We have a statement regarding the sovereignty of God that is worthy of our study, and we have studied it now for two services, and tonight we conclude this little paragraph beginning in verse 28 that says, And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become 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. We are studying the theme of the certainty of God's purpose. God's purpose for us is guaranteed by five actions that He has taken on our behalf. And they are laid out for us here in verses 29 and 30. He foreknew, He predestined, He called, He justified, and He glorified. We've talked about the fact that God foreknew.
It means more than just that God knew ahead of time certain facts were going to be so, but actually God caused those things to be so. There's a causal factor in the idea of God foreknowing. And then we talked about God predestining, God determining ahead of time a certain destiny for those that He has foreknown and chosen for Himself. And that destiny is that we might be perfectly conformed to the image of Christ. And we talked about the fact that God called us.
That there is a general call extended to all men, but there is a specific effective call that is extended to those whom God has foreknown and predestined. Now the apostle does not include in these verbs the human element of faith. That's not his perspective at this point. It is earlier in the book of Romans, but here he's talking about salvation from God's perspective. What God has done that we might be saved.
This however is the point at which human faith could be inserted in the list, because it is in response to the call of God that we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And when we believe on Him, He justifies us. Now that's the fourth verb in the list and we want to look at that. This is a legal term that means to declare one to be righteous. It means to acquit of a charge, to relieve of guilt, but it's even more than that.
It means that in place of the guilt, which is taken away, there is given the positive attribute of righteousness. God declares the believer in Jesus Christ righteous. Not just free from sin, not just without blame, not just guiltless, but more than that. He declares us to be righteous in Jesus Christ. Justification has to have some legal basis. You see, God is not a God who can just excuse sin. God does never excuse sin. He forgives it, but He doesn't merely excuse it.
It's not just that God overlooks it or that He puts it under the rug so He doesn't have to see it anymore. No, because God is a holy God, He has to deal with sin. So in order for Him to declare us righteous in His sight, He has to deal with our unrighteousness, our sin. There has to be some legal reason for God to justify us. And we find that back in the third chapter, if you would look back there with me. Paul is saying as he writes in chapter 3 that all are guilty before God.
Verse 20 says, by the works of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin or the recognition of sin. The law exposes the sinfulness, the exceeding wickedness of our hearts. It does not save us, but it can expose our sin and bring us to the Savior. He goes on to say in verse 21, but now apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets.
In the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, for all those who believe, verse 24, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. And so here he's talking about justification, being something that's apart from the works of the law, apart from our own efforts. It's a gift from God. And then in verse 25, he gives us the legal basis for it. He says, regarding Christ Jesus, whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith.
In other words, at the cross, when the Lord Jesus Christ shed His precious blood, He propitiated God. That is, He satisfied God the Father. He satisfied the holiness of God. That offense of our sin was legally taken care of and dealt with at the cross. So because of the work of Jesus Christ being our propitiation, our satisfaction before God, He can now rightly, justly justify us. He can declare us righteous. It works this way. Our sin was imputed to Christ.
It was reckoned to Christ there at the cross. God made Him who knew no sin to become sin for us. So our sin was given to Him. It was put to His account. And now when we trust in Him, His righteousness, His perfect righteousness, which was demonstrated by His life, by His keeping perfectly the law all the days that He lived on the earth, His perfect righteousness is now put to our account. It is given to us.
So that God can justly say, I declare you righteous because of the righteousness of Jesus Christ that is given to us. Now we need to notice too that this justification is through faith. That's how it comes. In chapter 4 of Romans, He talks about that. He says, what shall we say that Abraham our forefather according to the flesh has found? He says, for if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.
Not even Abraham, whom the Jews consider to be righteous and who did many good works, not even Abraham was justified by his works. For what does the scripture say? Abraham believed God and it, that is his faith, was reckoned to him as righteousness. You see even Abraham was justified by faith. He believed the promise of God. He's quoting here from Genesis chapter 15. Now to the one who works, his wage is not reckoned as a favor, it's not of grace, but it's what is due.
But to the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness. Please understand that faith and repentance, the corresponding work, are not works on our part. It's not something we do to merit salvation, but repentance and faith are simply the means by which we appropriate the gift of God. We receive that gift as an act of faith. It is the instrument that makes it ours personally. It has nothing to do with our meriting it.
Somebody says, yes, but won't God save a good man? Absolutely, God will save a good man, but would you name one? The Bible says there is none righteous, no not one. If there were such a thing, God would save him by his works. But there isn't one who can be saved by his works because we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God. Therefore we are left to no works of our own to impress God.
We can only repent of those works, change our mind about them, realize that even those good works as we value them were just filthy rags as compared to God's perfect righteousness. We are left only to reach out and receive by faith the gift that God would give us when he justifies us. We need to understand too that this justification is settled forever. It is once and for all. For when we are justified by God, it establishes a new relationship between us and him. We are now in Christ.
He talks about this in chapter 5. He says, therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. A brand new relationship between the believer and God. It is a relationship of peace. No longer hostility. No longer offense in us because of our sin. God is now at peace with us and we are at peace with him because we are in Christ. We are justified. He goes on to say a similar thing a little bit later here in verse 9.
Much more than having now been justified by his blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through him. It is a wonderful truth that when God declares us righteous in his Son, that is a once and for all act. That from that point on our relationship with God forever changes. And just as much as our past is cared for, so is our future. And we shall never face the wrath of God. We shall be saved from the wrath of God through him, through the Lord Jesus Christ. That is justification.
Somebody says, hey that's great but it sounds too good to be true. Usually we say when something sounds too good to be true, it is too good to be true. But here is something that is so simple. And it is good and it is true. All we have to do is receive the gift of God. Have you done that my friend? You here on this Sunday night at Grace Church, have you received that gift from God? Or are you somehow trusting in those works?
Somehow by the Ten Commandments or by those good things you have done, surely God is going to let you in. God is going to weigh you in the scales and you are going to be found acceptable to God by the things you have done. Oh please, never. Not even Abraham was justified by his works, but by believing the promise of God. God is waiting for your faith and he will reckon that as righteousness to your account.
I spoke at a retreat Friday night and yesterday for another church in the area for the men. And the theme of the retreat was reaching out. And Friday night we had a campfire and some of the men were sharing their experiences of witnessing to neighbors and co-workers. Really exciting to hear what God is doing in that church and in the lives of some of those men.
And one of the men said that he had shared the gospel with a friend of his and the person after listening to it over and over again said, but that is so simple. And this fellow from the church said, that is exactly right, you have got it, it is that simple. All you have to do is receive it as an act of faith. It is simple. Somebody says, hey but what about James? Doesn't he talk somewhere about being justified by our works?
Well let's look back there just for a moment and let's see what James does say. In the second chapter, James chapter 2 verse 21, Martin Luther was so sure that James contradicted Paul that he threw out the book of James, didn't even believe that James should be in the Bible. That is right. But look what he says, verse 21, James 2, was not Abraham our father justified by works? When he offered up Isaac his son on the altar, how many of you agree with Martin Luther?
You think the book of James I will be taken out? Well please remember that James has a little different perspective than Paul. James is here talking about not salvation, but the living out of a righteous life of the saved person. And James is saying that Abraham gave evidence and proof of his profession before God and men by his work. The justification was not his being declared righteous before God by his works, but it is his being justified of his profession of faith by what he did.
He proved that he did believe God. His claim to faith, you see, was justified by his works. The works gave evidence of the fact that he was justified, declared righteous with God, by faith. James is not contradicting Paul at all. And in these following verses in chapter 2, the same is true. God justifies the believer in Jesus Christ. But we have to move ahead to the next verb and finish up this brief mini-series in Romans 8 as we talk about the certainty of God's purpose.
Up to this point, we have looked from our perspective of God's acts or his actions in the past that God foreknew before the foundation of the world, that was a long time ago, and God predestined and God called. Now we're getting a little closer to lifetime, aren't we? Because we experienced that. And God justified. And some of us can look back and we know the time when we believed on Christ and when we were justified and when God actually took that action.
But now we're going to turn around and look the other direction into the future. Because we have not experienced this last verb. But notice that Paul does not say, and he will glorify those same people. He says, he glorified those that he justified. It's the same tense as before. This someone has said is the most daring verse in the Bible. It is absolutely breathtaking what Paul does here.
Because he says that what God is going to do for us in the future in glorifying us is so sure to happen that God can speak of it from his perspective as though it already had. That's the point. What God is going to do in our experience, in our glorification, is so absolutely sure to happen that he says that just as much as he did all of these other things, he's going to do that in the future. Listen, God is not going to lose anybody in the process of all this.
This is one of the great arguments for the security of the believer. You don't get lost in the midst of these verbs. Nobody loses out. The one whom God foreknew is the same one that God has from his perspective already glorified in Jesus Christ. What does this verb mean? Well, to be glorified means to be transformed. Transformed into the very likeness of Jesus Christ, but more than that. It means also to be raised up to share with him his reign.
Now let that soak down into your brain for just a minute. It means not only will you one day reflect what Jesus Christ is like, body, soul, and spirit. It doesn't mean we'll become gods, but it means that in our likeness we will be like him. We will reflect his glory, but it's more than that. It means that God has also purposed that we will reign with Jesus Christ, that we will be seated with him on his throne of glory.
To be glorified does not mean that we are beatified, as the Roman Catholic Church teaches about some people who can be worshiped because they are beatified. It doesn't mean that we're going to be deified. It doesn't mean that we're going to be beautified, although a lot of us could use some help there. But it means that one day we're going to be glorified. It is in the future, but it's spoken of as a fact, as though it has already happened because it is so sure that it will.
The glorification that we will experience is part of our calling in Christ. I'd like you to turn with me to several texts, and we won't take time to comment much, but I just want you to see what I'm talking about. I look in 1 Thessalonians 2. Paul is here encouraging these believers and exhorting them as a father would his children.
He says in 1 Thessalonians 2, I'm exhorting and encouraging and imploring you so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into his own kingdom and glory. You see, the calling there to become one of Jesus Christ is linked together with the glory. Turn over to 2 Thessalonians 1. Verse 9, he points to those who do not know God and those who do not obey the gospel.
He says, these will pay the penalty of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power. What an awesome verse that is. What a warning that verse is for every person who's not trusted Christ. He says this will happen when he comes to be glorified in his saints on that day and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. For our testimony to you was believed.
To this end also we pray for you always that our God may count you worthy of your calling and fulfill every desire for goodness and the work of faith with power in order that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you and you in him according to the grace of our God in the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice the calling there again and the thought of glory being connected with it. Not just the glory of the Savior, but the glory that we will have in him.
Then in chapter 2 verse 13, we should always give thanks to God for you brethren, beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth. Notice the balance there. God's work by the Holy Spirit and our part, faith in the truth. It was for this he called you through our gospel that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Think of those words. You and I are called by God to inherit the glory of Christ.
All that that entails we cannot possibly imagine. But we can know this, that nothing can possibly prevent this consummating event. It includes the resurrection of our bodies when the mortal about us will become immortal, when these lowly bodies will be made glorious like the body of Christ, when that which is temporal now will become eternal. But it's more than just the resurrection. It means that we move on and are destined to the throne of Christ.
That God has purposed that those of us called out as believers one day inherit a position higher than that that was enjoyed by Adam in his creation. A position higher than that that the angels of God enjoy. A position that is above that which Lucifer knew before he fell into sin. To the very throne of Jesus himself. What this verb does is to underscore once more the security of the saints.
For what we perceive here in these five verbs as successive steps, God purposes all of them simultaneously and they are by nature irrevocable. Once God has done this, it cannot be changed. It is his purpose and his eternal decree. So we can accurately say that heaven for the Christian is as sure as though we had already been there a thousand years. One day God is going to have a new heaven and new earth.
All that he's going to do then he hasn't told us, but I can tell you this, that he has a redeemed people that he is going to populate that new heaven and new earth with. The glorified sons of Adam. Those who have been foreknown, those who have been predestined and called and justified. We will inherit that new heaven and new earth and we'll populate it. It is our inheritance in Christ. That's why verse 28 is so strong. He says that is the purpose of God that we've been called to.
He says because of that we can know right now that God causes all things to work together for our good. We can trust the sovereignty of God. We can rest confidently that God is bigger than our circumstances. He's bigger than we are. We can rest in the sovereignty of God and we can live for the glory of God. I hope you noticed there as we read those verses in Thessalonians the emphasis was on walking worthy of our calling. Let us lift up our eyes tonight and see the glory that's coming beloved.
Let us see that God is not yet finished with us but he has already decreed what we shall be and we shall be like Christ for we shall see him as he is. So right now where you're living today in anticipation of that glorious event be done with sin. That's why this comes in chapter 8 which obviously is after chapter 7 and after chapter 6. Be done with sin. No longer yield yourself to sin that still is in you to obey it. God has set you free from that.
God has destined you for the throne of Jesus Christ to reign with him. Therefore, be done with sin. Don't mess around with it. Don't yield to it. Live on a higher plane. Don't cause the Holy Spirit who lives in you to be hindered and grieved by attitudes or actions that quench him in his holy sensitivity. Press on. Press on. And live now in this lifetime in the light of all that God's called you to be. Would you pray with me?
Lord as we pass through the experiences of life we often feel like we've blown it and we feel like perhaps we're not quite complete yet. We know that in a certain sense that's true for we've not yet experienced the glory that we shall one day. But oh I pray that because of what you have purposed and because of the certainty of it we will live more and more in a worthy manner of our calling.
Remind us tomorrow morning when we get up and we start the week at school or start the week at the office or in the factory as we begin the week of caring for children or whatever our routine is remind us that we have a heavenly calling and may we set our affection on things above and not on things on the earth. Lord Jesus we anticipate your coming.
But until that day that we see you face to face help us to realize that we are complete in you positionally and that we lack nothing so that we might appropriate that and bring that into our daily lives. And we pray this in your matchless name. Amen.