THE DOCTRINE OF PREDESTINATION
Romans 8:29-31
My brothers and sisters one of the most misunderstood doctrines of the church is the Doctrine of Predestination. From time to time the subject will come up and most of the time it will come up from those who are new in the faith or by someone who have come with their own exegesis. But most of the time there is no clarity concerning this doctrine.
There are some outside of the church as well as within, that are of the opinion that predestination states that God before the foundation of the world, pre-ordained those who will be saved and those who will be cursed. They conclude that some unbelievers have no choice in their eternal damnation, while other who have been chosen will have eternal bliss. This my brothers and sisters are far from the truth.
First of all...
1. GOD KNEW US AND PURPOSED US BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD (v.29)
“For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first born among many brethren.”
The text says “For whom He did foreknow he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His son,” What we see here in this text is that God with His infinite wisdom knew everyone of us before there was a generation of Harts. It’s like what the Lord said to Jeremiah in the first chapter of his book. He said in verse 5 “Before I formed thee in the womb, I knew thee;” My brothers and sister before we were a thought or a twinkle in our parents eyes the Lord knew us and had a purpose for us. So He foreknew us and our purpose was set before us. But we were born with also with free moral capabilities. Though we were foreknown and predestined we also had the right to chose to follow the purpose set before us or reject the purpose of God. This is where many misunderstand this great doctrine. God does not predestine us to eternal condemnation, we choose to go that way. I hope I’m clear on that point. In other words God knew us, all of us before creation because of His all knowing, then He gave us a purpose to live for and allowed us to make the choice.
Secondly, the text tells us that after we choose God’s purpose for us. . .
2. HE CALLED US, JUSTIFIED US AND GLORIFIED US (v.30)
“Moreover whom He predestinate, them He also called: and whom He called, them He also justified: and whom He justified, them He also glorified.”
If you are a believer at this point shouting should be breaking out all over the building. First of all we see the predestined purpose to be conformed to His Son, then we see the Father calling or inviting us to be conformed in the image of His Son. After accepting the call, then He would justify us and those that are justified will be glorified. Here we see four things that God is giving in this text, the purpose, the invitation, the justification and the glorification. We can have all these if we choose the master plan of God. In today’s congregations, it appears that the only choice that has been made by many in the church, is the church building, the choir and the preacher. Now rightfully so people join churches by what they see, hear from others, family association and convenience. This is probably why many of you are here today, there is nothing wrong with that. But the damaging part is that if those things were the lure for you joining a church and you never chose or accepted the call of the Father and His purpose, you will just have a form of godliness and has denied the power thereof. So somewhere between the time that you joined the church and now, something wonderful should have happened to you. When my grandmother used to listen to the old gospel hour and we the children will be in the room, there was a program that used to come on and can still hear them singing “Something good is going to happen to you, this very hour, this very day. Something good is going to happen to you Jesus of Navereth is coming for you.”
Look what will happen if you chooses God’s Plan of Salvation for your life. You will accept His call (Whom He predestinate, them He also called:). You will be justified by the Father (and whom He called, them He also justified;). And you will also be glorified (And whom He justified, them He also glorified.) Note this when you are justified you are free from the guilt of sin. In other words no devil in hell can make you feel guilty for the wrong you’ve done in your life, and when you know, that you know, that you that you been justified by God, you will start to live like it, which allows you to be glorified by Him.
The O’Neal Twins used to sing a song called Jesus dropped the charges, and they sang “I was guilty/ of all charges/doomed and disgraced/But Jesus/with His special love/ saved me by His grace;/ He pleaded/ and He pleaded/ He pleaded all of my case/ Jesus dropped the charges and now I’m saved through grace and faith.’
CONCLUSION
I can’t speak for no one else but I’m glad that Jesus dropped my charges. But I’m truly glad that I decided to make Jesus my choice. That is why I can truly say that, I’m on my way to heaven and I’m so glad, because one day I had a born again experience, The church building didn’t have anything to do with it, the choir had nothing to do with it, the preacher in himself didn’t have a thing to do with it. But when the anointing came down on the worship,
• the building became a Sanctuary for my sin sick soul,
• the choir sang songs that prepared my heart for the Word
• The preaching became anointed and I could hear the clarion voice of God speaking to me and something wonderful happened on that day.
It was me, It was me standing in the need of prayer. It was me, not my mother, not my brother, not my sister, not my daddy, not the choir, not the deacons, not the preacher, but it was me. A twenty year old know it all, me who had a fine car and my own place, me who thought singing R&B will be my life’s work. It was me who came running from my seat to the altar, with tear running down my face crying SAVE ME LORD! SAVE ME!
