Romans 8:28-30
God's Purpose in Salvation
Pastor Martin expounds Romans 8:28-30, setting the doctrine of justification within the broader context of God's ultimate purpose in salvation. He argues that God's purpose is not merely to forgive sins and declare sinners righteous, but to restore them to the image of His Son, Jesus Christ, in both moral and physical likeness. This sermon emphasizes that justification is never separated from sanctification, and that God's saving work is an unfailing, all-encompassing process that begins in conversion, continues in progressive sanctification, and culminates in glorification. The pastoral application urges believers to pursue holiness and warns against a truncated view of salvation that neglects conformity to Christ.
Primary Texts
Topics
Outline 10 sections · 55 min
- Introduction: The Question of Justification and Its Context 0:02
- God's Ultimate Purpose: Restoration of His Image 9:00
- The Divine Perspective: Called According to Purpose 17:21
- The Contours of God's Purpose: Conformed to Christ's Image 22:11
- The Danger of Separating Justification from Sanctification 27:41
- The Unfailing Accomplishment: Calling, Justifying, Glorifying 30:24
- Salvation's Whole: Definitive and Progressive Sanctification 35:35
- The Present Reality of Transformation 43:11
- Distinction Without Separation: Justification and Sanctification 49:35
- The Simple Gospel Call 52:30
Key Quotes
“However, of all the questions we have asked or ever will ask, none, none, is of greater importance than the question, How can sinful man be just? or right with God?”
“And the ultimate purpose of God in our salvation, as we shall now see, is nothing less than the restoration of the very image of God after the pattern of our glorified Lord Jesus Christ.”
“No, whom He foreknew, He foreordained to be conformed to the image of His Son.”
“My friends listen. God never, never, never applies one part of his salvation without the whole. Never.”
“Sinless souls. Inhabiting deathless bodies. You want a nice simple. Thrilling definition of glorification. That is it.”
“This is no pick and choose. Salvation. It's all or nothing. In Jesus.”
“And if that work has not begun in you. You fool yourself to think it's going to be completed. In your glorification when Christ comes.”
“But we must never think. Because they are distinct. And separate aspects of God's glorious salvation. They are ever found separated. In any sinner. To whom God applies his salvation.”
Applications
All listeners
- Do not separate the reality of justifying grace from God's ultimate purpose of making us like His Son, Jesus, to avoid abusing the doctrine of justification.
- It is vital to put the doctrine of justification into the context of God's ultimate purpose in salvation (to make us image-bearers of God after Christ) and the unfailing accomplishment of that purpose.
- The only proof that God's saving work has begun in you now is that it is continuing now; do not rely solely on a past conversion experience without present evidence of transformation.
- Do not study and internalize the doctrine of justification out of its God-given context, which includes God's ultimate purpose to make us like His Son and the certain accomplishment of that purpose.
- Go to Jesus Christ for deliverance from divine wrath, slavery to sin, and the deception of the devil, as He is a willing and able Savior.
- Rejoice in the wonderful privileges of an imputed righteousness while at the same time panting after greater conformity to the Lord Jesus.
A full transcript is available on the tab. 212 paragraphs, roughly 55 minutes.
Introduction: The Question of Justification and Its Context
The following sermon was delivered on Sunday morning, May 28, 2006, at Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.
Now may I urge you to turn with me in your own Bibles to a portion of the Word of God, which will be one of the major texts upon which our attention will be focused this morning. The familiar eighth chapter of Paul's letter to the Romans, Romans chapter 8, and I read in your hearing verses 28 through 30.
As Paul is writing of the things that comfort and help the people of God in this present age in which they have been introduced to the realm of the Spirit's mighty saving work, and yet the best is yet to come. They live in the now of the blessing of the Spirit, but the not yet of the full blessing. And one of the consolations he identifies in verse 28, And we know that to them that love God all things work together for good, even to them that are called according to his purpose. For whom he foreknew, he also foreordained to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he that is done, Jesus might be the firstborn among many brethren. And whom he foreordained, them he also called. And whom he called, them he also justified. And whom he justified, them he also glorified.
Let us again pray asking the special help of the Spirit of God upon preaching, and listening to the words of our Lord Jesus, who said so simply, Without me you can do nothing. We confess that we are slow to believe and slow to act upon that truth, but we would now in a conscious expression of our desire to know his grace and his presence, and his presence, confess our need as preacher and listener alike. Send your Holy Spirit upon us, that he may do everything in preacher and listener together, that is essential if we are to profit from the ministry of the word. Come then and help us, we plead, in his worthy name. Amen. Each one of us sitting here this morning has faced, or will face, questions that force us to use all of our reasoning powers in an effort to come up with the right answer to those questions.
However, of all the questions we have asked or ever will ask, none, none, is of greater importance than the question, How can sinful man be just? or right with God? This, indeed, is the question of all questions. And because this question is the most crucial of all questions, we must be sure that we have obtained the only right answer to that question, and that one right answer is wrapped up in the biblical doctrine and the redemption, the redemptive provision of God's grace, called justification. And deeply concerned that we know, understand, and appropriate God's justifying grace, we have begun a series of sermons on this foundational provision of God's redemptive grace. And in the first message, I sought to set before you the importance of the biblical doctrine of justification, both with respect to the maintenance of the glory of God
and the good of our own souls. I then asserted that it's crucial if we are to understand the doctrine of justification, if we are to feel our need for justifying grace, and if this truth is to be maintained with life and vigor in this church or any church, then, there are supportive truths that we must constantly keep before our minds, supportive truths which I have designated as the context of justification. In the first of the elements of that context, I asserted that the context of justification is fundamentally the fact of who God is in Himself. He is infinitely, eternally, and unchangeably holy, just, and true, and because He is just such a God, we need His justifying grace. In the second message concerning the context of justification, I asserted that we must not only understand the fact of who God is in Himself, but what God is in Himself.
He is in relationship to us, what He is to us, as Creator, as Lawgiver, and as Judge. And then last Lord's Day, we took up the third part of the context of justification, and it is the fact of who we are in relationship to God as our Creator, our Lawgiver, and our Judge. And we saw from the Scriptures in Antioch, the answer to the question, who are we in relationship to God as Creator, Lawgiver, and Judge? This answer, we are without exception, guilty sinners, fully deserving of divine wrath, expressed in our banishment to hell in body and soul, and that forever. And the main proof that I set before you was the structure and the substance of how the Apostle Paul taught the doctrine of God's righteousness set forth in the Gospel. And he begins with the wrath of God. In Romans 1 and verse 18, he culminates his effort to bring every single man, woman, boy, or girl under the judgment of God. In chapter 3 and verse 20, and only
then does he begin to open up the main structure. Now this morning, we are going to focus our attention on the fourth category of biblical truth, which constitutes the context of the doctrine of justification. The fourth and final category of biblical truth, which constitutes the context of the doctrine of justification. And it is this. It is the ultimate purpose of God, and the unfailing accomplishment of that purpose in the salvation of sinners. If we are to understand and maintain a fervent, passionate grasp upon the doctrine of justification, if we are to keep it, in its proper setting and in our understanding and experience of it, we must understand something
God's Ultimate Purpose: Restoration of His Image
of the ultimate purpose of God, and the unfailing accomplishment of that purpose in the salvation of sinners. And so I want you to consider this vital issue with me under those two major heads, the ultimate purpose of God in the salvation of sinners, and what that has to do with justification, and then the unfailing accomplishment of that purpose in the salvation of sinners. First of all, then, the ultimate purpose of God in the salvation of sinners. As we shall see in future studies, justification is God's way of dealing with the problem of our guilt and hell-deservingness as sinners. The problem we have that we have utterly forgotten, utterly forfeited any legal right or title to be taken into heaven and into the enjoyment of eternal life. Because of our sin in Adam, we are guilty and condemned, Romans 5.19.
Through the sin of the one, the many are constituted sinners. And because of our own personal sins, we are doubly deserving of divine wrath, Romans 1.18. The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold down the truth in unrighteousness, or chapter 2, verses 8 and 9, tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that does evil to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
And God's provision of justified justification of a righteousness that answers to His demands, focuses upon that problem of our guilt. It has to do with our dealings with God in the courtroom of heaven. However, our sin has done more than just to make us guilty in the court of heaven, to make it unrighteous for God to take us into His presence as we are. Our sin has also defaced and marred and disfigured what we were made to be as image of God. I go back to Genesis chapter 1 with you. When God originally created man, mankind, He created him with this distinction from all of His other creatures, Genesis chapter 1 and verse 26. And God said, Let us make man in our image after our likeness, and let them have the image of God. And God said, Let us make man
in his image, and let all that Ethiopian ancient creation worship man. In the spirit of man of God shall they take子 be created. And also Our saying isצ paśo but, when Lord created man in His own image, in the image of His own image He created man, in the image of His own main. When He created man in Himself He rose up and He made man in שה concise theology, God made man in his own image so that humans are like God as no other earthly creatures are. And this tells us of the special dignity of being human and informs us that as humans we may reflect and reproduce at our creaturely level the holy ways of God and thus act as his direct representatives on earth. This is what humans are made to do and in one sense we are only human to the extent that we are doing it. We were made in the image of God, made that at the
creaturely level, not the divine level, at the creaturely level we are to reflect the holy ways of God and thus act as his direct representatives on earth. But what is our condition now? What has happened since our sin in Adam and in the light of our own personal sins? What has happened? Well, think of the verse that many of us memorized very early in our Christian experience but never really reflected upon it. In Romans chapter 3 and verse 23, in the midst of Paul's beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, beginning to open up the doctrine of justification, the righteousness that God has provided in the person and work of Christ, we have the familiar words of verse 23. Romans 3, 23, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. All have sinned and he's already demonstrated that as sinners we are under
the judgment of God. Verse 19 of the same chapter, it speaks to them that are under the law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world be brought under the judgment of God. But you see, our sin has not only brought us under the judgment of God, it has so affected us that we no longer fulfill the very purpose for which we were created. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We do not function as accurate image of God. We do not reflect God at the creaturely level in the way we were created to reflect him. And though we yet have the structure of being image of God, we do not fill the function of image of God. That image has
been marred. That image has been distorted. And therefore, we are not fulfilling the very purpose for which we were created. As Packer says, it is only to the extent we are fulfilling that purpose that we are fully human. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And God's ultimate purpose in the salvation of sinners, as we shall now see, turning to Romans 3, 23, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, is not only to deal with the problem that we are under the condemnation of God, that we have a serious problem in the court of heaven, that we are culpable and that we stand exposed to the judgment of God and to the fury of his holy wrath and justice because of our guilt, but we have a problem in that we are not fulfilling the very purpose for which we were made by God. We are falling short of the glory of God. And when God commits himself
to this marvelous rescue mission called salvation, what is his ultimate purpose? Simply or only to deal with our legal problem in the court of heaven? No. While God is committed to deal with that problem, and the way he has dealt with it is wrapped up in the court of heaven, he has dealt with it in the court of heaven.
It is wrapped up in the biblical doctrine of justification. That is only one facet of the full scope of God's salvation. And the ultimate purpose of God in our salvation, as we shall now see, is nothing less than the restoration of the very image of God after the pattern of our glorified Lord Jesus Christ. Turn then to Romans 8, 28-30.
The Divine Perspective: Called According to Purpose
As we'll park here to see this truth clearly taught. As Paul is giving these comforts to us in this veil of suffering while we await the consummation of our redemption, he tells us in verse 28, And we know that all things are working together for the good of God's people. And how does he describe God's people? Notice, he describes them from the human perspective and then the divine perspective.
And we know that to them that love God, all things work together for good. Here is a description of the people of God from the human perspective. How do we know the people of God? They are lovers of God.
They were not that way by nature. For he said earlier in this chapter, in chapter 8, in verse 7, The mind of the flesh, the fundamental disposition of all men and women, boys and girls, by nature is enmity against God. It is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be. They that are in the flesh cannot please God.
We do not natively, naturally love God. We love ourselves. We love our sin. We love everything but God.
But now, Paul describes the true people of God from the human perspective. They have become lovers of God. Now to them, that love God, all things work together for good. But then he describes the same people from the divine perspective. Look at the text.
Even to them that are called according to purpose. The ones who love God, love God because God has called them and called them according to a very clearly designed purpose. And here in this passage, as throughout the Pauline literature, call means far more than merely invite or summons. It is a designation of the people of God, reflecting that Almighty God has put forth spiritual energy through the gospel, actually to draw them into the possession of salvation in Jesus Christ.
So that to be named a called one is to be named a Christian. Notice how he did this in the Old Testament. This is the opening words of the book of Romans. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God.
To whom is he writing? Look at verse 6. Among whom are you also called, Jesus Christ, to all that are at Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints. This word called becomes a special designation of the people of God.
This word called becomes a special designation of the people of God. This word called becomes a special designation of the people of God. This word called becomes a special designation of the people of God. They have been, in the language that we use, effectually called.
They have been more than merely summoned and invited to the salvation that is in the Gospel feast. They have been more than merely summoned and invited to the salvation that is in the Gospel feast. That which we preachers and you as God's people are privileged to do with any sinner. Spread the Gospel feast and say, come to the feast.
He that will, let him come and drink that general invitation. But the word calling in this passage, goes beyond that and refers to that effectual call that sovereign saving work of God that actually brings us into union with Jesus Christ so the people envisioned here are the true people of God who from the human standpoint they are lovers of God from the divine standpoint they've been called according to purpose now look at verse 29 for what is the purpose what is the design which forms the pattern of God's calling when God puts forth his gracious hand of saving power to take a sinner out of Adam and bring him into Christ out of the world and into the church what is the pattern of that calling of that purpose they are called according to kata they are called according to the contours of divine purpose and what is that divine purpose well Paul's going to tell us for whom he foreknew that is those upon whom he set his love and design of grace beforehand whom he foreknew
The Contours of God's Purpose: Conformed to Christ's Image
notice not what he foreknew he doesn't foreknow that some will respond of their own free will the military the military will respond of their own free will and others won't, and therefore He chooses them. No, it doesn't say for what He foreknew. He foreknows people. That is, He loves them beforehand.
He sets His loving regard and saving purpose upon them, for whom He foreknew, now notice, He also foreordained to be conformed to the image of His Son. When God saves according to purpose, that purpose is that every one of these wretched, guilty, hell-deserving, rebel sons and daughters of Adam would not merely be forgiven of all of their sins and receive the justifying statement from the throne of God, your sins are forgiven, the perfect obedience, the obedience of my Son is credited to you, the day of judgment is brought forward and is already present, and I say there is therefore now no condemnation. No, God had something more in His purpose, and His calling was according to a purpose whose contours went far beyond the mere forgiveness of sin, crediting with a perfect righteousness made of the fabric of the life and death of Jesus. No, whom He foreknew, He foreordained to be conformed to the image of His Son.
He is committed that they shall be what He made them to be, His perfect image-bearers, but now image according to His Son, His glorified Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And, having committed Himself to that, that Christ then, look at the text, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren, that He might have a family in which the family likeness is unmistakable. His place of priority and supremacy will be evident. He is the firstborn, the one who has the place of priority, The one who has the place of supremacy. But it will be amidst a family in which all of the family will bear the family likeness. So that as Hebrews tells us chapter 2 and verse 11, he's not ashamed to call them brethren. Why?
Because the divine purpose in salvation will be realized in every single one of them. They will reflect perfectly his likeness. They will reflect the moral likeness of Jesus. 1 John 3 and verse 2.
Beloved, it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall be manifested, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. And in that sight of him there will be that...
That total transformation into his moral likeness. Perfection of the soul, the spirit, into the very moral likeness of Jesus. But not just the moral. We read this morning in Philippians 3.
When Christ is manifested, this lowly body is going to be transformed into the likeness of the body of his glory. By the very power wherewith he is. He is able to subdue even all things to himself. So that we will reflect not only the moral likeness of the glorified Jesus, but the physical likeness of the glorified Jesus.
When we will have bodies that will be perfect. Creaturely bodies, yes. But perfect creaturely bodies. And so the Lord Jesus, who now in the presence of the Father, is there.
In the perfect moral likeness that has always been his. And now possesses perfect glorified physical likeness which was not his until the resurrection. He is the pattern. And God says in my saving purpose for all of my people.
This is what I'm committed to. This is my design. That when I'm done, they will not only be justified. That is.
All of their sins forgiven. Credited with a perfect righteousness. Not only will they possess the justifying status before me. But they will be conformed to the likeness of my Son.
The moral likeness. The physical likeness. And he will be the firstborn among his whole family that bear his likeness. That I say is the ultimate purpose of God.
The Danger of Separating Justification from Sanctification
In the salvation of sinners. And while it must deal with the burning question. How can sinful man be just or right with God? The question answered in the divine provision of justifying grace.
God's saving purpose goes far beyond that. And it is nothing less than the full restoration of the image of God. After the pattern of the glorified God-man. In Jesus.
The Son of God. Now why is it important to set the doctrine of justification in that context? Well for this reason. If we separate the reality of justifying grace.
From this ultimate purpose of God in the salvation of sinners. We leave the door wide open for the abuse of the doctrine of justification. And there will be people who say yes. I am believing.
I am believing in Jesus to my justification. And I have been united to Christ by faith. And God seeing me united to his Son makes the pronouncement. Sins forgiven.
A perfect standing in the court of heaven. Yet. Who are indifferent to becoming like Christ. Who are indifferent to an ongoing life of sanctification.
Who have no passion to be made like. Who have no internal driving spiritual energy of pursuing a life of holiness. And yet they will say. Don't you dare question my salvation.
I am justified by faith in Jesus Christ. My friends listen. God never, never, never applies one part of his salvation without the whole. Never.
And we are going to see that in the next verse. And so it is crucial. As we come to examine the doctrine of justification. We have got to isolate sanctification.
They are two different operations of God's grace. Fundamentally different. And so we have got to isolate justification. And understand its grounds.
Understand the means whereby it becomes ours. And focus upon all of the relevant biblical data. But in so doing. We must never in our minds.
Separate the truth of God's justifying grace. From the ultimate purpose of God in his grace. And that is to make us like his son Jesus. That is the ultimate purpose of God.
The Unfailing Accomplishment: Calling, Justifying, Glorifying
Now then secondly. Having considered that first heading. The unfailing accomplishment of the purpose of God in the salvation of sinners.
Having looked at the ultimate purpose. As it is set before us in verse 28. Now then verse 29. Gives us the unfailing accomplishment.
I am sorry. Verse 29. Now verse 30.
And whom he foreordained. Now think back through the text. Whom he foreknew he foreordained. Here is the purpose.
That he might be conformed to the image of his son. Now with respect to everyone thus foreordained. To be conformed to the image of his son. Them without exception.
All the foredoers. Then he also called. And whom he called. Without exception.
Then he also justified. And whom he justified. Then he also glorified. Now here the apostle focuses upon three aspects of God's applying the salvation.
That has as its ultimate purpose. Total conformity to the son of God. And he is focusing. Only upon three.
Look at them. The first one is calling. Whom he foreordained. Them he also called.
That is. In the course of their own life history. God by the spirit. Through the word.
In manifold ways. For remember Jesus said. The ways of the spirit are like the wind. God brings these elect sinners.
These sinners whom he has foreknown. These sinners upon whom. Whom he has set his love. And his purpose of grace.
In his own way. In his own time. He eventually calls them. He actually calls them in the language of Peter.
Out of darkness. Into his marvelous light. That work that he has done for many of you. Sitting in this place over the years.
He has called you. Effectually brought you. Out of your darkness. And into marvelous light.
And every single sinner. Whom God purposes. In his ultimate purpose of salvation. To make like his son.
He is going to call them. He is going to call them. And when he calls them. Look at the text.
Them he also justified. He will as they are called out of darkness. Brought to repentance and faith. United to Christ.
He will then declare them. To be justified. Not only just as if I never sinned. But justification goes far beyond that.
As we shall see. Just as if I fully kept the law of God. I not only have no record against me. I have a perfect record for me.
In the person of my Savior. And he justifies. Every single sinner. Whom he calls.
And then. Because it is so certain. God can put that. Which yet awaits.
Every called. Justified sinner. His glorification. God can put it in the past tense.
And whom he justified. Them without exception. He also glorified. That is he completes.
The work that was there. Bound up in his purpose. Glorification is the actual. Being made like Christ.
Again in the language of J.I. Packer. Sinless souls.
Inhabiting deathless bodies. You want a nice simple. Thrilling definition of glorification. That is it.
Go around. Think about yourself. A day is coming. When I will have a sinless soul.
Inhabiting a deathless body.
No hearing aids. To have to get used to when I preach. I won't have to preach anymore. Anyway.
Deathless body. No seeds of death. No medicines.
No falling out of. No hair. And no crippled limbs. And all that goes with it.
A sinless soul. Without the slightest motion. In the direction of sin. To see my brethren.
In greater places of influence. In the new heavens. In the new earth. And not feel the slightest twinge of jealousy.
But rejoice in all the ways. They will bring perhaps more glory to God. Than I am able to bring to God. And there will be the utter selflessness.
Of the soul. In which yielding to one another. And rejoicing in one another's joys. Is as natural as breathing.
Sinless souls. Do you get excited about it? In deathless bodies. That's what glorification will be.
Salvation's Whole: Definitive and Progressive Sanctification
And here the apostle says. Not only does God have this ultimate purpose. In his saving work. That all who are brought within the orbit of that saving work.
Will be conformed to the image of his. Son. But there's an unfailing accomplishment. Of that purpose.
All that he foreknows. He calls. All he calls. He justifies.
All he justifies. He will glorify. But now. Follow me closely.
The point I want to make. And it's so crucial. Is that in this unfailing accomplishment. Of God's purpose.
In the accomplishment of salvation. Calling. Justifying. Glorifying.
Are not the whole. Of that salvation.
They are not the whole. Of that salvation. Paul takes the specimen aspects of that salvation. We can't know it personally.
Until we're called into fellowship with Christ. By faith. So he emphasizes calling. And when we are called.
And united. To Christ. That blessing that meets us on the threshold. God's controversy with us is over.
The court of heaven no longer. Has a bench warrant for us. We are declared righteous. Having declared us righteous.
God will accomplish his ultimate purpose. And glorify us. But those three aspects. Are but specimens.
Of that salvation. By which he brings us. Ultimately to share. The very likeness of Christ.
But in this very epistle. He has made it abundantly clear. That if we are truly called. And justified.
We have also experienced. What has come to be called. Definitive sanctification. Chapter six.
Turn back to chapter six. Having spelled out the glory of justifying grace. In the latter part of chapter six. Chapter three.
All of chapter four. Chapter five. Verses one to eleven. And then the framework of that justifying grace.
In verses twelve to twenty-one. Representative headship. Mirrored in Adam. But now fulfilled in Christ.
Notice chapter six verse one. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin. That grace may abound.
God forbid. We who are such as have died. To sin. How shall we any longer live therein.
Or are you ignorant. That all we who were baptized. Into Christ Jesus. Were baptized into his death.
We were buried therefore with him. Through baptism into death. That like as Christ was raised from the dead. Through the glory of the father.
Even so we also might walk. In newness of life. You see what the apostle is saying. He is saying that in that same calling.
Which united us. To Christ. And gave us such a standing in Christ. That there is no mountain of sin.
We raise that grace is not higher. There has also been a union. With Christ. That has brought us into the category.
Of those who have died. To the dominion of sin. Do you not know. That we who are such as have.
Died to sin. And then he goes on in verse fifteen. And following with the imagery. Of slavery.
And he says we once were the slaves. Of sin verse seventeen. But thanks be to God. That whereas you were the slaves.
Of sin you became obedient. From the heart to that form of teaching. Where unto you were delivered. That is the gospel.
And being made free from sin. You became slaves of righteousness.
The apostle has already made it. Abundantly clear. That in the application of this. Salvation there is not.
Only calling. Leading to justification. But a calling. Leading to a justification.
That is never separated. From a sanctification. That begins. With our union with Christ.
In death burial and resurrection. So that we have died to sins dominion. A change of masters. From unrighteousness.
And sin to righteousness. And to God. And those things are never separated. In the saving work of God.
In Christ. And applied. By the Holy Spirit. Here in this very chapter.
Romans eight. Notice he says in verse twelve. So then brethren we are debtors. Not to the flesh.
To live after the flesh. If you live after the flesh. You must die. Ah but I'm justified.
I'm just backslidden. If you live after the flesh you'll die.
You'll die. If living according to your base natural desires and appetites and perspectives is your life. You are on the way to eternal death. But if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you shall live.
As many as are led by the spirit of God. These are the sons of God. Only such as have come under the dominion of the spirit of God. Who leads into the way of our life.
In the spirit as opposed to a life in the flesh. Only such are God's true sons. Only such are truly justified.
So as we come to study the doctrine. It's vital. That we put this doctrine of justification. Into this fourth strand of its biblical context.
And that context is always remembering. The ultimate purposes. Of God. In salvation.
Is that we should become. Image bearers of God. After the pattern of our glorified Lord Jesus. And the unfailing accomplishment.
Of the purpose of God. In that salvation. So that in everyone. In whom that salvation is being applied.
The whole. The whole of that salvation. Is applied. Not a part of it.
Not a part. This is no pick and choose. Salvation. It's all or nothing.
In Jesus. And if you get into Jesus. You have it all. Including.
Death. To sins dominion. A change of masters. From sin.
To righteousness. Disruption from a life. In the flesh. To a life in the spirit.
A life being led. By your passions. And your lusts. And the world.
And its perspectives. And the life being led. And dominated by the Holy Spirit. Who leads and dominates.
According to the truth and law of God.
The Present Reality of Transformation
It's all or nothing. Because God who is committed. To a salvation that envisions making us like Jesus. Now follow me closely.
He doesn't wait till you die. To begin to make you like Jesus.
Heaven. And glorification. Glorification completes what God begins down here.
He begins by dethroning sin. In our union with Christ. In death and resurrection. He begins by effecting this change of masters.
From sin to righteousness. By his regenerating work. In the indwelling of the spirit. And if that work has not begun in you.
You fool yourself to think it's going to be completed. In your glorification when Christ comes. He begins in that way. Furthermore.
He carries it on. In movement to that goal. Look at 2 Corinthians 3 and verse 18. 2 Corinthians 3 and verse 18.
But we all with unveiled face. Beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord. Are being transformed right now. Into that same image.
From glory to glory. There is a progressive transformation. Into the image of Christ. By the operation of the indwelling spirit.
Even as from the Lord the spirit. Now notice Paul says. But we all. Not just the more serious spiritually minded Christians.
Not just the fully yielded fully dedicated Christians. He says we all. All of us who have come to partake of this new covenant salvation. All of us with unveiled face.
Beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord. That is beholding the Lord Jesus. As he is reflected to us in the scriptures and in the gospel. We are being transformed into that same image.
Why? That's the ultimate purpose of God in salvation. Whom he did. He predestined to be conformed to the image of his son.
But he starts the work here. In our conversion. He carries it on in our progressive sanctification. So that John can say.
He that says he abides in him. Ought himself so to walk here and now. Even as he walked. First John 2.6 He is carrying it on. By this progressive transformation. Into the likeness of Christ. So that the character of Christ.
His meekness. His gentleness. His compassion. His patience.
His love. His tenderness. His zeal. His anger.
All of those qualities. Of his sanctified emotions. Of his relational interaction with people. More and more.
For those character traits are being formed in us. Not in a wooden way. Tacked onto us. The text says we are being transformed.
Something is going on on the inside. There is a transformation. In the very stuff of our character. And we are being transformed into that same image.
From one stage of glory. To another. So what? What God has purposed ultimately to make us.
The perfect but human image bearers of Christ. He begins here and now. In our conversion. And he carries it on in our progressive sanctification.
And bless God he will consummate it. In our glorification for many of us. It will take place in two stages.
When we die and leave this tent. Our spirits. Will be immediately glorified. We will join the company of just men and women.
Made perfect. Then when he returns. Our bodies will be raised up from the grave. And then that perfected spirit and sinless soul.
Will inhabit the deathless body. And the glorification will be complete. But it will not be complete then. Unless it is begun now.
And the only proof it has begun. Now is that it is continuing now. It will not do to look back. At some conversion experience.
But I know I was converted. The evidence that what you had in the past is real. Is what is going on right now. Hereby do we know that we know him if.
And all the if clauses in the book of 1 John are in the present tense. If we keep his commandments. If we love the brethren. If, if, if, if.
Dear people. My heart anticipates with joy. Opening up this grand doctrine of justification. Justification by the imputation of the righteousness of Christ.
A justification received by faith alone. But oh what a tragedy it would be. If we come to the study of this doctrine. And seek to internalize this doctrine.
Out of its God given context.
The context in which. We must ever keep before us. The ultimate purpose of God in salvation. Namely.
To make us like his son. And. The certain unfailing accomplishment of that purpose. In the salvation.
Of sinners.
Distinction Without Separation: Justification and Sanctification
Yes.
Justification is a marvelous blessing. A once for all. Irreversible declaration. Of the corpus.
Court of heaven. That brings near the judgment day. Now. And declares us accepted.
In the beloved. No degree. No increase. No decrease.
We've got to understand that. Justification and sanctification. Are two distinct blessings of God's saving grace. One is objective to us.
It has to do with the court of heaven. The other is subjective and internal. And has to do with what goes. On here on earth.
We must understand the difference. We must understand the way they are conveyed to us. We've got to understand those distinctions. And I will labor.
With all my mind and heart. To make them biblically clear.
But we must never think. Because they are distinct. And separate aspects of God's glorious salvation. They are ever found separated.
In any sinner. To whom God applies his salvation. For he applies. His salvation in Christ.
And the scripture tells us. Of him are you in Christ Jesus. Who of God is made unto us. Wisdom.
Righteousness. Sanctification. And redemption. I had hoped to have time to look with you.
At two other passages. But I don't have time. But you just at your leisure. Go to the Ephesians 5 passage.
And see how clearly this truth. Is set forth. Paul says in chapter 1. God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing.
In the heavenlies in Christ. Even as he chose us in him. Before the foundation of the world. Why?
That we should be holy. And without blemish before him. Not chose us that we should be guiltless. Though that's true.
He goes on to speak of the forgiveness of sins. Accepted in the beloved. But he said holy and without blemish. And when he comes to chapter 5.
And says husbands love your wives. As Christ loved the church. To what end? Not that he might merely preserve it from judgment and hell.
He says he loved the church. Gave himself for it. That he might sanctify it. And present it to himself.
A glorious church. Not having spot or wrinkle. Or any such thing. God's ultimate purpose.
Is that in bringing his people into conformity to his son. His son might have a. Spotless pure bride. Sit down at the marriage supper of the land.
Sharing in that moral purity. And that physical glorification. That he has provided. In his redemption.
The Simple Gospel Call
For you who may sit here today. And say this is all gone clean over my head. I don't have a clue what the preacher has been talking about. Let me try as simply as possible.
To say to you this very simple word. My friend. According to the Bible. You're in bad shape.
Without Christ. And his salvation. You sit. Under the canopy of divine wrath.
And there's only one way to escape it. And that's to go to Jesus Christ. But your problem is not only that you're under divine wrath. You're a slave of sin.
For the Bible said whosoever commits sin is the slave of sin. Furthermore you're a dupe of the devil. The Bible says your whole life is framed by the God of this world. Who blinds you.
Who governs and directs you. And you need deliverance. And you can't deliver yourself. But Christ is the mightier than the devil.
Who defeated him in his cross and his resurrection. And so whatever your need is with reference to the great issues of sin. And forgiveness. And bondage.
And slavery. The answer is in Jesus Christ. Don't miss him. Go to him.
And you will find him a willing and an able savior. Let's pray.
Our Father how we thank you for your word which is a lamp to our feet and a light to our pathway. And we pray that you would take that word that we have sought to open up and apply. Make it effectual to the establishing of your people in the truth. We think of the harm that has come in the history of the church.
When the grand doctrine of justification has been wrenched loose from its biblical context. And we pray that that will not happen here. But that by your grace we will revel in the wonderful privileges of an imputed righteousness. While at the same time panting after greater conformity to the Lord Jesus.
Hear then our prayers and seal your word to all of our hearts we pray. In Jesus worthy name. Amen.
This transcript was generated by automated speech recognition and may contain errors. It is provided for study and reference only; the audio recording is the authoritative source.
Passages Expounded
This passage is the central text, providing the framework for God's ultimate purpose in salvation, from foreknowledge to glorification, and demonstrating the unfailing accomplishment of that purpose.
Texts Expounded
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