Glorious Predestination

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Romans 8:29

For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son…

I. OUR CONFORMITY TO CHRIST IS THE SACRED OBJECT OF PREDESTINATION. We are to be conformed to Him —

1. As to nature. It is not possible for us to be Divine, yet we are made "partakers of the Divine nature." We cannot be precisely as God is, yet as we have borne the image of the earthy we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. The new birth as surely stamps us with the image of Christ as our first birth impressed us with a resemblance to the fathers of our flesh.

2. As to relationship. Our Lord is the Son of God; and truly now are we the sons of God. As Christ's Sonship was attested at His baptism by the voice from heaven and the Holy Ghost, so the voice of God in the Word has testified to us our Heavenly Father's love; and the Holy Spirit has borne witness with our spirits that we are the children of God.

3. In our actions. As a Son Christ served His Father, and you could see the nature of God in His sympathy with and exact imitation of God; and so we are to speak the truth, for God is true; love, for God is love. Moreover, Christ wrought miracles of mercy towards men, which proved Him to be the Son of God. And our Lord has told us that greater works than His own shall we do.

4. In our experience.

(1) Of suffering. "Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered." And if we "be without chastisement then are we bastards, and not sons."(2) In relation to men. "He came unto His own, and His own received Him not," and so we have to "go forth unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach."(3) With regard to Satan. You know how thrice he assailed Him with those temptations which are most likely to be attractive to poor humanity, but Jesus overcame them all. We are predestinated to he conformed to Christ in that respect.

(4) As to all evil, our Lord's entire life was one perpetual battle. And we are to be holy, harmless, undefiled and separate from sinners.

5. As to character. He was consecrated to God; so are we to be. He went about His Father's business; so should we ever be occupied. Towards man He was all love; it becomes us to be the same.

6. As to our inheritance, for He is heir of all things, and what less are we heirs of, since all things are ours?

II. PREDESTINATION IS THE IMPELLING FORCE TOWARDS THIS CONFORMITY.

1. It is the will of God that conforms us to Christ's image rather than our own will. It is our will now, but it was God's will when it was not our will, and it only became according to our will when God made us willing in the day of its power.

2. It is rather God's work than our work. We are to work with God in the matter of our becoming like to Christ. We are not to be passive like wood or marble; we are to be prayerful, watchful, fervent, etc., but still the work is God's.

3. Therefore all the glory must be unto God and not to us. It is a great honour to any man to be like Christ; and we must lay all our honours at His dear feet, who hath, according to His abundant mercy, predestinated us to be conformed to the image of His Son.

III. THE ULTIMATE END OF ALL THIS IS CHRIST. "That He might be the first-born."

1. God predestinates us to be like Jesus that He might be the first of a new order of beings, nearer to God than any other. There is no kinship between Jesus and angels.

2. The object of grace is that there may be some in heaven with whom Christ can hold brotherly converse. "Many brethren" — not that He might be the firstborn among many, but among "many brethren," who should be like Himself. No doubt, however, the text means that these will for ever love and honour Christ Himself. We love Jesus now, and how will we, when we get to heaven, love and adore Him as our dear Elder Brother with whom we shall be on terms of the closest familiarity and most reverent obedience.

3. God was so well pleased with His Son, and saw such beauties in Him, that He determined to multiply His image. The face of Jesus is more lovely to God than all the worlds; therefore doth the Father will to have His Son's beauty reflected in ten thousand mirrors in saints made like to Him. Conclusion: Keep your model before you. You see what you are predestinated to be; aim at it every day. Above all, commune much with Christ. Communion is the fountain of conformity. They said of Achilles, that when he was a child they fed him upon lion's marrow, and so made him brave; and of Nero, that he was suckled by a woman of a ferocious nature. If we take our nutriment from the world, we shall be worldly; but, if we live upon Christ and dwell in Him, our conformity with Him shall be accomplished, and we shall be recognised as brethren of that blessed family of which Jesus Christ is the firstborn.

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