first time in this book that the apostle has used that term. Come back with me to chapter 1. He explains in these first verses to whom He is writing. And He says in verse 7, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ, to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as saints. The only way of saying that is saints, by calling. This is a wonderful verb.
By the way, this is the first verb in this list of five which involves our own personal experience in our lifetime. What I'm saying is that when God foreknew you, you weren't around, nor was the world. And when God predestined you, you weren't around. But when God called you, you were around, because this is a part of your own life experience. The definition of the verb is fairly clear, I think. We're used to using the term this way.
To call means to more than invite, it is an invitation, but it's more than that. It's really to summon someone. A couple of years ago I got a note from the courthouse in St. Paul inviting me to serve on a jury. But it wasn't really an invitation. It was a summons. It was more than my just going if I wanted to. I was told to be there, and if I wasn't there, the sheriff would come and get me. I was summoned. I was called in the sense of this term.
And involved in this verb that God called us, there is the implication of the power or the enablement given to us to respond to that, to obey it. Now with regards to the call of God, there are two aspects we have to keep in mind. There is what is called the general call of God, and then there is the effectual call of God. Now many of you know this already, but it's good for us to review it even if we've heard it before. What is the general call of God? What does that mean?
The general call of God is His invitation to come to Him whenever the gospel is preached. Whenever the gospel is preached on the television, or when someone personally shares the gospel with a friend, there is present in that the general call of God. This general call of God likewise is present in His providential kindness to all men, and in the conviction that all men have within their conscience regarding their good or evil behavior, their works.
This is the general call of God, and all men are susceptible to that. Whether they respond or not isn't the point. The point is that there is this calling of God to all men. But then within that broad category, there is the effectual call of God. This specific calling of God produces the desired effect in the one who is reached. J.I. Packer has said, It is the operation whereby God causes the sinner to understand and respond to the gospel invitation. So it is more than a general call.
Here we have God's effective call going out to those whom He has chosen. Those who are foreknown, those who are predestined, and those who are then called. In this specific effectual sense. We see this illustrated in the Gospel of John. I would like you to flip back there with me and look at a couple of verses. One that you may have a hard time finding. John 3.16. You know where that is in your Bible? If you just kind of let it fall open on your lap, it probably opens to John 3.16.
What does it tell us? For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. Is that true? Of course it's true. It's a wonderful invitation from God. That is an invitation that is extended to all men everywhere. You and I can go to a friend of ours or we can stand before a large group. We can read John 3.16 and we can preach John 3.16 and know that we are doing that rightly and in the will of God.
When that verse is preached, the general call of God goes out. Whosoever will. But then if you look over just a couple of pages or chapters, you'll find another aspect of this in John chapter 6. Look at verse 44. Apart from that general proclamation and the general call and invitation, we come now to this statement of Jesus that deals with the effective or effectual calling. No one can come to me, said Jesus, unless the Father who sent me draws him. That's Jesus speaking.
Let's back up a few verses to verse 37. He says, all that the Father gives me shall come to me. And the one who comes to me I will certainly not cast out. So here's another line within the same gospel, the gospel of John. We have the general call, whosoever believes on him shall not perish but have eternal life. But then Jesus points out to us that more specific effective call when the Holy Spirit causes the individual whom God has chosen to respond and to come to Christ.
This word draw in John 6.44 comes from ancient pagan writings. It's referred to there in those ancient writings as an irresistible force. It's described like the force of a hungry man coming to food. He is drawn to that irresistibly. Now the Holy Spirit has taken that word and scrubbed it up and put it in the Bible. And he says that that is a word that describes what happens in the effectual call of God upon those whom he's chosen.
We might illustrate it by one of these electromagnets that operate in salvage yards. They come down over this pile of debris and the magnet is turned on, the power is there, and what happens? Well the metal pieces in that pile leap up and are drawn to that magnet by that irresistible force. All of the glass and the aluminum and the wood and all the other pieces just fall down into a smaller pile. They're not drawn.
Well you see that same drawing is over the whole pile, but it's that metal that responds to it. And so it is with the effective call. Those who are God's chosen respond to that when the Holy Spirit woos that chosen one in his sin. Wesley wrote the great hymn, And can it be that I should gain? We love to sing that, don't we? Now listen to these words, one of the verses of that. Long my imprisoned spirit lay, fast bound in sin and nature's night. Thine eye diffused a quickening ray.
I awoke, the dungeon flamed with light. My chains fell off, my heart was free. I rose, went forth and followed thee. Not bad for an Arminian theologian. That's exactly right. He expressed it so well. Thine eye diffused the quickening ray. Something in me that called for that? No. The grace of God. Now what are the implications of this? It poses a very wonderful implication. And it's this. It gives us confidence in our witnessing.
Because it means that when you and I go out and we share our faith, and we don't know who those people are, that God has foreknown and predestined. But as we go out and share our faith, the Holy Spirit is going to use that to extend a general call. And then He is going to use it even more specifically and powerfully in the hearts of those that God has chosen. And they will respond. Do you know if it were not for the truth that we're talking about tonight that no sinners would respond?
Not one would come to God of his own. Not one seeks after God. Not one. The Apostle Paul was really discouraged, it seems, in Acts chapter 18. There, I believe it was in the city of Corinth if I recall it correctly. In fact, let's turn there and make sure I recall it correctly. Acts chapter 18. I'm looking at verse 8. Yes, it is Corinth.
And Crispus, it says, the leader of the synagogue believed in the Lord with all his household, and many of the Corinthians, when they heard, were believing and being baptized. And the Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision, Do not be afraid any longer. Can you believe it? Here's Paul, and he's afraid. He sees what's happening in Corinth. And so there's this vision, and as clear as can be, the Lord says, Don't be afraid any more.
But go on speaking, and do not be silent, for I am with you, and no man will attack you in order to harm you, for I have many people in this city. He's not talking about people who were already saved. He's talking about people who were yet to be saved. But he's saying, Paul, you've got to go out there and preach. You've got to go out there and share. Because that's the means by which I'm going to call people to myself.
When you and I see this wonderful truth that whom God has foreknown, he has predestined, and he has called, it should cause our hearts to be encouraged in our witnessing. Because when you and I witness, it is not in vain. God is using that, and we may not see how God is using it at the moment, but God is using it. There is a seed that is planted there, and we can praise God that he's going to use it.
Now, how does God call? Well, we've talked about the Holy Spirit, but of course the Word is a part of that too. God uses the truth of the Word in the heart and the power of the Holy Spirit, and those two unite, they ignite within the heart of the sinner whom God has chosen, so that faith is born and the sinner trusts in the Savior. Well, there are some objections that people have to this.
In fact, someone asked me after the message last Sunday night, and it's a logical question, why did not God choose everybody? If God foreknows those who are going to be saved, why didn't God foreknow everybody? And we might ask the same question about this verb. Why doesn't God effectually call everybody? Could he do that? Well, God is God, he can do that I suppose. I think that Charles Ryre has a helpful comment about this.
He says, what has been said, what we've talked about tonight basically, what has been said does not imply that the doctrine is without problems. The chief problem is that of reprobation. In other words, why did God not include all in salvation? The most direct statements of reprobation are found in Romans 9 verses 18 and 21. It might be good just to look at those verses. They're probably not going to answer many questions for those who are troubled, but they're worth looking at.
Romans 9 verse 18 says, So then he, God, has mercy on whom he desires, and he hardens whom he desires. Say, wait a minute, wait a minute to you. Listen, God is God. God can do what he desires to do. You say, well that's unfair for God to know, not at all. If it were not for the mercy of God, none would be saved. It goes on to say in verse 21, Does not the potter have the right over the clay to make from the same lump one vessel of honor, honorable use, and another for common use?
What if God, although willing to demonstrate his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? And he did so in order that he might make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy, which he prepared beforehand for glory, even us, whom he also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles. Riri goes on to say, Usually reprobation is in the nature of God's abandoning man to his evil deeds and just reward.
However, the fact that only a certain group are elected by grace does mean that some have been passed by. Nevertheless, this passing by never implies that God delights in the destiny of the wicked, that they are driven against their wills, that election nullifies a whosoever gospel, or that any individual can consider himself non-elect and thereby excuse himself for rejecting God's grace in Christ.
He says this and all problems concerning the doctrine can only find their resolution in the ultimate purpose of election, that is, the glorification of God. This somehow doesn't set well with our human reasoning, but the fact is that God passes over some and allows them to go into judgment, which is just and deserved, so that through that he might glorify himself as a holy and righteous and just God. How many have heard Charles Colson speak? How many of you? Isn't it thrilling to hear him?
It was my privilege to hear him a few months ago in a meeting. Some time ago he shared this as part of his testimony. With this I close because Colson here illustrates what we're talking about in this call of God. He says, it was ten years ago next month that I went during the throes of Watergate to talk with my friend Tom Phillips. I was curious, maybe even a little envious, about the changes in his life. His explanation that he had, quote, accepted Jesus Christ, close quote, baffled me.
I was tired, empty inside, sick of scandal and accusations, but not once did I see myself as having really sinned. Politics was a dirty business and I was good at it. And what I had done, I rationalized, was no different from the usual political maneuvering. What's more, right and wrong were relative and my motives were for the good of the country, or so I believed.
But that night, when I left Tom's home and sat alone in my car, my own sin, not just dirty politics, but the hatred and pride and evil so deep within me, my own sin was thrust before my eyes forcefully and painfully. And for the first time in my life I felt unclean and worst of all I could not escape. In those moments of clarity I found myself driven irresistibly into the arms of the living God.
Now it may be that our testimony wouldn't be quite as dramatic as that, but I can tell you this, if it were not for this work of God in calling us, none of us would have come. But whenever it was last week or 30 years ago, wherever it was in that camp or in that church meeting or in your home beside the bed, those of us who are saved tonight can look back and we can say, even if we can't pinpoint the exact place and hour, we can look back and say, yes, God drew me to Himself. God called me.
Jesus said, all that the Father gives me shall come to me, and I will certainly not cast him out. My friend, if you're here tonight lost, and you've never trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior, will you tonight come to Him? You say, I don't know if I'm elect. I'll give you a test. Respond tonight to the invitation to trust Jesus Christ, and that's proof that you are. Is that fair enough? The opportunity is yours. It's open to you, if you will. Whosoever will may come.
And once you've gotten past that reception, you'll look back upon it like many of us here tonight, and you'll say, you know, God was working in my heart and preparing me for that in ways that I didn't even know at the time. Dwight Moody perhaps had the most down-to-earth way of putting all of this together. He said, when you approach the gates of salvation, it says over the top, whosoever will may come. And he said, you see that, and you believe it, and you enter in.
And you look back on the other side of the gate, and it says, chosen in Him before the foundation of the world. Those are two blessed truths, and they're truths that work. They've worked in your life, and they're truths that are ready to work in the lives of your friends and family, those that God has called us to preach to. And we'll be faithful in doing that. I'd like for us to take our hymnals and to sing a couple of verses of 545. The words and music by Charles Gabriel.
And we will sing verses one and two. 545, would you please sing with me? And stand as we sing. Look at the words now as we sing. I must confess, I chose this hymn primarily for verse two. So especially notice the words as we sing that. He called me long before I heard, before my sinful heart was stirred. And when I took him at his word, forgive he lifted me. From sinking sand he lifted me, from shivering hand he lifted me. From shades of night to planes of light, O praise his name, he lifted me.
Let's bow together. Father, thank you that you called us generally and then effectually, and stirred our hearts and awakened us. Your eye diffused that quickening ray that brought us to life, and caused faith then to come forth from our hearts that we might be saved. We bless you for the certainty of your purpose, and for these works expressed in these simple verbs, how profound the truth within them. Lord, I pray this week that we'll be encouraged in our witness.
If there are some of us who've gotten a little weary in well-doing, may we be encouraged to go on. Knowing in due time we'll reap if we faint not, because of the certainty of your purposes. In Jesus' name, amen.