Romans chapter 8 verses 28 to 30 is our text as I read earlier. If you haven't done it, I invite you to turn there now as we get ready to take a look at it together. And as always, before we go to the word, let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father, again, we thank you for the opportunity and the privilege that we have to be here together. We thank you for this time that we have now to open your word and to hear your word preached for us. And so we pray that you would minister to each of our hearts through the preaching of your word, and that you would give us this blessing through the preaching of your word. And we ask for this in Jesus' name, amen. So Romans 8, 28 to 30. All I could think as I was preparing this message is buckle up. This is one of the more well-known passages in the book of Romans, perhaps one of the more well-known passages in the entire Bible. But we return as we look at this passage to a very familiar topic, a familiar concept. And that concept is the reality of our security as believers. The concept of where it is that our assurance really and truly comes from. Sometimes it is called eternal security. Others have called it the perseverance of the saints. But really, it's our confidence in the reality of our salvation. But how can we have such confidence? How can we have such confidence in something that we call eternal security? How can we have such confidence that we can know these things about ourselves, that we are saved, that we are going to heaven, that we will one day reign with Christ, that we are truly co-heirs with Christ, fellow heirs with him and heirs of God, as it says back in verse 17. We have seen many ways to answer this question in the book of Romans. Our security, for example, is found in the completed work of Christ on our behalf, that perfect completed work of Christ on our behalf. Our security is found in the reality that our justification before God is on the basis of Christ's completed work. Our security is found in the imputation of the very righteousness of God as it is credited to our account because of the completed work of Christ. Our security is found because or in the fact that our condemnation as sinners has been placed upon Christ on the cross and he has absorbed the entire wrath of God in our place because of his completed work. And all of those things are certainly most definitely true. And we have talked about them, as I said, throughout this letter. But how? How can we really know? On what basis is this security given to believers and rendered to us as believers? Is there an even more assured reality that we can cling to? And there is. And it is a massive reality and it unfolds for us. in these three verses that are filled with the kind of depth of the knowledge of God that we can only scratch the surface of with our finite minds. If you'll remember, we just in the previous verses looked at the way that the Holy Spirit works within us to help us and aid us in our walk with Christ. He groans on our behalf with groanings that are too deep for words, and he groans interceding for us according to the will of God. And thus, we realize, as we came to a close last week, that everything that comes into our lives, all situations and all circumstances, all of it is a part of our lives, not only because God is in control, though He is, they are also a part of our lives because of the intercessory work of the Spirit on our behalf. Yes, it is the will of God, whatever happens to us happens to us according to his will. But his will happens to us because the spirit intercedes for us. And so we delved into verse 28 very briefly and said that this is why the promise of verse 28 comes in. Because if all the things in our lives are the result of the Spirit interceding for us according to God's will, then how could they not work together for good for us? Thus, this is the plan of God for all of his children. These verses are. And Paul goes into great detail about the reality of the plan of God for believers. And in that we find some of the richest, deepest soil for our assurance as believers. Now to start with, I want you to see in our first point in verse 28, the promise of God's plan. The promise of God's plan. Verse 28 says, we know, we know, that for those who love God, all things work together for good for those who are called according to His purpose. There are a couple of things to notice in this verse that are very important for us. The first thing that I want you to notice in this verse is the beneficiaries of the plan of God. The ones who actually receive the promise of the plan of God. It is not anyone and everyone. It is a select group of people. They're described at the beginning of the verse as those who love God. That's the first descriptor of the recipients of the beneficiaries of God's plan. And then the second way that they're described is the end of the verse. Those who are called according to his purpose. That then makes this promise that all things work together for good limited in its scope to only a certain group of people. The ones who love God are called according to his purpose. This promise does not apply to everyone in the world. And this promise does not apply to everyone who has ever lived throughout human history. It applies to a specific people, a specific type of person. The person described first is the one who loves God. Love of God is the fruit of the spirit. It is the first and greatest commandment, according to Jesus, that you love God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength. And one of the marks of the spirit applying his regenerating work into the life of a believer is that they love God. Love for God is not something that we drum up in the flesh. It is a supernatural work of the Spirit on the behalf of the sinner. It is a part of the regeneration, a part of the new heart that is given to the believer when he rips out the heart of stone and gives instead a heart of flesh with new desires and new affections. One of the marks of a believer, fundamental and foundational, is that he loves God. The believer, what does it mean to love God, by the way? To love God is a desire to know him. To love God is a desire to see more of God's glory in the face of Christ and through the gospel of Christ. To love God is to desire to commune with him. That's what the love of God is. It's not just a statement. I love God. It is a fundamental shift in priorities, a new direction of life. Once I hated God as an unbeliever and was at war with Him and in love with my sin. But after salvation has come and the Spirit has done His work, no longer is that the case. Now I hate my sin and I love my God. This is a part of the great transformation that happens at conversion, when the new covenant promise of a new heart and new desires is applied to the believer through faith. Love for God is a hallmark throughout the Bible. Isaiah 56.6 says, the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord and minister to him to love the name of the Lord and to be his servants and hold fast to my covenant. 1 Corinthians 8.3 says, if anyone loves God, He is known by God. In 1 John 4, 19, we love because he first loved us. This applies then to those who love God. In other words, believers, true believers, anyone and everyone else is exempt from this promise in verse 28. The only pathway to get connected to the blessing of God and to the promise of God here is through faith in Jesus Christ. and the salvation that that faith brings. That is the reality. So anyone outside of that faith and outside of that love cannot claim this promise for himself or herself. And so far, perhaps we're in agreement about love for God. But does it only depend on my love for him? In other words, is it really still all about me and whether or not I love God? Is the height or the depth of my affection for God the only litmus test for my assurance? And the answer to that question is an unequivocable no. You are not the only litmus test for your assurance. This is simply describing the mindset of the believer for those who love God and I've already kind of alluded to what love for God is, but if you want a more detailed account of what love for God is, just go back and read the first seven chapters of Romans, especially chapters four, five, and six that define the characteristics of true saving faith. That's what it means to love God, and Paul has already talked about that in great detail, and we have already looked at that in great detail. And so here, he gives us something new, something different, something more, something deeper, something even better than all of that, that has to deal with our relationship with God. Because the second way that he describes the beneficiaries of this promise is that they are the ones who are called according to his purpose. Those who are called. according to his purpose. Now what is this calling? What does he mean by calling them the called? Who are they? Perhaps we should ask it another way. Is everyone called? In the way that Paul means in this context, is everyone called? And the answer is no. Not everyone is called in this way. How do we know that? That this calling is different? Well, there's two clues in this text that help us to know that this calling is a different kind of calling than we might be inclined to think. And the first clue is in the phrase according to his purpose. To those who are called according to his purpose. Now that's a big clue. The ones who love God are the ones who are called according to his purpose. So is there a possibility then of someone being called in this way and not answering that call? Well, it can't be because the purpose of God always stands. And if you're called according to his purpose, then his purpose will stand. Many are the plans in the mind of man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand, Proverbs 19, 21. Or Isaiah 46.10 says, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times, things not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand and I will accomplish my purpose. Isaiah 55.11 says, so shall my word that goes out from my mouth, it shall not return to me empty. but it shall accomplish that which I purpose and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. The purpose of God will always stand. And Paul here describes those who love God as those who are called according to his purpose. That's clue number one, that this calling is a different kind of calling than we might be inclined to think. And here's clue number two. Clue number two is actually in verse 30. And we'll get into verse 30 in a moment. But for now, notice the progression of the verse. The progression of the verse is, those whom he predestined, he called. And those whom he called, he justified. And those whom he justified, he glorified. So that the progression is that all of the ones in the category of predestined are called. And all of the ones who are called are justified. And all of the ones who are justified are glorified. If it was a Venn diagram, it would be boring because all the circles are on top of each other. There's no one outside of the circles. Right? All the predestined are called, and all of the called are justified, and all of the justified are glorified. Like I said, we'll get deeper into that in a moment, but for now, the point is, in verse 30, every person called is justified, which means that this calling is different. Is everyone called in this way? No. Not if everyone called is justified. Because if we look at it as, well, everyone in the world is called, not everyone in the world is justified. So this is a different calling. Believers are called by God divinely and sovereignly in a different way. What Paul is talking about here is the effectual, what theologians have called throughout the history of the church, the effectual call of the spirit. It is the call of the Spirit that awakens the heart of the sinner to spiritual reality. It is the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit that creates in the heart of the sinner faith and repentance. Faith is not something that you drum up in your natural self. It is a gift wrought by the Holy Spirit. When does this happen? How does this calling happen? Well, if you skip over to chapter 10, verse 17, you read that faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ. It happens through the preaching of the gospel and the spirit takes that preaching of the gospel and gives it divine power and through that preaching of the gospel awakens the sinner to spiritual reality. Jesus himself said in John 6, 44, no one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him. And then Jesus, so you say, okay, well, everybody gets drawn, but some come, but that's not true. Because Jesus says there, no one can come unless the father draws and I will raise him up in the last day. So even in Jesus's statement, there's this concept of everyone who comes is drawn and everyone who's drawn comes and everyone who's drawn comes and I raise him up. There's none lost who are drawn. They all come. Further in John chapter 10, the Jews gather around Jesus and ask him, how long are you gonna keep us in suspense if you're the Christ? Then tell us. And Jesus says, I told you and you don't believe. The works I do in my Father's name bear witness about me, but you don't believe because you are not among my sheep. Now notice the cause and effect. Why don't they believe? He says, because you're not of my sheep. It's not the other way around. It's not you're not of my sheep because you don't believe. Jesus's explanation to their unbelief is you don't believe because you're not of my sheep. And then he adds, my sheep hear my voice. I know them. They follow me. My sheep hear my voice. They follow. And you don't. Because you're not of my sheep. That's clue number two, then, that this is not the same for everyone, not the same kind of calling. It is those who are called by God in an effectual way. And through that calling, the spirit of God grants regeneration. And the fruits of that regeneration are faith and repentance. So again, we're left with this reality that the promise of God's plan here involves a select group of people, those who love God and are called according to his purpose. If we are in that group, if we are in the group of those who love God and are called according to his purpose, then notice that we know, we know I love the unshakable promise of that word, we know. Not we hope, and hope is something that he just talked about in the previous verses. Not we might know. Not that we assume the best or hope for the best. None of those kinds of words apply. We know that God works all things together for good. And by all things, he means all things, every good and wonderful blessing that we can count and also every trial and tribulation. And if you don't think he means even every trial and tribulation, then why does he later talk about tribulation and distress and persecution, famine, nakedness, sword? In all these things, we are more than conquerors through Christ Jesus who loved us. God is working it all for our good. If you don't believe me, then ask Joseph, who at the end of his essentially lifelong ordeal says to his brothers in Genesis 50, 20, as for you, you meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. Ask Job. You know, really the bottom line point of the entire book of Job is what? The bottom line point of the entire book of Job is God demonstrating the reality and the perseverance of God-given faith. You can do whatever you want to Satan. You can't kill him, but you can do anything else you want to. And I'll show you what God-given faith looks like. In Job though, sometimes in his flesh he stumbled spoke a little too strongly and put himself out there a little too much, never wavered in his faith, never wavered in his faith. Ask Moses, ask any of the prophets, ask Paul himself, who had a thorn in the flesh, and he pleaded with the Lord that he would remove it from him. And God said, my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. And so Paul says, For the sake of Christ, then, I'm content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, calamities, for when I'm weak, then I'm strong. The testimony of the great men of God in Scripture alone is a testimony of those who understood that the purpose of God and the promise of God was that all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. What is, though, this ultimate good that Paul is referring to? It says, all things work together for good. Okay, so we get to define what the good is, and then when we don't get the good, we assume that God has laxed on his promise, that God has lapsed on his promise, that God has abrogated and aborted his promise to us. But no, he gives us what the promise is. Not only the promise in verse 28, the promise of God's plan that all things work together for good, but we also see the purpose of God's plan in verse 29. The purpose of God's plan, that's point number two. Verse 29 says, 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. That's the purpose of God's plan. The purpose of God's plan is to conform every believer into the image of his son. That's the promise that all things work together for good. The promise is that through everything in our lives, the trials and tribulations and the blessings and the wonderful things, God is working them to conform us into the image of his son. That's the promise. That's the purpose. Think about it this way. If it is true that Jesus is perfect because he is God, and it is, and if it's true that the only path of true contentment and joy is to be found in the likeness of Christ, then the most loving thing that God can do for us is to conform us into that image. Anything else that he could do for us would be less than if it would not be conforming us into that image. And so the most loving thing that he can do is conform us into the image of his son. And so he takes our lives and he not only, when it says that he works all things for good, it doesn't just mean that God is reacting to the things that happen to us as they happen and figuring out a way to use them for our good. That's not what God is like. Like when Joseph said, you meant it for evil, God meant it for good. He didn't mean, well, y'all sold me into slavery and then I wound up in jail and then I wound up with Potiphar's wife and then I wound up here and I wound up there. And, you know, God's just kind of like, hand ring and running around the throne room thinking, what am I going to do with Joseph now? You know, I've got to get him out of this situation. It's not what he meant when he said you meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. He meant this was God's plan. It was his ordained purpose. He works it meticulously. Each moment of our lives are worked by God and ordained by God to happen to us. so that he can conform us into the image of his son. He takes our lives and he ordains everything in our lives in order that we would be conformed into the image of Christ. Just because we belong to Christ and belong to God through Christ doesn't mean we're exempt from trial and tribulation and suffering and pain and famine and nakedness and peril and sword. As it is written, for your sake, we are being killed all day long and counted as sheep to be slaughtered. It's the reality. He doesn't keep us from them. He ordains them. And then he keeps us in them. Why does he do this? So that Jesus would be the firstborn among many brothers. The word for firstborn here is a term that means preeminent, the preeminent one, the first one, not in terms of chronology, as in Jesus came first and then other people came after that in history. Instead, it's the connotation of being the primary one, the most important one, the first in the mold, if you will, after which all the clay is modeled after. Paul says to the Colossians in chapter one in verse 18 that Christ is the head of church. the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent, the preeminent one. It's like in an art class, the teacher puts a bowl of fruit on a table and tells the students, draw it. The bowl of fruit is the preeminent one, the one upon which all the drawings are based. And now you think, that's a terrible example, because if I were drawing the bowl of fruit, it wouldn't look like a bowl of fruit. And you're right. And guess what? Many times you don't look like Christ either. But God, our loving, gracious, heavenly Father, is conforming us every day into more and more Christ-likeness. Until that great day in the end, when we will mirror His glory perfectly in the perfection of heaven. That is where this promise will meet its ultimate fulfillment. He'll conform us now and continue conforming us every day until the day when, as John says it, when he appears, we'll be like him, for we will see him like he is. Or Colossians 3.4, when Christ, who is your life, appears, then you will also appear with him in glory. That is the good, beloved, There is no greater good than God can give us. But to promise us that we will be like Jesus. Increasingly now as we walk with him and completely and totally perfected in the future, when we will be raised into eternal life with him forever. That's the promise. And that's the purpose to conform us into Christ. Now I get the promise and I get the purpose, but still, how can we really know this beyond the shadow of a doubt? How can we have total and 100% and complete assurance? Well, that's our third point, the perfection of God's plan, the perfection of God's plan. Now to see this, begin with a thought that Paul has in verse 29, and then he expands on it in verse 30. In verse 29, he says, those whom he foreknew, he predestined to be conformed into the image of his son. And then in verse 30, he connects that predestination and foreknowledge to the rest of salvation in verse 30. And the sequence goes foreknown, predestined, called, justified, glorified. This is commonly referred to as the golden chain of redemption. Perfect, connected, and completely unbreakable. And why is it unbreakable? Because Paul After all these chapters, by the way, of describing faith and obedience and repentance and salvation from a human perspective, Paul now, in just a few verses, describes it from a divine perspective. From a divine perspective. Notice what is absent here. What is absent here is faith. What is absent here is repentance. What is absent here is love for God, though it's mentioned in verse 28, but he immediately flies off the rail with call according to his purpose. Love for one another is not mentioned. All of that involves our response to the gospel, our response to God and the good news of salvation. But where does the reality of salvation and the reality of the gospel really initiate? Where does it start? And the answer is it starts with God. And the even deeper answer is it starts with God in eternity past when all there was, was God. This is the divine side of the equation of salvation. And again, it's the sequence, foreknown. Those who he foreknew, he predestined. What does it mean to be foreknown by God? Some posit that this foreknowledge is simply based on God's knowledge of the future. He knows who will believe, for example. And so he sees forward and sees all who would believe, and he says, okay, those are the ones I'm gonna predestine, because I see that they believe. But there are a couple of problems with that understanding of foreknowledge. There's a practical problem with this understanding of foreknowledge. And the practical problem is you still have to ask and answer the question, if God's peering forward in time to see those who would believe, How are they believing? On the basis of what Scripture says about man left to his own devices, how are they believing in the first place? I mean, it just said in verse 7 that the mind set on the flesh is hostile to God. It doesn't submit to God's law. Indeed, it cannot. Or in Ephesians 2.3, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind." Or 1 Corinthians 2.14, the natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit. They're folly to him. He is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. or 2 Corinthians 4.4, in their case, the God of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. So in light of all of those things, if God is simply passively looking forward in time to see people exercising faith on the basis of how scripture describes sinners in their unredeemed state, how are they exercising faith in the first place? It's a practical problem, you see. There's a theological problem as well with that understanding that God is simply looking forward in time, and that's what it means by foreknowledge. He just knows beforehand. Now, here's the theological problem. You've got to come to grips with how you're going to use that definition in terms of the way it's used elsewhere in Scripture to describe God's foreknowledge. For example, Acts 2, 23, where Peter says this Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. Well, what does foreknowledge mean there? Does it simply mean that God looked forward in time and saw the crucifixion? It can, it wouldn't make any sense. When 1 Peter 1.20, in talking about Jesus, Peter says, He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you. Well, that doesn't simply mean that God looked forward into history and said, Oh, there's Jesus. So on the basis of those texts, this foreknowledge is more than a mere knowing beforehand, God does know all things beforehand. But this here connotates a deeper, intimate knowledge of what happens beforehand, because God's foreknowledge is not simply based on looking forward in time and seeing what happens. God's foreknowledge is based in the reality that he ordains all things that takes place. He ordains everything that happens, and therefore he foreknows everything that happens. And so it connotates a deeper intimate knowledge of a person. Indeed, in this case, in Romans 8, a deeper knowledge of a particular people. And on the basis of this foreknowledge then, on the basis of foreknowing a people for himself, he predestines them. Predestination, is God's decisive acting on the basis of his intimate foreknowledge. Predestination is God's decisive acting on the basis of his intimate foreknowledge. So that we read, for example, in Acts 4.27, truly in the city there were gathered together against your holy servant, Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod, Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. Or to use the same language and to kind of give some meat on those bones in Ephesians 1.4, Paul says, he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love, he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will. That's what predestination is. He knew us. He knew every believer intimately in eternity past. And on the basis of that foreknowledge, he predestined us to be conformed to the image of his son. And then on the basis of that predestination now, so now we've got this group of foreknown predestined people. He called them. He called them. He calls every believer and awakens them by the power of the Spirit and grants them repentance and faith. The question that we're answering here, remember, we're looking at it from a divine perspective, is not have you believed? That's a good question. And we should ask people this question. Do you have faith? Have you believed? Have you received? Do you trust in Christ for salvation? But that's not the question that Paul is answering here. The question that Paul is answering here is, why have you believed? And why have you trusted? Perhaps even more specifically, why have you believed when others have not? Are you smarter? Are you more spiritually attuned or more spiritually sensitive to divine things? Or is there another answer as to why you have believed? A divine answer that explains why it is that so many reject the same gospel that others see as beautiful and wonderful and majestic You know, I mentioned some verses earlier, but I didn't read them all. I didn't read the whole context. Listen to the whole context here. Ephesians 2, verse 3 I read says, Among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and mind, and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy because of the love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. What changed from verse 3 to verse 5 in Ephesians 2? What changed was that God made us alive when we were dead. That's what changed. or in 2 Corinthians 4 that I read, the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. And then in verse six, it says, for God who said, let light shine out of darkness has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. What changed? And the answer is God shown the light on the hearts of believers. In John 6, Jesus says, I'm the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger. Whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I say to you, you've seen me and yet don't believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me. And whoever comes, I will not cast out. That's the words of Christ. Once this calling happens, the response of us is repentance and faith. And the response of repentance and faith is something that we've talked about in the whole last three or four chapters. What happens? Justification. They called, and those whom He called, He justified. And those whom He justified, He glorified. He glorified. So assured is our salvation and so assured is our glorification that when Paul talks about it here, he talks about them all in the past tense. Those of me predestined, He called. Those of me called, He justified. And those of me justified, He glorified. It is assured for us from a divine perspective because it began in eternity past with God's foreknowledge, and it will be brought to completion in eternity future with our glorification. So the basis of the fact that we know God works all things together for good to conform us into the image of his son is because from a divine perspective, our salvation began in eternity past and will be brought to completion in eternity future solely on the basis of God's action. God initiates salvation, not just in time, but in eternity past. God keeps me in my salvation and God will bring my salvation to its end. It's all of God. Or we have no hope. That's why Paul introduces these deep concepts in this golden chain of redemption, not to create debates about predestination, but to let us know that from a divine perspective, salvation began with God and it will end with God. So you can trust the promises and the purpose of God in his plan, because his plan is perfect. And he will bring it to completion. Let's pray. Father, we thank you again for the wonderful word that you give us. As Peter says, there are things in Paul's letters that are deep and that some men twist to their own ruin and destruction. They may be hard to understand, but that's because you're God and we're not. And so we pray that as we come to these kinds of things that delve into the very mind of God, that you would help us to simply submit our hearts and submit our minds and to stand under your word and allow it to mold the way we think about you and the way that we think about your plan for us. Help us to be humble enough to admit that we can't always understand everything, but we can at least acknowledge what you have told us. And we can know. We can know beyond a shadow of a doubt. And your promises for us and your purposes for us and your plans for us will stand because you are God. We are not. We thank you for this blessing and we Thank you for our Christ. We pray you would continue to bless us with this word in Jesus name, amen.