Let's turn our Bibles again to
Romans chapter 8. The title of the message this morning
is, What is the Doctrine of Predestination? That's a good question, isn't
it? What is the Doctrine of Predestination? We ought to know the answer to
that question. Because the Doctrine of Predestination
is a blessed, glorious doctrine, true doctrine. that goes a long
way to separating us from false doctrine of our day. And my desire
this morning is to show you from God's word what the doctrine
of predestination really is. I feel like we ought to start
with what the doctrine of predestination is not. The doctrine of predestination
is not what man says it is. It's what the Bible says it is.
That applies to everything, doesn't it? Let God be true and all men
liars. First, predestination is not
God predestinating some people to heaven and some people to
hell. If you think that, that God predestinated
some people to hell, you don't know the truth about who God
is or the truth about who you are. If you think God predestinated
some people to hell, You think that God's unfair, that he just
would arbitrarily send people to hell. And you also think somehow
you're able to do something to get God to save you. Now, certainly
God did elect some people to save, and those people shall
be saved. But God did not predestinate
anybody to hell. God doesn't have to do something
to send a sinner to hell, does he? All he's got to do is leave
them alone. God didn't choose to send anybody to hell. They'll
choose that all on their own. God just left them alone. God
chose to save his people before time began. And that's the only
reason anybody will be saved. Second, predestination is not,
well, God's elect are gonna be saved no matter what, so it doesn't
matter what we do. Well, that's not true. God did
elect a people to be saved. God predestinated those people
to be made righteous. He predestinated those people
to be justified in our Lord Jesus Christ. But now God is a God
of means. God's elect must hear the gospel
and they must believe the gospel. They've got to hear because faith
comes by hearing. They must hear the gospel and
they must believe it. There is no salvation without
believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. If anybody's here this morning,
and there is, who has not yet believed on Christ, right now
you believe Him. You believe Him. You rest in
Him. You trust Him. There's no salvation apart from
faith in Christ. God does have an elect people,
but now they must repent. They must repent not only of
their sin. They've got to repent. They've
got to turn from trusting in themselves. They've got to turn.
They've got to repent from those good things they think they've
done that commend them to God. They've got to repent of those
things. They've got to turn from them and turn to Christ and trust
Him alone. God has a people He elected to
save, but those people must persevere in the faith. If they be saved,
they can't quit. They've got to persevere in the
faith. And everyone the Father chose to save, everyone for whom
the Son died, Everyone that the Holy Spirit gives life, they
will. They will. They will hear the
gospel and believe it. They will repent of their self-righteousness
and turn to Christ. They will persevere in the faith.
They will. Thirdly, predestination is not, well, whatever will be,
will be. Whatever will be, will be. So
it just doesn't matter what I do, because whatever will be, will
be. It doesn't matter if I seek Christ. It doesn't matter if
I beg for mercy, because whatever will be, will be. And it doesn't
matter how I live. It doesn't matter if I make good
choices or bad choices, because whatever will be, will be. People
who think that think, well, it doesn't matter how I live. It
doesn't matter if I attend the worship service. It doesn't matter
if I pray. It doesn't matter if I seek the
Lord. It doesn't matter if I give, because whatever will be, will
be. I tell you why people say that. You know why? They want
to remove their own responsibility. They want to take away their
responsibility to seek the Lord. They want to remove their responsibility
to fall at the feet of the Lord and beg Him. They don't want
to be a beggar. So they try to remove their responsibility to
beg the Lord for mercy. Now make no mistake about it.
You and I are responsible. God is sovereign and you and
I are responsible. We're responsible to seek the
Lord. We're responsible to beg Him
for mercy. And if we go to hell, it's going
to be our fault for refusing to believe the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Not going to be God's fault because
He didn't choose us. It's going to be our fault for refusing
to believe. But if we go to heaven, it's
going to be God's doing. It's going to be all His doing
because God made us righteous in His Son. He sent His Son to
be our sacrifice. See, both salvation and damnation,
both are always just. God will give everyone exactly
what they've earned, either what they've earned in themselves
or what they've earned in Christ. But either way, salvation and
damnation will both always be just. Predestination is a true,
glorious doctrine. It's the only way salvation is
possible, but it does not take away our responsibility. God
is a God of means, isn't He? Then we ought to be faithful
to attend the worship service. We ought to. This is how you
grow in grace and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ is by
hearing Him preach. God's a God of means. We ought
to be faithful. What a blessing He's given us. We should be a
praying people, shouldn't we? We should be a praying people.
God himself said he answers the prayers of his people. He hears.
His ears are not heavy. He can't hear. What'd our Lord
say? You have not because you have
not. We ought to be a praying people. We ought to be a giving
and a generous people. God blessed us beyond measure
how he's blessed us. We ought to be generous. God
doesn't need us to give to accomplish anything he wants to accomplish.
He doesn't need us. He said he loves a cheerful giver.
God be giving people. God blesses and uses those things
for his glory, for the good of his church. That doesn't take
away our responsibility, does it? And predestination never,
ever, ever means that somebody is going to be kept out of heaven
who wants to be saved. Never means that. God's never
going to tell anyone, no, I won't save you. Even though you come
to me in my son, even though you want to be saved on my terms,
I won't forgive your sin. I won't accept you because I
didn't predestinate you. God will never tell anyone that. Ever. The only reason the gate
of heaven is open, the only reason anyone ever desires to be saved
is God's predestinated grace. That's so. Now that's what predestination
is. Let me tell you what it is. Predestination
is God predetermining his purpose, what he would do before he created
anything. God predetermined what he would
do, and then he created the world to accomplish his will, to do
just what he purposed to do. Predestination is simply God
being God. Predestination means it's salvation.
is by the will of a holy, gracious God, not by the will of sinful
men. That's what it means. Predestination
is God predetermining the outcome. That's what the word means, predetermining
the outcome. God predetermined the outcome
of His elect. And God predetermined the means
by which they would be saved. He predetermined the destination
and he predetermined the route to get there. He predetermined
to save a people and he predetermined how he would save them. Now the
Greek word that's translated here in our text, predestined,
is used seven times in the Bible. Four of them here in our text
translated predestinated. Every time the word is used,
it means God's predetermined a gracious outcome for his people
and how he would accomplish that gracious outcome. And it always,
predestination, always has to do with the Lord Jesus Christ. Always. Let me show you that
in Acts chapter four. God predetermined how he would
save his people and he predetermined how he would save them too. What
left a chance is God's purpose. Acts chapter four, verse 26. The kings of the earth stood
up and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and
against his Christ, for of a truth against thy holy child, Jesus,
whom thou hast anointed. Both Herod and Pontius Pilate
with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together
for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before
to be done." That phrase, determined before, is the exact same word
translated predestinated in our text. It's what God determined
before to be done. What did God determine before
to be done? When did He determine it? Before what? Before time
began. Before God created anything.
Long before He ever spoke and said, let there be light, God
predetermined that He would save His people. through the obedience
and through the sacrifice of his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what Peter's telling him
here. The cross was not an act of man. No, the cross was an
act of God. The cross was an act of God's
justice. The cross was an act of God's
mercy for his people. The cross was a predetermined
act of God to save his people from their sin. Now the cross
was man. doing what man wanted to do,
wasn't it? When we look at the cross, we look at what man does
at the cross, and those events leading up to the cross, tell
you what we see. We see a very sad but true reflection
of our sinful nature, of our sinful, depraved desires. But
when man did just exactly what he wanted to do, all he did was
carry out God's eternal purpose. It's like they took the Old Testament
scriptures and said, okay, here's our script. What are we going
to do next? What are we going to do next? What are we going to do next?
They did what they wanted to do. But when they did it, they accomplished
God's predetermined purpose to blot out the sin of his people
by the sacrifice of his son. Now only God can do that. Only
God can overrule the wickedness of men to accomplish his holy,
perfect, gracious purpose for his people. That ought to make
us bow in worship shouldn't it? God predetermined the means,
the way that sin would be put away by the sacrifice of his
son. And God predetermined the means by which the blood of Christ
is applied to the hearts of his people too. Look at first Corinthians
chapter two. God predetermined the end, the
outcome for his people. He predetermined how they'd get
there. And he predetermined how that
message, the blood of Christ, would be applied to them. It's
through preaching. 1 Corinthians 2 verse 1. And I, brethren, when I came
to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring
unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know
anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And
I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.
And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of
man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power, that
your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the
power of God." Now, why is Paul putting so much emphasis on the
importance of preaching here? Because it's the means that God
predetermined to reveal Christ as the Savior to his people,
to give them faith, verse 7. But we speak the wisdom of God
in a mystery. even the hidden wisdom which
God ordained before the world unto our glory. That word ordained
is the exact same word translated predestinated in our text in
Romans chapter eight. God predetermined to use the
preaching of the gospel to reveal Christ to his people and to give
them faith in Christ. You see, predestination is like
all of the rest of the gospel. It's all about Christ. All about
Christ. Everything. And the great and
the glorious, gracious purpose of God in predestination is to
make His people just like His Son. What a purpose. The Father thinks
so highly of His Son. He sees His Son as so beautiful. His son is so pleasing to him. He loves his son so much. The
father decided to fill heaven with a number that no man can
number of people made just like his son. That's God's purpose
and predestination. That's what it's all about. And
I tell you, it's a good thing God predetermined to do that.
It's a good thing. Because none of us could ever
be accepted by the father. Unless we're just like Christ. Now what does it mean to be just
like Christ? It means that the father can't accept us. He can't
love us. He can't look on us with favor
unless we're as holy and righteous and perfect as his son. Only God can make us like that.
Aren't you glad for the doctrine of predestination? This is what
God predetermined to do to make his people righteous. to make
them holy, to make them perfect, spotless, just like His Son. See, only Christ fits the bill
for a man that God can accept. The only way He can accept you
and me is if we're made just like Him. And the only way that's
possible, the only way we can be made just like Christ is if
before time began, God predetermined to do it. Because when we're
born in this life, We're born the exact opposite of Christ.
We're born everything God cannot accept. So if we're going to
be made what we're not, God's got to do all the work. He's
got to predetermine to do it. And then he's got to send his
son to accomplish it. Thank God that he predetermined
to do that for his people. And it's our comfort. Gene, if
God predetermined to do something before time, you can rest assured
any time He's going to do it. He's going to do His will. And
His will is to make His people just like His Son. That just
makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I love that. Oh, what a glorious, blessed
doctrine. And if God can't do what He predetermined
to do, you know, people say it's up to you if you accept Jesus.
It's up to you to be saved. It's up to you to make His sacrifice
effectual. Well, if you reject it, then
God didn't do what He predetermined to do, did He? If God cannot,
if the idol you worship cannot do what He predetermined to do,
then He's not God. If God can't accomplish what
He predetermined to do to make His people just like His Son,
then He's not God. And there's no hope that He'd
leave us to what He said. No hope. If God can't do what
He predetermined to do by His will, by His power, by His nature,
then I can promise you this, you and me can't do it with our
weak sinful natures either. Only God can do it. So thank
God for the doctrine, the blessed truth of predestination, because
that doctrine guarantees the salvation and the eternal glorification
of His people. Verse 28, Romans 8 says, and
we know that all things work together for good. To them that
love God, to them are the called according to his purpose. Now
Paul says we know that. How do we know that? For, for,
here's how we know that, verse 29. Whom he did foreknow, he
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son. That's
how we know all things going to work together for the good
of God, for the glory of his son, because God is predetermined
to make them all just like his son. And that's what we see in
the rest of our text here this morning. We see the results of
God's predestinating grace. Paul here gives us five golden
links in the chain of redemption. This chain cannot be broken.
These links cannot be broken, they are always inseparable,
tied together. And each one of these links is
a direct result of God's predestinated purpose for His people. The first
link in this chain is foreknowledge. For whom He did foreknow. Now foreknowledge, to foreknow.
means a whole lot more than God knowing what's going to happen
before it happens, you know, like a fortune teller or something.
The word means for ordained or for purpose. God knows what's
going to happen because he purposed it to happen. God knows the end
from the beginning. You know why? Because he determined
the end from the beginning. Everything that's going to happen
is happen according to his purpose. But God's a foreknowledge. Read
through Scripture. It's foreknowledge. It doesn't
have to do with events. It has to do with things. It
has to do with people. God foreknew of people. And He didn't choose those people
because they were any good. He didn't choose them because
He knew one day they would choose Him. No, He knew better than
that because no man left to himself will ever choose God, will he?
God has to choose the people or we'd never choose Him. What
our Lord tell his disciples in John 15, you've not chosen me,
but I've chosen you. You know why you choose to be
with me is what he's telling me is because I chose you first.
God didn't choose the people because he knew one day they
would believe on Christ because no one left to their own selves
ever will believe on Christ. What our Lord tell the Pharisees
in John 6, 36, I said, and do you see me? And you believe not. You believe not. The only people
who ever believe God are the people God chose himself. The
sheep. Look at John chapter 10. That's
who's going to believe God are the people he chose. The sheep.
The people he's given a new nature to. John 10. Verse 26. Here's exactly why you believe
not. But you believe not because you're not of my sheep. As I
said unto you, my sheep hear my voice and I know them. I know who they are right now
because I've foreknown them. I've always known them. My sheep
hear my voice. I know them and they follow me. That's who believes Christ, his
people, his sheep. And then God didn't choose a
people because He knew one day they would come to Christ. He
knew better than that. No man left to himself ever will
come to Christ. Our Lord told the Pharisees,
you will not, you refuse, you will not come unto me that you
might have life. Go back a few pages to John chapter
six. Here's who comes to Christ. John
six, verse 37. All that the Father giveth me,
all He elected, all that He gave to me in the covenant of grace,
all the Father giveth me shall come to me. And him that cometh
to me, I will in no wise cast out. See, that's why I told you
predestination never means God's going to tell somebody you can't
be saved if you want to. All that come to Him, He'll never
cast them out. The only people that will come to Him are the
people that the Father gave to Him. See, foreknowledge always
has to do with people. events and things as do with
people. And foreknowledge is a whole lot more than God knowing
who all men are. Of course he knows who everybody
is. Foreknowledge is to love. It's
to know, like a husband knows his wife, like he loves his wife,
like they have union together. That's how the Lord knows his
people. Remember our Lord told about
the day of judgment. He says, on that day, he's going to divide
the goats from the sheep, put the goats on his left hand. He's
going to say to those on his left hand, depart from me, you
workers of iniquity. I never knew you. Now, they said,
well, Lord, Lord, we preached in your name, we prophesied in
your name, we did all these wonderful works in your name. The Lord
wasn't saying he didn't know who they were. No, he knew who
they were. He knew their works. He knew what they'd done. That's
why he called them workers of iniquity. What he's telling them
is, I never knew you in love. You were preaching, but you weren't
preaching me. You did all these wonderful works, but it wasn't
by my spirit. I never knew you. But the Lord knows his sheep.
Oh, he knows those sheep. He knows them in eternal love. And that's why they'll never
perish. Because the Lord set his love upon those people. And
he loves them so much, he determined. to make them just like his son.
Thank God for his foreknowledge. All right, the second link in
this golden chain of redemption is predestinate. Verse 29, he
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, that
he might be the firstborn among many brethren. And we've already
talked a lot about this predestinate. The purpose of predestination
is the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. God determined to make
a people just like Christ. But they all fell in Adam. They're
all ruined in Adam. When they're born in this world,
they're born with Adam's nature, Adam's sinful, depraved, dead
nature and unrighteous nature. So God comes in the person of
his Holy Spirit and gives him a new nature, a new birth, a
nature that's just like the nature of Christ. God's elect are born
in sin. So God makes them righteous in
Christ. And I tell you why he does it
that way. Why God has ordained all these events to happen the
way they've happened. So that no flesh will ever glory in his
presence, but that Christ get all of the glory. That's what
this firstborn is all about. The firstborn is the best. I'm the firstborn. I'm just going
to tell my sister that I'm the firstborn. He's the best. He's
the king. If you want to get along with
your sister, your younger siblings, I wouldn't recommend that. But
that's what I did. Don't do what I did, I suppose. But the firstborn
is the best. He's the king of the family.
He's the high priest of the family. Christ is God's firstborn. Christ
is the king. He's the high priest. So that
in all things, he would have the preeminence. But this firstborn,
the word firstborn, It means to produce from a seed. I didn't
know that. I looked that up this week. It
means to produce from a seed. You know what that tells me?
Christ is the firstborn. He's the king. He's the preeminent
one. He's the high priest. But there's
going to be a bunch of people born from his seed. And because
they're born from his seed, they're going to have a nature just like
him. That's how they're made just like him. It's through the
new birth. So predestination tells us this.
Salvation is of the Lord. God's the source of salvation.
Salvation of sinners is God's idea, if you will use it in that
term. It's God's idea. It's His will.
It's His purpose. It all began with Him. And salvation
is a work from beginning to end that God does for His people
and in His people. And predestination guarantees
He'll do it for every one of His people. If God elected one
does not perfectly conform them to the image of Christ. Christ
is a failure. He loses all of his glory. A
father loves his son. He will not allow that to happen
to his son. So believer, you take comfort. This doctrine of
predestination, if we preach it in such a way that it's hard
and mean and harsh, we're not preaching it right. We haven't
understood this blessed doctrine. Believer, you take comfort. this
glorious, blessed doctrine. Every step you take, every step,
every event that happens to you has been foreordained of your
father. This purpose, accomplish his
will to conform you to the image of his son. If I could really see that, I'd
never say there's anything bad happening to me. I'd never be
sorry for anything to happen to me. God helped me to see that. Or as Scott Richardson said,
since I heard the good news, I hadn't heard any bad news.
I thought, well, Scott's more holy than me. It seems like I
felt like a lot of things were bad. No, they weren't. No, they
weren't. Every step a child of God takes
happens by God's foreordained purpose to make his child just
like his son. And the purpose of God cannot
fail. That's why we love the doctrine of predestination. All
right, here's the third link in this golden chain of redemption
called verse 30. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
then he also called. I told you this earlier, predestination
doesn't mean, well, Whoever be saved is going to be saved. Nothing
I need to do about it. Oh, yes, there is. Yes, there is too.
There is something the church can do. We can preach the gospel
to people. We can preach the gospel. We
can support it. We can give to support it. We
can support it with our attendance. We can support it with our prayers.
We can pray for those men who preach the gospel. We can do
that. It's important that we preach
because this pleased God by what man called the foolishness of
preaching. Save them to believe. It's going to happen through
preaching. God calls His people to the preaching
of Christ. If you don't hear Christ preach,
how can you be called to Him? If you don't hear Christ preach,
how can you believe Him? How can you love Him? How can you rest
in Him? God feeds His people. He comforts His people. He strengthens
His people through the preaching of Christ. It's the most important
thing we can do as a body, is to preach the gospel. of our
Lord Jesus Christ. God predestinated the people,
didn't He? He chose them. He predestinated
them to be made just like His Son. But I'll tell you how He's
going to do it. Through the preaching of the
gospel. And it's a powerful call. You don't have to worry you're
going to miss this call. You know, sometimes you worry,
I'll look at my phone, did I miss a call? You're not going to miss
this call. It's a powerful call. It's a
personal call to the hearts of His people. Our Lord gave us
several examples of it during His earthly ministry. He walked
along the stream, passed through that great city, Jericho. Gets
outside the city, says, Zacchaeus, come down. Oh, he came down,
didn't he? Literally and figuratively, old
Zacchaeus came down. The Lord called him. The Lord's
walking along the wharf one day. Peter, John, follow me. I'll make the fish and the meat.
They did, didn't they? Came to the tomb of his dear
friend Lazarus. All those people weeping and
crying and mourning. Lazarus! Come forth. He that was dead came forth. Now I'm dead in sin. I'm born
dead in sin. I can't hear. I can't see. I
can't believe. I can't love Christ. How am I
going to believe? How am I going to hear? I can't
come to Christ. I'm dead. How am I going to come?
Through the preaching of the gospel. The Lord says, Come. He that was dead comes forth. The Lord said, Loosen and let
him go. My predestinated will for him,
not that he be dead, but that he live. See, this call is a
call from darkness to light. It's a call from sin to holiness. It's a call from self to Christ. And about this call, no one will
ever be saved. The Lord's got to call us out
of darkness. We love our darkness. We'd never
leave it unless He calls us. We're never going to leave our
sin. We love it. God calls us. He calls us to
holiness. We love self. Now, if there's
one thing we love, we love ourselves. And we'll never leave self. We'll
never quit trusting in self. We'll never quit trying to glorify
ourself until God calls us from self. Calls us to Christ. And if He calls, I can promise
you this, we'll come running. God faithfully calls everyone
He elected, everyone He predestined, He calls them through the preaching
of Christ. God calls, he gives faith to
believe. Believe what? Believe Christ. He gives us a heart that loves,
that loves Christ. He gives us a heart that needs
Christ so that we come to Christ. Do you know you can know if God
predestinated you or not? Would you like to know? I would. Would you like to know if God's
predestinated you to be conformed to the image of Christ? You can
know. Has God called you? Has He given
you a need of Christ? If you answer yes to that question,
God Almighty predestinated you to be conformed to the image
of His Son. I can show you that from Scripture. 1 Thessalonians
chapter 1. Don't take my word for it and
turn and look at this. 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. Verse 4, knowing brethren, beloved,
your election of God. Paul says, I know God elected
you for here's how I know that our gospel came not into you
in word only. It wasn't just a set of doctrines,
but it came also in power and the Holy Ghost and in much assurance. You believe the gospel. You are
assured of salvation by this gospel of Christ. As you know
what manner of men we were among you for your sakes. And you became
followers of us, and you became a follower of the Lord, having
received the word and much affliction with joy in the Holy Ghost. That's
how we know God's predestinated us, is that he called us and
gave us a heart to believe and to love the gospel. Right back
in our text, Romans 8, here's the fourth link in this chain.
It's justified. Verse 30. For over whom he did
predestinate them he also called, whom he called, then he also
justified. Now, being justified is being
made without sin, not like you've never sinned, but being given
a nature that has never, will never, can never sin. And only
God can do that. God justifies his people by his
grace, being justified freely by his grace, which is in Christ
Jesus. God justifies his people by faith,
by faith in Christ. Yes, by faith in Christ. There's
no salvation without believing, without trusting, believing Christ.
But this is also God justifies his people by the faithfulness
of Christ to do everything that's necessary to make his people
without sin, to obey the law for them so he can impute to
them a perfect obedience, a perfect righteousness. that He would
go to the cross and suffer and die and shed His blood to cleanse
His people from all sin were justified by faith, were justified
by the blood of Christ, cleansed from all sin by His blood. I like the sound of that, don't
you? Well, when were we justified? Were we justified in eternity
when God predetermined to make us like His Son? Justified it
to cross when Christ suffered and died, gave up the ghost and
said, it's finished. Is that we were justified? Or
he justified the moment we believe the moment we heard the moment
God called us and through the gospel we believe. Yes. Yes. All. Justification is eternal. So, of course, it happens in
time. It's just like predestination. Everything God does is eternal. God's always seen his people
as washed in the blood of Christ, the lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. That's the only way God could
ever look on anybody with favor. Then he's going to send the gospel
to him. He sent his son to suffer and die as your sacrifice, didn't
he? Then he's going to send the gospel to you, give you faith
to believe it, give you a heart that loves it. So now listen,
don't let the guilt of sin keep you from Christ. Don't do it.
Who did Christ die for? He died for sinners. If you're a sinner, you didn't
come to Him. Don't let the guilt of sin stop
you from enjoying the forgiveness of sin in Christ. Yes, our sin
is shameful. I live in a constant feeling
of shame about myself. But if we're in Christ, what
have we got to feel guilty about? If we're in Christ, if His obedience
is my obedience, I've been washed in His blood, what have I got
to feel ashamed about? What have I got to feel guilty about? Christ
has removed all of the guilt from His people, so that the
Father, He doesn't deal with His people as criminals, does
He? No, He deals with them in love, as children, as sons and
daughters, because He's made them just like His sons. See
what God purposed to do in eternity, He will do in time. And He's
not going to change His mind. So He will always accept His
people in Christ. Always. There's no reason for
Him not to. They've been made just like His
Son. All right, now here's the fifth link. In this glorious
chain of redemption, it's glorified. Whom He justified, Him He also
glorified. This glory, look at Colossians
chapter one, this glory is eternal glory. It's union with Christ
that gives the believer every right to eternal glory because
Christ has made us fit for it. Colossians 1 verse 12, giving thanks unto the father,
which has made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance
of the saints in light. Christ has made us meet. He's
made us fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints
in light who have delivered us from the power of darkness, have
translated us into the kingdom of his dear son, in whom we have
redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins.
That's what we have in Christ. He has glorified his people,
made them fit for glory, made them fit to enter the kingdom
of God. Now, I know that we have to wait to experience this glory,
don't we? We're still walking around down
here on earth. We're not glorified. We're in this body of flesh.
But do you know, actually, Paul tells us this in Ephesians 2,
actually, every believer is already seated in heavenly places. We're
already seated there in Christ, our representative, in Christ,
our savior. Now, what does that mean? We're
already seated in heavenly places in Christ. Well, it means that
the believer, despite what we see when we look at each other,
is already glorified in Christ our head. The same way we're
already justified, even though the only thing we see about ourselves
is sin, we're already justified in Christ, aren't we? Well, the
believer, in the exact same way, is already glorified in Christ
our federal head. Just like God always has foreknown
and loved His people in Christ. He's always had them, seen them
predestinated in Christ. He's always seen them as called
and justified in Christ in the exact same way. We're already
glorified in Christ. Now that's the doctrine of predestination. Can I bank on it? How sure, how
certain is this doctrine of predestination? It's so sure. It's so certain. Every word Paul says about here
in this text is in the past tense. Brethren, it's already done. That's how sure it is. That applies
to all the believers experience, even our future glory. That applies to all of God's
children. I love this. All of them. even
those who aren't born yet. You know why God doesn't wrap
this thing up at this very moment? You know why? Sometimes I wish
he would, but you know why he don't? God's got a people. Some of them live now and they
haven't come to faith in Christ yet. God's not going to destroy
this thing until he calls them to Christ. God's got some children,
not even born yet. Maybe their mom and daddy's not
even born yet. I don't know how long this thing's going to last,
but God's got some people that aren't born yet. He's not going
to destroy this thing, is he? Not until he calls them to faith
in Christ, he's not. Because he's predestinated them
to be conformed to the image of his glorious, blessed son. That's the doctrine of predestination. Our Father, we don't even know what to say
or where to begin, but thank you. Thank you for your glorious
purpose for your people, that you predetermined the outcome
for chosen, elect, loved people, that you'd make them just like
your darling son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, we're thankful. We're thankful for your Word
that You've given to us. Father, I pray that You'd open
Your Word to our understanding. That You'd apply it to our hearts
so we'd believe it. So we'd take it with us and rejoice
in our Lord Jesus Christ. Let Him get all of the glory
through the preaching of Your Word this morning. Get glory
to Your name, Father, by calling out Your people. You promised
You'd call out all those that You chose. Father, call them
out today. Reveal Your Son to them in this hour. Pause your
word to go with your people to comfort us by seeing the glory
and the sure salvation, the sure forgiveness of sin we have in
our Lord Jesus Christ. It's in his precious name we
pray and give thanks.