Introduction

When we began the sovereignty unit of Romans 8:29-30, we said that there are three major things that can be stated about the text: 1) electing love is the fount of every blessing, 2) electing love is the fount of the blessing of predestination, and 3) electing love is the fount of the blessings of calling, justification and glorification. This has become three different messages.

That electing love is the fount of every blessing is shown by two considerations. First, we have to establish the meaning of foreknow as a term describing the rich notion of electing love. For example, knowing one's spouse is a matter of intimate love that is exclusive and thus elective. This is analogous to God's loving choice of sinners as His bride. Second, we have to establish the relation of foreknow (v. 29) to providence (v. 28). Foreknow loops back as a practical synonym of those for whom God works all things together for good. This reveals a relationship of a loving heart to loving deeds: God's love for His elect manifests itself in His providential care granting them every blessing in working all things for their ultimate, permanent and abiding good. Thus, electing love is the fount of every blessing.

Then we noted that electing love is the fount of the blessing of predestination. Predestination is the pre-determining of a destiny by the power and will of God. The people that God loved, chose and thus owned as His own before the foundation of the world are also the ones for whom He predetermined the destiny of conformity to Christ to share in His preeminence (firstborn means first in rank not first in chronological order) and to thereby attain the end for which man was created (to be God's image reflecting His glory in eternal Sabbath rest).

Today we take up the third part of this sovereignty unit, namely, that electing love is the fount of the blessings of calling, justification, and glorification. These blessing trace their origin back beyond predestination to electing love. Note the chain: those called, justified and glorified are predestined ones and the predestined ones are the loved ones, the foreknown. As providence flows from God's electing love so does predestination, and so does calling, justification and glorification.

My title for this message is "The Blessings of Electing Love." Here Paul does not skip over human history and experience (as he did in v. 29); instead, he selects three events in the lives of God's people that prove the fact of God's providential care (as parts for the whole). Let's consider the nature of these blessings and the comfort of these blessings.

1A. The nature of these blessings

Again we need some precise definitions.

1) We begin with calling (the predestined, he also called)

As to its efficacy, there is a call that can be refused and there is a call that is always obeyed. The first is labeled God's general call and the second is labeled God's special call. His general call is an invitation that He extends to sinners, an offer of privilege, that can be rejected. It goes out to them in the creation and through the preaching of the gospel (Matt. 22:14). His special call is an invitation that is always accepted. Special calling is also referred to as effectual calling, efficacious grace or irresistible grace. It is a direct and personal call from God to the sinner that is effectual (Rev. 19:9). The general call invites one to a privilege and the effectual call brings one to it. Because we always refuse to come (Acts 7:51), an effectual call is needed.

We have effectual calling here in Romans 8:30 because all who are called are also justified and glorified (cf. 3-12-00, God's Call Within His Providence). Some want to read the text with the idea in mind that some who are called may refuse the call. They read it like this: "all people are called but the ones who accept the call are justified" or "the ones who believe are justified." But this reading subtly changes categories from the category cited in the text to a category this is not cited. That is, the text says, "the called are justified." It does not say, "those who believe are justified" (this is taught in other places). The implication for faith here is that since the called ones as a category are justified then all the called are effectually brought to faith by which they are justified.

In summary, God’s effectual call is His immediate and direct action overcoming our resistance and bringing us to faith and thus to the salvation that is received by faith. God’s effectual call is His making Himself known to us and by that establishing communication with us. Because of His electing love God intended our restoration to fellowship with Him. To bring this about in history for us in our alienation, He called out to you and me, got our attention, made Himself known and thus established conversation and fellowship. The sheep are already owned by the Shepherd when He calls them by name and they follow Him (Jn. 10:3).

The Great Shepherd that you did not know called out your name and made Himself known to you so you now know Him and follow Him. By this action on His part your life will never be the same again. The King, the Sovereign, has called you. What a warm and welcome doctrine. What a warm and welcome experience! What a blessing of electing love (making known so we know).

2) Justification (those he called, he justified)

Justification is a court room term and refers to a declaration made by a judge that the person on trial is not guilty. It means to be free from both the condemning and the sin intensifying functions of the law (Rom. 8:1-2; 5:20; 7:8; 1 Cor. 15:56).

Granted, if God makes this declaration then no charge can be made to stick against us. It must be true and just; He must be both just and justifier of those who believe in Christ. But how can this declaration be just and true given the fact that we are sinners? Can it be that we are sinners and God says we are not? How can that be true? We are thus set free from condemnation, but how can this be just given our wrong doing? How is God true and just in this act of justification?

I have asked these questions of many college students. The answers have been interesting, similar and way off the mark. They would usually assert that God is God so He can simply say it is so and it is so. Others liked to emphasize that the basis is saying "I'm sorry." If we ask for forgiveness then God can forgive us. I mention one other answer: some said that it is a matter of faith, if we believe then God makes this declaration.

Note carefully that none of these answers speak to the question on the table. None of them speak to the issue of justice and truth. Let's think about each answer. a) To be sure, God is God and He can do anything He wills that is consistent with His holy nature but He cannot deny Himself. He cannot lie. If He says someone is not guilty that must be true. But we are asking how can it be true when we are in fact sinners-how can we be declared not guilty? b) Also, what does saying "I'm sorry" have to do with the truth of this justifying act? How does an "I'm sorry" effect justice? c) Furthermore, we know that justification is by faith-that no one is justified except by faith-but what does believing have to do with the truth and justice of this courtroom declaration?

We can expose the problem of all of these answers by going down to the courtroom of judge Columbo at the Wayne County Building in Detroit. I know this judge. I had some dealings with him a few years ago. Interestingly, there was a Columbo Sr. as well as his son, Columbo Jr. Let's take someone before the older Columbo. Here is a person, say my wife, who committed a bank robbery. She used a gun, robbed the bank, was caught on film and by the police red-handed. There were many witnesses. Now we are in court. Picture my wife saying to judge Columbo: "sir you are the judge, you are in charge you can simply set me free." If he did so simply because he is the judge and he is in charge, what would we say about him? We would say that He is an unrighteous judge who does not uphold justice (Deut. 25:1; Prov. 17:15). Picture my wife saying, "sir, I am sorry, so let me just walk on out of here." On this basis could he now be true and just if he declared her not guilty? Not at all. Being sorry is a good thing but it has nothing to do with truth or justice. What if my wife told judge Columbo that she believed in his son. Would her faith in the judge's son make a declaration of not guilty true and just? In no way. Her faith has no bearing on the breech of justice or the truth of such a declaration given that she is in fact guilty. To hammer this last point, faith in Christ the Son of the Judge of heaven and earth cannot turn people who are in truth guilty into people who are not guilty; faith has no direct impact on justice. In saying this I am not denying justification by faith.

We are back to our basic question: how can the guilty, even those who believe in Christ, be declared not guilty and that declaration be in fact true and just? To answer this question, we have to clarify what is meant by "guilty." It means liable to punishment. When someone believes, the declaration that they are not guilty is both true and just because they are in fact not liable to punishment. Their liability was endured by Christ on the cross. And the declaration is not unjust because justice was served when Jesus was executed on the cross.

My sin, O the bliss of this glorious thought, my sin, not in part but the whole is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul.

This is the great doctrine of justification by faith in which God is both just and the justifier of those who trust in the Lord Jesus. What a marvelous thought: I am justified, declared not guilty, in the highest court on earth and in heaven. I am justified by the heavenly Judge who knows the full truth about me. This Judge is my Father who owned me as His own, gave me to Christ, and gave Christ to death that I might have justification that brings eternal life (Rom. 5:18, 21).

3) Glorification brings us full circle to the consummation of our hope. We come to the pointed fulfillment of Romans 8:17b, to sharing in Christ's glory. This loops back to the magnitude of the glory that shall be revealed in us, to the glory that gives all present suffering a relative insignificance. This is the glory of the freedom of the children of God that is bound up with the redemption of our bodies (Rom. 8:18-23). The life of the justified is eternal. Our salvation includes our entire existence, body and soul, before heaven and earth, now and forevermore.

2A. The comfort of these blessings (what a pleasant ring is given to election!)

These things are brought up to comfort us in the face of suffering. That is the point of this section in relation to Romans 8:28. The sovereignty unit brings comfort by a remarkable transcendence of history (v. 29) and by a critical touch with history (v. 30).

This helps us through the tough times, through the perplexing times when we feel that our boat is about to sink in the ocean storms of life. We hang on, we pull in the sails, we may unload some weights, we pray, and we work as we wait. We are encouraged to lay aside the sins that easily beset us, to pray, and work and wait with confidence and hope by the knowledge that we will safely reach the distant shore. And there will be a new world, a new humanity with no more tears and no more dying and death. This is a radical resource for comfort.

I cannot help but be reminded of George Whitefield's journals regarding his travels across the ocean from England to the Americas. The journey took many months and there were many hardships such as sea sickness, extremes of warmth and cold, malnutrition, starvation, and death. Many a passenger who began the journey never completed it. I trembled at the reading of his experiences. But He took them up with a sense of calling to serve our risen Savior. On one of his voyages, he wrote the words of this hymn in his journal and I have to apply it to our journey as we presently sail life's ocean through wind, wave, gale, calm, storm and calm again. Regarding Jesus who has "a majestic sweetness" and "a radiant glory" he writes:

He saw me plunged in deep distress, He flew to my relief

For me he bore the shameful cross, and carried all my grief

To him I owe my life and breath, And all the joys I have

He makes me triumph over death, And saves me from the grave

He is bringing my weary feet "to heaven the place of his abode" and He "makes my joys complete." This is a cup of comfort overflowing with joy. It therefore leads to dedication: "Had I a thousand hearts to give, Lord, they should all be thine." This is dedication in the superlative and rightly so.

This is the practical bearing of doctrine on living. Comfort and security beyond compare are given regarding your future and mine. And this directs us to joy and dedication in all we do (with promise of rest always in front of us!).

As we make this journey, we know Him. We have been introduced to Him; He made Himself known to us; we have been ushered into fellowship with Him by His call so we know and trust the risen Lord Jesus as our elder brother.

As we make this journey through wind, wave, storm and calm, we also know that we are sinners, that we have broken God's law, that we contradict His holiness, and that we deserve to be punished for our wrongdoing. But we know something further still, these waves and storms are not displays of God's wrath against us for our sins because God has filled the universe with the sound of His voice proclaiming our justification throughout heaven and earth, for all time and eternity.

As we make this journey in history we are made to pause and to look up and beyond to our glorification. It is stated in no uncertain terms. It is stated as an accomplished fact. It is settled in the mind and purpose of God who foreloved us, who predestined us to conformity to the body of Christ's glory, who called us out of the darkness of our rebellion and alienation into the light of His marvelous grace, who brought us to faith by which we are declared righteous, and who has seated us with Christ in the heavenlies, glorified now in Him with a glory to be consummated when we reach eternal Sabbath rest by His power and will.

These thoughts are comforting. They explode the mind. They point us to the unspeakable gift of God's own Son. They inform us of a love that has a breath, height, and depth beyond our comprehension. They make up a shot gun blast of blessing upon blessing. It is like a crescendo of music that reaches higher and higher, wider and wider, farther and farther in order to make sure that we get the message- thick headed souls that we are. We are loved. You are loved. I am loved. These are the blessings that flow from the fountain of electing love.

May we therefore take comfort, rejoice, savor these thoughts, and then, like Whitefield, make our journey a journey of service despite the waves and storms. May God grant us the assurance that flows from knowing that His electing love overflows in the works of providence, in the blessing of predestination and in the blessings of calling, justification, and glorification. To Him be the glory forever, Amen!