Romans 8:28-30 The Everlasting Security of the Believer (part 1)

Everlasting Security

I was saved (justification); I am being saved (sanctification), I will be saved (glorification). The Word of God promises: I am sure of this, that He who started a good work in you [plural] will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus (Phil 1:6 HCSB). Everyone the Father gives Me will come to Me . . . This is the will of Him who sent Me: that I should lose none of those He has given Me but should raise them up on the last day (John 6:37, 39 HCSB). My sheep are hearing My voice, I am knowing them, and they are following Me. I give them everlasting life, and they will never perish—ever! No one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand (John 10:27-29). For anyone to undo everlasting salvation, they would have to have more power than God the Father, which is impossible. The Bible says: All the inhabitants of the earth are counted as nothing, and He does what He wants with the army of heaven and the inhabitants of the earth. There is no one who can hold back His hand or say to Him, ‘What have You done?’ (Dan 4:35 HCSB) Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son so that the Son may glorify You, for You gave Him authority over all flesh; so, He may give everlasting life to all You have given Him (John 17:1-2). [Eternal = something or someone that has no beginning and no end. Everlasting = something or someone that had a beginning but does not have an ending—forever and ever.] Once you receive everlasting life, it lasts forever.

I.                  The believer victoriously awaits the future glory that he/she will receive at the moment of glorification vs. 24-39

D.     He/she continuously awaits glorification with a certain assurance concerning his/her past, present, and future salvation vs. 28

1. God is working behind the scenes to complete His will in the lives of His children (the selected or called ones = those who love God)

2. God is using the diverse circumstances to bring about something good in the future for His people. Unbelievers are not addressed here

3. God has the power and ability to direct His world for His people, who are described as those who love God, which are those who were called by God to salvation as part of His worldwide plan of redemption

E.      He/she waits continuously, knowing that God is working out His purposes in this world, especially His purpose and will for their salvation vs. 28-30

1. God is the subject of vs. 28-30, and all believers are the objects of the 5 verbs. Thus, we can have complete confidence in God that He will complete in us what He started and not change His mind (Mal 3:6)

2. God is infinite and eternal and outside of time. He exists in the past, present, and future all at once, and His omniscience makes it impossible for Him to save someone in our past and then un-save them in the future because of human weakness  

3. This is God’s gold-plated steel chain of salvation with five links

a)     ‘Foreknew’ proginosko to love beforehand, to select beforehand, to foreordain (in some other contexts it can be to know a thing in advance, but not here)

b)     ‘Predestined’ prooridzo decide upon beforehand, predetermine destiny, a predetermined plan that each believer would be like Jesus in character, displaying God’s glory as children of God and the preeminence of Jesus

c)      ‘Called’ kaleo God’s invitation to salvation or summons to discipleship

d)     ‘Justified’ dikaioo to be acquitted before God, declared righteous in God’s courtroom in heaven

e)     ‘Glorified’ doxadzo to receive a glorified body and cleansed soul that are rejoined at the resurrection of the righteousness at the return of Jesus Christ

4. These are past tense events in the plan of God and in the believer’s life except the last one (glorified). Paul uses five past tense verbs to describe all five events. Why would Paul speak of a future event as if it had already occurred (glorification)? Because it is so certain to happen, once the process of salvation starts for a person, it is guaranteed to be completed by the God who cannot lie (Titus 1:2) [doxadzo is a gnomic aorist active third person singular verb].

 

See David Steele and Curtis Thomas, 1963, Romans: An Interpretive Outline, Phillipsburg, NJ: p. 70.

Romans 8:17b-27: The Holy Spirit, Glorification, and Everlasting Security

Paul is presenting the person and the power of the Holy Spirit as the only way of living a godly life. A true believer lives the Christian life in the power of the Holy Spirit. The personal presence of the Holy Spirit and His gift of everlasting life to every believer make clear the everlasting security for everyone who is genuinely in a new covenant relationship with Jesus the Messiah (in Christ).

I.                  The believer’s present suffering is a small thing when compared with the certain future glory awaiting every child of God vs. 17b-18

A.     Paul says, I continually take note of the fact, I consider, I think on the truth that present pain is nothing compared to future gain (John 16:33; Rom 5:3; 2 Cor 1:6)

B.     One should focus their mind on the future glory rather than today’s troubles

C.     Suffering, not prosperity, is the normal lot of believers who are at war with the world, the flesh, and the devil, but suffering is temporary and is a prelude to glorification (which is a onetime event that happens to us) [Acts 5:41, 9:16]

II.                The earth’s present creation longs for the future glory vs. 19-23

A.     All of creation continually yearns for the revealing of the sons of God at the return of Christ at the glorification event vs. 19

B.     After the glorification event, the curse on the earth from the fall is lessened (during the millennium) [Isa 65:19-25] and then removed [Rev 22:3] vs. 19

C.     The created universe was subjected to struggle and natural disasters when Adam sinned, which resulted in the creation being cursed by God vs.20

D.     At the glorification of God’s people (2^nd coming of the Messiah) the creation will be set free from bondage to decay and destruction [Murphy’s law and matter going from order to disorder will be dialed back, cf. Deut 8:4; Rev 20:1-10] vs. 21

E.      The present creation continually groans and greatly desires that hour of release from the curse. (ILL. Contraction pains are gone after the baby’s delivery) vs. 22

F.      The present believers on the earth also long or thirst for that hour of glorification at the return of Christ (1 Cor 15:45-58; 1 Thess 4:16-17). vs. 23

1. There is always a desire in the believer to be totally free from indwelling sin, to be in Jesus’ presence, to be reunited with a glorified body and to receive his/her full, everlasting salvation.

2. Even with justification, a new nature, the Bible, the Holy Spirit, the believer can still pray, “Come quickly, Lord Jesus, come!”

3. The Holy Spirit puts this longing in every believer (beyond Eccl 3:11, “placed eternity in their hearts,” which is for all men) and gives us assurance that we have received everlasting salvation (cf. Rom 8:16)

4. We have already experienced some of the first or earlier workings of the Spirit: conviction of sin, regeneration, conversion, adoption, beginning the process of sanctification, spiritual gifting, and understanding of the Word (illumination). If we receive the first, we will also receive the last.

III.              The believer victoriously awaits the future glory that he/she will receive at the moment of glorification vs. 24-39

A.     He/she continuously waits and lives in hope, which is a future certainty. Their assurance of glorification has moved beyond a mere belief to a full conviction—a principle of life. Our deliverance/salvation has past, present, and future aspects to it. Justification (past), sanctification (present), and glorification (future). I was saved. I am being saved. I will be saved. We have not yet seen our complete deliverance from sin (salvation), but we have seen enough to wait on God with a sound faith and a know-so hope. vs. 24

B.     He/she continuously waits with patience and perseverance. The believer remains loyal to the Lord and faithful to the task He has given (Great Commission) as he/she walks by faith and trusts in the unfailing promises of God vs. 25

1. This will not be done perfectly; remember Romans chapter 7

2. We are governed by grace, led by the Spirit and only guided by the moral law to discern what pleases the God we love

C.     He/she continuously awaits glorification prayerfully with the help of the Holy Spirit. vs. 26-27

1. The Holy Spirit continually helps us where we are weak concerning prayer and helps us when we suffer

2. The Holy Spirit continually intercedes for us to the Father with communication much clearer between them than human words

3. The Holy Spirit continually knows the matters for which we should pray. He instructs us how to pray and what to pray for as we read the Bible

4. God the Father searches human hearts and discovers what the mind of the Holy Spirit is about each matter in His universe (persons have minds)

5. The Holy Spirit continually intercedes in prayer for the saints (believers= saints/sinners simultaneously) according to God’s will. His prayers always get a “yes” answer. This could mean that when we pray the best way we know how in a situation, the Holy Spirit says to the Father for us, “What he/she meant to request or should have requested it this . . . “

D.     He/she continuously awaits glorification with certain assurance concerning his/her past, present, and future salvation vs. 28