I. God’s Past Actions With The Christian
A. God Foreknew You V. 29
1. Psalm 139:13, 15a, 16 For You have formed my inward parts; You have woven me in my mother’s womb. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret…Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed, and in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them.
2. God had total knowledge before the earth was created.
B. God Predestined You V. 29
1. Predestined- to predetermine, decide beforehand. See Ephesians 1:4-6.
2. It was God’s predetermined choice to make you His child
3. Long before you had decided to follow God, He had decided on you.
C. God Called You V. 30
1. Called- to call by name, to invite.
2. John 6:44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him…
3. God is the initiator in our salvation. He first calls us, and then we respond.
D. God Justified You V. 30
1. Justified- to declare or pronounce righteous.
2. Justification- See Romans 3:20-24
II. God’s Present Action With The Christian
A. God Is Conforming You To Be Like Jesus V. 29
1. Conform- having the same form as another
2. Guzik- However, our participation in this eternal plan is essential, reflected in its goal: that we might be conformed to the image of His Son; and this is a process that God does with our cooperation, not something He just “does” to us.
3. Guzik- The reason for this plan is expressed in that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. God has adopted us into His family (Romans 8:15) for the purpose of making us like Jesus Christ, similar to Him in the perfection of His humanity.
B. You Are One Of Many V. 29
1. “…among many brethren…”
2. What a joy to have fellowship with others that are also being conformed into the image of Christ. To share the same joys, struggles, hope and victories.
3. To have that deep fellowship of sharing God working inside of the heart and mind of another person.
4. How deep, intense, personal, unique, wonderful is that conforming work of God.
5. How wonderful it is to share that process with others.
III. God’s Future For The Christian
A. God Will Glorify The Christian V. 30
1. Glorify- to honor, to make glorious, adorn with luster, clothe with splendor, to cause the dignity and worth of a person to become manifest and acknowledged.
2. Man’s deep desire for glory
a. So many people long for recognition, respect, dignity, love, honor.
b. God desires that people experience love, honor and dignity from Him.
c. If people do not turn to God, they will resort to human methods to gain honor, respect, and love.
d. When basic human dignity and respect is denied, people fight back, or turn inward, or deal with that loss in ungodly, self-destructive ways.
e. People spend their entire lives hating the wrong done to them, or trying to make it right, or punishing the ones who hurt them and did not treat them with dignity and honor.
f. Mankind strives for glory that is less than what God gives.
g. Mankind strives for glory that is temporary and fading.
3. Jesus’ Ministry On Earth
a. Restored people physically, clothed them with health
b. Brought social dignity and worth to people
c. Restored people spiritually, showed them their spiritual worth
d. Example- Woman w/ an issue of blood. Matthew 9
i. Healed physically, restored socially, healed spiritually
4. Jesus’ Return To Glory In Heaven
a. John 17:5 And now, Oh Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world began.
b. 1 Peter 1:12 “…God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory…”
c. 1 John 3:2 Beloved, now we are children of God; it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him.
B. Spoken Of As Already Accomplished
1. Ephesians 2:6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
2. 1 Corinthians 6:2, 3 Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? 3Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life?
3. God does now, and forever has, seen the Christian in that glorified, dignified, lustrous condition in Heaven.
4. Yes, God sees us in the process, but He also sees the process completed.
5. The Christian does not have to wonder how things will turn out.
6. David Guzik- The eternal chain of God’s working is seen in the connection between foreknew, predestined, called, justified, and glorified. God didn’t begin a work in the Romans simply to abandon them in the midst of their present suffering.
7. Morris- “Paul is saying that God is the author of our salvation, and that from beginning to end. We are not to think that God can take action only when we graciously give him permission.”