The Process of Sanctification Romans 8:29-30
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Introduction
Salvation is available and possible only because of God and not because of anything man has ever done!
The process of being sanctified begins at the moment of salvation. Today we are going to look at those steps by looking at 5 verbs that are found in Romans 8:29-30.
There are some things to remember as we look at this passage today.
God mad man and placed him into a perfect garden. God gave man free choice and free will. Well, it didn’t take long for man to give into the free will and that free choice. When they did that, it was in disobedience to what God’s will for their lives were and it was at that point, God had to institute his plan of redemption.
You see, God didn’t come up with this plan after the fall of man in Genesis 3. God foreknew that man would fall and a savior would be needed. Jesus was present when man was created because in Genesis 1:26-27, it tells us that God said let us…you can rest assured it wasn’t his puppy he was talking to at this point. He was talking to the Trinity of God.
26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
how can I so boldly know that? Because look what John 1:1 and John 1:14 tells us
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Jesus has been there since before the world was created as well.
God put his plan of redemption in place and that plan is still the plan that is in place today. Jesus is the only way to be saved and it is only through the shedding of His blood at calvary that we can be saved. It is only by following God’s redemptive plan that we can receive salvation. There is no other way.
So, let’s look at the Process of Sanctification as laid out in Romans 8:29-30.
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.
Foreknew Romans 8:29a
Foreknew Romans 8:29a
God is an all knowing God. This is because God is Omniscient. He knows the past, the present and the future. I often get asked, When was God made? Well, God has always been and God will always be. This is a powerful thought about God. To know that He has always been and to know that He knows everything that will happen throughout all of history, should make us really understand the power of God.
As, we think about this idea of God knowing all things, it might make you ask why God allows those bad things to happen. Well, it’s because God gave man free choice and a free will. God does not make the evil happen, he allows the evil to happen. Just like what we saw in Romans 1:18-32 when men and women wanted to live for themselves rather than for God.
24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves,
26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature;
28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.
God knew their hearts and while that wasn’t His will for them, they didn’t want His will, they wanted their will so God gave them up to that will.
God Knows EVERYTHING. When we forget this idea, then we need to realize that the most beneficial way to live a life pleasing to God is to Honor God in Everything.
When thinking about God having foreknowledge of all things, this should also serve as a reminder that God has known you and I before we were ever born.
God told JEremiah that he knew him before he was in his mother’s womb.
5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
God had a plan for Jeremiah just like He has a plan for you and I. However, we must submit to God’s plan just like Jeremiah did. While God told Jeremiah that He had a plan for him, it was Jeremiah who had to submit To God’s will for his life in order to carry out that plan.
God has a plan for you and I. It is God’s desire for us to be saved and to walk in the plan that He has for us.
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Remember this verse because we will revisit it a little later.
Wouldn’t you like to have the power of God so you could know everything that is going to happen in your life tomorrow? I would not want that because I would get caught up in the tomorrows and miss the blessings that God has for me today.
Jack Cottrell in his article gives a great insight about what this looks like...
An example of this is the circumstances leading up to the atoning death of Jesus Christ. In Acts 2:23 the Apostle Peter says that Jesus was “delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God.” The death of Christ was definitely something God had predetermined to accomplish from all eternity (Rev. 13:8, NIV; see 1 Peter 1:20), but it involved many free-will decisions that God knew in advance and included in his plan. These included Judas’ betrayal, Herod’s and Pilate’s decisions, the Jews’ rejection of Jesus, and Jesus’s execution by the Romans (see Acts 2:23b; 4:27-28). God wove together the threads of his own blessed plan of redemption and the threads of the foreknown free acts of unbelievers, and produced a tapestry of unbelievable harmony and eternal significance. (http://jackcottrell.com/gods-foreknowledge-in-the-bible/)
You should know that even before you were born God had the purpose for your life laid out. If you were given physical life, it was because God wanted you to be born for His purpose and not your own purpose. However, lots of things must take place in order for you to carry out that purpose.
The first step of Sanctification is knowing that God knew you before you were born and that God loved you so much that He had already predestined a way that you could at the appointed time, submit to His will and begin walking in that purpose.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that God picked who would be saved or who would not be saved. I’m just saying that God has a plan for all of mankind and He put a plan in place (predestined) so that each person could align with His purpose and Will for their lives at the appointed time.
Predestined Romans 8:29b
Predestined Romans 8:29b
The next word that I want us to look at this morning is PREDESTINED! Now, please don’t get caught up in all of the chatter that is being tossed around in our convention and in many churches today about how God chose who and who would not be saved. If God had chose ahead of time who would be saved and who would not be saved, then God would not be a man of truth when He gave us John 3:16 “16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” or when He tells us later in Romans 10:9-10 “9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” and Romans 10:13 “13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.””
If God predetermined or predestined people for heaven or hell then Jesus didn’t die for the world. He only died for a certain group of people.
While Jesus did die for the whole world, sadly, not everyone in the world will accept God’s call to salvation. Therefore, yes, there are people who have been predestined to hell. While that was not God’s plan for them, because of their choices, that is where they will spend eternity.
God predestined that those who accepted Jesus and the free gift of God’s salvation by grace would spend eternity in heaven.
For those who refuse God’s gift, yes, it was predetermined that those who chose not to receive God’s free gift of salvation by grace.
Notice in this passage that Paul says nothing about being predestined to heaven of hell. The only thing that is being said here in this passage is that for those who are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28) will be conformed to the image of his Son Jesus! That is what has been predestined at this point. That for those who are saved, they are to become the very image of Christ.
The Bible knowledge Commentary tells us that Predestined what would happen to those who accept the call to salvation. He determined ahead of time what would be their destiny. To be like Christ and to be eternally in his presence.
The Life Application Bible study notes really had a great way of explaining this principle.
Romans Nothing Can Separate Us from God’s Love / 8:28-39
What does predestination mean? What keeps foreknowledge and predestination from being determinism? How can belief in predestination avoid leading someone to despair over the futility of any human choice? God’s foreknowledge does not imply determinism—the idea that all our choices are predetermined. Since God is not limited by time as we are, he “sees” past, present, and future at the same time. Parents sometimes “know” how their children will behave before the fact. We don’t conclude from these parents’ foreknowledge that they made their children act that way. God’s foreknowledge, insofar as we can understand it, means that God knows who will accept the offer of salvation. The plan of predestination begins when we trust Christ and comes to its conclusion when we become fully like him. Receiving an airline ticket to Chicago means we have been predestined to arrive in Chicago.
To explain foreknowledge and predestination in any way that implies that every action and choice we make has been not only preknown, but even predetermined, seems to contradict those Scriptures that declare that our choices are real, that they matter, and that there are consequences to the choices we make.
The second step in the process of Sanctification is getting in line by submitting to the Will and Purpose that God has for your life. Now let’s look at the third one!
Called Romans 8:30a
Called Romans 8:30a
The third step in sanctification is accepting God’s call for your life. You see before you can align with God’s purpose and will for your life, you must accept God’s call to salvation.
Again, this is somewhat controversial in many churches today. Does God call you to salvation or does God just impart salvation upon his “elect”. Folks, as I often say, let’s see what the Bible says.
In John 14:6, we read about the way to the Father
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
In Romans 10:13 we read that whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved
but let’s look at what John 6:44 tells us
44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.
There has to be conviction and realization that you are a sinner. There has to be that realization that you cannot save yourself.
The Faithlife Study bible points out the idea that salvation is not based on your merits or work. It’s only because of the Grace of God.
As I mentioned in the introduction, Salvation is all from God. There is nothing man can do to earn salvation. However, it is a free Gift that God makes available. However, people have to realize they need to free gift. They have to want that free gift, and they must receive that free gift.
When we receive that free gift, it is at that point that we have took the step for all things to work for the Good that is mentioned in Romans 8:28. Look back at that verse
28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
This would be a great time to discuss two sides of basically the same coin.
Calvinism and Arminianism
Calvinism teaches that God predestined some for hell and some for heaven. Man has no choice or any hope of being saved if they were not predetermined for heaven.
Arminianism is just the opposite. God has nothing to do with salvation and man can decide at any time to be saved.
Folks, Salvation is only by the work of the Father. There must be conviction that you are sinners and even need Jesus. I don’t know how many times I have to mention this. However, once we accept God’s call to salvation, we continue on the path of sanctification because we are being conformed to the image of Christ. That means we are continuing to die to our own fleshly desires and starting to line up the the purpose and calling that God had for us before the foundation of the World.
Let’s look back now at Ephesians 2:10 but back up to Ephesians 2:8-10
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
We are to walk in God’s works and plans for our lives and not our own. If we are still walking in our own, have we really submitted to the calling that God has placed on our lives. Have we really accepted and recieved that call to salvation or are we looking for some kind of insurance policy to make us feel better as we go through this evil life.
So, the third step in the process of sanctification is accepting God’s Call to Salvation in your life. Once you take this very important step, you are immediately in step 4.
Justified Romans 8:30b
Justified Romans 8:30b
Declared righteous before God.
when we are declared justified/righteous before God, we can have true peace.
1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,
4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,
5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
When God looks at you, he no longer sees that sinful man or woman you used to be. He only sees that saved person who’s sins have been covered by the blood of Jesus.
I love the promise in Psalm 103:12
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
12 as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
The moment we are saved, truly saved, God forgives our sins. He no longer holds them against us.
I also love the promise that is found in 1 John 1:9
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Justification is like getting in that shower when you’ve been working in dirt, grime, muk all day long and watching that dirt just roll off of you. Once that dirt is washed off of you, it goes down the drain and it doesn’t come back upon you. That is what we must think about when we are justified by Christ. We are washed clean. We have been made into a new creation. We are whole again. As David said in Psalm 51:12
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!
7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
Have you answered the call? Have you been justified? Have you stepped on the path that God has for you once you have accepted his call?
Then let’s move from the forth step of Sanctification into that final step
Glorified Romans 8:30c
Glorified Romans 8:30c
This ties us back to Romans 8:18
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
There is coming a day that all of this suffering that we have gone through will be well worth it.
Talk about that glorious day
Talk about that day when we will spend eternity with Jesus
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Today, are you connected to the 5 verbs of sanctification? Are you on the path to sanctification? it all starts by accepting the call and allowing yourself to become conformed into the image of Christ.
Every head bowed...
Every Eye Closed...
Where are you in your walk with Christ? Are you even on the right path. If not, now is the time!!!!