Isaiah 14:24 The LORD of hosts has sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought it, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand:
If God created this puzzle, certainly, He already knows how it all should fit together, to achieve the best possible outcome…. When Adam and Eve blew it, God sent
Jesus reclaimed us and made us new creatures in Christ… and at that point, there were a lot of things that became predetermined in our life and journey….
He did all that he did so that we could become all that we could be….
I like the words of former President Ronald Reagan when asked who he thought Jesus was. He said “This uneducated young man with questionable origin, had no earthly property and who himself left no written word even though He said that He was the word, has for 2000 years, had a greater impact on the world than all the rulers, kings, emperors, conquerors, generals, admirals, scholars, scientists and philosophers who have ever lived -- all of them put together. How do we explain that - unless he really was who he said he was?"
The evidence of Jesus’ deity demands a verdict…. A response is mandated from every person: a response of allegiance or a response of rejection.
To acknowledge Jesus Christ as the Son of God sent to us to be Savior and Lord requires a change in how we think andlive and what priorities we should have in our lives.
Here’s where people get lost. They cannot unconditionally submit themselves to Christ, because if they allow themselves to acknowledge Him as Lord of Lords, means they must deny their own right to run their lives. Thereforethey deny the Deity of Christ–to defend their own lifestyleand independence from God.
A wealthy lawyer was told he had only weeks to live, so he told his wife to stuff two pillow cases full of money so he could grab them on his way up and prove all the folks wrong who say you can’t take it with you….. weeks after the funeral, his wife was cleaning in the attic and found the two pillow cases in the attic. As she stood looking at them, she thought to herself… “I knew I should have told that old fool to put them in the basement if he wanted to grab them on his way out”……
Look at the credentials given to Jesus that show the placeHe should have in all of our lives…
John 5:19 Tells us that Jesus and the Father are one…. It also tells us that the Father God, gives Himself fully to Jesus without measure….
John 5:21 The Father has given Jesus the ability to impart life…
John 5:22 The Father has made Jesus to be the one who will judge all mankind in the final judgment.
John 5:26 Jesus had power over His own life… when He would be born, how He would be born, where He would be born, How He would live, and die, then rise from the grave.
Matthew 17:5 When Jesus was baptized, they all heard the Father say “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased”.
Then again in, Luke 9:35 on the mountain of transfiguration, God spoke and they all heard Him say “This is my beloved Son, Listen to Him”….
It’s not the church, or a theological system, or a religious ritual or a spiritual tradition, that is worthy of our honor and devotion…..IT IS JESUS,
And it is in our devotion to Him, that we will be drawn by the Holy Spirit, to be involved in all the other things as well….
This kind of evidence of Jesus’ divinity demands a response from every person: a response of allegiance or rejection and denial.
Romans 8:29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
v30 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.
He foreknew all of us in the womb, but notice he predestined us (it is His will for us) to “be conformed to the image of His Son”…. (How many know lots of folks aren’t doing God’s will)
If you are a Romans 8:29 Christian, you need to know that before you got ill, you were already predetermined for healing… What if before you had that emergency situation or the time when everything went side ways, the outcome was predetermined…What if while you were trying to unwrap your stuff and make sense of it all, God already had His “All things work together for Good” process all planned out for you…. By the words of your mouth you are snared and by your confession, you overcome…..
Joseph was stabilized in the midst of all the betrayal and rejection which he went through by his understanding of the predetermined plan of God for His life….In spite of being thrown in the pit, being pulled out and sold as a slave, then having his reputation ruined by Potiphar’s wife, then thrown in prison….
Listen to what he said….Genesis 50:20 But as for you, you thought evil against me; but God meant it for good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.
It was the knowledge and confidence of God’s predetermination which gave boldness to the church when the apostles were beaten, arrested, threatened and then released because of the predeterminant purpose of God…
Listen to their prayer in Acts 4:28 “All of this is so that You may do whatsoever Your hand and Your counsel which was determined before to be done. v29 And now, Lord, behold their threatenings, and grant unto Your servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word, v30 By stretching forth Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of Your holy child Jesus. v31 And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost,
and they spoke the word of God with boldness”.
The courage and boldness which was infused within the early church because of the predetermined counsel of God, should inspire us as well!
When it comes to predetermination, there are two extremes…Calvinism and Armenianism. Calvinism takes the concept of predetermination a bit too far and declares that it is already decided who will become Christian. The flip side of that is that on that basis, it has already been decidedwho will not become Christian and therefore they are doomed for Hell from the womb.…..Armenianism takes it too far in the other direction and takes the view that we live with one foot on a banana peal and the other foot dangling over the fires of Hell. God’s word takes neither of these extremes and we call it Grace!
2 Peter 3:9 Tells us…..”The Lord is not slack (confused, uncertain or fickled) concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance”. (so the immediate question would be if He has predetermined that all should repent, why don’t they)
And the answer is “Free Will”.. Choice, options, and variables…. But all with a single purpose as Romans 8:29 proposes “That we all be conformed to the image of His Son”….
In light of this, we must accept that we all are born with incredible opportunities and gifts in common. The outcomes are then based on the choices we all make concerning those opportunities and gifts. To blame God, or say there is no God, is like the man who saw people with long hair and began to doubt the existence of barbers. Or who drove through an auto junk yard and doubted the existence of mechanics.
There are many who see all the evil and wickedness in the world and doubt if things can ever change…. But even though evil and wickedness is predetermined to get worse, it shall not prevent God’s incredible and amazing outcomesand Hallmark endings that are sure to take place in spite of all of that!!! (Can I have a Hallelujah)
Abraham’s vision was the revelation of God’s predetermined outcome…..Isaiah 62:10 “Go through, go through the gates; prepare the way of the people; raise up, raise up a highway; gather out the stumbling stones (there are always stumbling stones to be taken out) lift up a standard for the people. v11 Behold, the LORD has proclaimed (predetermined) unto the end of the world, Say to the daughter of Zion, Behold, Your salvation comes; behold, His reward is with Him, and His work goes before Him. v12 Andthey shall call them, The holy people, The redeemed (reclaimed and repurposed) of the LORD: and You shall be called, Sought out, A people not forsaken”.
Every Godly person in the bible had a choice, and every ungodly person in the bible had a choice….
If you have ever played the game of chess, you know that each move that a player makes leads to a set of possible responses by the opponent. Often several choices will lead to the same result no matter which choice you then make,because the options have been narrowed. Good chess players see the possible consequences to their moves in advance. A really good player will predetermine their moves to cause their opponent to do things the way they planned to achieve the desired outcome. Yet, throughout the game each player has free choice in the moves they decide to make.Someone has said that “we make our choices and then our choices begin to make us”….
Let me use a little story that I heard here…..An Indian Chief felt that it was going to be a bad winter so he sent all the tribe out to collect wood. As the pile grew, he felt that he ought to confirm his feelings with the local weather forecaster. "Tell me”, He said, “is it going to be a bad winter”?" "Yes it’s starting to look that way," said the forecaster.
So the Chief told the tribe that they didn't have enough wood and sent them back into the forest again. Once againthe Chief called the forecaster to confirm what he felt.
"Yes, It’s looking more and more like a really severe winter" replied the forecaster.
The Chief looked at the wood piles, and decided that more wood was needed and sent the tribe back to gather more. The Chief called the forecaster one last time.
"Just how sure are you that it's going to be a really severe winter?"….. "Look" said the forecaster "its definitely going to be the worst winter on record - the Indians are gathering wood like crazy!" (we make our choices and then our choices begin to make us!)
Winnie and I just recently celebrated 55 years of marriage. And that’s because about 56 years ago I invited her to be my date at the college valentine party… that choice is still deciding other choices I make….There were obstacles to overcome and a lot of interference and distractions that tried to keep that choice from taking place, all the way back to my childhood in spray NC. and the twists and turns moved me in a lot of directions, till I came to that moment of the big Valentine date!
Think of all the things Satan has tried in his attempt toprevent God’s predetermined plan and provision for you in your life journey from taking place…..and here you are… There’s still a lot to do and further to go, but He who has brought you this far, will finish the work He has begun… (do you believe it?)
Sin will always cause you to bite off more than you can swallow….Satan bringing sin into the garden through deception, lies and their disobedience, was meant to disqualify the human race and totally eliminate them from fellowship with God… What followed was a generational history of rebellion, compromise and godlessness to the point where it says the whole world except for just a handful of people had rejected God. At the flood, the future of the human race rested on the shoulders of only a handful of people. With each generation the entire plan could have failed but God predetermined that a remnant would remain….
Isaiah 53:1 Who has believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? v2 For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground”.
What a description….it got so bad that all that remained was a root…. No stalk, no plant but just a root is left! How many times did Satan think He had stopped the predetermined purpose of God… but there was a root… just a glimmer of hope against hope…. Isn’t that what the bible says…. We dare to hope against hope, and believe what we cannot see!God only needs a root…. It may be out of sight, but something is stirring where you cannot see it… God is working…. God is on the move!
Mike Robinson is a maintenance worker for United Airlines at the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. He had just left work and was on his way home, at 4 am, in the morning of January 13, when a tire on his car blew out. He lost control of the car, jumped a median and slammed into a guard rail, where the car immediately burst into flames. Robinson remembers trying to get his door open, but it was jammed. Then, as flames and smoke began to rise around him, he lost consciousness.
Del Wolgramm is another airport worker who was working in a hangar within view of where the accident occurred. He just happened to step outside at the very moment the car jumped the median. Seeing the accident, he ran to the car. As the flames engulfed it, Wolgramm pried the passengerdoor open and pulled Mike from certain death. When he was later interviewed, Robinson called Wolgramm his hero and said, "He saved my life."
When Mike was in that car, trying desperately to escape the flames that were encircling him, everything must have seemed lost, he thought. All hope must have been gone and death must have seemed certain. And then, out of nowhere, a hero arrived to save the day.
Romans 4:18 And when all hope was gone, Abrahambelieved in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, “So shall yourseed be”. (Would you tell someone…. “So shall your seed be”….
I’m here to tell you that your hero is on the way, when all seems lost and it all seems hopeless, and his name is Jesus!He’s been planning to show up at just the right time and place! He’s been arranging and coordinating and adjusting things before you ever get there, so that it can turn out right….
Paul wrote to the church of Corinth as they were going through persecution and trials…..
1Corinthians 15:58 “Therefore, my brethren, be steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
I love the scripture that is so descriptive as to how God sets the devil up for failure and sets His children up for success and prosperity, in spite of how it may appear at the time.
2 Kings 19:28 “Because you rage against me and your tumult is come up into mine ears, therefore I will put my hook in your nose, and my bridle in your lips, and I will turn you back by the way by which you came. v29 And this shall be a sign unto you, you shall eat this year such things as grow of themselves, and in the second year that which springs of the same; and in the third year you shall sow, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruits thereof”. (Man, I like that part about God’s hook in Satan’s jaw)
Satan tried to destroy Job, but he came back with twice as much…. He tried to destroy Paul, but only spread the fires of the gospel… He has tried to destroy the Jewish people but they only made the desert to blossom like a rose, against all odds…. What satan meant for evil, God has meant for good!!
Before sin entered into the world God predetermined that we would need a savior, so that we could receive grace and forgiveness….
Before there was any sickness or disease, God predetermined that Jesus would come as our cure and our balm… (by His stripes we were healed)
Before there was the bondage and deception of the fallen prince of darkness, the Father laid the plan for the “truth that would set us free”…
Before there was a world in decline and the process of corruption, the plan for a new heaven and new earth was set in motion….
We say that “200 years ago, we were healed” but I want to say that before the foundation of the earth were laid, God planned and put in place our healing!
Hebrews 4:3 “For we which have believed do enter into His rest, for He has sworn in earnest, that they may enter into His rest (His finished work), since the works were finished from the foundation of the world”. ……That’s predetermination!
As a result of the reality of predetermination, we extract a new perspective and fresh application from Hebrews 11:1
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. v2 For by it the elders obtained a good report. v3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were made of things which do not appear”.
That’s how faith people live, they believe by faith till faith becomes sight….. It’s as real as what you can see, hear, taste and touch….
Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the lord has predetermined that they be delivered, that they come forth victorious, that they succeed and prosper through them all!!!!
I close with the words of Paul as the storm was tearing the ship apart which was taking him to Rome…. Folks were panicking and throwing themselves into the turbulent seas, others were hanging to planks and anything that would floatas a last chance of survival, so they could make it to land…. Hear Paul’s words…
Acts 27:22 And now I encourage you to be of good cheer: (wait a minute, we’re dying here) for there shall be no loss of any man’s life among you, but only of the ship. 23 For there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve, 24 Saying, Fear not, Paul; you must be brought before Caesar: and, lo, God has given you all thosethat sail with you. 25 Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me.”
Paul knew that no matter what was thrown at him, he was supposed to arrive where he was going…. He knew the power of predetermination…And because he knew, those who were with him would have the same covering of protection and provision….
You’re here today and all you’ve got is a rainbow that says“IT SHALL BE”… Hold on to that, because that’s your life raft to keep you moving forward to the place where faith shall become sight….What He promised when the sun was shining will be true when the storm comes! That’s what the rainbow above the storm is all about…. It’s your promise that God’s “It shall be” will come to pass! (Does anyone have a witness?) Give Him praise that He who has brought us this far, will finish what He has begun in and through us!!!!
