Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening and now
for today's program. I'd like to welcome you to our
program today. I'm glad you could join us. I
hope this program will be a blessing to you as we go through God's
word. And today, if you'd like to follow along in your Bibles,
I'm going to pick up where I ended off last week on the golden chain
of grace. the golden chain of grace that's
found in the book of Romans. If you'll turn to Romans chapter
eight, if you'd like to follow along. And last week I spent
most of my time on verse 28, which is a verse that most people
quote, but few people know the real meaning of. And so I urge
you to get that message. You can order it from our church,
go to our website and download it or listen to it. or get a
copy of it, however you'd like to do that. But it's called The
Golden Chain of Grace, part one. This is part two. And I'll go
ahead and read verse 20, and I'm not gonna spend much time
on this because I did a whole message basically on that. But
it says in Romans 8, 28, 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. And there I made the point that
God is working all things together. It doesn't say all things are
good there. It says God's working all things
together for good, and that's for the good of his people, those
whom he saves by his grace, that's his elect. We learn later on
down here in Romans 8.33. They are those who are redeemed
by the blood of Christ. They are those who are justified
based upon His righteousness imputed to them. They are those
who are called, he says, who are thee called. Now, the called
there refers to the calling of the Holy Spirit through the preaching
of the gospel, wherein the Holy Spirit makes the gospel the power
of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. If you hear the
true gospel, not a false gospel now. A false gospel won't do
it. Lies will not bring sinners into
the kingdom of God. The Holy Spirit is the spirit
of truth. So if you hear the true gospel
and you come to believe it unto salvation, then you can attribute
that not to your own will or your own goodness, you attribute
it to God. It's God who makes the difference.
You are one of the called. Called by the power of God. Man,
left to himself, will not believe it. The Bible says that in 1
Corinthians 2.14, The natural man receiveth not the things
of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them. He cannot understand
them. He cannot believe them, say,
because they're spiritually discerned. And we don't have, by nature,
we're spiritually dead in trespasses and sin. I brought that out last
week. I bring it out just about every message. That men and women
born, fallen in Adam and born dead in spiritual deadness, depraved,
will not believe God unless God sends the Spirit through Christ,
sends the Spirit to give us a new heart. You must be born again.
And so then in verse 29, he begins what I call the golden chain
of grace. And listen to the links that
are in this golden chain. First, it says, for whom he did
foreknow. Now what is the foreknowledge
of God? A lot of people are confused
about that. Many people say when they talk about, it says after
that, for whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate. And there's a lot of people today
who claim to be Christian who do not understand and do not
like, even hate the doctrine of predestination. And I know
that, I used to be one of them until God turned my heart. And
you understand now that God is revealing Himself. You know,
that's what the Bible is. The Bible is the revelation of
who God is in reality. of who we are in reality, God
the holy and just one, who is merciful and loving and gracious,
man who is a sinful, depraved, spiritually dead human being,
fallen in Adam, who cannot save himself, who has no works that
are good enough to save himself and has no will to go to God,
unless God gives us that will, makes us willing in the day of
His power, and it tells us the truth about Christ and salvation
by the grace of God in Him. And what we have here is the
revelation of who God is. And it says here in verse 29,
for whom God did foreknow. Now God is a God of foreknowledge.
But you know how most people look at foreknowledge? They make
God a crystal ball gazer, or what they call the telescope
of time. that God looked into his crystal
ball and he saw the future. Or God looked down through the
telescope of time and saw the future. Now let me tell you without
any, listen, you're not gonna find anything like that describing
the God of this book from Genesis to Revelation. God is no crystal
ball gazer. God is not looking down through
a telescope of time and learning things. The Bible says God is
omniscient. He knows all. The Bible says
that God, in Isaiah 46, in verse nine, He declares the end from
the beginning. Now, what does that mean? Well,
think about it this way. I can declare the beginning from
the end. You can too. For example, today. You know how this day has begun. You were asleep, you woke up,
you got up, made breakfast, do what you do. You know how it
begins, but you don't know how it's gonna end. I don't know
what's gonna happen a split second from this time. But God, he declares
the end from the beginning. It's not just that God knows
the future, God has determined the future. That's what the book
says here. And that's mind boggling. I can't
really explain all to you about that, and I'm not gonna try to
justify the works of God. Somebody says, well, if God does
that, why didn't he change this, change that? Well, let me ask
you this. If God looked down through a telescope of time and
he saw something bad that's gonna happen, why didn't he change
that? Doesn't he have the power to do so? He's omnipotent. So
you see those arguments, throw them out the window. This is
what God says. This is the mind of God right
here. And he says, for whom he did foreknowledge. And that foreknowledge
is not God seeing into the future and learning anything. God's immutable. God does not
change. He doesn't learn anything. He
doesn't have to. He is the embodiment of all knowledge. And he declares
the end from the beginning. He works all things after the
counsel of his own will. That's who God is. And foreknow
here means that he foreordained it. That's what it means. How
do you know that? It says he also did predestinate
those whom God foreknows, those whom he foreordained unto salvation. That's what he's talking about.
How do you know? He also did predestinate to be conformed
to the image of his son. Now who's gonna be conformed
to the image of Christ? Who's gonna be Christ-like? only
those who are saved by the grace of God, washed clean from all
their sins in the blood of Christ, robed in His righteousness, imputed,
charged to them, given spiritual life from above, called into
the kingdom, preserved unto glory, and who go to be with Him and
live with Him forever. That's who he's talking about
here. He established that back in verse 28. We know that all
things work together for them that love God. If you love God,
that means God has saved you by his grace and he's put that
love in your heart. Romans 5 says that, over here
in Romans 5, it says that the Holy Spirit has shed the love
of God in our hearts. And that's what he's done. He
makes it, he puts it in us. Verse five of Romans five, and
hope maketh not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad
in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given to us. If you
love God at all, no sinner here on earth, no sinner saved by
grace loves God perfectly. We will one day when we leave
this vile body and go to be with Christ. But we do love him and
we know we love him because we run to him pleading the blood
and righteousness of Christ. We believe in Christ. No sinner
by nature loves God. That's the gift of God. And so
he's talking about believers here. He's talking about his
elect. I'll show you that in just a moment. A lot of people,
they don't like the doctrines of foreknowledge and predestination
and the elect, but the Bible teaches them this is the word
of God. This is what God says of himself. And I always tell
people, I say, if you wanna argue with somebody about that, you
take it up with God. He's the one who wrote this book,
not me. So he says, for whom he did foreknow, whom God foreordained,
whom he foreloved, you could say. Not those whom he hates,
with that righteous indignation. People, preachers will tell you,
well, God doesn't hate anybody. Well, God says he does. In Psalm
5, he hates all workers of iniquity. Somebody asked me one time about
that. I think it's Psalm 5, 5. God, the Lord hates all workers
of iniquity. And they said, well, how in the
world can he love any of us? Because aren't we all workers
of iniquity? Don't we all fall short? And
the answer is yes. But what it's talking about in
Psalm 5 there is those to whom the Lord imputes iniquity, with
whom he charges iniquity. His people, whom He foreloved
and foreordained, who are predestinated to be conformed to the image
of Christ, He does not charge them with their sin, with their
iniquity, because He charged their iniquity to Christ. David
recognized that over in Psalm 32, when he said in verse two,
blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity. I'll
deal with that in a minute. And now over here in Romans 8
in our text, in verse 33, listen to what it says. Who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. The ones that he's speaking of
in Psalm 5-5 that he hates, hates all workers, are those who do
not have Christ as their savior, their substitute, their surety,
their representative, their redeemer, their Lord. They go through this
life in unbelief and die in their sins. Remember what Christ told
the Pharisees? He said, if you believe not that
I am, you'll die in your sins. But God's people don't die in
their sins, they die in Christ and appear before God in Christ. That's what Paul was expressing
in his own desire when he said, that I may know him and be found
in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that
which is through the faith or the faithfulness of Christ, the
righteousness of God, which is by faith, we receive by faith.
That's in Philippians 3. So back to Romans 8, 29, the
golden chain, the first link is God's foreknowledge, God's
foreordination. The second is God's predestinating
purpose. And what is it? To glorify himself
in the salvation of his chosen people in and by the Lord Jesus
Christ, who is none other than God manifest in the flesh and
based on his righteousness. And so he says he also did predestinate
to be conformed to the image, the likeness of his son. We're
going to be like Christ. Now that doesn't mean we'll be
equal to Christ. That just means that in in our
character, our conduct, our thoughts, we'll be sinlessly perfect. As
we are legally now, if you're a believer, as you are legally
now, righteousness imputed to you, perfect in Christ. The Bible
says that, Hebrews 10, 14, for by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. That's talking about our legal
perfection and righteousness in Christ. Well, one day that
legal perfection will be matched with our moral, spiritual perfection
in us when we die and go to be with the Lord, or when He comes
back to take us up with Him, those who believe in Him. So
to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be
the firstborn among many brethren. Now Christ is the firstborn in
that He has the preeminence among all the brethren. You know, He
calls His people, The people of God go by many names and descriptions
in the Bible. They're called the elect, the
chosen, the redeemed of the Lord. They're called the church, which
means called out ones. It doesn't mean a denomination. It means those who believe in
Christ, called out by the Spirit to believe in Him. They're called
His sheep. They're called His brethren.
And in His brethren, He's the firstborn. He has the preeminence.
He is the leader. Lord. And he's the firstborn
among many brethren in that he was the first raised, resurrected
from the dead. Now I know he wasn't the first
raised unto life. Lazarus was raised, others were
raised, but the resurrection life, the resurrection glory,
Christ was the first one to be resurrected unto glory. And all
his brethren will follow. The scripture says, all whom
God chose All whom God foreordained and predestinated to be conformed
to the image of Christ, they will be raised unto life too.
They cannot perish. Listen, friend, there is no way
that any person for whom Christ died and was buried and arose
again the third day can perish. Why? Because he's the firstborn
among many brethren. He didn't die to save everybody
without exception. The scripture says that. He said,
I laid down my life for the sheep. The Bible says that he purchased
his church with his own blood. Who's the church? Sinners saved
by grace, called out by the Spirit unto Christ. And I know why people
hate that, because they think they deserve to be saved, and
none of us deserve it. God would be well within his
just rights if he sent all of us to hell. But the thing about
it is God is a merciful God. He's a loving God. He's a gracious
God. But His mercy, grace, and love
are in Christ. Run to Christ. Flee to Christ. You might say, well, what if
I wasn't foreordained or predestinated? What if I wasn't chosen? You
don't have to think that way because you're not God. The secret
things belong to the Lord. The revealed things belong to
you. But just because the revealed things belong to you, don't use
them to deny what God does reveal about Himself. So go back to
verse 29. That He might be the firstborn
among many brethren. Christ has the preeminence. Christ
is the King of kings. He's the Lord of lords. He earned
that right as God manifest in the flesh. He's always been that
way in His deity, the second person of the Trinity, God the
Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. One God in three
persons, we can't explain that. He's always had all authority,
but as God-man, as the savior of his people, as the surety
and the savior, the redeemer of his people, the preserver
of his people, he earned that right. Philippians 2 tells us
that, that God has highly exalted him and given him a name which
is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee
should bow and every tongue confess that he's Lord. He's Lord of
all. And he earned that right by his
obedience unto death on the cross to put away the sins of his people
as they were a charge to him. And so it says he is the firstborn
among many brethren. Now look at verse 30 of Romans
eight. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
those whom he predestinated to be conformed to the image of
his son, them he also called. Now how do I know I've been foreordained,
predestined? I've been called. And how do
I know I've been called? Well, it's the calling of the
Spirit through the preaching of the gospel. 1 Corinthians
chapter 1 speaks of that when it talks about the preaching
of the cross. It's foolishness to them who are perishing, but
it's the wisdom and power of God to those who believe. Do
you believe the true gospel? I'm not just talking about anything
anybody preaches that calls themselves a church. I'm talking about the
true gospel wherein the righteousness of God is revealed. I quote this
verse all the time, Romans 1, 16 and 17, which says, Paul says,
I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power
of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first
and the Greek also, or the Gentile. For therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith. from knowledge revealed
to knowledge received, from faith to faith, as it is written, the
just, the justified, shall live by faith. And what is it to live
by faith? It doesn't mean that we live just by wishing something
to be true or believing something. We live by looking to Christ,
the author and finisher of our faith, Hebrews 12.2. So how do
I know I've been foreordained, that I've been predestined? I've
been called, I believe the gospel. The gospel is a calling. It's
the power of God to bring his people into the fold. And Christ
said, my sheep hear my voice. I know them and they know me
and they won't follow another. And they hear the preaching of
God's grace, the preaching of the glorious person and the finished
work of Christ. It is finished. The gospel is
not a message that tells you what you must do in order to
be saved. It's a message that tells you
what Christ has done in order to save His people from their
sins. Now believe it. You say, well, nobody's gonna
be saved without belief. That's right, because God gives
them the gift of faith to receive Christ. And He gives it to them
through the preaching of the gospel and in the power of the
Holy Spirit in the new birth. You must be born again. Do you
know, if you're not born again by the Spirit, you can't even
see the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven. Oh, you can hear what
I'm saying, but it will not be valuable to you. It will not
be life and death to you. When this message becomes so
valuable that you'll lay aside every other weight and every
other thing that draws your attention. and you come to Christ. Move
away from everything else, just come to Christ. Believe in the
Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. But man by nature will
not believe. So what are we to do? We're to
seek the Lord. Seek the Lord. Well, go back
to verse 30. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
them he also called, and whom he called, them he also justified. Now what is it to be justified?
Well, first of all, To be justified is to be made right with God. To be justified means to have
a right relationship with God. To be justified means I'm not
condemned by God. Romans 8.1, there is therefore
now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. Now how
do we know who's in Christ Jesus? Who walk not after the flesh,
but after the spirit. And walking after the flesh there
can be a religious person, trying to be saved like Cain was, bringing
his works. That's walking after the flesh.
Walking after the spirit means walking by faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ, looking to Him, resting in Him, pleading His
blood, pleading His righteousness. To be justified is to be forgiven
of all my sins because God did not impute my sins to me. He
didn't charge them to me, he charged them to Christ. And Christ
came and took my place and died under the judgment of God to
put away my sins, to pay the debt in full. That's what he
was doing on the cross. My sins were charged to him.
And his righteousness that he worked out on that cross was
charged to me. And that's what it is to be justified,
to be forgiven of all my sins by the mercy and grace of God
on a just ground. And the only just ground is the
blood of Christ. What can wash away my sins? Nothing
but the blood of Jesus. And it's to be declared righteous
in God's sight, not by my works, not because I made a right decision,
but because Christ died and was buried and arose again the third
day. Christ is my righteousness. Over in the book of Jeremiah,
two times Jeremiah identifies the promised Messiah as Jehovah
Sidcanu, the Lord our righteousness. Christ was made sin, the Bible
says in 2 Corinthians 5.21. That means the sins of his people
were imputed to him, charged to him, accounted to him. He
was, as the surety of God's people before the world began, he took
upon himself the responsibility of paying the sin debt of all
whom God, for love, for ordained, predestinated, chose. And in
time, he came and died under the justice of God on the cross,
and he finished it, he completed it, he paid it. He said, it is
finished, John 19 30. And in that death, not only did
He put away the sin dead of His people, He brought forth an everlasting
righteousness of infinite value. How do you know He did that?
Because He didn't stay in the grave. He arose the third day. He ascended unto the Father.
Righteousness had been established. And that righteousness that's
imputed to the people of God demands that they be given life
from the dead. And so when you read this back
here in Romans 8.30, moreover whom he did predestinate them
he also called and whom he called them he also justified. They
were justified before they were called. But what he's saying
here is this is not a time order thing here. What he's saying
here, this is the whole of salvation. This is the golden link, see,
of grace. And he's saying there that the
way that we know we've been justified before God, that we've been,
that our sins were imputed, charged to Christ, that he died for my
sins and put them away, redeemed me by his blood and gave me his
righteousness, which had been imputed to me. The only way I
know that is by my calling. The just shall live by faith. Those who have been justified
by Christ, how do you know they've been justified? Because they
live spiritually by faith. God-given faith, for by grace
are you saved. Through faith, that not of yourselves,
it's the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should
boast. So we live by faith. We live resting in Christ, looking
to Christ, pleading the blood and righteousness of Christ.
And so he says in Romans 8.30, those whom he justified, them
he also glorified. Now if you've been foreordained,
predestinated for salvation, you know that because when you're
called, anybody who's not called, anybody who's in unbelief, cannot
claim any of the benefits of this golden chain of grace. The
only way we can rightly and biblically and assuredly claim these benefits
is if we've been called, and if we've been called, we believe
in Christ, the glorious person, the finished work of Christ.
We've come to God admitting our sinfulness and depravity. Like
that old publican, God be merciful to me, the sinner. I cannot save
myself. if we've been called that that's
evidence we've been justified and the assurance that we will
be glorified. There's the last link in this
chain. We've been glorified in Christ. Christ is already glorified
and He's the representative, the surety, the substitute, the
Redeemer of His people. And when He arose, we arose legally.
One day we will arise spiritually and in every way and go to be
with Him. That's the evident, the assurance
of glorification. That's how we have assurance
of salvation. We're looking to Christ. If you look within yourself
to find a reason to be assured of your salvation, you're looking
at the wrong place. you will either have a false
assurance, a self-righteous assurance, or you will go into despair.
That's right. But looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith, there's no self-righteousness there.
It's all Him. There's no despair there. I hope
you'll join us next week for another message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, write us
at 1-1-0-2 Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia. Contact us by phone at 229-432-6969
or email us through our website at www.TheLetterRofGrace.com. Thank you again for listening
today and may the Lord be with you. you