Romans chapter 8. This is probably one of the most familiar chapters in all of God's Word for those that believe in God's sovereign grace. We'll begin reading in verse 24 of Romans chapter 8.

For we are saved by hope. But hope that is seen is not hope. For what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

Likewise, the spirit also helpeth our infirmities. For we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the heart knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

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 did also predestinate to be conformed in the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called, and whom he called, them he also justified. And whom he justified, them he also glorified.

What shall we say then to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things. 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 is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.

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 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.

So how does a sinner, a lost sinner, go from being a child of wrath, even as others, to being a child of the living God, an heir of salvation, and join heirs with Christ. What circumstances takes place that brings this about?

Now, we know from the scriptures that all men and women are born into sin, born with a depraved, fallen nature that cannot know, cannot comprehend, cannot understand the things of God, because the scriptures tell us that those things are spiritually discerned. But we are born spiritually dead.

Now in Romans 3, Paul describes us in our natural state this way. There is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that understandeth. There is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good, no, not a single one.

Then in Romans 8, he describes a mind that we're born with. Because the carnal mind, Paul writes, is enmity against God. For it is not subject to the law of God, neither can be. Enmity, this word enmity, means a deep-seated hatred against someone or something. And in this case of natural man, that someone is God Almighty, and that something is his holy law.

Yet, Despite all that we just read. Religion tells us that there's a spark of good in everybody. How many times have you heard that. Well there's a little bit of good in everybody. And religion tells us that if you just fan that flame with some good works and good thoughts that it'll eventually become a burning flame and then men will turn to God they'll turn to Jesus for their personal savior, I despise that term. They tell men that all you need is just to get your spiritual life in order. How many times have you been going down the interstate and you see the sign that says, get right with God. And the religious world refuses to believe in the total depravity of the heart, that heart that we're told is desperately wicked and no man can know it.

They quote John 3 16. We recently had some company come in and we were discussing things of God and they made the statement. What about Romans 3 16 because they were arguing that God loves everybody and everybody has at least one chance. No matter if you're born in the jungles of the Amazon and never hear the name Jesus Christ everybody has at least one chance to be saved they say. They tell sinners that God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life, that he can save you if you'll just let him. And they tell man this in spite of the scripture that tells us, the foolish shall not stand in thy sight. Thou hatest all workers of iniquity. That God is angry with the wicked every day.

So we have to ask then, how is it then, if there are none that seek after God, How can it be possible that any are saved from wrath? It's possible because of what we just read in Romans 8. Here in verses 29 and 30, we find the sequence of salvation of a child of God. There are five things that are listed here that are involved in the salvation of every single one of God's chosen people. They occur in the order listed in these verses.

Number one, They are foreknown of God. Number two, they are predestinated by God to be exactly like his son.
Number three, they are called of God.
Number four, they are justified by God.
And number five, they are glorified by this same God.

So I want to look at each of these things that are described in these two verses and show us from scripture that they are indeed so. I've titled this message, The Sequence of Salvation. Now, the first thing that happens in the salvation of one of God's elect, or should I say that has already happened, is that they are known, they are foreknown of God and were foreknown of God in the far, far reaches of eternity past. What is said of Jeremiah in chapter one, verse five, can be applied to every single one of God's elect. He told Jeremiah this, before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee. Before thou camest forth from the womb, I sanctified thee.

Now this word knew, it means much more than an intellectual knowledge. It is used throughout the scriptures to describe the most intimate of relationships. And this verse says that our God sanctified us, meaning he set us apart for a specific reason, a specific purpose. That purpose is to be trophies of his amazing grace. And David wrote in Psalm 2210, I was cast upon thee from the womb. Thou art my God from my mother's belly. I've been one of your chosen people from before I was ever conceived and born. And false religion tries to explain away this foreknowledge of God by saying that God looked down through time and he saw who would believe on his son. So based on that decision that these enlightened sinners made, God decided that since they'd eventually make the right choice, he might as well go along with it and choose them to be his, which again puts the choice of salvation squarely in the hands of lost sinners. and takes it out of the hand of a sovereign God.

Lost folks, lost religion, and folks choose to completely ignore what we just read a few minutes ago. There is none that seeketh after God, but the truth of God is this, that based upon reasons known to himself, he chose a multitude out of the mass of humanity based on his will and his purpose alone to be his children and to be predestinated to be his for eternity.

Now men despise a God that they cannot control. You know it's true and I know it's true. You don't need to speak to folks very long about the things of God before you find this out. Men like a predictable God. They like a God who's kind of goes after the third, I think it's third law of Newton that every action creates an equal and opposite reaction. Now we decide to make Jesus our Lord so then God is obligated to react in a certain way by going ahead and saving us since we already made that decision.

Men despise a sovereign who does what he wants with whom he wants for reasons known but to himself and couldn't care less what mankind thinks, what Daniel tells us, all the inhabitants of the earth are counted as nothing.

Turn over to Luke chapter 4 with me. Luke chapter 4. Talking about a hatred of men of a sovereign God. In Luke chapter 4, starting in verse 24. Jesus said, he's talking to the Jews here. Verily I say unto you, no prophet is accepted in his own country. But I tell you of a truth. Many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout the land, but unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Septuta, a city of Sidon unto a woman that was a widow. And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elias the prophet, and none of them was cleansed, saving Nahum the Syrian.

Now this simple declaration that our Lord made here to the Jews infuriated them to the point where they literally sought to kill him. They wanted to take him to a hill and cast him down, but the scriptures tell us that he passing through the midst of them went his way. And this is the same reason that the Jews hated the Apostle Paul. He not only preached the merits of this imposter, as they saw him, named Jesus, he had the nerve to preach that to the Gentiles. Talk about adding insult to injury. The Jews could not stand it.

But had they known the scriptures nearly as well as they claimed to, They would have known that God foretold this many hundreds of years before. Several verses in Isaiah speak of this. Let me read you a few. Isaiah 42, 6, this is speaking of God and the Gentiles. I, the Lord, have called thee in righteousness and will hold thine hand and will keep thee and give thee for a covenant of the people for a light to the Gentiles. Isaiah 49, 6, I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles. that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth. In Isaiah 60, it says, and the Gentiles shall come to thy light, because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee. The forces of the Gentiles shall come to thee. So predestination, the second occurrence in the sequence of salvation, includes God choosing a man, or choosing men, I should say, that no man can number, choosing those to be his. This word predestinate, it's only found two places in all of scripture in this 29th and 30th verses here in Romans. But it is referred to in many other different ways throughout the scriptures. It is undeniable, particularly through God's or Paul's writing, the word means to choose beforehand for a particular use or purpose, to elect for a precise reason. And the words elect and election and choose and chosen are found dozens and dozens of times throughout this book.

One of the most notable, turn over to Ephesians with me. This is a verse or I should say a text that pretty much all of us can quote from memory. And it is indeed one of the most glorious in all of the New Testament. Ephesians chapter 1, verses 4 and 5. According as he, God the Father, hath chosen us in him, God the Son, before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will.

Now, God did not predestinate us, as I've already said, because he looked down through time and saw who would believe, but he did it rather, according to this text, according to the good pleasure of his will. God does, and God did, all that he has done for the reasons which Christ stated in the 11th chapter of Matthew, verse 28. Christ said this, even so father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. All that our God does, he does because it seems good in his sight, because it suits his will and his purpose. But this truth is hated by the religious world because it takes away any and all man's proud bragging that he had a part in his salvation, whereas boasting then it is excluded.

But in this 29th verse, it also tells us the result of our being predestinated. It ends with this are being conformed to the image of his son. The Lord Jesus Christ conform means to become identical to something to become compliant to. And we are conformed to this image of his son. One of the meanings of this word image is an exact duplication of something. Now Hebrews 1 3 tells us that Christ Jesus is the expressed image of God. He has every power, every attribute of the almighty God of this universe. He is identical to the father, which is how he was able to say to Thomas, he that has seen me has seen the father. And so it is with the child of God. He is made to be conformed to the image of Christ. If we are in Christ, then when God looks upon us, he sees only his son. We are accepted, the scripture tells us, in the beloved.

And then we read in our text the next thing that occurs in the sequence of salvation of the child of God. It is this. He is called. Moreover, whom he did predestinate, then he also called. There are numerous places in Scripture that the children of God are referred to as being called. They're referred to as the called. Paul told the Corinthians that they were sanctified in Christ Jesus called to be saints. He also told them God is faithful by whom you were called under the fellowship of his son Jesus Christ. He told the Thessalonians that God hath called you into his kingdom. and that God has called you by our gospel. And Peter wrote that we should show forth the praises of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. How incredibly favored we are to be called out of darkness, that darkness that we happily dwelt in our entire lives to our Lord Jesus Christ sent his spirit to where we were.

Now, this calling of the sovereign God is 100% his choice. The scriptures teach us that he can leave men in darkness or he can call them. It's entirely based on his prerogative. Never forget, dear Saint, never forget that you could have been born in Esau, hated of God from eternity, but instead he chose you in Christ to be one of his beloved children. That is A marvelous, marvelous thing.

This calling of God is an irresistible calling, we're told. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, so says Psalm 110. And this calling can only be heard by the sheep of Christ. What did he say? My sheep hear my voice and they follow me.

And this calling of God is an eternal calling, means it can never be rescinded and it will never be taken back. Paul wrote in Romans 11 29 for the gifts which include giving the faith to believe on Christ for the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.

And this calling of God according to Paul is a high calling in Philippians 3 14. He wrote this I press toward the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

And this calling of God is a holy calling. Second Timothy tells us who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given unto us in Christ Jesus before the world began.

Now, if you have been foreknown of God, if you have been predestinated of God to be one of his, then you will most certainly be given life in Christ and you will be called by his spirit.

And then the next thing in this sequence of salvation that we read about in these two verses, it says we are justified. Whom he called them, he also justified. This word justified is found 39 times in scripture. It never once, never once is it even remotely hinted at that we are justified by anything done by us. The scriptures do teach that our doing only leads to one thing, and that is condemnation.

Now being justified, it's a legal term. It means we are declared to be completely free from any guilt or blame that we have been absolved of any and all offenses against a holy God. But it also has another meaning, which is one that we can greatly rejoice in. It means to justify someone. It means this, to prove to have sufficient means to act as a surety for another. What a perfect description of our blessed Savior.

A surety is the same as our word, a guarantee. It's a solemn pledge or promise to securing its loss, damage, or default. Hebrews 7.22 says, But so much was Jesus made a surety of a better covenant. He secured all the blessings of God in that new covenant by the shedding of his blood.

Now you remember back in Genesis where Joseph asked about the family of his brothers. They didn't know that he was their brother at the time. And he said he wanted them to bring the youngest son back to Egypt. And Judah said this, this can be applied very well to what Christ says about his people. But Judah said to his father, Israel, concerning the safety of his youngest son, going back to Egypt with him, he said this, I will be surety for him. Of my hand shalt thou require him, if I bring him not unto thee and set him before thee. Let me bear the blame forever. That is what Christ Jesus said to the father. So God, the father entrusted the redemption and the well being of his people into the hand of the Lord Jesus Christ to act as a surety.

And he assured us of our security in john 6 39. He said this and this is the father's will which has sent me and of all which he has given me, I should lose nothing but should raise it up again at the last day.

But how does this justification spoken of here in our text in Romans 8 take place? What forces are at work to bring this about? Can our own good works not justify us before God? Not according to Galatians 2 16. Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus Christ that he might be justified by the faith of Christ and not by the works of the law for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

Then one chapter later we read but that no man is justified by the law on the side of God. It is evident for the just shall live by faith. This justification is as much the work of God as all other things concerning our standing before him, our imputed righteousness. And this scripture tells us that we are justified freely by his grace, that we are justified by faith, that we are justified by his blood, that we are justified by Christ, that we are justified in the spirit, all of which are exclusively the work of a holy God.

And this same chapter of Romans tells us this, it is God that justifies, not the center, not the center in God in joint effort with each other, but it is God that justifies. So who does he justify? We know that there are some who are justified, but who are these who are justified? We're told in Romans four, verse five, But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.

This is why the predestinated children of God require one to make them justified. It is because they are ungodly. If it were not so, we would need no justification. But we find a great reason to rejoice in Romans 5, 6, For when we were yet without strength, Christ died for who? The ungodly. Then in verse eight of that same chapter, but God commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us much more than being now justified by his blood. We shall be saved from wrath through him for if When we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son.

Much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. Not saved by our works, they only deserve condemnation. Not saved by our so-called righteousnesses, which we're told is a filthy rag, a stench in God's nostrils, but rather saved by his life, that perfect life that he lived while a man on earth fulfilling every jot and tittle required of the law.

And then the last thing that happened in this sequence of salvation of a sinner is this, them he also glorified. Now notice that even though this is speaking of an event that will take place in the future for living saints, it is referred to here in the past tense. Then he also glorified. And that's because the glorification of the saints of God has always been as sure as the very throne of God, because it was and is the purpose of God to save all whom he had chosen from eternity. It was as good as done, and it is as good as done before God ever chose us in Christ. In Isaiah 55, let me read you a few verses concerning our glorification. In Isaiah 55, 3, incline your ear and come unto me, here and your soul shall live. And I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. Behold, I have given him for a witness to the people, a leader and a commander of the people. Behold, thou shall call a nation that thou knowest not, and nations that knew thee not, shall run unto thee because of the Lord thy God and for the Holy One of Israel, for he hath glorified thee.

And there are many other verses in God's Word that talk of our Lord being glorified. They speak of God being glorified for his goodness, for his wonderful works on behalf of his chosen people, for his mighty power, for his merciful kindness and his grace toward us in Christ.

When our Lord walked this earth as a human being, we read many times in the scriptures that because of the miracles he performed, we're told that men glorified God. And in his prayer to the Father in John 17, our Lord said as much. He said to the Father, I have glorified thee on earth. I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.

But because we are in Christ, and have been for all eternity, we shall one day share in his glorification. Paul wrote of this earlier in this eighth chapter of Romans, in verses 16 and 17, if you're still there. It says, the spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if so be that we suffer with him that we may be also glorified together.

Turn over with me to Jeremiah. Jeremiah chapter 30. Jeremiah chapter 30, we'll begin reading in verse 17. Speaking of the Lord glorifying his people. For I will restore health unto thee, Jeremiah 30, 17. For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the Lord. Because they call thee an outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no man seeketh after. Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will bring again the captivity of Jacob's tents, and have mercy on his dwelling places. And the city shall be built upon her own heap, and the palace shall remain after the manner thereof. And out of them shall proceed thanksgiving, and the voice of them that maketh merry. And I will multiply them, and they shall not be few. I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small.

Among all these promises that our God makes to his people in these three verses, one, is that he will glorify them. Not because of anything done by them, but simply for the fact that they are in Christ accepted in the beloved.

Now, certainly we will not share in the glory of Christ in the sense of being worshipped. Our God makes that clear in Isaiah 42 80 says, I am the Lord. That is my name and my glory. Will I not give to another? Neither my praise to graven images, but we will share in all the blessings, in all the goodness, in all the benefits that our God has to give. We will dwell in the glory of heaven forever, worshiping our Savior for all He has done for us and in us.

So secure are we in the person of Christ that Paul assured us in the last few verses, we won't read them again, of this Romans 8, that there is nothing in this universe that will be able to separate us from the love of Christ, that unsearchable love that foreknew us, that predestinated us, that called us, that justified us, that glorified us. How can we not be the most thankful people on earth, knowing that our God chose us out of all people on this earth, out of all people in this nation in which we live, out of all people in our state, out of all people in our community, out of all people in our immediate family, how many family members do each of us have that are still dwelling in darkness?

Some of those family members have sat under the same gospel that we have sat under all these years, and many have turned their back on that gospel, even despised it. But how is it that we sit here today? We know the answer to that is purely by the grace of God, which is given us in Christ.

So let us ever praise our God for his marvelous, abundant and overflowing love and grace on our behalf, who chose us and loved us and gave himself for us.

And one last word. To those who might hear this message in the future, those are perhaps listening over streaming that do not know Christ in saving faith. There's nothing you can do. Nothing you can do. Let me emphasize that there's nothing you can do to make yourself favorable to God.

Salvation is of the Lord, we're told, 100%. It is his sovereign choice to save men or to harden their heart to where it is impossible for them to believe. That is a truth that's hated by religion. But there is one thing you can do, lost sinner.

If you're able, you can plead with God for mercy. You can put yourself under the hearing of the gospel. Every opportunity you have, you can put yourself under the hearing of the gospel because we're told faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. And perhaps God will be merciful. But if he is not, he will also be just in your damnation.

But if you're able, I would encourage you to plead for him or to him today for mercy.

Billy, come lead us in a song, please.