Joshua and Judges: The allotment of the land, part 31 - Predestination - The five words that make up every Christian story.

Title: Joshua and Judges: The allotment of the land, part 31 - Predestination - The five words that make up every Christian story.  

Announcements / opening prayer:  

In Rom 8:29-30, the glorious story of the saved is told in five words, "foreknew, predestined, called, justified, glorified."

Rom 8:29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren;

Every chosen one responds to the call because God knew that they would. The call of common grace goes out to the world, but the specific call to be conformed into the image of His Son

Predestined: to fix a boundary beforehand. The Father worked out a way for each believer to execute His plan, purpose, and will for his life, which would conform that believer into the image of Christ.

Only believers are predestined. There can be no double predestination (predestining certain people to go to hell) when faith is the criteria of salvation.

Each of the chosen blocks of granite are brought into the Sculptor's studio. After He foreknew us, after He had chosen us to a certain destiny and predestined us to be conformed to the image of His Son, the Divine Sculptor called us.

Rom 8:30 and whom He predestined, these He also called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

Called: a divine summons which elects the believer to have God's highest and best, but not against his will, but with his free-will and consent.

While it is true that not all believers, by their own choosing, come to know the extent of God's highest and best in time and so miss out on it during their earthly lives, they all by faith at salvation answer the call to it. Many of them will not understand what they answered to until they are in heaven and this will incur some loss of reward. By grace you have been saved.

This existence of the carnal believer is one of the main reasons that false doctrines such as double predestination, a second blessing or anointing, a deeper faith as opposed to faith, etc. have been aggressively preached.  

So the Great Sculptor, who has chosen His blocks of granite, places them in His studio and sets to work on them. There they are, scarred, irregular, rough, cracked, and discolored. A visitor comes in. He comments, "You mean to tell me that you are using that poor looking material for the statues of your son?" "Yes," replies the Sculptor, "I receive far more satisfaction and fame from using inferior material and turning out a superior piece of work. And, after all, you are directing your criticism against these rough hewn blocks of granite. I do not see these when I work. I have in mind the finished product, and that will be perfect. You are not touching the statue of My Son with your criticism, but rather, these rough blocks off granite. I stand here in their justification, for I see them as perfect, conformed already to the image of My Son. In My reputation as a sculptor, I have assumed the responsibility for choosing such inferior granite. If My reputation is being maligned as a result, I cannot help it. I am doing it for the sake of the finished product and the increased fame which will finally come to Me."

And so, Satan enters the studio of the Divine Sculptor and accuses and brings charges against the saints. How imperfect they are, how weak, how unfaithful, how prone to sin. But he is looking at the unfinished product. His charges always fall short of the mark, for the Sculptor answers, "Your charges are all true, but I am not looking at the material upon which I am working, but at the finished product. I took upon myself at Calvary all their sins. I made myself of no reputation for their sakes. Their sins have been paid for and put away on the basis of divine justice. I could never charge them for those sins or every judge them a second time. I see each saint right now, perfect, sinless, shining with all the beauty of My only begotten Son." We are justified by Him. His Son is our righteousness, our beauty, our adornment.

Justification - The believer is completely vindicated of all things against God by the Justice of God since through imputation at salvation, he was made perfectly righteous.