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Psalms 72:1-11 A Psalm
Of Solomon. Give the king Your judgments, O God, And Your righteousness to
the king's Son. He will judge Your people with righteousness, And Your poor
with justice. The mountains will bring peace to the people, And the little
hills, by righteousness. He will bring justice to the poor of the people; He
will save the children of the needy, And will break in pieces the oppressor.
They shall fear You As long as the sun and moon endure, Throughout all
generations. He shall come down like rain upon the grass before mowing, Like
showers that water the earth.
In His days the righteous shall flourish, And abundance of peace, Until the
moon is no more. He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, And from the
River to the ends of the earth. Those who dwell in the wilderness will bow
before Him, And His enemies will lick the dust. The kings of Tarshish and of
the isles Will bring presents; The kings of Sheba and Seba Will offer gifts.
Yes, all kings shall fall down before Him; All nations shall serve Him. Father, in the name of Jesus we give
you thanks for all you provide us with. We ask that the call you give to all
will be heard and acknowledged by them and they will reach out and take a hold
of your outstretched hand. We also ask that you send the much needed rain for
the crops and gardens. We give you all the glory and praise. Amen!
Romans 8:29-30 NKJV
Today’s
lesson is about predestination. These two verses are among those that are
discussed the most among man. Many think that God picks and chooses who is
going to Heaven or Hell. Some people go so far as reasoning that if they are
going to Hell then what is the point of seeking God. They live their life then of
sin, enjoying life while on earth, and a life of pleasing the flesh. If this were
true and God has a stamp on each and every person on where they will spend
eternity, then the Bible contradicts it’s self. This is one thing that doesn’t
happen in the Bible and anytime a person thinks that, they have the wrong
interpretation of a verse and needs to dig deeper and find the true meaning of
the verse. How would this be a contradiction in the Bible? I’m glad you asked
that question. If this was true and we were predestined then John 3:15-17 isn’t
true along with a number of other verses. In John 3:15-17 it states that
whoever believes in Him shall have eternal life. Whoever means anyone walking
the face of the earth can have eternal life if they so desire. John 3:15-17 that whoever believes in
Him should not perish but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten
Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the
world, but that the world through Him might be saved. Matthew 18:11 For the Son of
Man has come to save that which was lost. So let’s see if we can’t get a good
handle on what Paul is telling us in these two verses.
29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His
Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
For
whom He foreknew: “He”
meaning God. “Foreknew” is referring to God’s all knowing wisdom and knowledge.
God knew each and every one of us before the foundation of the world was even
laid. He already knew who would choose to come to Him through His Son Jesus
Christ. Does He have a stamp on each of us then? No it simply means with God
knowing our each and every move before we do it, He knows the outcome. God is
omniscient meaning; having universal knowledge or knowledge of all things; infinitely
knowing; all-seeing; the quality of knowing all things at once. There is
nothing we can hide from God.
He
also predestined to be
conformed to the image of His Son:
Here is where the confusion starts. When people read predestined their minds
automatically go to the meaning of only chosen people will go to Heaven. This
phrase is referring to God’s plan of salvation for all who will believe. The
plan was set in motion at the beginning of time. The plan was predestined not
the people. It is up to people to make the choice where they will spend
eternity, it is their free will, God has given each of us a will to choose. As
I’ve stated before life is a test to see if we will give our heart to Jesus and
live in His likeness, which brings us to the last part of the phrase, “conform
to the image of His Son”. To conform to the image of Jesus means when a person
has that spiritual birth they are transformed into the likeness of Jesus. They
start living their life modeled after Jesus. They are changed from the inside
out starting with their heart being circumcised. When God then looks at that
person, He sees the likeness of His Son. That is what this verse is all about,
Gods plan of salvation at the time of creation that was predestined to take
place in the future.
That
He might be the firstborn among many brethren: “He” in this part of the verse is
referring to Jesus not God. “First born”, meaning Jesus and what He did on the
Cross for us. It was the startup of the salvation plan. It was putting into
motion the New Covenant. This is how Jesus is the firstborn among many
brethren. After Jesus many accepted Him as their saviour. This is what brethren
is referring to, true believers, Born Again Christians, Spiritual Birth, being
saved, etc. Colossians
1:13-15 He has delivered us from the
power of darkness and conveyed us
into the kingdom of the Son of His love,
14 in whom we have redemption through
His blood, the forgiveness of sins. 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the
firstborn over all creation.
30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also
called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these
He also glorified.
Moreover
whom He predestined:
“He” meaning God. The key word here is “whom”, whom He predestined; meaning the
plan of salvation, the conforming to His Son; whom he had the foreknowledge of
knowing who would come to him. Here again Paul isn’t talking about God picking
and choosing people. It is about the plan of salvation, Jesus dying on the
Cross for our sin.
These
He also called: With
God’s infinite knowledge of knowing our hearts He calls us to Him. Matthew
11:28
Come to Me, all you
who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Without this calling we would
continue living our life of corruptness, because all humans are born with the
sin nature and fall short of God’s glory. Romans 3:23 for all
have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, Ecclesiastes
7:20 For there is not a
just man on earth who does good And does not sin.
With God knowing our
hearts and the fact that God has given us a free will, a calling by God is
necessary. How is this calling done? It is through the Holy Spirit stirring a
heart, by someone saying something and getting a person to thinking about what
was said, or by someone witnessing and planting a spiritual seed, or by the
acts or demeanor of a Born Again Christian and someone asking the question,
what do you have that I don’t, you’re always happy and nothing bothers you. All
of these happen by the power of the Holy Spirit and is part of the calling.
This calling is an inward call through the Holy Spirit by God. The unsaved is
also called by an outward call and that comes from pastors sermons on Sunday,
going to a Bible study, reading scripture, etc. Even though it is an outward
call, God has set it in motion for the individual. All the individual has to do
is listen through their spiritual ears.
God has his hand out for
all, but only a few will take it. Proverbs
1:24-33 Because I have called and you
refused, I have stretched out my hand and no one regarded, 25 Because
you disdained all my counsel, And would have none of my rebuke, 26 I also
will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your terror comes, 27 When your
terror comes like a storm, And your destruction comes like a whirlwind, When
distress and anguish come upon you. 28 "Then they will call on me, but I will not
answer; They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me. 29 Because
they hated knowledge And did not choose the fear of the LORD, 30 They would
have none of my counsel And
despised my every rebuke. 31 Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own
way, And be filled to the full with their own fancies. 32 For the
turning away of the simple will slay them, And the complacency of fools will
destroy them; 33
But whoever listens to me will dwell safely, And will be secure, without fear
of evil."
Jesus cries out to those
who are lost, He doesn’t want to see anyone perish. John 7:37 On the last
day, that great day of the
feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If
anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.
Whom
He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also
glorified: This last
part of verse 30 is simply stating a chain of events that happens when God
calls a person. First he is called; second he accepts (Not all will accept the
invitation.) Jesus as his saviour; third the person is justified (Cleared of
the sin debt.); fourth they are sanctified (Regeneration begins, the old life
dies, and a new life starts.) till the day they die; fifth they are glorified (True
believers, those living and those that have died, will receive a glorified
body.) at the resurrection meaning the rapture.
When a person is called
and they accept Jesus as their saviour the inherited sin debt is paid in full
by the blood of Jesus, this is called justification. The sad thing about the
calling is that God extends his hand to all, but not all will accept. As stated
in the Proverb above there will be people who will refuse to accept God’s hand due
to self righteousness, believing in mans teaching and not the Bible, living for
the pleasures of the world, worshipping man made idols, just plain stubbornness
because no one is going to tell them anything or what to do, etc. When these
people stand before Jesus He will laugh at them and tell them Luke 13:27 ………………. I do not know
you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.' There will be many disappointed people
come judgment day due to the fact that many believe they are living a good life
and will go to Heaven, but according to God’s standards will not. Matthew 7:14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and
there are few who find it.
Man is evil in God’s eyes and will perish in
Hell unless they are Born Again; Genesis
6:5 Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Genesis
8:21 And the LORD smelled a soothing aroma. Then the LORD said in His
heart, "I will never again curse the ground for man's sake, although the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; nor
will I again destroy every living thing as I have done. Jesus tells us we have to be Born
Again in order to enter Heaven. John
3:3 Jesus answered and said to
him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is
born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."
What about the glorified
statement Paul made? “These He also glorified”, speaks to me in two ways. First,
because of the way Paul states it a person is glorified in God’s eyes when they
accept Jesus as their saviour. When we have a spiritual birth we don’t receive
a glorified body that we can see, but just like the blood that covers us and
when God looks at us He sees Jesus in a glorified state. So when God looks at
us while we are alive He sees no sin and we appear glorified to Him.
Second, when a person
gives his heart to Jesus and they are saved, they will one day receive a
glorified body at the sound of the trumpet when the Rapture happens. 1 Corinthians 15:51-53 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all
sleep, but we shall all be changed— 52 in a
moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will
sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this
corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
Some people believe if a
person is saved they are always saved no matter how they live their life from
that saving day forward. Personally I believe that if a person is truly
saved they will continue living their life for Jesus. I think it would be
very difficult for a truly saved person to lose their salvation because they
have come to experience a personal relationship with Jesus and they know what
the truth is, but I also believe a person can lose their salvation. The free
will that prompted a person to reach out and take God’s hand is what would cause
a person to reject God and go back to their old life style. It is the persons choice to do this if
they so desire, but no one
can pluck a saved person from God’s hand. John 10:29 My Father, which gave them
me, is greater than all; and no man
is able to pluck them out of my
Father's hand.
For I am not ashamed of
the gospel of Christ,
for it is the power of God
to salvation for everyone who believes,
Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a
steadfast spirit within me.
Unless you are Born Again,
you cannot enter into Heaven, the Kingdom of God."
Bill Wiesbrock
Last Week’s Trivia: Who is Abaddon?
Answer: Abaddon is found in the book of
Revelation. Revelation
9:10-11 They had tails like scorpions,
and there were stings in their tails. Their power was to hurt men five months.
11 And they had as king over them the
angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, but in Greek he has the name Apollyon. As you can see Abaddon was an angel
and king over the scorpions in the bottomless pit. The Greek name Apollyon
means destruction or ruin.
This week’s Trivia: Who is Abagtha?
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