SERMON TITLE: Salvation
TEXT: Romans 8:29-30 (ESV)
SPEAKER: Josh Hanson
DATE: 3-28-21
You can watch the sermon here.
You can find the notes for the sermon here.
As always it’s a joy to be with all of you this weekend at Gateway Church. And the one thing I always want you to know — and this is true if you’re worshipping with us in person at our North Main campus or are joining us online — the one thing I want you to know is that God loves you and that I love you too.
Some winter weather has made our return to Romans a bit clunky. I promise that the original plan was for me to preach more weekends in a row than what’s taken place — but things don’t always go according to our plan. But we’re continuing in Romans today and the chapter we’re in — Romans chapter eight — is one of the key chapters in all of the Bible. It’s really the pinnacle of Paul’s letter to the Christians living in Rome. Thus we’re spending quite a bit of time in this chapter.
Previously we looked at the amazing promise found in the twenty-eighth verse and — in many ways — that verse sets up the truth we find in our verses for today. So now’s as good a time as any to open up our Bibles to Romans chapter 8. And let’s begin by reminding ourselves of the promise found in verse twenty-eight. Paul writes, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28 ESV)
And here are our verses that this wonderful promise sets up. We’re in Romans chapter 8. Beginning in verse 29.
For those whom he (God) foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he (the Son of God) might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. (Romans 8:29-30 ESV)
Alright, so who’s excited to talk about predestination today? Predestination and election — “them are fightin’ words” among Christians. But here’s what I want all of us to consider at the beginning of this sermon. Our understanding of salvation either glorifies God and exalts Christ as Savior or it robs God of glory as we exalt ourselves. Let me say that again.
Our understanding and beliefs about salvation either glorify God and exalt Christ as the only one who saves or our understanding and beliefs about salvation rob God of glory as we exalt ourselves instead of Christ.
Now here’s what often happens — and I’m sure I’ll get a few questions texted in along these lines. Instead of asking if our view of salvation brings glory to God and exalts Christ as Savior, we tend to focus on questions that are beyond our full understanding. We debate over things like human free will — which isn’t mentioned in the Bible, by the way — it’s a philosophical idea that should be submitted to the Word of God — but we debate and divide over things like human freedom, determinism — “are we just robots” — we get so focused on those kinds of things that we fail to even ask if our view of salvation glorifies God and exalts Christ as Savior.
In fact, many Christians are appalled by the idea of our salvation being due to God first choosing us rather than us first choosing him. Add on to this that we’re caught up in a society that tells us to choose what we want to believe — for example — we’re told to choose what we want to believe about ourselves — thus people are choosing their gender these days — because — we’re told — freedom is us being able to make choices for ourselves without any outside influence — even without God’s influence. And if freedom isn’t this kind of choice — then it ain’t freedom — or at least that’s what we’re told. And this thinking has influenced what many believe about salvation.
But — if our view of salvation either glorifies God and exalts Christ as Savior or it robs God of glory as we exalt ourselves — we must pause to consider how much influence culture has on our view of salvation and how much influence the Bible has. And — as we’ll see — our view of salvation affects how we live as followers of Jesus. For a God glorifying, Christ-exalting view of salvation leads to God-glorifying, Christ-exalting living. And a view of salvation that robs God of glory and exalts ourselves results in us living in a way that robs God of glory and does not exalt Christ as Lord and Savior of our life.
Here’s an example of what I’m talking about. A pastor (This is a paraphrase from J.D. Greear, Stop Asking Jesus Into Your Heart: How to Know For Sure You Are Saved (Nashville: B&H Publishing, 2013).) has written about playing a game of pickup basketball. And there was a guy at the basketball court who the pastor had seen a few times. And this guy was quite the character — he cursed like a sailor and apparently had so many tattoos that the pastor wasn’t sure what color his skin was. And on top of all of that, the guy would brag about all of the women he was sleeping with.
So as the pastor and this guy start playing a game of basketball, the pastor begins sharing his story of how he became a Christian. And as the pastor tells it, “About three sentences into me sharing my faith story, the guy stopped, grabbed the ball, and said, ‘Dude, are you trying to witness to me?’” The pastor was surprised that the guy even knew the word “witness” much less that he — the pastor — was trying to talk to him about Jesus. But the pastor admitted that “witnessing” was exactly what he was trying to do
And here’s what happened next. This “foul mouthed, bragging about sleeping with a bunch of women” guy — in response to being witnessed to — said, “That’s awesome. No one’s tried to witness to me in a long time...But don’t worry about me. I went to youth camp when I was thirteen and I asked Jesus to come into my heart. And I was legit. I became a super-Christian. I went to youth group every week, I did the true love waits commitment thing, I memorized Bible verses, I went on mission trips, I even led other friends to Jesus. About two years after that, however, I discovered sex. And I didn’t like the idea of a god telling me who I could [or couldn’t] have sex with. So I decided to put God on hold for a while, and after some time I just quit believing in him altogether. I’m a happy atheist now.”
But — wait for it. Then the guy said, “But here’s what’s awesome. The church I grew up in was Southern Baptist, and they taught eternal security — that means “once saved, always saved”...And that means that my salvation at age thirteen still holds, even if I don’t believe in God anymore. “Once saved, always saved,” right? Pastor, that means — that even if you’re right and God exists and Jesus is the only way — I’m safe! So either way, it works out great for me. If I’m right, then I haven’t wasted my life curbing my lifestyle because of a fairy tale. And if you’re right — well — I asked Jesus into my heart when I was thirteen and I’m good to go!”
I don’t share that story to take a dig at Baptists — God used a Baptist church to call me into full time ministry. This story — if it’s a dig at anything — it’s a dig at how a low view of salvation — a view of salvation that doesn’t glorify God or exalt Christ as Savior — it shows us how a low view of salvation results in a person not glorifying God and exalting Christ in how they live.
And this is what I want us to examine in our lives today. Does your view of salvation glorify God and exalt Christ as Savior? And is your view of salvation fueling you to live in a way that glorifies God and exalts Christ as your Savior? Because — as you’ve heard me say many times — it’s easy to say you’re a Christian — but true believing in Jesus results in living in a way that glorifies God and exalts Christ as your Savior.
Now you may be listening to me and not be a Christian. My hope — for you — is that you’d consider what you hear today about salvation. Think about what it means to really believe. Examine what’s expected of those who say they’re a Christian. Count the cost of following Jesus — now — because I don’t want you to think like that basketball player. Even if you’re not a Christian, you probably saw the flaw in his thinking — a fatal flaw, in fact.
So let’s talk about salvation today. And in doing so, we’re going to see that salvation is of the Lord. We’re also going to see — what’s been called — the golden chain of salvation. And then we’ll talk about the glory of God and the exaltation of Christ in our salvation.
Let’s begin by seeing that salvation is of the Lord. Let’s go back to verse twenty-nine.
For those whom he (God) foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he (the Son of God) might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. (Romans 8:29-30 ESV)
Salvation is of the Lord. Did you notice all of the pronouns referring to God in our verses? There’s nine of them. And God is the one — in our verses — doing the action. There’s not a single command — here — for us to obey. No action that we’re to do. In writing about salvation, the apostle Paul makes it clear that salvation is of the Lord. And this is good news — great news — fantastic news — for us! Why?
Well we’ve previously seen how God is working out all things for the good of his people. And — here — in our verses — we see how that promise applies to our salvation, which is meant to give the people of God great assurance in their salvation. Why? Because salvation is a work of the Lord — it’s not something we do or earn!
But — you may be wondering — “Don’t we cry out and call to God for our salvation?” Yes! But we do so in response to God first calling out to us. As Aslan says to Jill, in The Silver Chair, “You would not have called to me unless I had been calling to you.” Or as John writes, “We love because he (God) first loved us.” (1 John 4:19 ESV)
We love God and each other — even our enemies — because — which means “the cause of our love for God and each other” — is God’s love for us — which came first. We call out to God — because — he first called out to us. This isn’t meant to downplay whether or not we call out to God or believe in him — it’s meant to elevate God’s role in our salvation. It’s meant to give God all the glory in our salvation. It’s meant to exalt — to lift up — our Savior — Jesus Christ. It puts the spotlight on the work God does in our salvation and not on ourselves.
And I know that — for many of us — this begins to feel uncomfortable because — intentional or not — we’ve held to a view of salvation that gives ourselves a bit of the credit. But are we willing to allow the Bible to define for us what salvation is and who we are — including who we were prior to being saved?
Take — for example — what the late R.C. Sproul said in describing salvation. He said, “Christ doesn’t throw a life preserver to a drowning person. He goes to the bottom of the sea, pulls a corpse from the bottom of the sea, takes him up on the bank, breathes into him the breath of life, and makes him alive.” What a God glorifying, Christ-exalting view of salvation! But what a humbling view — of salvation — for us.
When I was in high school — we had a pool in our backyard. Twice I jumped in to save someone from drowning. Once it was a young kid who couldn't swim but had fallen into the pool. The other time — it was our family cat. The kid fell in during the summer. The cat fell in during the winter.
But you know what you do in those situations, don’t you? Do you just yell at the person — or the cat — that’s drowning? Do you just yell at them to swim to safety while you stay on dry ground? Of course not! You may yell — to get someone else’s attention — but that’s on your way into the water to rescue the victim.
But even that illustration doesn’t go far enough in describing just what it means that salvation is of the Lord. For the biblical picture — of the spiritual state of all of us prior to our faith in Christ — the biblical picture isn’t of someone drowning in water. The picture isn’t one of God yelling at us to swim back to the side of the pool so he can save us while he stands on dry ground — “All you’ve gotta do is swim a little closer and reach out and grab my hand and I’ll save you.” That’s not how the Bible describes salvation.
The Bibles says, “And although you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you formerly lived according to this world’s present path, according to the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the ruler of the spirit that is now energizing the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom all of us also formerly lived out our lives in the cravings of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath even as the rest…
To the Christians in Ephesus, Paul says there was a time when you were physically alive but spiritually dead. Not spiritually sick. Not spiritually treading water and about to drown. Spiritually dead. Like Lazarus in the tomb. Dead. Like Adam before God had breathed his Spirit in him and given him life. Dead.
Though you were a dead corpse at the bottom of the sea — remember, either our view of salvation glorifies God and exalts Christ as Savior or our view of salvation robs God of glory and exalts us — and I don’t know of a more God glorifying and Christ exalting view of salvation than us being spiritually dead, unable to respond, a corpse at the bottom of the sea of our sins. Why? Because of the next words that Paul writes. Some of the most exciting words in all of the Bible. And these are God glorifying Christ exalting words. Though you were dead in your sins — a corpse at the bottom of the sea…
4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, 5 even though we were dead in transgressions, (look at what God did. Though we were dead, he...) made us alive together with Christ – by grace you are saved! – 6 and he (God) raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 to demonstrate in the coming ages (what? God made spiritually dead people spiritually alive to demonstrate what? How awesome we are treading in the water of our sins, right? No! He saved us to demonstrate...) the surpassing wealth of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 it is not from works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand so we may do them.” (Ephesians 2:1-10 NET)
Salvation is of the Lord. Though we were spiritually dead — unable to believe, unable to respond and reach out our hand, unable to call out to God for help — but God. Because of his great love for us, though we were dead — but God — he made us alive with Christ. “Lazarus come out of that tomb.” He breathed on Adam and the dead man was now alive. And in love God called out to you with his life giving voice and said “live!” — and your dead spirit was made alive and you believed. You were resurrected. And you cried out, “My Savior and my God.”
What a view of salvation — a view that glorifies God and exalts Christ as Savior — the one who gave his life so we might live.
And now let’s look at this golden chain of salvation. And — we must remember — that Paul’s in a section of this letter where he’s wanting to give his readers — and us — hope. So — instead of wanting to create division — Paul’s goal — with these words — is to give hope. So let’s see how these words are meant to give us hope. Verse twenty-nine.
For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. (Romans 8:29-30 ESV)
Now I know that predestination opens up all kinds of questions that we want answers to. Things like “If God chooses some, why doesn’t he choose others?” And “Is this fair?” And “What if I’m not chosen?” Though few probably ask that last question.
But do you see the assurance here — the hope in this golden chain? Theologians have called this the golden chain of salvation because — here in our verses — we have the unbreakable chain of salvation — one of the clearest descriptions of salvation in the Bible. And this description is God glorifying and Christ exalting — thus it’s gold.
But the assurance — in these verses — is in knowing that God has guaranteed that those whom he has predestined to salvation will be glorified. Which means we’ve moved from one potentially divisive topic — predestination — to another — the perseverance of the saints or — as the basketball player said — “once saved, always saved.”
So let’s look at this golden chain and see how it’s meant to give us hope and assurance. Think of links in a chain. You get from one end of the chain to the other end because of these interconnected — unbreakable — links. Well the links in our golden chain of salvation are the verbs in our verses — the action words. And we’ve already seen that “who” is doing the action in our salvation? God is. So these verbs — these actions — are works of God. We’re passive here. We’re acted upon. We’re not the ones doing the action in our salvation.
And what are the links in this golden chain of salvation — what are the verbs? The verbs are foreknew, predestined, called, justified, and glorified. Five links in the chain. Five verbs. Five words describing the action of God in our salvation.
Now we’ve talked about being called in an earlier sermon. We’ve also talked about being justified and glorified. So we won’t focus on those — otherwise we’ll be here until next week. So let’s focus on the words foreknew and predestined.
Some have understood the word foreknew to mean that God looked into the future, saw who would choose to believe in him, and the people who God saw choosing him — are those he decided to save. Meaning God predestines people according to his “prior knowledge about how each of us will...respond.” (Robert H. Mounce, Romans, NAC, vol. 27 (Nashville, Tenn.: Broadman & Holman, 1995), 188.) So — they say — what God foreknew is how we’ll respond to him. And those who he knows will respond favorably are those God chooses to save.
Now there are a few problems with this understanding of God’s foreknowledge. For example, it makes God’s ability to save dependent on our response. Meaning, it could’ve been possible for Jesus to have died without anyone responding to his life, death, and resurrection. That would’ve been quite the gamble on his part, right? “I sure hope somebody takes up on this offer.” But clearly in Scripture, we see that Christ died knowing that he wasn’t doing so in vain.
“Well, maybe God knew that people would respond and that’s why Jesus came in the first place? And if God foreknew that no one would respond, he wouldn’t have sent Jesus.” Now we start getting into issues with what it means that God is sovereign and in control of all things. Is his sovereignty conditional or is his sovereignty — at least when it comes to salvation — dependent on us? Surely not.
But here’s something that this view of foreknowledge fails to accomplish — it fails to accomplish exactly what it sets out to accomplish.
Here’s what this view of foreknowledge looks like drawn out.
But there’s a big issue being overlooked. Do you know what’s being overlooked? Time!
Theologians — who hold a definition where foreknowledge means something like “God knew what people would choose, so that’s who he predestined” — these theologians have realized a big problem with their view. Time. God’s foreknowing and predestining — according to the Bible — occured before time began. And at the moment God began time, what happens to the future? It’s now going to happen.
So theologians have realized that this definition of foreknowledge doesn’t really change what it means that God has predestined some to believe. The end result is still the same — if a person’s going to believe — they’re going to believe. Regardless of how you define foreknowledge — human freewill has a limitation to it. And that’s led some to come to this theological conclusion in order to keep the decision making power — to choose or not choose God — in our hands.
The future is unknown to God. And — so we’re clear — this is an unbiblical and dangerous idea to be playing with. This means that every prophecy in the Bible about Jesus was a lucky guess on God’s part. This means the prophecies about our future are a guess. What kind of hope do we have in a guess? None.
But if we remember our question — does our view of salvation glorify God and exalt Christ as Savior — the words of Charles Spurgeon will ring true for our view. “It is not thy hold on Christ that saves thee; it is Christ. It is not thy joy in Christ that saves thee; it is Christ. It is not even thy faith in Christ, though that be the instrument; it is Christ’s blood and merit [that saves thee].” (Charles Spurgeon, Spurgeon on the Blood of Christ, ed. Beverlee Chadwick (Alachua, FL: Bridge-Logos, 2015).) If it’s our hold on Christ, or our joy in Christ, or our choice that’s the ultimate cause of our salvation — then how are we not exalting ourselves and robbing God of glory? And given that — in our verses — God is the one doing the saving — doing the action — why would we insert something we do into this golden chain of salvation?
But — more importantly — if we look closely at what Paul says, he says “those whom God foreknew.” (Douglas Moo, The Epistle to the Romans, NICNT, vol 27 (Grand Rapids, MI.: W.B. Eerdmans Pub. Col, 1996), 532-533.) As one person has said, “Paul doesn’t say that God knew something about us but that [God] knew us.” Meaning, foreknow doesn’t mean “God knew a decision we’d make — it means he knew us.” Often — in the Bible — the words “know and knew” don’t mean knowledge about someone — but an intimate relationship with them. One quick Old Testament example that will make this clear to the adults in the room.
This is from Genesis chapter 4. “Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and (look at what happened...) she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.”” (Genesis 4:1 ESV)
Adam “knew” Eve and she got pregnant. You get the idea, don’t you? You don’t even need me to read it in another translation to make it clear and uncomfortable for parents with young kids in the room — do you? So are we all good with understanding that “know” can mean more than “knowing something about” someone — it can mean an “intimate loving relationship” with them? I’ve heard one pastor (I believe it was Matt Chandler, but I can’t remember who said it.) say, “A good way to understand the word foreknew is by substituting it with “foreloved” — for those whom God foreloved, he also predestined…”
Which leads us to the second word — predestined — here’s what I want you to know. The promise that God is working out all things for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose — is anchored in this word predestined. The promise of Romans 8:28 is guaranteed because of this word. If we squirm at the word predestined, we’re squirming at the hope Paul’s wanting us to have when life is hard and difficult. That God is using everything in our life to transform us into the holy people he’s called us to be. Because the end goal — God’s purpose in salvation — is that those whom he fore-loved will be conformed to the image of his Son and be welcomed into glory — eternity in the presence of our God and Savior. All of that is guaranteed because of this word — predestined.
And this leads us to the glory of Christ in our salvation. Verse twenty-nine one last time.
For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he (Christ) might be the firstborn among many brothers. (Romans 8:29 ESV)
So the goal — for Paul — the climax of our verses — isn’t the debate over free will and predestination. The goal — for Paul — isn’t for us to argue over what foreknow means. The goal for Paul — as he explains salvation to us — is that God would be glorified and Christ would be exalted in our salvation because our salvation transforms us into what? Into the image of Christ who is the image of the invisible God.
So what does it mean to be conformed to the image of Christ — and how does this relate to our being made in the image of God?
Every single person is made in the image of God — Christians, non-Christians, atheists, Muslims, every single person is made in the image of God. This is why we believe that all life is valuable — thus we should protect and value all human life. But because of the sin of Adam and Eve — and the sin that all of us have committed — the image of God has been distorted. We’re not who God intends us to be. These bodies of ours are broken due to sin. Death entered into the world because of sin. But there’s good news: Our salvation is the beginning of God transforming us into the men and women he’s always meant for us to be.
Thus, the beginning of our transformation — step one of us becoming his holy people — is our salvation — and it’s solely a work of God. And the purpose of our salvation — God’s goal in our salvation — is that we would be conformed into the image of his Son. That we would be the holy, spotless, sinless people — for this has been God’s plan for us since before time began.
And I can’t think of a view of salvation that gives more glory to God or exalts Christ as Savior higher than to give God all of the credit in our salvation. And I can’t think of any other view of salvation that gives us more hope and assurance than this one — because — this view of salvation proclaims that those whom God has saved are saved.
And I’m confident that God is calling out to many who hear my voice today. Calling out to you to believe in his Son, to receive the gift of eternal life, to repent of your sins, and to give up trying to be your own Savior. And God is so gracious and kind that he’s orchestrated things in your life so that you would be listening to me share his Good News to you today.
What’s the Good News? That God saves sinners! And he saves them completely — all the way to the end — until they’re with him in eternity. Have you responded to God’s call of salvation? Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. I’m going to pray for all of us — but especially for those who are hearing the call of God to believe and to be saved. Let’s pray.
Heavenly Father, thank you for being the One who saves — salvation is of the Lord. Thank you for acting on our behalf in our salvation. Not yelling at us to swim to the shore in order to be saved. Not yelling at us to paddle our arms harder as we drown in our sins. Instead, you sent your Son to dive into the depths of sin, death, and Hell in order to raise up our dead bodies from the spiritual grave.
Jesus, what a work you’ve done for us. What a reason to rejoice when we exalt you as our Savior — giving you all of the credit in our salvation. What undeserved love and mercy. What kindness and grace. What reason upon reason upon reason to be joy-filled and joyful people who live for your glory and exaltation.
And Holy Spirit, like Lazarus in the tomb, may many be made alive by your voice commanding them to “live.” Make many spiritually alive together in Christ.
And if you’re hearing the call to live — receive and respond to the gift of eternal life being offered to you — the guaranteed gift of life — and begin living for the glory of God and the exaltation of Christ today. And it’s in Jesus’ name that we pray. Amen.
May you — having believed in Christ — may you go with great assurance knowing that he who foreknew and predestined and called and justified you — will glorify you — you will arrive in your eternal home. Amen.
God loves you. I love you. You are sent.
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