Session 33 – Romans; Romans 8:29-30: Mark Lanier, 05/24/26

ROM 033_Romans_PODCAST_02426
===

[00:00:00] Uh, thank you guys for being here on Memorial Day weekend. It's always a light weekend for us in attendance, so I'm looking at the faithful, the stalwarts, the ones who are just committed to this, and I deeply appreciate you being here this morning. Meanwhile, I want us to shift gears. Now, the city of Florence in Italy had a problem in nine-- n-no, 1501.

In 1501, they had a problem because they had this seventeen-foot block of Carrara marble, white Carrara marble that was in, in a, a square, and they couldn't really move it. They didn't wanna bust it up. They needed something to do, so they asked all these people, "What can you do with it?" Nobody had any [00:01:00] answers.

But there was this one fella who was pretty-- getting pretty famous for his new stuff. It was a Mr. Signore Buonarroti And, uh, they said to him, "Hey, could you do something with this?" He said, "Yeah, I probably could." Now, this was a really famous Renaissance guy. You can go see his tomb today. And in his tomb, if you look at it, you'll see they've got three ladies on his tomb.

Those three ladies are because he really excelled in three areas. He was a Renaissance architect. His architecture skills were incredible. He was also quite a great painter. In fact, he painted some of Italy's most wonderful pieces, and he was also a good sculptor. [00:02:00] So he spent weeks and weeks and weeks walking around and staring at this piece of marble, and he would think about it, and he would stare, and he would measure, and he would stare, and he would think, and he would stare, and he would measure.

And then finally, when he figured it out, he took out his chisels, and he went to work. And in 1504, Michelangelo produced the David that you can see in the Louvre now. And it's one of the most incredible things. Now, uh, I, I'm gonna try not to digress too much today because I get that we're talking about all this stuff that interests me.

I don't put it in a lesson unless it interests me. But one of the things about Renaissance artists like Michelangelo is he was really going after realism. And before the way m-m, uh, medieval artists painted things, it, [00:03:00] it was almost in a two-dimensional way. People would be upright. You know, paint pictures of people from a profile view that just looks like a coin or something.

And what, uh, uh, Leonardo did and what Michelangelo did even more so than Leonardo Is he started putting, like, these perspectives. Like, he would-- somebody would slope this way with their body and that way with their head, and it, and it, it would be askewed somewhat. And that was, like, brand new. And Leonardo did it.

You'll see it in his stuff. Uh, Michelangelo did it even more extreme than Leonardo did. But it's something that, that brought in more realism. Uh, you can see it. If you look at the Sistine Chapel, you know, with Adam and his hand and God's finger reached out, that's Michelangelo. It's some of his painting, and you can really see it there.

But his-- he produced this piece of, of beauty, maybe the [00:04:00] greatest sculpture in the history of the world, and the big question to him afterwards was, "How on earth did you do that with a piece of marble that was defective, that had splits in it, had veins in it, that would make it near impossible to carve out something, certainly something of that magnitude and beauty?"

And his response was, "I saw the angel in the marble, and I carved until I set him free." I, you know, he, he figured out how the seams were going, he figured out everything, and he figured out what was left in there, and he saw David. And then just had to get rid of everything extra. I really like that. That means before the first strike of the chisel, Michelangelo had already seen [00:05:00] the finished work.

The David already existed in his mind. It was already in his vision. It was already his intention. It's what he was going for. You got it? Yeah. Hold that thought then, 'cause I wanna talk to you about something else. Today, we're going to cover some very important passages in Romans 8. We're only gonna get through two verses.

Dr. Hank, I almost decided to only do one verse, but I think I can get two done. It's Romans 8:29 through 30, and you can look up at this, and you can wonder about this. This has got those famous words, "For those whom God foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers."

Now, if you read that, [00:06:00] we should always understand Paul has not taken that statement and just put it up in the air. It's not all by itself. There's a context behind the statement that helps it make sense If you recall, and granted this is our 32nd lesson in, in Romans, I apologize for that. But if you recall, I pointed out that Romans has been, it, it, it can be understood best if we understand the chunks.

And, and there are different groups of, of, uh, you know, you've got the, the introduction, you've got the propiti- propitio. You've got the, um, uh, the, the first big chunk of God's principles of judgment. Then you've got a big chunk starting at 3:21 and going through the end of chapter five that deals with God's, uh, righteousness that's found in [00:07:00] Christ.

And then there's another chunk, and that chunk is Romans chapter six through eight, and we need to understand that whole chunk or we will misunderstand this verse. That whole chunk starts out with Romans six where Paul says, "What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?"

Should we just sin so that we can talk about even more how marvelous the cross of Christ is? I mean, look, let's think as mathematicians, okay? If I sin 10 times, then Christ forgives 10 sins, and he has 10 sin glory. But man, if I can sin 100 times, [00:08:00] then he forgives 100 sins. How much more glory does he get?

I think the right thing for me to do is to sin

I'm not doing it for me. I'm doing it for the glory of God Paul says, "Are we supposed to be thinking that way?" Then he's got this Greek fa- phrase that he's famous for, but it's famous in Greek, me genoito. It means, um, well, means may it not be, but, but it doesn't... It, it's an idiomatic expression. It's like, uh, saying, "No way," or, "Absolutely not," or, "Heavens, no."

And so the translators try to struggle to translate it, uh, by no means, just wanting to say, "No way." [00:09:00] No way may be more colloquial. Where I grew up in Lubbock, no way. There was a fella who translated the Bible into Georgian farmer dialect, and his goal was to put it in language like a Georgian farmer would it be.

So instead of Jerusalem, you've got Atlanta. Instead of, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" He translated it, "Could anything good come out of Valdosta?" Um, uh, he was from Georgia, and that was his PhD, uh, uh, in, in Greek. Um, but, uh, he used the H-E-L-L no word here because he, he wanted to... And, and you read that in the Bible, and you think, "I, the, there's something wrong here."

But, um, uh, he wanted... That's, that's the vehemence. He's conveying the strength of Paul saying, "Absolutely not. No way." So that's the setup. That's the start of this chunk. [00:10:00] And then the rest of the chunk are the reasons why. So he says, "We are not supposed to be sinning so grace may abound. Let me tell you the reasons why.

Reason number one, we died to sin. We've identified with Christ in His burial and His resurrection. In His death, w- as many of us who were baptized into Christ have been baptized into His death. We died to sin, so we should not be sinning so grace may abound. Should we sin so grace may abound? No. We've changed masters.

We're no longer enslaved to sin. Now we're enslaved to righteousness." So the second reason is another metaphor. Instead of the metaphor of dead to sin, it's no longer enslaved to sin. Then third reason, we're not just dead to sin, [00:11:00] we're dead to the law. And so he explains that in Romans 7, the first six verses.

And then he spends the rest of ver- of chapter seven saying the Spirit transcends the law. We've got the Spirit of God. It transcends the law. We shouldn't be sinning so grace may abound. No, we shouldn't sin so grace may abound. We live according to the Spirit, he says in Romans 8:1-11. No, we shouldn't sin so grace may abound.

We are adopted children, Romans 8:12-17. No, we shouldn't sin so grace may abound. We are, scoot up, part of a creation that's groaning for glory, not for sin

No, we shouldn't sin so grace may abound. We have the Spirit, and it's [00:12:00] interceding in our life for God's good, not for sin

"What then shall we say? Should we sin so that grace may abound? No." Paul would say before you get to these verses, "I've given you eight reasons. Let me add the ninth." The ninth reason we don't sin so grace may abound is because God predestined us for something better than sin

Take a step back. Last week we talked about Romans 8:28. We know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose. Called according to His purpose. These are the ones that God has called, and He's called them with a purpose in mind He's made this call.

And so [00:13:00] he's called them and, and, and it's, um It's interesting in the Greek, it's for his purposes he's called them. He, he puts, uh, the, the purpose first in the Greek for emphasis. And then that's right before Paul continues and says, "For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that Jesus might be the firstborn among many brethren.

And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he also called, or he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified." Now, go back to Michelangelo. As great a Renaissance artist as he was

God is the master [00:14:00] sculptor of every believer's life. And before his first chisel strike, he sees the finished work He's just gotta set it free

All right, so we're gonna look at this passage, but first I'll give you two important notices. Important notice number one, there's a big debate that's raged for 2,000 years over freedom to make choices or God making them for us, and predestination, free will, and people don't like those terms, so people change the terms.

And, uh, whether you're Calvin, Wesley, Luther, Augustine, Bellarmine, Arminius, Erasmus, whoever you wanna be in this debate. Melanchthon, Boethius, Augustine. Pull some good names out[00:15:00]

Okay I can't settle that debate that's been raging on, and I would not be intellectually fair with you if I was gonna tell you, "Here, let me explain it in the next 45 minutes, and we'll just put this 2,000-year debate to rest." Okay? All I can do is walk through my best understanding of what these verses mean and what these words are, and that's what my goal is today, put it into context and understand what Paul's saying here.

I'm not settling the debate today. Let me do a second thing, and second important note. We wanna be careful with what these verses don't say. There is a sound in the silence, and we should not fill it in. And so we'll do that, but I have three points I wanna make to you today as we talk about this. The first is God's eternal plan that was [00:16:00] foreknown and predestined.

The second is God's conforming work to move us into the image of His Son. And the third is God's unbreakable chain, called, justified, glorified. Those are the three things we'll try to cover during class. Let's start with God's eternal plan, foreknown and predestined. Go back to 8:29. "For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, in order that He, He might be the firstborn among, uh, many brothers."

Now, Paul begins this with this Greek word hodi, hodi It's got a H sound, rough breathing, and then O-T-I, hoti. Now, there is a much more common word that Paul uses, uh, to, to, to say for, and that's the [00:17:00] Greek word gar. It's just G-A-R in English. But, um, gar is a much more common Greek word for Paul to say for, the way that Bi- uh, the most translators translate it.

For. Paul doesn't use that here. Now, Greek is loaded with these connecting words. Greek was a musical language, and it sings a lot better with connecting words, and the language developed as one with good connecting words. And so good Greek speakers, and Paul seems to have been quite good with his Greek, will insert these connecting words.

But his connecting word here, even though it's translated the same way, it's hoti. It's a different connecting word. And that Paul makes the shift here I think should not be overlooked by any [00:18:00] serious Bible scholar. This means that Paul has taken what he's already said, and he's not just adding the next idea.

It's not just the simple here's a... He's tightly tying this to what's already been said. It's a pretty tight tie. And so he's tying this, and we should understand this in light of the previous verses that lead up to it. I wanna give them to you afresh, and I'm not gonna reteach the class at all. I'm merely gonna comment on what we learned about these as we walk through these passages.

Go back three verses to verse twenty-six. "Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We don't know what to pray," not how to pray. We know how to pray, but we don't know what to pray the way we should. The way we should pray, [00:19:00] not the way we, we should know how to pray. We don't know how to pray the way we should pray.

We don't always know God's will, and we're supposed to be praying God's will. But the Spirit is praying on our behalf. He's, uh, uh, uh, sunantilambano was the Greek. He, he's lifting up his end of the furniture. M- Some of our end probably too, but he prays with us With groanings that are too deep for words because he knows the will of God.

And, and God, who searches hearts, certainly knows the mind of the Spirit as the Spirit intercedes for us according to the will of God. He's praying the will of God even when we can't. And so this groaning, this, these problems, these issues, the suffering, the depression, the malaise, the sadness, the melancholy, [00:20:00] all of the pressure, all of the thlipsis, all of the problems, all of the, the, the, the way we just get wound up, all of those things that you're burdened with.

Jesus said, "If you're heavy-laden and you're burdened, come to me and I'll give you rest." You bring this stuff to him, but you gotta pray about it, and you don't even know the right way to pray. And what Paul's saying is the Spirit's interceding on your behalf, and he's praying with you, and he knows the will of God, and God's hearing it.

And you can trust that the Spirit's not praying something to hurt you. The Spirit is seeking God's good for you, and we know that for all those who love God, he continues, that God's working everything out for the best. So you know as the Spirit's praying for you and interceding for you and praying with you, that he's seeking your best under the will of God, and God wants what's [00:21:00] best for you.

Why do we know that? For, hoti. See? It ties it tight. We know it because those people that God foreknew, he also predestined. Let's pause and bring up our chalkboard. Foreknew. In the Greek, it's a compound word of two words, pro and, and, um, ginosko. Pro, we'll separate them out, pro just means before Ginosko, um, look at ginosko.

Um, if you take the I out, that's the second letter, and which you do when you're making the noun, gnosis, um, it's got a, a G, which is also kind of translates into English as a K, N-O-W, [00:22:00] know. And that's what it means. It means to know. So it means to know, but it doesn't simply mean to know in an intellectual way.

That word ginosko can be used to know in an intimate way So we've got this word foreknew, and what do we do with it? How do we understand what God knew beforehand? Well, some people say that's just his foresight. God saw what was gonna unfold, and he knew it ahead of time. So he foreknew. It was his foresight.

You with me? Yes. Okay. Um, I know at 12 o'clock today that Becky and I've gotta catch a flight. We've gotta hustle to the airport. We're gonna be hitting the door fast. [00:23:00] Now, am I omniscient? No. And, and I'm fallible. Something might happen, and we may not hit the door fast. But I reasonably foreknow. I'll be able to call Becky when she gets to her car and I get to mine and say, "Are you out of the church parking lot, or are you still stuck in purgatory?"

You know, yeah, reasonably, I fore- so is that all this is, is foresight? What God saw ahead of time? Or is it more? I would suggest to you it's more, that it's for love. Loved beforehand. You see, this in an intimate way is the way ginosko is used to translate a Hebrew term that Paul was extremely familiar with.

Yada in the Hebrew, to know. Yada in [00:24:00] Genesis 4:1. Yada or ginosko if you're reading from the Greek version of the Old Testament. Genesis 4:1, look what it says

It says, um

The man, Adam, knew his wife, Eve, and she conceived and bore Cain knew. That's not just foresight. You don't get women pregnant by looking at them

The man knew his wife, Eve. That's knowledge in an intimate way. Let me give you a second passage. Let me give you Amos 3:2[00:25:00]

God says this

Hear this word that the Lord has spoken against you, O people of Israel, against the whole family that I brought up out of the land of Egypt. You only have I known of all the families of the earth. Do you think that's saying that God really didn't even know who the Amorites were? God had no awareness there was an entire empire in China No.

God's not limited in His knowledge of people. We know He's all-knowing. This is talking about yada, ginosko, in an intimate way. I'll give you one more. Uh, Jeremiah 1:5[00:26:00]

The word of the Lord

Yeah. Now the word of the Lord came to me saying, "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I consecrated you, appointed you a prophet." This is not just God was by foresight, "Oh, that lady's pregnant. It's a boy." No, this is God had an intimate calling relationship before Jeremiah came out of the womb.

And so if we understand that, what we should understand as believers, [00:27:00] what Paul is saying here is that God's relationship with you began before time

And if anyone in here or anyone watching has any doubt at all, you matter

You matter. You matter to the one Who created everything So Paul is starting out there. For those whom he foreknew, had an intimate knowledge, awareness, relationship planned. He also predestined. Whoa, there's a buzzword. Let's bring up the chalkboard on that one. Predestined. Proorizo. Pro. Whoops. Eh, sorry. I could have made that [00:28:00] prettier.

Hold on. See, I just... I need to make that prettier. Transition, morph, cut it down to about, what, one second. Good enough. Save. Go back Okay, it's taking a second to save. Now it's saved. Okay. Uh, here. So we have predestined, proorizo. It's a compound word, divide it apart. There, I feel better. I don't know about you.

Divide that compound word apart. Pro still means before. Orizo, it's an interesting word, orizo. A- yes, horizon. H-O-R... The P, remember, that's the Greek rho, and it sounds, uh, uh, it's actually an R. H-O-R-- If you're saying, "Where's the H?" It's the comma shape that way above the [00:29:00] O. That just means like an open mouth.

Ha. You're supposed to go ha when you say it. Horizo. H-O-R-I-Z-O. All you just do, add an N, and you have horizon, which is, uh, something that's marked out in your line of vision. That's, that's the line marked out of what you can see. But, uh, it, it means to mark something out, to set up a boundary. That's the orizo, is a boundary or a, a marked out area.

So what this literally means is to mark out beforehand. God's marked out those whom he had the intimate knowledge, awareness of beforehand, he marked out beforehand, or we could say he determined in advance. This is something he decided [00:30:00] before time began That's predestined. So those whom he foreknew that he saw...

And, and Paul's saying, "Remember, keep this in context. This is a reason why on a twofold level. A reason why we should not sin so grace may abound, this entire chunk. But also a reason why in our travails and troubles and sufferings, we don't need to worry because God's out for our good. He knew about us before we came to be, and He chose before we came to be that we would be conformed to the image of His Son That's what he did.

He made us conformed, or made us, predestined us, marked us out ahead of time to be conformed to the image of his son. Now, that in itself should be the knockout punch. It's the last punch he needs to [00:31:00] deliver to Romans 6:1. Should we sin so that grace may abound? Hey, I got news for you. God loves you, knew about you before you were ever born, and predestined, chose beforehand that you would become like the image of his son.

So how on earth could you say, "Let's sin so that grace may abound"? God has predestined you to be in the image of his son

Now, the neat thing about this passage, as, uh, uh, uh, my buddy Tom Wright is quick to show, is Paul's primary focus isn't even just on an individual. You know, this isn't just, uh, uh, uh, you know, you or you or you or you. It's not individual-focused in, in an abstract way. But it's God's covenant [00:32:00] purpose for His people.

God has chosen for His people. It's the reason I can stand up here and say, "If you're a child of God, this applies to you." This is everybody. This is God's eternal plan. You have been foreknown, and you've been predestined, and His conforming work is He's predestined you to become like the image of His Son.

You are going to be conformed to the image of His Son. Now, that's great. Let's see what it means to be conformed. Sumorphos. Get the chalkboard back up. Conformed. Sumorphos is a compound word. It's the word sun and the word morphe. Morph, morphe, like metamorphosis [00:33:00] or things like that come from that, and sun we've talked about enough to where many of you will remember it.

Sunmorphe. Ah, I messed it up. I'm not fixing it now. Sun means with. Morphe means a form. But not a form in the sense that- Um, this is a book. All right? Uh, this is a microphone. These are glasses. Did you hear about the lens manufacturer who fell into the lens grinding machine and made a spectacle of himself?

Um, this ... Thank you. Only Ms. Carolyn would laugh at that. Uh, a lens wipe. Not form in that sense, but essential nature. This is a heavy Greek philosophical word. [00:34:00] So for example, the Greeks might debate back in that day, what is it that makes a table a table? I mean, we know this is a table But I'm gonna eat lunch at a table too, and it won't be shaped like this.

It'll be shaped differently. Uh, it won't have this on top of it. Some tables are up here, some are down. What makes a table a table? Or what makes a chair a chair? I mean, that's a chair, but so is what you're sitting on, and so is a high chair, and so is a beanbag chair. What makes it a chair? What's the essential nature that makes it that?

What gives it its identity? That's what this word morphe means. It means in its essence [00:35:00] That we are conformed, we are, uh, the morphe in the essence of... Hey, this is a great place to see this word is in Philippians 2:6. Um, Paul uses it there. Galatians and Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians. Philippians 2:6 and 7

Paul says to have the same attitude Same mind that was yours in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the morphe of God

Did not regard equality with God something to be exploited, but he emptied himself and took the morphe of a slave. See, Paul is saying Jesus wasn't just like, [00:36:00] you know, God in the sense of, uh, you know, whatever the, the mechanical features of God are. He's-- He, He is, He is God in its fullest essence, and then He truly became a human in its essence.

And so this is that same idea. What we've got here is in the-- it-- this, this is the form. So now you put this together, and what do we have? We have an understanding that we're being shaped to share the essential nature of Jesus, not just to imitate his behavior. It's not just WWJD. It's not just what would Jesus do It's not just to imitate his behavior externally.

It's to be inwardly transformed into the likeness of Christ[00:37:00]

Let me say that again. It's to be inwardly transformed into the likeness of Christ. That's what it means to be conformed. For our essence to change from what it was to the essence of Christ. We're to be changed or conformed to the image of His Son. That's, uh, over here. Uh, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Go back, go back, go back, go back.

Go back. There. Uh, it's eikonos. We get the word icon from it Eikonos is image. Icon in its root form. Now, the image in Greco-Roman usage, an image was a representation of something that genuinely [00:38:00] shared the essence, the morphe of what it represented. It wasn't just a copy. It was something that had the essence.

Um, one of our daughters, uh, uh, Sarah especially, when you see our daughter Sarah, and you see her, uh, childhood pictures, you have trouble telling the difference between her childhood pictures and the childhood pictures of Becky. I... They just look... I mean, the Becky ones look like older photography, um, because the photography was a bit different way back then.

But the-

You could say that Sarah shared an outward representation of Becky But if I say when I see my daughter Sarah, it reminds me [00:39:00] of Becky, most of the time I don't mean by her appearance. I mean she has the same wonderful spirit and heart that her mother does, and she's always trying to serve, and she's always trying to do what she thinks is best.

And, and, and that's the difference. That's, that's... It's not just an outward representation, not looking the same, but it's having that inner essence. This is what it means in Genesis one twenty-six that God said, "Let us make man in our image." He wasn't concerned about us looking like God. He was concerned about us representing God's essence on this world in which we live.

We would reflect God. In Colossians one fifteen, it's another great passage. First, then Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians one fifteen. It [00:40:00] talks of Jesus, and look what it says. It says, "He is the eikonos, the icon of the invisible God." Jesus isn't simply so-- You don't look at Jesus and say, "Gee, paint Jesus, paint God."

It's not talking about the physical appearance. It's talking about the essence. Um, uh, y-you can find it, uh, uh... I wanna keep going 'cause I'm gonna run out of time. Second Corinthians three eighteen. Write it down. Check it out. It's the same use of it. Here's the point. God's plan isn't to make you a better version of yourself.

God's plan is to make you like Jesus I mean, we, the, the whole point of being dead and having a new life is God's not just saying, "Hey, I'm gonna take Mark Lanier and sand off a few of the rough edges. Uh, purify a little of the [00:41:00] impurity. Gonna make him a better version of himself." No. God says, "Dead, new life."

And the old man's gonna keep dying, and the new life's gonna keep growing because the goal is to make Mark more like Jesus, not in appearance, in- Essence ... essence. So those that God... And remember, what we're talking about here is should we just keep sinning so that grace may abound? Heavens no. No way.

Absolutely not. That's a stupid idea

Because God foreknew us and predestined us to be conformed to the essence of His Son, so that Jesus might be the firstborn, the prototokos, the firstborn among many brethren The [00:42:00] firstborn among many siblings

Yes, we're joint heirs. Same principle that he used earlier. Adelphos is, is, uh, a generic. This is, this is, this-- y- women, this is not gender identity problems in the Bible. You're gonna be a son one day. No. It's talking about children. That Jesus would be the firstborn. Now, firstborn for us means first one to come out.

But in the Greco-Roman world and in the Hebrew world, firstborn was more than birth order. Firstborn signified the preeminence, first in rank, numero uno. Inheritance rights were different for the firstborn And the firstborn is the one who's gonna be head of [00:43:00] the family leads the family And so what Paul is saying is Jesus is firstborn.

All of this is Christ. Christ is preeminent. He's number one. We're not like him in the sense that we're gonna be preeminent just like Jesus. No. We don't have the inheritance rights of Jesus. I'm gonna sit at God's right hand and share all the glory of Jesus. No. I'm gonna head up the church. No That's Christ.

We don't take Jesus' position, we take his likeness. We take his essence. He's the firstborn among many brethren, many sistren, many siblings. And now, if you go back, look how much sense this makes. We know that for those who love God, all things work [00:44:00] together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

Doesn't this make sense? He's saying you don't need to worry about how the Spirit's praying. You don't need to worry about how the Spirit's praying the will of God will happen here, because you can rest assured. You can go to the bank. You can know God cares for you. He picked you out from the beginning, and he did it to make you in the image of his Son.

He's gonna turn your life into something that is... He's gonna find the angel in the marble He's gonna find the David, and that's his conforming work. Now, before we leave this, let's go to the third point today, that there's this unbreakable chain that Paul has set up: called, justified, and glorified. Go back.

Let's get it in stride. For those whom he m- saw and knew intimately [00:45:00] beforehand, he set up the boundary that they would be changed and transformed and conformed into the essence of his Son, in order that his Son might not just be the firstborn, but the firstborn among many siblings. And those whom he predestined, he also called.

And those whom he called, he also justified. And those whom he justified, he also glorified. Now, we may have to pick up a little bit here next week because I'm gonna run out of time, and I don't wanna do a disservice here, but there are a few things I gotta get out before we finish. First of all, though, look at this Greek a little bit.

And yeah, I know what you're saying, "Ah, it doesn't mean anything to me. It's Greek to me." That's fine, but look at it. Uh, let me help you look. Hos. Hos. Hos. Those, those, [00:46:00] those. Those, those, those. See how in the Greek it's just boom, da-boom? It looks like almost a chain. Now look at what's on the other side.

Tautos kai. Tautos kai. Tautos kai. This is almost poetic This might be a song. This is so parallel in structure, and the best that most do with this is to say it's a chain of sorts, seems to be a, a common illustration of the theologians. But we get it as you see it, and some fail to translate all of those words, but here the ESV does a good job.

Those whom he predestined, he also called. Those, hos, whom he called, he also justified. Those whom he justified, he also glorified. I-- We, we've got this chain set up, and now what we need to do is look carefully [00:47:00] at the verbs that go with the chain. And you get a, a feel for 'em with those whom he predestined, he called.

Those whom he called, he justified. Those whom he justified, he glorified. Paul knew his Old Testament better than any of us in here

And Paul had no trouble with the idea that God had a chosen people, and Israel was a chosen people, but Israel was chosen to be a blessing to others and to draw others to God as well. Wasn't chosen to the exclusion of others. Israel was chosen for a purpose of showing and revealing God to others. The very first story in Israel's Bible is the story of God saying, "Let's make man in our image."

We're, we're to reflect God to the creation around us You know, you, you, Paul, you, if you wanna read something fun, get your Greek out and compare the Greek [00:48:00] of this with the Greek in the Old Testament of Isaiah 45:22 through 25. Give you an idea of what it says here. That's worthy of homework. 45:22 through 25, Paul's using the same words that are used in the Greek version of this

This is in Greek. Look what it says, "Turn to me and be saved all the ends of the earth, for I'm God and there's no other. By myself I've sworn, for my mouth has gone forth in righteousness a word that shall not return. To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear." Does that ring a bell? Yes. That's Philippians 2 as well.

Jesus in the form did not regard equality, but came in the form of a human, and then he subjugates [00:49:00] himself in humility to the point of death on a cross. Therefore, also God highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name. Then Paul says that at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Christ Jesus is Lord.

He's just quoting Isaiah forty-five, saying, "This is Jesus." Now, Isaiah forty-five, it's God. But for Paul, they're the same. Jesus is God. And then it says, "Only in the Lord," it shall be said of me, "are righteousness," dikaiosune, "and strength. All were incensed-- All who were incensed against him shall come to him and be ashamed.

In the Lord all the offspring of Israel shall triumph and glory." Look at that, triumph and glory. This is the ones he justified will be glorified. We've got the same words [00:50:00] And what Paul is saying here is for all the people in the chain, nobody drops out. All of this applies to the believers. You have been predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son.

You have been called, and you have been summoned. You have been justified, and you have been glorified. Say, "Well, I ain't been glorified."

Well, not yet, but yes, you have

Uh, we're just gonna have to come back to this, but there's a proleptic aorist here. It's, it's a Greek function that says, "Hey, the future is so certain I can speak of it as something that happened in the past." All of these are completed actions. They are fait accompli. I love what Leon Morris says about this.

Paul transports himself in thought to the time when the work of glorification will be complete. [00:51:00] He looks back on it like it's an, it's already been accomplished, because it has. These are all completed actions. You should not sin so grace may abound because you're already glorified in the eyes of God in historical fact.

It will come true. But you're in that chain, and nobody drops out. Now, before we quit, we must look careful what these verses don't say. We do these verses a disservice if we read these verses say, "I go to heaven. He's going to hell. God picked me to go to heaven. Didn't pick him." Hellbound

You know, I, that, that's-- Paul's not even having that debate here. That's not at all what he's talking about. Not to mention the fact that's a logical fallacy. Now, that doesn't mean you can't find it in other verses. That doesn't mean there aren't other verses important. That doesn't mean we don't need to talk otherwise.

I'm just [00:52:00] talking about these ver-- As Greg sent me an email, please stay on these verses and these words, and don't go grandiose theology on this. Let's stay in the text, and that's what I'm trying to do here. But here's the logical fallacy. I could tell you God made porpoises to swim in the sea. Well, okay.

Well then tunas and whales, he must not have made them to swim in the sea. Well, no, it just shouldn't say anything about that. What it says is, God made... That's, uh, uh, if you take logic classes, that logical fallacy of trying to read this to talk about the other is called denying the antecedent. Or some textbooks call it an illicit converse, like we care.

But it's illogical. That's good enough. So with that warning, we'll try and dig back into this a little bit more next week, but I wanna give you some points for home that may help you, um, this week. [00:53:00] Number one Sin was never your destination. Christlikeness is For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son.

Sin was never... Should we sin so grace may abound? Heavens, no. Take it seriously. It's not our destination. Our destination is Christ-likeness. Now, here's the key though. God's plan for you is bigger than comfort. God's plan for you is not to give you heaven now. God's plan for you is not to make your life easy street.

God's plan for you is bigger than that. God's pl- Christ's life wasn't easy street. God's plan for you is to make you Christ-like You've been predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, which [00:54:00] brings us to the final point. You've got the chain, and at the end it says you've been glorified. It hadn't happened yet, but your future is so certain that God can speak of it past tense

Those whom he justified, he also glorified. So Michelangelo and the city of Florence had an issue with their big old 17-foot slab of Carrera marble, and Michelangelo was able to look at it and call upon all of his skills in architecture, painting, sculpturing, and find the David, because he saw David in the marble and carved him until he set it free.

God sees you. He's seen you from before the creation of time, and he's not gonna be happy until you're totally you, his [00:55:00] masterpiece. He's working toward it. Don't fight him. Work with him. Okay? Here's your lunch topic, and then I'll bless you, uh, in, in Jesus' name. Predestination or personal choice? Talk about it.

All right. Uh, Lord, in the name of Jesus, we can come to you with a lightened burden knowing you're not done with us. You're not giving up on us. You will glorify us because you've already done it. Lord, help everyone hearing this message hear it as a message of intimate love and conviction on your part as the Almighty God who takes interest and calls us each by name.

We pray in Jesus'. Amen.