Spoken Word no 130
Predestinated
Sons
Brian Kocourek, Pastor
November 30, 2009
This
morning I would like to take for our text Ephesians 1:3-5, verse 11 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: 4 According as he hath chosen us in him (notice
it was He who chose us, not our choosing him. When?) before the foundation of the world,(so
that throws out the fundamentalists argument that your choice is the most
important thing you have. It’s not your choice, it’s his choice. And to clinch
that nail Paul tells us when we were chosen, he said before the foundations of
the world, while we were yet a thought in God’s mind He chose you, it’s not
your choosing that counts. And the purpose of His choosing you Paul says, …) that we should be
holy and without blame before him. 5 In love having (past
tense) predestinated us (predetermined
us) unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
himself, according to the good pleasure
of his will, (not according to the pleasure of your will. Your
will has nothing to do with His plan. Jesus surrendered His will to the Father,
and so must you.)
Now, verse 11 In whom
also we have obtained an inheritance, being
predestinated (again that is something that has
already taken place. It is again speaking of in the past, something that God
did, not something that you did.) being predestinated according to the purpose of him
who worketh all things after the
counsel of his own will:
Did you catch what he said here…according to the purpose of him… after the counsel of his own will:
Let us pray…
Now, in our text we read some pretty strong words
from Paul concerning predestination. Let’s turn to Romans
8: 29 And I want you to notice the past tense that Paul uses in his
teaching here. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate
to be conformed to the image of his Son, (now
the word foreknows and predestinate are not the same words and do not have the
same meaning. They are two different words to describe how he predestinates. ) that he might be
the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
William
Branham vindicated prophet of God, yes vindicated prophet of God according to
how God defined a vindicated prophet in Deuteronomy 13 and 18, not according to
how the Pentecostal churches define a prophet. But how god defines his
Prophets. Because I am not interested in their definition, I am interested in
God’s definition. And God’s prophets will come with thus saith the Lord and it
will NEVER fail. Not one time, for if it does you don’t have to believe him.
Deuteronomy 18:18 I will raise them up a Prophet from among their
brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall
speak unto them all that I shall command him.
19 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will
not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him. 20 But the prophet, which shall presume to
speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall
speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die. 21 And
if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken? 22 When a prophet speaketh in the name of the
LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the
LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt
not be afraid of him.
So, I am
not interested in your thoughts. I am not even interested in my own thoughts.
It’s either what God said and backed up or it’s nothing. The Baptist will tell
you he believes in predestination for certain people like Moses and Paul and Jesus
etc, but Paul said, and Paul was vindicated by that same Pillar of Fire that
came to Moses and vindicated Him with His presence. That same Pillar of Fire
that entered into the Son of God at the river
103 Predestinated:
all sons and daughters of God are predestinated. We'll get to the Scriptures
after while; I'm just quote it to you: Ephesians the 1st chapter, 5th verse.
All right, we are predestinated. Why? Christ is the original Seed, and this
original Seed was predestinated by the foreknowledge of God, knowing that the
fall would come, and predestinated Him to take our place. You get it? All sons
and daughters of God are predestinated. But you say then, "Would He
condemn...?..." No, sir. You're here on free moral agent, but the reason that
He know... He being God, the infinite One (as I spoke to you about), He
foreknew everything that would be. He knew who they were.
104 Now, He didn't make Eve do
that. He didn't make her do it, but He knew she would do it. Now, no wonder I
believe in the 12th chapter of Saint Luke (I believe it is), He said... (Now,
don't put that down; I've got it wrote down a little later.) that He said,
"They got eyes but they don't
see. They got ears but they don't hear. Isaiah well spoke of you. Isaiah
foresaw you." And
there they are setting there with eyes, ears, and everything else, but yet they
can't see. Why? They are a repellent to
the Word of God. Then Jesus said, "Oh,
you hypocrites. You're the... You are the children of the devil and his works
you do. Then condemn Me," He
said, "refuse My
ministry..." When
show me where your ministry's producing the full Word of God, as His was. See,
see?
105 Now, predestinated as He was, now you say,
"How does that predestination come?" God's formal... Now, everybody
don't understand this, I want you to raise your hand now when I get finished.
See?
106 God, in the
beginning, commissioned Adam and Eve to multiply and replenish the earth.
That's how sex was given; that's why it was. But what caused the hybreeding?
Bring death. Now, we'll get that this afternoon in the two wombs. See? Now,
notice. Now, in this God foresaw and
predestinated a world of sons and daughters. He predestinated them to be there. And because of hybreeding,
disbelieving God's Word, caused a hybreeding, God's put it right back again
that you don't have to be hybrid anymore; you can come right back to the
original Word and be a son of God just like you was supposed to be at the
beginning. See?
107 Christ couldn't
help being what He was. He was the Son
of God. That's it. See what I mean now? See if you were intended, you see the Word of God, you believe It;
because why? There's something new. See? Why? Have you ever heard of strain in
a family? A one... A son will kind of impersonate his father, or the mother, or
the grandfather, or the grandmother. That's strain in the family. You've heard
of it, haven't you? Well, that's the same thing from predestination. You were supposed to be here in the right
way at the beginning, but being that you come the way you did, you're subject
to the fall. But being that you're predestinated you hear the Word and It
brings you right back where you were predestinated. Amen. Never saw that
before. Brings you right... And what makes you believe the Word of God and turn
down these other things? Is because you were... There's something in you. Way back yonder you was supposed... You
are made to live here forever.
108 "All
right, Scripture for that, preacher." Here it comes: "All that He
foreknew, He's called, all that He has called, He has justified, and all that
He has justified, He has already glorified."
"What's the use of preaching, Brother Branham?" There is a crop out
there; only thing I'm doing is seining. I'm just throwing it out there and see
where it goes. If the repellents, the grease of the muck of the world,
denominations throw it off, I can't help it; but if there's one out there that can absorb it, he will turn to be a son
and daughter of God just as sure as the world (Amen.), 'cause it's
predestinated.
109 That's the reason that God could work His
works through Jesus; He was a predestinated Son. He was the Lamb slain
before the foundation of the world. Before a hundred billion, trillion, million
years ago that we said Genesis 1:1 spoke of awhile ago, He was right then predestinated to take His place. Amen. That's the
reason the will of the Father He did. He was the Word made manifest. And every
one of the other sons will have the same manifestation, and that's the ones that
was predestinated.
We find brother Branham
speaking of Predestination quite strong here this morning, so I would like to examine the difference between
Foreknowledge, Election and Predestination. Many people today, especially the
Fundamentalist and Evangelical differ greatly on exactly what Election and
predestination are all about. The main issue however, has not been
whether God predestinates or not, as much as the issue of choice, or rather
whose choice. Men want to be in control of their own lives that they have
placed free moral agency as the ultimate in a man's experience with God. Men would
rather have the ability to choose God, than to trust God to do His own choosing.
Thus, they explain away election by using foreknowledge of God, as their excuse
to place man's ability to choose above God's Own choice.
Romans 11:33 ¶ O the depth of
the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how
unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
34 For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or
who hath been his counselor? 35 Or who
hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? (You
know what that means? It means who chose God first and God was obligated to
accept that choice. That places God as some lap dog doing man’s bidding. No
respect for God at all.) 36 For of him, and
through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.
Again Paul says in I Corinthians 2:9 But as it is
written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart
of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
10 But God hath revealed them unto
us by his Spirit: for The Spirit searches all things, yea, the deep things of God. 11 For what
man knows the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knows no man, but
The Spirit of God knows. (So don’t tell me a bunch of
theologians can get together and know the things of God. They are blind to God
and His ways unless God reveals them through His Spirit. And the men can not do
it without having the Spirit of God in them.) 12
Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that
we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. (So,
unless you are filled with the Spirit of God you will in no way shape or form
understand the things of God. Jesus said, unless you are born again you can not see the
Thus they
say, God being omniscient, and knowing the end from the beginning, knew who
would and who would not and based upon this foreknowledge, God then elects
those to Glory who choose right, and He elects to condemnation those who do not
choose right. In believing this men place man's ability to choose above God's
sovereign will, and thus fall into error.
Now, that
might give you a warm fuzzy about God, but it doesn’t hold up in the court of
God's Word. In order to believe this you must be willing to throw out
entire passages of Scripture and you must be willing to believe that man is
capable on his own of making a correct choice.
God knows
your end from your beginning because He pre-destined your end. That is what the
word predestinate means. It means to pre - destine. To
mark out before hand, your destiny. Therefore, predestination is
the path you are destined to take.
Let's turn
to the Word now and examine the very scriptures that must be relegated to the
trash heap in order to prove free will has anything to do with election.
In
John 15:16, Jesus said, Ye have not
chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go
and bring forth fruit, and [that] your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye
shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
Now, we
ought to stop right here and rest our case. Either this is meant for all
believers or it is not. If it is not, then all believers are not expected to
bring forth fruit, and all believers are not entitled to ask the Father in the
name of Jesus and expect to receive what they ask for. But I say, Jesus is
telling us here that we did not choose Him first, He chose us, and our love
toward him, and acceptance of Him, is only in response to His choice.
In
I John 4:19, we hear John tell us,
"We love him, because he first loved us." Now, either this is true or it is not.
Then if this is not true, we must rip it out of our Bible. And if this passage
is in error, then what else is in error. If we believe God wrote the Word, that
His Bible is the Un-adulterated Word of God, then we must accept what it tells
us. Scripture does not fight scripture.
In Deuteronomy 7:6, we read, "For thou [art] an holy people unto
the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people
unto himself, above all people that [are] upon the face of the earth. 7The
LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in
number than any people; for ye [were] the fewest of all people: 8 But
because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had
sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand,
and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of
Egypt. 9 Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he [is] God, the faithful God,
which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his
commandments to a thousand generations; 10 And repayeth them that hate him to
their face, to destroy them: he will not be slack to him that hateth him, he
will repay him to his face.
Again we
see that it was not our choosing but God's choosing that is involved here.
In Proverbs 14:12, we read, ¶ There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end
thereof [are] the ways of death.
This scripture
tells us that man will try to choose what seems right, or the way that he
believes to be the right way, but man's choice will always lead to the way of
death. Therefore, even in our choosing, we need a God who will watch over our
choices, and help us to make the right choice.
In Philippians 3:15 we
read, ¶ Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded:
and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto
you.
In the
following scriptures we find God is actively involved with the choices His
elect take.
Psalms 37:23 The steps of a
[good] man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way. Here we find the Hebrew
word Kuwn used for "ordered", and means to
set up or establish, to prepare or arrange. Therefore we see the hand
of God actively involved in the steps of a good man or righteous man.
In Proverbs 16:9 we read, ¶ A man's heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his
steps. Here we find that
although a man may contemplate and even plan his way, yet God has the ultimate
say so and will direct the very footsteps of that man. Jonah was a classic
example of this. The Lord told Him to do such and such and when Jonah had what
he thought was a better plan, God just took over the situation and produced
exactly what He intended to produce. Jonah had no choice, or at least his
choice meant nothing to what God wanted done.
In Jeremiah 1:5 we read, Before I formed
thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I
sanctified thee, [and] I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.
Jeremiah could not get away from it if he tried. For this very reason he
was born.
We also
find in the book of Acts
13:48, And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified
the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.
If we are
to believe this scripture, then we must acknowledge that all who are ordained
to Eternal Life will believe. Then those who are not ordained to Life will not
believe, and there is your evidence of election.
I Corinthians 2:7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a
mystery, [even] the hidden [wisdom], which God ordained before the world unto
our glory:
Ephesians 1:4 According as he hath chosen us in him before
the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame
before him in love: 5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
Now, if
God had a word which He ordained before the world began, and if that word was
to produce Glory in a chosen people, or a people of God's choosing, then there
had to be a people in God's mind before the world began who would at the right
season believe this predestinated Word, and receive the glory it was ordained
to produce.
Now, just
as there are those who were ordained to glory and to eternal Life, we also find
those who were ordained to condemnation. JUDE 1:4 For
there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to
this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into
lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.
The
Apostle Paul shoots the theory that speaks of free moral agency as the root
cause for election to pieces in Romans chapter 9. Romans 9:11 (For
[the children] being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that
the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him
that calleth;) 12 It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.
13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I
hated. 14 ¶What shall we say then? [Is there] unrighteousness with God?
God forbid. 15 For he saith to Moses, I will have
mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have
compassion. 16 So then [it is] not of
him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
17 For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I
raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be
declared throughout all the earth. 18 Therefore hath he mercy
on whom he will [have mercy], and whom he will he hardeneth.
19 Thou wilt say then unto me, Why
doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? 20
Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed
say to him that formed [it], Why hast thou made me
thus? 21 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one
vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonor?
Paul makes
it very clear that our election is not up to you or I,
but entirely up to God. He even goes so far to say, So then
[it is] not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that
sheweth mercy. Now, if it is not him that willeth, then your will
and my will have nothing to do with our election at all. It is God who either
chooses to show mercy or not. Therefore, if your will has nothing to do with
your being elect, then neither does your choice for your choice is but a
reflection of your will. You will and then you choose.
Divine healing 54-1219M P:49 Listen. It's
not him that wants to get saved, that's saved. It's him that's saved by God's choice. Esau wanted to get saved too. He wept
bitterly, and couldn't find no place to repent. He
wanted to get saved. It ain't 'cause you want to get saved. God said,
"I've hardened who I will harden. I have mercy on whom
I want to have mercy." That's right. He said, "Before Esau or Jacob,
either was born, not knowing right and wrong," God said, "I love Jacob and hate Esau.'"
And Esau tried to get right with God and couldn't. Pharaoh tried to get right with God and couldn't do it. So it's not you,
not what you want. It's what God has ordained for you
to do. That's right. Paul said in the 9th chapter of Romans there,
"Hasn't the potter got power over the clay to make an honored vessel or a dishonored vessel, to show His glory
to those who He has honored?" You didn't know
that, did you? That's what the Scripture says. Pharaoh tried his best to
repent. He was kindhearted. He said, "Sure,
I'll let you go. Go on.” God said, "No, you ain't. I'm going to harden his
heart so you can't do it." 'Cause God's Word has to be fulfilled. And if we're living in this day
when formalities and things has broken the church down, broke away; why, it's God's Word being fulfilled. As sure as God
said, "These signs would follow them that believe," as sure as God said these churches would be like they are now,
God also said this opposition would meet it. So the same God
that ordained signs and wonders, ordained that these
should be persecuting against It. So there you are. If
you're on the other side, I feel sorry. And I want you not to be that way,
but maybe you can't help
it. See? God might've fixed it that way.
Now, to place
foreknowledge and election and then predestination in their proper place, we
must first know the definitions of each. Therefore, since most people wish that
foreknowledge is the preeminent principle behind election, we will start with
this point first.
FOREKNOWLEDGE:
What is
it? The word foreknowledge is made up of two words. Fore being a prefix meaning
beforehand, and knowledge meaning to know, hence to
know beforehand.
I PETER 1:2 Elect
according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the
Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto
you, and peace, be multiplied.
prognosis {prog'-no-sis}
1) foreknowledge 2) forethought, pre-arrangement
Hebrews 6:17 Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto
the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed [it] by an
oath: 18 That by two immutable things, in which [it was] impossible for God to
lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold
upon the hope set before us:19 Which [hope] we have as an anchor of the soul,
both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;
Election
: To
Select out, to choose, to appoint, hence to make a choice, To choose involves
as process of previewing or showing forth, then an assessment opinion or
judgment is expressed and the selection then is made based upon the assessment,
opinion or judgment. DOXA
Isaiah 42:1 ¶ Behold my servant,
whom I uphold; mine elect, [in whom] my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit
upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.
Isaiah 45:4 For Jacob my
servant's sake, and
Isaiah 65:9 And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out
of
Isaiah 65:22 They shall not build, and another inhabit; they
shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree [are] the
days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
Psalms 139:15 My substance was not hid from thee, when I
was made in secret, [and] curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
16 Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and
in thy book all [my members] were written, [which] in continuance were
fashioned, when [as yet there was] none of them. 17 ¶
How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O
God! how great is the sum of them!
John 15:16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen
you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and [that] your
fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he
may give it you.
John 6 & 8,
John 1:12-13 But as many as received him, to them gave he
power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:13Which
were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man,
but of God.
Job 38:4 ¶ Where wast thou
when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if
thou hast understanding. 5 Who hath laid the measures thereof, if
thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon
it? 6 Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof; 7When the morning
stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
Matthew 25:34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right
hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from
the foundation of the world:
I Peter 1:20 Who verily was foreordained before the
foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,
I Thessalonians 1:2 ¶ We give thanks to God always for you
all, making mention of you in our prayers; 3 Remembering
without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in
our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father; 4
Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God.
II Thessalonians 2:13 ¶ But we are bound to give thanks alway
to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the
beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and
belief of the truth:
I John 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth
not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we
shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
Lamentations 3:37 ¶ Who is he
that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not?
Psalms 65:4 Blessed [is the man whom] thou choosest, and
causest to approach [unto thee, that] he may dwell in thy courts: we shall be
satisfied with the goodness of thy house, [even] of thy holy temple.
Predestinate..(greek) Proorizo = predetermine, determine before ordain,
predestinate, to limit in advance.
Romans 8:29 For those whom He has known beforehand
He has also pre-destined to bear the likeness of His Son, that He might be the
Eldest in a vast family of brothers; 8:30 and those whom He has
pre-destined He also has called; and those whom He has called He has also
declared free from guilt; and those whom He has declared free from guilt He has
alsocrowned with glory.
Ephesians 1:3 ¶ Blessed [be] the God and Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in
heavenly [places] in Christ: 4 According as he hath chosen us in him
before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame
before him in love:5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6 To
the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the
beloved. 7In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of
sins, according to the riches of his grace; 8 Wherein he hath abounded
toward us in all wisdom and prudence; 9 Having made known unto us
the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed
in himself:10 That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might
gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and
which are on earth; [even] in him:11 In whom also we have obtained an
inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh
all things after the counsel of his own will:
Matthew 4:31 And he shall send
his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his
elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
Mark 13:22 For false Christs
and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if
[it were] possible, even the elect.
Romans 8:33 Who shall lay any
thing to the charge of God's elect? [It is] God that
justifieth.
Colossians 3:12 ¶ Put on therefore, as the elect
of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind,
meekness, longsuffering; 13 Forbearing one
another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even
as Christ forgave you, so also [do] ye. 14 And above all
these things [put on] charity, which is the bond of perfectness.
15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye
thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in
all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and
spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
Titus 1:1 ¶ Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ,
according to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which
is after godliness; 2 In hope of eternal life, which
God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;
I Peter 1:2 Elect
according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the
Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto
you, and peace, be multiplied.
I Peter 2:6 Wherefore also it is contained in the
scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he
that believeth on him shall not be confounded.
II John 1:1 ¶ The elder
unto the elect lady and her children, whom I love in the truth; and not I only,
but also all they that have known the truth;
haireomai
{hahee-reh'-om-ahee} AV -- choose (3) 1) to take for oneself, to
prefer, choose 2) to choose by vote, elect to office
Pre-Destinate: pre meaning before, and destine meaning destiny.
To Pre-determine. To determine
beforehand. Pre-destiny. Again we see that to
predetermine means to mark out and determine beforehand. Therefore, chance is
negated altogether. Design becomes supreme. Choosing beforehand is essential
and indispensable. The word determine not only implies influence but the
power necessary to control or enforce the outcome desired.
We can see
by all these words that a Design, and thus a Designer is evident. Nothing is
left to chance, which is chaos theory. Nothing is left to coincidence, nothing
is left to will, nothing is left to the strength of the pre-destined, nothing
is left up to the abilities of the predestined ones, but all by a great design
is planned out and back by a power to ensure it through it's
final outcome. Hence all is under a continual enforcement and control of the One doing the predestinating.
Therefore, a plan is involved, and a destiny is set in stone.
Isaiah 55:8 For my thoughts
[are] not your thoughts, neither [are] your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
9 For [as] the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my
ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
10 For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and
returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and
bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:
11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it
shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and
it shall prosper [in the thing] whereto I sent it.
John 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they
follow me: 28 And I give unto them eternal life;
and they shall never perish, neither shall any [man] pluck them out of my hand.
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.
I Corinthians 3:7 So then neither is he that planteth
any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.
Romans 9:9 For this [is] the
word of promise, At this time will I come, and Sara shall have a son. 10 And
not only [this]; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, [even] by our
father Isaac; 11 (For [the children] being not yet born, neither having
done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might
stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;) 12 It was said
unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. 13 As it is written, Jacob
have I loved, but Esau have I hated. 14 ¶ What shall we say then? [Is
there] unrighteousness with God? God forbid. 15 For
he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have
compassion on whom I will have compassion. 16 So then [it is] not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy. 17For the
scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up,
that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared
throughout all the earth.18Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will [have
mercy], and whom he will he hardeneth.19Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
20 Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing
formed say to him that formed [it], Why hast thou made
me thus? 21 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to
make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonor? 22 What if God, willing
to shew [his] wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering
the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: 23 And that he
might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had
afore prepared unto glory,
Then
knowing we have a God Who is Sovereign, One Who changes not, and Who chooses
right (Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?) One
Whose Word is Eternal and immutable, One whose first
choice is His best choice, then it is This One Who has Chosen. It is this One
Who has planned out the destiny of all man. It is This One Who has determined
our destiny, even before.
Let us
pray…