You Were Called to Believe in Predestination
A man believes the witness of Scripture (Jn 5:39–47), and his testimony is, “I was blind to the truth, as it is in Jesus Christ, but now I see.” Whereas, the Bible meant little to this man, it now has primacy in his life. He is no longer ashamed to be called, “Christian.”
God, according to His own free will and gracious choice, is the catalyst behind the transformation of a sinner into a saint (Jn 1:12–13; Rom 9:16; 11:5). As a potter is the sovereign lord over a lump of clay, to make it into something common or something special (Jer 18:1–17; Rom 9:21), so Almighty God is the sovereign Lord over vessels of wrath and vessels of mercy (Rom 9:22–23).
This man made new believes the report about Jesus Christ (Is 53:1) because he has heard the Gospel of salvation (Rom 10:17). Only the written Word of God has this message from God (2 Tim 3:16). It is the special revelation from God that tells how God saves His chosen people (2 Thess 2:13 Tit 3:5). Most people do not believe the good news of God’s grace (Mt 22:14), and the reason they do not believe is because they have not received the Spirit of Christ, who is the Spirit of truth (Jn 14:26; 16:13).
The Holy Spirit uses means, in order to gather God’s elect into Christ’s church (2 Thess 2:14; 1 Pet 1:3). Each member of the body of Christ has been added by the baptism of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38; 1 Cor 12:13). A union between the born again and Christ is formed, by the Spirit indwelling the new creation in Christ (Rom 8:9, 11; 2 Cor 5:17; 1 Pet 1:3). Christ now lives in the soul of the saint (Gal 2:20), and the saint is “in Christ,” being conformed to His image (Rom 8:29).
The elect soul is called by God (Rom 8:30), to come to Christ (Mt 11:28), while he is still spiritually dead in trespasses and sins (Eph 2:1; 1 Cor 2:14). It is the Holy Spirit, who makes the dead soul (Eph 2:1) alive to God in Christ (Eph 2:5; Col 2:13). He regenerates the soul (Jn 3:1–8; 1 Pet 1:3), of the man, who was chosen by God for salvation (2 Thess 2:13).
The event whereby God gives abundant and eternal life to this man is the preaching and the hearing of God’s Word (Jn 10:10, 28; Rom 10:14). It is the Spirit and the Word that give life (Jn 6:63). Those exact people whom the Father chose (Eph 1:4), are the ones Christ came into the world to redeem (Jn 6:37; 10:11, 15). He saved us (Tit 3:5), and He sent the Spirit (Jn 14:26; 15:26), in order to apply the benefits of that redemption to us (Eph 1:3). The Spirit of Christ never leaves nor forsakes the child of God (Heb 13:5; 1 Jn 3:4). He who began this good work of salvation has promised to finish it (Phil 1:6).
The new believer in Jesus, filled with the Spirit of Christ (Acts 2:4; 4:8, 31; 13:9, 52), now becomes a witness to the Person and works of Messiah, even to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). The same faith, handed down to all the saints (Jude 1:3), is granted by God’s grace (Eph 2:8–9; Phil 1:29), to each one He appointed to life (Acts 13:48).
The content of the message of the Spirit-filled preacher is Jesus Christ and Him crucified (1 Cor 2:2). Jesus bore the sins of His people, in His body, on the cross (1 Pet 2:24). He laid down His life for His sheep (Jn 10:11, 15), shedding His precious blood of the eternal covenant, for the forgiveness of sins (Mt 26:28; Heb 7:22; 1 Pet 1:19).
The good news is that Jesus Christ delivers His people from the wrath of God (1 Thess 1:10), which is His just judgment against sinners. The blood of Jesus is our propitiatory sacrifice for the sins of all His people around the world and across history (Rom 3:25; Heb 2:17; 1 Jn 2:2; 4:10). None of those that God predestined to adoption as sons (Eph 1:5) is ever plucked from His hand (Jn 10:28–29) because nothing can separate the children of God from the love of God in Christ Jesus (Rom 8:35–39).
The heir of God and co-heir with Christ (Rom 8:17) has an inheritance reserved for him in heaven (1 Pet 1:4), where Christ is seated at the center of the throne of God (Rev 7:17), at the right hand of majesty (Heb 1:3; 8:1). Thus, the treasure of the Christ is not silver and gold (Mt 10:9; Acts 3:6), but it is the knowledge of Jesus Christ, which has become incomparable to him (Phil 3:7–8).
The Christian life is one of maturation (2 Cor 13:9; Eph 4:13; Phil 3:15; Col 4:12; Heb 5:14; 6:1). The sons of God grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ (2 Pet 3:18), which is the knowledge of the truth (2 Tim 2:5). Knowledge is taught by the Teacher (Jn 14:26), the Spirit of truth (Jn 16:13), who edifies the children of light with more light (Eph 5:8; Phil 2:15).
Gospel light is brighter and sharper, as the sun of righteousness (Mal 4:2) increasingly shines in our hearts (2 Cor 4:6). We see more of Jesus with the sight He gives us. He opens the eyes of the blind and they behold Him who is pure light.
As the Christian bears witness and testimony, his report of God’s only begotten Son is rejected by most who hear him. He presses on to the goal for the prize (Phil 3:14) because he is constrained by the love of Christ (2 Cor 5:14). The Christian suffers for the sake of the elect (2 Tim 2:10), which is the manifestation of love for God and His neighbor (Lk 10:27).
Sound doctrine is essential because it separates the child of light from those false teachers with zeal, but without knowledge, who are ever-learning but never coming to the knowledge of the truth (2 Tim 3:7). Sound doctrine is the teaching of the prophets and apostles, which is recorded as the inspired, infallible, necessary, sufficient, and clear Word of God.
One must examine himself to judge whether he or she has the Spirit of Christ indwelling or not. He who does not have God’s Spirit living in him does not belong to Christ (Rom 8:9), but he who has the Son has the life (Jn 3:36; 1 Jn 5:12). This is eternal life, planned, executed, applied by God, who is glorified for giving it to His people, who have their right standing before Him, by virtue of being in Christ, the Lord, our righteousness.
David Norczyk
Spokane Valley, Washington
November 10, 2020
