Slides: God’s Golden Chain

God’s Golden Chain
Romans 8:28-30

²⁸ And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. ²⁹ For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. ³⁰ And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

God’s Golden Chain

• Foreknew
• Predestined
• Called
• Justified
• Glorified

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Foreknew
For those God foreknew…

You only have I known [chosen] of all the families of the earth. (Amos 3:2)

God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew [chose]. (Romans 11:2)

He was foreknown [chosen] before the foundation of the world. (1 Peter 1:20)

Unconditional election

You did not choose me, but I chose you. (John 15:16).

God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things... so that no one may boast before him. (1 Cor 1:28-29).

’Tis not that I did choose Thee,
For, Lord, that could not be;
This heart would still refuse Thee,
Hadst Thou not chosen me;
Thou from the sin that stained me,
Hast cleansed and set me free,
Of old Thou hast ordained me,
That I should live to Thee.

The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples. (Deuteronomy 7:6-7)

Predestined

For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

Chosen and predestined

God chose us in Christ before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. (Ephesians 1:4-6)

Called
Those he predestined, he also called.

He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out... his sheep follow him because they know his voice. (John 10:3-4).

The Lord added to their number those who were being saved. (Acts 2:47)

All who were appointed to eternal life believed. (Acts 13:48)

The Lord opened her heart, to respond to Paul's message. (Acts 16:14).

We know, brothers, loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit, and with deep conviction... you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. (1 Thessalonians 1:4-6).

He moved my soul

I sought the Lord, and afterward I knew
He moved my soul to seek him, seeking me;
It was not I that found, O Savior true,
No, I was found, was found of thee.

I find, I walk, I love, but, O the whole
Of love is but my answer, Lord, to thee;
For thou wert long beforehand with my soul,
Always, always thou lovest me. 

Justified
Those he called, he also justified.

I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers. (Luke 22:32).

Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? (Romans 8:33-34)

Glorified
Those he justified, he also glorified.

I have given them the glory that you gave me. (John 17:22)

God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:6-7)

Spirit of glory

Rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. (1 Peter 4:13-14)

God’s Golden Chain

• Foreknew
• Predestined
• Called
• Justified
• Glorified

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

In all things God works

The eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ… is my God and Father because of Christ his Son. I trust him so much that I do not doubt he will provide whatever I need for body and soul, and he will turn to my good whatever adversity he sends me in this sad world. He is able to do this because he is almighty God; he desires to do this because he is a faithful Father. (Heidelberg Catechism A. 26)

Providence

Providence is the almighty and ever present power of God by which he upholds, as with his hand, heaven and earth and all creatures, and so rules them that leaf and blade, rain and drought, fruitful and lean years, food and drink, health and sickness, prosperity and poverty—all things, in fact, come to us not by chance but from his fatherly hand. (Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 27)

His purpose in all things

In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will. (Ephesians 1:11)

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)

Certain hope

He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 1:8)

He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:6)

Is the salvation connection partly from God and partly from me?

Salvation is from God. This brings:

• Glory to God
• Security to us

God’s Golden Chain

• Foreknew
• Predestined
• Called
• Justified
• Glorified

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.