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Romans Lesson 17 (2008)

THE NEW LIFE OF THE JUSTIFIED – VIII
(The Five Links of Salvation)

“For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.” (Romans 8:29-30,niv)

How many of you are sure that if you died today you would go to heaven? Somebody once said that there will be three surprises for us when we get to heaven. First, we’re going to be surprised that some people, whom we didn’t expect to see there, are there. Number two, we’re going to be surprised that some people, whom we were sure to see there, aren’t there. Number three, we’re going to be surprised that we ourselves are there. The question is “Can we lose our salvation along the way to heaven?” According to Paul, absolutely not. Once you are saved, your salvation is guaranteed. We cannot lose our salvation. Romans chapter 8 starts with the declaration that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. In the first part the chapter, Paul mainly explains the ministry of the Holy Spirit in our lives, assuring that our salvation is guaranteed by the grace of Jesus Christ and through the interceding work of the Holy Spirit in us. (8:1-27) Still, to many of us, God’s salvation is a mystery. We ask, “Why do bad things happen to God’s children?” In 8:28, Paul makes it clear that God our Father, in His almighty power and wisdom, works for the good of His beloved children through both good and bad things. This is an amazing promise of God. We call it “God’s providence.” In today’s passage, verses 29-30, Paul explains it further by dealing with the progress of God’s plan of salvation. “For those God foreknew he also predestined … And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.” According to verses 29 and 30, there are five major elements to God’s salvation. Paul uses five distinctive words: foreknew, predestined, called, justified and glorified. With the repetition of the connecting phrase “he also”, we learn that all these five links are connected together and cannot be separated from one another. We call them “the golden chain of God’s salvation.” Let’s see how God’s salvation works in our lives through these five links.

FIRST LINK, GOD’S FOREKNOWLEDGE (29A)

Look at verse 29a. “For those God foreknew…” Our salvation begins with God’s foreknowledge. This means our salvation was not initiated by our own decision to receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. It actually began in the eternal past by God’s foreknowledge. Although we know that God is omniscient, God’s foreknowledge does not mean that God saw a difference between those who believe and those who do not believe, then chose only particular individuals for salvation. God’s foreknowledge is a difficult concept to understand. However, we can understand it better when we understand the meaning of the word “foreknowledge.” The word “foreknowledge” is made up of two words -“knowledge” and “before” – meaning “to know something before it happens.”

There are two kinds of foreknowledge. One kind is based on our human experience. For example, we know that the sun rises in the morning. So it’s not difficult to predict that the sun will rise again tomorrow morning. That’s foreknowledge based on past experience. There are several men and women who are eager to come to the church and pray early every morning. So we know that they will come to the church tomorrow morning and pray. But there is another kind of foreknowledge, which is not based on past experience but based on decision. In other words, it is the ability to predict what is going to happen because we intend to make it happen. For example, I heard that several young servants are going to clean the carpet of this sanctuary late this afternoon. In fact, they made a plan to rent shampoo machines from the Home Depot and finish the job as soon as possible. This coming Tuesday morning they are going to clean the first floor. So we know that the center floors will be shiny and clean by the end of this week. That’s a kind of foreknowledge. But there is a limit to this kind of foreknowledge. Something could happen along the way. The machine may not be available at Home Depot. Even though we think we know what’s going to happen, we can’t totally control the future. But God is not like that. God knows what’s going to happen for sure because he is sovereign over all the earth. He reigns over all creation. So he knows what is going to happen because he can either directly cause it to happen or allow it to happen. That’s God’s foreknowledge.

Having foreknowledge of something means more than just having mental cognition of certain things beforehand. In the Bible, the word “know,” has the idea of “having special intimacy or a love relationship.” For example, in Genesis 4:1 reads, “Adam lay with his wife Eve” (NIV). But according to the NKJV, it reads “Adam knew Eve his wife” meaning that Adam had loving, personal and intimate relationship with Eve. Likewise, when it says “God foreknew us”, it means that God loved us even before we were created. He chose us even before we chose him. In other words, God didn’t wait to see if we were going to be nice or not. He loved us even before we came into this world. That’s God’s foreknowledge. For example, when we read John chapter 9, we see a man born blind. When the disciples saw him begging on the roadside, they felt puzzled and asked Jesus, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” But Jesus’ answer was very surprising. He said, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.” (Jn 9:2-3) According to Apostle Paul’s explanation, God foreknew this man, deeply loved him and chose him in the eternal past. In other words, God already had fully committed to displaying His glory in the man’s life even before the world began. That’s God’s foreknowledge.

SECOND LINK, PREDESTINATION (29B)

Look at verse 29a. “For those God foreknew, he also predestined…” The doctrine of “God’s predestination” causes much confusion and is very controversial among many believers. Many people think that “predestination” means that God had already determined who is going to be saved and who is not going to be saved because the word “predestined” means literally to determine beforehand. So we ask, “What if God predetermined that I would not be saved, does it mean that I wouldn’t be saved no matter what I do? Or if God predetermined that I would be saved, I would be saved no matter what I do?” It’s like our life is already programmed by God. But I don’t think that’s what “predestination” really means. This kind of approach is a fatalistic view of Predestination. However, Predestination is not to send sinners to hell. It applies only to believers for God’s grace of salvation. God didn’t predestine anyone to be destroyed. Unbelievers are condemned not by God’s predestination but by their own unbelief. The Bible says that God does not want anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance. (2 Pet 3:9; 1 Tim 2:3-4)

Predestination and foreknowledge seem similar. But they are different. Foreknowledge focuses our attention on the love of God, in which we are elected as sons and daughters of God. Predestination points to the decision God made of what He intended to do with those whom He foreknew. It’s very hard to understand, but when we think about the meaning of the word “predestination” we might begin to understand better.

The word “predestination” is made up of two words – “Pre” and “Destination.” The prefix “pre” means “beforehand.” The destination is the final stop, where our trip is going to end. So “predestined” means “to decide where our journey is going to end beforehand.” For example, this summer many of us will travel to Purdue University for the upcoming International Bible Conference. Some will fly, some will drive and others will take a bus. Still others might ride a bike there, since the gas price is so high. That would take forever. But no matter which transportation we may take, we are all going to a predestined area, Lafayette, Indiana where Purdue University is located. Before making our trip, we all decided where our journey is going to end. Likewise, God has predestined us to reach a certain destination.

What is our destination that is determined by God? Look at verse 29 again. “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” First of all, if we are believers in Christ, we are predestined to go to heaven. This troubled world is not our eternal dwelling place. That’s why Jesus said, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” (John 14:1-2) Secondly, if we are believers, we are predestined to be like Jesus our Lord. It does not mean that we all look alike, like identical twins. We will still have our unique personality and character while we will be sinless, holy and immortal, like the glorified Jesus Christ. Ephesians 1:4-5 reads, “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will.” Thirdly, if we are believers, we are predestined to be part of God’s family. We cannot apply predestination to everything, only to God’s salvation plan.

Third link, Calling (v.30)

Look at verse 30. “Those he predestined, he also called.” There are two kinds of calling in the Bible: the general call and the specific call. The general call is the call to salvation that goes out to all people everywhere. It is a universal call, like Matthew 29:19, “Go and make disciples of all nations,” Mark 16:15, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” This is the general call and invitation, given to everybody. We can either accept or reject it. However, the call that Paul talks about here is the special call, personal, inward call of the Holy Spirit. It’s the saving call of God. It’s the invitation which also gives us the ability to respond, the grace of calling, the irresistible grace. Some of us might think that it’s totally up to us whether we believe Jesus or not. But according to the grace of God’s calling, faith is also God’s gift. Paul says in 1 Timothy 1:14, “The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.”

In 1978, when I attended the UBF summer Bible conference. I was deeply touched by the love of Jesus Christ who called Lazarus out of the tomb, saying “Lazarus, come out!” At that time, there was a bad odor from the tomb. Yet, when Jesus called him to come out of the tomb, a miracle happened. While I was listening to the message and writing my reflection on the passage, I heard Jesus’ voice personally calling me, “David, come out of the tomb of despair and sorrow.” When Jesus calls us, he not only calls our name, he also gives us the ability to respond. In other words, we didn’t save ourselves. We didn’t come to the Lord. He called and came to us first. Salvation does not begin with us. It begins with God.

Fourth link, Justification (30b)

“Those he called, he also justified.” (30b) As we have learned in Romans 3:24, “be justified” means “declared to be righteous the moment we trust Christ while we are still sinners. In other words, because of our faith in Christ, the righteousness of Christ is credited to our account in heaven while we are still sinners. As a result, we are set free. We are not guilty any longer. There is no more condemnation for us.

Fifth link, Glorification (30c)

“Those he justified, he also glorified.” (30c) “To be glorified” means to be completely transformed and conformed into the likeness of the glorified Christ Jesus. This is the final stage of God’s salvation. Glorification is still in the future for God’s children. It won’t happen for us as long as we live in this world. None of us is glorified yet. It will happen when our Lord Jesus comes again.

All these five links in God’s salvation plan are inseparable. If God foreknew, he also predestined; if he predestined, he also called; if he called, he also justified; and if he justified, he also predestined.” There is no mistake or failure in God’s salvation plan. For example, if God foreknew 101 people who are here, then he predestined all 101 people. If God predestined 101, he also justified 101, then he glorified 101. It’s not as if God starts out with 1,000 people but loses some of them in the process. No one will be lost in the process. Jesus said in John 10:27-29, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.”

What is Apostle Paul trying to tell us here? It is the complete certainty of our salvation. Our salvation is guaranteed by the work of God. We, even as believers, want a successful life. This is what we work and pray for. However, things do not happen as we plan. Some of us are going through tough times in difficult circumstances, such as financial difficulties, family problems, work problems, visa problems, and health problems. We are also tempted to sin due to our sinful and human nature. We are often overwhelmed by life itself. But we should remember that God will not fail any of us. He will complete what he had already started in our lives. The grace of God is great even though we tend to take it for granted. Some day, we will be surprised by the grace of God even more when we get to heaven. The kingdom of heaven will be so much better and greater than we can imagine because God our Father has prepared it for His beloved children. We didn’t save ourselves. It is God who initiated, prepared, performed and completed our salvation. Although the glorification has not been completed, verse 30 says, “glorified.” Why? Because we are sure of God’s almighty power, love and wisdom. We have no fundamental reason to be grumpy about if we are saved. We only have reason to be thankful, joyful in our journey to the kingdom of heaven. What is the difference between those who have the guarantee of God’s salvation and those who don’t? Are we thankful? Are we rejoicing in God’s salvation? Especially when things around us are getting tough and difficult, we should be even more thankful, rejoice and encourage one another until we reach to heaven. May we celebrate God’s wonderful salvation in us with great thanksgiving and joy and share this good news with others.

 
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