Good morning. We will be continuing in our review of Romans. Today, we will be looking at the second part of Romans 8.
I divide Romans 8 into three different parts. The grand finale, at the end, is Romans 8:31 through the end. But today we will be looking at Romans 8:17b through 30. So let us read those verses.
If indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified with Him.
For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the coming glory to be revealed to us.
For the anxious looking out of the creature expects the revelation of the sons of God.
For the creature has been made subject to vanity, not of its will, but by reason of Him Who has subjected the same, in hope that the creature itself also shall be set free from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God.
For we know that the whole creation groans together and travails in pain together until now.
And not only that, but even we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, we also ourselves groan in ourselves, awaiting adoption—that is, the redemption of our body.
For we have been saved in hope, but hope seen is not hope. For what anyone sees, why does he also hope?
But in that we see not, we hope; we expect in patience.
And in like manner, the Spirit joins also Its help to our weakness, for we do not know what we should pray for as is fitting; but the Spirit itself makes intercession with groanings which cannot be uttered.
But He Who searches the hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because He intercedes for saints according to God.
But we do know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to purpose; because whom He has foreknown, He has also predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He should be the firstborn among many brethren. But whom He has predestinated, these also He has called; and whom He has called, these also He has justified; but whom He has justified, these also He has glorified.
Let us have a word of prayer.
Lord, we are so grateful today that we could be in Your presence, remembering You. What a joy it is always to have a place at the King’s table. We bless You and thank You.
What a joy, O Father, to return and thank You for that unspeakable free gift of Christ. As our brother Josh said, You gave everything. You withheld from us nothing.
Now, as we turn to Your Word, we ask for a special blessing: that You would open our eyes—not just our natural eyes, but the eyes of our heart—to see what is in Your Word. Open our ears to understand what the Spirit is saying to the churches. Grant us the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of You, to understand that Your words are spirit and life.
We agree together in the name of our Lord Jesus that You would release those words. We ask this together in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.
Well, I sent out an email to you. I think most of you probably saw it. If you did not, I will try to help you. I am changing something on you already—forgive me.
As I was meditating this morning, I expanded the title by one word. Remember, I told you it would be From Suffering to Glory. I want to insert a word because, as you will see, it is really the heartbeat of these passages: Sonship From Suffering to Glory. I think that is a better title.
We have read the text. We will look at four areas. I think it breaks down this way, at least the way I see it:
As we begin this morning, I want to remind you that we have come to the height of the book of Romans. Chapter 8 is the summit. We have reached the mountaintop of God’s revelation of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. You cannot get any higher than this.
I remember that I used to be sort of a National Geographic freak. I loved receiving National Geographic, and for years we kept copies. I think Linda has thrown them away; I am not sure. But I would pour through those copies.
I was always interested in Mount Everest, the highest summit on earth—29,032 feet—and how people risk their lives, honestly risk their lives, to reach that summit. Many have laid down their lives trying to go up there, put down a stake, and say, “I was here.”
Well, our summit is far greater than Mount Everest. Mount Everest is just a small hill compared to the summit of God that we have been brought to. We should understand that as we come to this chapter.
We see God’s great purpose in this chapter—His highest thought for man. We see the portion we have in Christ Jesus, an unbelievable portion. In these thirteen and a half verses, we read something so comprehensive: how sonship, how being made sons of God, comes into being.
For those who have not understood somewhat of my outline, this second part of Romans, after justification, is sanctification. In the end, sanctification can best be described as the making of sons—the perfecting of sons. That is what these thirteen and a half verses deal with.
It talks about suffering to glory. Sometimes, I think we as believers focus on our suffering. This passage does not focus on our suffering. It does not ignore our suffering, but what it focuses on is the glory.
What we have to see as believers is the glory set before us. We have been given aid beyond anything the angels could comprehend. The Holy Spirit of God is that indwelling power by which we are made sons.
We also see this great purpose of God: from the beginning, He was looking for many sons to be brought to glory. He loves His Son. We have heard that He gives His Son everything. But He had another thought—an unspeakable thought.
Again, the angels would be jealous of us. Do not ever think that you want to be like the angels. They will never be sons. They will only be ministering servants, as Hebrews says. But you and me, brothers and sisters, will literally be the sons of God, made in His image to express Who He is for all eternity. How marvelous and how glorious that is.
I think we see the grandest imaginable purpose in Romans 8:29: that we are conformed to the image of His Son. If I were telling you that and you did not have a Bible, did not know this verse, and had not been taught it for so many years, you might be provoked to call me a liar.
But when you look at the Word of God, this is the end purpose of God: His Son, Who fills everything, expressed in many sons—us. Now, that is glory. You want a definition of glory? That is glory: His Son, the all-glorious One, and the many sons who reflect all that He is.
Now let us look at this thought of suffering and glory. I know people think suffering is such a negative thing. But for one being made a son, suffering is a necessary thing. You need to understand it.
I have actually talked to believers, many who used to meet with us, who said Christians should never suffer. I do not know where they get that from. If you read Romans 8:17, it says:
If indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified with Him.
How marvelous. Notice: it is with Him. Sometimes we are so focused on what we go through in such a negative way that all we consider is our suffering. But these are not just ordinary sufferings. These are sufferings with Him. That is the emphasis.
And this is glory with Him. That is the emphasis. I like the way Darby explains it in his note. He says, “This is co-suffering, that we might be partakers of co-glory.”
That explains everything you will go through in life as a believer—one who is being sanctified, one who is being made a son of God. Our Christian life is not absent from suffering. Every Christian who knows the Lord, walks with the Lord, and has the indwelling Spirit will certainly go through difficulties and sufferings.
You cannot deny that when you read the Bible. It is apparent in the Bible. It is not just apparent in the Bible; it is necessary in the transformative work that makes us from children of God into fully matured sons of God, reflecting the glory of the only begotten Son.
When Paul spoke to his beloved son in the faith, Timothy, in his last letter, he said in 2 Timothy 3:12—I will read from the King James Version:
Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
If the Lord was persecuted, we will be persecuted. The Lord said, “If they hated Me, they will hate you.” We will go through many things.
Do you remember what Paul and Barnabas said to those Asian believers in Acts 14:22?
Through many tribulations we shall enter the kingdom of God.
It was our Lord’s way, and it shall be our way. Do you understand this? I do not want to present only a negative thought, because if you understand these thirteen and a half verses, you will never look at suffering as negative again.
You will be transformed by seeing the glory reserved for you as a child of God, to be made into a full-grown, mature son.
It was the Lord’s way. In Hebrews 2:10, the One Who did not deserve suffering—the One Who never did anything wrong—went by this way.
For it became Him, for Whom are all things, and by Whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make perfect the leader of their salvation through sufferings.
His path is our path. Please understand that.
Now let me get to the positive part. Suffering is necessary to transform us into sons of God, but suffering is not the end. Do you understand that?
Please remember this. If you do not remember anything else, remember this: suffering is absolutely necessary to transform us into sons of God, but suffering is not our end, brothers and sisters.
This first verse and a half tells us that our end is glory. Our end is not suffering. How encouraging that ought to be to you and me.
Romans 8:17b begins with suffering and ends with “that we may also be glorified with Him.” This whole section dedicated to sonship ends in Romans 8:30: “These also He has glorified.”
How wonderful that is. Glory is our end. Glory is our certain destiny. Suffering is not our destiny. Suffering is a means to an end, but it is not our destiny.
Paul contemplated this truth. If you read Romans 8:18, he came to a grand conclusion:
For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the coming glory to be revealed to us.
I like the way the King James Version puts it: “The glory which shall be revealed in us.” That is even better, I think. I thank the Lord that this is our determined destiny.
Paul contemplated suffering. No one knew suffering as a human being like Paul. No one. You remember when he was called on the road to Damascus, and Ananias was fearful even to go pray for him. Ananias questioned God. Did God realize who this dastardly man was, the man ravaging His church?
The Lord said, “Oh, I realize. I know. But he is a vessel, an elect vessel, and I will show him how much he will suffer for My name’s sake.”
That is Paul’s history. If you want to understand the apostle Paul, you need to meditate on 2 Corinthians. I will never forget the beloved Brother Kong saying that 2 Corinthians is Paul’s autobiography. If you are going to know Paul, read 2 Corinthians.
In 2 Corinthians 4, you see the unbelievable sufferings he went through. In 2 Corinthians 11, you read of the tremendous perils he endured. It is unmistakable: this man suffered more than any man for Christ.
But his focus was not on the sufferings. That is what is so beautiful. He contemplated them. He knew the things he would go through, but he reckoned that the sufferings of this present time were not worthy to be compared with the coming glory to be revealed in us.
Have we made that calculation? The word reckon, which we have talked about many times, is a particular Pauline word and particularly important in Romans. It is a calculating word.
For you people who are accountants and like those kinds of things, you actually make a calculation. When you make a calculation, you arrive at a conclusion through comparison. That is exactly what Paul did. He reckoned. He calculated. He methodically thought about all those things.
He came to the conclusion that the sufferings could not compare to the glory that was about to be revealed in us. I think that is wonderful. I think that is what it means: suffering to glory.
William R. Newell explained it well. He said that reckon is a favorite word of Paul’s. It represents faith in action, but it is a calculated, particular action of faith.
You look at things as they are, and then you make a conclusion based on what those things are. That conclusion cannot be contested: the glory prepared for us is incomparable to the suffering. There is no comparison.
I remember a book by J. Oswald Sanders, The Incomparable Christ. I have always loved that title. Sanders understood the incomparable Christ, and Paul understood the incomparable glory that comes through sufferings and makes us into sons of God.
In 2 Corinthians 4:17–18, Paul says:
For our momentary and light affliction worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;
While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen:
For the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
When you go through sufferings in the Lord, is your estimation that these are momentary and light afflictions? It was Paul’s estimation. It was what Paul saw and what Paul reckoned. As pilgrims in this walk, this ought to be our estimation likewise.
Notice that Paul says these afflictions “work for us.” He did not sit around thinking, “What words can I add here to make this sentence complete?” He said these things work for us. They work for us a surpassing, eternal weight of glory.
What a perspective. When you walk in this life as a believer being sanctified and made a son through all of God’s dealings, this must be your perspective. Otherwise, you are going to look at your sufferings and ask, “Why me? Why, Lord?”
Peter did the same thing. The context of 1 Peter and 2 Peter is a suffering church—the diaspora. They had been driven out by persecution into far-flung places. Peter wanted to give them the highest assurance that these sufferings were not in vain and that they produced an eternal weight of glory.
In 1 Peter 5:10–11, he says:
But the God of all grace, Who hath called you unto His eternal glory in Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a little while, Himself shall make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you.
To Him be the glory and the dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
How beautiful that is: “a little while.” Our sufferings are momentary and light afflictions. Our sufferings work for us an eternal weight of glory. Our sufferings are only for a little while.
It seems like just yesterday that I was twenty when I was saved. You can explain to me later where those fifty-three years went. It was a moment—a moment. If you asked me to recall all the things I have gone through, I could not. But I would say, “Thank God.”
There is a brother in the Lord I want to mention: Paul Billheimer. He is well known for two books. One is Destined for the Throne. That is what you are as a son of God: you are destined for the throne, to reign with Christ and rule with Christ for all eternity.
The second book is Don’t Waste Your Sorrows. It is a companion book. This is one who understood the necessity of sufferings and the coming glory. Sufferings are a tool that enables us to reign with Christ. Without that intervention of God in sorrow, we can never reign with Christ fully.
How encouraging the Word is: it is not the suffering; it is the glory. Once you have tasted the glory to come, the glory that is yours in Christ Jesus, you will never think again that these sufferings are beyond anything imaginable—even if they are.
Let us look at the travail of creation and the creature. This is the biggest part of Romans 8:18–25. These verses give divine insight into what is happening in this present evil age.
That phrase comes from Galatians 1:4. We live in a present evil age. The whole world lies in the evil one. Do not think for a moment that this world is your home. Do not become so comfortable that you spend all of your life and energy making a place here.
Remember what is said of the Lord Jesus when He walked upon the earth:
Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man hath not where to lay His head.
Brothers and sisters, this is not our home. Our home is unspeakable glory—glory that cannot be imagined, glory that cannot be explained, glory that can only be entered into as we yield to the work of God, Who uses all these things to work for us an eternal weight of glory.
In this second part, you begin to see travailing. You begin to see groaning. The creation itself and the creatures—that is us; I am not calling you a dog or a hippopotamus, but you are a creature—are groaning from within for the manifestation of the sons of God.
Only then will the divine plan be complete. This is their great expectation, their earnest expectation, their longed-for expectation.
Let me read Romans 8:19 in the King James Version. I like it better there. It describes this travail, this groaning, this agony, this childbirth, this waiting to produce something:
For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
That is a complete explanation. They are groaning. They are waiting. It is their greatest expectation, their earnest expectation, their longed-for expectation: that ultimately we will be done with this present evil age, and there will be manifested fully, with the only Son, those many sons He has brought to glory.
I remember laboring through Great Expectations in school when I was a young man. I did not read the whole book. I never could. Charles Dickens’ famous book is somewhere around 480 to 500 pages. I have determined to read the Bible many times, but I do not think I will ever read Great Expectations.
I actually got an A in English. Linda does not believe that, but I did. In every English course I took in college, I got an A. Miracles do happen.
I think I must have used Cliff Notes—the wonderful little yellow books from before you had the internet, where you could cheat and act as though you understood the whole book, its theme, its beginning, and its end. Then, when you had to give those dreadful oral book reports, you could act as though you had read the book.
But it is a book that gives a good illustration of what God is doing in us. There is Pip, a poor orphan, suffering in an awful orphanage. Eventually, Pip was adopted. Pip was destined to be transformed into a gentleman of class.
Do not take the illustration too far, because it is a dreadful book in so many ways. But here was one totally lost, an orphan, without hope and without God in the world. He was rescued out of that orphanage and transformed into a person of class.
His great expectation did not turn out so great in the end. But our great expectation is different. When we reach the end, we will see the most glorious thing God has ever imagined: His only Son finally revealed in all His glory, and His many sons reflecting the glory of His only Son.
That is our great expectation. Is it your great expectation? It should be. The groaning, the travail, the waiting, and the longing for the manifestation of the sons of God are what we need to see.
When you look at Romans 8:20–21, it speaks of the curse God put upon the world after Adam and Eve sinned.
For the creature has been made subject to vanity, not of its will, but by reason of Him Who has subjected the same, in hope that the creature itself also shall be set free from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God.
That is what happened in Genesis. When Adam and Eve sinned, they were cursed. Not only were they cursed; creation was cursed. Satan was cursed. God said that he would crawl upon his belly. Creation was cursed with thorns and thistles. Man and woman were subject to vanity—not of their own will, but because of their actions.
But there is the greatest hope. That is why Paul begins to focus on the word hope. Beginning in these verses, you see hope many times.
The greatest hope comes out in Genesis 3 in the pronouncement of the curse. When God was cursing Satan, He said that the seed of the woman would come forth through the travail of childbirth, crush the serpent’s head, and have His heel bruised.
That is what the cross did. His heel was crushed—that part that touched the earth—but He crushed Satan’s head. The curse was removed because, as we read in Galatians 3:13, He became a curse for us.
We are the ones to be made sons of God. This hope is so clear in Romans 8:22–23:
For we know that the whole creation groans together and travails in pain together until now.
And not only that, but even we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, we also ourselves groan in ourselves, awaiting adoption—that is, the redemption of our body.
Now this word adoption requires us to look back at Romans 8:15, which we talked about last time:
For ye have not received a spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received a spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
If you read Brother Darby’s notes, the Greek word translated adoption is the same as sonship. This is what the whole creation is longing and groaning for: that one day there will be the full manifestation of the sons of God.
Paul, in his summary chapter on the gospel—Romans 8—is saying, “This is what is happening in the world. This is the reason things are happening in the world. This is the reason suffering has gone on from creation.” God, in the end, is wanting something spectacular and full of glory: the full manifestation of the sons of God.
Romans 8:24–25 says:
For we have been saved in hope. But hope seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
But if we hope for that which we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.
Underline that phrase in your Bible: “We expect in patience.” Is this your earnest expectation—to be a fully matured son of God, reflecting the glory that is only in the beloved Son of God? This is what we expect in patience.
This is our grand hope. This is our great expectation. Pip had nothing on us. He ended up disappointed, but we will never be disappointed. The glory revealed for you and for me is certainly incomparable.
To make sure this happens, God does some things. If it depends on you, it will never happen. If it depends on me, you know it will not happen. If you want proof, go talk to Linda.
It must depend upon the Lord. The Lord did the unthinkable: to this groaning creation and these groaning creatures, He put the indwelling Holy Spirit into those whom He has charged to transform into sons of God.
Not yourself. This is the most wonderful thing. What could be more wonderful than God the Holy Spirit dwelling in you?
As 2 Corinthians says:
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
God put the Holy Spirit, one of the Triune God, in you. He is the expert Who takes up the charge to transform you from an ugly caterpillar—pardon me, an ugly butterfly; thank you for your help—to a beautiful butterfly.
I think butterflies are among the most beautiful creatures on earth. I admire the people who have insect collections, where they carefully pin those beautiful butterflies. I would not have the patience for it.
Who could have thought of those glorious colors but God the Creator? They are so beautiful, so magnificent, so graceful.
The word used when it speaks of us being transformed is metamorpho, the Greek word from which we get metamorphosis. You know what it means: the caterpillar changes and is eventually transformed into a beautiful butterfly.
When you see that butterfly fly and when you see it light, you see something of the glory of creation. That is what God is doing. And the One He has put in charge of this is God the Holy Spirit. He dwells in you.
Now, our problem is that we often ignore God the Holy Spirit. He is such a gentleman. If you stop listening to Him, He will stop talking to you.
There is an awesome warning in the Bible:
Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God.
This is your way out. This is the way you will be transformed into the glory that is only in the Lord Jesus. That is why He has put Him in us.
He knows we are but dust. He knows our weaknesses. Psalm 103:14 says:
For He knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are dust.
He knows our weaknesses, and the Holy Spirit is put within us to overcome those weaknesses. Romans 8 points out one particular weakness: we do not know how to pray as we ought. But that is not your only weakness. You have legions of weaknesses.
God the Father has put the promise of the Father—the Holy Spirit—within you to live there and dwell there. If you read 1 John, you begin to discover how important it is to listen to the unction of the Holy Spirit.
You will never be made a son. You will never be transformed—metamorphosed—unless you begin to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. That is Romans 8. That is the theme.
Do you remember the verse?
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
The abiding Holy Spirit, the indwelling Holy Spirit, is making you a son and bringing you into the fullness of glory.
He is our intercessor on earth. Romans 8:26 says:
And in like manner the Spirit also helpeth our infirmity: for we know not how to pray as we ought; but the Spirit Himself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
Think of that. You have within you a divine Intercessor living in you, interceding for you according to the will of God. He knows the will of God. He knows the end of God. He knows the purpose of God.
All of His energy is dedicated to transforming you and me from what we were to what we shall be in the Lord Jesus. This is so beautiful: a divine Intercessor.
We can depend upon that divine intercession. We can turn to that divine intercession. We can live by that divine Intercessor’s unctions and leading. If we do, we will become sons—mature sons, grown-up sons.
The Lord did not only give us a divine Intercessor on earth. Do you remember Hebrews 7:25? It is speaking of the great High Priest:
Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them.
That was the highlight of the Old Testament illustration of a high priest. The earthly high priest was human, failed, and had to make offerings even for his own sins. But we have not only a divine Intercessor on earth; we have a divine Intercessor in heaven: the Lord Jesus.
Do you think God could have done more? He put the Holy Spirit in you, and He is called the guarantee, the seal of the inheritance, to bring you to the place God has determined to bring you.
Not only that, but the Lord Jesus Himself, at the right hand of the Majesty on high, is ever living and praying for you—that you will be transformed from this caterpillar, this ugly hairy thing, into a butterfly.
I do not like caterpillars. I love butterflies. That is the transformation work He is doing. Praise the Lord for that.
This is the aid of the Holy Spirit: the earthly Intercessor Who lives in us. Then we have the Lord Jesus, the heavenly Intercessor, Who makes sure all of the groanings we cannot utter are brought to the Father.
Do you think for a moment that the Father will deny those requests? Impossible. Impossible.
This gives me hope that you and me can be transformed from glory into glory. Why would God do such a thing? How did He come up with it? To me, it is spectacular.
There is an author I like, James Denney, an old Scottish theologian. He talked about this glory into which we are being transformed, and he called it a reflective glory. I like that.
It is never your glory. It is never my glory. It is always His glory.
The only illustration I can think of that comes close enough is in Genesis. I think I mentioned the wrong chapter earlier. Genesis 3 is after the Fall. But in the creation account, God says, “Let there be two great lights”—one to rule by day, the great light, and one to rule by night, the lesser light.
The great light is the sun—S-U-N. The lesser light is the moon. Think of the moon. The moon is just a big rock. It has no glory in itself, no light in itself, nothing in itself.
If the sun were not in the sky, the moon would never glow. But the moon glows. I love a full moon. Linda gets tired of me saying it. Every time there is a full moon and the yard is bright with light, I say, “Did you see the full moon?” And she says, “Yes, Kitty, I saw the full moon. You mention it every time.”
It shines and brightens the earth. But it is not its glory. It is reflective glory. Moonlight is reflected sunlight.
Now I am getting to the point: S-O-N. It will never be our glory. We make a mistake if we think that. It is manifest glory indeed, but it is glory that comes from the only begotten Son of God and shines through us as we are transformed.
As it says in 2 Corinthians, we are transformed from glory to glory by the Spirit, beholding the glory of the Lord. That is from suffering to glory. I think that is beautiful. That is something we need to see.
The last thing is the great purpose. There are only three verses, but so much is in Romans 8:28–30.
In the preceding verses, it says that we do not know how to pray as we ought. That is an important phrase. God gives the Holy Spirit because we groan within ourselves, awaiting adoption—or being manifested as sons of God.
Brothers and sisters, God hears the groanings of His people. He will never neglect the groanings of His people.
I think of Exodus, a beautiful book. It is a roadmap for us in the Old Testament, a living illustration of what happens to us. God called the children of Israel out of bondage and delivered them with a great deliverance. They were under terrific difficulties beneath Pharaoh and the Egyptians.
In Exodus 6:5, God says:
And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage; and I have remembered My covenant.
Is that not beautiful? Our groanings, He hears. Our groanings, He acts upon. Our groanings move Him to accomplish what He has always purposed. I think that is more than wonderful.
In Romans 8:26, we do not know what we should pray for as is fitting. But then, in Romans 8:28, it says, “But we do know.” Is that not beautiful?
Romans 8:26 says we do not know. Left to ourselves, we would be ignorant. But because of the Holy Spirit, when we come to Romans 8:28, we can say that we do know:
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.
Brothers and sisters, that is such a beautiful verse. This is God’s great purpose. Often, I think we use that verse wrongly. We may try to encourage someone who does not know the Lord by saying, “You know all things work together for good.”
I do not have a problem with encouraging someone to come to the Lord. I am all for that. But this is a specific promise, an assurance reserved not for the people of the world but for the people of God who are being transformed into sons.
It has two conditions: “to those who love God” and “to those who are called according to purpose.” Before we were saved, we did not love God. We loved ourselves.
We should read the verse as a whole. Here is God’s great purpose for those of us called to be sons, those called according to the highest purpose ever imagined—the purpose of all eternity: the Son and many sons.
Everything works together for good. Do you understand? That is what makes this verse beautiful.
I remember Oswald Chambers. I think many of you know him. He only lived to be about forty-three years old. He lived a very short life, but he did a great work.
One of his greatest works was the devotional My Utmost for His Highest. I cannot think of a more beautiful phrase. Oh, that we as the people of God, being sanctified and made sons, would have that utterance and groaning in our hearts: “My utmost for His highest.”
There is nothing I can spend or be spent on that is more important than that single great ambition, that great expectation.
I remember, as a young engineer struggling in my career, being given two books by Oswald Chambers. A dear brother in the Lord came to our home and presented me with these two treasures.
As I began reading through them, I found a statement I have never forgotten: “God engineers our circumstances.”
He calculates. It is a precise thing on His part. It is something intended to produce that final design He is looking for. I think we should understand that.
Romans 8:29–30 tells us what God will do. Romans 8:28 is His purpose. He has purposed a great purpose. Do you think it will come to pass? You do not need to question that. It is absolutely certain.
Romans 8:29–30 tells us not only what God has purposed but what God will do. There are five things He says God will do:
For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Moreover whom He did predestinate, them He also called: and whom He called, them He also justified: and whom He justified, them He also glorified.
Is that not beautiful? He gives us assurance that our destiny in glory is certain. He says, “I have purposed this great purpose, and I have determined to do these great things.”
He has known us from before the foundation of the world. Ephesians 1:4 says that before the world ever was, He foreknew us. Before you were thought of, before you were conceived, He foreknew you.
Not only that, but He predestinated us to be conformed to the image of His Son. This was His eternal intention. Do you think, with that predestination, it will not happen? I hardly think so. It is certain that it will happen.
Whom He predestinated, those He also called. Remember what Paul said in Romans 1:1: “Paul, a called apostle.” And in Romans 1:6, speaking of those in the church at Rome: “Ye are the called of Jesus Christ.”
The very name of the church, the assembly, means called-out ones gathered together. The reason they are gathered together is that they may, in the end, be manifested as sons of God, reflecting the glory of the only begotten Son.
But He says something else: those He has called, He has justified. We looked at the first five chapters of Romans, which speak of our justification. Not only did He purpose it, but He will do it.
He foreknew you, predestinated you, called you, and justified you. God sees you in Christ as righteous. He does not see you as righteous in yourself; He sees you in Christ as righteous. Christ is our righteousness, as 1 Corinthians 1:30–31 says.
But He did more than that. It amazes me that Paul leaves out “sanctified” here. I wish Paul had written another phrase: “He whom He justified, He sanctifies.” But he did not say that.
Instead, he says, “Whom He justified, these also He has glorified.” To God, the work is done. To us, it is not done. To God, He sees it complete. He sees the work of sanctification as fully accomplished.
We do not see it that way because we are being made sons, but He sees it that way. He is certain of it. Notice that Paul puts it in the past tense. He does not say, “will be glorified.” The Holy Spirit was very careful with the words He gave to the apostle Paul: “These also He has glorified.”
Brothers and sisters, this is sonship from suffering to glory. Can there be a higher purpose for mankind? Can there be any glory that could ever compare to this glory—that we will fully manifest Who the Son of God is through that reflective glory?
This purpose can never fail. This purpose is of absolute certainty. This purpose has been purposed by God, and then He adds five things He will do to ensure it is done.
In the end, we will be many sons conformed to the image of the only Son. How we need to bow that this was written for us. How we need to worship the Lord that these words were left for us, that the apostle Paul, by the Holy Spirit, penned these things for us.
Is our hope uncertain? Never. Is our glory questionable? No. He has purposed it, and He says, “I will do it.” He says it in the past tense.
That is what we should do: bow in worship before this One Who is doing a work in us to sanctify us—to make us sons.
Let us pray.
Lord, sometimes these things are too hard to explain, but I am so thankful they are true. Where would we be without Your Word? Where would we be without this hope?
We do not see it manifested yet, but we see the One Who purposed it. We see the One Who planned it. We see the One Who has given every aid that it would be accomplished.
In the end, we see the One Who does it. We rejoice, and we groan in travail until that day fully comes, when You, Father, have Your only Son and Your many sons.
Bless the name of the Lord forever. Amen.