Those He Foreknew...

We come into this world with a mind and understanding that automatically revolves around us. That is the state of the fallen world and the fallen human race. It is why Satan was ousted from heaven, He said "I am god" and " I will be like God". He wanted to be the center.

This is the sin that will keep every condemned human out of heaven. When we in our own mind trump God's righteous judgments and create a god or a relative morality that suits us. We say in our heart, "It's my world and I create the rules that suit me!"

The problem is that the whole world is wired to work His way, for His glory. He is the center of everything. Not us.

When we come to a saving knowledge Jesus Christ, the Word says that God supernaturally baptizes (immerses) us into Christ body. That means everything that Christ experienced we experienced. When He died, we died. When he rose, we rose.

Rom 6:2  By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?
Rom 6:3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
Rom 6:4  We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
Rom 6:5  For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
Rom 6:6  We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.
Rom 6:7  For one who has died has been set free from sin.
Rom 6:8  Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.
Rom 6:9  We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.
Rom 6:10  For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God.
Rom 6:11  So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

As a new creature, God has killed the sinner....that is, God has killed us! Now it is no longer we that live, but Christ in us, the hope of Glory!

Gal 2:20  I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.

Col 1:27  To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Now the problem is this...We have a new man, no sin nature (it died with Christ!) and Christ is in us...BUT, we have the old mind that has been programed to think about things from our perspective (where we are the center of the universe). Modern day Christian thinking and teaching is full of this logic and reasoning! It is natural....but in the Bible it says that there is a way that seems right to a man, but that way leads to death.

God is calling us to have an understanding (through the power of His Spirit) where HE is the center. This is totally against the grain of everything that we have known. That is why Paul said,

Eph 5:26  that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water word...

Our minds must be renewed and cleansed. Our  ways of thinking have to be brought in line with the way that HE sees. We need His understanding and HIS reality. After all, His understanding and reality are the only true understanding and reality....

Sometimes this is challenging. This however is the definition of the word repent: to have a change of mind....

That being said, read the following scriptures:

Tit 1:2  in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began....

Rom 8:28-30 
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

1Co 1:9  God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Eph 1:4-5 
even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love
he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,
to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

Psa 139:13-17
You are the one who put me together inside my mother's body,
and I praise you because of the wonderful way you created me. Everything you do is marvelous! Of this I have no doubt.
Nothing about me is hidden from you! I was secretly woven together deep in the earth below, but with your own eyes you saw my body being formed. Even before I was born, you had written in your book everything I would do. Your thoughts are far beyond my understanding, much more than I could ever imagine.

Eph 2:10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Now ask the following questions:

Did you choose God or did He choose you?

Who gets free choice, God or you?

If you get the choice, who is at the center of your theology? Is it God or you?


Rom 11:36  For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

All things that God initiates HE gets the glory for. All things that man initiates man gets the glory for....So who initiates salvation?

It is God...He chooses...AND HE CHOSE YOU IF YOU HAVE CHRIST IN YOU.

Your whole christian walk is designed to work when He is at the center working out His will in you. Your ability to change and grow even is up to HIM. He started it and HE will finish it. The question is not weather you can fail...BUT CAN GOD FAIL....Your salvation is not your to loose! ITS HIS!

HE STARTED, HE WILL FINISH IT! YOU RECEIVE IT! IT IS ALL ABOUT HIM AND HIS ABILITY TO GET THE JOB IN YOU DONE! THE TRUTH IS THAT IT WAS DONE BEFORE IT STARTED! Before the creation of the world....

When we put God in the center, it takes us out of the center. He gets the Glory and we get to relax! We are CHOSEN IN HIM FROM BEFORE THE BEGINNING OF THE WORLD. ALL OF YOUR DAYS WERE PLANNED.

David said:

Psa 139:4
 
Before I even speak a word, you know what I will say,
and with your powerful arm you protect me from every side.
I can't understand all of this! Such wonderful knowledge is far above me.

Psa 139:13-17

You are the one who put me together inside my mother's body,
and I praise you because of the wonderful way you created me. Everything you do is marvelous! Of this I have no doubt.
Nothing about me is hidden from you! I was secretly woven together deep in the earth below, but with your own eyes you saw my body being formed. Even before I was born, you had written in your book everything I would do. Your thoughts are far beyond my understanding, much more than I could ever imagine.