Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction:

Show Sproul Video

I. God’s Faithfulness (vs.

28)

Now, i do not think that we need to spend a lot of time here but just to reference it in passing as a springboard to take us farther.

We see God’s faithfulness in that He causes (that is the literal Greek rendering) all thing to work for the good of the called or as we saw last week, the elect.

We say that the called in verser 28 are the elect, because the called of verse 30 is obviously the elect, so there is no grammatical or linguistic reason to say that these are two different groups of people.

God causes all things in the life of the elect to work for their good.

II.

God’s Foreknowledge (vs.

29)

We saw last time together that Greek word to “foreknow” is “προγινώσκω” and it literally means (and we looked at several Greek lexicons on this word) “to foreordain or fore-chose”.

And we noted for you the fact of the “prescient” view of predestination and that is that “God looks down the corridor of time and sees those people that are going to response positively to the Gospel and that based on that foreknowledge God predestines those who He knows from all eternity past are going to chose Him”.

And we said to you that is not a definition of the doctrine of Predestination but that it is a denial of it.

Obviously God cannot chose people that He does not know.

And we said to you that those that have that view of foreknowledge are not getting that from the Scripture, but are adding it to the Scripture; and that they are doing it without reason.

Keep in mind something that we said to you last time, and that is the fact that the word “προγινώσκω” is an active tense verb.

It is an action that God is doing.

In fact, all of these words; “Foreknow”, “Predestinate”, “Called”, “Justified”, “Glorified” are all active tense verbs that God is doing.

Also, keep in mind that the text says: “Whom He foreknows”.

It does not say that God foreknew the decisions that people would make but that He foreknew people.

We have a usage of the word “foreknowledge” in relation to ourselves.

But that definition is useless in relation to God because is not a time being.

What I mean by that is that we exist in time; there was a specific in time in which we came into existence.

But that is not the case with God, He is a timeless being.

God does not know things before hand, He simply knows, He knows all things.

The only reason that God can even be said to have foreknowledge is because He predetermined them.

As one writer said, “God foreknows what will be, by determining what shall be”.

We looked a few verses where the word “foreknowledge” is one form or another is used and I just want to give you a couple of these.

Certainly, no one is going to say that the reason that the crucifixion of Jesus happen was because God looked down the corridors of time and saw what the Jews and the Romans were going to do and then determined the crucifixion of Christ based on that, would they?

Or would the definition of “foreordination” for the context better?

That is the way that it is meant in Peter’s context.

Does that mean that the Children of Israel were the only people that God knew anything about?

Certainly Not!

He knew about all the other nations.

It literally means that they are the only ones that God had “chosen”.

So, as you can see when the Bible speaks of God’s Foreknowledge, it is speaking of God “foreordaining”, “fore-loving” or “fore-choosing”.

III.

God’s Formula (vs.

29b)

Some years back I was speaking with a person who denied the Biblical Doctrines of Predestination.

They could not denied the fact that the word “predestination” existed and; therefore, the Doctrine existed, but they denied the Biblical Doctrine of Election.

They did this by saying that the Doctrine of Predestination has to do with Sanctification and not Salvation.

That from all eternity past God predestined that Christians would be Sanctified.

was a proof text they used for that.

The thought generally goes that the Doctrines of Predestination and election do not have anything to do with Salvation but only has to do with the fact that God predestined our Christlikeness after we chose, of our free, will to be saved.

Because verse 29 says that God Predestined us to be conformed to image of Christ.

So the natural thinking is that Predestination is Predestination unto holiness not unto Salvation.

And, admittedly, that would make sense if you just read that verse out of the context here and the context of the rest of Scripture.

What is the context or theme of the rest of the Scripture?

First of all the testimony of the rest of Scripture is we were Predestined unto the Adaption of Children.

Now, adoption is salvific language, not language having to do with Sanctification or Christlikeness.

And the text says that it was based on the good pleasure of the good will of God.

And then God’s will changes our wills.

So now that we understand that Predestination does; in fact, deal with Salvation and not just sanctification, how do we deal with this from the text of ?

We have, in fact, been Predestinated for Salvation, but that is the natural end result of our Predestination to Salvation.

Obviously, if God Predestined someone to Salvation, then that end result is going to be Sanctification.

So, it doe snot follow that we skip with salvation step and dismiss everything that the Bible says.

We must understand that what Paul argues here in verse 29 is the fact the goal and the end result of our being Predestined to Salvation is our Christlikeness.

Verse 29 is the goal of Predestination.

If our salvation has nothing to do with our own merit or good works and is entirely of His Grace, then why does God save me?

The only reason that God saved me is for the sake of Jesus Christ.

The ultimate reason for Predestination is for the honor and glory of Jesus Christ.

The chain that follow in verse 30 is the why in which God achieves His purpose.

What is the purpose, again spoken about in verse 28?

Clearly, it is that from the mass of fallen and perishing humanity God might save a company of people who will be made like Jesus.

God loves Jesus so much that He determined to have many more people like Him.

In order to do that, God selects, predestines, calls, justifies, and glorifies this people.

That is, verses 29 and 30 tell how God accomplishes the purpose of verse 28.

Paul speaks about the purpose in verse 28.

What is that Purpose?

For the Glory of Jesus Christ, people from every tongue, tribe, people and nation will be Predestinated to be conformed to the image of Christ.

Foreknowledge and Predestination are not the main goals here, the main goal is the glory of Christ, by bringing a people to be more like Him.

Foreknowledge and Predestination are ways in which that is accomplished; along with verse 30.

So, it is not that Predestination has nothing to do with Salvation but only with Sanctification; it is that the goal of God is that His love for Christ is so great that He wanted many more people like Him and that the process of accomplishing that is Foreknowledge, Predestination, Calling, Justification and ultimately Glorification.

That is why salvation totally points of Christ and not us.

We are loved, saved and sanctified because of the Fathers love for Christ and this is how that great love is displayed.

So that:

What does it mean when the text says that “....he is the firstborn among many brethren?”

It is the Greek word “πρωτότοκος” and means:

existing before all creation or superior to all creation

It is the same word used in :

So, the goal in all of this, according to verse 29, is that Christ may be the preeminent one over all things.

That is how much God the Father loves God the Son.

And He accomplishes this preeminence of Christ by the process that mentioned in verse in verse 30.

IV.

God’s Facilitation (vs.

30)

How does God bring all this together?

How does God bring about our Salvation and Sanctification?

Because we cannot be sanctified until we are first saved.

So the first step, in the ultimate goal of our sanctification that brings glory to Christ, is that God foreordained a people; and we have already seen that.

Out of the masses of fallen humanity, God foreordained a people

Then the process continues.

And this is the process, remember, of glorifying Christ.

A. Predestination

“Predestinate” is the Greek word “προορίζω” and it means to: decide beforehand, to determine.

To use a illustration that we would understand.

If I were going to take a trip and I used a travel agent to plan that trip, I would tell them where I wanted to go.

They would make arrangements for my desired destination and they would do it before I got there.

So, by the same token when we speak regarding the Doctrine of Predestination we are talking about that fact the God has pre-arranged or Pre-determined or Pre-decided our destination.

He foreknew or Foreordained a people and then predetermined their destination.

In the plan of salvation God could do one of three things.