The Golden Chain of Salvation

Romans 8:29-30 ESV

29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

This morning we come to an end of our series of messages on this wonderful passage written by the Apostle Paul in Romans, chapter 8, verses 18-30. It is a passage packed with rich biblical doctrine. In fact, everything that is discussed in this passage is found in one place or another in the confession of faith that we Cumberland Presbyterians hold to.

And as we have been working through this passage some of the things that we have seen are the promise of a new creation when the Lord Jesus returns and the hope that we as Christians hold to as we await the glorious return of our Lord and Savior.

Now, we also said that because this hope has not yet been fully realized, that means that we have to wait patiently for it to come to pass. But we all know that patience is not something that any of us are naturally very good at, so we said that in order for us to wait patiently for the return of the Lord, we need some assistance. And we said that that assistance comes in the form of God Himself, the Holy Spirit dwelling within us as believers.

And as the Holy Spirit dwells amongst us, He pleads with God the Father to give to us who are believers what is necessary to cause us to persevere until the end. And God does this as He makes all things work together for good to those who are truly believers.

Now, today as we finish up our series on this wonderful passage from the Scriptures, we are going to be looking at what many call the Gold Chain of Salvation.

What this golden chain of salvation is, is a chain of five external links, five actions on the part of God that ensures that who He wants to be saved will be saved. And not only will they be saved, but they will remain saved until their life is over, and they are ushered into glory.

So, if we turn our Bibles over to our reading for today, Romans 8:29-30 and we look at the very first part of verse 29, we see the first link in the golden chain of salvation. That first link is called: foreknowledge. Take a look at the very first part of verse 29, where it says:

Romans 8:29a ESV

29a For those whom he foreknew

Those whom God foreknew… What does that word, “foreknow” mean? Well, the word “fore” means beforehand. So, when it is written that God foreknew those who would be saved by Him, it means that God knew us who are now saved, and those who ever will be saved long before we ever knew Him.

But now we need to ask what the biblical definition of this word, “know” is.

Well, if you look through your Bible, you will see instances, especially in the Old Testament where it will say that so and so “knew” his wife, and she conceived. Now, it is pretty obvious that a man would know who his wife is intellectually, and merely knowing her intellectually wouldn’t cause her to conceive. So, obviously in this sense, that’s not the kind of “knowing” that is being spoken of.

Rather, when it says in the Scriptures that a man “knew” his wife, it’s speaking of him having relations with her. Now, those kinds of relations are meant to exist only between a husband and his wife, and those relations are in fact the most intimate act, both physically and spiritually that two people can perform with one another.

In this way, God knew those who would be saved by Him. Now, of course, I’m not saying that God had these kinds of relations with us who are believers, I’m not saying that at all. What I mean is that the intimate, spiritual union that a man has with his wife is the same kind of deep, intimate, spiritual union that God has with those who are saved by Him.

So, when Paul speaks of those whom God “foreknew” what he is speaking of are those whom God loved in an intimate, saving way beforewe ever came to love Him that way.

So, we see that the first link in the Golden Chain of Salvation is God’s foreknowledge. God comes to love a people long before these people ever come to love Him. So, before we come to love God, God first decides to love us. And as John the apostle tells us, the only reason why we can love God is because God first decided to love us.

What this essentially means is that in eternity past, God chose to save a people, to set them apart as His very own, this group of people whom I hope and pray that all of us here today are among is called, the elect.

To elect means to choose, so before we chose God, God first chose us, He foreknew us.

So, having chosen, or foreknown us, God then set us on the straight path when He predestined us. This is the next link in the Golden Chain of Salvation: Predestination.

The second half of verse 29 speaks of this where it says:

Romans 8:29b ESV

29b he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

So, God foreknows, He chooses those who will be saved. Then after He chooses to save us, He makes a plan of action for our salvation and our coming to Him to be accomplished.

It’s kind of like going on a trip. When you decide to go on a trip, you start the process by choosing where you are going to go. Then after you decide on a place to go, you start to take care of the details that are involved in going on this trip. You reserve a hotel room, so you’ll have someplace to stay, you pack your clothes, so you’ll have something to wear, you get your oil changed so your car doesn’t break down on the way. You plan to take a trip, but you also do everything that is necessary in order to ensure that you can take that trip.

Well, in the same way, God chooses whom He will save, and then He puts them on the path to be saved when He predestines them to salvation.

This means that for those whom God chooses to save, He sets the process in motion by choosing their eternal destination.

And the way in which we as those who are saved reach this eternal destination is when we are, as it says here in our reading, conformed to the image of His Son.

Nobody merits salvation, nobody earns it, nobody deserves it. Yet there is One Who walked this earth Who truly did deserve salvation and eternal fellowship with God. His name was Jesus.

Therefore, we know that in order for us or for anyone else to be saved, we have to be identified with Jesus. This means that in order for us to be saved and permitted into the presence of God when we die, God must view us as He views Jesus, be made like Him, be conformed to His image.

And in order for us to be conformed to the image of Jesus, God must first call us to Himself. That is the next link in the Golden Chain of Salvation: Calling.

We read of this in the first part of verse 30, where it says:

Romans 8:30a ESV

30 And those whom he predestined he also called

God makes the sovereign decision to save us, He predestines us to be conformed to the image of His Son, and in order to conform us to this image and save us, He calls us to Him.

In the Gospel of John, chapter 6, and the beginning of verse 44, we read the words of Jesus, where He says:

John 6:44a ESV

44a No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.

What this means is that no one will naturally come to salvation through Jesus. In fact, as Jesus says here, no one can naturally come to salvation through Jesus. The only way that we can come to salvation through Jesus is if God predestines us to come to salvation through Jesus, and then calls us with a call to Him that cannot be resisted.

In order to highlight this even more, look at another statement that Jesus made, once again in John, chapter 6, but this time let’s look at the first part of verse 37, where Jesus says:

John 6:37a ESV

37a All that the Father gives me will come to me,

Listen closely to the language being used here… “All that the Father gives Me” This is referring to those who are saved and who will be saved, and it is said that they are given to Jesus by the Father.

So, “All that the Father gives Me… will come to Me,” many will indeed be lost, but not a single one of those whom God chooses to save shall ever be lost, they will come to Him. He graciously and lovingly ensures that.

So, we’ve looked at links of foreknowledge, predestination, and calling, now after one is called by God, they are then justified by God throughJesus. That is the next link in the Golden Chain of Salvation: Justification.

Take a look at the middle part of verse 30, where it reads:

Romans 8:30b ESV

30b and those whom he called he also justified,

So, we know from a good study of our reading that God chooses who will be saved, He then takes those who will be saved and places them on the path to salvation, and He brings these people to Him as He calls them with an irresistible call.

And after we receive this call from God and we come to Him in faith, He then justifies us.

Now, the universal problem with everyone that there is in the world is that naturally, we are all guilty before God. Naturally, we deserve the wrath of God, and as I said earlier, the only way that we can evade this wrath is if we are conformed to the image of Jesus.

But when we do conform to this image, when God calls us to Him, He then views us as He views Jesus. And the only way that He can ever possibly view us this way is if He first justifies us by forgiving us of our sins. And the way that He justifies us is by taking the shed blood of Jesus and applying it to our guilty account in order to make us guiltless.

And then after making us guiltless by justifying us in His sight, there is only one more thing for God to do, and that is to glorify us.

That is the final link in the Golden Chain of Salvation: Glorification. Take a look at the end of verse 30, where we read:

Romans 8:30c ESV

30c and those whom he justified he also glorified.

So, in this Golden Chain, we’ve seen that God first decided to save a people. He then set these people on a path to come to Him when He predestinated them. Then He irresistibly called them to Him. And when they came to Him as He called them to Him, they were conformed to the image of Jesus and thus justified in the sight of God.

And because God justified them, He ensures that they one day will be glorified in Him.

As we’ve been saying throughout this series of messages, there will indeed come a day when God creates the new heavens and earth, and it will be called the New Jerusalem. And when God creates this New Jerusalem, something else that He will give us is new bodies.

There will be a resurrection from the dead. Those who have not been saved will rise in a body that is far from perfect and will perish forever in the Lake of Fire. But those who are saved will rise in a new, glorified body that shall not ache or pain or sorrow or die ever again.

But in order for us to reach this point of glorification, the last link in the Golden Chain of Salvation, the other four must be accomplished. And today, for those of you who are among those who have been called and justified by God, I say that there is only one more link in the chain, only one thing left to happen, and that is your glorification.

One glorious day, every hardship, every sorrow, every pain will be a thing of the past and you will experience eternity in the glorious presence of God.

And today, as we take all of this in, as we consider the fact that every last bit of this has been accomplished by God. As we know that because God began our salvation that He will indeed complete it, it should cause us to revere Him, to honor Him, to humbly and lovingly and gratefully worship His majesty.

It was He Who set His sights on us, it was He Who sought us and found us, and it is He Who will bring us home!

Glory be to our God!

Amen?!