God's Total Sovereignty

The Sovereignty of God as the Starting Point for Theology

All right, so today, this afternoon, we'll talk about the sovereignty of God, what that means, where does it appear in the Bible, what is God sovereign over, how is He sovereign over these things, and then we'll just facilitate a little bit of discussion.

So first and foremost, everything begins and ends with God, right? He's the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and end. He's the centerpiece of theology in creation. So everything points, I think it's Colossians 116, everything is to Him, from Him, and for Him.

The purpose of the Triune God is absolute and unconditional, independent of the whole finite creation, and originating solely in the eternal counsel of His will. He appoints the course of nature and directs the course of history down to the minutest details.

His decree, therefore, is eternal, unchangeable, holy, wise, and sovereign. So God didn't counsel anyone when He created the universe. He is independent of the universe, His creation. He is not dependent on anything or anyone.

He's independent. He's the only thing that is independent. He doesn't rely on anything or anyone else. So a lot of people say, well, where does where does the Bible say that God is sovereign? They're looking for a verse.

Actually, it's in His title, in the name Adonai. It means, My Sovereign. So if anybody says, where is the verse? Just say, every time in the Old Testament they call Him Lord, not capital L, capital O, capital R, D.

That's Yahweh, but capital L-O-R-D. That's Adonai, which means My Sovereign. It's a divine name translated in most versions as The Lord or My Lord. A vigorous name of God expressing divine dominion.

It reveals God as the absolute owner and Lord. Every time Adonai is used, it tells us that God is sovereign. So they don't need a verse. It's His title. He is the sovereign. So what are the decrees of God?

Okay, this is going to come into play in your theology, no matter what type of theology it is. The decrees of God are His eternal purpose, according to the counsel of His will, whereby for His own glory He has foreordained whatsoever comes to pass.

In other words, prior to creation, God had a plan in mind. He actuates that plan, and then carries it out. So God has a plan in His mind. He puts flesh on it, and then carries out that plan, such that everything that God had in His mind that He decided to do will happen in the future.

You look confused. No. Okay. Skeptical? Sure. Sure. Absolutely. Now, what happens is God's plan, His decree, includes your free will choices. Now when I say free will, we may have a difference of opinion.

I don't believe that you could do anything that you want. In other words, we're governed by our nature. So can you flap your hands and fly right now? Right. Are you free to do that? No. So you don't have free will over everything, right?

Jeremiah says, Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard change his spots? Neither can you do good who are accustomed to doing evil. So the Ethiopian is a black man. Can he decide, Oh, I'm going to be white today?

I mean, in today's culture, maybe, right? You can be whatever you want. But in reality, the answer is no. Can a leopard decide, Hmm, you know, I love the stripes that the zebra has. I want those. No, it's his nature to be a leopard.

Neither in the same way can a sinner born into this world. Okay. As a sinful human being with a sin nature, neither can they do good. So we're confined by our nature. So us by our nature, we're human beings.

We're not birds. We can't fly. We can't run like horses. Okay. And we cannot be good like God apart from his help. So I agree that we're free within parameters. Now, part of God's decree is that we would freely choose to do right or wrong.

That's part of his decree. So it's not like, um, God's forcing you to do something you don't want to do. Well, I don't want to marry this guy. Well, it's my decree. You're gonna, you freely choose to marry that person.

And it might be the wrong choice. And God in his divine decree ordained that you would freely choose that guy. And he's going to show you a lesson in the midst of that. He has a purpose for every single thing that happens.

Otherwise, the opposite view would be that God doesn't know what's going to happen in the future. Right. He doesn't know who you're going to pick. And then at that point, he wouldn't be all wise. He'd be a reacting God.

Oh, if she chooses this guy, this is not the right guy for her. I got to do something like, right. And so your free choices are known by God ahead of time. Okay. Such that you freely choose what you want to do.

Do you pray for people's salvation? Why? You want God to do something? Like what? He can't. It's their free will to choose him or not. Why pray? Because you want God to do something to them that he's done to you.

You want him to open their eyes and open their ears to come to him. Right. So we'll get into this in a little more detail as we go. But it's a good, it's a very good question. And it's difficult. It's not something that you just intuitively say, oh yeah, this is the way it is.

You know, we have to go to God's word. That's the foundation for everything. So maybe as we go through God's word, we'll see what, you know, what he's sovereign over. So in Ephesians 1 .11, in him, we have obtained an inheritance, have been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will.

Right. So you got that word predestined. He works all things, not just some things, all things according to the counsel of his will, not our will. Right. We pray in the Lord's prayer, thy will be done.

Not my will be done, but thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. I don't want my will to be done because my will is a sinful will. Right. So I want his will to be done. His will is perfect will.

Romans 1 .11 .36 from him and through him and to him are all things to him be the glory forever. Daniel, I bless the most high and praised and honored him who lives forever for his dominion is an everlasting dominion and his kingdom endures from generation to generation.

All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth and none can stay his hand or say to him, what have you done?

That's a heavy statement. All the people of the earth are counted as nothing. Not that they're not valuable, but in the sense that their plans aren't going to succeed. Their plans are nothing. My plan, God's plan is the one that's going to succeed because he's sovereign over all things.

As many people try to dethrone God and overthrow his plan, not going to happen because he won't let it. Okay, let's continue. Isaiah 48, 46, 8 and 10. Remember this and stand firm. Recall it to mind you transgressors.

Remember the form of things of old for I am God. There is no other. I am God. There is none like me declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done saying my counsel shall stand and I will accomplish all my purpose.

That is so comforting that God is going to accomplish everything that he purposes to accomplish. So now the question that comes to mind for me and for people who oppose my view is, is it God's purpose to save everyone?

What would you say? Okay. Yeah. Because if it was his purpose to save everyone, then everyone would be saved. No, no, no, no, no. Because, and this is a really good theological question that most people have a blunder on.

Okay. You have God's prescriptive will in the commandments. Thou shall not steal. Thou shall not murder. Thou shall not commit adultery. I am the Lord your God. Have no other gods before me. Don't misuse the name of the Lord our God.

Honor the Sabbath. That's God's morally prescriptive will. And it is broken every second of every day. Okay. By every single one on the planet. Right? And then you have God's decreed will. What he decreed that would happen in eternity past before it actually happens.

It's what he predestined would happen according to your free will choices, right? God ordains the means, what we do, as well as the ends, the consequence. So when we pray, what does God's word say? He says, I know what you're going to pray before you pray, but pray it anyway.

Why? Because he ordains the means, the prayer to the end, the answer to your prayer, right? Why would we have to pray if everything was the way we wanted it to be? We wouldn't. God tells us to pray because we're dependent on him and it's a way he reveals his will to us, right?

Such that we celebrate when there's three answers to prayer, yes, no, and not now, right? There's sometimes God says no to my prayer. So some people say, oh, God didn't answer my prayers. Yes, he did.

The answer was no, right? He has a purpose and an intent in every single action in all of history. Unless you want to believe that there are things, that there are evil things that happen that have no intent or purpose behind them and God couldn't stop them.

Okay, let's keep going. Psalm 115, our God is in the heavens. He does all that he pleases. Job, I know that you can do all things and no purpose of yours can be thwarted. Psalm 135, whatever the Lord pleases, he does in heaven, on earth, in the seas and all the deeps.

These are scriptures that should bring us great comfort. Okay, so we saw this term, all things. He works all things, all things. What does all things include? The fall of sparrows, Matthew 10, 29. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny and not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your father.

Rolling of dice, Proverbs 16, 33. The lot is cast into the lap, but it's every decision is from the Lord. Things that are seemingly left up to chance are still in God's purview. They're still under his sovereign control.

The slaughter of his own people. You've made us like sheep for slaughter and have scattered us among the nations. The decisions of kings. The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord.

He turns it wherever he pleases, right? So he's directing the king based on where he wants the king to go. The king freely goes. He wants to go that direction and God directs it where he wants it to go.

The failing of sight, Exodus 4, 11. Then the Lord said to him, who has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute or deaf or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? So do you remember in John chapter nine, the man born blind where the Pharisees were accusing who sinned, this man or his family?

And Jesus says, it wasn't this man or his family. He was born blind so that I could display for my glory so that I could display my miraculous power. So people would say, oh, it's not God's will that somebody be born blind.

Jesus says it was for his own glory because this world and everything in it is not about you, you or me. It's about him and his glory. This place is a theater to display God's mercy, God's grace, God's justice, God's righteousness, God's wrath.

He's displaying it on. He's putting it all on display for everyone to see. So we can see the attributes that he talks about in his word on display, right? You look at a mountain with a lake next to you like, that's beautiful.

It's a reflection of God, right? And beauty comes from God. You see horrific things, right? Serial killers. And you're like, how could this reflect God? It reflects the depravity and the things that man is willing to do to run away from God.

Had he not kept his hand of restraint on all of us, we would all do the same thing. He says, if I had not reserved for myself, sell 7 ,000 for that didn't bother me to bail, you would have all become like Sodom.

You would have all become like Gomorrah. What does that tell you? It's only God's common grace and his hand restraining our hearts from going where they would want to go apart from him. We'd be more evil than what we are.

God Sovereignly Ordains Suffering, Discipline, and Human Decisions

Okay. The sickness of children. This is a tough one. 2 Samuel 12, 15. Then Nathan went to his house and the Lord afflicted the child that Uriah's wife bore to David. And he became sick. Now you throw this in front of the health, wealth, and prosperity guys.

And like, well, no, that wasn't God's will. The word says the Lord afflicted the child. See, I mean, it's right there. They got to do gyrations to get around it. What I think we should do is look at it and say, you know what?

Maybe my perspective needs to change. Maybe I am not as good as I think in my own mind. And I have to humble myself and recognize that God is good, always good, and only good. And my perspective in this situation may not be God's perspective.

When we have God's perspective, then we're seeing things correctly. I think it was Cornelius Van Til said, we need to think God's thoughts after him. When we think God's thoughts after him, then we're walking in truth.

If we're thinking our thoughts and God is thinking something else, well, then we're not walking in truth. We're walking in delusion or self-deceit. Sure, of course. Absolutely. Yes. His thoughts are described for us in his word.

His word is what he wants us to know. Deuteronomy 29, 29 says the secret things of the Lord our God, the things revealed belong to us and our children, but the secret things belong to the Lord our God, and we're not to search those things out.

So what he's revealed in his word, that's what we're responsible for. The secret things that he does behind the scenes that we don't need to know, we shouldn't be pursuing those things. We should be pursuing the things that he's told us already.

Everybody wants to hear a fresh word from the Lord. Why not open the Bible and look what he said already so that you're not wondering, oh, was this a real prophecy? Was this a this? Peter says we have the more sure word of prophecy right in front of us.

Crack that open, trust and obey. Read it and obey what you read. It's that simple. The loss and gain of money. Look at that. The Lord makes poor and he makes rich. He brings low and he exalts. The delusion of man, 2 Thessalonians 2.

Therefore, God sends them a strong delusion so that they may believe what is false in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. Is this not what's happening today?

God's giving us a strong delusion such that somebody could say, I don't know what a woman is. What's a woman? I'm not a biologist. My question would have been, so it's a question of biology? So we can pinpoint it then.

If a biologist can tell us, then it's a question of biology. But he didn't press the issue. All right. The suffering of saints, 1 Peter 4 .19. Therefore, let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful creator while doing good.

So if you're suffering as a Christian, what should you do? Entrust your soul to the creator, knowing that he has a purpose even in the midst of suffering for your life. There's a reason why we suffer.

It's for God's glory. Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances. You know where that was written? In a prison. Paul was in a prison and the word he uses 14 times, rejoice. Like if I was in prison, I wouldn't be writing letters telling people, oh, rejoice.

This is great here. Rejoice. This is another reason on the long list of reasons why I'm not an apostle. I would never write rejoice in the middle of prison. Right? All right. The completion of travel plans, James 4 .15.

Instead you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we live and do this or that. And I would go even further because the very fact that we opened our eyes this morning is because the Lord willed it. If the Lord wills, we live and do this or that.

My life is in his hands. All my days have been ordained for me prior to me being created. The persecution of Christians. In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood and you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons.

My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the ones he loves and chastises every son whom he receives. It is for discipline that you have to endure.

God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not disappoint? Repentance of souls, 2 Timothy 2 .25. Correcting his opponents with gentleness, that God may perhaps grant them repentance, leading to a knowledge of the truth.

We can never come to an understanding of the truth had God not granted us repentance, eyes to see and ears to hear. Make sense? Okay. The gift of faith, Philippians 1 .29, for it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe on him, but also suffer for his sake.

So if you're a believer, it's because God granted you faith. John says, what do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not? Like you mustered up this faith in yourself.

You receive faith, right? But along with that, he says, it's been granted to you to also suffer for his sake. So although we get to believe and we get eternity on the other side in the presence of God, there's going to be suffering that happens to us in this world.

But that suffering is for a purpose designed to sanctify us. The pursuit of holiness, Philippians 3, not that I have already obtained this or I'm already perfect, but I press on to make it my own because Christ Jesus has made me his own.

Who made him his own? Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own, but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead.

The growth of believers, Hebrews 6 .1, therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity. And this we will do if God permits. The wounding and healing of people. This is a tough one.

1 Samuel 2 .6, the Lord kills and the Lord brings to life. He brings down to Sheol and raises up. The Lord kills and he brings to life. How does a health, wealth and prosperity guy deal with that? What do you do?

Somebody, you know, somebody dies. Oh, that wasn't God's will. Whose will was it? Satan's will? Isn't Satan's will that everybody dies? Couldn't God have stopped it? Doesn't he know that Satan's going to do that?

Of course he knows. He ordained this whole thing. So it's the Lord ultimately, ultimately behind everything, not committing evil or sin. He does permit evil because evil has a place and a plan in God's world.

Do you realize if evil was not permitted in the world, like most people ask the question, well, why doesn't God get rid of all evil? You know, now, what time is it? What time? 2 .31. Let's say God gets rid of all evil at 2 .35.

Where are we? Gone. So if God was to get rid of all evil, there'd be nothing. But in his mercy, he allows us who are evil and do evil things to continue to glorify him as he draws us to him for his glory.

None of us should be saved based on the way we act. It's an act of mercy, and mercy is not something that can be demanded. Or you can say, God, I want you to save me. You have to save me. No, we don't.

We'll get into that in a minute. The crucifixion of his son, right? If God did not permit evil, how would they have been able to crucify the Lord of glory? For truly in this city where they were gathered together against your holy servant, Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.

Write that one down. Acts 4 .27 .28. Like, that's a heavy verse. You got to absorb that into your mind and say, how does that fit my understanding of God? They did. Killing Jesus. Is killing Jesus the greatest sin that mankind has ever done?

It was by the hand of God, his plan, and he predestined it to happen. Right. That's why the tribulation that came on the Jews was the great tribulation, such that there won't be tribulation worse than it, or better.

That's why it was great, because they crucify the Lord of glory. No greater sin than that. It's an eye for an eye. Right. So people are like, well, what about the Holocaust? So killing 12 million people in the Holocaust, was it worse to kill 12 million people or Jesus?

Jesus. All right. The giving and taking of life. Deuteronomy 32 .39. See now that I, even I am he, and there is no God besides me. I kill and I make alive. I wound and I heal, and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.

Deuteronomy 28. Then the Lord will bring on you and your offspring extraordinary afflictions, afflictions severe and lasting, and sicknesses grievous and lasting, and he will bring upon you again all the diseases of Egypt, of which you are afraid, and they shall cling to you.

Every sickness also and every affliction that is not recorded in the book of this law, the Lord will bring upon you until you are destroyed. Now that's the old covenant. If you broke the old covenant, that's what you should get.

Has anybody in here broke the old covenant? That's what we deserve. Did we get that? No. It's mercy. Right. Some, some people like, God's not fair. If you want fairness, that's what you get. Fairness is justice.

Right. Election is mercy. Fairness is justice. Okay. The length of our life. Psalm 139. Your eyes saw my unformed substance. In your book were written every one of them, the days that were formed for me, yet as there was none of them.

Right. So how does that fit in to your theology if God didn't decree everything that would happen? People have to grapple with that and either say that God didn't know, or he's learning as he's going, or he foresaw in the future what would happen.

The plans of men. Proverbs 69. The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps. The plans of Satan. Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you.

Right. Satan was coming after Peter. Lord intervened. That's the only thing that, not the only thing, that's one of the things that separates us from unbelievers. Satan can't have us because Jesus interceded for us.

The happening of natural disasters. Amos 3 .6. Is a trumpet blown in the city and the people are not afraid? Does disaster come to a city unless the Lord has done it? Right. Everybody looks at 9 .11. That wasn't God.

Unbelievers perpetrated the crime, but it was ordained by God to happen. And it's an act of judgment. It's an act of judgment on us as a people. What did the World Trade Centers represent? The financial heart of America.

Right. What's one of the gods of Americans? Money. Right. Money, sex, power. Right. That's one of the gods. That's one of the idols that people pursue. Okay. Let's keep going. The times and boundaries of nations.

Acts 17. And he made from one man, every nation of mankind to live on the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and boundaries of their dwelling place. Dwelling places where you and I were born.

Okay. Was determined by God. Evil decisions of man. Revelation 17 .17. For God put it into their hearts to carry out his purpose by being of one mind and handing over their royal power to the beast until the words of God are fulfilled.

He put it in their heart to do that. Their hearts wanted to do that. Again, if God would to release his restraint on people's hearts, they would do more evil than they do now. The hardening of hearts.

Exodus 4 .21. And the Lord said to Moses, when you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the miracles that I've put in your power, but I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go.

Now, people look at that and say, well, yeah, but Pharaoh hardens his heart. Not when God told this to Moses. Moses wasn't even in Egypt when God told him that. This was well before Moses even got to Egypt.

The Good and Bad Events of History. Lamentations 3 .37. Who has spoken and it came to pass unless the Lord commanded it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and bad come? Good and bad.

Again, it's not God committing sin. It's him ordaining things. Put it this way. I have two children. When they were born in their toddler years, you have to take them to the doctor to get shots. From the kid's perspective, shots are bad.

They hurt. I don't want them. They scream, they cry. From dad's perspective and mom's perspective and the doctor's perspective, that's good. So from a baby's perspective, shots are bad. Doctor's perspective and parent's perspective, they're good.

From a human standpoint, the things that we see around here are bad. And according to God's prescriptive law, they are. But according to his divine decree, he's working all those things according to the counsel of his will.

So here's the question. Does all these things, all things that God does, does that include salvation? The saving of people's souls? Well, I like to quote Jonah right off the bat, salvation belongs to the Lord.

Salvation is of God. Not of us. None of us would will to be saved. There is none who seek after God. All have turned aside. They've gone their own way. The poison of the asp is under their lips, right?

Romans 9 .15, he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God who has mercy.

He's talking about salvation. This is right after he told us that Jacob I loved, Esau I hated. Right? So he's saying salvation depends on mercy. Election, God electing people in Christ before the foundation of the world is mercy, not justice.

So that when we look, when people look at the verse that says Jacob I loved and Esau I hated, they look and they're like, oh my goodness, how could God hate Esau? From a sinful perspective, you ask that question.

When you look at it through God's sight, you say to yourself, how could God love Jacob? He was the deceiver. He was the one who tricked his brother into getting his birthright. He was the one who wrestled with the Lord.

Right? The question is not why does God hate Esau? The question is why does God love Jacob? He doesn't deserve God's love. That's why he says it depends not on will or exertion, but on God who has mercy.

Right? This is according to the mercy of God. John 1, 12 and 13. But to all who did receive him who belonged to his name, he gave the right to become children of God who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

So salvation is of the Lord. It doesn't depend on man's will or exertion. And right here, him being born of God is not by the will of man. Ephesians 2, 5, even when we were dead in our transgressions, he made us alive together with Christ.

By grace you have been saved. When you were dead, he brought you to life. Ephesians 2, 8 through 10, for by grace you have been saved through faith and this not of your own doing. It's the gift of God, not as a result of work so that no one may boast for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

So Paul is telling us we were raised when we were dead. What do dead men do? What can dead man do? Nothing. Right? The only thing a dead man really can do is stink. That's, that's all he's capable of.

He has no power in and of himself. In fact, Paul says in Romans 3, while we were powerless, right? Without ability, God made us alive with Christ. And then in verses 8 through 10, he says, this is not of your own doing.

This is God doing something to you, not you doing something to God. Okay. Philippians 1, 29, we had gone over this, has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ, you should believe. 1 Corinthians 30, and because of him, you are in Christ Jesus.

Right? You can't say, well, it was because I chose that you're in Christ Jesus because of him that you're in Christ Jesus. Acts 13, 48. And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of Lord.

And as many as were appointed to eternal life believed. Now the word order is very important. It doesn't say, as many who were, who believed were appointed to eternal life, as if belief comes first and then the appointment, right?

He says, as many were appointed, believed. So when you, let's say you set up a dentist appointment a month from now, you go to the dentist to get your work done on your teeth, because you were appointed, you had an appointment first.

All right. Everyone who came to their appointment, got their teeth fixed. You don't get your teeth fixed and said, then I had an appointment. Right? The appointment comes before the tooth cleaning or whatever it is you're getting done.

Same thing with salvation. As many as were appointed to eternal life believed. 2 Thessalonians, but we ought always to give thanks to God for you brothers, beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved through sanctification by the spirit and belief in the truth.

Okay. God chose us as the firstfruits, the same way Jesus rose from the dead and he's the firstfruits of the resurrection. He chose us to be the firstfruits of the resurrection. James 1 18, of his own will, of God's own will, he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

Whose will? God's will, not our will. Okay. If it was left to our will, born in a sinful condition, what would we always choose? Sin, right? The illustration I always use is if you have a lion in front of you and you have a plate of raw meat and a plate of broccoli and you say, here, eat.

What do you think he's going to go after? Raw meat? I'd cook it. He's going to go after the raw meat. Why? It's his nature. He's a carnivore. He can't decide, I'm going to be an herbivore and start eating the broccoli.

I mean, he could taste it, right? He may even swallow it or sometimes to win a bet, you know, my, my, you know, somebody in my family, I'll give you a hundred bucks if you eat, if you eat the whole plate of liver, right?

Because I hate liver, right? So if I want the hundred bucks, I'll eat the plate of liver, but I won't like it. I'm only doing it because I get a hundred bucks, right? It's not my nature to like liver.

So I can't, can you arbitrarily, not arbitrarily, can you intentionally change the foods that you like and don't like? Is there a food you don't like? Olives. Can you will yourself to love olives? Are you free?

Then will yourself to love olives, right? Yeah. Sure. Right. And neither is it in your range of power to love the Lord, right? Or no. Okay. Okay. Good. All right. Good. All right. Yeah. That's, that's, that's the point.

The only way you'll love the Lord is if God changes your heart first, right? Okay. Romans 8, 28. And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose.

For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined, he also called. Those whom he called, he also justified.

Those whom he justified, he also glorified. This is what's known as the golden chain of redemption. When God, the word foreknow means to love in advance. Um, the Bible talks about Adam knowing Eve and she gave birth.