Sermon: God’s Golden Chain of Salvation

D.A. Carson [The God Who is There] has noted that all men need salvation:

• We need to be reconciled to God
• We need to be morally transformed or we will continue to rebel against God again and again
• We need the effect of sin to be reversed and overcome — especially in relation to death, otherwise death just keeps winning. In our decaying universe there is still betrayal, disappointment, pain, sorrow, and death.

Where will the salvation come from that will provide solutions to those dilemmas?

• To be reconciled to God many just assume their sin is not so bad so that God can merely overlook it and forget about it.
• To be morally transformed the vast majority of humanity tries a self-improvement program that they believe will enable them to do good and be acceptable to God. “More good than bad” is good enough, is the general idea, though all are ignorant of Romans 3 and the inability to do any
• Medical advances and fitness programs and diet plans all offer the hope for forestalling death, but the older one gets the more he realizes the relentless nature of death and its inescapability.

All mankind needs salvation and virtually all mankind has bet on himself to save himself.  And he is wrong.

How will man be saved?  He will never save himself.  But God will save him.  That’s the message of one of the most comforting, encouraging, and favorite verses in the Bible, Romans 8:30, which acknowledges,

Our salvation is God’s work of salvation.

This passage is all about God and His work on our behalf.  It looks at our salvation through His eyes — He “is designing, engineering, and accomplishing His salvific purpose in the earth, quite apart from the interference and influence of men and women…” [Boa]  How has God saved us?

Paul identifies five golden links in the chain of God’s salvation of us.  These are not the only things God did in saving us, but these are some of His preeminent actions made on our behalf.

1. God Foreknew Us to Salvation (v. 29a)
2. God Predestined Us to Salvation (v. 29b)
3. God Called Us to Salvation (v. 30a)
4. God Justified Us in Salvation (v. 30b)
5. God Glorified Us in Salvation (v. 30c)

Download the rest of this sermon on Romans 8:29-30.

The audio will be posted on the GBC website by tomorrow.