Well, we return to Romans chapter 8, verses 28, 29, and 30. This will probably be our last evening in these three verses. And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren. And those whom He predestined, He also called These whom he called, he also justified. And these whom he justified, he also glorified. Lord, we thank you for this Word. We thank you for all of the assurances that we find here. And Lord, we pray you would give us understanding. In Christ's name, amen. Well here in these three verses, and particularly in the last two verses, Paul details the acts of God in their order, which culminate in the conformity of a sinner to Christ and the sinner's glorification. Here we have a picture of how it is that one comes to be in Christ Jesus and brought to glory with Him. Here. Paul shows us that all this is according to His decree. God has decreed it. Every element leading to the glorification of those called by God according to His purposes was completed in the mind and purpose and counsel of God before He created the world. An amazing truth. The declarations that Paul makes here in verse 28 and in verses 29 and 30, they flow out of Paul's discussion in chapter 8. First of the role of the Holy Spirit in the mind and in the life of the believer. And of the sufferings and weakness that we experience in this life. Including the longing of believers for the day of glory. Verses 26 and 27, if you look at them, we see the apostle brought these two themes together. Showing us that the Spirit helps us in our weakness. Verse 28, we're assured that God is sovereign over all things. What a joyous, wonderful truth. And that His decree will be fulfilled. That all things are working together for good for those who are the called. Those who are called according to His purpose. That even the suffering that Christians experience in this life is for their good. That sharing in Christ's suffering is a prelude to and preparation for sharing in Christ's glory. And in the grand affirmation of verses 29 and 30, Paul tells of the decree of God in eternity past. And of the certainty of the ultimate fulfillment of his decree that lies in the future. The subject of Paul's teaching is a group of people. It's those called according to his purpose. I want us to get that into our heads because that's what he's talking about. That's who he's talking about. And Paul is building toward a grand and glorious climax in verses 33 through 39 where he says, nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Nothing. So Paul teaches of this blessing of eternal union with Christ against the backdrop of two undeniable truths that we've seen here in Romans. First is this. First is the righteousness and justice of God. God's righteousness and His justice will be upheld. Second is the condition into which all humanity has fallen, has brought itself by its unrighteousness, by its ungodliness. And in the first five chapters, we may remember Paul laid out the path that humanity has taken in following after Adam, beginning with Adam. And Paul has laid out the destiny that mankind has carved out for himself. Chapter 1, verse 18. You're going to need your Bibles tonight. We're going to cover a few passages in Romans that may not have been included in the Scripture sheet. This one's in the Scripture sheet. Chapter 1, verse 18, For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. Now think about this. The wrath of God is revealed. against all unrighteousness. Chapter 2, verse 9, Paul wrote this. There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek. This leaves mankind with a real problem. Mankind's problem, as we know, is all have sinned. all fall short of the glory of God, and the wages of sin is death. By one man's sin, sin entered the world, and death through sin, through one man's sin there resulted what? Condemnation to whom? All men. Now we return to Romans 3.9. Both Jews and Greeks are all under sin. There aren't any exceptions to what Paul has written. He cites and quotes from Psalm 14 and 53, there's none righteous. And God's wrath is poured out on all unrighteousness. There's none righteous, not even one. There's none who understands. There's none who seeks for God. All have turned aside. Together they've become useless. There is none who does good, not even one. And so we're in a great problem. And again, Romans 5.18, through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men. But as we've seen here in chapter 8, the glorious truth, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Verses 29 and 30, Paul answers the question, how is it that anybody came to be in Christ Jesus? How did it happen that anybody came to be in union with Christ Jesus? And in these verses, Paul teaches us that those who love God were loved and chosen by Him in eternity past. That's what this foreknowledge is. They were chosen to be conformed to the image of Christ and chosen to be glorified. We're going to try and describe what it is to be glorified tonight when we conclude this passage. But these are all referred to by Paul here as those called according to his purpose. And the ultimate purpose of God is their justification and their glorification. These blessings are certain. You have no reason to have any doubt of their truth of them because they've been decreed by God. So they cannot be altered. These verses show us the amazing love and the grace and the mercy of God. His love for us. They give us full assurance that God will bring all His people, all true believers in His Son, to glory. That's what we have to look ahead to. All of these five actions, foreknowledge, predestination, calling, justification, and glorification, occurred in the mind and purpose of God in eternity past. His foreknowing us, His predestinating us to glory, were actually completed in eternity past. But all of these actions in these two verses are in a tense which speaks of a completed past action, even though God's calling and justifying of His people on those on whom He had said His love, both clearly occur in this age, in the realm of time. And Paul has shown us, particularly in chapter 3 in this passage that begins in verse 9, that apart from a unilateral act of God, no man has any hope of escaping condemnation and being brought to glory. There isn't some other way. There's certainly no way you can earn it. There's nothing we could have done or could do to save ourselves. Only if God acted could anyone be rescued from eternal misery, declared righteous, conformed to the image of Christ, and brought to glory. This is the teaching of Paul's letter to the Romans. We all deserve eternal condemnation. And yet God decreed and undertook a course of action pursuant to that decree to save us from that misery, to clothe us with righteousness, and to bring us to glory. All of this is according to His purpose and His will, not according to what we've done. Now this doesn't mean we have no responsibilities in this life, nor does it mean that we are somehow excused from the responsibility to demonstrate our faith in this life, our lives, our what? The expression of what we truly believe. Well, we've looked at the first three links in this chain of God's decree and His working out of our salvation. For knowledge speaks of the intimate relationship God established with His elect, those on whom He set His love, before He called them, before they believed Him, before He created the world. those whom he foreknew, he foreordained to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he would be the firstborn of many brethren. Now the words predestined, he predestined, or he foreordained, are not difficult to understand, are they? They mean that God made a choice and a decree. In this case, the decree was that he would call, justify, glorify, and conform to the image of Christ all of those on whom he had said his love in eternity past. That's the decree. Do you believe that? These whom He predestined, He also called. Third step. These words affirm that God does effectually call. That means it's a call to which His people will respond in faith. He does effectually call all those whom He foreknew and predestined. And it's at this point, the calling, that the great purpose of God becomes linked to us, becomes applied to us, becomes effectual in our particular case. And all those effectually called will come. These are those whom were given by the Father to the Son. John 6, 37 and 39. All that the Father gives me will come to me. There's a general call of the gospel. We've talked about this. It goes out to the world. But there's also an effectual, inner call of the gospel by which He calls those He has chosen in eternity past. Those called according to His purpose to Himself. His purpose, folks, is our glorification. 2 Timothy 1.9, we've looked at this. Who has saved us and called us. He calls it with a holy calling. And it's got nothing to do with our works. Not according to our works, but according to what? His own purpose. His own grace. Which was granted us in Christ, when? From all eternity. Paul's message doesn't change from letter to letter. So God's effectual call in the order of salvation follows God's predestination of sinners to glory, and it precedes their justification. We began to look at this last week, but what Paul is showing us is how it is that we came to be justified and glorified. Now, what does it mean to be justified? Well, we've certainly seen this topic and this concept discussed in Paul's letter here before several times. Justification speaks of a person's legal standing before God. Kind of a guilty-not-guilty. It's the opposite of condemnation. One man's sin resulted in the condemnation of all men. And only by God justifying any one of us can we be relieved of the verdict of condemnation. Justification means one has been forgiven his sins. He's been declared righteous before God. He's clothed in righteousness as though he'd never sinned. And there's an important step that we know connects calling and justification. A man is justified by faith. That's the step that connects calling and justification. And that truth is the central message of the letter to the Romans. Now look at chapter 3, verse 20. I put some of this in the Scripture sheet, but maybe not all of it. By the works of the law, no flesh will be justified in His sight. You know who believes that? Christians. You know who else believes that? Nobody. can't be justified by your own works, cannot earn heaven by your good outweighing your bad. Through the law, he says, comes the knowledge of sin. But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets. This has been written about in the Old Testament, but not understood. Even the righteousness of and from God How do you get this righteousness? Well, how do you get this justification? It is through faith in Jesus Christ. It's for all who believe. There's no distinction. All have sinned. Fall short of the glory. And look at verse 24. Being justified as a gift. We've read in Ephesians 2.8 that faith is a gift. Now we read that justification is a gift. By His grace, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, through His blood. whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation, an atonement, an appeasement of His wrath in His blood. And it's through faith. Faith connects calling and justification. This was to demonstrate His righteousness. His righteousness. Because in the forbearance of God, He passed over the sins previously committed. He also passed over the sins we committed after He justified us. For the demonstration, I say, of his righteousness at the present time, so that he would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. I don't know how many times he says it in the Scripture, but there were several where we read that God is the one who justifies. You cannot justify yourself. Verse 28, we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. Now there are those who want to make faith something that we do. Something that we do because of our intelligence, our righteousness, our caliber of great reason. But the truth is, faith is a gift of God. It's eyes to see that which we can't see with these physical eyes. It's eyes of faith. Now there's three concepts here. Faith, justification, and righteousness. They're three distinct concepts, but they cannot ever be separated. Wherever you find one, you will find the other two when it comes to people. Romans 4, 3, Abraham believed God. It was credited to him as righteousness. Faith and righteousness. Verse 5, the one who does not work but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness. There's all three concepts in one verse. Just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from his works. Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven. Blessed is the man whose sin has been covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account. Romans 4, 13. The promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would be heir of the world wasn't through the law, wasn't through law-keeping, but through the righteousness of faith. This justification which is certain the day that you are converted and believe. means all these blessings are certain for you. 421, being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able to perform. You remember those Israelites at Kadesh when they send the twelve spies in? What was their failing? They didn't believe that God could do what He promised and bring them in safely among those giants. But Abraham was fully assured that what God had promised he was able to do. And it was credited to him as righteousness. And these words, Paul writes, weren't for Abraham's sake only that we read about this. It was for our sake also, to whom it will be credited as those who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over because of our transgressions and was raised because of our justification. Chapter 5, verse 1. having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. 5.6 tells us Christ died for the ungodly. While we were sinners, He died for us. Think about that. He didn't convert us first, then pay the price. He paid the price first. And that is what we believe. In verse 9, having been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. And we'll see this probably next week, chapter 8, verse 33. The question is, who will bring a charge against God's elect? Satan can't stand there and accuse us any longer. God is the one who justifies. That's what he says. These last words are of great significance. God is the one who justifies. This is what Paul writes in verse 30. Those he called, he also justified. We are not justified because of anything we do. We are not justified even because we believe. We believe because God has called us and given us the gift of faith. Eyes to see that which cannot be seen with human eyes. We can see the kingdom of God. We see it and believe it with all our heart. We know with a certainty that God will bring us to this place with Him. It's the opening of the eyes of the blind to see the truth. This was the promise of what Messiah would do. He will open the eyes of the blind. And to demonstrate that it was He who was called to do this. Jesus brought sight to the blind on earth. He gave physical sight, demonstrating that He's the one who will accomplish that which is necessary to give us eyes of faith. It's the gift of the Spirit indwelling us. I put Hebrews 11.1 in the scripture sheet because it's such an important verse. It's the one place where faith is really defined. It's the assurance of things hoped for. What do we hope for? We hope for eternal glory, eternal bliss. Faith's the assurance of that. And as I said last week, we can't give ourselves that assurance. It's the conviction of things we can't see, yet we have absolute conviction. We're sure, no surer of anything than we are that God will deliver us to glory when we leave this place. We don't know if we'll be here tomorrow. We don't know if we'll be ill tomorrow. We don't know any idea what tomorrow brings on this earth, but we know that when we leave this earth, the rest of eternity is to be spent with Him in glory. justification, the righteousness freely imputed to the sinner by God's sovereign grace, on the basis of Christ's substitutionary atonement, and made the sinner's own possession by means of a God-given faith." Those eyes opened wide. Hendrickson tells us, when Martin Luther made the discovery that Romans 1, 17, where it is said, the righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel from faith to faith as it is written, but the righteous man shall live by faith. When Luther made the discovery that this verse speaks of God's gracious verdict of righteousness pronounced upon the believer, he experienced the happiest day of his life. Here's what Luther said. Here's what he finally understood. This is the truth that God opened his eyes to, that led to the Reformation, that led to Bibles being all over the world by the millions. Luther said, for God does not want to save us by our own, but by an extraneous righteousness, one that does not originate in ourselves, but comes to us from beyond ourselves. which does not arise on earth, but comes from heaven. And so he and Calvin and others conclude that the righteousness that's spoken of here in 117 should be rendered righteousness from God. Meaning that God, its author, imputes this righteousness to the sinner. This righteous standing, this not guilty verdict. Well, and these whom he justified, he also glorified. We come to the end of this chain. In Scripture, glory is almost always spoken of in connection with who? God. Almost always. I didn't know whether to put the word almost in there or not. What is it that Isaiah saw? What is it he saw when God called him to be his prophet? He saw God's glory. Isaiah 6-1. In the year of King Uzziah's death, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings. With two He covered His face, and with two He covered His feet, and with two He flew. One called out to another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of His glory. And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke. And then I said, Woe is me, for I am ruined, because I am a man of unclean lips. And I live among a people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Chapter 1, shortly after the prologue, but still in the introductory portion of his Gospel. Verse 14, what did John write? We saw His glory. You know, Jesus took John and James and Peter up to the mountain of transfiguration and was glorified in their very presence. What a day that must have been to be glorified. Martin Lloyd-Jones says means to be delivered finally and completely from every conceivable effect and result of sin and evil. I think that's all true. I don't think it fully describes it. I don't think we have human words or human ears to fully describe and comprehend God's glory. But what we do know is if you have been called and justified You have assurance that you will live for all eternity in His glory. I can promise you that. Look again at Isaiah's words. The whole earth is full of His glory. And look at the vision that John was given in Revelation chapter 4 verse 2 through 5. God wanted to communicate something to us about His glory and the glory that we've been called to. And He had to give us some symbolic pictures of His glory. And here's how He did it. Revelation 4-2, immediately, I was in the Spirit. And He gets this vision. Behold, a throne was standing in heaven, and one sitting on a throne. And he who was sitting was like jasper stone and sardius in appearance. There was a rainbow around the throne, an emerald in appearance. Around the throne were twenty-four thrones. And upon the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white garments, golden crowns on their heads. Out of the throne comes flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God. Look at the glory of the New Jerusalem, again presented to us in the best possible terms for us to understand. He has to accommodate Himself in these visions to our limited ability to understand. Revelation 21 10, And He carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and He showed me the holy city, Jerusalem. This is the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. Her brilliance was like a very costly stone, as a stone of crystal clear jasper. It had a great and high wall with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels. The names were written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel. Verse 18 tells us about the material of the wall, jasper. The city was pure gold, like clear glass. The foundation stones of the city wall were adorned with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation stone was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, the fifth sardonyx, the sixth sardius, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysophase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. And the twelve gates were twelve pearls. Each one of the gates was a single pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass. Now, these are symbolic pictures. Christ showing us in a way that our minds can presently grasp the beauty, the glory, and the wonder of the eternal city that God has prepared for whom? For all those called according to His purpose. His purpose is this glory. Only it's better. This doesn't even begin to describe the glory of God. The glory of which all those called according to His purpose will partake. Actually, the eternal city will be far more glorious than what's depicted in these visions. None of these earthly gemstones could ever begin to approach the true glory of heaven. That is the glory of God Himself. But if you try to dream up a more glorious picture for earthly minds, I challenge you to do it. He wants us to know. It's as glorious as we could possibly imagine. And it was for a return to His glory that Jesus prayed. as he awaited the temple police and the Roman soldiers who he knew were coming to arrest him and put him on a cross. This is what he prayed on the night before he died. John 17, 1. Jesus spoke these things. He lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that the Son may glorify you. Verse 5. Now Father, glorify me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was. Verse 22, "...the glory which you have given Me, I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one, I in them, and you in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that you sent Me and loved them even as you have loved Me." Oh, do you remember when we got to that verse in John? Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given me, whom You have given me, be with me where I am. Why? So that they may see my glory, which You have given me. For You loved me before the foundation of the world. Our glorification. Still in the future, as to us, but it's a completed action in the mind, in the purpose of God. These blessed three verses give to all of us who believe the assurance, the certain expectation of eternal glory with God. I can't describe it any better than the visions John was given or that Isaiah saw But we have this certainty, this certain expectation of glory with God. And He has decreed it, He's promised it, and He will do it. It was decreed by the Father, accomplished by the Son, and applied to us by the Holy Spirit. Well, how do you know? How do you know if you're one of the called of God? Certainly want to believe we are. Well, Dr. Jones gives us three, maybe four questions we might want to ask ourselves that'll answer this for us. Start with this. Do you accept God's verdict that you are a vile, unworthy sinner deserving of hell? Do you accept that if you lived a million years and strove with all your might to live a godly life, you would be in no better position with God than you are right now? Do you believe that your only hope is to be clothed with the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ through belief in His death as the atonement for your sins, as the means of the appeasement of God's wrath upon you? And do you believe this promise? Do you believe this promise with all your heart of God of eternal glory with Him? If you believe these things, are you seeking the treasures of this world? Or are you seeking first the kingdom of God? If you believe these things, you can have this certainty. We've got to know first that we don't deserve any of what He has already given us, any of what He has laid in store for us. I want to close again with these powerful words of our Lord spoken through the prophet Isaiah. One passage from 1 Thessalonians. Isaiah 46, 10, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying, My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all my good pleasure. Paul wrote the church at Thessalonica Chapter 5, verse 24, Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass. Oh Lord, the blessings that just pour out from these pages of Your Word. What You have done. What You have promised. What You have prepared. The work that You have done in our hearts, in our eyes. The assurance, the certainty that You have given us that we can live our lives trusting in every word You have spoken. We thank You, Father. We thank You, Lord Jesus. And we thank You, Spirit, who indwells us. And we give You praise and glory. Amen.