Boys and girls, I'm sorry there are no more puppets, just a dummy will be speaking to us. So you'll have to put up with that. On a more serious note, I know that a number of you are curious as to the arrangements for Karen Harrison's memorial service. Arrangements have not been made yet, and they expect to make those tomorrow. So if you will watch the paper, I think you'll see it there, or you may call the church office.
Of course, we'll have the information there by late tomorrow afternoon, I would think. My guess is that the service will be on Wednesday, and the last I talked to the family, they would like to have it here at church. So as many of you as would be free to come for that service, probably sometime Wednesday, that would be a great thing. It would be an encouragement to the family, even if some of you don't know the family directly involved.
But I know that many of you do, because Walt was one of our elders for a number of years when we first got started. Would you open the Word of God with me please to the book of Romans and the eighth chapter. Tonight we want to think about the certainty of God's purpose. We've been working our way through Romans chapters 6 through 8, and tonight we come in our study to verses 28 to 30, which we're going to actually divide into two messages.
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.
In a day and age when certainty about anything is not very fashionable, and in a time when if a person says, I know something to be true, which cannot be proven scientifically, and he's considered rather non-intellectual, in a day like the day in which we live, the child of God is nonetheless able to say that there are some things that he or she knows. Because the Christian life is not a life of guessing, it's a life of knowing.
For example, we may know, the child of God may know, that he is saved. He can know that for sure. 1 John 5, verses 12 and 13, he who has the Son has life, he who has not the Son of God has not life. Couldn't be more clear could it? Black and white, one or the other, on or off. Either we have the Son of God or we don't have the Son of God. And he goes on to say, and these things I write unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.
So we can know that we're saved. Secondly, the child of God may know that he is secure in his faith in Jesus Christ. As the Apostle says in 2 Timothy 1, 12, For I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him until that day. What day? The day of Christ's coming. So the Apostle says, I know whom I believed and I know that he is able to keep me and my eternal soul until that day that I see him face to face.
The child of God may know that he's saved and he may know that he is kept secure in his salvation by the grace of God. The child of God may know, thirdly, that his service for Christ is not fruitless. As we read in 1 Corinthians 15, 58, You know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. You and I can have absolute assurance and knowledge about that as something we can be certain of. That our service for Jesus Christ is not in vain, although sometimes we don't see the fruit we would like.
Even though we get disappointed in our service at times. It is never in vain. And the child of God who serves the Savior with faithfulness, with a sincere heart, can know beyond any shadow of doubt that in the end his service will count for something. It's not in vain. Then again, the child of God may know that his body will be resurrected.
In 2 Corinthians 5, 1, the Apostle says, We know that if our earthly house, this dwelling place, were dissolved, we have a house eternal in the heavens, not made with hands. We are talking about the new body. The child of God may know that one day, though he may die, and his body be placed into the ground in decay, that he will stand before his Redeemer one day, whole, body, soul, and spirit, redeemed entirely. He may know that. The body will be resurrected.
And then, the child of God may know that he will be like Christ. We don't have to guess about that. We can know it. 1 John 3, 2, we focused on this this morning as part of our worship service. We know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. So not only will our bodies be resurrected, but one day we shall be entirely like our Savior in every respect. We have also the certainty of God's purpose.
We have confidence that our Lord is now, right now, today, working in our every circumstance for our good and his glory. We may know that because he is sovereign, and we need not fear. His purposes will be realized, and we can trust him. The certainty of God's purpose is guaranteed by five actions in the text that we have read tonight. They are the verbs in verses 29 through 30 that God foreknew, he predestined, he called, he justified, he glorified. These five verbs form an unbroken chain.
These verbs are links that fit together. This chain reaches from eternity past to eternity future. God sees the beginning and the decrees of all future events as fixed as history itself, because he is God. Here in this text he surveys salvation from his divine perspective. He does not introduce here, he does not attempt to reconcile, the human perspective regarding salvation.
But here we have in this wonderful statement five actions of God declaring to us his sovereignty, upon which rests the assurance and the certainty of his purpose, something we can know. I would like for us tonight in the remaining minutes to look at the first two of these verbs. The first one is this, that God foreknew. He foreknew. What does that mean? Well, obviously by looking at the verb you see a combination of know and fore or before. So it means to know before.
Because God is God, he knows before everything. Not only the things that do happen, but the things that could happen. He knows what would have happened if what did happen had not happened. Don't ask me to repeat that. He knows all possibilities as well as all realities. He knows before. Nothing ever catches God by surprise. But there's more here in this verb foreknow than just that.
For this verb in the Bible not only means that God knows ahead of time what will happen, but that God fixes ahead of time what will happen. That God makes a choice is implied in this verb. The word foreknow in the New Testament involves designation of something or someone. This is illustrated to us in the book of Acts, the second chapter, if you wouldn't mind turning there for a moment. Just look at a phrase in Acts 2, 23. It's talking here about what happened to Jesus the Nazarene.
It says in verse 23, Peter here is preaching, you recall the great sermon at Pentecost. He says, this man delivered up, now look at the next phrase, by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God you nailed to a cross. Notice the human responsibility here for the crucifixion of Christ. But notice the ultimate cause of it. It is what he calls here the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God. Notice those two phrases there, the predetermined plan, foreknowledge of God.
There is one article before that combination of phrases, the article V. You say what difference does that make? Well in the language in which the New Testament was written, it implies the close association between those two ideas, the predetermined plan and the foreknowledge of God. Those two things in other words overlap. Not being exactly identical, they nonetheless are closely associated in thought.
In other words, the foreknowledge of God mentioned here overlaps with, intertwines with the predetermined plan of God as well. Now it's in a noun form here, foreknowledge. It's in a verb form in our text in Romans chapter 8, but the thought is the same. To foreknow not only means to know something ahead of time, but it is to designate ahead of time something about that person or that thing. Now this verb is used in a variety of ways in the New Testament.
Let me just mention these briefly in passing. We don't have time to study them, but I encourage you to write down the Scripture and look it up. Check me out. In Romans chapter 11 and verse 2, the verb is used regarding the nation of Israel. And it says that that nation of people, the Jewish people, were foreknown by God. In other words, God chose them to be His own. Just as we read in Amos 3, 1 and 2, God says out of all of the nations of the earth I have chosen you.
And He goes on to say, and I will judge you. That's a warning through the prophet Amos. You see, they had greater privilege than the other nations of the world, and therefore they had greater responsibility to God. They were God's chosen people, but they were not exempt from judgment. He says I have chosen you out of all of the nations of the world. The same idea as Romans 11, 2. That God foreknew the nation of Israel. The verb is used likewise of Christ in 1 Peter 1, 2.
That He as the sacrificial lamb was foreknown before the creation of the world. What does that mean? Not only that God foreknew, in the sense that He knew ahead of time what happened to Christ, what would happen to Christ, but that God planned ahead of time what would happen. He predetermined He was the cause of the crucifixion. It was not an accident that does not at all negate human responsibility by both the Jews and the Gentiles as to what happened to Christ.
The world is responsible for rejecting the Christ. But nonetheless, God determined ahead of time that Christ would be sacrificed for our sins. He foreknew Him. Likewise, in 1 Peter 1, verses 1 and 2, it says that you and I have been foreknown. Just as it says here in Romans 8, the same thing. And so to foreknow is used of Israel as a nation, it's used of Christ as the sacrifice, it's used of Christians in this age.
The implication, beloved, is this, that before you were born, God had already chosen you. He had foreknown you. He had designated you to become one of His own. Indeed, it's even more than that. Revelation, rather, 13, 8 says that even before the creation of the world, God foreknew you and designated you and chose you to be one of His own. Well, there are those that say, well, what about my free will?
Well, did you realize that the term free will is not a biblical term in the context of salvation? It is used in the Old Testament regarding free will offerings, for example. But never is the term free will used in a soteriological way, that is, with respect to salvation. The concept of man having a free will is really a fallacy in this sense. Because all men are free only to sin because of the nature that they have inherited from Adam and Eve.
The Bible says that our hearts are desperately wicked. It describes us by nature in Ephesians 4, 17, and 18 as being hardened and darkened. In no true sense does man have a free will. He has a will that is depraved by sin, ruined by sin, and which will not of its own initiative come to God. You say, I chose, though, to believe on Christ, yes. That is one aspect of the truth. You chose to believe the promise, whosoever will may come.
But the greater truth is this, that God acted upon your will and enabled you to respond to that invitation to believe on Christ. You see, beloved, salvation is all of grace. Ephesians 2, 8, and 9. It's not that we cooperated with grace in getting it done. We were the recipients of grace. It's not that God did 95% of it and we did 5% because then God would get 95% of the glory and we would get 5% of the glory. The Bible says that God gets all the glory because salvation is of the Lord.
But there are some that say, well, that means then God elects some to go to hell, doesn't it? No, in fact, it does not. Because the Bible never uses this term for no. It does not use the term choose. It does not use the term election with regard to unsaved people. Never. It is always and only used with regard to God saving, not to God judging. Because you see, judgment is the destiny that the lost deserve, indeed that all of us deserve.
Sometimes we view mankind as though he is in a great line before God. God rather arbitrarily goes down the line and says, well, I guess I'll take you, I'll take you, I'll take you, and the rest of you can go to hell. I want you to know that that is absolutely not the way it is. Each man is responsible before God for his own attitude, his own response to the Lord. And every person that goes to hell goes to hell over God's broken heart. For God does not delight in the death of the wicked.
God is long-suffering. He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. That's what the Bible says with respect to God and the lost person. The fact is that God in grace chooses some when none, none, none deserve to be saved. Man is not neutral. Man is not lined up in some great row begging God for salvation, hoping to be chosen. Quite the contrary. Man is running from God because of his sinful heart. He hates God. He is a hostility against God.
And the fact that God in love and grace reaches down and chooses some is a marvelous act of His love. There are those who would say, there are those who are not chosen then. Are they responsible for their sin? The fact is yes. For everyone is. Romans 2 verses 4 through 6 concludes by saying, and God will render to every man according to his deeds. Everyone is responsible before God for his sin. Time doesn't permit us to elaborate more on this.
There are tapes that do elaborate more on it if you want to get further teaching about it. But there is a response that some make. They say, I reject this. You know, I can understand that from a human perspective. But the fact is that we had better be very careful in rejecting this because it's what the Bible teaches. There are those who say, I reject the sovereignty of God. Be careful, my friend.
I believe actually all Christians believe in the sovereignty of God, although there are mysteries about the sovereignty of God that none of us understand. But we do believe in it, or else why should we pray? Do you pray? Do you ask God to do this or that? Do you pray that God will intervene or provide there? Why do you do that if you don't believe in the sovereignty of God? The fact that you pray says that you ultimately believe God is sovereign. Do you thank God for your salvation?
Do you sing the chorus, thank you, Lord, for saving my soul, thank you, Lord, for making me whole? Or do you say, thank you, Lord, in me for saving my soul, thank you, Lord, in me for making me whole? Of course not. Ultimately you believe in the sovereignty of God that he is the one who has saved you. Do you pray for others to be saved? Why? If God is a victim or if God can't control, then why should we pray for God to bring conviction and to save others?
We ultimately believe in the sovereignty of God. Then there are those who say, well, I can't understand this. I cannot reconcile in my mind how God has chosen, yet man is responsible. Well, welcome to the club. That's the only thing I can say. Because those two lines of human reasoning cannot be reconciled in our finite minds. They are revelations to us from an infinite God. And it says regarding him in Deuteronomy 29, 29, the secret things belong to the Lord.
Beloved, there are some things that in this world we will never understand. We will never reconcile in our little minds. Because this truth is truth about God. And of him it says his ways are higher than our ways. What should we do? We should praise God for the truth. Though we may not fully comprehend it, understand it, and do not, we can praise God for it. And thank God that in his grace, before he even spoke the world into existence, he looked down upon his plan for the ages.
And though you and I were undeserving, he said, I will save you. I will make you an object of my mercy. I will show my grace in your life. How grateful to God we should be for that. And quickly let's look at this second term that's used here. We're talking about the certainty, beloved, of God's purpose. It rests upon his sovereignty. If God is not sovereign, then there's nothing very certain in this whole universe. If God is sovereign, then he foreknew. And secondly, he predestined.
This term predestined means to mark something out with a boundary ahead of time. Or it means to fix a destiny beforehand. This term is never used in the Bible regarding unbelievers. Again, it is only used of believers. Only believers are said to be predestined. Now here in Romans 8, look at what it says about that. It says he predestined us to become, this is verse 29, to become conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Now you can go to Ephesians 1, verses 4 and 5, again verse 11. It says basically the same thing. God as an act of grace and love has predetermined, predestined, that those whom he has chosen would one day be fully conformed to Jesus Christ. This term conformed that we see here. This word means having the same form with, inwardly, not merely in an outward sense, not merely superficially, but inwardly, in the essence of the person, to be made like what one is conformed to.
What this verse says is that God has predestined that everyone whom he has chosen, with no exception, would one day be fully inwardly as well as outwardly, resemble Jesus Christ. The term image, conformed to the image of Christ, means not merely resembling Christ, but actually representing what he is. It is a term that is used of Christ representing to us the fullness of God, 2 Corinthians 4, 4, Colossians 1, 15.
It is used here of Christians, as in 1 Corinthians 15, 49, fully representing what Jesus Christ is. Now why has God predestined us to this? That he, Christ, might be the firstborn among the brethren. This term firstborn has been twisted by the Jehovah's Witnesses. They use this word to mean, well you see Christ was born, he was created, he was the first of all the created things, they say. That is not what firstborn means. This word means in the original language, the one that is supreme.
It refers to the preeminence of the position. It means that the one who is firstborn has the highest place among all others. In this context it says that Jesus Christ is the head of the new race of humanity. That God is redeeming and calling out for himself. And when he creates that new heaven and new earth one day, this new race of humanity conformed to the image of Christ will live there. Someone has said that God is so pleased with his son that he wants a heaven full of people just like him.
And that is exactly what he has predestined will happen to you, child of God. God has a long ways to go with most of us, doesn't he? A lot of conforming to do. But we have the assurance that it will be done. How do we know? How do we know the certainty of this purpose? Because God is sovereign and he has said it will happen. You and I can trust a God like this that we're describing. And that is why verse 28 is stuck on there as kind of a bridge from what went before.
He says, and we know, not we guess, not we hope. We know that God causes, the sovereignty of God, God causes all things, not some of them, all things, to work together for good. Even the heartaches, the tragedies, the disappointments, all things. God causes them to work together for good. To those who love God, who are they? Well, there are a lot of people who say, oh, I love God. What is it, 94, 95% of Americans say they believe in God?
And I would dare say that most of those people say, yes, I love God. That's not the way love is used here. This love is that love that we have for God because we have experienced his love in our hearts. The love of God is shed abroad in the hearts of his own. And now we love him because he first loved us. To those who love God, do you love God that way tonight? Not in some general way, but do you love him because of what he did for you and his son?
Do you love him because your faith is resting in Christ tonight? My friend, if you do love him that way, then you have this certainty that God is working out every affair in your life. No exceptions. You say, even when I've blown it, even when you've blown it, God is working all things out for your good. Isn't that great? You and I can trust a God who will do this. To those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose.
How wonderful to be one of God's own, to be one of God's called. To look up to him and say, Father, I don't deserve it. You've saved me, Lord. It's an act of grace. It's all you. Nothing here. And I trust you. I trust you with my life. I trust you with my future. I trust you with my problems now. You're bigger than them all. I trust you.
Two Christians were once speaking of their experiences, and one of them said, It is terribly hard to trust God and realize his hand in the dark passages of life. And the other responded and said to him, Well, brother, if you cannot trust a man out of your sight, he's not worth much. And if you cannot trust God in the dark, it shows you do not trust him at all. Let's pray. Is it dark in your soul? Child of God, please.
I know it's a verse that perhaps you have said a hundred times, a thousand times, but will you look afresh at it and let God bring light to your darkness? The same God who foreknew you before you were born and before the world started, the same God who predestined that one day you will be like his Son, is the same God who today, tonight, is at work in your life. Believe that. Sing with me. Only believe, only believe, All things are possible.
Only believe, only believe, Only believe, all things are possible. Only believe, only believe, Only believe him, child of God. Believe him now. And afresh give yourself to him to live under his Lordship. And, oh friend, here without Christ, God loves you. He gave his Son for you. Don't go into eternity without the Lord. Don't perish apart from Christ. You will never be able to say, I'm lost because God didn't choose me.
No, my friend, even that rich man that Jesus told about in Luke who went to hell did not complain because he was there. He knew he deserved it. His concern was for his brothers who are still living, that they might hear someone preach the word of God to them. You will never be able to excuse yourself before God. You are responsible to God. How wonderful of God to make it possible for you to be forgiven, for all of us to be forgiven who will trust Christ. Will you trust him tonight?
The invitation is open, if you will, you may. No exceptions to that. Father, may there be some friend here tonight who would trust the Savior and believe on him to eternal life. Thank you for meeting with us. Thank you for the truth of your word. Thank you for the Church family. Thank you for making us one in Christ. Lord Jesus, come soon. Amen. Good night.