Our theme of the certainty of God's purpose. The Christian life is one of knowing, not guessing. One of the most interesting Bible studies that one can undertake is to get a concordance and to follow the word know, K-N-O-W, through the New Testament, and to write down those things that we as Christians are privileged to know. We have one of those texts before us.
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 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. Whom he called, these he also justified. And whom he justified, these he also glorified. Now having read that scripture, perhaps we can lower the lights again just a little bit.
We want to keep it as comfortable as possible in here. And that's one way we can do that. Among the things that we may know is that God is working out all things for the good of his people. God can do that because he is sovereign. We need not live in fear of the future or in anxiety of circumstances. God's purpose will be realized without fail and on time. We can trust God even during the dark times of life. Two Christians were once speaking of their experiences.
One said, it's terribly hard to trust God and realize his hand in the dark passages of life. Well, brother, said the other, if you cannot trust a man out of your sight, you cannot trust him at all. And if you cannot trust God in the dark, it shows you do not trust him at all. We can trust God in the dark because we know that God is working in all of our circumstances for our good. And he is doing that according to his sovereign purpose for us.
The certainty of his purpose is guaranteed by five actions which he has taken. These five actions are that he foreknew, he predestined, he called, he justified, he glorified. These five verbs survey for us salvation from God's perspective. The human element does not enter into Paul's thinking in this place. Rather here he is thinking of God's perspective of salvation. We have here a bridge from eternity to eternity. We begin with the fact that God foreknew.
I will not take time today to review that. I left the essence of the outline for you on your outline in today's worship folder. We talked about that last week. So without further comment about the first action of God that he foreknew, let us talk about the second, that he predestined. Notice that it is in the same tense. As certainly as God once and for all foreknew, he also predestined. Please notice that it involves the same group of people.
Those same ones that God foreknew, he also predestined to something. Let's talk about a definition of predestined. To predestined means to mark out with a boundary beforehand. From this Greek word in part comes our word horizon because the horizon serves as the boundary for what we can see. We have this word illustrated though not used at all back in the book of Genesis in an interesting thing that happens with Abram.
In Genesis 13, verse 14, it says, And the LORD said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, Now lift up your eyes, and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, For all the land which you see I will give it to you and to your descendants forever. God says to Abram, Look and mark out on the boundary in every direction, all that you can see, because I purpose to give that to you.
Now we take that thought, that picture of marking out a boundary and we apply it to the believer. What it means is that God has purposed, God has chosen, and He has marked out with a boundary each one that He has foreknown, He has chosen, so that His purpose will be fulfilled in the life of each one. We have illustrated for us predestination in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ at the cross.
In the book of Acts chapter 4, in verse 27, we have a prayer offered up by the apostles during one of the early persecutions. In the midst of that prayer, in verse 27 it says, For truly in this city, they were gathered together against thy holy servant Jesus, whom thou didst anoint, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever thy hand and thy purpose predestined to occur. The word predestined is used here.
And we saw last week that the word foreknow is also used of the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, God chose before the creation of the world that Jesus Christ would be the one who would be the sin bearer. And as an outflow of that choice of His, He predestined what would occur in the life of the Lord Jesus. He marked out with a boundary exactly what had to occur in His lifetime, and here specifically it mentions His suffering and His death.
What is said here does not at all diminish the human responsibility in what occurred on that day. But it does indicate to us that God determined ahead of time what would happen to the Lord Jesus. The same thing is said in 1 Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 7. Here the apostle says, we speak God's wisdom in a mystery. And the context here, that wisdom of God in a mystery, is Christ the Messiah crucified. He says it's the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory.
So God again says, marked out before the ages, before time began, what was to happen to the Lord Jesus at the cross. And as we have seen in Romans chapter 8, the same word is used of the Christian, that we are predestined. He says those whom He foreknew, He also predestined. And He says it is to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. I'd like for you to turn to a parallel passage though to look at it further in Ephesians chapter 1.
Again we see the word predestined used of the believer. In marking out the heavenly blessings, the spiritual blessings that are ours, He says in verse 4, He chose us in Christ, in Him, before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. Should be a period there. The next two words actually belong with the next verse.
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. What does He say here? Well He says that just as God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world, He also predestined us at that same time. Notice the motive that God had. It was in love that He did it. Some people think of predestination as a harsh, calculating, mechanical, cold thing. It is not that at all.
It simply means that those that God has elected to save, in love He has also, in love for them, desiring their highest good, He has also predestined them. It says here to adoption as sons. We have seen before in Romans that that phrase adoption as sons is a peculiar Roman phrase used in that day to describe what happened when a child became of age. The parent would legally place that child as a son, as an adult in his family. Up to that point he was known as a child in training.
He was under a tutor. But at whatever age was specified he was adopted. Even though he was a naturally born son, he was adopted, placed as an adult in the family. From that point on he had the responsibility and the privileges and the inheritance of an adult. That is the point here. When it says that we have been predestined to adoption as sons, it means that God has appointed you and me to know a full inheritance as His children.
God has been pleased to call us more than servants, though we are that. He has been pleased to make us more than friends, though He calls us that too. That God has been pleased to make us members of His own family and to be full heirs of everything that He has. The way that He puts it back in Romans is that He has predestined us to be conformed to the image of His Son. Basically the same thought is in view there.
When He says that we are going to be conformed to Christ, He does not mean outwardly, though that is involved. More than a superficial conformation is involved. It means the deepest, most inward kind of transformation. It says that we are going to be deeply conformed to the very image of Jesus Christ. That word image is the Greek word icon. We have brought that into the English language too, as you may be aware.
This word does not mean that we will simply resemble Jesus Christ, that we will look like Him, but it means that we will in the fullest sense represent Him in every way. This same word is used of Jesus Himself when it says that He is the image of the invisible God. It means that He is the fullest possible representation of all that God is. It says here that you and I are redeemed by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are predestined to be conformed to that same image.
Not that we shall be God or deified, but we shall in every respect represent exactly what God is. We don't at this point, but it is coming. God has already started the work on the inside. The reason that God has predestined us to that is that Christ might be the firstborn among many brethren. Firstborn means the preeminent one, the one who has priority. It has nothing to do with being created. The firstborn was the one who was before all others and above all others.
It tells us of the preeminence of Christ. It says that He might be the preeminent one among many brethren. What a tremendous privilege we have to be called the brothers of Christ, His brethren. I like what it says there that He is the firstborn among many brethren. I don't have a scripture text to prove this. This is only an opinion. My opinion is that there are going to be more people by far in heaven than there will be in hell.
I believe that because for centuries, until just recent years, it can be said that there were more children who died than lived at the age of accountability. In addition to that, think of those who were incapable because of mental handicap, etc., to be able to comprehend the fact that they were sinners. And tragic though it be, you think of the millions of babies that have been plucked from the wombs of their mothers in these recent decades.
I believe that there are going to be many more people who will populate heaven than will be in hell. And Jesus Christ will be the firstborn among all of us, the preeminent one. Now, my friend, that is God's destiny for you. Beforehand, He has marked out a boundary for you, and that boundary is that you should be in every respect like the Lord Jesus Christ, and that you should receive as He will the inheritance of His Father.
But there is a human aspect to this that I want to interject for a personal application. That is that although that is your destiny and there is nothing in heaven or in hell that can keep you from it, God desires that that work progress right now in your life. And you and I have a part to play in that.
For though He has predestined us to that end, we right now by our submission to His will, by our obedience, cooperate with the Holy Spirit as He seeks to form Jesus Christ in us right now in our character, in the inner man. Here's an example of this, what God has purposed and what we must do over in 1 Thessalonians. Just turn there, let me show you what I mean. To illustrate that although God has already purposed to do something, you and I play a part in His purpose. It's not that we're robots.
In chapter 5 verse 23, the apostle says as he closes, now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely. Here he makes it clear that God is going to do it, right? May God sanctify you, set you apart, make you like His Son, make you holy and do that in every aspect of your being, spirit, soul and body. Now turn back a page or two to chapter 4, look at verse 3. This is the will of God, your sanctification. Here's the noun of the verb we just saw.
But then it goes on to say that is that you abstain from sexual immorality, that each of you know how to possess his own vessel and sanctification and honor and so on. You see the point I'm making? The point is that the work of sanctification is God's work. And that one day when the Lord Jesus Christ appears, you are going to be like Him. That is your destiny. God has already said it is, there's nothing that can keep that from coming to pass.
But right now God wants that work to be taking place in our lives and therefore we need to obey Him. Here He speaks about sexual purity. And there are many other areas of our life we need to surrender to His Lordship, be obedient to His will. Is that the way you're living? Is God on schedule in your life? Is your heavenly destiny even now being realized as you walk with God? I hope it is. My friend, that's the will of God. That's what God wants for you.
I want to go on to talk about the third of the actions that God has taken in Romans chapter 8. We have seen already that before time began, God foreknew and God predestined those whom He foreknew. Beginning in verse 28, we come now to some actions that take place in our lifetime as we see it. This is the first step in our own personal experience in life, which God has purposed and predestined before creation. Verse 30, He says, and whom He predestined, these He also called.
That is the third action that God has undertaken that makes certain His purpose for us. God called us. This word called means more than to invite, as you would invite someone to dinner or to accompany you somewhere. This word called means to summon. It implies the power or the enablement to do exactly what you're asked to do, to obey. There are two aspects. Now get this, please, there are two aspects to the call of God to the sinner. The first aspect is the general call of God.
This is the call of God. This is the summons of God. This is the invitation of God, which is extended whenever the gospel is preached or whenever the gospel is shared in a personal witness. This general call of God is present in God's providential kindness to men and in the conviction of the conscience when He stimulates it. This is the general call, and all men have to some degree experienced this general call of God, and they are responsible for their response to it.
But beloved, there is a second aspect to the call of God, and that is what Paul has in mind here. And it's what we call the effectual call of God, E-F-F-E-C-T-U-A-L. You can see the word effect. It has to do with the actual production of the desired effect in the life. In other words, God calls and there is a response to it. In his book, Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God, J.I. Packer said, it is the operation whereby God causes the sinner to understand and respond to the gospel invitation.
The effectual call of God that Paul has in mind here is extended only to those who are predestined and foreknown. That's exactly what it says here. For whom he foreknew, he predestined, and whom he predestined, he called. Do you see that? The whole world does not receive the effectual call of God, only those that by his grace God has chosen. This is illustrated for us in the Gospel of John. Turn to John 3, 16 if you need to. We have here the general call of God.
And this is a sincere call of God. God is not playing games. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. Does not say that God so loved the elect, but it says that God so loved the world. So much so that he gave his only begotten son. That whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. And God means that. That whoever will believe in the Lord Jesus Christ will have eternal life. He will not perish. But there is a problem, my friend.
And that problem is not with God's offer. It is not with God's sincerity. The problem is with the human heart. The heart is so darkened it will not respond to this invitation by itself. The will is so stubborn, the mind of the sinner is so blinded that he will not of himself respond positively to this invitation of God. If we had only this general call of God, no one would ever be saved.
Because the human heart is in such a state of hostility and rebellion against the God of love who gave his son to the world. Now turn over to John chapter 6 for a minute. And here we see the Lord Jesus speaking. Specifically it is the effectual call that is illustrated here in verse 44, John 6. He says, No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him and I will raise him up on the last day. No one can come to me except the Father draws him.
This word draw comes from an ancient pagan background. It was used of those people of an irresistible force. Like a man who is starving is drawn irresistibly to food that is set before him. The Lord Jesus takes that word and applies it here and he says that is the kind of drawing the Father does. He says, No one can come to me except the Father draw him. We can perhaps illustrate this with the electromagnet in a salvage yard.
Because that magnet is brought over the pile of junk and switched on, immediately the metal leaps to it, doesn't it? The glass and the other items that are not salvageable are left below. But the metal jumps, it leaps, it responds, it's drawn with the electromagnet. My friend, that's the way the effectual call of God is. God extends it to the heart of the one he's chosen. And there is a response in that heart because God effects the response.
Charles Wesley of all people wrote about this in the verse you sang this morning, the third verse of, And can it be that I should gain? Did you notice what you sang? Long my imprisoned spirit lay, fast bound in sin and nature's night. Thine eye diffused a quickening ray. I woke. The dungeon flamed with light. My chains fell off. My heart was free. I rose, went forth, and followed thee. You see how dramatically he has pictured exactly what we're talking about?
Except God sends that quickening ray to the heart, the soul will remain fast bound in sin and nature's night. But my friend, when God gives that quickening, there is an immediate response, an awakening of the heart, and the chains fall off, and the person follows the Lord Jesus Christ. What's the implication of this? Well, one implication is that it gives great confidence in evangelism, that God will do his work as we share our faith. You and I are not left alone to try to wake up a sinner.
We do not have to grab someone by the lapel and drag him into the kingdom of heaven. We cannot do that. That is God's work alone, and what we're talking about gives great confidence that God will do that. That's illustrated for us in Acts chapter 18. Please look over there a minute. I think we have here a low point in the life of the Apostle Paul, humanly speaking. He's in the city of Corinth. Great things are happening, but there are problems too.
It says in verse 9, and the Lord said to Paul, Acts 18.9, in the night by a vision, do not be afraid any longer. Paul was scared because of what was taking place. Do not be afraid any longer, 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 settled there a year and six months teaching the word of God among them.
What was it that gave Paul confidence and courage as he looked at the problems in Corinth and the threats? Was it just that the Lord Jesus promised to be with him? Well certainly that was part of it, but it was also that the Lord Jesus said, go on and speak, I have many people in this city. In other words, God says you're going to have a harvest. You're going to have a harvest, and as you proclaim the word, I'm going to call out my people in this city.
He's talking about people primarily who have not been saved yet in time as we think of it. How does God call a person? Does it just happen out of the blue? Is there a lightning bolt, a zap? How does God call a person? The answer is he calls a person by this book, by the word of God. This is the instrument of the Holy Spirit to effect a call in the heart of the believer, in the heart of the sinner, so that he will believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn with me to 1 Thessalonians chapter 2.
This is stated. 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 13. For this reason, we also constantly thank God that when you received from us the word of God's message, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe. The Holy Spirit is the living Spirit of God. This book is the living word of God. The Holy Spirit uses it to effect results in the life of those who trust the Lord Jesus Christ.
Turn over to 2 Thessalonians 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. We've talked about that, haven't we? How is God going to bring that to pass? Here's the means. He says it's through sanctification by the Spirit. This is the Holy Spirit wooing the believer, setting him apart. Then it says, and by faith in the truth. That's the human part.
So we have God's part by his Spirit, and we have man's part, faith. What does that faith rest upon? The truth. It was for this that he called you through our gospel, that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So how is it that God effects this call in our hearts when we believe in the Savior? It is through his word. I'd like for us to close by turning to 2 Peter and looking at a practical application of this. After what I've said, some may wonder at verse 10 of chapter 1 in 2 Peter.
He says, Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about his calling and choosing you. As long as you practice these things, you will never stumble, for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you. Is he saying here that we somehow have to do our part to make God's election and his calling real in our lives? That is not what he's saying.
What he is saying is, brethren, you profess that God has chosen you, that God has called you. Now he is saying, you make that profession of yours certain. You make it real in your life by adding these spiritual qualities I've mentioned in the earlier verses in the chapter. That is faith and moral excellence and knowledge and self-control and perseverance and godliness, brotherly kindness and love.
Add these things to your life so that the profession that you make, that you're one of God's chosen ones, will have substance to it and not seem to be empty and vain and foolish. So you say you're one of God's called and prove it by the way that you live. By obeying the Lord Jesus Christ and adding these spiritual qualities to your life. By a godly lifestyle, make your election sure. That is, let others be sure that you are saved by the godly way that you live.
This calling of God is such a marvelous thing, such a marvelous truth. And it's illustrated by a testimony of Charles Coulson. He writes in a recent newsletter, 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 accepted Jesus Christ baffled me. I was tired, empty inside, sick of scandal and accusations.
And 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 than 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 at my car, my own sin, not just dirty politics, but the hatred and pride and evil so deep within me was thrust before my eyes forcefully and painfully. Then he says, 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. Charles Colson is simply relating to us in his personal testimony the effectual call of God.
If you sit here saved today, it's because that call was extended to you when you were in sin and evil was in your heart. Our response to this must be to fall on our knees before God and cry out what a wonderful salvation. You should call me and predestine me to receive a full inheritance as one of your own family members. You may sit here today and you're not sure about that in your own life. Perhaps you've never trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior.
And you say, well I wonder if God's calling me. My friend, God is calling you. God is calling you. He calls every sinner. Will you respond to that call today? Will you open your heart and believe in the truth? If you will, then you may be sure that God is effectually calling you to be one of his own. You may see yourself as a dirty rotten sinner. One cannot be saved before he sees himself in that position. But will you take the next step and trust the Savior right now, this morning?
Heavenly Father, thank you for the truths that we have seen, the doctrines of salvation from your perspective that are so marvelous for us to behold and to wonder at. May those of us who are yours live a life worthy of this kind of calling. May those who are here without Christ in this congregation this morning trust the Savior. Let them know that the invitation, indeed the command to obey the gospel, is theirs.
May they be given hearts repentant and faith to trust in the Lord Jesus in a saving way. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.