About this sermon
Romans 8:28-30 lays out an unbreakable chain of salvation: those God foreknew he predestined, called, justified, and glorified. God works all things together for good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose. The call in view is God’s effectual call, the Spirit’s inward work that always brings the elect to faith. God’s foreknowledge means his love set on his people beforehand, and believers who struggle for assurance should rest in Christ and use the means of grace.
Sermon transcript
Please remain standing for the reading of God’s Word. This evening we’re going to take a brief break from our study of the Psalms to consider a well-known yet very powerful portion of Paul’s letter to the Romans. Romans chapter 8 verses 28 and through 30 is my sermon text this evening. Sort of to fill out the fuller context, I’m going to begin reading at verse 26, Romans 8, verse 26, and I’ll read through the end of the chapter. But our focus again will be especially on verses 28 through 30. So friends, let us hear God’s holy word. In the same way, the spirit also helps our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we should. But the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because he intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
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. 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. And these whom he called, he also justified. And these whom he justified, he also glorified.” What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare his own son but delivered him over for us all, how will he not also with him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies. Who is the one who condemns?
Christ Jesus is he who died, yes rather, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, for your sake we are being put to death all day long. We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered. But in all these things, we overwhelmingly conquer through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Dear ones, the grass withers and the flower fades, but the Word of our God endures forever.
Let’s pray for God to bless the proclamation of His Word this evening. Gracious Lord and Father in heaven, we praise you that you have loved us in Christ with an everlasting love. We ask, Heavenly Father, that this well-known passage of Scripture would indeed come even more alive to us as we consider this portion of Your infallible Word. We ask that You would open our minds and our hearts to behold wondrous things from Your Word. And we would ask, Lord, that You would set a guard over my lips, that I might speak only that which is faithful to Your Word and edifying to Your people. Hear us now. Be present, Lord Jesus, by Your Spirit in the proclamation of Your Word. And we ask that you would be glorified in our lives and that we would be edified.
We pray these things through Christ our Lord and all of God’s people said. Amen. You may be seated. Title my sermon this evening is The Unbreakable Chain of Salvation. Well, dear ones, this evening we’re going to consider the doctrine of what the theologians call effectual calling. We’re going to focus especially on that doctrine of effectual calling. I sometimes prefer to call it the saving call of God, as we consider together Romans chapter 8, verses 28 through 30. A passage which is sometimes called the golden chain of salvation. And indeed, it is a precious golden chain of salvation that the Apostle Paul lays out for us in this glorious passage of God’s Word. But as we will see, it’s not only a golden chain, it’s not only precious as gold, It is also an unbreakable chain of salvation, a chain of salvation that is guaranteed by God’s sovereign, almighty decree.
And as I hope to stress in my sermon on this Lord’s Day evening, this is a passage of God’s word that should bring great comfort to the believer in Christ. Now in the broader context of this passage, the Apostle Paul is finishing up his discussion on the doctrine of sanctification. And in the more immediate context of our passage for tonight, Paul speaks about our adoption as God’s children, as well as our present sufferings. One of the things about Paul’s letter to the Romans, Paul’s letter to the Romans is an unbreakable argument. From beginning to end, Paul builds upon what he says. And it’s very hard to break up Romans into, for example, preachable portions. It certainly can be done. But Paul’s argument is intricately interwoven throughout this epistle. And so, for example, Paul begins his letter to the Romans in the first two chapters, emphasizing the universality of sin, that all mankind, not only the Gentiles, but even the Jews, are under the curse and condemnation of sin and the curse and condemnation of the law.
And then beginning in chapter three, Paul begins to expound the glorious gospel of justification by faith alone, the doctrine of justification by faith alone. He covers that in chapter 3 through chapter 5. And then in chapter 6, he begins to dwell especially on our union with Christ in his death and resurrection, in particular, sanctification. Chapter 7 deals with the believer’s relationship to the law and so forth. But here, as Paul brings us to this portion of Scripture tonight, Paul gives us the big picture. He takes a step back, if you will, and he brings us before the eternal counsel of God to consider God’s good purpose for us. his children. And so as we dive into our text for this Lord’s Day evening, I would have us first of all focus on verse 28 as we consider God’s good purpose for the called.
God’s good purpose for the called. Paul writes, and we know that God causes all things to work together for good. To whom? to those who love God.” Well, flesh that out a little bit. Who are those who love God? To those who are called according to His purpose. Almost every word in this verse is saturated with significance. Paul begins by saying, and we know, not just and we guess, we hope, we wish, But we know Paul speaks from a standpoint of certainty, of confidence in that which he is writing about. There is indeed certainty here. Praise God that we are given a sure and certain word in the Bible. And that’s why we sang earlier that children’s hymn, Jesus loves me, this I know. How do we know? Because the Bible tells me so. And that’s not just a childish response to that question.
That is a very mature and a very significant response. How do we know Jesus loves us? Because God’s word, the Bible, tells us so. And there’s no authority higher or more certain than the word of God. And what do we know? that God causes all things to work together for good. Now, notice Paul does not say God causes only good things to happen. Doesn’t say that. It says God causes all things to work together for good, for certain people, for those who are described here as the ones who love God, who are the called according to his sovereign purpose. He causes all things to work together for good. Not just the good things, but even the bad things, even the tragic things. God in His sovereign decree and His divine providence somehow works all things together for the good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
Not just some things. Not just the good things. But He causes all things to work together for the good. This implies God’s providential, sovereign government and oversight. And it’s interesting, the Greek word for working together, God works all things together for the good, is the word synerge, from which we get the word synergism. God is at work in his divine providence in the lives of those who love him, who are the called according to his purpose. And again, for whom do all things work together for the good? Not for everyone, but for specific individuals, for those who are described here in two ways. How does Paul describe those for whom all things work together for good? Well, to those who love God. to those who love God. Paul here is describing God’s people, describing believers according to their response to the divine initiative of grace.
God is gracious to us. He saves us, not because we deserve it, not because we are worthy of being saved or somehow more savable than those who end up lost. but out of God’s mere good pleasure. He intervenes in our lives. He saves us. And our response is to love Him. To love Him. If you know Jesus Christ as your Savior, you should be honest enough to recognize, well, I don’t love Him as I ought. And that’s true. Who of us loves the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength? Who of us loves our neighbor as ourselves? None of us do. But we do love God. We do love God, not as we should, not as we one day will when we are glorified, but we do love God. We love our heavenly father.
We love the savior. And we and we overflow with love towards the father, especially when we consider all that he has done for us in the Lord Jesus Christ. But then Paul describes the same group of individuals according to the divine perspective. They are the called according to his purpose. And what is that divine purpose? Well, verse 29 indicates that it is conformity to the image of God’s Son. As it says in verse 29, for those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become what? Conformed to the image of His Son. The Greek word for image there is the word iconos, from which we derive the word icon. God’s ultimate purpose in our salvation is not just to deliver us from hell, though, praise God, praise God in Christ, we are delivered from the penalty of sin, from the guilt of sin.
But God’s ultimate purpose is not just to deliver us from hell so that we go to heaven when we die. That’s part of the wonderful gift of salvation that God grants to us. But God’s ultimate goal in our salvation is conformity to the ethical image of God’s Son, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the eternal Son of God. He is the eternal divine image of the Father. We who are redeemed in Christ and renewed by the Spirit, we are creaturely images of God. God is conforming us as creatures into the ethical image of his Son. At this point, though, let’s focus in on that word called. Those who are the called according to his purpose. That he, it 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.
For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son and so forth. Verse 30, those whom he predestined, he also called. What does Paul mean here by this term called? In what sense is he speaking of the calling here? Well, I want you to notice that the calling here in the context of this particular passage is clearly speaking to what theologians and biblical scholars describe as effectual calling or the saving call of God. The saving call of God is the call of God through the gospel message. It is the inward call of the Spirit that comes in the context of the external call of the gospel, and the Holy Spirit uses that call to actually and effectively bring a sinner into saving union with the Lord Jesus Christ.
See, there’s different senses in which the Bible speaks of the term call. There is, for example, the general or external call of the gospel. Who receives the general call, the external call? Well, the answer is everyone who hears the gospel of Jesus Christ faithfully proclaimed, wherever the gospel in its biblical and fundamental purity is proclaimed, and wherever the gospel call to repent and believe in Christ is proclaimed, everyone who hears that call is the recipient of the general or external call of the gospel. And that’s a serious call, by the way. You may have noticed, as if you’ve sat under my preaching for any length of time, that usually in most of my sermons I will make a point of extending the free offer of the gospel, of calling you as listeners to repent and believe upon Christ for salvation.
And that is the general call of the gospel. The gospel is the good news about Jesus Christ, about what God has done to save us through the obedient life and atoning death and glorious resurrection and ascension of Christ, who intercedes for us at the Father’s right hand. And that good news calls us to respond with faith and repentance. Trusting in Christ as our Lord and Savior and repenting of sin. But whenever that gospel call is issued, whether here or anywhere else where the gospel is proclaimed, it’s not just the preacher’s call. When I stand here behind this pulpit and issue the gospel call, it’s not Jeff Willauer calling you. to repent and believe. It is Jesus Christ Himself seriously calling each and every one of you who hears the Gospel call to repent and believe.
For Christ uses His servants to proclaim His truth, His word. And so, the Gospel call, the external general call, is a seriously meant call. And if you reject that call, you compound your guilt before Almighty God. You can certainly choose. And sadly, many do choose to reject that call. But nevertheless, it is a seriously meant call. God means business when he calls sinners to believe and repent. This distinction between the external call on the one hand and the saving or effectual call, on the other hand, is implicit in passages, for example, such as Matthew 22, verse 14, where Jesus says, many are called, but few are chosen. In the context of that passage, Jesus, when he speaks of those who are called, he’s speaking of the general call. The call of the gospel goes out.
It goes out indiscriminately to all who hear that gospel call. But who are the ones who respond to that call? Only those who are effectually called by the spirit are respond to that external call with true faith and repentance. And that is what is being spoken of in our passage for this evening. And how do we know that? Well, because we know we see it in verse twenty eight in the context here. that those who love God are those who are described as the called according to his purpose. And also when we notice that all who are predestined are called. Now, verse 28, those whom he predestined, he also called. Does everyone who hears the external call of the gospel, is everyone who hears the external call predestined by sovereign grace unto salvation? Does everyone who receives the external call of the gospel, is everyone who hears that call justified?
No, no. Only those who receive the effectual call of the spirit, this internal call, this saving call. And this is the inward saving call that is extended to the elect It is extended in the context and through the general call of the gospel. It is a call that is always effective. The general call of the gospel is universally rejected unless the Holy Spirit is at work in the hearts of those who receive that call. In other words, the external call will be unheeded unless it is accompanied by the effectual call of the Spirit. And this effectual call always results in true conversion, true faith and repentance, since the sovereign spirit of Almighty God works in this effectual calling to bring his elect to faith in Christ. Now, friends, in our text for this evening, Paul, again, as I mentioned, Paul is obviously not talking about all of those who hear the external call to faith and repentance.
For many who hear the general or external call of the gospel reject Christ and sadly, end up dying in their sins. On the contrary, our passage for this evening kind of implies that in the case of the non-elect, in the case of those whom God passes over in the operations of His saving grace, and He owes none of us His saving grace. In the case of those who are reprobate or non-elect, God passes them over in the operations of His saving grace. In their case, God ultimately works all things together for their just damnation. Even the good things of God’s providence that the wicked reprobate enjoy in this present life through God’s common bounty and generosity. After all, God causes his sun to shine on the just and on the unjust and sends rain on the righteous and the wicked.
And all of these good gifts, these are signs of God’s general love for humanity, of God’s goodness and kindness and benevolence. But in the case of the wicked reprobate, These gifts are not received with thanksgiving or faith, but they are taken for granted. And ultimately, their rejection of the God who gives them these benefits ultimately serves only to deepen their guilt and fit them for eternal destruction. But in the case of those who are the called according to his purpose, those who by sovereign grace come to trust Christ as their Lord and Savior, God causes all things, not just the good things, but all things to work together for his good. And again, This is according to his purpose. God’s saving purpose in the lives of his elect is being spoken of here. So as you can see, this verse clearly supports this doctrine, which I have described as God’s saving call, but which is more commonly called or referred to as the effectual call of God.
And notice next, as we move on to verse 29. God’s ultimate purpose for his elect. I’ve already mentioned it, but it’s important to to hear it again. God’s ultimate purpose for his people is conformity into the image, the ethical likeness of Jesus Christ. When God created Adam and Eve, he created them in his image, in knowledge, righteousness and holiness, with dominion over the creatures. Now, when mankind fell into sin, He didn’t cease to be God’s image, but he did lose aspects of the image of God. For example, fallen unregenerate man no longer bears the ethical image of God. We are God’s image bearers in some sense, even as fallen creatures. But nevertheless, only through union with Christ and by the indwelling of the Spirit are we enabled by the grace of God to grow in holiness and sanctification.
Only in union with Christ is that ethical image of God restored. And we once again share in that image in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness. And that will be consummated at our glorification on the final day. Now notice verse 29, 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. Those whom he foreknew. Now, how do many Christians read this verse? Perhaps the way I used to read it when I was a young Christian. I used to read this verse and say, aha, this is what God did. God looked down the corridors of time before he created the universe, and he saw that on August 22nd, 1982, Jeff Willauer would kneel beside his bed and accept Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior.
And on the basis of foreseeing my calling upon Christ for salvation, he predestined me for eternal salvation. That’s often called the foreknowledge view of election, and it’s held by many evangelical Christians today. But when Paul uses the term, for knowledge. This doesn’t mean that predestination is based upon God being able to look into the future and see who would accept Christ and who would reject Christ. Now certainly God, because He’s omniscient, He knows the end from the beginning. He does know what’s going to happen in the future, but God knows what’s going to happen in the future because ultimately God in His sovereign decree has planned everything. that is going to happen. As the late Dr. R.C. Sproul liked to say, there are no maverick molecules running around in God’s universe. And God does this.
He works out his plan even through responsible moral agents such as us. Well, what does Paul mean when he talks about foreknowledge? Well, notice God, we are told here in verse 29, God foreknows people, not choices or decisions. Paul writes, for those whom he foreknew. Doesn’t say those whom he foresees will make a right decision for Christ. No. Those whom he foreknew, he also predestined. What does the Bible mean when it says that Adam knew his wife Eve? We’re not going to get X-rated here, but I think you know what that means. Adam had intimate relations with his wife. He loved her. And so this word for knowledge carries with it this biblical concept of love, of choice. And so essentially, What this means is that God for loved a people from eternity past. If you’ve come to know Christ as your Lord and Savior, it is because God in eternity past chose to love you with an everlasting love even before he created this vast universe.
He chose you, dear believer, to be His, to be the object of His undeserved, unmerited, saving, eternal love in union with Christ. And that is such a comfort. This term for know is essentially a synonym for the word chose. Those whom he foreknew, those whom he chose, he also predestined to do what? To become conformed to the image of his Son. In other words, here again, we see the goal of predestination, conformity into the image of Christ. Again, as I mentioned, the image of God in man at the fall was severely marred. It was distorted. The moral image of God was all but destroyed except for some faint remnants. But through union with Christ, the image of God, in principle at least, is restored in the redeemed sinner. And that restoration will be consummated at our glorification.
And speaking of glorification, That is the ultimate goal of our calling, the saving call we’ve received in Christ. Notice next in verse 30, the unbreakable chain of salvation. It says here, those whom he predestined, and the word predestined means to destined ahead of time, it means, just like it sounds, to destined ahead of time. God chose and destined us for glory even before the foundation of the world. Those whom he predestined, he also called.” Again, this is the saving call, the effectual call. And those whom he called, he also justified. To be justified is to be made right with God, or more accurately, or technically precise, to be declared righteous in God’s sight because of Christ’s righteousness, which is credited to your account, received by you through faith alone. This is often what we hear.
Are you saved? Often when Christians talk about being saved, what they really are getting at is, are you in a right relationship with God? Are you justified before God? All who are predestined are called. All who are called are justified. And these whom he justified, the end of verse 30 is especially powerful. These whom he justified, he also glorified. What is glorification? Glorification is perfect conformity into the image of Christ in body and soul. Our ultimate glorification is still in the future. It is yet to come. We will be glorified when Jesus returns body and soul. We will be ultimately glorified through our reunited bodies as reunited body souls. When Jesus returns in glory and raises us from the dead in glorified bodies, our glorified souls will be reunited with our glorified bodies and there will be no more sin, no more presence of sin when we go to be with the Lord.
When we die and go to be with the Lord, our souls will be perfectly glorified. There will be no more sin in us. And at the resurrection, our bodies, too, will be glorified. And this is yet in the future. And yet Paul speaks of it as if it’s already taken place. The word that he uses here for glorified is in it’s an aorist active indicative in the Greek, in other words, Paul speaks of our glorification, the glorification of the justified. It is so certain in Paul’s mind that he speaks of it as if it has already happened, as if it’s already in the past. And I want you to notice something else about verse 30. Notice Paul doesn’t say that some of those who are predestined are effectually called and some of those who are called are justified and only some of those who are justified are glorified.
No, it all goes together. It is, again, an unbreakable chain. It is not only a golden chain, but an unbreakable chain. If God in sovereign mercy has called you to faith in Christ, and therefore you have been justified and you are an adopted child of God, your salvation is secure. Because God’s purpose will not fail in your life or in mine, dear brother and sister in Christ. The future glorification of the justified is so certain that Paul speaks of it as if it already had happened in the past. I wish I had known that as a young believer. I remember many times struggling with worries. Have I committed the unpardonable sin? Am I going to lose my salvation? Praise God that God is not as fickle as we are. Great is our fickleness, but great is God’s faithfulness. and His purpose will be worked out.
Do you see what comfort there is here, brothers and sisters? The doctrine of predestination is presented in Scripture not as a doctrine that is intended to cause terror or despair, but a doctrine that is pastoral and comforting to the believer, especially to the struggling believer. Oh, but Pastor, how do I know that I am among the predestined? How do I know that God has foreknown me? Are you looking to Jesus Christ and Christ alone as your only hope of salvation? Have you received and are you receiving and resting upon Christ and Christ alone for your salvation? And do you see the fruits of God’s election in your life? Those fruits being faith, trust in Christ, contrition for your sins, repentance, a hunger and thirst for righteousness, a desire for holiness, and a love for the Christian brotherhood.
You might say, well, I think I’ve got some of these marks, but they’re not what they ought to be. We’ll join the club. None of us is as sanctified as we ought to be. And if you’re not sure, if you wrestle with assurance, don’t despair of God’s mercy. That’s what the accuser of the brethren would love for you to do. Despair of the mercy of God. Then he’s got you. The devil wants you either to to become a legalist and self-righteous. But if he can’t get you to do that, he will drive you to despair. Do not despair of the mercy of God. Cry out to God for mercy. Rest in Christ and use the means of grace. Meditate on the word and realize that those gospel promises, personalize them, take them to yourself. Receive and rest upon Christ.
Do not despair, for God is merciful. Jesus, our Savior, does not extinguish a smoldering wick. He is a kind and merciful Savior. Come to him today and you can know that you’ve been loved with an everlasting love and come to the Lord’s table as well, dear brother or sister in Christ. This table that is spread for us this evening is intended for our comfort to to seal to us the mercies of Christ, to be signs and seals that Christ has indeed shed his blood and broken and his body was broken and his blood was shed for you and for me, dear brother and sister in Christ. Let us rest in him and him alone. Amen. Let us pray. Our Lord and Father in Heaven, Sovereign and Eternal God, we thank You that we are not just an afterthought in Your plan, but that You had us in mind, O God, even before the foundation of the world.
And You’ve loved us not because we deserve Your love, not because we are more worthy than those who reject You, but You’ve loved us out of Your mere good pleasure. and choice. Oh, Lord, we ask that these truths would be a deep comfort to us. And we pray that we would live with confidence, knowing that we are indeed of the called and we love you for it. Oh, God, that you’ve called us according to your purpose and that you are in due time conforming us more and more into the image of Christ our Savior. For it is in his name that we pray and all of God’s people said, Amen. Well, dear friends, as we prepare to celebrate the Lord’s Supper together, I’d like to read to remind us of our Lord’s institution of the Holy Supper.
This is a very significant thing that we do as a church. I know we we only do this once a month, but Jesus commanded us to do this as this was one of the last acts of our Lord to command us to do this in remembrance of him before he went to the cross. And so I’d like to look at Mark’s account. I’m sorry, Matthew’s account of the institution of the Lord’s Supper in Matthew 26, beginning at verse 26. Because I just want to read this passage to you. Hear the word of God. While they were eating, Jesus took some bread and after a blessing, he broke it and gave it to the disciples and said, take eat. This is my body. And when he had taken a cup and given thanks, he gave it to them saying, drink from it, all of you, for this is my.
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