Please remain standing now for the reading of
the word. We are in Paul's letter to
the Romans, and we're looking at chapter 8,
verses 28 to 30 this morning. Again, Romans
8,
verses 28
to 30.
It says, 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.
The word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God. Please be seated.
Well, I think it is fair to say
that for many reasons,
millennials get a bad rap.
But we should admit that one of the
great contributions that millennials have made to society
is that they were the generation that first
embrace
and expanded the use of memes.
I do not know if we would have
made it through the COVID pandemic, for example,
without
the wonderful
levity and perspective that memes provided.
Most recently, the value of memes was demonstrated
during the Paris Olympics.
The fruitful harvest of which is still in
the beginning stages,
especially with a plentiful seed provided by the
breakdancing prowess of the distinguished doctor Reagan from
Australia.
Other notable memes coming out of Paris 2024
involve
Turkish shooter, Joseph
Dikec,
the silver medalist
whose ultra chill demeanor,
dad eyeglasses,
no frills t shirt,
hand in pocket shooting style, and overall,
I'm just a guy vibe,
captivated the imagination of meme artists from around
the globe.
You You know, to use an expression that
that millennials are yet to ever employ is,
in my day,
it was gold medalists
who earned fame and recognition.
In fact, that's one of the reasons why
they were awarded a gold medal.
Because gold,
with its great value, not only signified excellence,
but its great durability with its resistance
to tarnish and corrosion
symbolize the enduring nature
of Olympic glory.
Well, this morning we are considering one of
the most memorable texts in Paul's letter to
the Romans,
a text that displays
both the glory
and the enduring power
of God's redeeming work.
In fact, the main lesson that I want
you to impress upon you this morning is
this,
salvation is a golden chain
that is forged in God's eternal purpose
and secured around you by his unfailing love.
Again, salvation is a golden chain
that is forged in God's eternal purpose
and secured around you
by his unfailing love. And we're going to
examine this golden chain under 3 headings.
1st,
the chain's design.
2nd, the chain's designer.
And 3rd, the chain's durability.
So let's consider the first heading, the chain's
design.
A recent survey found that 6 in 10
young adults are living life without a clear
sense of meaning and purpose.
Can you imagine that?
At the very time in life
when one has the most energy, when one
is full of life, and and in fact
most of one's life is still ahead of
us, when the possibilities of what one might
accomplish
are as varied and as good as they
can possibly be,
one believes that life has no purpose.
Imagine that. Imagine believing
that life has no purpose,
living life without
meaning,
without a goal,
without direction.
This could easily
hurt your performance at work, for example. It
could easily hurt your personal relationships.
And it could even cause you
to withdraw from society altogether and become
isolated.
This is why so many people today, and
not just young people,
end up falling prey to
unhealthy coping mechanisms of all kinds, such as
substance abuse,
or unhealthy eating habits, or promiscuity,
or excessive screen time,
escapism
or even workaholism
because
you have to fill that empty void with
something.
But since these coping mechanisms don't address
the underlying issue,
this lack of direction
often leads to increased levels of anxiety
and depression
and even to hopelessness and despair.
Well, the good news is that the Bible
does address this underlying issue.
You may remember last
week that from last week, we looked at
verses 26 and 27 of Romans 8, and
we saw that the Holy Spirit reworks our
deepest longings
so that when the Father searches our hearts,
looking as he does through the benevolent lens
of Christ's grace,
he sees the prayer that we ought to
have prayed
proceeding from a heart that is conformed
to his will.
And this ensures that through the Holy Spirit's
intercession
and the ministry of Jesus on our behalf,
our petitions
before God's throne of grace are always received
in full accordance and agreement
with God's purpose.
This is why Romans 828
says,
and we know that for those who love
God,
all things work together for good, for those
who are called according
to his purpose.
People today are trained to believe that life
has no purpose, but that's a terrible lie.
You see, verse 28 tells us that we
are called according
to God's purpose.
In other words, not only is there a
design to life,
but there is a design for your life.
And not only that, but God because God
is sovereign,
verse 28 tells us that if you're a
Christian,
all things are designed
to work together
for your good.
Beloved Christian, I want you to allow this
verse
to wash away your anxiety
and your uncertainties.
I want you to put to rest the
notion
that your life is aimless,
that it is purposeless.
Now verse 28 teaches us that God has
a purpose for his creation, and more importantly,
verse 28 teaches us that God has a
good purpose.
Now Paul does not write that all things
work together for everyone's good.
He writes that all things work together for
the good of a specific group of people.
People who on the one hand love God,
and on the other hand are called by
God.
And in case this is not clear to
you, those who love God
and those who are called by God
are the same group of people.
This is the group of people for whom
all things work together
for good.
The Apostle Paul the Apostle John, sorry, writes
in 1st John chapter 4,
that we love God
because He first loved us.
In other words, we love God because
He lovingly called us
into His love.
What this means is that loving God is
not a precondition
that must be met in order to be
the beneficiary of His benevolent design.
Life is not a choose your own adventure
book, where if you choose to love God,
then your character arc now becomes one of
blessing and good purpose.
Rather,
God calls you into his love,
effectively writing you into a story that is
specifically designed
to result
in your blessing.
Your love for God is a response
to his sovereign love for you.
It is the first evidence of his favor
toward you.
It is evidence that you have been called
according to his purpose.
It is the most pivotal instance
of all things working together
for your good.
In other words,
loving God is not a requirement for blessing,
rather it is the first result
of God's blessing.
In 2nd Timothy chapter 1 verse 9, Paul
affirms this very point
writing the following. He writes
that 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.
That is to say,
because he loved you
before you loved him,
because he loved you even before the ages
began,
he called you in Christ according to his
own purpose and grace
to live a meaningful life
following a specific
and good
design.
Dear Christian, circumstances in your life may be
difficult
or tragic
or sad.
There might even be people who are trying
to intentionally
cause you harm.
But Romans 828 reminds you that God divinely
orchestrates events in such a way that no
evil scheme against you will ultimately prevail.
This does not mean that everything will work
out the way that you would like.
It does mean that everything will work out
for your ultimate good.
It does not mean
that all your prayers will be answered how
you intend.
It does mean
that your prayers will be answered according to
God's goodwill.
It does not mean that you will be
spared
pain and suffering in this life.
It does mean
that you will be spared pain and suffering
unto eternity.
So instead of wandering through life aimlessly,
as those who have no hope do,
deepen your love for God by studying the
instruction manual
that reveals God's design for creation
and for your life,
God's Word.
We need to devote ourselves to this book.
It is a blessing that God gives us.
And this by doing this, you will set
aside
your anxiety
about what lies ahead,
resting instead
in the assurance that by design,
all things will ultimately work together
for your good.
So So having considered the chain's design, let's
consider our second heading.
The chain's designer.
In verse 28,
we just learned that God has a design
for the life of Christians,
a design that results in their good.
In verses 29 and 30, we will see
that God's benevolent design
for Christians
is their complete and thoroughgoing salvation.
That is the glorious design that is in
view here.
Recall that the main point that I want
you to remember from this morning's sermon is
this, salvation is a golden chain that is
forged in God's eternal purpose and secured around
you by his unfailing love.
In verse 29, we see the first links
of this golden chain, and because of their
supreme and exquisite craftsmanship,
they teach us about the identity of the
master craftsman.
Look again at what verse 29 says.
For those whom he foreknew,
he also predestined to be conformed to the
image of his son in order that he
might be the firstborn among many brothers.
Notice the verbs in the first half of
verse 29,
to foreknow
and to predestine.
These verbs constitute the first two links
in the Golden Chain of Salvation.
And these two links by themselves reveal the
extraordinary craftsmanship
of the chain.
Here's what I mean.
The raw materials
or the root words
of each link
of foreknowledge and predestination
have been reshaped
and reworked
through the attachment of a prefix that denotes
temporality.
Look at the root of foreknowledge that is
to know.
The root of predestination
to destined.
The first link comes from taking the verb
to know
and hammering into it the temporal prefix
for,
creating the verb to foreknow.
This changes the meaning from merely knowing something
to knowing something before it happens, or even
before it is.
But there's another nuance to this link of
foreknowledge.
The late John Murray,
renowned professor of Systematic Theology at Westminster in
Philadelphia,
notes that in scripture, the verb to know
often refers to a loving
relational commitment,
especially in a covenantal context.
One instance of this usage is in Genesis
4, for example,
where we read that Adam knew Eve and
she conceived.
To know there means to love with intimacy,
within the intimate relationship of husband
and wife. It is covenantal in that sense.
Another instance of this usage is in Amos
chapter 3 verse 2, where God rebukes Israel
for disobeying him, promising to punish Israel as
he cries out,
you only
have I known
of all the families of the earth.
Obviously, God does not here intimate that he
is unaware of other nations,
but rather that Israel's sin is especially damning.
Because of all the nations of the earth,
they alone
have been in a loving
covenantal
relationship
with God.
God knows Israel, which is to say, He
loves
Israel. And their disobedience
has broken his heart
because he knows them,
because he loves them.
So you see in scripture very often to
know is to love, and this applies to
foreknowledge.
So that to foreknow
is to forelove,
that is to say to love
before
being loved.
Therefore we can reasonably conclude that the first
link in the golden chain of salvation carries
the meaning of setting one's love
on someone,
even before they set their love on you,
indeed even before they exist.
The second link comes from taking the archaic
verb
to destiny.
It's archaic, no longer used, which means to
determine,
and fusing into it the temporal prefix
pre,
creating the verb to predestine.
This transformation
changes the meaning from merely determining something
to determining something in advance or a priori.
Notice then what these two links in the
golden chain of salvation reveal
about the master craftsman who shaped and joined
them.
No mere creature
is capable of perfectly knowing what lies ahead,
neither does a mere creature have authority
to sovereignly mold someone's life into a shape
and for a purpose of his own choosing.
This means that God alone
has the capacity and right to forge a
golden chain of salvation
that has foreknowledge and predestination
as its first two links.
The first link tells us that God sets
his saving love on certain individuals
before he has even made them.
That's why he foreknows them and he foreloves
them.
And then having set his love on them,
God predestines them or predetermines their glorious destiny
before creating them.
This is how Paul puts it in in
Ephesians chapter 1 verses 3 to 5, where
he writes,
Blessed be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ,
who has blessed us in Christ with every
spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,
even as He chose us in Him
before
the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and blameless before
him. In love, he predestined us
for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus
Christ,
according to the purpose
of his will.
Notice that this work of foreknowledge and predestination
takes place before the creation of mankind even
before the foundation of the world.
Therefore, the kind of work,
this kind of work
literally requires divine intervention,
meaning that God alone
is the designer of the golden chain of
salvation.
Now
because of the uniquely glorious provenance of this
golden chain,
Christians throughout centuries
have struggled to accept this priceless gift as
is.
In fact, instead of simply and humbly
receiving the gift of this chain, many try
to add their own work to the chain,
and by so doing,
they end up tarnishing
the radiant splendor
of the original.
They rework the chain by adding their own
link to it,
right between the link of foreknowledge and predestination.
The link they add is the link of
personal faith,
effectively making the connection between foreknowledge and predestination
contingent
upon this new link.
They say, for God to foreknow you,
you must
show
somewhere in his knowledge that you will have
personal faith.
And if he knows that you will one
day have personal faith,
then God will predestine you
to eternal life.
They add this new man made link which
becomes the most important link in the chain.
And in order to fit this new link
in between the first two, they have to
reshape
both links.
So they readjust and open the first link,
so that instead of being foreknowledge by which
God sovereignly and freely knows and loves those
whom He will save even before they exist,
it becomes a kind of post knowledge.
Meaning that God will only set His love
on you
after knowing
that you will exhibit personal faith in Him
someday.
In other words,
the links in the reworked
chain of salvation
begin telling a different story.
They now say that God loves you because
you
first
loved him.
In the reworked chain of salvation, the link
of predestination
is also altered
to fit in the link of personal faith.
The link of predestination by which God predetermines
whom he will redeem according to his own
sovereign and free will,
instead has to become
post destination.
As God responds
to redeem only those who first exhibit personal
faith according to their free will.
The designer of this counterfeit chain of salvation
is no longer God, but man
who adds the link of personal faith between
foreknowledge and predestination
and proceeds to sell this new chain of
salvation
to whosoever
chooses
to believe.
Beloved Christian, don't settle for the counterfeit.
Salvation belongs to the Lord.
He is the master craftsman,
the designer of the golden chain of salvation,
and he has made this invaluable gift for
you.
Don't alter it.
Humbly receive it with a grateful heart,
and display this precious gift adorning it with
a godly life that brings glory to the
lover of your soul.
For you see, that is the purpose of
this gift.
The golden chain of salvation doesn't merely save
you.
It transforms
you into a beautiful and holy person that
God designed for you to be.
It conforms you to the image of Christ
so that your life will increasingly be marked
by his character and his godliness.
Remember that this is what Paul writes in
the second half of verse 29,
where we once again read, 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.
Is this not amazing?
The golden chain of salvation will transform the
person who wears it into the image of
Christ one day.
The affections of your hearts,
your character,
your thoughts
and your actions will be so conformed to
the image of Christ, your lives will so
resemble his,
that it will be clear that you are
his brothers
and his sisters.
You will bear the family resemblance.
That is the ultimate destiny that God predestined
for you before the world began.
This is the ultimate goal and purpose
for your lives,
Christlikeness.
So let us begin to cultivate the fruit
of the Spirit in our lives now,
confident that he who began a good work
in us will also bring it to completion.
The golden chain of salvation begins in eternity
past
with foreknowledge and predestination
as its first two links.
And now
we see that its effect results in a
glorious transformation
unto eternity future,
which brings us to our final heading,
the chain's durability.
Look at verse 30 with me.
And those whom he predestined,
he also called.
And those whom he called, he also justified.
And those whom he justified,
he also
glorified.
Whereas the first two links of the golden
chain of salvation,
foreknowledge and predestination,
originate before the foundation of the world and
therefore belong to the realm of eternity past,
verse 30 introduces the temporal links of the
golden chain where God's saving work is applied
and brought to fruition
in the lives of believers.
Now I want you to, first first of
all, notice
what other links are included
in this golden chain of salvation that is
displayed in verse 30.
Now I'll say this. The the chain presented
for us by Paul in Romans chapter 8
is not complete,
but it is
a a good exemplar of what this chain
holds. And so look at what he includes
here. After introducing foreknowledge and predestination in verse
29,
verse 30 adds calling,
justification,
and glorification.
These are links
in the golden chain.
We said earlier that only God is able
to foreknow
and to predestine.
Well, in verse 30, we read that he
who predestined
is the same person who called,
and the same person who justified
and the same person who glorified.
In other words,
there really is no other designer
of the golden chain of salvation,
but God alone.
Just think of the scope of God's saving
work.
It begins with him foreknowing
whom he will save
before the foundation of the world, And it
ends with him
perfecting
believers
in glory.
He really does all the work, which means
that he rightly gets all the glory.
Look at how Paul puts it in Ephesians
chapter 2 verses 8 to 10.
For by grace you have been saved through
faith,
and this is not your own doing.
It is the gift of God, not a
result of works so that no one may
boast.
For we are his workmanship
created in Christ Jesus for good works, which
God prepared beforehand
that we should walk in them.
Remember I said earlier that
man tries to alter
God's golden chain of salvation by adding his
own link of personal faith
resulting in a counterfeit chain.
Well, as we just read in Ephesians 2,
faith really is an important link
in the chain of our salvation,
for we are saved by grace through faith.
However,
Ephesians 2 also teaches us that even our
saving faith
is a gift of God
and not a result of works, so that
no one may boast.
So the link of saving faith,
like every other link
in the golden chain is the work of
the master craftsman.
It is the work of God and not
our own.
This may not allow you to boast in
your faith, since it is not your work
but it is God's gift to you, but
it ought to cost a boost in your
faith,
knowing that since faith is a result of
God's work in you, your faith will endure
and ultimately it will not fail.
Paul does not here provide definitions for the
links in the golden chain.
But when he mentions that God calls,
we know that he is not referring to
the call
that God's Word makes to everyone,
the call that says that everyone
should repent
and repent of their sins and that everyone
should turn to Christ, trusting in Him alone
for salvation.
That's a true call from God's word that
is made to everyone.
However,
not everyone heeds that call.
In fact, few people heed that call,
and most people ignore
or even despise
that call.
And that's why we know
that that is not the call that Paul
is referring to here.
Because you see in Romans 8:30,
it states that, those whom he predestined,
he also called.
And those whom he called, he also justified,
and those whom he justified, he also glorified.
In other words,
from foreknowledge
to predestination,
to calling,
to justification,
and to glorification,
all these links of the chain
secure
the same group of people.
And those whom he predestined,
he also called.
And those whom He called, He also justified.
And those whom He justified,
He also glorified.
The group stays the same. It never changes.
Not one is lost.
When God foreknows you, that is to say
when God places his love on you before
the foundation of the world,
when you are secured
by that link in the golden chain here
described,
that link and every other link in the
chain
will hold.
It will never break.
It will never let go of you
so that you will certainly
go from being lovingly foreknown in eternity past
to being perfectly glorified
in eternity
future.
The Golden Chain of Salvation is unbreakable
because it was designed and forged by the
master craftsman
and secured around you by the lover of
your soul.
So the link that calls you is the
effectual call that you cannot resist.
It is the effectual call of the good
shepherd
who says that he knows his sheep, that
is to say, he loves them.
And he knows his sheep by name,
and he calls his
sheep, and they follow him because they know
his voice.
It cannot be any other way
because the good shepherd does not lose a
single one
of his sheep.
It is his design.
And the link of justification
refers to God's declaration that because his Son
has redeemed you with his blood,
then you are reckoned as righteous in his
sight.
It is a legal
matter of record.
It cannot be any other way.
And the link of glorification
refers to the full transformation of your soul
and of your body which will be completed
at the resurrection,
and which will result in the total
eradication
of sin,
and of illness,
and of pain, and of sadness,
and even of death.
And it will also result
in your full enjoyment of all the pleasures
at God's right hand.
And even though the full fruition of this
link lies in the future, it is nevertheless
written like every other link in the chain
in past tense
because it is just as certain
and as sure as every other link since
it is made by the same designer
and forged by the same master craftsman.
The links cannot fail because God never fails.
In Exodus 28,
we read that the high priest wore a
square breastpiece
that held 12 stones,
each representing 1 of the tribes of Israel.
Therefore, the breastpiece was known as the breastplate
of judgment.
Because whenever the high priest would put on
his garments to enter into the Holy of
Holies on the day of atonement,
he was figuratively
carrying on his heart
the sins of Israel
before
God's throne.
The breastpiece was fastened to the high priest
garments
using gold chains.
Listen, dear Christian,
Jesus is your high priest.
He ascended the cross with your sin firmly
fastened
to his heart,
And he atoned for your sin
with his own
precious blood.
He took the chains of your sin
and gave you the golden chain of salvation.
How good it is
to wear
this golden chain.
Regardless of your circumstances, let the golden chain
of salvation comfort you in your distress.
It cannot be broken.
It will never fail.
It is a chain forged in God's eternal
purpose
and secured around you with his unfailing love.
Let's pray.