All Things Work for Good Part 1-7, Complete edition

All Things Work for Good Part 1-7, Complete edition

By John Piper

“Called According to His Purpose”

And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according go his purpose. For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to become conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the first-born 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.

The Believer's Firm Hope

Romans 8 is one of the goriest chapters in the New Testament. Notice verses 35–36:

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, "For thy sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered."

But over this gory painting of the Christian life Paul splatters the word HOPE with a big red paint brush. For example in verse 37 he shouts, "No! In all these things we are more than conquerors." Not just conquerors, but more than conquerors! Tribulation and distress and persecution and famine and nakedness and peril and sword are not just defeated; they are more than defeated: they are turned into servants for our good.

Differing Translations

That is the meaning of the all-time favorite verse 28: "We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose." The versions differ a little bit here. The NASB says, "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." And the KJV says, "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."

Same Basic Point

From my study I am inclined to view the KJV as the most faithful to the original wording of Paul. But the difference is not so great that you have to take my word for it I think. All the versions mean basically that God is so supremely in charge of the world that all the things that happen to Christians are ordered in such a way that they serve our good. Tribulation and distress and persecution and famine and nakedness and peril and sword all work together for the good of those who love God.

So the rugged hope of the believer is not that we will escape distress or peril or hunger or slaughter, but that Almighty God will make every one of our agonies an instrument of his mercy to do us good. "You meant it for evil," Joseph said to his brothers who had sold him into slavery, "but God meant it for good." And so it is with every calamity of those who love God. God meant it for good!

The Bigger the Building, the Bigger the Foundation

Six blocks west of here on 7th Street a foundation is being dug for new building. A mammoth mechanized scoop sits in the middle of the lot and scoops out the dirt and drops it into dump trucks to haul away. Around the edges the hole is already about five or six stories deep, I would estimate. What may we infer from this? I would infer that something very big is going to sit on that lot, since a very deep foundation is being dug. The bigger the building, the bigger the foundation needs to be.

The Building of Romans 8:28

When it comes to the architecture of promises, there are not any bigger buildings than Romans 8:28. This structure is absolutely staggering in its size. It is massive. The infinitely wise, infinitely powerful God pledges to make everything beneficial to his people! Not just nice things, but horrible things, like tribulation and distress and peril and slaughter. What brick would you lay on the top of this skyscraper promise to make it taller? "All things" means all things.

If you live inside this massive promise, your life is as solid as the rock of Gibraltar. Nothing can blow you over inside the walls of Romans 8:28. Outside Romans 8:28 all is confusion and anxiety and fear and uncertainty and straw houses of deadening drugs and tin roofs of retirement plans and cardboard fortifications of anti-ballistic missiles and a thousand other substitutes for Romans 8:28.

Once you walk through the door of love into the massive, unshakable structure of Romans 8:28 everything changes. There comes into your life stability and depth and freedom. You simply can't be blown over any more. The confidence that a sovereign God governs for your good all the pain and all the pleasure that you will ever experience is an absolutely incomparable refuge and security and hope and power in your life. No promise in all the world surpasses the height and breadth and weight of Romans 8:28.

The Foundation of Romans 8:28

Therefore the foundation of this massive structure must be extraordinarily deep and strong. Indeed it is. And that is what this four week series is about. Verse 29 begins with "for." That means that the basis, the ground, the foundation of this massive structure in Romans 8:28 is found in what follows. And we should not be surprised that it takes an awesome foundation to support an awesome promise.

My goal in these four weeks is to take you on a guided tour of the foundation of the promise of Romans 8:28. My prayer is that your confidence in this promise will grow, and that the renewed stability and depth and freedom and hope and joy of your life will be living proof to the world that our God reigns. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. We long for our faith to be strong. Therefore let us give earnest heed to the Word of God.

A Summary Preview of the Foundation

As I understand verse 28, it contains a promise (all things work together for good) and two descriptions of the beneficiaries of the promise (those who love God . . . and those who are called according to his purpose). In describing the beneficiaries of the promise, Paul gives us a little summary preview of the deep foundation of the promise which he will delve into in verses 29 and 30.

Specifically when he says that the beneficiaries are those who are "called according to God's purpose," he points ahead to verses 29 and 30. Verse 29 is an unfolding of "God's purpose" ("Those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the first-born among many brethren"). And verse 30 unfolds the implications of the "calling" in verse 28 ("And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified").

So my plan is to devote this morning's message to Romans 8:28 and its summary foundation, and this evening's lesson to verse 29, and the remaining three weeks morning and evening to verse 30.

The Beneficiaries of the Promise

The question that we begin with in verse 28 is: Who are the beneficiaries of this massive promise? Who may be certain that all the pain in their life is really the wise and good therapy of a sovereign God to bring about their good?

Two Descriptions

Paul gives two answers. Or he describes the one answer from two sides. He defines the beneficiaries of this promise first by what they do toward God, and second by what God did toward them.

All things work together for good, in the first place, "to them that love God." The beneficiaries of this promise are people who love God. This is the first and great commandment, that you love the Lord your God. No eye has seen nor ear heard nor anyone imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.

Then, in the second place, Paul describes the beneficiaries of this promise as "those who are called according to his purpose." What does it mean to say that in addition to loving God, the beneficiaries of this promise are also "called according to God's purpose"? To answer this question let's look at two passages in Paul which refer to God's call and two which refer to his purpose.

What Does It Mean to Be "Called"?

The closest clue about the meaning of "called" in verse 28 is verse 30 where Paul says, "And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified." What we learn from this verse is that God justifies everyone that he calls. He acquits them. He pardons them. They are treated as righteous. They are his children. "Those whom he called he justified."

Those Who Are Called Are Justified

This means that the call referred to here is not the general call that goes out to all men in the preaching of the gospel. If it were, then all who heard the gospel would be justified. For verse 30 says, "Those whom he called he justified." If everyone who hears Billy Graham calling them to Christ on the television is "called" in the sense of Romans 8:30, then they are all justified too. For "those whom he called he also justified." But Paul plainly teaches that not all who are called in this general sense are justified. "We are justified by faith!" (Romans 5:1). Not all who are called in this general sense have faith, and therefore not all are justified. Yet Paul says in 8:30 that "those who are called ARE justified!"

What Christ Is to Those Who Are Called

He clarifies this for us in 1 Corinthians 1:23–24. "But we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24) but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God." Notice carefully that Paul preaches Christ to Jews and Gentiles indiscriminately. In that sense all are called. But that is not the sense in which Paul uses the word. He says that out from among those who hear the general call there are those who are "called." And the difference is that those who are called in this narrower sense stop regarding Christ as a stumbling block and as folly. Instead they regard him as the power of God and the wisdom of God. Verse 24: "But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ [becomes] the power of God and the wisdom of God."

The Effectual Call of God

So Paul teaches that when the gospel is preached, God calls some so powerfully that their hearts and minds are changed about Jesus Christ and they embrace him in faith and love. That's why Paul can say in Romans 8:30 that "those who are called are justified," even though justification only comes by faith—the call of God produces faith; it opens the eyes of the blind to see that Jesus is the wisdom and the power of God.

The call of God that Paul has in mind is not like the call of a pet: "Here Blackie. Here Blackie. Come on girl." Blackie may or may not come. The call of God is like the call of Jesus to the corpse of Lazarus: "Lazarus, come forth!" The call contains the power to produce what it commands. It is an effectual call. That is why Paul can say in Romans 8:30 that all "those who are called are justified." The certainty of their justification lies in the fact that the faith by which men are justified is produced by the effectual call of God.

Therefore when Romans 8:28 says, "All things work together to good for those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose," it means that the beneficiaries of this massive promise are those who once did not love God but now do love God because God himself has called them effectually from darkness to light, from unbelief to faith, from death to life, and has planted within them a love to himself. The effectual call of God is the new covenant fulfillment of the promise in Deuteronomy 30:6,"And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live."

Why Romans 8:28 Is So Certain for the Called

The reason that the beneficiaries of Romans 8:28 can have such certainty that God will indeed fulfill this promise for them is that God himself has effectually called them into his covenant and caused them to qualify for it. It is one thing if God sends out a mass mailing addressed "to whom it may concern" inviting all to the banquet where all things work together for good. But it is quite another if God himself drives up to your front door, walks in, picks you up, puts you in the car, drives you to the banquet of Romans 8:28, gives you the banquet garment of love, and then seats you at the right hand of his Son. Would not his own personal initiative in the second case give you a deeper confidence that God does indeed intend to pursue you with mercy all your days and work everything together for your good?

We deny ourselves such deep and wonderful assurances when we do not embrace the doctrine of God's sovereign, effectual call. There is such strength that comes into the walk of a Christian when he knows how it is that he came to be a beneficiary of this incomparable promise. And as though it were not enough to reassure us that we became beneficiaries of this promise by God's effectual call, Paul adds the words, "according to his purpose." All things work together for good to those who love God, to those that are called according to his purpose.

Why Paul Adds "According to His Purpose"

What is Paul's reason for adding this phrase: "according to his purpose"? I think it was to make perfectly clear and forceful that the call of God originates in God's purpose not ours. The call of God is not a response to anything we purposed to do. God has his own high and holy purposes that govern whom he calls, and his call accords with these purposes not with ours. He did not drive up to my door and pick me up and bring me to the banquet of Romans 8:28 because it accorded with my purpose of salvation, but because it accorded with his. Had he waited for me to have a purpose of salvation, I would still be watching television at home.

True Israel and True Children of Abraham

We can see the force of this little phrase ("according to his purpose") if we look at the one other place in Romans where the word occurs, namely, Romans 9:11. In the context Paul is trying to show that not all Israelites are true Israelites (verse 6); not all are the children of Abraham just because they are descended from him (verse 7); and the difference whether one is a true Israelite or a true child of Abraham depends on God's purpose and call, not man's. Notice verses 10–12:

And not only so, but also when Rebecca had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad, in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of his call, she was told, "The elder will serve the younger."

The point of this passage is to illustrate by the example of Jacob and Esau (Rebecca's twin sons) the nature of God's call. Jacob and Esau were in the same womb. They had the same father. They had done nothing good or evil. And God set his favor on Jacob not Esau. Why? Why not wait until they grow up and have a chance to show which of them will have the distinctives that make it just for God to call the one and not the other? Why did God reveal his choice even before they were born?

Verse 11 gives the answer, and it uses the very words of Romans 8:28. It was "in order that God's PURPOSE of election might continue, not because of works but because of his CALL" (or literally: "because of the one who calls").

God's Purpose of Election

The unconditional call of God apart from all human distinctives is the means by which God maintains his purpose of election. If he did not call men without regard to their distinctives, but instead called them on the basis of their distinctives, then God's purpose of election would fall to the ground.

God would become like a political candidate up for vote going from precinct to precinct to see if he might be elected Lord. God would propose, but man would dispose. The size and make up of God's constituency would be owing finally to the vote of man. The success of Christian missions and the possibility of converts from every tongue and tribe and people and nation would depend finally on the vote man.

But the apostle Paul knows nothing of such a God. Instead he says that God set his favor on Jacob and not Esau before they were born so that HIS purpose of election might stand, not on the basis of their deeds but only on the basis of his call—the call that accords with his purpose of election.

Summary

What then is the foundation of Romans 8:28? Where do those who love God find certainty that tribulation and distress and famine and nakedness and peril and sword and slaughter will in fact work together for their good? The answer is that those who love God are also those who have been called by God, and that this call is based not on something as wavering and uncertain as my commitment to God but only on his eternal purpose of election by which he set his favor on me without any respect to my action at all.

Our confidence that all the hard and happy things in our life will in fact become the servants of our good is based not merely the fact that there is a promise in the Bible, but also on the fact that from all eternity God in his great mercy has chosen us to enjoy his banquet and has given us evidence of our election by calling into being (out of stone!) a heart that loves God—has he not?!

All things work together for good

for those who love God—

those who are called according to his purpose.

Amen.

“Those Whom He Foreknew He Predestined”

And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according go his purpose. For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to become conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the first-born 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.

Four Parts of Romans 8:29

Our aim in this lesson is to understand four parts of Romans 8:29.

The connection with verse 28.

"FOR whom he foreknew . . . "

The meaning of God's foreknowledge.

"For whom he FOREKNEW, he also predestined . . . "

The aim of predestination for our good.

" . . . to become conformed to the image of his Son . . . "

The aim of predestination for Christ's glory.

" . . . that he might be the first-born among many brethren."

1. The Connection with Verse 28.

"For" indicates that verses 29–30 are the foundation for verse 28. They give reasons why we can KNOW all things will work together for those who are called according to God's purpose.

It appears that what verses 29–30 do is unfold the implications of the phrase in verse 28, "called according to his purpose."

verse 29 unfolds the PURPOSE

verse 30 unfolds the CALL

Four Reasons for Providing the Foundation

Why is it important for Paul to give such a deep foundation for this promise? FOUR REASONS.

1.1. To be the Freest of All People

Few promises have brought more comfort and strength to God's people over the centuries than Romans 8:28. If we can be sure in our deepest heart of hearts that this promise is true, then we will be the freest of all people. In the freedom of HOPE we will love one another and will shine like lights in a dark world.

Hope is the most practical power in the world. It overcomes discouragement and depression and irritablity and anxiety and suicide. It gives new life to old jobs and old marriages and old friendships and old churches. It opens the future and invites vision and dreams and planing and prayer. It conquers lust and greed and vain ambition, because these are just short term substitutes for people who have lost hope in something really great and beautiful and satisfying in their lives.

Therefore Paul does not shrink back from giving us a deep foundation for this greatest of all promises. And the foundation is Romans 8:29–30. The pillars of the foundation are the great doctrines of election and predestination and effectual calling and justification and glorification. The reason these things are important to know and love is that they are the foundation of all the covenant blessings we cherish.

1.2. To Avoid a Small and Distorted Vision of God

But even more, if we do not know these doctrines of grace, our vision of God will be small and disfigured. And when our vision of God is small and distorted, the attempt to see all of life in relation to God is frustrated—and we retreat with our little God into a religious subculture instead of confronting the cultural and intellectual life of our day and laying claim to all truth as the territory of the majestic God.

1.3. To Prevent Triviality in Worship

And even within our church, worship suffers the bain of triviality when we do not know and love the God who elects and predestines and calls and justifies and glorifies. Is this not the deepest explanation of the virtual disappearance of reverence in our day. There is a connection between the absence of true and powerful worship and the absence of a God whose rights and power and freedom stun anybody.

1.4. Because It Is God's Word

And the list of reasons why this study is important could go on and on. Suffice it to say in the end, this is the Word of God!

2. The Meaning of God's Foreknowledge.

Verse 29a: "Those whom he foreknew."

2.1. Two Possibilities

God foreknows all things and ALL PEOPLE in one sense (Isaiah 46:10). But not all are predestined to be conformed to his Son. Therefore, the "foreknowing" must be qualified in some sense, because Paul says, "Whom he foreknew, he predestined." There are two ways to qualify or limit the idea of God's foreknowing:

2.1.1. Add a phrase like, "would believe on Jesus," so that it reads: "Whom he foreknew would believe on Jesus, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son." In other words, in order to preserve the self-determining power of man in his own salvation, God predestines people only on the basis of faith which he foresees that certain people will produce by their self-determining power.

2.1.2. Make no additions, but construe the word "foreknew" to refer to that special kind of knowing in Scripture which signifies choice and acknowledgement and favor. In other words, interpret this foreknowledge of God as virtually synonymous with his election.

2.2. Arguments for the Second View (2.1.2)

2.2.1. While it is not impossible that Paul might want us to supply extra words to make sense out of his sentence, it would seem better not to insist on adding a whole phrase if the meaning of the verse is plain and coherent with the context without adding any extra words. The text simply says, "WHOM HE FOREKNEW, HE PREDESTINED," as though the idea of foreknowing contained its own limitation. If we find elsewhere in the Bible and especially in Paul that "knowing" can carry its own limited sense, then the addition other phrases would be unnecessary (see 2.2.3).

2.2.2. The hope of preserving man's power of self determination in salvation is futile in view of verse 30, where it says, "Those whom he called he also justified." See this morning's sermon: if all the called are justified, and if justification is only by faith, then the call must secure the faith because it secures the justification. But if the call of God brings about faith, then it is not the self-determining power of man that brings him to salvation.

Therefore, even if God did base his predestination on faith which he foresaw, it was a faith which he himself intended to create. So the whole motive for the idea of foreknown faith collapses. It still leaves us with the freedom and right of God to elect or choose whom he will call effectually into faith. For God to predestine someone on the basis of faith which he himself creates is the same as basing predestination on the basis of election.

2.2.3. The words "know" and "foreknow" commonly mean "choose" or "set favor upon" or "acknowledge." Therefore we do not need to add any phrase to limit whom God foreknows, because the word itself limits the group—it is those whom he chose or set his favor upon. Here are some texts to show this meaning of "knowing."

2.2.3.1. Romans 11:1–2:

I ASK, THEN, HAS GOD REJECTED HIS PEOPLE? BY NO MEANS! I MYSELF AM AN ISRAELITE, A DESCENDANT OF ABRAHAM, A MEMBER OF THE TRIBE OF BENJAMIN. GOD HAS NOT REJECTED HIS PEOPLE WHOM HE FOREKNEW.

2.2.3.2. Amos 3:1–2:

Hear this word that the Lord has spoken against you, O people of Israel . . . You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.

2.2.3.3. Genesis 18:17–19:

The Lord said, "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do . . . ? No, for I have chosen [literally: "known"] him, that he may charge his children . . . to keep the way of the Lord . . . so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised.

2.2.3.4. Hosea 13:4–5:

I am the Lord your God from the land of Egypt; you know no God but me, and besides me there is no savior. It was I who knew you in the wilderness, in the land of drought.

2.2.3.5. Psalm 1:6:

FOR THE LORD KNOWS THE WAY OF THE RIGHTEOUS, BUT THE WAY OF THE WICKED WILL PERISH.

2.2.3.6. Matthew 7:23:

AND THEN I WILL DECLARE TO THEM, I NEVER KNEW YOU; DEPART FROM ME, YOU EVILDOERS.

2.2.3.7. 1 Corinthians 8:3:

If one loves God, one is known by God.

2.2.3.8. Galatians 4:8–9:

FORMERLY, WHEN YOU DID NOT KNOW GOD, YOU WERE IN BONDAGE TO BEINGS THAT BY NATURE ARE NO GODS; BUT NOW THAT YOU HAVE KNOWN GOD, OR RATHER BEEN KNOWN BY GOD, HOW CAN YOU TURN BACK AGAIN TO THE WEAK AND BEGGARLY ELEMENTAL SPIRITS?

2.2.3.9. 2 Timothy 2:16–19:

AVOID SUCH GODLESS CHATTER, FOR IT WILL LEAD PEOPLE INTO MORE AND MORE UNGODLINESS . . . AMONG THEM ARE HYMENAEUS AND PHILETUS, WHO HAVE SWERVED FROM THE TRUTH BY HOLDING THAT THE RESURRECTION IS PAST ALREADY. THEY ARE UPSETTING THE FAITH OF SOME. BUT GOD'S FIRM FOUNDATION STANDS, BEARING THIS SEAL: "THE LORD KNOWS THOSE WHO ARE HIS," AND, "LET EVERYONE WHO NAMES THE NAME OF THE LORD DEPART FROM INIQUITY."

Conclusion: "Whom he foreknew, he also predestined" means that God's appointment of the destiny of his people is based on his prior election, and this election is not based on any foreseen faith that we could produce by some power of self-determination. The plan of redemption was never conceived to include the saving power of human self-determination.

3. What Is the Aim of Predestination for Our Good?

Predestination does not refer here to the choice of who will be saved. It refers to the destiny appointed for those who are chosen. First, God chooses, that is, he unconditionally sets his favor on whom he will, THEN, he destines them for their glorious role in eternity.

Paul mentions two parts to this destiny for the "foreknown" or the "chosen." One relates to our good. The other relates to Christ's glory. First, look at the aim of predestination as it relates to our good.

FOR THOSE WHOM HE FOREKNEW HE PREDESTINED TO BE CONFORMED TO THE IMAGE OF HIS SON.

Other texts that deal with our conformity to Christ show that it probably includes both the final glorious state of the resurrection as well as the process of moral transformation on the way to that glory.

Philippians 3:20–21

BUT OUR COMMONWEALTH IS IN HEAVEN, AND FROM IT WE AWAIT A SAVIOR, THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, WHO WILL CHANGE OUR LOWLY BODY TO BE LIKE HIS GLORIOUS BODY, BY THE POWER WHICH ENABLES HIM EVEN TO SUBJECT ALL THINGS TO HIMSELF. (This is the only other place in the NT where the word summorphous occurs besides Romans 8:29.)

1 Corinthians 15:42–49

SO IS IT WITH THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. WHAT IS SOWN IS PERISHABLE, WHAT IS RAISE IS IMPERISHABLE. IT IS SOWN IN DISHONOR, IT IS RAISED IN GLORY . . . JUST AS WE HAVE BORNE THE IMAGE OF THE MAN OF DUST, WE SHALL ALSO BEAR THE IMAGE OF THE MAN OF HEAVEN.

Philippians 3:10

THAT I MAY KNOW HIM AND THE POWER OF HIS RESURRECTION, AND MAY SHARE HIS SUFFERINGS, BECOMING LIKE HIM IN HIS DEATH . . .

2 Corinthians 3:18

AND WE ALL, WITH UNVEILED FACE, BEHOLDING THE GLORY OF THE LORD, ARE BEING CHANGED INTO HIS LIKENESS FROM ONE DEGREE OF GLORY TO ANOTHER; FOR THIS COMES FROM THE LORD WHO IS THE SPIRIT.

Conclusion: The aim of predestination as it relates to our good is that we are appointed to share the very glory of the risen Christ both morally in blameless righteousness and physically in a resurrection body of glory like his. This destiny is the "glorification" of verse 30 ("those whom he justified he glorified") and it is under way right now in all the children of God as we look into the face of Christ in the gospel and are changed from one degree of glory to another by the power of the Spirit.

4. What Is the Aim of Predestination for Christ's Glory?

God's ultimate goal in the eternally predestined plan of salvation does not terminate on humans. It terminates on the Son of God. His glory has precedence over our glory. The glory of the preeminence Christ is the ultimate goal of predestination.

FOR THOSE WHOM HE FOREKNEW HE ALSO PREDESTINED TO BE CONFORMED TO THE IMAGE OF HIS SON, IN ORDER THAT HE MIGHT BE THE FIRST-BORN AMONG MANY BRETHREN.

God appointed us to share the greatness of the Son so that the Son might be exalted as the greatest among the great.

God destined us to share Christ's glory in order that the glory of the Son might be magnified in the countless mirrors of those who are conformed to his image.

God created a second-born and a third-born and a millionth-born so that Christ might be exalted and praised and honored in the midst of a redeemed people.

Conclusion: The unspeakable wonder of predestination is that it aims at and secures the end which God must have in order to be God and the end which we must have in order to be happy—namely, the preeminent glorification of Christ in the glorification of his people.

“Those Whom He Predestined He Also Called, Part 1”

We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the first-born among many brethren. And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified.

When the people of God are set free from the compulsion of self-exaltation and self-justification and self-preservation, so that we live for the eternal good of other people, then we become the light of the world and the salt of the earth, and people notice in us the reality of God and give him glory (Matthew 5:14–16). Therefore if God's purpose for us is to be accomplished in the world—to make known his glory through lives of love—then we must find a weapon with which to conquer the pride and insecurity that feeds our need to exalt ourselves and justify ourselves and preserve ourselves with postures and poses and performances and prosperity.

Our Weapon Against Pride and Insecurity

The weapon that God has put into the hands of his people is the promise of Romans 8:28. "We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose" (KJV). The heart-felt confidence that God Almighty causes everything that happens to me to be good for me is the sword that severs the root of self-exaltation and self-justification and self-preservation. As verse 31 says, "If God is for us, who is against us?"

If, by the sheer grace of his sovereign will, God has taken your side, and works all the pain and pleasure together for your good, then no opponent can really succeed against you. So why exalt yourself? Why justify yourself? Why fret about preserving yourself? If the Lord of the universe has sworn to work for you, why are you anxious about what others think? Why are you all caught up in seeking comfort and security? Your Father knows what you need and he works everything for your good. Leave your exaltation and justification and preservation in his sovereign hands and live in freedom for others.

When God's chosen people really believe Romans 8:28, from measles to the mortuary, they are the freest and strongest and most generous people in the world. If Romans 8:28 is that powerful in daily life, then its foundation is utterly practical. Romans 8:29–30 is that foundation. The better we understand it and the more deeply we believe it, the more assured we will be of Romans 8:28. And that will make us a very strong and loving people—to the glory of God!

God's Calling and Predestination

Today our focus is on the first sentence in verse 30: "And those whom he predestined he also called." Last Sunday we zeroed in on the meaning of our "call" and the meaning of "predestination." Today I want to focus on the connection between these two. But first let's sum up our conclusions from last week.

Called According to His Purpose

Romans 8:28 says that all things work together for the good of those who "are called according to his purpose." What does it mean to be called? It means that God has overcome the rebellion of our hearts and drawn us to Christ and created faith and love where there was once a heart of stone. The call is effectual. It creates what it commands. It is not like, "Here Blackie! Here Blackie!" It is like, "Lazarus, come forth!" or, "Let there be light!" The call happens in the preaching of the Word of God by the power of the Spirit of God. It overcomes all resistance and produces the faith that justifies.

One of the key evidences for this truth was the sentence here in verse 30: "those whom he called he also justified." Only people with faith are justified. But Paul says that the called are justified. So the call must in some sense guarantee the faith. Indeed! The call is the creation of the faith. Therefore all who are called are indeed justified.

Called on the Basis of His Predestination

The other thing we saw last week was that this call is not somehow a response to anything we have done. Verse 28 says we are called "according to his purpose." His purpose and plan is the basis of our call, not our purpose or plan. This purpose is described in verse 29. Notice at the beginning of verse 30 that our call is based on our predestination: "those whom he predestined he also called." So the phrase "called according to God's purpose" in verse 28 is virtually the same as called on the basis of God's predestination in verse 30. His predestining and his purposing are the same.

And its content is given in verse 29: "Whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the first-born among many brethren." The purpose for which we are predestined is to share the glory of the preeminent Son of God. This purpose or predestination is traced back finally to an act of foreknowing: "Whom he foreknew he also predestined."

What Predestination Is Based On

And we argued last Sunday night that this does not mean that God bases his predestination on our self-determined faith which he knows ahead of time. That interpretation is intended to preserve the self-determination of the human will. But we have already seen that faith is produced by the call of God not by an act of human self-determination.

Instead what we saw was that there are many other texts to show that when God foreknows, he sets his favor upon or acknowledges or chooses. So the meaning of verse 29 is that "whom God freely chose, or whom God freely set his favor upon, he also predestined to be like his Son, and whom he predestined, he called." So the call of God is based on God's act of predestination which is in turn based on the election or choice that God makes without any respect to our distinctives at all.

The Basis for Rock-Solid Confidence in the Promise

The practical upshot of this last week was this: if God has chosen you before the foundation of the world apart from any merit or distinctives in you, and has appointed for you a destiny of glorious Christlikeness, and to bring about that purpose has called you by creating faith toward Christ and love toward God, and thus qualified you for the promise of Romans 8:28, then is not your confidence in this promise far greater than if it simply rested on something as wavering and uncertain as your will and decision? "Called according to his purpose" is the great ground of confidence that Romans 8:28 is really true for us.

Calling Based on Predestination

Today I want us to dwell on the truth that our call is based on God's predestination. Verse 30: "Those whom he predestined, he also called." Our call, our conversion, our regeneration, and the gift of our faith are based on God's eternal election and predestination not on our self-determination.

Other New Testament Texts Saying the Same Thing

The way I would like for us to dwell on this is to look at other texts in the New Testament which say this same thing so that we will see how broad the foundation of our confidence in Romans 8:28 really is in God's Word.

Romans 11:4–8

Paul recalls how Elijah once thought he was the only true believer left, just like some thought God has rejected his people in Paul's day.

But what is God's reply to him? "I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal." So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace [literally: a remnant according to the election of grace]. But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace. What then? Israel failed to obtain what it sought. The elect obtained it but the rest were hardened, as it is written, "God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that should not see and ears that should not hear, down to this very day."

Note that just as God had worked to keep for himself a group of true believers in Elijah's day, so he has in Paul's day. And Paul calls it a remnant "according to the election of grace." The fact there is a group of people who believe, are born again, converted, and called, accords with an act of gracious election. Election is the basis of the believing remnant, not vice versa. It does not say that God elected according to who believed, as though election were based on foreknown faith. No. Verse 5: "At the present time there is a remnant, according to the election of grace." The calling into existence of a remnant of true believers accords with God's purpose of election. "Those whom he predestined he also called."

2 Timothy 1:8–9

Do not be ashamed then of testifying to our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but take your share of suffering for the gospel in the power of God, who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not in virtue of our works but in virtue of his own purpose and the grace which he gave us in Christ Jesus ages ago.

Again Paul says that the call is not owing to our deeds. It is owing to God's purpose. Verse 9: "He saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace." Our call rests on his purpose, not ours. And the grace of this purpose was "given to us in Christ ages ago." Our call is based on God's eternal election. "Those whom he predestined he also called."

2 Thessalonians 2:13

But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren, beloved by the Lord, because God chose you from the beginning to be saved through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.

It does not say that God chose them on the basis of their foreseen faith. It says the opposite: God chose them with a view to saving them by the work of the Spirit and by faith. The self-determined faith of man does not give rise to God's election. On the contrary. Election gives rise to faith. "Those whom he predestined he also called."

Ephesians 2:4–6

But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with him, and made us sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

You may ask, Where do you see election and predestination in this text? The answer is that I see it in the word love. But you ask, Does not God love everyone? The answer is that he does not love all people in the same way. The love mentioned here is not the universal love that moves God to give life and breath and sunshine and rain. O no, it is far more precious than that.

Paul says, out of THIS love God made us alive when we were dead. Now, if God loved everyone with that love, all people would be made alive in Christ and all would be saved. When Paul gloried in the love of God for him in Jesus Christ, he did not glory merely in the OFFER of salvation to all who would come to Christ. He gloried in the deeper and more wonderful truth that God had brought him to Christ. Once he was dead in sin. Now he is alive. And the source of this miracle is the love of God. And since God does not perform this quickening for everyone, it is an electing love. And therefore election is indeed in this passage and it is the basis of our conversion, our regeneration, and our faith. "Those whom he predestined he also called."

1 Corinthians 1:26–30

For consider your call, brethren; not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth; but God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong, God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus [literally: "of him are you in Christ Jesus; NASB: "by his doing you are in Christ Jesus"], whom God made our wisdom, our righteousness and sanctification and redemption; therefore, as it is written, "Let him who boasts, boast of the Lord."

Consider your call. That is, look around you in Corinth and see what sort of people have become Christians. Consider who has been effectually called to faith. What do you see? Not many wise or powerful or high-born. Why not? Because God is the one who is choosing who will be saved in Corinth, and God intends to choose in a way that will sever the root of all self-exaltation. Three times Paul says, "God chose." God does not leave the affair of salvation to the self-determination of man because then we would determine the make-up of the church and we would have something to boast in.

Verse 30 says literally, "From him, that is, from God, are you in Christ Jesus." We did not put ourselves in Christ Jesus. God worked in us so that we would be united to Christ in faith. Why? So that no one might boast before God. Therefore let him who boasts boast in the Lord! God made the choices in Corinth. And on the basis of these choices he called, that is, he grafted people into Christ. "Those whom he predestined he also called."

Acts 13:47–48

Paul was preaching in the synagogue in Antioch of Pisidia. When the sermon is over, Luke makes a comment that shows us his deep theological harmony with the apostle's own writings. Paul closes his presentation with these words:

"For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, 'I have set you to be a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the uttermost parts of the earth.'" And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of God; and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.

This is virtually identical to what Paul says in Romans 8:30. "Those whom he predestined he also called," means the same as, "As many as were (fore-)ordained to eternal life believed." Paul's doctrine of predestination did not in the least deter him from his frontier missionary labor. On the contrary, it spurred him on to know that God had many people among the nations whom he would effectually call in the preaching of the gospel (Acts 18:10). Those whom God has predestined he will most certainly call. Therein lies the hope and confidence of the entire missionary enterprise.

John 8:46–47; 10:25–27

Jesus repeatedly poses the question in John's gospel why some people believe on him and others don't. Never does he give the popular answer that it is owing to the human power of self-determination. He traces it back again and again to something deeper.

Which of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? He who is of God hears the words of God; the reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God. (8:46–47)

Whether a person is willing to hear and believe the Word of God is owing to something deeper. Is the person OF GOD or not OF GOD? That is, is the person chosen of God? Born of God? Called of God? As many as are "of God" will be willing to hear. As many as are ordained to eternal life believe. "Those whom he predestined he also called."

The works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness to me; but you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. (10:25b–27)

"You do not believe because you do not belong to my sheep." Notice it does not say, "You do not belong to my sheep because you do not believe." My belonging to Jesus' sheep is not based on my faith. I must believe in order to give evidence that I belong to Jesus' sheep. And if I persist in unbelief, then I most certainly do not belong to Jesus' sheep. But my faith did not make me a sheep. God made me a sheep according to the election of grace which he gave me in Christ Jesus ages ago. And when sheep hear the gospel, they believe. Those whom he predestined to be sheep, he also effectually called to faith!

Conclusion

The conclusion I draw, then, is that there is a broad foundation in the New Testament for the truth of Romans 8:30, that the call of God is based on his prior predestination, and that this predestination is not based on anything in us: not on our worth as persons (since then everyone would qualify) nor on our faith (which is a gift of God). Our election is unconditional. Our predestination is unconditional. And our effectual calling is unconditional. Whom he foreknew he also predestined and whom he predestined he also called.

Eight Implications

1. Popular Philosophy Versus Biblical Doctrine

We are confronted with a choice between popular philosophical speculation on the one hand and pervasive biblical doctrine on the other hand. Popular philosophy says that we must have the power of ultimate self-determination in order to be accountable for our choices. The Bible, on the other hand, makes clear in a hundred places that we do not have the power of ultimate self-determination and nevertheless are accountable for our choices. Will you go with human philosophy or with the Bible? Has the Bible won your confidence sufficiently that you will submit your inherited notions to its judgments? Or will you continue to force it to submit to yours?

One of the criticisms that is sometimes brought against those of us who embrace the doctrines of unconditional election and the sovereignty of grace is that we are enslaved to logic and driven by an inexorable rationalism that forces us to say things about God which are not taught in Scripture. I suspect that is true of some people.

But my experience teaches me that the very opposite is also the case. I asked a friend recently how he handled the words in Acts 13:48, "As many as were ordained to eternal life believed." He said, "O, I interpret that in the light of all the other Scriptures that teach that humans have the power of ultimate self-determination." So I asked, "Like what? Can you give me any example of such a text?" He said, "Well, no, but it's implied everywhere."

What became clear after a little discussion was that he ASSUMES, he PRESUPPOSES, that you can't have accountability without human self-determination, and so everywhere he sees accountability in the Bible, he sees the power of final human self-determination. But where does he get this ASSUMPTION and this PRESUPPOSITION? Not from the Bible. He gets it from the common notions of (fallen) mankind. Now who is enslaved to philosophy and logic?

We are presented with a crucial choice: will we let the Scripture teach us things that are strange to our way of thinking? Or will we bring our inherited notions to the text and say, "These things can't be. They don't fit my assumptions"?

2. Rooting Out Boasting, Pride, and Self-Reliance

The doctrines of God's unconditional election and predestination and effectual calling tend to root out all boasting and pride and self-reliance. I have argued many times with other theologians who say, "You don't need to take away final self-determination in order to take away boasting. All you need to do is insist on FAITH for salvation instead of meritorious works." They argue from Romans 3:27 that faith excludes boasting. So you don't need to say that faith is a gift in order to root out boasting and pride and self-reliance.

My response is two-fold. First, I do not feel driven by logic to call faith a gift in order to rule out pride; I feel driven by exegesis. The New Testament teaches that we are dead in our sin and must be effectually called. The faith commanded must also be created if anyone is to be saved. I don't conjure up this idea because I think it is a good way to destroy pride. The Bible TEACHES it. And it does help overcome pride.

And secondly, I think that the reason genuine New Testament faith completely rules out boasting is that it is a reliance on God not only for the provision of salvation in the cross but also for the application of salvation to my heart. In other words, my faith not only says, "I choose to trust Christ." It also says, "I choose to trust that God the Father drew me to Christ and gave me the will to trust Christ" (John 6:44, 65). Or to say it still another way, faith rests in all the truth of the Bible, not just some of it. Faith eliminates all boasting and pride and self-reliance precisely to the extent that it is a faith in God to do for us what we could not do for ourselves—which includes the will to believe. Faith trusts God for all of salvation not just some of salvation. And salvation includes our effectual calling that created our faith.

If you were drowning, and the Son of God tossed an innertube in your vicinity, and you flailed your way over to it and then paddled to shore, you would thank him. You would take no credit for the innertube.

But suppose that you had been his life-long enemy and you were dead at the bottom of the lake, and he found you and brought you to shore and labored over you so long that just as you came to life, he fell exhausted at your side and died. And suppose that as you kneeled there over his corpse with tears of love streaming down your face, you heard a voice from heaven saying, "This is my beloved Son, with him I am well pleased. Rise, my Son!" And he rises and stands on his feet and looks down at you with the deepest affection that you have ever seen, and he takes your hand and pulls you gently and firmly to your feet and says, "Follow me, and I will work all things together for your good all the days of your life."

Which is your idea of how you got saved? Could it be that many of the struggles of your life are owing to the fact that you never understood how you got saved—or maybe never yet got saved?

3. Producing Lowliness, Meekness, and Patience

The doctrines of God's sovereign grace tend to produce lowliness and meekness and patience among those who embrace them. Ephesians 4:1–2 says, "Lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all lowliness and meekness, with patience, forbearing one another." One of the reasons that a very high calling produces a very lowly walk is that God's decision to call us into his kingdom is owing to absolutely nothing in ourselves.

Once you become gripped in your heart by the certainty that God chose you for salvation before you believed or had done anything at all, your tendency to boast over other people will be severed at the root. "What do you have that you did not receive," Paul said, "and if you received it, why do you boast as though it were not a gift?" (1 Corinthians 4:7).

A child who gets two rockets at Christmas time can boast over his brother who only got one rocket IF their parents base their choices on the relative worth of the children or the self-determined decisions of the children. But if the choices are made apart from any attention to the worth of the children, if the choices are made for wise and good ends that are far above the ability of the children to understand, then boasting over a brother is excluded. The most humbling way to be treated in all the world is to be treated with absolute mercy.

4. The Fulfillment of New Covenant Promises

If the doctrine of God's sovereign grace is true, then he can really fulfill his New Covenant promises to write his law on our hearts (Jeremiah 31:33) and cause us to walk in his statutes (Ezekiel 36:27), and thus conform us to the image of his Son (Romans 8:29). If God were to leave the ultimate power of self-determination with us, he might not be able to fulfill his promises that he would one day have a people who really did obey him.

If all the people in the world really had the power of final self-determination and decided to use it to rebel against God, he could do nothing about it. The only way that God's promise of a people with new hearts of obedience can be guaranteed is to say that God will overcome the sinful self-determination of people and give them new hearts and cause them to walk in his ways. And so the doctrine of God's effectual call based on his unconditional election is the very foundation of our confidence that he will fulfill for us the promises of the New Covenant: "I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me for ever" (Jeremiah 32:39).

5. The Fulfillment of the Great Commission

Not only that, the missionary promise that one day there will be believers from every tribe and tongue and people and nation worshiping God in the kingdom—that promise would have no guarantee if salvation were left finally in the self-determining hands of human beings. The fact that God has the right and power to effectually call whom he will from every people group on earth is the solid foundation of our confidence that the Great Commission will not be frustrated by the hardness of human hearts. The doctrines of grace are the dynamite of God in the hard places of world evangelization.

6. Strengthening True Security

The sovereignty of God in salvation strengthens the true security of the believer. If you believe that God has chosen you from all eternity, and that he predestined you to share the glory of his Son, and that he then worked miraculously to call you out of death into life and made you to believe in Christ, then your confidence is simply tremendous that he is for you and will complete the work of your salvation which he planned ages ago.

But if you only believe that God designed a general way of salvation with no particular persons in view, and that it is finally up to you whether you are going to be a part of this salvation or not, then your security will rest on a much weaker foundation. I count it a very precious thing to have been told by God that my eternal life is rooted in his personal, eternal decision to give me a share in the glory of his Son and that my very faith is part of his omnipotent effort to accomplish that purpose for me. What greater security can there be!

7. The Undefeatable, Indispensable Ministry

The work of the ministry is indispensable and undefeatable. Paul says in 2 Timothy 2:10, "I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation which in Christ Jesus goes with eternal glory."

The elect most definitely WILL obtain salvation: "those whom he elected he predestined, and those whom he predestined he called, and those whom he called he justified, and those whom he justified he glorified." No one can lead astray the elect (Matthew 24:24). Therefore the ministry is undefeatable.

Nevertheless, God has ordained that the way the elect will be preserved from error and unbelief and so obtain salvation is by the ministry of the Word and prayer. So Paul says that he endures everything for the sake of the elect that they may obtain salvation. Paul's ministry is the appointed means of God for preserving the faith of the elect by the nourishment of the Word. The ministry to the elect is indispensable—it is God's ordained means of causing them to endure to the end; and the ministry is undefeatable—the sheep always here the voice of the true shepherd and respond.

8. Grasping the True Meaning of Grace and Glorifying God

Until you embrace the doctrine of God's unconditional election and predestination and effectual calling, you will never truly grasp the meaning of grace and will never give God the glory he is due.

We call it "sovereign grace" because grace is not merely an offer of salvation; it is also a power that saves. Paul makes this crystal clear in Ephesians 2:5. "Even when we were dead through our trespasses, God made us alive together with Christ (BY GRACE YOU HAVE BEEN SAVED), and raised us up with him, and made us sit with him in heavenly places." The reason Paul inserted that parenthesis was to teach us that grace is a power that raises the dead and so is TOTALLY undeserved.

We will never feel the full wonder of grace until we surrender our claim to have the final say in our own salvation. We will never stand in awe of God's sovereignty over our lives and give him the glory for all our salvation until we know ourselves to be so utterly helpless that he had to do it all.

Learn from Herod's Death

Luke tells us a story about Herod in the book of Acts. One day he put on his royal robes and took his seat upon his royal throne and made an oration to his visitors from Tyre and Sidon. The people were eager to please Herod and cried out, "The voice of a god and not of a man." And Luke says, "Immediately an angel of the Lord smote him, because he did not give God the glory; and he was eaten with worms and died" (Acts 12:23).

From which I ask: if God's wrath breaks out against a man for not giving God the glory for so small a gift as oratorical excellence, how much greater danger must hang over the heads of those who refuse to give God glory for the much greater gift of faith?

Those Whom He Predestined He Also Called, Part 2

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 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. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

1. How to Ask Questions

1.1. Contrast Zechariah's response to the strange news of the angel in Luke 1:18 ("How can I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.") with the response of Mary to the stranger news of the angel in Luke 1:34 ("How can this be, since I have no husband?").

Zechariah doubted the word of the angel and asked for more evidence than he had. Mary accepted the truth of the strange sayings and simply expressed her desire to understand HOW it was going to be.

The angel struck Zechariah dumb. But he answered Mary up to a point ("The Holy Spirit will come upon you . . . with God nothing is impossible"—Luke 1:35, 37).

1.2. Consider Romans 9:19–20.

You will say to me then, "Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?" But who are you, a man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, "Why have you made me thus?" Has the potter no right over the clay?

"Answer back" does not refer to a humble inquiry about how these can be, but an in-submissive reaction against God's strange work. It is the same as the "striving" of Isaiah 45:9. The same word in Luke 14:6 suggests that it means answer back with a view to contradicting.

Therefore, it is good and right to want to understand as much as we can about the ways of God in salvation, and humble inquiry into the meaning of puzzling Scriptures is not wrong. What is wrong is an attitude that presents God with ultimatums and says that you won't believe it even if it stands written. The attitude is all important.

1.3. Hopefully we can move beyond the question: Does the Bible teach the sovereignty of God in salvation? and take up the LIFELONG query of how the Bible all fits together. All of us are engaged in that quest, and it will last till Jesus comes. But the atmosphere is so different among a group who do not any longer doubt that the Bible teaches sovereign grace but still want to know (with Mary), How can these things be?

1.4. Beware of being like the people in 2 Timothy 3:7 who are "always learning and never able to come to a knowledge of the truth." Delight in solutions; don't forever resist them as though it is noble to ever be the struggling skeptic.

1.5. Strive to become one who can instruct others in these things rather than assuming that you will always be the confused questioner.

1.6. "THINK over what I say, for the Lord will grant you understanding in everything" (2 Timothy 2:7). Think! Think! Think! Think! Think!

1.7. "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God" (James 1:5). Pray! Pray! Pray! Pray! Pray!

1.8. Remember that we see through a glass darkly (1 Corinthians 13:12) and will be given more light by and by. Let us draw back from going beyond Scripture if we are tempted to impugn God. "Shall not the judge of all the earth do right!" (Genesis 18:25).

2. God's Predestination and His Grief over Unbelief

Assuming that God has the right and power to call whom he pleases effectually to faith, how can it be consistent for God to pass over people and leave them in their sin and condemnation when Ezekiel 18:32 says, "For I have no pleasure in the death of any one, says the Lord God, so turn and live"? If God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but, in fact, Jesus weeps over the unbelief of Jerusalem (Matthew 23:37; Luke 13:34; 19:41–42), then why does he not effectually call them all? Or, turning it around, if he weeps over their unbelief, can we really believe that he has himself made the choice ahead of time who will believe and who will not?

2.1. First, we remind ourselves that Jesus said things even in Matthew and Luke that make his tears look puzzling; we are not forcing some strange doctrine onto Jesus.

2.1.1. Matthew 11:25–27—Jesus seems to rejoice that God has hid his meaning from certain wise ones in Israel.

2.1.2. Matthew 15:13—"Every plant that my Father has not planted will be rooted up."

2.1.3. Matthew 16:17—He says God reveals to Peter the true meaning of Christ.

2.1.4. Matthew 22:14—"Many are called but few are chosen."

2.1.5. Matthew 24:24—He refers to the elect who cannot possibly be led astray by the false prophets.

2.1.6. Luke 19:41–42—Right in the passage where Jesus is weeping he says, "But now they are hidden from your eyes." This is what he had said also in 18:34 and 9:45.

2.1.7. Both Matthew (13:10–17) and Luke (8:9–10) taught that the purpose of the parables was to conceal the truth of Jesus mission.

2.1.8. Deuteronomy 28:63 says, "And as the Lord took delight in doing you good and multiplying you, so the Lord will take delight in bringing ruin upon you and destroying you." This is apparently the opposite of Ezekiel 18:32. God does in some sense or in some circumstances delight in the death of the wicked!

From all this we do not throw the question out. We simply steady our hand so that we don't jump to unwarranted conclusions about the impossibility of grieving over the unbelief of Jerusalem and the death of the wicked on the one hand, and concealing the saving truth from them and delighting in their judgment on the other hand. We prepare ourselves for some complex and deep mind in God and in his Son.

2.2. Second, we consider the possibility that God has the capacity to will something in one sense that he disapproves of in another sense. We consider this because it seems to be the case again and again in Scripture, which is the only place we can find out clear and reliable things about God.

2.2.1. For example, God willed the death of his Son (Isaiah 53:10; Acts 2:23; 4:27–28). Yet this was a terrible sin that Jesus should be killed. Did God delight in this occurrence or not? I think he did, insofar as he contemplated it as an act of redemption for the accomplishment of his wise and holy purposes. But I think that he did not delight in it insofar as he contemplated it as an act of sin in the intentions of the Pharisees and Pilate and Herod. He was angry and grieved.

From this I conclude that God's will is not a simple thing. He can will a thing in one sense and not will it in another sense. When we read that God wills a thing or that he does not will a thing; or when we read that he delights in a thing or that he has no delight in a thing, we must always be ready to admit that this simple statement of what he wills or delights in is not the whole story.

2.2.2. Take Ezekiel 18 and Deuteronomy 28, for example. Must we say that these are simply contradictory, or should we not say that in one sense God does delight in the judgment of the wicked (insofar as he contemplates the judgment in relation to the greatness of their wickedness and in relation to the preservation of his justice and glory and in relation to the other good things for other generations that will come from it, etc.), and in another sense he has no delight in the death of the wicked (insofar as he contemplates it narrowly as the destruction of his creature created in his image with potential for his praise and as a tactical victory of the evil one)?

2.2.3. Similarly with Jesus' weeping over Jerusalem. In one sense he is grieved as he considers the sin of the people, the dishonor of his Father, the loss of life in spite of the fact that they had had such great advantages in the Word of God. But in another sense he gives hearty approval of God's overarching design to suffer a temporary hardening and blindness to lie upon Israel. He even "rejoices in the Holy Spirit and says, 'I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to babes; yea, Father, for so it was well pleasing to thee.'" Whether he is weeping or rejoicing depends on the angle of vision, or on whether Jesus is contemplating the universality of things or the narrow nature of sin and death for itself in isolation.

2.2.4. Therefore, the numerous texts in the Bible that describe God willing and yearning that men and women be saved should not be ignored, or diluted. We should let them stand and, in fact, we should join God in his tears and longings. But then we should realize that the mind and heart of the infinite God are more complex than we may have at first thought and may indeed allow for another sense in which for good and wise purposes he ordains to come to pass what in itself he hates (like the death of his innocent Son).

2.2.5. This is the way that I would be inclined to understand the passages in 1 Timothy 2:4 and 2 Peter 3:9 if the contexts of these passages did not provide a different solution—which I think they do.

2.2.5.1. 1 Timothy 2:4

"God desires all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth."

In all likelihood "all men" is not to be taken in an individual and universal sense since it probably does not mean this in verse 1 ("I urge that supplications . . . be made for all men, for kings and all who are in high positions"). It seems that "all men" refers to all stations and groups of men. All sorts and levels of men. So the point is that God is not willing that any group be excluded for salvation.

Moreover, in 2 Timothy 2:25 this phrase, "knowledge of the truth," occurs and the context shows that God is the one who gives repentance and a knowledge of the truth!

But IF all individuals are meant, then we must ask why all men are not saved. One theology says: because man has the power of final self-determination. Another theology says because God wills at another level to pass over some in election and effectual calling.

But note well. The former theology really implies that God has another will too: God really wills that there be a world in which there is self-determination, even though he knows that it will mean the loss of many people in destruction. That is, God wills a certain kind of world more than he wills to keep people from being lost.

This is just what I think too, only the world that I think God wills instead of willing to lose none is a world in which his purpose is to display his glory by the revelation of his power and wrath in judgment against the ungodly. I say that God prefers a world redounding to his glory instead of a world in which no one is lost. The other view says that God prefers a world with self-determining humans instead of a world in which no one is lost.

So both of us wind up saying that "God wills all men to be saved" really means salvation in itself is the right and beautiful thing when any one's personal duty and destiny is considered, but God wills not to save everyone because of a higher will that he has—then our answers to what that is part ways. Which is the biblical answer?

2.2.5.2. 2 Peter 3:9

"The Lord is not slow about his promise as some count slowness, but is forbearing toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance."

Again, as in 1 Timothy 2:4 it appears that the context limits the application of this divine wish. In this case it limits it to the church, or we might say to the elect. Note the use of the word YOU. "God is forbearing to YOU, not wishing that any should perish."

In other words, God aims to give enough time to the world so that all the elect will repent and be saved. Verse 14 seems to confirm this. Peter addresses the "beloved" and says, "Therefore, beloved, since you wait for these, be zealous to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. And count the forbearance of our Lord as salvation." That is, God is forbearing and not bringing history to a close because he wants all the "beloved" to repent and be saved.

2.3. For the question why God does not elect and effectually call all people to himself see Romans 9:22–23 and 11:30–32.

3. Prayer and Evangelism

If God has elected unconditionally and predestined those whom he elected and is effectually calling those whom he predestined, what is the point of praying and evangelizing?

3.1. Prayer

3.1.1. Compare Ezekiel 36:9–10 with 36:37. On the one hand the re-population of Israel is promised. And on the other hand God says that he plans to (literally:) "be asked of" by the house of Israel. In other words, God wills that prayer be the occasion for the fulfillment of his promises.

3.1.2. It is not logically inconsistent to say that God will answer prayer and that he has decided before the world what shall take place. For the prayer itself is one of the things he has foreordained as a means of bringing about what he wills. He wills to do things through prayer so that we will be more conscious of our reliance on him and of his intimate involvement in the world (John 14:13—"that the Father may be glorified in the Son").

3.1.3. If God did not have the right and power to call effectually, what would you ask him to do for your unbelieving friends and family? How can you pray if you DON'T believe in the sovereignty of grace?

3.1.4. The persistent burden to pray for something, like revival or the conversion of a friend, is a good sign that God is moving to do something special. A movement of prayer usually precedes the great works of God, not because enough people have the power to twist the arm of the Almighty, but because God is pleased to prepare us to behold his work as a gift of grace and to cherish it dearly by having us plead for it so fervently.

3.2. Evangelism

Why engage in missions if people are already predestined to be saved, and the predestined cannot be lost?

3.2.1. God commanded us to (Matthew 28:18–20), and no amount of philosophical speculation should deter us.

3.2.2. God has ordained that his effectual call of the elect will happen through the preaching of the gospel and not without it (1 Thessalonians 1:4–5; 1 Corinthians 1:23–24; Romans 1:16; 10:14–17; Acts 26:16–18; 13:48; John 17:20; etc.).

3.2.3. It is impossible that the elect should be lost (Matthew 24:24). Nevertheless, people are lost because we don't evangelize and because we don't pray, who otherwise would be saved. For if we evangelized and prayed, we would give evidence that God had planned to save people. The upsurge of world evangelism and prayer is the sign that God is about do a great ingathering.

3.2.4. We should want to enjoy the thrill of being empowered by God as a channel of his saving grace. Not to evangelize because God has predestined is to be like the man who chooses to stay in bed because he says if God had predestined him to get out, he would get out.

3.2.5. The effectual call of God based on God's eternal election is an encouragement for missions (Acts 18:10; John 10:16; 11:52; 17:20).

4. Conclusion

The doctrines of sovereign grace are not overthrown by problems in Scripture. They stand firm and are the precious foundation of our deepest hopes.

4.1. They give hope to our prayer life that God can and will break through where it looks humanly impossible.

4.2. They give hope to our evangelism that God will not only give us the strength to persevere in missions, but also that God will effectually call his own from every tongue and tribe and people and nation.

4.3. They sever the root of all boasting and pride and self-reliance, both toward God and toward man, and put in the place of pride a lowly walk that is continually stunned that it was chosen to be saved.

4.4. They guarantee the right and ability of God to fulfill the promises of the New Covenant—to give us a new heart, and write his law on our heart, and cause us to walk in his statutes and love and fear him all our days.

4.5, They give us deep security that could not be enjoyed if we believed that God simply designed a general way of salvation with no particular persons in view and left it finally up to us who would belong to this salvation.

4.6. They insure that the work of the ministry is both indispensable and undefeatable (2 Timothy 2:10).

4.7. They reveal the true nature of grace and the true desperation of our plight without it. So God gets all the glory and we are moved to worship him and love as never before.

“Those Whom He Called He Also Justified, Part 1”

We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the first-born among many brethren. And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified.

A Strategy to Win Affection

Imagine with me a young man at Bethlehem who falls in love with a certain young woman. But she doesn't even seem to know he is alive. So he plans a strategy to try to win her attention and her affection and in the end, he hopes, her commitment in marriage.

He carries out his plan by getting into a small group with her, finding out her birthday and her tastes and the friends they have in common. He buys her a special gift which he knows she has been wanting, he reserves a special room at a nice restaurant, invites her friends to the dinner party, pays for the food, and then arranges for her roommate to bring her to the restaurant at the right time. Everything goes off like clockwork, and she loves the food and the friends and the gifts. When it is over she thanks everyone for the gifts, including the young man who planned it all, and she leaves.

And that's it. She never even asked how this party got planned or who put it all together. The months of effort and creativity and affection were completely overshadowed by the gifts and food and fun.

Wanting the Promise but Ignoring the Plan

That's the way we are if we love Romans 8:28 but pay no attention to Romans 8:29–30. Do you love to think about the promise that everything will work together for your good, but pay no real attention to the planning and effort and affection that has gone into the making of that promise from all eternity?

Do you love to receive your favorite spiritual dishes from the divine Chef, but when he joins you at the table and reminisces about his culinary art, you excuse yourself and go about your business?

Brothers and sisters, I hope that is not what we are like at Bethlehem, because if it is, then it is likely that the meal of Romans 8:28 is a mirage. The promise is made to "those who love GOD," not just his gifts. And if we love GOD, then when he joins us at the table and reminisces about his redemptive strategy (in Romans 8:29–30), we not only stay, but we hang on every word. Those who love the Cook and not just the cake say,

I meditate on all that thou hast done;

I muse on what thy hands have wrought.

I stretch out my hands to thee;

My soul thirsts for THEE like a parched land.

(Psalm 143:5–6)

So I am praying earnestly in these four weeks that my own exposition of God's eternal preparation of the banquet of salvation will be faithful to his Word and that your hearts would be glad in it.

What We Know

Verse 28 begins with the words, "We know." WE KNOW that God is exerting his sovereign wisdom and power to paint a portrait of us that, though now very imperfect, yet will one day resemble the image of his own Son. We KNOW this. Everything in our life gains meaning from this destiny. If this confidence were shaken, everything would be shaken. WE KNOW! WE KNOW that God is at work to bring us to glory. WE KNOW that we are more than conquerors.

And the foundation of our confidence, the careful planning and culinary art behind the banquet of glory, is verses 29–30.

God Foreknew Us

First, God foreknew us. Before the foundation of the world, he took note of us and set his favor upon us and chose us. "You only have I known of all the people on the face of the earth." He did not wait to see what we might be like. He chose us to make us what he would like. Before we had done anything good or evil, he set his electing eye upon us and set us apart for his own.

Therefore, God's commitment to work all things together for my eternal glory is not a weak and uncertain echo of my love for him. On the contrary, my love for him is an infallible outworking of his electing love for me. I know that he will complete this great salvation because he chose me unconditionally.

Those Whom He Foreknew He Predestined

Second, those whom he foreknew he predestined. Having chosen us for his own, he then appointed for us the most glorious of all destinies—to be conformed to the image of his Son so that the Son could be the preeminent One with his glory reflected in millions of mirrors of himself.

Therefore, WE KNOW that God will work all things for our good because he not only chose us for himself unconditionally but also appointed our destiny—predestined us—to the very good he promises in verse 28.

The Massive Obstacle of God's Wrath Against Sin

So far so good. Our confidence in Romans 8:28 hits no snags until we get to verse 30. But between verses 29 and 30 a massive obstacle appears. Paul doesn't mention it. He only mentions how God flattens it. But we better look at. It is called sin. Or more seriously, the wrath of God against sin. All of us have sinned and failed miserably to honor the glory of God (Romans 3:23). Our hearts are deceitful above all things and desperately corrupt (Jeremiah 17:9). We are blinded by the god of this age (2 Corinthians 4:4). We are dead in trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1, 5)—futile in mind, darkened in understanding, alienated from the life of God, and hardened in heart (Ephesians 4:17–18).

By nature we are children of wrath (Ephesians 2:3) and the anger of God is resting upon us because of our depravity (John 3:36).

Now and Then

Last week I wrote in the STAR that God met me on Saturday afternoon and gave me a deep and peaceful hour. I said that the foundation of my salvation was so real that I felt, as I walked across the bridge, like I weighed two ounces standing in the gentle sun on a mountain of granite ten thousand miles thick. I meant—utterly secure on the mountain of Romans 8:29–30.

But it wasn't always so for John Piper. There was a time when the mountain of granite was not under me but over me, ready to fall and crush me. It was the mountain of God's wrath against my sin. God hated me in my sin.

God Hates Unrepentant Sinners

Yes, I think we need to go the full biblical length and say that God hates unrepentant sinners. If I were to soften it, as we so often do, and say that God hates sin, most of you would immediately translate that to mean: he hates sin but loves the sinner. But Psalm 5:5 says, "The boastful may not stand before thy eyes; thou hatest all evildoers." And Psalm 11:5 says, "The Lord tests the righteous and the wicked, and his soul hates him that loves violence."

Six things the Lord hates, seven which are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and a man who sows discord among brothers. (Proverbs 6:16–19)

God hates unrepentant sinners—which means that his infinite wrath hangs over them like a mountain of granite and will in the end fall. "Surely God will shatter the head of his enemies, the hairy crown of him who goes on in his guilty deeds" (Psalm 68:21).

What Good Is Romans 8:28 for a Sinner?

Now what is to become of Romans 8:28? What good is God's eternal election and predestination to glory if I am found to be a sinner? How can all things work together for my good if the infinite wrath of God hangs over me like a mountain of granite, and God hates me with a holy hatred when he contemplates me in my sin?

My only hope is that God may not only contemplate me as a depraved sinner but also may contemplate me in Jesus Christ—chosen, loved, and destined for glory. My only hope is that God will fulfill his predestined purpose for me by appeasing his own wrath and acquitting me of all my sin and conquering the depravity of my heart—a thought that is so wonderful it can scarcely be imagined. But the gospel message is that God has done this in the death of his Son.

The Solution: Justification

Verse 30: "Those whom he called he JUSTIFIED."

Between the Denver of predestination and the Pacific Coast glorification rises the impassible Rocky Mountains of God's righteous wrath against me in my sin. And my locomotive sits frozen in the foot hills of Colorado. But justification is the means by which God flattens the obstacle of his wrath and prevents my sin from frustrating his eternal purpose to bring me to glory.

Three Questions About Justification

So we need to ask three questions about this wonderful work of God:

What is justification?

What is the basis of it?

How can a sinner like me hope to enjoy its benefits?

1. What Is Justification?

As it is used here in Romans 8:30, it refers to the declaration of God to a repentant sinner that all his sins are forgiven, he is acquitted, the wrath of the judge is removed, and he stands righteous before God. God announces that something has been taken away and something has been added. Sins have been taken away. And a new righteousness has been given.

Romans 4:6–7 refers to both of these benefits. Paul is saying that David in Psalm 32 described the same justification we experience today:

6) So also David pronounces a blessing upon the man to whom God reckons righteousness apart from works: 7) "Blessed are those whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not reckon his sin."

In verse 6 something is given, namely, righteousness: "God reckons righteousness apart from works." In other words in justification God counts his own righteousness as ours. Then in verse 7 something is taken away, namely, sin: "Blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not reckon his sin." So justification is the announcement to this repentant sinner that my sins are not counted against me, but the righteousness of God is counted for me. I am forgiven, acquitted, justified, no longer under the mountain of God's wrath, but now standing on the mountain of his righteousness.

2. What Is the Basis of This Justification?

How can God simply drop the charges against me? On what basis can he simply turn his wrath away from me? The answer is that he can't do it SIMPLY! It cost him his Son.

2 Corinthians 5:21 is a verse that every believer should commit to memory for constant encouragement. It gives the basis for what is given and what is taken away in justification. "For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."

To put it as simply as possible, God imputed to Jesus our sin and imputed to us his righteousness. Jesus is the basis of our justification. But we can be more specific.

Romans 5:9 says that it was particularly Jesus' death that provided the basis of our justification: "Since, therefore, we are now justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God."

And Romans 5:19 says that it was Jesus' obedience that provided the basis of our justification: "For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by one man's obedience many will be made righteous."

We can put them together with the language of Philippians 2:8 and say that the basis of our justification is the perfect obedience of Jesus even unto the death of the cross. In his obedience there is a righteousness that becomes ours in justification. And in his death our sin becomes his as he bears the whole weight of God's wrath in our place.

The basis of our justification is Jesus Christ, obedient unto death in my place.

3. How Can a Sinner Like Me Hope to Enjoy the Benefits of Justification?

In one sense we can do nothing. Romans 5:6 says, "While we were yet helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly." And 5:10 says, "For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life."

Paul says that the death of the Son did its justifying work for us while we were still helpless and ungodly and enemies of God. In a sense our acquittal is absolutely independent of anything in us at all. Our debt was canceled while we were still in jail.

Nevertheless, the Bible teaches repeatedly that we are justified "by faith" (Genesis 15:6; Romans 3:22; 4:5, 24; 5:1; 10:4, 10; Acts 13:38–39). Therefore what this means, I think, is that by faith we receive the word of acquittal. Or: by faith we hear and accept and rejoice in the declaration of acceptance with God.

My debt was paid in the death of Christ while I was still helpless and ungodly. The wrath of God against me was appeased and averted not by my faith but by the death of Christ while I was still his unbelieving enemy. But only when I surrendered all attempts at self-justification and trusted in Christ alone did I hear and know and delight in the announcement: NOT GUILTY.

Returning to What We Know

Now we return to the first two words of verse 28: "WE KNOW."

WE KNOW that all things will work out for our good, because we have been foreknown—chosen by God before the foundation of the world.

WE KNOW that all things will work together for our good because, having chosen us, he predestined us for glory.

WE KNOW that all things will work together for our good because, having chosen and predestined us, he also flattened the mountain of his wrath that blocked the railroad between my predestination and my glorification. He justified us by the death of his Son. Every sin, gone! And all his righteousness, ours in Christ!

The Gap Between Predestination and Justification

Ah, but the question arises: is there not some uncertainty whether those whom he predestined will actually be justified since justification is enjoyed by faith and faith is an act of the human will? Do not some contingency and some uncertainty come in here? The answer, of course, is NO! For God himself has undertaken to close the gap of uncertainty between predestination and justification by his own infallible and effectual CALL. "Those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified."

Waking Up the Sleeping Guards

Suppose that you are the commander of an army and your trained ear hears the enemy creeping up on your troops in the middle of the night, and you hurry out to enquire at the sentry positions but find all your guards delinquent and asleep. You can choose whether to let them sleep and be overrun by the enemy which would serve them all right. Or you can awaken all of them which they don't deserve. Or you can waken some of them and let the rest reap the consequences of their disobedience. If you decide to awaken any of them, how will you do it?

You will call them. In themselves they don't have the power to just wake up when they are sound asleep. But you have the power to wake them up. And the power is in your call.

The Power of God over a Sleeping World

Well, that is the power God has over a sleeping world. The difference is that the world is sleeping the sleep of death in the power of sin. And God's call has the power to raise the dead. You and I have the power to call sleepers and say, "Awake, O sleeper." And they will wake up. But God has the power to say (as it says in Ephesians 5:14), "Awake, O sleeper, and ARISE FROM THE DEAD!" Therefore everyone he calls rises from the death of unbelief, trusts in Christ, and is justified. "Those whom he predestines he also calls, those whom he calls he also justifies." Nothing can stop the fulfillment of Romans 8:28 in the lives of the elect, not even the wrath of God against us in our sin.

A Closing Plea

I urge every one in the hearing of my voice to surrender all efforts to justify yourself before God and to turn to come to Christ and accept the finished work of your justification. What could be more satisfying and more honoring to God than to say with the saints of all the ages,

We owe our election to the unconditional foreknowing of God. We owe our hope of glory to the predestination of God. We owe our acquittal and righteousness to the justification of God. We owe the awakening of our faith to the call of God. And therefore we know that God will work all things together for our good infallibly, unshakably, forever. It is as good as done. All glory to God and to the Lamb! Amen.

“Those Whom He Called He Also Justified, Part 2”

1. Harmonizing Romans and James

How can Romans 3:28; 4:5 be made to harmonize with James 2:20–24?

Romans 3:28

For we hold that a man is justified by faith apart from works of law.

Romans 4:4–5

Now to one who works, his wages are not reckoned as a gift but as his due. And to one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness.

James 2:20–24

Do you want to be shown, you foolish fellow, that faith apart from works is barren? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered his son Isaac upon the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by works, and the scripture was fulfilled which says, "Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness"; and he was called the friend of God. You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.

What James Combats

Verse 19 shows that James is standing against a view that has so watered down the meaning of faith that he must recover its radical quality by insisting on the inevitable connection between it and deeds of obedience.

You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!

This is clearly not the sort of faith that Paul had in mind when he said that faith justifies—the devils are not justified.

Also verses 17 and 20 show that James is contending with a weak and empty view of faith, not with Paul's view.

So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.

Do you want to be shown, you foolish fellow, that faith apart from works is barren?

Works Are the Sign of Living Faith

The implication of both of these verses is that when works are present, faith is alive and fruitful. That is, the implication is that faith is the really productive and powerful thing and works are the fruit and sign of life. This is no different than what Paul said in Galatians 5:6.

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is of any avail, but faith working through love.

Is not this what James means in verse 22 when he says that faith is completed by works? That is, faith is not whole and living and fruitful and justifying faith unless it produces acts of obedience.

How Was Abraham "Justified by Works"?

What does James mean, then, that Abraham was justified by works when he offered up Isaac (verse 21)?

In Genesis 22 the upshot of Abraham's obedience in offering Isaac is this:

By myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this, and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will indeed bless you, and I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore. And your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies, and by your descendants shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed by voice.

In other words God says that the fulfillment of the promise that originally had been received by faith (15:1–6) was now assured on the basis of obedience, that is, on the basis of what James calls "works." So James concludes that the justification of Abraham, by which he is viewed by God as a fit subject for life and blessing, is possible not just because he believes certain things about God, but because his faith is the sort of living and fruitful faith that produces obedience. This is not different from what Paul believes.

What James Means by "Justified by Works"

But the way James gives expression to it is quite different—namely, that Abraham is justified by works (verse 21), and more generally in verse 24, "You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone." This is almost the exact opposite of Paul's wording in Romans 3:28.

But his meaning in context is not opposed to Paul's. His meaning is that what makes it fitting for God to give Abraham the word and assurance of acquittal is not just an empty and ineffective belief, but a belief that produces works of obedience. So it is not a misuse of language to say that those works of obedience which only come from faith are themselves part of what makes it fitting for God to declare Abraham to be just.

"Justified by works" in the mouth of James means that the acts of obedience that come from faith and thus show it is alive are part of what makes it fitting for God to give to Abraham the word of acquittal.

What Paul Means When He Says One Must Not Work

On the other hand in Romans 4:5 when Paul says that one must NOT work if he hopes to receive justification, he is not referring to the obedience that comes from faith but, as verse 4 shows, the effort that attempts to establish your dessert—"To the one who works his wages are not reckoned as a gift but as his due." So Paul is not opposing the works which James says are indispensable, namely, the obedience that comes from faith.

What We Learn

What we learn from this is how our formulations of doctrine are very much determined by our situation and especially by the error we see most prevalent.

Practically, we also learn that the in one sense it is faith alone which justifies, but that the faith which justifies never stays alone. It is living and active and bears fruit in obedience. That is the test of real justifying faith and therefore also the confirmation of our calling and election (2 Peter 1:10).

2. The Initial Act of Faith and Persevering in Faith

Are we justified by our initial act of genuine faith or must we persevere in faith in order to be justified?

Perseverance Is Necessary for Justification

Romans 5:1 says that believers ARE JUSTIFIED, not that they will be justified when they have finally persevered in faith during their whole life. But the way Paul and James use Abraham as an example of how we are justified suggests that perseverance is necessary for justification. Not only that, Jesus says, "He who endures to the end will be saved" (Mark 13:13).

The Example of Abraham

Let's look at the example of Abraham.

Romans 4:3

For what does the scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness."

This is a reference to Genesis 15:6 when Abraham had no children and not even Ishmael was born yet.

Romans 4:18–22

In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations; as he had been told, "So shall your descendants be." He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead because he was about a hundred years old, or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb. No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was "reckoned to him as righteousness."

This reference to Abraham's being 100 years old shows that the time of faith being spoken of in his life is Genesis 17 (cf. verses 1, 17)—namely, the time when God came and told him that not Ishmael but a new son, Isaac, born to Sarah not Hagar, would be the heir. This was more than thirteen years since the time of Genesis 15:6 (Ishmael was 13 years old; Genesis 17:25).

Therefore Paul is saying that the declaration of acquittal back in 15:6 and referred to again in Romans 4:22 was made not only in response to the earlier act of faith in Genesis 15:6. But also in response to the later act of faith in Genesis 17. That is what the words "that is why" (Greek, dio: therefore) imply in Romans 4:22.

We could carry the story of Abraham on into James and show how some time later Abraham offered up Isaac in faith, and James says this, too, is an occasion to which God responded with the declaration of acquittal (James 2:23). But this is sufficient to show how Paul thinks about perseverance of faith.

Conclusion

My conclusion is that the way to let Romans 5:1 (justification a present possession) and Romans 4:3–22 stand is to say that YES we are justified on the occasion of our first act of living faith. And to say also that what makes it fitting for God to give the word of total acquittal to that one act of faith is that God sees in it all the subsequent acts of faith, the way he sees the oak tree in the acorn. Since the perseverance is established by him as certainly to occur, he can freely declare righteousness to that first act of faith.

Jonathan Edwards put it like this (Works, vol. II, p. 641):

So that although the sinner is actually and finally justified on the first acts of faith, yet the perseverance of faith, even then, comes into consideration, as one thing on which the fitness of acceptance to life depends. God, in the act of justification, which is passed on a sinner's first believing, has respect to perseverance, as being virtually contained in that first act of faith; and it is looked upon, and taken by him that justifies, as being as it were a property in that faith. God has respect to the believer's continuance in faith, and he is justified by that, as though it already were, because by divine establishment it shall follow; and it being by divine constitution connected with that first faith, as much as if it were a property in it, it is then considered as such, and so justification is not suspended; but were it not for this, it would be needful that it should be suspended, till the sinner had actually persevered in faith.

“Those Whom He Justified He Also Glorified”

We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the first-born among many brethren. And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified.

At the close of this series let me remind you again that the wonderful confidence that tribulation and distress and persecution and famine and nakedness and peril and sword and slaughter and all the groaning from our unredeemed bodies and the all the frustrations of our imperfect spirits—the wonderful, deep confidence that all this will work together for our good is built on the massive foundation of God's sovereign work of salvation described in Romans 8:29–30. The reason I have preached these messages is to make you strong and happy in God when you lose your health and your spouse and your child and your job and your friend and your dream.

The promise of the Lord proves true;

He is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.

For who is God but the Lord?

And who is a rock, except our God?

Four Questions

We see the final extent of the Rock in the last phrase of verse 30: "Those whom he justified, he also glorified." We have time, perhaps, to ask four questions:

What happens when God glorifies a human being?

Who are the ones God will glorify?

How is this a fulfillment of the New Covenant which Jesus certified with his blood?

What happens when believers try to hold on to the certainty of glorification while rejecting the sovereignty of grace?

1. What happens when God glorifies a human being?

1.1. Sharing in the glory of Jesus

He gives them a share of his own glory and the glory of his Son.

Romans 8:17—"If we are children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him."

Notice: "Glorified WITH HIM!" When God glorifies his children, he does to them something like what he did to Jesus when he exalted him to his right hand above every rule and authority. He gives us a share in that glory.

Romans 5:2—"Through Christ we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in our hope of the glory of God."

1 Peter 5:1—"So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ as well as a partaker in the glory that is to be revealed."

When God glorifies a human being, he grants to that person the privilege of beholding his infinite beauty and becoming like him as much as a creature can. We will not see him the way you see a parade on television. We will see him the way you see a hurricane when you fly into the eye of the storm. "When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with him IN glory" (Colossians 3:4).

1.2. Receiving a new and glorious body

More specifically, when God glorifies a person, he gives that person a new and glorious body.

Romans 8:21–23—"The creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved."

When Paul refers in verse 21 to the "freedom of the GLORY of the children of God," he means the freedom from groaning that comes from the glory of our new bodies. For now we groan awaiting the redemption of our bodies. But then our bodies will be glorious, like the resurrected body of Jesus.

Philippians 3:20–21—"Our commonwealth is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will change our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power which enables him even to subject all things to himself."

Or as the apostle Paul put it in 1 Corinthians 15:42–43,

So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory.

No more pain. No more frustration with weakness and weariness. No more disability or wheel chairs or crutches or braces or allergies or addictions or diseases. Everyone strong. Everyone radiant with the beauty of Christ (see Romans 8:29).

1.3. Receiving the inward beauty of holiness

When God glorifies his children, he gives them inward beauty—called holiness. This begins as a process in this life (called sanctification) and culminates when we come into the presence of Christ at death or at his second coming.

I think the reason that Paul omitted sanctification from his chain in Romans 8:29–30—the reason he did not say, "Those whom he justified he also sanctified, and those whom he sanctified he also glorified"—is that Paul is thinking of glorification in a way that includes sanctification. So glorification is the work of God by which he makes his children both spiritually and physically glorious. It begins now as a process of becoming holy, and it ends at the resurrection when we receive our new and glorious bodies.

2 Corinthians 3:18—"And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, and are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit."

2 Corinthians 4:16–17—"So we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed every day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison."

Paul clearly says that glorification has begun within as we give our attention to Christ. The biblical maxim is not, "Seeing is believing," but, "Seeing is becoming."

Look to Christ with a steady gaze and you will become like him from one degree of glory to another. Your inner nature will be renewed every day—that's the process! And all the adversities of life will be preparing for you an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison—that's the consummation.

In sum then, when God glorifies us, he shares his own glory with us, he gives us a new and glorious body, and he imparts the inward beauty of holiness partially in this life and fully when we come into the presence of the Lord.

2. Who are the ones God will glorify?

The answer is plain from the text: "those whom he foreknew he predestined, and those whom he predestined he called, and those whom he called he justified, and those whom he justified he glorified." Have you got a good grip yet on what this chain means? It means that no one who is foreknown fails to be predestined. And no one who is predestined fails to be effectually called. And no one who is called fails to be justified. And no one who is justified fails to be glorified.

The point of the chain is certainty and confidence and assurance and security. The point is that God does not just offer salvation, but that he SAVES! "You shall call his name Jesus, for he will SAVE HIS PEOPLE from their sins" (Matthew 1:21). Those whom he has predestined are SAVED! It is as good as finished—that's why even the future work of God in glorifying his people is put in the past tense in verse 30: those whom he justified he also glorified.

The glorification of God's predestined, called, and justified people is absolutely certain. None can be lost. The chain is unbroken, because the links have been forged in the furnace of God's eternal purpose. All those branches and distortions of the Christian faith that deny the reality of eternal security and deny the possibility of the full assurance of salvation shatter on the rock of Romans 8:30. For it is as plain as anything in Scripture that the justified WILL be glorified.

The answer, then, to the second question is that all who are effectually called, that is, all who have been quickened and enabled to believe, and have therefore heard the word of acquittal (justification) WILL BE GLORIFIED. It is done in the mind of God.

3. How is this a fulfillment of the New Covenant which Jesus certified with his blood?

When Jesus said at the Last Supper, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood" (1 Corinthians 11:25), or, "This is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many" (Mark 14:24), what was he referring to? He was referring to a promise made by the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel that God would one day make a new covenant with his people that would be better than the old covenant made at Mount Sinai.

Jeremiah 31:31–34,

Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant which they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it upon their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each man teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, "Know the Lord," for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

Ezekiel 36:26–27,

A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will take out of your flesh the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances.

So the reason the new covenant is better (Hebrews 8:6) than the old is that the new covenant contains a pledge from God not only to give blessing to those who obey but also to cause the obedience! "I will cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances." God does not make our salvation sure by separating it from obedience, but by guaranteeing our obedience.

The eternal security that is so clearly taught in the last phrase of Romans 8:30 ("whom he justified he also glorified") is not based on the fact that obedience is unnecessary for salvation, so that you can feel secure if you don't have it. O, no! Obedience IS NECESSARY: "He is the source of eternal salvation to all who OBEY him . . . Strive for . . . the holiness without which no one will see the Lord" (Hebrews 5:9; 12:14). Eternal security is based on the new covenant oath of God that he will cause the obedience which he requires in those whom he has called and justified.

If someone—say a Jehovah's Witness—asks you how you know you are going to heaven when you die (which is the same as how you know all things work together for good), I hope that after this series you will not be content to answer, "I know that I am going to heaven because I prayed one time and asked Jesus to come into my heart." Instead, I hope that we will answer something like this: I know that I am going to heaven because God chose me for his own and predestined me for glory. He has born witness of this in my life by calling me effectually out of rebellion and unbelief and by giving me the declaration of acquittal in his Word. I am justified—my sin went onto Christ, his righteousness went onto me.

And now my confidence rests in the covenant oath of God that he will cause me to walk in his will. He who did not spare his Son but gave him up for me, will he not work in me that which is pleasing in his sight (Romans 8:32)? By his Spirit he will cause me to fulfill the just requirement of the law (Romans 8:4), sin will not have dominion over me for I am now under the rule of sovereign grace (Romans 6:14), and that grace will reign through righteousness unto eternal life (Romans 5:21).

The Father planned it ages ago. The Son purchased it centuries ago. The Spirit is causing it today in my heart. It is he who is at work in me to will and to do his good pleasure (Philippians 2:13). And he who began in me this work will complete it at the day of Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:6). It is as sure as the oath and power of the sovereign God. And therefore I know that I am going to heaven, for THOSE WHOM HE JUSTIFIED HE ALSO GLORIFIED.

4. What happens when believers try to hold on to the certainty of glorification while rejecting the sovereignty of grace?

I ask this question because the answer is a present reality all around us, and it is tragic. I want to save you from it and I want to enlist you in the opposition to it.

Two Theologies—Six Differences and Similarities

Let me try to answer the question by contrasting two different theologies. We will describe the one theology as "Sovereign grace—trusting saint." And we will describe the other theology as "Assisting grace—sovereign saint." Let's look at six differences and similarities between these two theologies.

4.1. Definitions

What I mean by "sovereign grace—trusting saint" is that grace is a sovereign power that accomplishes all of salvation by overcoming the resistance of our will and making us love and trust Jesus Christ.

On the other hand what I mean by "assisting grace—sovereign saint" is a theology which says that God's role in conversion is to give some conviction and some enlightenment but not to overcome all resistance and not to call effectually, but to leave the final vote with the self-determining power of the individual. God assists. He gets the ball rolling. But the saint is sovereign in that conversion is decisively—not wholly, perhaps not even mainly—but DECISIVELY his own work. God gives general assistance to people and then lets them cast the deciding vote. So what distinguishes one person above another is not the work of God but the personal wisdom or courage or virtue or whatever that causes one person to embrace Christ while others who had the same assistance don't.

4.2. How a person hears the word of acquittal

Both of these two theologies agree that by faith a person hears the word of acquittal and is thus justified.

4.3. The connection between justification and glorification

Both of these theologies agree that those whom God justified he will also most surely bring to final glory. In other words both theologies believe in eternal security for the justified believer. No one who has come to faith in Christ and the enjoyment of justification can ever be lost.

4.4. The process of sanctification

But what about the process of sanctification that connects the initial event of justification and the final experience of glorification? Well, the theology of "sovereign grace—trusting saint" says that this process is a work of God just as much as conversion was a work of God.

"He who began a good work in you will complete it at the day of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:6). "God is the one who is at work in you both to will and to do his good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13). "I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I but the grace of God which is with me" (1 Corinthians 15:10). "It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me, and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me" (Galatians 2:20). Sanctification is the work of God overcoming my own remaining bent to sinning.

But the theology of "assisting grace—sovereign saint" did not give God the right to overcome resistance in conversion and so does not give him that right in sanctification either. God assisted with some conviction of sin and some enlightenment, but he did not transgress the sovereign territory of human self-determination. Therefore, this is his role in sanctification as well. He can assist with nudges and reminders and the like, but the final and decisive cause of progressive holiness is the self-determining power of the human will.

In the one theology God decisively causes me to walk in his statutes. And in the other theology he suggests that I walk in his statutes but I provide the decisive urge from my self-determining power.

4.5. The certainty of sanctification

Therefore, the theology of "assisting grace—sovereign saint" can only treat sanctification as possible but not certain. Sanctification is left it in the hands of the self-determining saint and God is denied the right to overcome the saint's rebellion. So there is no assurance that the saint's self-determined will, will in fact have holy inclinations. Since God does not cause the saint to will and to do his good pleasure, there is no guarantee that the saint will progress in holiness. So in this theology there is no certainty that a Christian converted will live a holy life. He provided the decisive impulse for his own conversion. It now remains to be seen whether he will use his self-determining power to be holy.

On the other hand the theology of "sovereign grace—trusting saint" says that sanctification is absolutely certain for all those who are called, because God himself has sworn by the "blood of the eternal covenant" that he will work in us that which is pleasing in his sight (Hebrews 13:20–21), and write his laws on our hearts (Hebrews 8:10 = Jeremiah 31:33), and put his Spirit within us and "cause us to walk in his statutes and be careful to observes his ordinances" (Ezekiel 36:27). "He who calls you is faithful, and he will do it" (1 Thessalonians 5:10; 1 Corinthians 1:8–9; 1 Peter 5:10; 2 Thessalonians 2:13–14).

In the one theology a life of holiness is uncertain after conversion because holiness is finally a work of man. In the other theology a life of holiness is certain after conversion because it is finally the work of God—a God whose covenant oath is to work in us what is pleasing in his sight.

4.6. Holiness and glorification

Now we are prepared to see the terrible result of the theology of "assisting grace—sovereign saint." Since real holiness is uncertain in the Christian convert, but glorification is certain, therefore, holiness is not the necessary path to glory. If glory is assured to you on the basis of your initial act of faith, but sanctification is not guaranteed, then the only way you can maintain assurance is to believe that holiness is not necessary for final salvation.

And that is in fact what thousands of professing Christians believe today. They cling to the doctrine of eternal security but reject the sovereignty of grace which guarantees holiness of life, and therefore they reject the necessity of holiness and imperil their souls. For the Scripture says that there is a holiness without which no one will see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14; cf. Galatians 5:21; 1 Corinthians 6:10).

If that holiness is not the work of God, if it is not secured for the believer by the covenant oath of God to work in us what is pleasing in his sight, then there is no security.

What I am trying to point out is that many people want the skyscraper promise of Romans 8:28, many want the precious reality of eternal security. But they don't want it on God's terms. They want their security AND their sovereignty. They want God to step in at the end of their lives with sovereign power and give them glory, but they do not want him to step in now with his sovereign grace and make them holy.

O how many unregenerate people are at ease in Zion thinking that they are secure without holiness! Why? Because for generations teachers and pastors have been saying that you can have the security of glorification without the necessity of holiness.

And they have been saying this because they have rejected the biblical teaching of sovereign grace which alone explains how the New Testament on the one hand can give the eternal security of glory, and yet on the other hand make that glory dependent on practical holiness. If God's grace is sovereign, it not only fulfills promises of glory, it also fulfills the practical conditions of those promises.

If only the road of obedience leads to glory, then the sovereign grace of God will infallibly keep his people on the road that they may get the promised glory. Those whom he justified, he also sanctified and THEREFORE glorified.

For from him and through him and to him are all things.

To him be glory for ever and ever.

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