I think that's right.
So, I'm going to read verses 28 to 30, but this morning we are particularly looking at
verses 29 and 30 as we continue in our series through this chapter.
The Apostle Paul says this, 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.
Who is in control?
Who am I, and where is my life going?
Those are perhaps three of the most basic and profound human questions that we all ask ourselves
at one time or another.
But I think if we're honest with ourselves, many of us aren't quite sure how to answer
those questions.
And so, we live with an underlying sense of anxiety.
Some of us live with anxiety about our past, maybe because of trauma or rejection that we've
experienced, maybe because of failures that we fear will come back to haunt us, or we might
even look back on our past successes, but we feel like they're never quite enough.
There's always something more that we need to be working on, striving towards in order to
prove to the world that we're still worthy of recognition.
Some of us live with anxiety in the present.
We live in a world that's rapidly changing.
If you can remember, 10 years ago, no one owned a smartphone.
Now we feel like we can't live a moment without them.
And we live today with the fear of missing out.
We try to stay constantly connected, but ironically, we're becoming lonelier than ever.
Since the 1980s, the percentage of American adults who say they're lonely has doubled from
20 to 40 percent.
And perhaps it's not a coincidence that the percentage of Americans diagnosed with anxiety
disorders has steadily increased as well in the same time period.
We have anxiety about the past, about the present, and even as we look toward the future, whether
it's anxiety about our career, about our health, about our children, about aging parents and
relatives, about what kind of legacy we'll leave behind, about death, and what comes after.
Is there anything we can say with confidence about the future?
You know, in this morning's passage, the Apostle Paul sounds a ringing note of assurance in the
midst of our anxieties.
Paul acknowledges in this chapter that we face afflictions, present sufferings, that we have
weaknesses internally and emotionally, physically, spiritually, that we live in the midst of a world
that groans under bondage to corruption and decay.
But Paul says there's one thing of which we can be confident, that God is steadily carrying out His
eternal purpose in the lives of everyone who loves Him.
Last week, we looked at verse 28, a wonderful verse where Paul says that all things work together
for good, under God's providence for the good of those who love Him.
And the second half of that verse reminds us that everyone who loves God has also been called
according to God's purpose.
In verses 29 and 30, open a window, give us a glimpse behind the curtain into God's unchanging
purpose from eternity past through the present age and to eternity future.
There are five verbs in verses 29 and 30 that form an unbroken chain.
Two of them refer to God's purpose from eternity past, foreknown and predestined.
Two of them refer to God's purpose as it's carried out in the present age, called and justified,
and one of them refers to God's purpose that stretches into eternity future, glorified.
Now, before we look at each of these verbs in turn, I want you to notice that the subject
of all five verbs is the same, God.
And the object of all five verbs is also the same, those.
It doesn't say that God foreknew one group of people and then decided to predestine a different
group of people and then called half of those and justified a few of those and glorified somebody
else.
No.
It says, those whom God foreknew, He also predestined and called and justified and glorified.
God's purpose is carried out consistently, steadily, unswervingly from eternity past through
the present age into eternity future.
And in the end, we'll see that that's why we can find rest from our anxieties.
That's why we can be assured, we can be confident in God's unchanging love.
That's why we can persevere to the end with steadfastness, because God is steadfast in carrying
out His purpose.
One commentator put it this way.
He wrote, in order to show the branches, that's us, that they are indeed to blossom and bear fruit,
Paul demonstrates in these verses, that the tree is securely planted and well-rooted.
So, that's what we're going to consider this morning, the tree on which we depend,
of God's steady and unchanging purpose from eternity past through the present age and into
eternity to come.
Now, the last two weeks, we focused on God's work in the present age, the Holy Spirit helping
us in our weakness through prayer, and God working all the things that we experience in
our life together for our good.
The two weeks before that, we looked at the future, about the hope that we have for the
redemption of our bodies and the renewal of all creation.
So, I'm going to spend the bulk of our time today on the first point, God's purpose from
eternity past, and then more briefly address how that carries out in the present age.
And the future, simply because we've addressed those aspects in some other sermons recently.
But they're all connected from God's purpose from eternity past to eternity future.
So, first, first point, God's purpose from eternity past.
Those He foreknew, He also predestined.
Oh boy, here we go.
Right?
These two words, foreknowledge and predestination, have been the subject of much controversy and
some confusion in the history of the church.
Now, to give you a bit of a sense of my background, I was brought up in a church that for the most
part ignored or ridiculed the idea of predestination.
Not that ugly idea.
Then I came to college and started attending another church that strongly affirmed predestination,
and one of the pastors even basically told me that if I couldn't agree with their view
on predestination, I shouldn't become a member of their church.
So, for about nine months during my sophomore year of college, I was inwardly obsessed with
predestination.
I couldn't figure out what to make of it.
It kept me up at night, turning the concepts over and over in my mind with no satisfying resolution.
It bothered me even at church.
I found it hard to concentrate in worship and during sermons because my mind would go there
and the wheels would start spinning and never really gain traction.
But I told hardly anyone because I thought surely no one else can relate to such an esoteric
struggle.
Now, as a side note, if you are wrestling with some kind of doubt or question or temptation
or besetting sin, and if you think that no other Christian can ever relate to what you're
going through, that is always a lie from the devil.
Don't believe it.
Don't isolate yourself from the body of believers and fight your battles all alone.
God's given us each other, and He sustains us by His grace through our fellowship with one
another, imperfect as we are.
Now, one of the things that was actually helpful, one of the ways that God did work through the
body of Christ in my life at that time, was a few of us had started going to the homeless
shelter and talking with people there about Jesus.
You might think, what in the world does that have to do with predestination?
Well, it didn't help me figure out predestination, but it got me out of my own head.
And that's a blessing to any Yale undergraduate.
Amen?
Every once in a while at least.
Talking with the people in the homeless shelter reminded me of the gospel that I'd always known,
that Jesus Christ died for sinners, and that His blood was sufficient to save and powerful
to transform anyone who would come to Him in faith.
So, let me say this.
The doctrines of foreknowledge and predestination are not the forefront of the gospel message.
Okay?
They're not the key above all else to understanding the message of the Bible.
There's no book of the Bible whose main theme above everything else is God's foreknowledge
and predestination.
In the drama of Scripture, they're more like backstage realities, things that are well known
to the director but aren't in clear and full view of the audience.
And yet, we occasionally get a glimpse into them in Scriptures like these.
And this Scripture, like every other one, is given for our good.
So, let's dig in.
Verse 29.
Foreknowledge.
Sometimes this word can mean simply knowing about something ahead of time.
And so, some people have said God's foreknowledge refers to God knowing in advance who will choose
to believe in and obey Him of their own accord.
So, in other words, the verse would mean those whose faith and obedience God knew about beforehand,
those ones He predestined to glory.
So, in that view, God's predestination depends completely on our free choice.
It's all up to us.
But there are problems with that view.
For one thing, it's just not what the verse says.
The verse doesn't say those whose faith God foreknew or those whose obedience God foreknew.
It says those whom God foreknew.
God foreknew people, not choices or actions.
When this verse says God foreknew us, it doesn't just mean God knew something about us.
It means that long before we were born, He knew us in an intimate and personal way.
He committed Himself to us and set us apart for Himself.
And this is how the word is used in many other places in Scripture.
Romans 11 verse 2 says,
God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew.
In the Old Testament, God said to the prophet Jeremiah,
Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.
It doesn't just mean I knew about you.
It doesn't just mean I knew you would exist one day.
It means I've chosen you and called you.
I set you apart to be a prophet to the nations.
Jesus Himself actually uses the same language of being known by God
in a rather scary warning at the end of the Sermon on the Mount.
Jesus says that some people who call Him Lord but never obey Him
will one day hear Him say to them,
I never knew you.
Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.
He's saying, I never knew you.
In other words, I never enjoyed a genuine, personal, intimate relationship with you
and you with me.
In many places in the Bible, to know someone means to be intimately related to them,
to know them inside and out.
The Hebrew word to know is sometimes used to describe the exclusive intimacy
shared by a husband and wife who have promised themselves to each other in love.
So, when it says God foreknew His people from eternity past,
it's as if a parent is talking to their child and saying,
son or daughter, long before you were conscious,
long before you were born into the world or adopted into our family,
even before you were conceived in the womb,
you were wanted.
We wanted you.
We sought you out.
You were foreknown and foreloved.
When you became part of our family,
we gave you our name,
our family name.
Not as a crown for your achievements,
not as a response to your performance,
not for a probationary period of time to see how you turn out,
but to say that you belong
because you were foreknown and foreloved.
That's what God says to every one of us.
I knew you before the beginning of time,
before you were aware of me,
before you,
certainly before you chose me.
You were foreknown,
pre-loved,
from eternity past.
And that's what God says to every one of His children
who's been adopted into His family
through faith in His Son.
Paul goes on to say,
those whom God foreknew,
He also predestined.
Now, for some of us,
when we hear the word predestined,
we think of the idea of fate.
But these are not the same thing.
Fatalism means living in a world
where your destiny is determined by the stars
or by something else that's impersonal
and ultimately random.
Biblical faith is living in a universe
that is ruled by an ever-present
and living and purposeful
and personal God.
Fatalism says,
whatever will be, will be.
So, it doesn't really matter what I do.
And in the end,
I'm not really responsible for what happens.
But that's not what the Bible says.
The Bible affirms both
God's complete sovereignty
and human responsibility.
It's not an either-or,
it's both-and.
So, let me give you a few examples.
Look in this chapter,
look at verse 23.
In this verse,
in the middle of the verse,
it says,
we ourselves,
we groan inwardly
as we wait eagerly
for the redemption of our bodies.
But then look down at verse 26.
The end of verse 26,
it says,
the Spirit,
the Holy Spirit of God Himself
intercedes for us
with groanings too deep for words.
Now, when you put these two verses together,
what is it saying?
It's saying,
the groanings that come
from the very depth of our own heart
are simultaneously the groans
produced by the Holy Spirit of God
who dwells within us.
Or you can look ahead
to Romans 9 and 10.
Now, Romans chapter 9
emphasizes God's sovereignty.
If you look at Romans 9, verse 18,
it's about as strong a statement
as you can get.
God has mercy on whomever He wills,
and He hardens whomever He wills.
But then if you go on to chapter 10,
chapter 10 emphasizes human responsibility.
If you look at chapter 10, verse 13,
it says,
everyone who calls on the name of the Lord
will be saved.
The end of the chapter, verse 21,
He says,
God's speaking to His people,
saying,
all day long,
I've held out My hands
to a disobedient and contrary people.
God's sovereignty over everything
and human responsibility.
They're two hands,
and they're not chopped off from each other.
Two hands part of the same body.
Or consider another example,
2 Corinthians 8, 16 and 17.
Paul says this.
He says,
Thanks be to God
who put into the heart of Titus
the same earnest care I have for you.
And then he goes on and says,
For He not only accepted our appeal,
but being Himself very earnest,
He is going to you of His own accord.
So, Paul says,
in one verse,
God put it into the heart of Titus
to do what He's doing.
And in the second verse,
he says,
Titus is going to you of His own accord.
And that's not a contradiction.
See, the Bible puts both of these things together.
N.T. Wright puts it this way,
Christian faith is wholeheartedly
and responsibly answering the call
of a sovereign God
with love, gratitude, and obedience
that comes from the depth of our own being
and is simultaneously experienced
as a response to a sovereignty,
a compulsion even.
Now, some of you might say,
but I just don't see how both of these things
can be true at the same time.
It just doesn't…
I can't put it together in my head.
It doesn't make sense.
But consider this.
In the natural world,
in the physical universe,
we see paradoxes
that we cannot fully resolve.
Yet, they are undeniably real.
For example,
physicists tell us
that light is both a wave
and a particle.
Now, it's very difficult,
right?
It's very difficult to explain,
and I think even the PhD students
in physics can affirm this,
it's very difficult to explain
how both of those things
are true at the same time.
But it's very well established
that they are both true.
If you study quantum mechanics,
it just makes your head spin.
It's not what anyone
would have come up with
on their own.
But it's reality,
strange as it may seem.
And if the physical universe
that scientists can study
and examine operates
in ways that are counterintuitive
and hard, if not impossible,
for our human minds
to fully grasp,
how much more mysterious
and unfathomable
and glorious
are the ways
of an infinite God
as God interacts
with His creation.
You know,
if you think about
nearly every major
Christian doctrine,
it contains some mystery.
The Trinity,
one God
in three persons.
Jesus Christ,
completely God,
and yet He became
completely human
at the same time.
And the interplay
between God's
complete sovereignty
and our human responsibility.
And when we probe
the depths of these
biblical teachings,
it's meant to lead us
to awe-filled worship.
That's where Paul goes
at the end of Romans 11
Oh, the depth
of the riches
and wisdom
and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable
are His judgments
and how inscrutable
His ways!
For who has known
the mind of the Lord
or who has been
His counselor?
Who has ever given
a gift to Him
that He might be repaid?
For from Him
and to Him
and through Him
are all things.
To Him be glory forever.
Amen.
You know,
every time the Bible
talks about God's
predestination,
His sovereign choice
of us before
the foundation
of the world
is for one of three purposes.
First,
it's to promote
gratitude
and praise to God.
So, Ephesians 1
says,
God chose us
in Christ
before the foundation
of the world
that we might be
to the praise
of His glory,
that we might
praise Him
for His amazing grace,
that He has lavished
upon us
from eternity past.
Second,
it's to promote
humility.
That's one of the main
emphases of Romans 9.
Romans 9.20 says,
Who are you,
O man,
to answer back to God?
Will the clay
say to the potter,
why have you made
me like this?
It humbles us.
The third purpose
is to give assurance
to suffering believers,
and that's actually
the main purpose
of this text
in the context
of the middle
of Romans 8.
The whole section
is talking about
our present suffering
and our future glory,
and so verses 29 and 30
are meant to reassure us.
They're meant to reassure us
in the midst
of our suffering
and looking to Christ
that He's on our side
and He's for us
and we can trust Him.
And He's been there
all along.
To know that we are
predestined by God
means to know
that our lives
have a destination.
Isn't that what's
in that word,
predestination?
It means we have
a destination
that we're going to.
The Greek word
is prohorizo.
It's where we get
the word horizon.
It's a word that's meant
to focus our attention
on the goal,
the destination
that God has set out
for us
in the second half
of verse 29
tells us what that is,
to be conformed
to the image
of His Son.
Pastor Nick talked
last week
that this is the good
that verse 28
is talking about
when it says,
all things work together
for good.
What's that good?
It's that we
become more
and more
like Jesus Himself.
He is the pattern,
the imprint,
the glory,
everything the human race
was originally intended
to be.
And we who believe
in Him
and belong to Him
are being shaped,
polished,
melted down,
smoothed out,
sculpted,
framed,
cast into that
master design.
This has been
God's plan
and purpose
from eternity past.
Now,
I want you to think
for a moment
about the process
of creating
a work of art.
Because it says
that that's what
God is doing
in conforming us
to the image
of His Son.
It's the image
of creating
a work of beauty.
Creating a work
of art is messy.
Have you ever
walked into
an art studio
with a bunch
of works in progress
that looks neat
and tidy?
No!
But the artist
has a purpose
in mind,
right?
Despite the apparent
madness and chaos.
And God is not
above working
through
apparent madness
and chaos
to produce
His masterpieces.
Second,
creating a work
of art is intense.
Think about
glass blowing
or wood turning
or sculpture making
or anything
where you have
to use a blowtorch
on metal.
Not for the faint
of heart.
Sometimes God
brings us
through fiery trials
trials that feel
intense
through painful
experiences
not to destroy us
but to refine us
and to make us
into something
unimaginably beautiful
that we would
otherwise
never become.
Third,
it's time-consuming.
Think about a painting
on a large canvas.
Last summer
before last,
my family went
to a museum
in Ohio
that contained
a circular mural
265 feet long
by 10 feet high
chronicling the history
of the Anabaptist movement.
It was entirely
the work
of one man
from Germany.
It took him
14 years
to do the background
research,
to plan out
the sequence,
and finally
to paint the mural.
And he did it
all by himself
the whole way.
Now think about that.
It's messy,
it's intense,
and it's time-consuming.
Brothers and sisters,
here's the point.
The life and work
that God
has set before you
may be
all those things.
It might be messy.
Your life
might feel
chaotic
and
just
disordered
right now.
It might feel
intense
and painful.
It might be
just long
and drawn out.
A time-consuming
journey.
But here's what
this verse is saying.
It's saying,
long ago,
God made
a plan.
And long ago,
God envisioned
the glorious
destination
that He is
leading you
towards
every day
by His Spirit.
His purpose
from eternity
past is that
you might
come to be
one of His
masterpieces,
reflecting
the beautiful
image
of His Son,
Jesus Christ.
That you might
be one of
Christ's brothers
or sisters
forever.
That He might
be the firstborn
among many.
Another way
you can think
about this
is God's
purpose from
eternity past
was to have
a big family.
Now,
God always
had a perfect
family.
The Father,
the Son,
and the Holy
Spirit.
They were one
happy family
from all
eternity,
full of
love and
glory and
power and
wisdom and
mutual understanding
and mutually
indwelling,
utterly complete
and unbroken,
not lacking
anything.
But God
didn't just
want a perfect
family,
He wanted
a big one.
He intentionally
chose to open
His home to a
vast multitude
of children.
Not temporarily,
but forever.
forever.
And oh,
that was a
costly choice.
Because God
the Father,
to make us
His children,
had to send
His one and
only Son
into this
world,
to rescue us
from sin
and death
and the devil
that we had
gotten ourselves
into.
And the
eternal Son
of God,
Jesus Christ
Himself,
suffered and
bled and
died to make
us His
brothers and
sisters.
brothers.
Talk about a
brother who
will sacrifice
for you,
who would
die for you.
You have
one.
And now God
the Father has
sent His very
own Holy Spirit
into each of
our hearts
to assure us
that God is
really our
Father,
that He will
never leave
us nor forsake
us,
that despite
all the
rejection we
might have
experienced
and all the
trauma that's
in our past
and all the
craziness we
might have
gone through,
that we can
trust this
God.
Forever and
ever.
God's the
ultimate adoptive
parent.
And He has a
glorious destination
for every one
of His children
who've been
adopted through
Christ.
Forever.
That's God's
purpose from
eternity past.
But second,
we see that God's
purpose continues to
be carried out in
the present age.
Those He
predestined,
He also called,
and those He
called,
He also
justified.
Second Timothy
1.9 says a
similar thing,
God saved us
and called us
to a holy
calling,
not because of
our works,
but because of
His own purpose
and grace,
which He gave
us in Christ
Jesus before
the ages began.
Again,
it began before
the ages,
and it's now
carried out in
the present age.
What does it
mean to be
called?
Again,
Pastor Nick
talked about
this last week
when Paul talks
about being
called according
to God's
eternal purpose.
He's not just
talking about
being invited
externally,
He's talking
about being
awakened
internally
to the truth
through the
conviction of
the Holy Spirit
brought into
a saving
relationship
with Jesus
Christ.
If you look
at Romans 4,
verse 17,
it says,
God gives
life to the
dead and
calls into
existence the
things that do
not exist.
Isn't that
amazing?
when God
calls us,
we become
a new
creation in
Christ.
He breathed
life into
us where
previously we
were spiritually
dead and
unresponsive
to God.
Some of you
have experienced
this very
distinctly.
You can point
to a time
in your own
life.
You can look
back and
remember a
time when you
wanted nothing
to do with
God.
You hated
God.
You were
indifferent
toward Him.
You just
wanted to be
your own
God.
Or you were
trying to use
God for your
own purposes.
Rather than
let Him use
you for
His.
And then
one day God
through His
Word called
you to
Himself.
Maybe it was
through a
sermon that
you heard,
maybe a
scripture you
were reading
that jumped
off the
page to
you,
maybe a
Christian
friend or
even a
stranger who
shared the
gospel of
Jesus Christ
with you,
and whatever
the means,
God awakened
you that
day, and
you realized
your spiritual
need, and
you saw the
beauty and
sufficiency of
Jesus Christ
dying on the
cross for
your sins,
covering them
with His
blood, rising
from the dead
victorious, and
He poured the
love of God
into your
heart through
the Holy Spirit,
and now you
don't just
believe that
God is out
there somewhere,
you love Him
because He
first loved
you.
You've been
called.
Now, not
every one of
us can pinpoint
a moment when
that happened.
Some of us
can't remember a
time when we
didn't believe in
Jesus Christ as
our Savior and
Lord.
God called us to
Himself before
we even knew
what He was
doing.
And that's a
wonderful testimony
too.
Sometimes we
know it's
happened, but we
can't quite identify
when, right?
Some days the sun
rises with brilliance
and glory, and
other days it's
behind all the
clouds.
But either way, a
new day has
dawned.
Paul says in
Romans 1, verse 6
and 7, you are
called to belong to
Jesus Christ.
Loved by God and
called to be
saints.
That word means
God's holy people.
You're called to
belong to Jesus and
to be His holy
people in the
world.
That's what it
means to be
called by God.
And Paul goes on,
those he called,
he also justified.
To be justified by
God means to be in
right standing with
God, to be forgiven
of our sins, that God
will never hold them
against us anymore.
That we're declared
righteous in His sight.
This is the main
theme of Romans 3 and
4.
If you read those
chapters, it talks
all about being
justified by God's
grace through faith
in the Lord Jesus
Christ.
And chapter 5 says
the result of being
justified by faith in
Christ is we have
peace with God.
That we stand in
God's grace and we
rejoice in the hope
of God's glory.
Have you experienced
those things?
the peace with God
knowing that your sins
have been forgiven and
paid for.
The hope of God's
glory, God's grace to
sustain you and help you
stand in the present
day.
This is how God carries
out His eternal purpose.
By calling people to
belong to Jesus and
justifying them through
their belief in Jesus.
Have you experienced
this?
Have you been called and
justified?
Have you come to believe
in and belong to Jesus
Christ?
Maybe for some of you,
you haven't.
You say, I don't yet
really believe in Jesus.
Well, let me ask you,
why not?
What is there that is
holding you back from
fully entrusting yourself
to Him?
Maybe you're just starting to
learn what Christianity is
all about.
That's great.
Start by reading through
one of the New Testament
Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke,
or John.
Maybe talk about it with a
friend.
Keep coming to church.
We want to help you
understand what Christianity
is all about.
It's ultimately about who
Jesus is and what God has
done through Him for us.
Maybe you have questions
or objections or concerns
that you need to work
through.
If you haven't already read
Tim Keller's book,
The Reason for God,
I highly recommend it.
Now, he has another one
that's very thought-provoking
called Making Sense of God.
Those are excellent resources
if you want to read
something that goes into
some depth.
But maybe you're mostly…
Maybe you've worked
through some questions.
Maybe you've been coming
for some time,
and if you're honest
with yourself,
you're mostly persuaded
that Jesus probably was
who He said He was.
That, yeah, He probably
really was the Son of God,
but there's something else
that holds you back
from committing to Him.
What is that?
Is it fear of being ridiculed
by others
or disapproved of by others?
Is it pride?
I mean, every Christian
has to let go
of the air of being
totally self-sufficient.
Because isn't that at the heart
of what it means
to be a Christian
is to admit that you're not?
Is it reluctance
to embrace the cost
of following Jesus?
There's always a cost.
It may look different
for each of us.
Let me challenge you
to ask,
what is holding me back
from fully trusting Jesus?
And to address
whatever that is.
You see, if you have come
to believe in Jesus
and belong to Jesus,
that is not an accident.
You've entered into
a much bigger story
than you can imagine.
God's own story
that stretches
from eternity past
to eternity future.
God's purpose
and plan for you
and for every believer
in Jesus
began in eternity past.
His purpose will continue
into eternity future
beyond the farthest horizon
that your eye
can now glimpse
or your mind imagine.
To use a very imperfect analogy
of what this means
to be called
and justified
and brought into
God's eternal purpose,
imagine that you get
a check in the mail
for $10,000
along with a note
that you're receiving
this check
because you've been included
in a distant relative's will.
And your immediate reaction is,
wow, how generous.
I can pay off some debts,
I can stash some in savings,
I can buy a couple of things
that our family needs,
and then the next month
another check arrives
for the same amount
from the same source.
And the next month,
and another,
and then you learn
that this relative
has set up a college fund
that will provide
for all your kids' education,
and they've left you
a vacation home
in the Adirondacks.
You thought the first check
was pretty good.
An undeserved favor
from a generous
and thoughtful relative
who thought of you
in advance.
But now you see
that it was only
one small part
of a much larger inheritance.
Only one small link
in a chain of kindness.
And that's what Paul's saying
is true,
spiritually speaking,
of every believer in Jesus.
When you first come to Jesus,
there's joy,
and you experience
some of His blessings.
And then Paul's saying,
but there's even a larger,
longer chain of God's kindness
and His thoughtfulness
from eternity past
to eternity future
that you've come into.
Do you see that?
Have you begun
to glimpse
God's steady
and eternal
and loving purpose
for you?
It goes from eternity past
through the present age,
and finally we see
it goes into eternity future.
Those He justified,
He also glorified.
Now the puzzling thing
about this word glorified
is that Paul's talking
about something
that hasn't happened yet.
And that's very clear
from the rest of verse 18,
for example.
Paul says,
I consider the sufferings
of this present time
are not worth comparing
with the glory
that is to be revealed to us.
He's talking about
the future glory
when Jesus comes again
and we'll be glorified with Him.
But he uses
the same verb tense
he's used
for every other action
in this chain of events.
In Greek,
it's called the aoris tense.
It's used to speak
about a completed action.
Now what's the point?
Paul's not using…
it's not a grammar mistake.
The point is
God's promises
for the future
are as real
and as reliable
as if they had already
taken place
in history.
You can be as certain
of them as you can
of things
that have already happened.
God is not…
because God is not
limited by time
just as He's not
limited by space.
And so Paul can speak
of our future glorification
as a completed work
even though we have not
yet experienced it.
God's purposes
are eternal,
steady,
and sure.
And even if we can't yet see
how they're all
going to work out,
God can guarantee it.
One commentator
described this passage
as a golden chain
of interconnected
divine actions
leading to a climax,
our glorification,
a series of divine initiatives
snowballing toward fullness,
a steady drumbeat
of God's unshakable purpose.
What God undertakes
will ultimately come to pass.
God will complete
the work He has begun.
God will complete
that's our confidence.
That's our assurance
in the midst
of everything within us
and everything around us
that makes us anxious
and afraid
and complacent
and discontent.
Paul says,
look to God's
eternal purpose.
Now,
these verses
are not saying
that our faith
or our obedience
are irrelevant
or unnecessary.
Paul speaks a lot
about faith
in Romans 1-4
and a lot about obedience,
putting sin to death,
walking in the Spirit
in chapters 5-8.
But Paul wants
to remind us here
that in the end,
our salvation
and the destiny
of all creation
is not ultimately
in our hands.
It's not ultimately
dependent on us.
God is God
and His sovereign purpose
won't be thwarted.
Salvation comes
from the Lord.
You see,
if our salvation
ultimately depends
on how strong
or how pure
or how enduring
our faith is,
then we will either
vastly overestimate
our capabilities
and fall into pride,
or we will despair
of ever reaching
the goal
that God has set
out for us.
To find assurance,
we need to rest
in God's eternal
and steady purpose
in His unfailing
love and faithfulness.
When we look down
below us
and see that the tree
to which we are connected
through Christ
is steadily planted
and well-rooted,
then we can continue
bearing fruit
and not constantly
be anxiously
looking around,
worrying that the tree
is going to fall over
in the next storm.
You see,
it's with this assurance
we can face
all the sources
of our anxiety.
We can face
our past
and know that our past
does not define us.
We can rest secure
because we have
a heavenly Father
who has foreknown
and foreloved us
from before time began.
We can face
our present weakness,
our present sufferings,
and know that through them
God's refining us,
even when it's messy,
even when it's intense,
and even when it's
a long journey
because He's leading us
toward the destination
that He has set out
for us in Christ.
And we can face
the uncertainties
of the future
knowing that God's plans
and purposes
for the future
are as certain
as if they had
already happened.
Brothers and sisters,
God's eternal purpose
in Jesus Christ
is steady
and strong.
Let's pray.
Our Father,
we thank You
for this window
into Your purposes
from eternity past
through the present age
into eternity future.
Father,
we pray,
Lord,
that as we
prepare to come
to the communion table
that we would cast
our anxieties on You,
that we would know
that You care for us,
that we would know
that You are faithful
to Your promises,
that we would be able
to rest assured
in Your good purpose
for us.
Strengthen us
that we may love You
with all of our hearts,
that as we depend on You,
that our lives
might bear fruit.
Lord Jesus,
You said to Your disciples,
You did not choose me,
but I have chosen You
and appointed You
to go and bear fruit,
fruit that will last.
Lord, help us
to bear fruit
for Your kingdom
with our lives.
trusting in Your
mercy and grace.
Pray this in Jesus' name.
Amen.