The book of Romans chapter 8.
I'll be reading verse 28, 29, and 30. And while you're turning
there, I want to read a passage out of Psalms 145. I will exalt
Thee, O my God, my King. I will bless Thy name
forever and ever. Every day will I bless thee,
and I will praise thy name forever and ever. Great is the Lord,
and greatly to be praised. His greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall praise thy
works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts. I will speak
of the glorious honor of his majesty and of his wondrous works. And men shall speak of the might
of thy terrible acts, and I will declare thy greatness. And that's what I want to do
this morning. I want to look at this passage found in verse
29 and 30, because it is no doubt God's glorious act, God's wondrous
works. Let's read these three verses
together. 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." My subject this
morning is a simple look at predestination. And I know what some would say. I know what free will says. I know what many religious people
say this morning. You folks just harp on these
things. You just want to preach about
doctrine. Well, this is a doctrine. But it's a wonderful truth. It's
what God has done. It's declaring His mighty acts. I heard Brother David Plager
say one time, and this is so true, that we're just one generation
away from losing the truth. We must declare God's mighty
acts to this generation. But it's not just a mere doctrine,
and it's certainly not a cold doctrine. It's full of life. And I hope we'll see that here
this morning. But first of all, I want to begin like this. God
does many things for many different reasons. He does things because
He simply desires to do it. He's pleased to do it. Whatsoever
the Lord pleased, that did he in heaven and in earth and all
deep places. God has done many things to get
a great name for himself. But He does many things for no
other reason than He's pleased to do it. I was preaching to
a group of fishermen one time, and I told them, I said, God
has put fish in rivers and creeks that you guys will never put
a hook in. He didn't put it there for you.
He didn't create it for you. They tell us now that as we look
beyond our galaxy, that you can just go on and galaxies and on
and galaxy. And now they tell us there's
billions of galaxies with billions of stars. The naked eye can't
see that. Why did God do it? He didn't
do it for us to see. He created all things and for
His pleasure they are and were created. That's what God does,
what He desires to do, what is good pleasure to do. Secondly,
He does things, as I said, to get Himself a great name that
we would praise Him for it. Why did He create things and
let us deserve these creatures of His? He does it that you and
I would praise Him for it. Why does He save a man? that
we may praise him for it. How often do we read to the praise
of the glory of his grace. God is determined to get his
son, Jesus Christ, a great name in our hearts. That's what this
is all about, isn't it? That the son of God may be glorified,
may be worshipped and praised in our hearts here this morning. God does things that men may
stand in awe of Him, that men may fear Him. You've read this
verse so often, Ecclesiastes 3 and 14. I know that whatsoever
things God doeth, it shall be forever. No man can put anything
to it, and no man can take anything from it. And God does it that
men should fear before Him, stand in awe of what He's done. Great things doeth he which you
and I cannot comprehend. Oh, the depths of the riches,
both of the wisdom and judgment of God. How unsearchable is His
understanding. How unsearchable is His power
and His wisdom. And as you and I know more about
Him, it increases this fear of grace, this holy reverence, this
standing in awe of Him. And fourthly, God does things
that He may be and do, be good and do good to humanity. God is good to His creatures,
isn't He? Paul was talking about how the
nations had gone off into idolatry and worship of devils, rebellious,
and yet Paul said God did not leave Himself without witness,
and that He did good. He sent us rain from heaven,
fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.
He causes His Son to rise on the evil and on the good, and
sends rain on the just and the unjust. God is good, and He does
good, doesn't He? But there's a host of humanity,
a number that no man can number, that God has not only purpose
to do temporal good for, but he has purpose to do them eternally
good, spiritually good. And that's what we look at when
we look at our text this morning. God has predestinated a great
host of men and women out of Adam's race to life everlasting
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what our text is about
this morning. There's only four places in the
scriptures in the New Testament this word predestinate or predestinated
is used. The concept is taught all through
the Bible. But this word itself is only
used four times in the New Testament. And it simply means to appoint
beforehand. To predetermine something. God has predetermined. He has
predestinated everything that will ever come to pass. And He
predestinated that before anything ever came to pass. Everything
that's coming to pass now is what God predestinated to come
to pass. Now, that's a mystery. I am not
here this morning to tell you I know all the ins and outs of
God's eternal purpose. I do not. But He's revealed some
things to us by His work, and that's what I want us to look
at this morning. And first of all, I want us to
look at this in our text. Predestination is of individuals. We talk about individual salvation,
and the predestination to salvation in Christ is of individuals. It's not groups of people. God
never predestinated groups of people. He's never predestinated
races of people or nations of people. God predestinated individual
people to be conformed to the image of His Son. That's what
He says here in our text, isn't it? Whom He did foreknow. Moreover, whom He did predestinate. Them He also called. And whom
he called them, he also justified. And them, in other words, it's
people, individual people. We're told by some that God predestinated
a nation. We're told some that God predestinated
the church. But when we come here and look
at this, it's of individual people. that God predestinates to be
conformed to the image of His Son. And He says it like this,
those whom He foreknew. I hope we're clear on this word
this morning. We're told by sons that God looked
down through time And he saw what they would do, that they
would repent and that they would believe and where others wouldn't,
so he backed back up and he predestinated those that he knew would to everlasting
life. But notice this doesn't say anything
about anybody's worth. It talks about persons, those
whom He foreknew. And this word is only mentioned
four times in the New Testament, and every time it deals with
persons. God has not cast away His people
which He foreknew. And this word for you is a very
intimate word. It means to for love. It means
an intimate relationship, even a sexual relationship. When Adam
knew his wife, she conceived. And only God can foreknow somebody
just as if they existed. He told Jeremiah, before I farmed
you in the womb, I knew you. And brothers and sisters, long
before there was a world, long before time began, when the eternal
triune God dwelt alone, He foreknew a great host out of Adam's race. He loved them as individuals
and He provided for them. And what did He provide for them?
He predestinated them to be conformed to the image. of God's Son. But it's persons, not nations. Not just the church, but it's
persons. That's the first thing. It's
an individual thing. I tell you, it's overwhelming
sometimes to me when I think that the eternal God with that
eternal pen put Bruce Crabtree's name down in the Lamb's Book
of Life. I tell you, it caused me to stand
in awe. I can't grasp such a thing. But
he did that for you and everyone that he intended and purposed
to give life to, to save. Secondly, who did this work? Notice the time that he kept
using this pronoun, he, whom he foreknew, he predestinated,
he called, he justified, and he glorified. Every step of the
way, from foreknowing them to glorifying them, this was God's
mighty act. He did it. There's no flesh here. It's never mentioned, is it?
You don't find one human fingerprint on this work. He doesn't tell us here how He
brings these things to pass. He doesn't tell us how He calls
us, how He justifies us, how He's going to glorify us. He
answers that in other places, doesn't He? But right now, all
Paul is interested in this verse is to prove this, that predestination
is God's sovereign work and God's work alone. Man's free will is
not considered. Man is not considered. God alone
did this, all by himself. And this is God's mighty act.
And I think, as you and I look around us and we see God working
so secretly in His providence, we're amazed by that. As we look
and see His creation above us and all around us, we're amazed
by that. But brothers and sisters, this is a mighty work that should
amaze us more than anything else God did. It's His mighty acts,
purposing to save a sinner and saving that sinner and glorifying
that sinner. That's the mighty act of God. And every step of the way, it's
got sovereignty, sovereignty, sovereignty stepped on it. You
reckon that's why this lost and dying world doesn't like this.
It's God's work. It's God's mighty act. Thirdly, when we look at predestination
here in our text, we find that it's unchangeable. Whom he did
foreknow, he also glorified. Every one of these things that
God did is written in past tense. It was future when it was, it
was history when the Apostle Paul penned this down. When God
in his eternal counsels did this, it was history then. You can't rescind history, can
you? We got a generation that's trying to rewrite history. Well,
you may rewrite it, but you'll not change it. Men may tear this
passage out of the Bible and burn it, but that won't change
it. It's history. If you're here this morning,
brothers and sisters, and you have been called to Jesus Christ, You've been made and brought
by the grace of God to trust Him for your salvation with all
your heart. Your eternal destiny is fixed
and it can never be changed. You'll notice here the Apostle
Paul doesn't get in to what we're going to suffer between the time
the Lord calls us and the time he glorifies us. Boy, there's
a history there, isn't there? But Paul doesn't say anything
about that. He does in other places, but
not here. His purpose here is to prove
that those whom God has predestinated, they will be glorified. Some of you have suffered. Some
of us have suffered, haven't we? Man, losses, crosses, burdens,
uncertainty. Man, sometimes God comes and
just turns our world upside down. We get in these long, dark valleys
and wonder, will we ever get out of it? We get on some of
these hills of difficulty and we think, we'll never get over
this one. This life is tough, isn't it? It's full of tribulations
and trials. But you know something, brothers
and sisters, that's not going to change a thing. If you're in Christ now, you're
in Christ because God predestinated to put you in Christ. And you're
in Christ forever. And soon you'll be with Him.
That's what this Bible truth here teaches us. Fourthly, that God has predestinated these
individuals, that's true. And what's he predestinated them
to? I think this is one of the most
amazing things. that we find in the scriptures
anywhere as we go through this life and feel our sin, feel our
utter weakness and our ugliness. But did you notice the end of
this work of God? What's the end of this work?
He predestinated us to be conformed to the image of His Son. Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that
glorious? And that's so wonderful and difficult to believe because
we're so unlike Him now. We often say, Lord, I'm nothing
like Him. There's this eternal difference
between us and You. But if we'll look at this scripturally
and objectively, if the Lord has saved you, If He's begotten
you a new creature, then this work of confirming you to the
Lord Jesus Christ has already begun. It's just so secretly we can already
detect it. Do you ever, in the time of your
sufferings, do you ever, when push comes to shove, when you
get right down to it, don't you say in the midst of your sufferings,
Lord, not my will, but Yours be done." Isn't that where you're
brought to? You know something? That's just
like Jesus Christ. When He was in the garden sweating
drops of blood, He said, Father, if it be Your will, let this
cup pass from Me. Nevertheless, Not my will, but
yours be done. Don't you pray that way all the
time? Don't you think that way all the time, don't you? Whatever,
Lord, whatever it is, your will be done. The Lord Jesus Christ
went about doing good, and don't God's people go about doing good?
Well, of course they do. Of course they do. He is conforming
them to His image. And that work begins right now
in the heart. There's something else that's
very difficult to understand because it's very difficult to
see. That there is a new creature in every child of God. And that
new creature is created in His Creator's image. You have a Creator
and Redeemer, and when the Lord saves you, He don't remodel this
old man. He makes you new in the image
of His Son down deep inside our being. You are a new creature,
an incorruptible creature. Peter had said it like this,
being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of the incorruptible
seed. When my dad begot me, He had
to beget a corruptible Son because He's corruptible. He could not
beget a holy Son. When you're born of this Word,
you're born and you're an incorruptible creature because the incorruptible
Word of God cannot beget a corruptible creature. And that incorruptible
creature is in the image of God's Son. And he'll never be satisfied. He'll always be longing. He'll
always be looking. He'll always be hoping. Until
he's changed completely into the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'll be satisfied, David said,
when I awake in your absolute righteousness. And here's the
thing, God has predestinated His people to that very end. It's His mighty acts. It's His
wonderful works. And isn't this the ground of
assurance? Here's the ground of Christian
assurance. This is what God did. He foreknew
them, foreloved them, provided for them, He predestinated them,
He called them, He justified them, He's going to glorify them.
That's Christian assurance, isn't it? Get a hold of this if you
want some assurance. You don't have to understand
all the ins and outs of it. We'll never will. But are you
here this morning and you're justified by the blood of Christ?
You're justified by the grace of Christ? You're justified by
your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ? Then God predestinated
you to that end and He's just as sure as He is truth, He's
going to glorify you. Boy, that's assurance. I remember
one time when I was a young Christian, I was so down. I mean, I had
gotten a black hole I just could not get out of. I'd gone to other
people, older Christians, and talked to them. They tried to
help me. Nothing would help me. I couldn't get out of that black
hole. Then suddenly, I saw these two verses. Just in a flash,
I saw these two verses. And man, I tell you, he just
brought me up out of that black hole. And I thought, well, it
doesn't matter what I'm suffering. It doesn't matter for all my
fears and doubts. This is God's work, and he'll
finish it. And I was lifted up into heavenly
places, come right up out of that dark hole. This is the ground
of Christian assurance. And it's God's work. Well, that's
That's not fully explaining that verse, but it's pretty much dealt
with the places that it's mentioned there, isn't it? And did you
understand that? Most of us here are uneducated
hillbillies, let's be honest about it. Some of us are smart. They used to have that show on,
Smarter Than a Fifth Grader. If they were gonna apply that
to me, they should've went on down a grade or two. But I understand
this. It's that simple when we look
into God's Word, isn't it? And these guys coming out of
these seminars, they're so smart. They'll say, don't look at that,
that's too confusing. Nobody understands that. Well,
here's a group of people that understand it. I don't think
it's a matter of they don't understand it. They just don't believe it.
It's God's mighty axe. It humbles a man. It kicks the
props from under a man. And it puts him on his face before
the Lord of Glory saying, is there mercy reserved for me? Look over now with me to the
next place over to your right in Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians
chapter 1 here in verse 4 and 5, we have it. And also in verse
11 we'll look at it. But here's the only four places
that this word itself is mentioned. And look what he says here in
verses 4 and 5 of Ephesians chapter 1. Well, he said, blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as
he hath chosen us in him 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. He has predestinated us unto
the adoption of children. Now did you notice as I read
the first text that he has predestinated us to be conformed to the image
of his son that he might be the firstborn among what? Many brethren? Many brethren? And now he says
here that he's predestinated us unto the adoption of children. And there's another place that
he says, I will be a father to them, and they shall be my sons
and daughters, saith the Lord. And then in the third chapter
of Ephesians, he talks about the whole family of God in heaven
and in earth. What is predestination about? What's God's purpose in this? He's making Himself a family.
He's creating a family. He's got a family. God is a family
man, isn't He? Yes, He is. He's got brethren,
the Lord Jesus does. And God is our Father. We're
brothers and sisters here. We have a family in heaven. We
have a family upon this earth. God is a family man. And that's
what this Word tells us. You know He made the first family?
There was a family before there was a church in this world. He
created the husband and the wife and they had children. And I
know what a mess that became and you do too. And I'm wondering,
brothers and sisters, if this is not the reason Satan is fighting
so hard against the family. He hates the family. What is
homosexual about? What is this homosexuality about?
Diminishing the family. All the shacking up, all the
children born out of wedlock, diminishing of the family. Satan
is trying to destroy the family. And sometimes when we look around
us, it looks like he's doing a pretty good job, doesn't it?
But you know something, brothers and sisters, there's a heavenly
family. And he'll never touch that family.
He'll never destroy that family. Jesus Christ has a bride, and
He'll never divorce her, and she'll never divorce Him. The
family of God. You're here this morning, and
God is your Father? He's predestinated you to that
adoption. I love how the Apostle Paul put
it, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children. There's three aspects of adoption.
All of us know this, but let me remind you of it. Hold Ephesians
and turn over to your left to the book of Galatians chapter
4. There's three different aspects to adoption. And one is the legal aspect.
You can't just go out and adopt a child. The court system is
not set up that way. You have to go through the courts.
Usually you have to get a lawyer. Usually the judge or someone
in authority has to sign off on it. It's the same way when God went
to adopt His people. There's a legal aspect. He can't
just go and adopt them. He had to redeem them first.
He had to buy them first. Look what he said in Galatians
chapter four, and look in verse four. When the fullness of time
was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under
the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might
receive the adoption of sons. Before we could be adopted sons,
we had to be redeemed. There had to be a price paid
for our sins. That's what the cross of the
Lord Jesus Christ is about. Fear not, I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy name. Thou art mine. We become his
as adopted children by redemption. You've been bought. by the precious
blood and dying of our Lord Jesus Christ. There is another aspect
of adoption that I call spiritual adoption. You can't give an adopted
child your name or your personality. One of the reasons that adoption
don't always work out is because you got a child and has nothing
in common with his adopted He has nothing in common with
them, he has nothing in common with the biological kids, and he's so unhappy. Because that dad and that mom
adopted him, and he has their name, and they provide well for
him, but he doesn't have their natures. He's not a biological child. But it's not that way when God
adopts it. Look how he says it here in chapter
four of Galatians in verse six. And because you are sons, God
has sent forth the spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying,
Father, Father, we have the spirit of adoption. Don't you love it
sometimes when you go to pray? And you can't find any words
really to say but this, Father, Father. And the Spirit is in you. The
Spirit of God's own Son is in your heart, and He's crying,
Father, Father. The disciples of our Lord came
to Him one day, and they said, Lord, He was praying, and they
said, Lord, teach us to pray. And He put a word in their mouth
and sent them off to pray. And you know what that word was?
Our Father. Our Father. God has sent forth
the Spirit of His Son into your heart, and He bears witness with
your spirit that you are His child. And the best way I know
to explain He bears witness, the Spirit bears witness, this
is the way He bears witness. He's crying, Father, Father,
Father, Papa, Papa. That's what that word means.
Papa, Papa. You're here this morning, And
you cry, Papa, Papa. God has predestinated you to
that end. He sent the Spirit of His Son
into your heart. Father, Father. And you know
something, we're just as much sons of God. We're not His only
begotten. There's just one of those. But
we are just as much sons of God as Jesus Christ Himself is. I send to my Father and your
Father And He's predestinated us to that end. The last aspect
of adoption is this. It's a physical adoption. Look
back over in Romans chapter 8 again. Romans chapter 8. Look what He says in Romans chapter
8 in verse 22. We know that the whole creation
groans and travails in pain together until now, and not only they,
but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit.
Even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption,
that is to say, the redemption of the body. The redemption of
the body, the resurrection and changing of the body is called
adoption. That's amazing in itself, isn't
it? See, we're brothers and sisters of the Lord Jesus. He did a great
job redeeming our souls, hasn't He? He's paid the price. He gave the Father redemption,
the redemption price for our souls. But He's paid for our
bodies too. He is going to redeem the whole
man. He's adopted the body. This old weak, vile body is someday
going to be changed in the glorious likeness of Jesus Christ. And
I imagine the blood that runs there now will be filled with
Spirit, don't you? The Holy Spirit. And this body,
this mouth, this entire being will worship the triune God and
that day. Sons of God. Only the Gospel
presents to us such a hope. One last place it's written.
Look back over in Ephesians with me one more time. In verse 11,
here's the fourth place this word predestination is used.
And look how Paul says it here. Ephesians 1.11. In whom? In Christ Jesus. Also we have obtained an inheritance. being predestinated according
to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel
of His own will." He gives us two things here that's associated
with God's purpose and predestination. One is the inheritance of His
people. He's predestinated them unto
man inheritance. Doesn't say what it is, does
it? But He does in other places. He said, there is laid up for
me a crown of righteousness. That's his inheritance. Peter said, it's an inheritance
that's incorruptible and undefiled and that never fades away reserved
in heaven for you. Brothers and sisters, what can
the eternal God make? What can he create? When He makes
a new heaven and a new earth, what is it that He's going to
give to His people? I don't know. But it must be
wonderful because it's the inheritance that He fixed for them. My dad
worked his fingers to the bone in the coal mines to leave me
and my siblings something to inherit from Him. What will God
do? What can He make to give to His
people? But it just doesn't come down
to inherit what He gives us. They are going to inherit God
Himself. The Lord told Abraham, I am by
exceeding great reward. What will it be to inherit God?
Enter thou into the joys of the Lord to inherit the peace of
God. I can't even enter into that,
can you? But you're heirs of God. And that just doesn't mean
that you're going to inherit everything He can give you. You're
going to inherit Him Himself. And He's predestinated you to
that end. But Paul may have associated something else with this word
here in verse 11. It's associated with everything that God is doing
and has ever done and will ever do. He predestinated everything. He is working all things after
the counsel of his own will. What's happening? Everything
that God predestinated to happen. That's what's happening. being predestinated according
to the purpose of Him who worketh. Who worketh. We've had these
scientists and some people tell us that God back yonder in eternity
somewhere at the beginning set everything in motion and now
He's up there and He's got His arms folded and He's just waiting
to see how it's all going to turn out. God's a working God. He's in everything. Working. And what's he working to do?
To accomplish that which he predestinated before the world ever began. Paul doesn't stop here and tells
us how to understand this. He doesn't stop here and tell
us all the ins and outs of what God is doing. He doesn't present
some argument to convince us of it. He just tells us that
he's working all things after the counsel of his own will.
He said, I'm telling you this, now you just live in the faith
of it. Some of you may be in the hospital tomorrow. Who did that? Who's bringing
that to pass? Your world may be turned upside
down, your family members may turn on you, no telling what's
gonna happen. But who does that? Who's working
that? It's God. And He's doing what
He purposed to do back in eternity. Now that's the only four places
I know this word is actually used, and it's not cold and dead
to me. It's wonderful because God did it. It's His mighty act. And you can leave here this morning
and face life, you can face living, and you can face dying, and you
can face eternity, if you'll live in the faith of what we
studied this morning. And bless God for it. Oh, our
Father, our merciful, merciful, merciful Father in Heaven, thank
You for writing these deep truths, these great truths in Your Word,
Thank you for letting us look at them this morning to our great
encouragement. We stand in awe of you because
you're God. We're poor, fallen creatures. Thank you for providing for us.
Everything, everything that you required, everything that we
need, you have provided for us. And the only thing we can render
to you this morning is thanksgiving. We praise your wonderful and
great name for all that you've done and all that you're doing
and all that you're yet to do. Bless this, dear people. Bless
them, Lord, as only you're able to bless them, guide them, uphold
them as a congregation of the Lord. Give them unity of spirit. Give them love one for another
and humility to walk before You humbly and to walk before one
another humbly. Keep them, I pray, in Your grace
and love. For Christ's sake, Amen.