Called and Confident (Rom. 8:28-30)

Introduction

· One of the interesting (and at times disturbing) tools in Google is its auto-complete feature. As you type in a few words or phrases, it will suggest what you might be trying to say, based on common searches.

· For example, if you type in “Social Security will,” some of the top suggestions include “will run out” “will be gone” “will it be there when I retire.” Nearly all economists can agree that social security is a bit of a paradox. It is anything but secure.

· Security is a major concern in all our lives. Security of our retirement. Security of our homes. Security of our borders….

· Today, we think of an even greater level of security – eternal security. Is the believer secure?

God’s Unconditional Choice

· In vv. 29-30 you will find five of the most important words in all your Bible. I encourage you to underline them as we go through. They form what has sometimes been called the “unbreakable chain” of salvation.

· Foreknew (προέγνω > προγινώσκω). God is omniscient. He knows the end from the beginning. But foreknowledge is more than just foresight, as though God looks down the corridors of time. To “know” in the Bible speaks not simply of being aware of something, but of love, showing affection, even marital intimacy. Matthew 1:24–25 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus. Connection most clear: Acts 2:23–24 this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.

· Predestined (προορίζω > προορίζω). Same word in Ephesians 1:4–5 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,

· Called (ἐκάλεσεν > καλέω).

· Let’s be honest. All this talk of God choosing or electing people for salvation makes some people uncomfortable. If God chooses one person to go to heaven, while not choosing the other person to go to heaven, isn’t he essentially choosing the other person to go to hell? A loving God would never let someone go to hell, we say. (We are diving into great mystery here.) But we think we can let God off the hook. And so we say, “Oh, God does not choose. He gives us free will to choose. God’s foreknowledge is simply him looking into the future, and saving those who believe. This is the classic Arminian position, and it sounds good at first (though it has no biblical merit).

· But you have not let God “off the hook” at all. If a parent knows something bad is about to happen to a child and has the power to stop it, yet does not prevent it from happening, would we call that parent good? Of course not. By the same logic, if God new a person was going to reject him and suffer eternity in hell, why would he create that person in the first place? God still chose to make the person, knowing they would reject him in the end. So you see, Arminians have not really removed God’s sovereign choice. They have just pushed it back a step from salvation to creation.

· But this is all wrong. Remember the definitions of the words foreknowledge, predestination, and calling. They are unconditional.

· Much better: The operative word in salvation is GRACE. Undeserved favor. Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, Ephesians 1:5-6 he predestined us for adoption…acc to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace.

· Let us remember what is fair. How many of us deserve heaven? None. How many of us were born righteous? None (Rom. 3). How many of us deserve hell? All. So, the fair thing for God would be to leave us all alone, collectively shaking our fist at God and suffering the eternal consequences.

· The old hymn gets it right, “Amazing grace! How sweet the sound, that saved a wretch [wicked, vile, and miserable person] like me! I once was lost but now am found, was blind, but now I see.”

· John 1:16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.

· Any salvation that is responsive to man’s faith is a salvation diminishes the grace of God. The irony is, in our puny efforts to vindicate God and make him appear more loving, we actually diminish his grace.

· Spurgeon - “It is a good thing that God chose me before I was born, because he surely would not have afterwards!”

· Saving faith is a result of God’s eternal, unconditional call. Faith is not the cause, but the result of our election. Acts 13:48 [After Paul’s sermon in Antioch] And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.

· Justified (ἐδικαίωσεν > δικαιόω). Legal or courtroom term. To be declared innocent and righteous. Already studied at great length in the earlier chs. of Romans. Romans 4:5 And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness,

· Glorified (ἐδόξασεν > δοξάζω).

· All five words hitched together with the same grammatical structure. God is the mover and causer of all. All have the same aorist tense, showing absolutely certainty.

· Like a train. Foreknowledge is like the engine that pulls the cars along. Glorification is like the caboose, trailing at the very end of the convoy, and lingering forever and ever. All five “train cars” left the station together. All five will remain hitched together through the whole journey. And all five will arrive safely on the far side of human history. All five were decreed by God in eternity past, and all five are in the process of being carried out even now.

· Two parallel statements in v. 28 - “those who love God” and “those who are called.” Both describe the same group. Whether you are a Calvinist or Arminian comes down to which of these you think happened first. Do you love him because he called you, or did he call you because you loved him?

· BFM attempts a middle-of-the-road perspective. “Election is the gracious purpose of God, according to which He regenerates, justifies, sanctifies, and glorifies sinners. It is consistent with the free agency of man, and comprehends all the means in connection with the end. It is the glorious display of God’s sovereign goodness, and is infinitely wise, holy, and unchangeable. It excludes boasting and promotes humility.” A bit weak.

· Better: James P. Boyce – founder of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY. (parentheticals excluded) God, of his own purpose, has from Eternity, determined to save, a definite number of mankind, as individuals, not for or because of any merit or work of theirs, nor of any value to him of them; but of his own good pleasure (simply because he was pleased so to choose).

· As it says in 1 John 4:19 We love because he first loved us. John 15:16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.

· You cannot lose your justification, for you are not the one to gain it in the first place. Nor can you disqualify yourself from glorification. If you were truly saved, you will always be saved.

· Paul’s point: All true believers will endure to the end. Philippians 1:6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

God’s Unbelievable Promise

· Look back at the promise in verse 28.

· The same God who saved you is able also to keep you. The God who could

· I encourage you to draw a large circle on your paper and label it “all things.” Certainly, he can use good things to work together for good – things like family, health, and abundance. But God is also able to use unpleasant things to bring about good – such as loss, sickness, and scarcity.

· Some of those things are mentioned further down in the passage… (v. 35, 38-39). Now add a few more of your own. Maybe sickness. Maybe a struggling business. Maybe abuse. Maybe betrayal. These are painful words and profound realities.

· Now write the words underneath “work together for good.” And then write, “more than conquerors.”

· Hebrews 11 is aptly described as the hall of faith. In Cooperstown, NY, there is a Baseball Hall of Fame. Well, Heb. 11 is our Hall of Faith. These were men and women who faced incredible adversity but clung in child-like faith to God, walking by faith and not by sight. Men like Moses, who chose to be mistreated with God’s people rather than enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin (11:25). Women like the Shunammite, who received back their dead by resurrection (11:35; 2 Kings 4).

· At the entrance to that hall faith could be etched the words, “All things work together for good to those who love him.”

· We must not be flippant or insensitive about this precious truth. It is not like a horseshoe that we lob across a field, hoping it will strike its target. It is more like a delicate kitten we carefully hand off to a friend at close range.

· God is so wise that he can work all things together for good. And thus, he is worthy of our trust. His plans for you are not cruel or evil.

· Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

· Jerry Bridges, in his excellent book Trusting God, remarks, “From our limited vantage point, our lives are marked by an endless series of contingencies. We frequently find ourselves, instead of acting as we planned, reacting to an unexpected turn of events. We make plans but are often forced to change those plans. But there are no contingencies with God. Our unexpected, forced change of plans is a part of His plan. God is never surprised; never caught off guard; never frustrated by unexpected developments. God does as He pleases and that which pleases Him is always for His glory and our good.”

Conclusion

· God is so wise and loving that he is actually using these events as his ordained means to bring about a good end. The trials themselves are a kind of gift as well, working about good.

· Chiefly, conformity into the image of Christ. He is refining and purifying us more into his image.

· Examples: Joseph, Job, Daniel, Naomi, Peter, Paul…