As we have looked in the past several weeks at the need for sanctification in the Christian life, the need for bearing fruit, and the need for perseverance, this morning I want to give us assurance and hope from the word of God. The reason I want to do this is because I mentioned a few weeks ago that if wake up in the morning and say, “God, I praise your name,” then I am showing that God is persevering me. In other words, that is a sign that God is giving me love for him and that I am his own.
I said that such love for God is not something that we can do. It is a fruit of the Spirit. And being branches on the tree, we can only bear the fruit, not produce it. Producing the fruit must be the work of the vine (Jesus). And such a statement helps us to realize how much salvation is of grace. It is entirely of grace. We are utterly dependent upon the mercy of God. Such is why thanksgiving should be a constant and continual thing in the life of the Christian. Every good thing in us is from God.
But if all that is true—if we must be sanctified, but only by God’s merciful grace we will be sanctified—then where is any assurance in our life? Is there such a thing?
Yes there is.
Therefore, let me remind us of two deep assurances we have from the word of God, for that is where we must look to find assurance. And as we examine our passage this morning, I hope that it will become a constant source of assurance for you that God’s grace will continually be present and working in your life if you are a believer.
The two assurances are this: 1) Everything which a believer encounters in life will be overruled by God and worked for his/her good, and 2) no genuine believer will ultimately come short of final salvation. That is to say no one who has justifying faith today will come short of being glorified (the completion of salvation) on that day when the kingdom comes in all its fullness.
Let’s look now to the first promise: God will cause all things in your life to work together for your good.
Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”
Everything which you encounter in life—your trials, afflictions, joys, mistakes, etc.—will be overruled by God as he will work them together for your good. That is to say, there is nothing that will ever happen in your life that God will not be able to work together for good—nothing. Even when men sin against you, God can work that together for good.
The classic passage on such a thing is Genesis 50:20. Joseph’s brothers had sold him into slavery, told their dad that he was dead, and walked away hoping never to see him again. And yet what is Joseph’s remark to them years later when he is second in command in Egypt? “And as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.” That passage is affirming the truth that we read in Romans 8:28. There is nothing in your life that you will encounter that God will not work together for good.
Even the psalmist, after encountering much suffering, writes, “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Your word” (119:67). God used his suffering to draw the psalmist to himself and incline his heart toward his word. There is no situation in which God does not do this in your life.
Isn’t that an assuring promise from his word?
But to whom am I talking when I say, “you” and “your?” To whom exactly is this promise directed? Is it everyone, or just a select few?
Paul tells us that this promise is to those who love God and are called according to his purpose. Therefore, it is clear that there are two conditions we must meet in order to be able to claim this promise in our lives. We must love God and we must be called according to God’s purpose.
Let’s deal with each of these qualifications. I will look at the first one now and the second later. So, first, the promise is to those who love God.
At first glance it seems pretty simple, doesn’t it? I mean, anyone encountering a situation that seems difficult can simply cry out, “I love you, God.” Or at such a moment, he or she could begin to start doing things that the bible tells us to do and show love for God. Therefore, it would seem from the understanding of love that says that you can simply serve people and say good things to them and be said to love them (which I have been trying to dispute in recent weeks) that this promise could be to everyone, believer and non-believer.
However, Scripture paints a different picture of love. It is not enough, according to Scripture, to say good things about God. Jesus says that one is a hypocrite who honors him with his lips while his heart is far from him (Matt. 15:7-8). He also says that it is not enough to serve. 1 Corinthians 13:3 says that we can give all we have to someone, offer our bodies to be burned, and yet still not have love. Therefore, love produces these things out of an affection of the heart. And that is what few men and women have for God.
I do not argue that Christians are the only ones who can love. I simply argue that Christians are the only ones who love God. For John 3:18-20 tells us of Christians and non-Christians loving, but the difference in found in what they love. John writes, “He who believes in [Jesus] is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the judgment, that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”
Therefore, men either love darkness or love light. And the only ones who love the light are the ones who have believed on him for eternal life. That is why I think that conversion is more than simply a decision one makes or a prayer one prays. It is having a love for God. Therefore, for God to judge men, he will need to look no further than whether or not we have kept the greatest commandment. For those who do, only keep it because they have believed, and they have believed only because God has given them a love for the light that has overpowered their love for darkness.
Therefore, though it sounds simple to say that this promise which we read of in Romans 8:28 is for those who love God, the truth is that only those people who are genuine, born-again, believers truly love God. Therefore, this promise is for Christians alone.
And the second qualification is that one is called according to God’s purpose. But what is this calling? Is this something that everyone can say has occurred with him or her, or is it something like the first qualification that applies only to believers? And then, why can Paul say that “we know” that God works all things together for good? I think we see the answers in the next two verses. And in looking at them, we will see the second assurance of which I spoke.
Paul writes in verses 29-30, “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, that he might be the first-born among many brethren; and whom he predestined, these He also called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.”
Therefore, to summarize Paul’s statement in these three verses, it would be, “We know that God works all things together for the good of those who are his children because whom he foreknew, he predestined to become conformed to the image of his Son, he called, he justified, and he glorified.”
In other words the assurance that upholds the promise that God will work all things together for good in the life of his children is that God has a purpose in completing the work of salvation in the life of his children. And that purpose is that you would share in the glory of Jesus Christ and glorify him for all eternity. In 8:17, Paul had written that we are “heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him.” That is our ultimate goal. Our ultimate destination is to be made like Christ, in a glorified body. That is the end of the chain of reasoning that Paul sets in effect in verses 29-30. Do you see how the last thing mentioned is that we will be glorified?
This is our ultimate hope. It is the completion of our salvation. This is the fullness of the joy that can be found in God—for all an eternity. This is the glory with which you cannot even compare the sufferings of this world. This is the ultimate good that God works all things toward. This is the purpose to which we were called.
But who can have the assurance that we will be glorified?
Paul tells us that such assurance belongs to those who are justified. He writes, “And whom He justified, these He also glorified.” Those who have been justified can be assured of this final hope. But who are they? Scripture says that men are justified by faith in Christ.
Romans 5:1-2 holds together all of what we have said. It says, “Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; we exult in the hope of the glory of God.”
Those who have faith are justified, and those who are justified are glorified. It is an unbreakable chain that God is working for the ultimate purpose of glorifying himself. That is why I have said that no believer comes short of final salvation. If he is justified, he most definitely will (eventually) be glorified.
But who are those who are justified? Paul says that it is those who are called, writing, “And whom he called, these he also justified.”
Now this is interesting, isn’t it? There is a calling that always results in justification. When Paul writes of calling, this is the kind of calling that he is talking about. This call always results in justification (and ultimately in glorification). Therefore, this is a call that creates faith.
This is how Paul uses the term. When you read Paul talking about someone who is called, he is speaking of one who is saved. And when he speaks of God calling someone, it always results in salvation. For example, in 1 Corinthians 1:23-27, Paul writes, “We preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong.”
By writing of one being “called” Paul is meaning one being saved, justified. Matthew has a different meaning, which you can see in his use of the word. He means a general call that does not always result in salvation. For example, he writes in Matthew 22:14, “For many are called, but few are chosen.”
But because Paul uses the word as he does, he can say that everyone who is called is justified. Therefore, to be called (as Paul uses it) means that you hear the gospel and you are given faith to believe. That is the circumstance in 1 Corinthians 1. And because we are justified by faith, and the calling brings forth faith, Paul can say that those who are called are justified. So, if you have placed your faith in Christ and have been justified, it is because God has called you.
But whom does he then call? Paul says that he calls those whom he predestines to become conformed to the image of his Son. God has a purpose in salvation, that we would become conformed to his Son. And this will ultimately bring glory to himself. This is why he can describe Christians in verse 28 as those whom God has called according to his purpose. That is to say those whom he has called to salvation in order that he might conform them into the image of his Son to the praise of his glory.
But whom has he predestined? Paul says “whom he foreknew, these he also predestined …”
But what does it mean to say that God “foreknew” someone?
This is an interesting point of debate. I simply want to point out two things in trying to answer this: 1) it must only be applicable to Christians (or else the rest of the chain would not be true), and 2) it is focused on the individual himself. What I mean by the second point is that God is not said to foreknow something about someone, but he is said to foreknow someone. That is to say, before time, God had a relationship with some. He knew them.
And whom he foreknew, he predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son. He set in motion a pattern that would ultimately end up fulfilling his purpose for all of creation. And whom he predestined he called. And his calling resulted in justifying faith. And those of us who have believed and been justified, have such certainty of being glorified that God speaks of it as if it is already done. For it is his will. The completion of our salvation is assured because God is working it for his glory. It is for his sake that he will persevere until glorification those whom he has foreknown, predestined, called, and justified.
And because all this works to his ultimate plan of glorifying himself, he will not let anything work against it. That is why Paul can say that we can know that God will work all things together for good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose.
The promise of Romans 8:28 rests in the promise of 8:29-30. The assurance of the latter is the assurance for the former.
So, if there is something going on in your life and you are thinking, “Good cannot come out of this," realize today that Scripture tells us that if you are a believer, it most definitely will. And the reason it will is because God has set your life in motion before the foundation of the world to glorify himself. Your assurance and basis for rejoicing in times of suffering lies outside of you in the very promises and purpose of God. And these promises are found in the word of God.
Therefore, whenever you are feeling like the world is falling down around you, your heart is unsettled and troubled, and you do not know how to regain assurance and peace; look to the promises and purpose of God found in his word, and let him give you his peace. Rest in the promises of Romans 8:28-20. Let the word give you hope.
And if you are not a believer, and this promise is therefore not to you, I have good news. If you have heard what I have said, and there is a longing within you to love God, it could be that God is calling you right now. Before you’ve thought this is stupid or naïve, but right now you are thinking that this is right, and you are growing right now in a love for the light. Then Scripture tells you to repent of your sins and place your faith in Christ, and you will be saved. But you must respond in faith. God’s eternal work is only a reality in our lives if we will choose to repent and believe. And as you do this, we will rejoice with you in realizing what a great work has just taken place. God has taken a heart that loves darkness and has given you a love for light, for himself.
Therefore, this morning, if you have a love for God in your heart and are assured of your calling, then begin to rest in the promise of the assurance of your glorification and the assurance that God will work all together for that good in your life. And if you have not repented and believed on Christ for salvation, then let me invite you to do this as we close. Then you can join all of God’s children in resting on these promises, and you can make your calling sure by growing in a deep, affectionate love for God.
O the riches of his grace. Amen.