Romans 8:28-30 *
In the name of Christ Jesus, dear friends:
On
These three elections were very different. One was local, one national, one international. There were different candidates, different issues. But as unique as each election was, they all had at least one thing in common. People couldn’t stop talking about them.
The Wauwatosa News Times was filled with letters to the
editor in the weeks leading up to the school board election. Right up until voting day some people were
still predicting that street violence would put an end to the dream of a
democratically elected government in
The same cannot be said of the Bible’s doctrine of election. It isn’t the focus of many sermons. It isn’t a topic in great demand for Bible classes. Maybe it’s because we are afraid of it. Maybe it’s because we don’t understand it. Maybe we see it as a piece of abstract dogma that has little relevance for our daily lives. Whatever the reason, election (sometimes called predestination) is a teaching that is rarely pulled off the theological shelf.
With the help of the apostle Paul, let’s see if we can change that this morning. Paul wasn’t afraid to talk about election because he saw it for the beautiful truth that it is. But he also understood that it could be challenging. That’s why he didn’t launch into a dissertation on election in the first chapter of his letter to the Romans. That’s why he laid a solid foundation of justification (Romans 3-5) and sanctification (Romans 6-8) before he took up election (near the end of chapter 8).
Our faith rests on the same foundation. We have the same promises. We have the same Savior. And with the Holy Spirit’s guidance and blessing, we too will see divine election for the beautiful, practical doctrine that it is. And we will want to talk about it because it is…
THE MOST IMPORTANT ELECTION OF ALL
I. A doctrine so sweet only God
could conceive it
II. A
doctrine so deep only God can perceive it
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him” (28). These words have been spoken over many a young confirmand kneeling at that altar. These words have been quoted in dozens, perhaps hundreds of sermons preached from this pulpit. These words have been called a pillow on which to rest our weary heads, and rightly so because Paul’s words are pure comfort for the believer.
It doesn’t matter if you prefer the NIV, “we know that in all things God works for
the good of those who love him,” or the King James Version, “we know that all things work together for
good to them that love God.” The promise
is the essentially same.
What is God’s promise? He vows to make everything work out for our eternal good. Not just some things. Not most things. Not even 99.9 percent. ALL things work together for good to them that love God. Even a terrorist’s bomb. Even a terminal illness. Even the worst thing that has ever happened to you. You have God’s firm promise that he is working behind the scenes for your good.
Do you know who hates this passage? The devil hates this passage. Think of all the fires he has started that have been extinguished by it. Think of all the fear he has created that has been allayed by it.
Imagine how hard he works to build a wall of doubt in the hearts of believers. “If God really loved you,” he says, “he wouldn’t allow such terrible things to happen. If God really cared about you, your life wouldn’t be so hard.”
And then that wall of doubt the devil has worked so long and hard to erect is blown to bits by God’s powerful Word: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze” (Isaiah 43:1,2).
Sometimes the devil’s tactics don’t work. Sometimes the devil gets frustrated, but he doesn’t give up. If he can’t get you to doubt God, then he will try to make you doubt yourself. And he might even use a passage like Romans 8:28 to do it.
Satan: “I know it says somewhere in the Bible that God makes
everything work out for the good of those who love him, but are you sure that broad
statement includes you? If you really
truly love God, you have a funny way of showing it. You curse too much. You don’t pray enough. You do what God forbids. You don’t do what God commands. And I can remember any number of times when
you were even afraid to admit that you were one of his followers. If that’s the way you show your love for God,
then how can you be so sure that Romans 8:28 applies
to you?”
Paul has the answer.
The Holy Spirit gave him the answer.
And we don’t have to look very far to find it because it’s in the same
verse: “And we know that in all things
God works for the good of those who love him,” who have been called according to his purpose” (28).
The key to our relationship with God isn’t how much we love God, but how much God loves us. The fact is that God loves us in spite of our sins. God devised a plan to save us from our sins. God sent his one and only Son to take away our sins. Grace is God’s undeserved love for sinners. Election is God’s undeserved love in action.
If you want to personalize it, think of it this way: He called me. He made the decision, not me. He did all the work, not me. He paid the price, not me. God has given me saving faith, not because I have earned it, not because I deserve it, but simply because God is love. That’s why Luther called this doctrine “a wonderfully sweet thing for those who have the Spirit.”
Because election is so comforting, we don’t have to be afraid of it. And we don’t have to avoid it, so long as we understand that we can’t understand it. In fact, the doctrine of eternal election is so deep that only God can perceive it.
“For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son” (29). It is hard enough for finite creatures like us to grasp the concept of eternity, to imagine that there was a time before time began. But this verse takes the idea to another level.
God knew you before you were born, before your parents were born, before Adam and Eve were born. He knew where you would live. He knew how tall you would be. He knew what your 3rd grade report card would look like. He even knew that you would be sitting here today.
And the God who knows you far better than you know yourself has also “predestined (you) to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” You may not look like Jesus. You don’t always act like Jesus. But he is your brother, and you are God’s child. You belong to God because God has decreed it from eternity. And what God says goes.
But at the same time I don’t want to give you the impression that God randomly pointed his saving finger at some people and said, “You, come with me,” and that was it. The God who decreed our salvation from eternity has worked out our salvation in the real world with real blood and tears by overcoming real temptations and offering himself as a real sacrifice.
“Those he (God) predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified” (30). The four verbs in this verse have been described as links in a chain. Let’s call it the chain of eternal salvation.
“Those he (God) predestined, he also called.” And he has called us to faith through means. He called us to faith through his Word. He called us to faith through the sin-washing waters of baptism. God calls people to faith through the powerful working of the Holy Spirit.
“Those he called, he also justified.” The Holy Spirit has given you the faith to say these two little words: I believe. I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord. I believe that he was born of the virgin Mary. I believe that he suffered under Pontius Pilate. I believe that he was crucified, died and was buried. I believe that Jesus lived a perfect life and died an innocent death in my place. And because he did my name is written in permanent ink in God’s book of life. And eternal life is the final link in the chain.
“Those he justified,
he also glorified.” Normally we
think of glory as something that is in our future, as something that we will
experience in the life to come. In his
letter to the Philippians Paul expressed his personal longing for the day when
Jesus would return and “transform our
lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body” (
But here Paul talks about glory as if it is something that
is already ours. Why? Because the eternal God is
not bound by time. Because the all-knowing God can already see our glorious future. Because in God’s mind the
glorification process is already completed.
The biblical doctrine of election is a divine mystery. And it leaves even the greatest theologians with questions, questions like: If God wants all people to be saved, then why aren’t all people saved? If God chose some people to be saved, doesn’t it stand to reason that he chose some to be condemned? And why did God choose some and not others?
There are answers to these questions, but we don’t have them. And we won’t have them on this side of heaven. The doctrine of election is so deep that only God can understand it, but that didn’t stop God from revealing it to us. He wants us to believe it. He wants us to benefit from it.
Martin Franzmann cuts through all the questions and gets to
the heart of this beautiful teaching in his commentary on Romans. He writes: “To speak of election is to confess that God alone is the author of our
salvation; to speak of election is simply an intensified expression of that
same certainty: ‘He has loved me with an everlasting love.’
If we stay with the
New Testament, the intellectual puzzles and the agonizing uncertainties which
so often attend an abstract consideration of election need not arise…When the
New Testament speaks of election, it is speaking a
personal and heartening word to the called saints of God about their
sainthood.”
If you don’t have a complete understanding of election at the end of this sermon, that’s okay. I don’t either. This doctrine is so deep that only God can perceive it. But I do hope that you appreciate it. Appreciate the fact God has chosen you to be his child. You were his from eternity. You will be his for eternity. How sweet it is! Amen.