Living Hope Church

Pastor Phil Steiger: All right, if you have your Bibles turn with me please. We are in Romans this morning, Romans chapter 8. That's right. We're not done yet.

This morning, we will finish this section of Romans chapter 8 focusing specifically on verses 29 and 30. Beginning next week we start our Advent season, so we start preparing ourselves for the first coming of Christ and for Christmas morning. I always look forward to this time of year, but this morning this is what we're going to do—bring ourselves to the end of this section inside of chapter 8.

So that is what this particular passage does. It wraps up this first sort of major section inside of this chapter, and the rest is going to be a kind of reaction to the things that we have read. The Apostle Paul's going to say, "Well, now what do we do with this? What then with all of these things that we have heard and we have paid attention to?" A lot of incredible and stunning things here inside of Romans chapter 8.

We remember especially just last week as we really focused in on chapter 8 verse 28. It grounded us in God's plan to put his children, to pull his children into the middle of his plan, the revealing of his goodness inside of our lives and the restoration of all things.

And so now as a matter of fact, verses 29 and 30 are going to expand that thought. We're going to continue with this notion of what does it mean for God to be at work pulling all things together for his good, for those who are called according to his purpose, for those who love God. What more does that mean? That's what verses 29 and 30 continue for us.

So these two verses are going to do that for us, and then these two verses also contain some contentious language. The theologians and Bible scholars among us have been waiting for these verses of scripture and for chapter 9, which is why I'm going to gloss right over everything you want to know inside of this passage. No, it deals with some interesting theological issues and ideas that have over time created a lot of controversy, honestly.

But I believe that when we take a close look and we pay attention to what Paul is really after inside of this passage, we're not going to find divisive or contentious language. We're going to find language that is ultimately of an abounding and supernatural assurance that belongs to the followers of Jesus Christ. We will deal with this language, but hopefully, friends, it's going to be an assuring thing, a positive thing, an encouraging thing for all of us this morning.

So inside of this passage of scripture, a couple of thoughts that are going to help guide us a little bit this morning. First of all, we will be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. We will be conformed to the image of Christ. Essentially, this is the thought that is kind of at the center of what happens inside of these two verses of scripture.

And in many ways it is the focal point of a lot of what Paul has said so far and a lot of where Paul is going later in his book as he turns his attention toward, "Now, here's what discipleship looks like. Here's what becoming more like Christ actually looks like." And let's get specific with it. Paul will do that later in the book, so this notion of being conformed to the image of Christ is introduced to us specifically here, but Paul has a lot to say about that over time.

This is a large part, as a matter of fact, of the good of God that he will inevitably bring inside of his church and inside of the lives of those that belong to him—that we will be conformed to the image of his son. It's a large part of the work of God's redemption plan as well. That his children are forgiven and his children are being made new even now until that glorious day when we see him face to face. We will be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ.

And then secondly, God's children will find themselves in God's glory. God's children will find themselves in God's glory. Part of what I find so incredible and beautiful about this—and actually it's inside of our passage this morning in a wonderful way—God is not the kind of being who uses us for his good and then casts us aside. To use us for his glory that he would be great and his will would be done and, "Now I'm done with you people, you can move along."

God does not do that. As God is bringing about his glory, as God is bringing about his will and his kingdom coming here on earth just as it is in heaven, you and I are wrapped into the story of the glory of God. The building of the glory of God in our lives in this world and in God's eternal kingdom. God's glory includes the vast congregation of the righteous with him in perfect glory forever.

It's a beautiful story and Paul injects it into this passage again as he has so often already here in Romans chapter 8. All right, so let's read our passage of scripture this morning. In Romans 8, I'm going to read verses 28 through 30 again today. So friends, this is the word of the Lord.

"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."

For we know—this is deliberate language inside of Paul's epistles—the things that we know, we know for certain. This is the character of God, this is the power of God, this is the goodness of God. So that we know that for those who love him and then for those who are called according to his purpose, God is working all things together for good. This incredible passage of scripture, and we worked through this thought last week.

And so now Paul has more to say as he expands on what it is that God is doing with himself and his own glory. What he is doing because of the Holy Spirit, what he is doing through the work of his son Jesus Christ, and what he is doing inside of his body, the church. Those who belong to Jesus Christ. And what he says about this good and this kind of thing in this passage really should bring assurance, encouragement into the life of the Christian. I believe there's powerful things here for you and me in just beautiful ways.

So the good of God, and then he says in this passage of scripture in verse 29—let's just read verse 29 again. "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."

These thoughts extend this notion of what is the good of God. What does that mean? What is he doing? Paul continues to talk about that. And then he uses these two terms, and these are the two terms that jump out to most of us when we read this passage of scripture. He uses the term "foreknew"—for those whom he foreknew. So he speaks of the foreknowledge of God. For those whom he foreknew he predestined to be.

So he uses these two pieces of vocabulary: foreknowledge and predestined or predestination. So is this passage of scripture about predestination? Because that is the word that grabs us, that's the word that jumps out at us. Some of us have had these contentious conversations with brothers and sisters in Christ about what all of that means and what scripture says about this. Is this passage of scripture about predestination?

Here's what I mean. The doctrine of predestination, as some people tend to talk about it, as a lot of commentators on this passage of scripture talk about it, is the doctrine that before the creation of all things God has predetermined those who would be saved and those who would not be saved. So God has predestined some to be the elect, those who would belong to him, and then by virtue of that fact God has predestined those who would not be the elect, who would not be his children. Is that what this passage of scripture is about?

The next step a lot of people take is, well, let's dig through the original language. What do these verbs mean? What's really going on here? What words did Paul pick? Foreknowledge in the Greek means foreknow and predestined in the Greek means predestined. They just mean exactly what they mean inside of the English language. To foreknow is to know events before they happen. To know them, not guess them, not predict them, but to know what happens before it happens. And to predestine is to predetermine, to decide what will happen before it will happen.

The Greek words mean exactly what they sound like. Inside of your verse in your English Bibles, your English verse works the same way that it does when Paul originally wrote this in the Greek. So now for you English types, think about it like this. The word "foreknow", the direct object in that sentence for the word "foreknow" is "those who". So it speaks of those who are followers of Jesus Christ. God foreknew who they would be.

This means that when Paul describes Christians, he says that God foreknew who would come to faith in him. So we know this about God. God is all powerful. Everything that can be done God has all of that power in actuality. God is also omniscient. All that can be known God knows all of these things.

So God, who has an utterly unique relationship to time and space, he knew before the foundation of the earth all things that would happen throughout the history of creation itself and humanity until the coming of Jesus Christ and on into eternity. This is just one of the qualities of being God.

If you wanted to fill out a resume for the job of being God, one of the boxes you would have to check is omniscience. You'd have to have that on your job resume. There is only one being who does and this is God. He knows all of these things. So before they happen, God knows them. The direct object is you and me. The indirect object is the clause "predestined to be conformed to the image of his son".

Here's what this means. God knows who will come to faith in him. What he has decided ahead of time to do to them is to conform them to the image of his son Jesus Christ. God foreknows who will come to him because God sees and God knows. What God has then done is he has decided beforehand that everyone who comes to faith in Jesus Christ, here's what's going to happen to them. You and I will be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ.

To be predestined in this verse of scripture means God has decided that if you are a follower of Jesus Christ, he is going to be at work in you now through the power of his spirit, conforming you to the image of his son Jesus Christ, and then he is going to pull you into eternity with himself, and at that moment you and I will be nothing but conformed to the image of Jesus Christ.

I've been in enough of these conversations to know what one of the next questions typically is. Well, if God is all powerful and he does know all things, doesn't it mean that if God foreknows all things then by default God causes all things to happen? Aren't those two essentially with God the same thing?

Here's a good I think kind of reaction to that impulse, to that question. When Paul in this passage of scripture is talking about our salvation, God's knowledge, and God's predetermining power, Paul has two verbs at his disposal. And he has a verb that means God makes all things happen, and he has a verb that means God knows all things are going to happen, and he chooses God knows all things.

And then when he says God will predetermine he's talking about the movement of your life in the direction of Jesus Christ. The conformity of your soul, Christian, to who Jesus is. So in my view, which is of course the biblical view, God is not predestining an elect group of people and limiting that group of people before all of creation takes place to be saved. He has decided that everyone who responds to the call of the Holy Spirit in faith in Jesus Christ will be conformed to the image of his son.

There was a group of us in our 20s and 30s who were part of a group we called ourselves the Dead Theologian's Society. There's some of you here still with us today shockingly who were a part of some of those groups. And we would sit around dinner tables and we would sit inside of living rooms, and there were several of us inside of those circles in our zealous 20s and 30s who believed very differently about this verse of scripture. And man, would we go at it. Boy, would we go at it when we talked about this particular issue.

The older we get, the older I get—in fact, I spoke with one of those friends just a little while ago who was on the other side of this issue from me. And he looked me in the eye one day and he said, "Phil, did we really argue about this stuff this much?"

Bottom line, I am convinced wherever you set on this issue of predestination—I've given you what I think is the biblical view and this is why I believe what I believe about the foreknowledge of God—but I will tell you this: I really do believe that in the end you and I sort of see through a glass darkly as the Apostle Paul speaks of it. But there's coming a day when all of that darkness and that smoke is going to go away and we will see clearly.

And when we actually come face to face with God, who has an utterly unique relationship to time and space, we're going to kind of look behind us and go, "Oh, that's what that meant." So I have become comfortable with a degree of mystery in the relationship between the genuine free will that God has given you, the Holy Spirit calling you to himself, the act of faith and trust that we put in Jesus. We believe in him and we are saved. This is the phrase that Jesus uses in the Gospel of John over and over again, and the calling and the work of God inside of our lives.

But here Paul says for those whom he foreknew, those group of people what he's decided to do is to turn you into the image of his son Jesus Christ. Now for me, the more I spent time with this and thought through this, to me I think what we're finding here is this stunning level of bedrock style assurance in our walk with Jesus Christ. It moves us out of the uncertain world of, "Am I elect or not, how do I know? Am I saved or not, how do I know?" and moves us into the absolute assurance of the work of God inside of the lives of his children.

When you put your faith in Jesus Christ, God is at work within you to make you more like his son Jesus Christ and less like your sin. This is the work of the Holy Spirit within us. He saves us, he justifies us, and he conforms us to the image of his son Jesus Christ.

And then friends, and here's where I think this assurance just kind of blows the doors open and the light shines in so brightly that I don't think we can absolutely see what's happening here. There is coming a day when if you are right now a son or a daughter of God, if you've put your faith in Jesus Christ, there's coming a day when you will see your heavenly father face to face. And as Paul writes to the Corinthians, all the wood, hay, and stubble, all of the stuff in your life that is still broken and still riddled with sin and still rebellious against God, did not glorify God—here's what God does with that. He burns it away and all that is left in you, Christian, is the image of God.

He has predestined you to be conformed step-by-step in this life and fully and completely in the next to be conformed to the image of his son Jesus Christ. That's good stuff. That's really good stuff. When Paul writes to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, he's talking about the resurrection, how we know it's true, what it means, the consequences that the resurrection of Jesus Christ has.

And here's part of what he says in chapter 15 verse 49: "Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust—here we are human sons and daughters of Adam and Eve—just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven." What is dust here now will be burned away and all that will be left is the glory of God and the image of Christ. He has predestined you, Christian, to be conformed to the image of Christ.

So that—you see there's another phrase inside of verse 29. In order that he, Jesus, might be the firstborn among many brothers. God conforms us to the image of Christ so that Jesus will be the first among a great heavenly host. He will be the head of, he will be the leader of, he will be the savior of, he will be the redeemer of a host of the righteous who belong to him. God is conforming you, Christian, to the image of his son Jesus Christ so that his son Jesus Christ might be the firstborn, the very first among many brothers—a great understatement—among a host that cannot be numbered.

So God is conforming us. Conforming meaning to be turned into another shape or another form. And it's here, friends, where you and I in this walk in life, we need to pay attention to these things. We need to have our eyes open to these things. We need to be rooted inside of the word of God. We need to be connected with brothers and sisters in Christ who can help us walk this path.

We need to slow down and memorize and apply scripture and obey the things that Christ has commanded us to do. We need to pray for attentiveness, for self-awareness, we need to pray for forgiveness, we need to pray for the power of the Holy Spirit because friends, there is within us, as chapter 8 has said over and over and over again, the very power of the spirit of God, the third member of the Trinity dwells in you.

And so we seek the changing of the image of our lives from our sin toward Jesus Christ. And God is able to do the things that you and I under our own power cannot do. It is God who is conforming us.

Thinking of this path and this work of spiritual formation, of our discipleship and maturity, Paul as he writes in the book of Colossians, speaking of Jesus Christ and his relationship to his body, to his church—Colossians 1 verses 15 and 18 say this: "He (meaning Jesus) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, and he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent."

He is doing this in my life so that Christ may be glorified. So that there is an even greater host of the righteous and the redeemed who belong to Jesus Christ. He has pulled us into his work. We've used this vocabulary so much in the last several verses—that God is pulling us into the relationship of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, and he is pulling us into the same work of the three.

That you and I are now a part of what God is doing. So Jesus Christ, the second member of the Trinity, enters this world in flesh. He is obedient to the father to the point of the cross, even death on the cross—actual physical death on the cross. And then Jesus rises from the dead and now he is Lord of all and we are his people, his spiritual nation, and he is our soon-and-coming king. He is conforming us to his image so that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. We're going to come back to that thought here in a little while.

And verse 30, we continue to think in terms of the good that God is doing in his people, in his church. And those whom he predestined—the ones that he's turning into his the image of his son Jesus—and those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. This is more and more of what it means for God to be at work for the good of his children and for the good of his glory.

So every follower of Jesus Christ is called. Every follower of Jesus Christ is called. We touched on this term last week because Paul used it in verse 28. But when he uses this language throughout the New Testament, it is just simply a word that means you've been invited to something that's going to happen. You've been invited to the banquet.

And the way the New Testament uses the word, speaking of the way the spirit calls us—and he applies that word to himself, to his missionary team, he applies it to every disciple, every follower of Jesus Christ—it means both sides of the call. That we have heard the call of God to be invited into his work, and you and I have picked ourselves up and we have gone. We've engaged, we are now in. We've responded to the call with our lives.

God has called me meaning now my life is given over to the work of the kingdom of God. To what he has called me to do, what he has empowered me to do. It's what we sometimes call the effectual call. It has its effect. He calls and we respond.

So this is so important. God's calling is for everyone who believes, not just those who find themselves in some role of ministry or vocational ministry. It's not just for Paul and his missionary team, but he speaks of every disciple. Jesus speaks of every disciple being called by the Holy Spirit and being pulled into the work of God.

In fact, at one point, when Paul is writing to the Corinthians again in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 and he is talking about the work of the church, he is talking in chapter 12 specifically about the gifts that the spirit gives the church. And he gives different gifts to different people. And we're supposed to use those gifts when we come together to lift up the body, to encourage one another, to pull more people into the body of Christ.

He says this is what we should do and this is how we should do it. And in the middle of that, he uses the image of a physical body to explain what he means by this. So he literally says some people are hands and feet and some people play this role and that role. And he says there in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, there is not one part of the body that can say to the other part of the body, "I don't need you."

So the body's put together on purpose by Christ. Every piece of it is called by God to be drawn nearer into him and his glory and his presence and his will, and to be called into his work inside of this world. Every single part of the body.

So thinking about being called by God, there are a couple of things that I want to flesh out just a little bit here for a few minutes. First and foremost, we are called to someone, not something. Often times when we talk about, "Well, what is—what does it mean to be called by God? What is my calling by God?" it's very natural for us to then turn that question mentally into, "Well, what am I supposed to do?"

What school am I supposed to go to? What job am I supposed to take? Who am I supposed to marry? How many kids are we supposed to have? We're asking those kinds of questions about what we're supposed to do. And I believe all of those things work themselves out in our calling inside of the will of God, but first and foremost, to be called by God is to be called to him.

So this morning, if you are not a follower of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit this morning is doing this. He is calling you to himself to repent and believe in Jesus Christ. To believe that God has raised him from the dead and you will be saved. So he's calling you into himself.

For everyone else inside of this room who is a follower of Jesus Christ, guess what God is doing first and foremost: he wants you closer to him. He wants you deeper inside of him. He wants you to know him more. "Seek after me with all of your heart," God says through the prophets. And you will find me. God wants to be found, God wants to be known. If you don't know Jesus yet, if you've known Jesus for 150 years, guess what he is doing: he is pulling you closer and closer into himself. This is the first thing we mean when we mean that we are called by God.

Os Guinness, the Christian thinker and author, wrote a wonderful book just called *The Call* dealing with this, how we sort of tease this notion out. And he says this about God's first calling: "'Follow me,' Jesus said 2,000 years ago and he changed the course of history. This is why calling provides the Archimedean point by which faith moves the world. This is why calling is the most comprehensive reorientation and the most profound motivation in human experience. The ultimate 'why' for living in all history. Calling begins and ends such ages and lives of faith by placing the final aim of life beyond the world where it was meant to be. Answering the call is the way to find and fulfill the central purpose of your life.'"

To find the central purpose of your life is to respond to the call of God. This is the first thing that's happening biblically, theologically, when we speak of God's calling. He's pulling you closer into himself. He's still doing this with Pastor Phil and he's still doing this with all of us.

And then my calling becomes to follow Christ faithfully and courageously in whatever comes next. In whatever happens this afternoon, am I faithful to the word of God? In what happens, what's going to happen on Monday morning, am I faithful to the word of God? Am I responding to the call in the sense that now I have become an obedient and courageous part of the kingdom of God as it's starting to work its way inside of my life and inside of this world?

So here now we're not looking for the call of God in terms of, "I'm kind of looking over the horizon because I know what's happening right now is this just isn't right, but man, if I could just get there, if that could potentially happen, then bam that is going to be my calling." That's not what we're talking about. The question is am I being obedient and faithful here and now where God has placed me.

And then as I endure in that, as I know him more, as I am obedient in my life now, then God is going to do what needs to be done inside of my life. And sometimes that means dramatic change. Sometimes that means dramatic things will happen inside of our lives. Not because you and I are actively looking for the next best thing. "Every couple of weeks I send my resume out to other larger churches because I'm just looking for the next—" I don't do that. Because I'm just looking for the next best thing. That's not what we're talking about. God is going to work his will out inside of our lives as we are obedient and faithful. As we are courageous where we are to follow Jesus Christ, to reflect him more and more.

Friends, there is purpose in our calling. The God who knew you called you to himself and to be an effective part of his kingdom. You have a role to play. You really do have a role to play. It's not trite or silly to say that God has a plan for your life because guess what: scripture literally says God's doing something with your life. He's called you to himself and he can be at work in powerful ways in your life whatever that looks like. You have a role to play. There is purpose in our calling in Jesus Christ.

Paul says for those whom he predestined he called and those whom he called he justified. This is something that the Apostle Paul has talked about extensively. As he moves through chapters 4, 5, and 6, makes his way into the tension of chapter 7 and then that kind of glorious culmination in the beginning of Romans chapter 8, he's speaking of our justification. That we have been made right with God because of the work of Jesus Christ and our faith in him. He justified you. You didn't justify you to him, right? These are important things to remember when we speak of our justification.

I want to remind us of a little bit of that since it's been a couple of weeks since we were in Romans chapter 5. I want to read Romans 5 verses 1 and 2 again because this is beautiful. He says this in Romans 5: "Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we also obtain access by faith into his grace in which we stand and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God."

Christian, you have been justified by the work of Jesus Christ. God's pulled you into himself and look what happens: you now, where you were not at peace with God because of what Jesus has done, you are now at peace with God, the creator of all things. And it happens through Jesus Christ. We obtain access into this life, into this kingdom, into the presence of God by faith into his grace in which we stand. And this is reason to rejoice. Our justification is reason to rejoice.

So friends, there is assurance here. In our justification, there is a bedrock style assurance. The God who knew you predestined you to be fully and completely justified. You are forgiven and you are a child of God. We taste it now, we seek it now, sometimes we find it in greater degrees in this life here and now. But don't worry because God has decided beforehand that what he's going to do with you is he is going to fully and completely conform you to the image of his son Jesus Christ. And there is assurance here.

We have been called and there is purpose in our calling. We have been justified and there is assurance in our justification. And we will be glorified. Those whom he justified he has glorified. So let's remind ourselves of what the Apostle Paul just said just a few verses ago earlier in chapter 8, because Paul has used this word quite often in this section here in chapter 8.

Verses 17 and 18, he's talking about our adoption as sons and daughters of God into the family of God. He says, "And if children then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him—this is our identification with Jesus in this world—provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us."

Anything this world brings, anything this life brings, the child of God is destined for the glory of God. Anything and everything.

As I thought about this, I was reminded of a lot of paintings in the early church and in the medieval church. Many of them when they depict martyrs and the moments of martyrdom—they're being torn apart by lions, they're being burned at the stake, they're having spears thrust through them. Often times in those paintings, sometimes you get the halos depending on who did the painting, but the eyes of the martyrs are always looking up.

Whatever happens in this life, however it unfolds, God has glorified his children. And there is a glory that is coming that just cannot be compared to whatever we suffer in this life. Martyrs have their eyes pointed toward heaven. May we always in that sense have our eyes pointed toward heaven.

Jesus himself prayed this in John chapter 17, this chapter that is Christ's prayer for his disciples as he speaks to his heavenly father in the presence and the ears of his followers. He says, "The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one. I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me."

Part of this glory is our unification with God the Father through the work of Jesus Christ and now with the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit. See again how God by his goodness, his grace, his calling, he has pulled us into the work of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit in his church and his work inside of this world and here we are at the middle of the kingdom of God as God is at work.

Let's not forget that phrase that God is conforming us to the image of his son so that, in order that, Jesus would be the firstborn among many brothers. You see, the foreknowledge and the predestination of God fills heaven with numbers that cannot be counted. This is what God is up to. This is what God's calling is doing.

He is increasing his glory for our good. That's one of the reasons we sang the song we're going to sing it later on this morning: "His glory for our good." God is not increasing his glory as if he is vainglorious and then he is casting human beings aside because he doesn't need us. He is calling many to himself so that heaven will be filled with innumerable, righteous, saved, and transformed people who worship God forever and ever.

Revelation 5:11 just simply says, "The voices of many angels numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands," and then they sing this song. Revelation 7:9, "A great multitude that no one could number from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages standing before the throne of the lamb."

We're not going to be able to number that host. But look what God has done as he unfolds all things for his good, for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose. He does these things, those whom he foreknew he predestined to be conformed to the image of his son in order that heaven would be filled with people who see God face to face forever. Isn't that beautiful? So that Jesus, our elder brother, is the firstborn among an innumerable host.

We've seen purpose and we've seen assurance and friends, in our glorification by God there is hope. There is hope here. The God who knew you has predestined you to be filled with his spirit now and engulfed in his heavenly host and glory for all of eternity. Isn't God good? Isn't God good? Friends, let's pray.