Whom He Did PREDESTINATE

      In these words which are taken from Romans 8:30 there is an assertion, the assertion is that our God did predestinate. It is persons that He did predestinate, for the words are; “whom he did predestinate” so that our God did predestinate persons, and in the words of the previous verse we find that He did predestinate those persons to something. That to which God did predestinate is also stated in verse 29, and that is, that those whom He did predestinate shall be conformed to image of His Son. Who those persons are that God did predestinate is also given; they are those whom he did foreknow, this will bring up a question; is there any person whom God did not foreknow in some way? The answer is no, no there is no such person as that our God is ignorant of his being. Well then did God predestinate everyone be conformed to the image of His Son? No, for some men die in their sins, those who die in their sins are certainly not conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. So that foreknowledge is not a mere prescience concerning certain persons.

            In Matthew 7:23 we find these words “And then will I (Jesus Christ) profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity”. Those to whom our Lord will say these dreadful words are professed Christians, professed preachers, and professed Christian workers. They testify in their behalf that they had prophesied (preached) in the name of Christ, they had, according to themselves, cast out devils, and had done many wonderful works. The reason they were rejected of Christ is stated by themselves in verse 22 “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? And in thy name done many wonderful works?” These were members of Christless Christianity, all their preaching, and other good works they had done, their works were their own, performed in the strength of the flesh, they were acts of their own, not performed in the power of the Spirit of God, not performed through the influence of the Holy Ghost. Notice these did not say, Lord I trusted your blood to wash me from my sins, Revelation 1:5. They did not say, Lord you gave me faith in order that I might believe your words, and therefore according to your promise I am justified from all things, from which I could not be justified by the law, Acts 13:39. They did not say, Lord you have clothed me in your perfect robe of righteousness and garment of salvation Isaiah 61:10. No they trusted their own work to win their acceptance with God. Their justifying righteousness was not the blood and righteousness of Christ but it was their own works, they did not know God in the person of Jesus Christ. Therefore they depended on themselves, they thought that what they did in their own persons should recommend them to God. The Lord’s reply will be “I never knew you” to all who appear before him in their own righteousness, Philippians 3:1-9“depart from me, ye that work iniquity”.

            To those individuals of Matthew 7:23 our Lord said “I never knew you”; but those of Romans 8:29 He foreknew. Now according to His perfect knowledge as God he knew the individual persons of both groups as the creatures of his creation, but in the covenant of grace he knew the latter (those individuals of Romans 8:29) but not the former (those individuals of Matthew 7:23). Those individuals of the latter group are his elect, whom He did predestinate to the adoption of children, Ephesians 1:5. They are God’s elect and have in Christ, “obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will” Ephesians 1:11. These are the “remnant according to the election of grace” (Romans 11:5), who He appointed to salvation, “For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ” I Thessalonians 5:9. Persons who are of the “election of grace” God has loved with an everlasting love (Jeremiah 31:3) and in that love has known them from everlasting. This is the foreknowledge that is referred to in Romans 8:29 and I Peter 1:2; God knew the persons of this multitude, in his purpose of salvation, and covenant of grace, having chosen them to salvation in Christ before the foundation of the world (II. Thessalonians 2:13: II. Timothy 1:9; Ephesians 1:1-11; 3:10,11; Psalms 65:4. These are they who God makes willing in the day of His power, for “Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power,… (Psalms 110:3).

            It is because God has predestinated the elect to salvation by Jesus Christ, that there are any of our ruined race, who are willing to come to Christ for life. For the Apostle Paul quotes the psalmist thus (Romans 3:10-19)“There is none righteous, no, not one: (11.)There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. (12.) They have all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. (13.) Their throat is an open sepulcher; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: (14.)Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: (15.) Their feet are swift to shed blood: (16.) Destruction and misery are in their ways: (17.) And the way of peace they have not known: (18.) There is no fear of God before their eyes. (19.) Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them that are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. These words are an exposition of the character of this writer, and of you the reader; they tell us what our God sees in all and every one of our race; these words describe us naturally, and as we are in natural, free will, works religion. In natural, free will, works religion the religionist is call upon to do something that will differentiate him from those who do it not. It is upon this ground that those professors of religion of Matthew 7:21-23 will say “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? And in thy name have done many wonderful works? These religionists begin to recount their good works as the ground of their acceptance before God. Their way is the way of Cain, who brought the best he had and thought that surely God would and should accept him based on his best work, but what was the outcome? God rejected Cain and his offering; because Cain’s offering rejected the blood of one slain in his place, he rejected the way of redemption by Jesus Christ.

            Reader you may ask, if this be true, how can anyone know whether he has any portion in the Christ of Holy Scripture? The scriptures answer “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” If God the Holy Spirit, has been pleased in great mercy and grace, to trouble your conscience, your thoughts, and your heart, with these few remarks; how much greater will it be at the final and great judgment? Will you stand before God clothed in a garment of your own making, a garment made of your decision for Christ, and not of Gods election in free grace? A garment spun from the threads of your own choice, and not the choice of the Father; who said ye have not chosen me but I have chosen you? (John 15:16) Will you stand before God based on things you have done, or on the finished work of Jesus Christ which is according to the “..purpose of God according to election..”(Romans 9:11)? If you would stand before God in Christ, then find the true gospel preached and ask God to give you faith to receive it.