Paul tells us why all things work together for Good
to the Child of God
Romans
8:29-30 For whom He foreknew, He also
predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be
the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also
called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these
He also glorified. NKJV
Paul left us last by exalting that most wonderful
and magnificent passage of Romans 8:28
which is a comfort and firm rock that many of us lean heavily upon when we are
assaulted with many different trials and test. However, Paul immediately now
moves into why God works everything in our Christian lives out for our good. It
is not a matter of the One True Sovereign God sitting on His Throne in Heaven
and playing favorites with humanity. Paul has already forcefully declared all
humanity equally guilty and in iniquity by these words “for all have sinned and
fall short of the glory of God” so with this truth firmly established, then the
question many people have asked in every generation is why if all are guilty
will not all be saved? The answer is simple really when you step back and look
at the question from man’s side and not from God’s side because God does desire
to save all sinners for this is the whole message in John 3:16, but the problem is with man because all sinners do not
desire or want to be saved.
You see the word salvation means to be delivered or
rescued or made safe from something. The something we sinners need to be
delivered from or rescued from or made safe from is sin. Sin is defined as the
missing of the mark; it is lawlessness and all unrighteousness. Paul makes a
long laundry list of the sins that come out of the hearts of men and women in Romans 1:29-32. Also our Lord Jesus Christ
gives this definition with the following words, Mark 7:21-23 “For from within, out of the heart
of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts,
covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride,
foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man.” NKJV
Therefore, having these words spoken through the Apostle Paul and our Lord
Jesus Christ and every person of every generation holding their own hearts up
to the light of the Ten Commandments and the light of Jesus Christ perfect
sinless life and the gospel of His death, burial, and resurrection from the
dead, it should bring every man or woman to see themselves as sinners (Romans 3:20), but despite this clearly
painted picture of God’s Holiness and Purity and our impurity, sinfulness, and
filthiness, men and women of every generation still run away from the light to
stay in the darkness and the indulgence of their sin (John 3:19-20).
This reality of some seeing themselves as sinners
while others would fail to see themselves as sinners was known by God the
Father before He ever made the world. Paul uses the word foreknows which simply
means to know beforehand or before it occurs. God the Father lives in Eternity
and therefore, He sees the past, present, and the future all at the same time
and more importantly He sees the hearts of men and women even before they are
born into the human family. He knew every man and woman who would see
themselves as depraved, defiled, and dead sinners in His Sight and would call
upon Him for salvation (Acts 2:21 &
Romans 10:13). Because no one is ever saved apart from recognizing in
themselves their sinful state and condition, we here have the two great
mysteries of election and free will of man coming together that forms in Christ
the one new man (Ephesians 2:14-18)
and forms the line of separation from the adopted sons and daughters of God (1 John 3:9) from the children of wrath
(Colossians 3:5-7) that none of us
will ever understand in this life and we may spend all eternity in heaven
learning of the glorious depths of the riches of this truth in God the Father. God
the Father did not see any “goodness” in the sinful men and women whom He
adopted as sons and daughters because there are no good men or women in this
world now or have ever lived in this world or will ever live in this world in
the future (Ephesians 1:3-6).
Since we now know that God the Father saw each one
of us before we were ever conceived in our mother’s womb as His adopted son or
daughter, He then predetermined by His Divine Will to fashion or mold us into
the same likeness of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 3:17-18). Like our Lord Jesus was raised from the
dead with a new Eternal Glorified body so will each one of us that He has made
alive from being dead in trespasses and sins. Our Lord Jesus Christ being the
firstborn from the dead and we will be one of the many brethren of His known by
our Heavenly Father before time began (Philippians
3:21). Paul could confidently say that all things would work together for
our good because we were preordained to be made like Jesus and although our
Lord suffered to the point of death on the Cross, He now sits at the Right Hand
of God the Father on a Throne of Grace having a Name Above every name in all of
the Universe and all of Creation. Every created beings knee will bow to our
Lord Jesus Christ acknowledging Him as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. If what
the Apostle Paul said in verse 29 was not enough evidence of why our Heavenly
Father makes everything that occurs in our lives to work for our good, then now
Paul is about to raise the bar all the way up into the Father’s Throne room and
this is not blasphemous words I speak here.
We already said in the last study that this call of
God the Father to those who will become His adopted sons and daughters is an
effectual or forceful or irresistible call to the heart of the obstinate sinner
that cannot and will not be rejected, refused, or resisted but like our Lord
says through the Prophet Isaiah in Isaiah
55:6-11 Seek the LORD while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near.
Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him
return to the LORD, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will
abundantly pardon. “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are
your ways My ways,” says the LORD. “For as the heavens are higher than the
earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.”
For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, And do not return there,
But water the earth, And make it bring forth and bud, That it may give seed to
the sower And bread to the eater, So shall My word be that goes forth from My
mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please,
And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. NKJV The
thing for which God the Father sends His Word is the sinful heart of His elect
son and daughter that He knew before the world was made and they will hear that
word and grow up like a tree planted by the river of many waters and bring forth
fruit in due season.
Paul already told us in Romans 5:1 that we have been justified or declared innocent or
pardon of our sins by virtue of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and Paul says it
again here in verse 30. Paul also spoke of our suffering for our Lord Jesus
Christ and how that suffering is nothing when we compare it to the glory that Christ
Jesus our Lord will reveal in us (Romans
8:18) and again Paul tells us that we are glorified. Notice in this verse
30 that God the Father predetermined us as sons or daughters and He called,
justified, and glorified each one of us. Notice very carefully that each word
called, justified, and glorified are all in the past tense which indicates that
it has already occurred or happened even though we cannot see our glorified
state or condition, but Our Father in Heaven can and does see us before His
Throne in our glorified bodies worshiping and praising Him and our Lord Jesus
Christ as if it were 1 million years from this very moment, Hallelujah! If this
is the truth and it is because God the Father said it in His Word through Paul,
then how can any trial, test, goat, Koon, witch, wizard, hypocrite, atheist,
satan, or any other thing seen or unseen keep the Father from working everything
together for our good, for I am at this very moment while writing on my face
before the Throne of God in my glorified body praising Him and my Lord Jesus
Christ whom I love and so is every one of His sons and daughters. Amen!
“Christians, you who are vessels of election - were by nature as
wicked as others - but God had compassion on you and plucked you as brands out
of the fire! He stopped you in your course of sinning - when you were marching
to hell! He turned you back to Him by sincere repentance. Oh, here is the
banner of love displayed over you!” Thomas Watson
“None can know their election but by their conformity to Christ; for all who are
chosen are chosen to sanctification. It is a mere cavil therefore to call the
doctrine of election a licentious doctrine, and to argue that it gives
encouragement to sin, as if the end were separated from the way and happiness
from holiness.” Matthew Henry
“I believe the doctrine of election, because I am quite certain
that, if God had not chosen me, I should never have chosen Him; and I am sure
He chose me before I was born, or else He never would have chosen me
afterwards; and He must have elected me for reasons unknown to me, for I never
could find any reason in myself why He should have looked upon me with special
love.” Charles Spurgeon
“When my Lord Jesus Christ saved me and made me a
partaker of His Divine Nature, I knew I was forgiven forever, but the reality
that He did it by electing me before He ever made the world was something He
showed me as He took me through His Holy Word.” Clifford D. Tate, Sr.
If you do not
know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your
heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus,
I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You
shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead
proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my
sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my
life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...
Sincerely
in Christ,
Author
of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you Broken by Pornography and
Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus Christ and brought into
Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and Women in the Enemy’s
Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle, @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod,
Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reade, Kobo, Copia, Gardners,
Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…
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