Well let us turn once again to
that short portion that we've just read at the end of Romans
chapter 8 and directing your attention to words that I'm sure
are not unfamiliar Romans chapter 8 and verses 28 and 29 and we
know that all things work together for good to them that love God
to them who are the called according to his purpose 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." Observe how the Apostle here
declares that we know the opening words of verse 28 and we know
and then in the opening words of verse
29 concerning God, whom he did foreknow. And I really want to
concentrate on those words, and we know, and then the words for
whom he did foreknow. I want to say something with
regards to divine knowledge, and then the knowledge of the
divine. that divine knowledge that belongs
unto God, and that knowledge that we can have of Him who is
the only living and true God. So that's the simple division
that I want to take up dealing with those two points for a while
before we turn to God again in prayer. And first of all, to
consider what is to be understood by this statement at the beginning
of verse 29, for whom he did fauna. What is this knowledge? It is the knowledge that belongs
unto God, and we can say at least these two things about it. First
of all, it is an infinite knowledge, in that it is God's. God knows
all things. His knowledge is that cannot
really be measured in any sense. He is that God who is the omniscient
one, declaring the end from the beginning, says the prophet Isaiah. He is the eternal God. He dwells
outside of time. He sees all things at once, from
the creation to the consummation. as he views matters from the
highest heavens. Remember how David in the 139th
Psalm very much rejoices in the omniscience and the omnipresence
of God, fearful subject that it might be. O Lord, he says,
Thou hast searched me and known me, Thou knowest my down-sitting
and mine up-rising, Thou understandest my thought afar off, Thou compass'd
my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways,
for there is not a word in my tongue, but lo, O Lord, Thou
knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and
before and laid thy hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful
for me, it is high. I cannot attain unto it." This
is the knowledge then that belongs unto God, God's foreknowledge. David says it is too wonderful
for me, it is high, I cannot attain unto it." But how there
at the end of that same psalm he cries out, search me O God
and know my heart, try me and know my thoughts and see if there
be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. He
appeals then to that remarkable knowledge that is in God. God's knowledge is is that that
is infinite. But then when we come to the
New Testament, when we come to that final revelation of God
in the person of his only begotten Son, Christ, who is the image
of the invisible God. Remember what we are told concerning
the Lord Jesus here at the end of John chapter 2, how he knew
all men. and needed not that any should
testify of man, for he knew what was in the hearts of men." Remarkable
statement. In many ways, of course, it's
a proof of his deity as God. He knows what is in the hearts
of all men. But we can also, and I think
rightly, understand that in terms of the reality of his human nature
and his experiences as a man. Remember how it was said of Martin
Luther that he could preach as if he had been inside the heart
of a man. So, truly experimental was that
man's preaching. The dealings of God with his
own souls helped him to be truly a physician of souls. Well, if
that was true of a man, how much more was that true of the God-man?
The Lord Jesus could speak and preach as if he had been in the
heart of a man. Paul speaks of him in the days
of his flesh when he had offered up prayer and supplication and
strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him
from death and was heard in that he feared. Though he were a son,
yet learned the obedience by the things that he suffered,
all those sins that he had to suffer and endure, it enabled
him to understand men. Oh, he knew what was in the hearts
of men in that experimental sense as a man, but really, ultimately,
he knew everything about men because he is that one who is
truly divine, God's knowledge, that knowledge that is an infinite
knowledge. But here, this foreknowledge
that is being spoken of in our text, whom he did foreknow, This
is to be understood more especially in terms of the intimacy of the
knowledge of God. Look at the order here. It's
those that he foreknows that he predestinates. 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. You're probably aware that coming
to this text the Arminian interprets foreknowledge simply in terms
of foresight. The Arminian says, well, God
foresees who will be believers and those whom he foresees coming
to faith, those whom he foresees accepting the Lord Jesus as their
Savior, they say, well, as God foresees them doing that, so
he predestinates them. Now, of course, the problem with
that understanding is that it makes man really the author of
his own salvation. It makes man sovereign in salvation. God's predestination according
to the Arminian, is based upon what men themselves decide to
do. Whereas here, the whole passage
emphasizes throughout the place of divine sovereignty. It's a
tremendous passage, this, with regards to the fact that God
is truly God. He is that one who is sovereign,
and of course, it goes over into that following ninth chapter. Now, what we are to understand
here with regards to this foreknowledge, it's much more than foresight.
It's not God foreseeing something that's going to happen, and on
the basis of what he has that knowledge of, then makes a decree
of predestination. No, this is really love that
is being spoken of, whom he did foreknow, it's the intimacy.
of knowledge. It's that intimacy of knowledge
that we see in a man and his wife, what we are told concerning
the birth of the first man, Cain. There in the opening words of
Genesis chapter 4, Adam knew Eve, his wife, and she conceived,
and bear a son, she bear Cain. Adam knew his wife. It's the
intimacy of that knowledge, that love between a man and his wife. And this is what we're to understand
here. This is the knowledge of God.
It's God loving a person, knowing them in that intimate sense.
And because he has set his love upon them, and knows them, therefore
he predestinates them." That's what we're told here. Whom he
did foreknow, he also did predestinate. And now, Paul brings his truth
out so many times, we see it again when he writes to the Thessalonians,
1 Thessalonians 1.4, knowing brethren beloved your election
of God is how the text reads but if we look at the margin
it says knowing brethren beloved of God your election and the
margin really is much closer to the word order as it stands
in the original knowing brethren beloved of God their beloved
of God And because they are beloved of God, they can know their election. It is that love, that knowledge
of God that stands at the very basis of God's election. And our God, of course, as He
loves His people, and as He has chosen His people, so He is that
one who is always faithful to them. Look at the language again
that we have in the Old Testament concerning Israel, these typical
people. In Deuteronomy 7, verse 7, Moses says to the Israelites,
The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because
you were more in number than any people, for you were the
fewest of all people, but because the Lord loved you, and because
he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers,
that the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed
you out of the house of bondmen from the hand of Pharaoh, king
of Egypt. Here we see quite clearly that
God's love is bound up with his faithfulness because he had chosen
them, because he had sworn unto their fathers, because he had
given his promise and confirmed it by his oath, therefore he
would never desert them, he brings them out, he redeems them from
the bondage that was Egypt. All this doctrine you see of
predestination, then it is rooted and grounded in God's foreknowledge,
in God's love. That's how we're to understand
the doctrine of election. It might seem to be a hard doctrine,
and yet it is rooted and grounded in the love of God, and so our
rights are the reformers of the English Church when in Article
17 they speak of predestination as that that is full of sweet,
pleasant, and unspeakable comfort. sweet, pleasant, and unspeakable
comfort is to be found in the great doctrine of predestination. Why? Because it's rooted in this
intimate knowledge that God has of His people. He has set His
sovereign love upon them. And as it is evidenced in their
predestination, so here we see that it is also evidenced in
their effectual calling. He has not only predestinated
them, but He is that One who has also called them. The end of verse 28, we read
of them who are called according to His purpose. And then again, the beginning
of verse 30, Moreover whom He did predestinate them He also
called. Oh, here we have of course that
golden chain, now that one link is connected to the next and
so on. God's foreknowledge, God's predestination,
and then of course God's calling. Who is it that God calls? Well,
when we come over to that great ninth chapter, there concerning those twins
that were born to Rebecca, Verse 11 of chapter 9, "...the
children being not yet born, neither having done any good
or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might
stand, not of works, but of him that calleth. It was said unto
her, The elder shall serve the younger, as it is written, Jacob
have I loved, but Esau have I hated." Well, here is God's calling then,
not of works, but of him that calleth. And the words that the
Lord speaks to his servant, to the prophet Jeremiah, yea, I
have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness
have I drawn thee. That's how God calls his people,
he draws them to himself. It's an efficacious work of the
Spirit of God. How thou made a willing people
in the day of the power of the Lord Jesus Christ. I know that
some have been tormented by the doctrine of election in the sense
that they wonder whether or not they are of the election or not.
Well, election is that secret purpose of God. We have to remember
the secret things belonging to the Lord our God. It's the things
that are revealed that belong to us and to our children, says
Moses. Election is God's eternal purpose,
but calling is that that takes place in time. And so, we're
not so much to examine ourselves with regards to election, but
more especially, we should give attention to calling. Peter says,
give diligence to make your calling and election sure. Now, the order
when it comes to salvation, of course, is the other way around.
Whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate. Whom he did
predestinate, then he also called. That's the order of salvation.
But when it comes to us examining ourselves and wanting to know
whether we're those who are of the election of Christ, we have
to attend to calling. Give diligence, says Peter, to
make your calling. It's calling first. are we those
who have known that effectual call of God? Has God come and
have we felt that gracious application of the truth as he brought us
under his word to that place of the conviction of sin, caused
us to cry out for mercy, brought us to seek his face? All these
are the parts of calling. We trace everything back ultimately
to foreknowledge. These are the chains. Whom He
did foreknow, He also did predestinate. Whom He did predestinate, then
He also called. But look at verse 29. What is that predestination?
He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His
Son. Here is another consequence,
then, of God's foreknowledge. There is to be a conformity to
the image of His Son, the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now,
how is it that God does that? How does he conform those who
were dead in trespasses and sins? How does he conform them to the
image of his Son? Well, there are a number of doctrines
here, of course. There's the doctrine of justification,
and we see that After calling that in verse 30, then we also
justified. The doctrine of justification. And there's an emphasis upon
that doctrine. Of course, Romans is very much
taken up with the great doctrine of justification by faith. And it's not surprising therefore
that we see it here in this chapter. Verse 33, "...who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect, It is God that justifieth, who
is he that condemneth. It is Christ that died, yea,
rather that he is risen again, who is even at the right hand
of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Nothing can be laid to
the charge of God's elect. Why? Because God has declared
them to be righteous. They are no longer under condemnation. Remember justification it's a
forensic term really it has to do with the with the court, the
law court and the judge and the judge declaring that the person
charged is free from all guilt not only free from guilt but
actually accounted righteous well this is the consequence,
this is what God is purposing then with regards to those whom
he has foreknown How are they conformed to the image of God's
Son? They are clothed in the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. As Paul says, to the Philippians,
to be found in him, not having mine own righteousness which
is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ. There's justification, that's
conforming to Christ. There's also sanctification. not only accounted righteous,
but also made a holy people. It's all in Christ. When we go
back to chapter 7, remember how Paul is lamenting what he feels
with regards to that conflict with himself, his old nature.
At the end of chapter 7, In verse 22 it says, I delight in the
Lord of God after the inward man, but I see another Lord in
my members warring against the Lord of my mind and bringing
me into captivity to the Lord of sin which is in my members,
O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body
of this death? And then here is the answer,
I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. So then with the mind
I myself serve the Lord of God, but with the flesh the law of
sin." It's Christ, you see, it's sanctification. This is that
one who of God is made unto us, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
says Paul. Sanctification and redemption,
all in the Lord Jesus Christ. But this conforming, how it also
involves the believer having to endure sufferings. That was Paul's desire, his prayer
there in Philippians chapter 3, that I may know him and the
power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings. The fellowship of his sufferings. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless
I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." The sufferings
that the believer has to endure. And what are those sufferings?
Well, the Lord deals with his people. He corrects them. He
chastises them. These things cannot be avoided.
This is all part and parcel of the way in which God makes his children, those whom he has foreknown,
makes them conform to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ, whom
the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom
he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God
dealeth with you as with sons. What son is he whom the Father
chasteneth not? Or that fellowship, the fellowship
of his sufferings. What fellowship can there be
between a broken-hearted Saviour like the Lord Jesus and those
who are but wholehearted sinners? Did Christ, my Lord, suffer?
And shall I repine?" asked the hymn writer. No, this is not
the way of God. How Paul reminds those Philippians,
unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe
on Him, not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His
sake. This is the believer's experience
then, as God deals with His people to conform them to the image
of His Son, even the Lord Jesus Christ. Again, the language of
Peter, there in 1 Peter 4.12, Beloved, he says, Think it not
strange concerning the fiery trial that is to try you, as
though some strange thing happened unto you. But rejoice in as much
as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings, that when his glory
shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy."
Or the believer, you see, is not to think it strange. No,
he's a partaker of the sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ in this
world. That's the lot of those whom
the Lord has foreknown. They have bitter experiences.
They know what it is to be chastened. They know what it is to suffer
reverses. Their life is such a strange
mixture. But all, the bitters as well
as the sweets, all things work together for good. That's what
it says here in verse 28. We know that all things, without
any exception, all things work together for good to them that
love God. to them who are the called according to his purpose,
even those bitter things. And how Paul goes on at the end
to speak of these. He says at verse 35, Who shall
separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or
distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril,
or sword? As it is written, For thy sake
we are killed all the day long, we are accounted as sheep for
the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors
through him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither
death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers,
nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth,
nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the
love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. the knowledge then that the Lord
God has of his people. How that is such a comfort to
them, that the Lord knoweth them that are his. The Lord knoweth
them that are his. So we have this statement here
in verse 29, whom he did foreknow. But let us, in the second place,
Go back to the beginning of verse 28, we know. Oh, it has we know
Him, you see. And we can only know Him when
He knows us. We can never be beforehand with
Him. What is this knowledge? What is this knowledge that is
being spoken of at the beginning of verse 28? Well, I want us to observe two things.
First of all, this is a saving knowledge of God. This is a sinner
who's now reconciled to God. What are we by nature? We're
dead in trespasses and in sins. The carnal mind, the natural
mind, that mind that we're all born with, it's enmity against
God. It's not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can
be. We're in that state of enmity,
alienation. and how the sinner must be reconciled
to God. And this is the great work, of
course, of the Lord Jesus Christ when he comes to reconcile sinners
to God. The language that we have there in Colossians, Colossians chapter
1. Verse 20, having made peace through
the blood of his cross by him, to reconcile all things unto
himself by him I say whether they be things in earth or things
in heaven and you that were sometime alienated and enemies in your
mind by wicked works yet now hath he reconciled in the body
of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable
and unreprovable in his sight, if ye continue, if ye continue
steadfast in the faith, grounded, settled, and be not moved away
from the hope of the gospel, and so forth. Or they were alienated,
they were enemies, they were those who did wicked works and
yet now reconciled. Now reconciled, how is this?
Well, It's all because of that love of God whom he did foreknow. He foreknew these people. He'd
set his love upon these people. He made every provision for them
to reconcile them to himself. And what does John say? We love
him because he first loved us. And so here we know that all
things work together for good to them that love God. This is
that people that love God. But why do they love God? They
love God because he loved them. He loved them. Yea, I have loved thee with an
everlasting love, he says. Therefore with loving kindness
have I drawn thee. It's that love of God. Oh, it's
that knowledge of God as the one who has now brought peace, who has satisfied his own justice
and holiness and righteousness, visited all that punishment of
the sins that were the just desert of these people, visited them
all upon his only begotten Son. That is the love of God. and
it's that love that has been shed abroad in their hearts the
love of God shed abroad in our hearts is poured by the Holy
Ghost which is given unto us we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God to them who are the
called according to his purpose it's that saving knowledge then
they know salvation and they glory in that salvation which
is in Christ Jesus and then Secondly, it's also an experimental knowledge.
It's an experimental knowledge. This is life eternal. It says,
Christ, in his great high priestly prayer, that they might know
thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast
sent. Oh, they have an experience of
this love. To know my Jesus, crucified, by far excels all
things beside. All earthly good I count but
loss and triumph in my Saviour's cross," says Richard Burnham. Oh, how true. Oh, these people
have had an experience of the grace of God. It's not just a
matter of their mind, intellectual ascent to the truth set before
us, that knowledge that is conveyed to us by the Spirit in the Word
of God. It's an experience. It's an experience. Paul reminds these believers
at Rome of that truth. Look at what he says back in
chapter 5, verse 3. Not only so, we glory in tribulations
also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience, and patience,
experience, and experience, hope. and don't make us not ashamed
because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy
Ghost which is given unto us all these all things, these bitters
as well as sweets now these people you see they they have daily
dealings with the Lord God himself they seek to understand him not
only in his words but also in his ways remember when the children
of Israel are there on the borders of the promised land after the
40 years of wilderness wanderings, the language that we have there
in Deuteronomy 8, thou shalt remember all the way which the
Lord thy God led thee these 40 years in the wilderness to humble
thee and to prove thee to know what was in thine heart. whether
thou wouldest keep his commandments or no, and he humbled thee, and
suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou
knewest not, neither did thy fathers know, that he might make
thee to know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every
word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live."
And then again, verse 16, "...who fed thee in the wilderness with
manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee,
and that he might prove thee to do thee good at the latter
end." Well, these are the ways of God, how God teaches His people
knowledge. He teaches them of Himself in
His Word, yes. And of course, though we make
much of the ways of God and the dealings of God, all our experiences
have to be brought to this book, to this touchstone. But I think
of the language there at the end of the 107th psalm, that
psalm that says so much about providences. Whoso is wise and
will observe these things, even they shall understand the loving
kindness of the Lord. Or to understand, to know. To
know that loving kindness of the Lord, to see it in all the
ways, all the dealings of the Lord. God is good. Or the psalmist
says, thou art good. How do we know God is good? Well,
the Psalmist goes on to say something else, doesn't he? Thou art good,
and thou doest good. And God is the one who does good
to us undeserving, how deserving sinners that we are. We know
that all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did
foreknow, we also did predestinate to be conformed to the image
of his Son. that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Now the Lord bless his word to
us.