Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to our second reading, Romans
chapter 8 and reading for our text, verse 29. In fact, just
part of this verse. I'll read the whole verse first. For whom he did foreknow, He
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that
he might be the firstborn among many brethren. And the words
upon my spirit are conformed to the image of his Son. Conformed to the image of his
Son. In these verses, verses 29 and 30, we have a beautiful chain
really. We are told in verse 28 that
all things work together for good and here is this chain that
is joining together and linking together from eternity past to
eternity to come and passing through the scenes of time. We
have in the beginning of this verse a people that are called
according to his purpose and it begins with a foreknowledge,
for whom he did foreknow. That's the first link with the
chain. He also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of His Son, that is the second link
to the chain. Moreover, whom He did predestinate
them He also called, that is the next link to the chain. And whom He called them He also
justified, that is the next link to the chain. And whom he justified,
them he also glorified. And that's the last one that
lands them in glory in heaven. God has known his people from
eternity. We are chosen in Christ from
before the foundation of the world. He then has determined
that those that He has foreknown and chosen, that in this world
they shall be conformed to the image of His Son, that as the
Lord Jesus Christ was in this world, so will everyone whom
He has foreknown be made to be of that same image. conformed
to it. And then we have those that were
so predestinated to be conformed to the image of God's Son, those
he called by his grace. He caused them to hear his voice,
he gave them the new birth, he worked in their hearts that work
of God's grace within. And then we have the link, then
we also justify, that is, counted free from condemnation, free
from guilts, pronounced it so. Those who are conformed to the
image of his son, who have been called to bring them to be conformed
to that, they are those that are pronounced free from guilt
and condemnation. they are justified. And those
that are justified, then he will be, he will glorify them, he
will bring them to heaven, they'll be forever with him. And as the
apostle said, we shall see him and we shall be like him for
we shall see him. So beyond the grave, we shall
be conformed to his image as we see him. But what is upon
my spirit this evening is conformed to the image of his Son." And
really, it brings together the two links, the link of predestination
and the link of calling, because the predestination tells us what
God's children shall be like here below, but they're not like
that by nature. That's not how they come into
this world. But in God's calling, he does
make them to be what he has already ordained, predestinated that
they should be like. So quite often people think when
they hear a predestination, they think it in the simple terms
of, well, God has said that a certain people will be with him in heaven.
And they really go from the very first link of the full knowledge
right to the last link and say that's what God has ordained. But for you and I in the day
of grace, what is vital is that as we live here below and as
we walk here, that we bear the image. of the Lord Jesus Christ. That, in the context here, is
what God has determined should be the case, predestinated. He has ordained that it should
be so when his children, who he foreknew, are brought into
this world. Really, before they leave this
world, they shall be conformed to the image of his Son, every
one of them. And so that is the word that
is before us this evening, conformed to the image of his Son. So I want to look then, three
points. Firstly, what is the image of
his Son? If we are predestinated to be
conformed to it, what is the image of His Son? Secondly, the reason men are
conformed to the image of God's Son, and that is seen in the
context here. And thirdly, the means used to
conform us to the image of God's Son. What brings about what God
has determined should happen. But firstly the image of God's
Son. Now of course we are very clear
in this that when we read of God's Son we read of our Lord
and Saviour Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the eternal Son of
God, may manifest in the flesh, made of our bone, born of a woman,
made under the law, made like unto his brethren, yet sin accepted,
the man Christ Jesus. It is that whom we are speaking
of the Lord Jesus Christ, that as he is or as he was upon this
earth, so we also should be. God ordained that his son should
be born as we were born, and yet a miraculous birth, a difference
there, a sinless birth, and a sinless life. But those that looked on
Him, they viewed a man. Only those that, by the grace
of God, were able to see the Godhead shine through the man
and to believe and were not stumbled at his exterior as a man, they
saw God and man. The disciples in the ship, they
saw him asleep, they saw the man. They saw him arise and rebuke
the winds and the waves, and they said, what manner of man
is this, that even the winds and the waves obey him? They
saw both his manhood, they saw his Godhead. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Jews,
they condemned him. They said that thou being a man,
makest thyself God. But he was God that made himself
man, and he dwelt among us. And it is that God-man, as he
was viewed in the earth, as he was viewed in this world, so
his people also. shall be viewed the same. Our
Lord himself said that if they have persecuted me, they will
also persecute you. If these things be done in a
green tree, what shall be done in the dry? That's what he said
going to the crucifixion. We must not think that God's
children coming into the world and being conformed to Christ's
image will be looked upon any differently than our Lord Jesus
Christ. When we think of the idea of
an image, a picture, something that if we had two pictures side
by side, exactly the same, we'd say each one bore the image of
the other. If we had two different pictures,
we'd say, well, that does not look like the same image. And we'd have to take the pen
or the brush and make changes to it so that it actually look
the same image. Of course, in today, using computers,
that may be quite literally done. There'd be those that compare
to images on a computer and be able to electronically adjust
one so that it matches the other. But we have this picture then
that what was the image of the Lord that his people are to be
conformed to. How would you describe him? We
don't have photographs or pictures and even if we did, that would
not be what is meant here at all. And so I want to just look
and they're not really in any order, but different things,
different aspects. of the image of the Lord Jesus
Christ. The first one I'll mention that
he is known as a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. That is how our Lord was described
in this world. And that picture of one that was
a sin bearer One that was in the world, but not of the world. The Lord said very clearly, I
am not of this world, they are not of this world. The Lord came
into this world and that was very clear and part of that image. That he was from above, he said
to the Jews, you are from beneath and The effect here below was
that he endured the contradiction of sinners against himself and
he says, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer
you? A person in a situation where
you might say he did not fit. was one that came even unto his
own and his own received him not. It was very evident, and it would
be very evident, one that was spotless and pure and holy to
be living in this world that is full of sin and of wickedness. The sorrows that he had, in beholding
the sin, in beholding the wickedness, in hearing, if it was said of
Lot in Sodom and Gomorrah that he vexed his righteous soul from
day to day with their unlawful deeds, what must that have been
to the Lord Jesus Christ? As he viewed all that was being
done round about him that was contrary to his father's law,
All that he heard and all that he saw, not just in his disciples,
but all those round about them. Many times he had to reprove
his disciples. And you see the reason for his
sorrows. If any really knew what sin was,
he did. If anyone knew the pure and holy
law of God and saw men completely going against it, he did. There are many, many reasons
why the Lord Jesus Christ here below was a man of sorrows and
acquainted with grief. That's how we have it set before
us in the prophecy of Isaiah 53, 700 years before our Lord
came to this world. So we have that picture. We have
that which we have mentioned about not being of this world
and hated of men. The Lord says of his people,
you shall be hated of all men for my name's sake. He says,
I have given them thy word and the world hath hated them. The
Lord Jesus Christ spoke the words of God. And as he spoke the word
of God, some of them said, he hath a devil, why hear ye him? Those words of God brought the
hatred and enmity of those that he spoke them to. And yet quite
in spite of that, there were those that came and heard him
and they said, never man spake as this man. Grace was poured
into his lips. They wondered at the marvellous
words that proceeded out of his lips when he first began his
ministry. And that image of the grace of
God coming from his lips, the way that he spoke, the way that
he testified the word of God, the way that he bore witness
to the truth, that all paints a picture, the image, of the
Son of God. Never, never an untrue word. Never a word that denied what
his father had given him to speak and to say. Another aspect of his image was
that he was a man of prayer. Again and again you read of the
long nights that he spent in prayer to his father. And he taught prayer, that men
ought always to pray and not to faint. He taught the vital necessity
of it, and that if he asked anything in my name, I will do it. We have a picture, an image,
of a man in this world that spent his time through it, much in
prayer. We also have a picture of a man
that was the friend of sinners, though he was holy and pure. Yet, as the Jews said in a very
slanderous way, this man receiveth sinners, and eateth and drinketh
with them. It is not that we should desire
to seek and to go out with all manner of those that are working
wickedness, but those sinners, those ones that our Lord walked
with, they were ones that we are told in Scripture, they were
ready to hear Him, they listened to His words. And he didn't say,
stand by thyself, I am holier than thou. He didn't bypass them
because they were sinners, because they were doing things wrong
and wicked. He came to them, he dwelt with
them, he spoke to them. And this was a very clear image
that the Jews, who prided themselves that they were holy men, that
they were beyond stupid to those that were doing things that they
felt were wrong. And yet our Lord, he came to
save sinners, and he came and dwelt among sinners. And this was part of his image
that was noticed by those of his day, a friend of sinners. Another part of his image was
his humility. He humbled himself even unto
death, even unto the death of the cross, wherefore God hath
highly exalted him. His meekness. The Lord says,
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, And I will
give you rest, take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am
meek and lowly in heart and you shall find rest for your souls. And we have a picture of that
image of our Lord Jesus Christ, meek and lowly. Not proud, not aggressive, not
high-minded, not one that was to frighten those away from Him,
but one to welcome them to Him. We find also another picture
in His obedience. He always did those things which
were well-pleasing unto His Father. The obedience, as we said, even
unto death, the death of the cross, that was part of His image. an obedient son of God. Holiness was another part of
his image, holy and pure. All of the Old Testament types
set forth that the sacrificial lambs had to be spotless and
pure and no blemish in them. Now Lord Jesus Christ was spotless
and holy. We read in John 1 of the love,
the love of God. We love him because he first
loved us. Our Lord says, Greater love hath
no man than this, than a man lay down his life for his friends. Yea, my friends, if ye do whatsoever
I command you, having loved his own, ye love them unto the end.
The love of God is really shown forth in the Lord Jesus Christ,
the love of the Father in sending his only begotten Son, the love
of the Son in willingly coming and laying down his life for
his people, the love that he had for his disciples especially,
and the love that was then reflected back to him. We have the picture
of patience, an image of one that patiently endured. That's why we are exhorted to
consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners unto
himself. The Lord endured that, day by
day, year by year, walking that path, patiently enduring unto
the end. And we have these things that
paint the picture, that show what the Lord Jesus Christ truly
was, what his image was. So when we have in our text to
be conformed to the image of his son. And there's other aspects
as well that we might say this, this is the image, of his beloved
son. Well, if that is his image, what
is the reason that men are conformed to the image of God's son? Well, there are several reasons.
One is given in the context here. that they are predestinated. God has determined that his people
in this life will be conformed to the image of his son. There's
an appointment, there's an aim in view, there's a purpose, there's
something that God has said will happen. to all of those whom
he has chosen and will be with him in heaven. And underneath
everything else, that is the reason. If God says something
will be so, it will be so. And so the reason men are conformed
to the image of God's Son is that His will is being done. His purpose is being done. They
are predestined to that. But that is not the only reason. That is not the only reason. One reason is to bring both his
people and himself to have fellowship one with another. How can two
walk together except they be agreed? The Lord is spoken of as the
firstfruits or as an elder brother born for adversity, the firstborn
among many brethren. And there is not to be a difference
between the brethren and the Lord Jesus Christ. They are not
to be ademnity or contrary one to another. The Lord says, by
this shall all men know that ye are my disciples indeed, in
that ye love one another. In other words, love is of God,
Love is the image of the Lord and that shall be the image that
is on his disciples and that joins the two together, consistent
with the whole of scriptures in holiness and justice, not
the wishy-washy worldly sinful love that characterises so many
so-called churches that dispense with All are the word of God
except for that one word of love, so that they can continue in
sin, that the grace may abound. Not that type of love. The love
that brought the Lord, rather than pass by sin, to suffer for
it, and to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. The charity
love, as it were, a sacrificial love, love according to scripture. How often the reproof was that
with their lips they show much love, but in their deeds and
in their works they are reprobate. And so one reason is that there
be a complete flowing together of the brethren, the people of
God, with the Lord Jesus Christ. There'd be no jar, no difference
there at all. Another reason men are conformed
to the image of God's Son is because God works in them. That is the calling. And that
is the reason, as God works in their hearts and in their lives,
that they are conformed to the image of His Son. Wherever there is a purpose of
God, there is a bringing about that purpose. And the Lord uses
means, and though the means aren't the
determined counsel and purpose of God, they are what brings
that about. And for you and I, if we are
to know that we are amongst those that are predestinated to be
conformed to the image of His Son, then we are to know that
we are called And if we are to know that we are called, then
we know our calling by God's work in us that makes us conform
to the image of his dear son. In other words, if we are to
find out if we are the child of God, then we go backwards
from the chain here We go to what is happening in time. We
go to the Lord's work in making us conform to the image of his
Son. And when we see that work, then
we see the reason for that work is being predestined to that. And then we see the reason for
being predestined is because the Lord foreknew us. And then
when we look forward, we realise that being so called and conformed
to the image of his son, that we are justified and free from
guilt and have a scriptural warrant of an assurance of heaven. And
so for you and I, and this is why some of the hymns we've sung
this evening and we'll sing, They are prayers, prayers that
we might be conformed to the image of God's Son. And for you and I, that should
be our prayer and our desire. And it will be, if we are called
by God, that we be more and more like the Lord Jesus Christ. And God, in his mercy, will ensure
that we are more and more like Him. So on to then look in the
third point, the means used to conform us to the image of God's
Son. When we come from the womb, We
are the children of wrath, even as others. We go forth from the
worm-speaking lies. We are not conformed to the image
of his son. We are conformed to the fallen
sons of Adam. We're conformed to Satan. And we must be clear of that,
that all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags There is none
that doeth good, no, not one. In me that is in my flesh dwelleth
no good thing. But we have with the work of
God in us, he which hath begun a good work in you will perform
it unto the day of Jesus Christ. And that work is the work of
God's grace. By grace he hath saved through
faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. And God
uses means then to bring us to be more like him. When he opens the eyes, when
he shows us what we are by nature and says, turn again thou son
of man, thou shalt see greater abominations than these. It is
really that it is God's people alone that really see what sin
is, that really feel the power of sin in their members, that
grieve over it, that mourn over it. It is their mourning, their
sorrow for sin is as far as God works that in their hearts. Sometimes
we feel very hard and cold and far off and we don't feel to
have that tender conscience and the fear of God as we should
have. But God is able to bring that
back and to bring us again to be like David in Psalm 51, to
be really mourning over one's sin, though his sins had been
put away. Against thee the only have I
sinned and done this evil in thy sight that thou mightest
be justified when thou speakest. Restore unto me, he says, the
joy of thy salvation. We see a man that is brokenhearted,
a broken and a contrite spirit. We see through the chastening
hand of God upon David that which humbled him, made him meek and
made him lowly. We think of the Apostle Paul
in his writings as he thinks to what he was, how he persecuted
the Church of God. And he says, I am less than the
least of all the apostles, not worthy to be called an apostle
because I persecuted the Church of God. And the Lord used means
to really humble him, thinking of his past life and thinking
of what he had done. Not to come to the conclusion
I can't be a child of God, but the sense of it made him feel
less than the least of all saints. And in that, God achieved that
end of bringing the apostle with all his success in the gospel
and all his ministry to be truly humbled. The apostle knew his
need of grace. the great visions that he had
on that Damascus road, he tells us himself, God gave me a messenger
of Satan, a thorn in the flesh, to buffet me, lest I be lifted
up above measure. The Lord gave him that trouble,
that sorrow, that affliction, that trial, and it was to humble
him and to keep him from being lifted up in pride. And when
he wanted that taken away, God said, my grace is sufficient
for thee. And the apostle had to rely on
God giving him that grace to bear those trials, bear those
infirmities. And he realised that grace as
well was given him in all his ministry. He says, regarding
others that ministered, I laboured more abundantly than them all,
yet not I, but the grace of God which was in me. And so he was
mindful of his dependence upon the Lord and the Lord's help. We think of how the Lord brings
his people first to pray, teaching them how to pray. What again
was said of the Apostle Paul to Ananias, Saul of Tarsus, behold,
he prayeth. Ananias might have said, well,
Lord, he is a Pharisee, of course he prays. They make long prayers. But this was real prayer, prayer
squeezed out from his heart, prayer under sense of his sinnership. The Lord knows how to bring to
prayer. You read Psalm 107 again and
again. They fell down, there was none
to help. Then they cried unto the Lord
in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses.
Brought to be a praying person who once was not a praying person. Brought to be obedient. You know, one of the first words
that The Apostle said when the Lord spoke to him on that Damascus
road, was, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? That is not the
language of a man that wants to do his own will and his own
way. Men, we do not consult the Lord
by nature. We make our own plans. We make
our plans and we don't say, if the Lord will, we will do this
or do that. We just make the plans. I hope
in this past year, when so many things have been changed, so
many plans have had to be unraveled and changed about, that we've
really learnt more the meaning of, if the Lord will, we will
do this or do that. The Lord uses trials, sicknesses,
tribulations, troubles, crosses, losses, those things that come unexpectedly,
those trials that last a long time, sometimes a lifetime, He
uses those things that he says you must, through much tribulation,
enter the kingdom. In me you shall have peace, in
the world you shall have tribulation. One of the hymns says, tribulation,
working right, produce a patient mind. Those things that we are
brought through, The Lord uses them. The Lord uses the opened
ear to hear the Word of God, to be instructed, to drink into
it, to learn of the Lord, to learn His will, His way, to be
instructed and taught of God. This is what is said, of all
the people of God, they shall all be taught of God. And as
they are taught of the Lord, then they grow more like Him.
You know, when I was in my maintenance apprenticeship from 16 years
of age to 20, and the fitter that I worked with, he taught
me. And his methods of teaching,
it made me dependent upon him for the first three years. So
I had to do things exactly his way. And he taught me the right
way to do it. But at the end of it, The way
that I did things was how he did things. And as two tradesmen,
we would have been very similar because I'd been brought up,
really, or taught under his instruction. And each one of God's people
that are called, they come under the rod, they come under his
instruction. All thy children shall be taught
of the Lord. Great shall be the peace of thy
children. And it's through that means that
they are brought, line upon line, here a little and there a little,
to be more and more conformed to his image, more and more like
him, and less and less a jar and a difference between them
and him. And you know, it was said of
the apostles that those that they preached to, they took knowledge
of them that they had been with Jesus. And it's a blessed thing
that we bear something of the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. How we speak, how we act, how
we deal with other sinners, how we walk before men, how we are
in this world, how we treat the Word of God, how we will not
let that go, And because we won't let that go, then the world will
hate us as it hated him. As we receive the words of the
Lord, that shapes our lives. And the Lord says, they are not
of the world, even as I am not of the world. If they were of
the world, the world would love his own. But the Lord is preparing
them for a prepared face, preparing them for himself and making them
more and more like him. And this is what, right from
the very beginning, was his purpose. They were predestinated to that. It didn't just happen that they
were to be like that in this world. But the Lord has this
purpose. They are sanctified, they are
separated, they are washed, they are cleansed, they are made ready
as the bride for the bridegroom, a prepared people for a prepared
place. And the Lord uses means. May we look upon those means
so often painful and difficult in our lives. And we look past
them and think, what is the Lord doing? Why is the Lord doing
that? We might mourn and see how unlike
the Lord and unlike His people we are. And then the Lord brings
troubles and things into our lives and we think it's all a
sign against us. And yet what the Lord is doing
is seeking to bring us to be more and more like Him. Sometimes we're not very good
learners. and we're very impatient and
fretful and we kick against the pricks. But the Lord knows how
to deal with his people. He knows how to humble them and
to bring them to his feet and to submit to his work and to
his way and to be made more and more like him and more and more
at peace with his brethren and to walk together in love. May the Lord do that with us.
May we be able to trace that the Lord has had these purposes
toward us. May it shed some light upon the
path of tribulation and affliction that we may be walking in. May
we be able to trace back to why these things are being done and
to trace forward with some degree of assurance that it is the Lord
that is working in us. according to His good pleasure.
And there is a purpose in it. There is a reason. There is a
working together for good to them that love God, to them that
are the called according to His purpose. And our text is revealing
what His purpose is, to be conformed to the image of His Son. May the Lord grant that we be
conformed to the image of His Son. And the Lord blessed us
with this and with the assurance and comfort of it. Sometimes
we might not see it, we might not realise it, but other times
the Lord is pleased to show us and cause us to reflect on what
we were. The Apostle Paul certainly could
reflect on what he was. and what he was now. I think
it was John Newton that said, I am not now what I once was,
and I am not now what one day I will be in heaven. May the Lord bless the Word.
Amen.