Romans chapter 8, verse 28, and
this is the Word 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
also did predestinate to be conformed to 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 then say 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? Amen. May the Lord bless to us
this reading from his word. The matter of a sinner's salvation,
the matter of your salvation and my salvation is a triumph
of mercy over justice. So great, so grand, so wonderful as to be both elevating and humbling at the same time. Our understanding of the length
and breadth and depth and height of our salvation, when we come
to study the revelation that God has given us in the scriptures,
elevates us to make us realise how blessed we are in the sight
of God. and equally humbles us to realise
just what it is that he has done and accomplished for us. And I want to say at the outset
of our study today, it suits us to be humble and respectful
when we come to consider the glorious ways of God. Woe betide us if we ever find
ourselves sitting in judgment of the way that God has worked
out our salvation. God grant us the grace never
to try to second guess his ways and his will and his purposes
in the matter of our salvation. in the matter of his mighty work
in reconciling to himself otherwise implacable enemies that we are
by nature. Therefore, it behoves us to tread
carefully with a degree of awe and admiration when we hear him
say that he has not only delivered us from judgment and from wrath
and from hell and from condemnation, but joined us to himself and
bound us up in an everlasting union with the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me just say by way of introduction
as well that the superficial notions of free will preachers
who blithely tell their listeners that God has done everything
to accomplish salvation and all that men and women have to do
is have faith in order to secure eternal blessings. may sound
plausible, may even sound attractive to the undiscerning ear, but it fails to deal with the
scriptural testimony, the record of the Word of God concerning
God's primacy in salvation. We call it sovereignty. That's
what we mean. The primacy of God in the matter
of a sinner's salvation. And the true state of fallen
creatures who are dead in trespasses and in sin. The truth is, it
takes a miracle to bring a sinner to salvation, a work of such
magnitude that we cannot do it and it must be worked for us
and it must be worked in us by God himself. That is why praise
and worship is due to God and why there is nothing by way of
praise or worship ever attends or attaches to the creature because
we are passive in this matter of salvation. All that happens
in salvation is that we learn what God has done for us. Praise and worship is due to
him because he has saved us and called us with a heavenly calling. Or as Paul puts it elsewhere,
called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but
according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us
in Christ Jesus before the world began. His own purpose and grace
which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. Paul wrote that actually, he
wrote that to Timothy, it's in 2 Timothy chapter 1 verse 9. He wrote that God has called
us with an holy calling not according to our works but according to
his own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began. He wrote that to Timothy who
was a young friend and a young preacher. And I wish that every
young preacher understood the significance of Paul's words.
If you and I are believers, we shall learn the only power in
the process of saving grace is God's power. The only way of
salvation is God's way and the only reason we have believed
and been brought to experience the saving work of the Lord Jesus
Christ is because God has always purposed it to be thus and willed
to bring us to himself and unite us to Jesus Christ in the eternal
covenant of grace before the world began. Salvation is not universally
provided and freely offered as so many say today. It is particularly
accomplished, it is discriminatingly applied, God chose a particular
people. Christ died for that particular
people. And God the Holy Spirit calls
that particular people to new life with a holy calling, not
according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace,
which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. Salvation is all of grace. or as Paul says in Romans 9.16,
it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but
of God that showeth mercy. And today we're going to be reminded
where that mercy originates and how the choice of who will be
saved was settled upon in eternity to fulfil God's purpose. and
to serve his pleasure. Now, the title of our sermon
today is Whom He Did Foreknow. And I just want to make a distinction
here between the meaning of foreknowledge and God's knowledge. What is the significant difference
that applies with the prefix of for in that word? What is the difference between
foreknowledge and knowledge? And I hope that none of us have
any doubt concerning omniscience. the omniscience of God. Now I spoke at some length about
God's omniscience in our little sermon introduction yesterday. I hope you've had an opportunity
to look at that. Omniscience simply means that
God knows everything about everything. Omni The first part of that word
means all, and science is to do with knowledge. So it's all
knowledge. God has all knowledge. He knows
everything about everything. From the galaxies that are strewn
throughout the universe, to the particles that make up an atom,
there is nothing hidden from his knowledge and understanding. How could there be? He made it
all. And omniscience is an essential
attribute of God. Just like his omnipresence, which
means that because God is a spirit, he inhabits eternity and he is
present everywhere at all times in his creation. He is present
in the past, he is present now, and he is present simultaneously
in the future. He upholds everything. He is omniscient, he is omnipresent,
and he is omnipotent, which means that he has all power. He maintains
and upholds and enables all things so that nothing can happen outside
of his good and wise purpose. The day of everyone's birth is
appointed and the day of everyone's death The hairs on our heads
are numbered and the numbers of the beats of our heart are
accounted for. Every sin in word, in thought
and in deed is noted and tallied and recorded in the book of God's
reckoning. And that doesn't mean to say
that he's got a real book with pages in it. What that is revealing
to us is that it is meticulous and precise and the knowledge
of God is comprehensive and entire, concerning us and everything
else in this world. That is the knowledge of God. But the idea that we have before
us today is not the knowledge of God, vast, immeasurable, complete
and comprehensive as it is, but rather his foreknowledge. And
this is something quite different. In human terms, foreknowledge
is knowledge about an event or a subject before it occurs. Knowledge of the future, if you
like. Well, God clearly has that because he exists in the future
and he knows everything in the future, as we've already said. That's just part of his knowledge.
But foreknowledge is something different. Knowledge of the future
doesn't give us the meaning of God's foreknowledge. foreknowledge
is God's loving wisdom by which good outcomes are assured for
his people. Let me say that again. With God,
foreknowledge is his loving wisdom by which good outcomes are assured
for his people. Not only that, the ways and the
means of arriving at those outcomes are devised and determined by
God's foreknowledge. Now you can see perhaps that
that is a bigger thing than just knowing what the future holds. That is why Paul can say, that
all things work together for good to them that love God and
are the called according to his purpose. Because God's foreknowledge,
his loving wisdom, is ordaining the good outcomes and the ways
and the means of arriving at those outcomes. All things work together because
God in his loving wisdom has ordered and ordained that it
will be so. He orders the universe, he orders
the galaxies and the atoms to bring his purposes to pass. It doesn't matter how big you
can conceive or how small the detail. Everything is at God's
disposal to bring about exactly what he wants and wills. However, I would like us to notice
that it is not things but people who are at the heart of God's
foreknowledge. We mentioned this before. It
isn't what he foreknew, but whom he did foreknow. It is the personal love of God
and his attention to his people that inspires God's dealings. God's foreknowledge is his will
to do his people good, his will to bless and to provide and to
supply the need of the people that he loves. All the blessings
of the covenant of grace flow to us because God loved us with
an everlasting love. He ordained us to salvation because
he loved us even before we were born. Before we had done anything
good or bad, God's love came first. Not because he looked
into the future or saw some future worth in us, but because in sovereign,
discriminating, particular love, he loved us. The source of every
grace that the elect of God enjoy in time and in eternity is his
love to us. Let me quickly mention what we
said before concerning this loving wisdom, that it is God's foreknowledge
of his people. And I want to just draw our thoughts
together under four headings today. I'm going to be quick,
but here's what they are. God's loving wisdom is personal,
it is purposeful, it is particular, and it is perfecting. It's personal
because God's foreknowledge is about people. Unknown people,
a loved people, a chosen people, a redeemed people, a called people,
a justified people, a glorified people. I don't want to appear
trite here, but it is good for us to remember that our Christian
faith is about people. and what the Lord Jesus Christ
has done for people like us. The Lord once told some Pharisees
who were complaining about Christ's disciples desecrating the Sabbath
day. The Lord said, the Sabbath was
made for man. not man for the Sabbath. The
Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. I like that.
What does that mean? I like it. What does it mean?
The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. Well,
it means that the Lord had in view people and he made the Sabbath
to help people. That's what I like about it.
And let us also remember that salvation was made for man, not
man for salvation. The covenant of grace was made
for man, not man for the covenant of grace. The gospel was made
for man, not man for the gospel. On the footing of God's foreknowledge,
God's love and God's wisdom, he set in place the ways and
the means, the steps and the stages of his people's salvation
for his people's good. And our reading tells us that
God foreknew a people upon whom he determined to work to do them
good and to accomplish his will and his purpose in their lives.
Like we've already said, it's not what God foreknew, but whom
he did foreknow. And Paul is speaking of specific
individuals known to God before time, before they were created,
or even before the world was created. And furthermore, it is his gracious
design that those whom he foreknew should be conformed to the image
of Christ. And accordingly, he predestinates
them to that end. And he continues in this great
chain of saving purpose that we shall see, I trust, in coming
studies. But this is the first point that
I want to leave with you today. God's foreknowledge is personal. The second thing that I want
us to note is that it is purposeful. God's foreknowledge, his loving
wisdom before time, his foreknowledge had an end in view from the very
beginning. if I can say and use beginning
with respect to an eternal act. I know that there's a conflict
in here when we're trying to conceive of these things, but
let me just say that from the very beginning, God's loving
wisdom had an object in view. He willed to bless his people
and to do them good by bringing them into his presence and uniting
himself with them showing them all his glory. And thereafter,
everything necessary to attain his purpose and secure the end
of his will must also be accomplished to achieve that objective. Nothing
could be left undone. Nothing could be left to the
creature's power. Nothing could be left to chance.
whom he foreknew must be justified, must be sanctified, must be reconciled,
must be redeemed, must be purged, must be pardoned, must be called,
must be converted, must be taught about grace, and must be taken
to glory. How was such a deliverance to
be worked out? by placing them in the hand of
a worthy and able representative who would do all that was needed,
who would do and meet every demand and secure every requirement. For knowledge, God's love and
wisdom, his loving wisdom found such a one in Christ. Such was the everlasting love
of God towards us, that in order to bestow His blessings of grace
and glory upon us, He sent His beloved Son, His only begotten
Son, into this world to take human flesh. He prepared a body
for Him and He sent Him. Agreeably, it was a voluntary
coming, but He sent Him into this world made him a little
lower than the angels for the suffering of death, that he might
redeem and recover that fallen people that he loved before time. Listen, with a love that was
equal to and the same as the love that he has for his own
son. So God's foreknowledge is personal. and God's foreknowledge is purposeful,
it is also particular. Notwithstanding the fall of Adam
into sin and the judgment that he brought on his whole race,
every single person without exception, God's grace prevailed and some
men and women are, says Peter, elect according to the foreknowledge
of God the Father. That's 1 Peter chapter 1 verse
2. Some of those amongst Adam's race, some of those fallen creatures,
are chosen by God according to the foreknowledge of God. So that here we can see an example
of how we know and understand foreknowledge, as it were, predated
election. Again, it's complicated trying
to conceive of a sequence in this matter. But that is how
we think, and therefore perhaps there is a usefulness in it.
we are elect according to the loving wisdom of God. God's foreknowledge predetermined
who will be saved and ordained to salvation and the means by
which that salvation will be won and experienced in the person
of Christ and in the experience of the sinner. He prepares those
who are chosen to salvation for his presence through the work
of his Son and of the Holy Spirit. Now we cannot see beyond the
Father's foreknowledge. That is where this thing bottoms
out. We don't know why It was done in this way. We don't
know why Christ had to die, why some are saved and some are lost,
what distinguishes between one another. These are God's ways
and means according to this loving wisdom. We can but imagine there
was no other way, but the reasons are hidden from us. All we can
say is God's distinguishing love and infinite wisdom, his foreknowledge,
is the foundation upon which this covenant of grace stands. and the plan of redemption was
devised, and the incarnation of Christ was conceived, and
the preaching of the gospel for the remission of sins was ordained. And why God told Jeremiah, yea,
I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness
have I drawn thee. That's all, that's all. That's
all we have. vast and majestic as it is. This is where we settle, this
is what our faith turns to. He informed the remnant people
of the Old Testament, the Lord did not set his love upon you
nor choose you because you were more in number than any people
for ye were the fewest of all people. but because the Lord
loved you. And we don't probe beyond what
God says. This is our elevation and this
is our humility. And lastly, for knowledge is
all these things, but it is also perfecting. We are a perfect
people in Jesus Christ. We are holy and without blame
in Jesus Christ. We are joined to Christ. We are a people united to Christ
and holy in him. And the joining together or union
of God's chosen people to himself in Jesus Christ is God's heart
of love towards us. According to his love, he willed
our election, ordained our union, and joined us with his Son, Jesus
Christ. Christ is the head, the first chosen in the covenant
of grace, and we are his body, chosen in love and foreordained
to be united to him. The glory that we have already
tasted in our understanding of these things and in our experience
of the way of salvation and the accomplishments of Christ on
our behalf, the blessings, the glory. that we have already tasted
and can anticipate in the days ahead, the greater fuller experience
that lies ahead for every child of God is according to the love
and wisdom of God. His foreknowledge settled upon
us personally, purposefully, particularly, and it will bring
us to glory. Proverbs 4, verse 18 says, but
the path of the just is as the shining light that shineth more
and more unto the perfect day. Our God is perfecting us even
now. There are many things that are
revealed and there are many things yet hidden. but all that is necessary
for the salvation of those whom the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Ghost have loved before time and wisely secured in the
covenant of grace is accomplished and has been clearly laid before
us to be believed, to be trusted in, and to be depended upon. How blessed we are, brothers
and sisters, to be amongst those whom he did foreknow. Amen.