Predestined? Elect? Chosen?

The scriptures all are written as the Holy Spirit moved upon men to write under that knowledge and anointing to guide us to one thing. Salvation, believing on Jesus as pointed to in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4

There is so much confusion in beliefs today, that it is almost impossible to have a discussion today concerning the truths of the Scriptures.

Let us look to these scriptures.....no influences except the Holy Scriptures.

Look to the KJV of John Chapter one. Start in verse 7

John 1:7-10 (KJV)

7  The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.   

8  He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.

9   That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.

10  He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.

John speaking here lets us know that ALL  men, not a select few, all men in verse 7.  As you look to verst 9 the Holy Spirit through John wrote EVERY MAN.

Light shined to all and every man. No excuses for any man.  No one will stand before God and offer excuses of rejection of salvation. No one.

Further clarification, by looking to the book of Titus chapter 2 and verse 11.

Looking again to the KJV.Titus 2:11-12

11  For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,

12  Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;

To me, that is plainly said. Nothing added nor taken away. Again removes all excuse for not believing on Jesus Christ. HATH APPEARED.  Past tense. The truth inspired by the Holy Spirit has shown to ALL MEN.

Satan has blinded men with religious sayings and doctrines based on truths not rightly divided as we are told to do in 2nd Timothy 2:15.

Plain and easy to read and understand.

Romans 1; 18-20

18  For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;

19  Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.

20  For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:  (see the Creator, instead of the creation)

God is Sovereign . This fact really bothers man. He makes all the rules and all the decisions.  This has to be taken by faith. It is hard for us to even believe this or at least for me, due to past failures of teachings I have sat under. But God is gracious to show us what the scriptures say, and also very important what the scriptures do not say.

God showed it to them.  Even showing "invisible" things. "They are without excuse."

In closing, John 1 and verse 10.  "the true Light" was not known by this world. But it is not because they do not know or can not know.

Even in the most secluded places in this world, someway or somehow these scriptures bear out and are revealed of a redeemer, clearly understood.... All will know, all are without excuse. No amount of sin can take that away. He reveals to all men who He is.  Only when we do not receive the "Knowing" of who He is, and that He came to redeem us from the Old Nature and set all things right. 

Kinda does away with the error that if I am to be saved, then it was preordained and I do not have to worry about it...or if I am determined to go to Hell, by God, then I will go to Hell and there is nothing I can do about it. Whosover will just keeps on!

Rejoice! for the children of God, Mercy to all others who will not see the revelation of Him.

What Advantage for the Jewish People

Look to Romans 3 and read verses One and Two.
The question is ask, "what advantage or what profit is there to the Jew or to the circumcision?
Notice the response.
Much every way.  Look at the emphasis here. Much, there is much advantage to being a Jew under the covenants of God. Look to Deuteronomy 7:6 and read the statement of "The Lord thy God"
"God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto Himself above all the people that are upon the face of the earth."  God separated them out of all the people on the earth through one man, Abram and made covenant promises with them.
What a setting aside God himself has made about the Jewish people.
So what is their advantage. Much, every way.
But it does not stop there.
Why? Chiefly is the word used to denote here is why. "Unto them were committed the oracles of God.
Oracles. Defined as the way God reveals his hidden knowledge or makes known His Devine purposes.
What wonderful promises as he loves all of us as much as He loves the Jewish people. Chiefly!

Command to be separate

When you teach the words of God as the Word is written, you run into teachings based on beliefs that are based on their beliefs instead of the scriptures.

Many reject the teachings of God calling out a people for himself as in Deut. 7.  This is a beginning of the Jewish people being called out for a determined time for a determined purpose.  In the King James Bible, in the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 7 and starting in verse 6.

Deut. 7 King James Version of the Holy Bible

6 For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God: the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.

7 The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people:

8 But because the Lord loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

9 Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;

This bothers most teachings, but I do not allow religious ideas to cloud the Bible for me. I will take what the Bible over man's ideas.

God separates peoples as He will.

In other studies we will look at the fact God calls out Abram, and promises to Him a nation, a king, a physical land, and God promises of a blessing and Kingdom on this earth.

Notice when you read of the Jewish people, all their promises are earthly, while we in the fellowship of His Son, are the promises Heavenly.

God knows what He is doing.

 

Millions gone?

Just a note here.  

Many will scoff when I say that only hundreds and maybe even thousands will be “ caught up” in what religion calls the rapture. The very idea boast that our generation is going to be greater, more believing than any other generation.

Get a reality, that the Bible nowhere teaches of a last day generation that grows more Godly and believing. The Word clearly teaches the opposite and teaches of a generation totally ignorant of Believing. 

It will be a people far away and strangers to the believing of Christ, and following a form of Godliness but denying the power thereof.  What were we warned? From such turn away.

Do not get caught up in the hype religion is shelling out to this generation.  There has never been more than a remnant anywhere of those that follow God. And there will not be today.

Only one

1 Cor 1:9
God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

For one brief moment, with the formation of the True church upon earth after the salvation of Saul, the early church recognized and knew no other fellowship than this, and walked in the unity of the Spirit in its  manifestation. This was the gathering center for the believers of that day.  

There is only one true church.  while there are many divisions of the religious peoples, there is only one church.

Cliches are False Doctrine-Create Unsaved Church attendees

It amazes me to hear the cliches Preachers use, that are totally unscriptural when trying to get people “saved” into the Church system.

If you attend church you have heard them.  How about this one? “Give your heart and life to the Lord”

After telling them that they are sinners who need to be saved, and Christ died for them, then they are told what they need to do in order to be saved is to “give their life and heart to the Lord”.  And they are told that if they do this, God will save them. And you will always get the “Age of grace “ thrown in with it somewhere.

Wow, this IS NOT God’s requirement for Salvation.  That is not even terms you will find in justification unto life.

Giving one’s heart and life to the Lord, is not what faith in Christ’s work is all about.

Salvation is not giving God anything! It is an issue of receiving a gift from God.  We give nothing in exchange for salvation. Salvation is 1 Corinthians 15;1-4 period.  Faith plus nothing!

1 Corinthians 15:

1 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;
2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

These scriptures say it all.

Christ’s redemptive work on the cross and nothing else.

The phrase or cliche used is not only absurd, it is nothing but false doctrine. Try another gospel.  Try a spirit of error. I can go on and on. 

Your soul is on the line. You better listen to the rightly divided word of God and not some cliche that sounds good in an altar call.  God’s sole requirement for justification unto eternal life is faith alone in Christ alone as one’s all sufficient Savior.

Heard this one? Turn from your sins and receive Jesus Christ into your life.  
An unsaved man has no capacity in his life to accomplish turning from sin. Until the “new man” which is created in righteousness and true holiness, can a person turn from sin. This can only come through redemption work of Christ in us.

But yet, this man is told that he had to do the turning from sin in order to be saved.

If you can do something about your sins, what do you need a Savior for?

Christ has taken care of the sin issue and it is nothing we can do of ourselves. The gospel is not you doing something about sinning, the issue is you are a sinner who can not stop sinning, or make up for your sins, but Christ has paid the sin debt and penalty of your sins Himself, and all you can do is to put your faith in the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. 

Again your works will not save you.And again, God’s sole requirement for justification unto eternal life is faith alone in Christ life, death, burial, and resurrection, alone as one’s all sufficient Savior. Your works will not be and can not be counted for righteousness 

Here is another one used.  Invite Jesus into your heart.

This one is used in songs and is very popular. It fails to declare to anyone that faith in Christ as one’s Redeemer is the issue at hand. In fact, it does not describe that faith in Christ work is at all.
Again 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, the gospel of Salvation as required in this age.

Faith in Christ as our Savior is not inviting Him to do anything. It is the issue of trusting in Him for what He has already done to provide for you and I salvation.

If anything, it is God doing the invitations. It is His Spirit that we must be drawn by, Not our invitation call unto Him. The inviting is on God’s part.  This cliche even distorts that part. Again clear misuse of Scriptures, and mistrust of the Gospel servant that will even use that cliche.

Once again, God’s sole requirement for justification unto eternal life is faith alone in Christ alone as your all-sufficient Savior. 

Your works cannot be, and will not be, counted for righteousness.

And finally to name only four of the most popular cliches, is, “Make Jesus the Lord of your life”.

Making Jesus the Lord of your life is a Christian reasonable service issue and not a salvation issue at all. Surrendering one’s will to Jesus as Lord and allowing Him to control the details of your life is what the life of good works that God created us unto in Christ Jesus is all about. One has to be created in Christ Jesus before he can make Jesus the Lord of his life.

Making him Lord though is not how God saves us at all.  Once again, God’s sole requirement for justification unto eternal life is faith alone in Christ alone as your Saviour. Again 1 Corinthians 15: 1-4.
I am sure there are many more. These are just a sampling.  Salvation is the most important issue in our life. I am not going to take the word of a preacher or anyone else to tell me, I am saved and on my way to heaven.  I am going to know the word for myself and be sure my Salvation is based on God's plan and not that of a well meaning word twisting churcher.  No room for error here.

I have said it for years and will until I am finished with my course.  The church houses are sitting full of lost but religious people. How many have only responded to a cliche instead of the Gospel of Christ. God help the ministry that puts cliches into the church house. God help the church that does not as the Bereans and proves what the scriptures say.

They know not the word, and are lead by anyone and everyone that calls themselves preachers.

Luke 19:11-27.

Luke 19:11-27

This is Luke’s first teaching of the fact Jesus would leave and then return again.

Also of the receiving of the Kingdom

In verse 11 we are told that the reason the parable that was shared by Jesus was because he was near Jerusalem and people thought the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately.  This is Jesus’ last time to come to Jerusalem.

Verse 1 tells us that Jesus is in Jericho as he tells this parable, a town on the way to Jerusalem where we saw the salvation of the Lord come to Zacchaeus.

If we will note all of this parable contains time elements:

    He will leave

    He will receive His Kingdom

    He will return

There is a time for all of this.  It is not left up to whims. Days of work are set, and days of accounting are set. This is all a message our Lord is giving to those that can hear what He was saying.

A future study to be put up will address why Jesus spoke in parables. It would be good for the reader here to stop and look up the following verses:

    Matthew 13:11-17

    Mark 4:10-12

    Luke 8:9-10

Jesus taught in parables because of the rejection of those he taught, to trust in Him as the Messiah. In short order, UNBELIEF. It is no different today.

Unbelief separates from God. (Romans 1:28)

Just a note here that all of this is prophesied in Daniel 7:13-14

“I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.” (Daniel 7:13–14)ESV

Before he leaves, he gathers 10 servants and gives them portions of money (something close to 4 months wages)

There are two peoples in this parable.

    Servants-verse 13

    Citizens-verse 14

Both are together in parable but separate in nature, however, both combined in meaning from our Lord and meaning of this parable.

These servants that have been called and given money to take care of in the absence of this nobleman.  As this parable unfolds, the Lord is fixing to enter into Jerusalem and these gathered around him, are sure that the KIngdom that he is going to set up, will happen as He enters into Jerusalem. Rome will be cast out and a new kingdom will be set up.This would be the kingdom prophesied by all the prophets and Moses who had told of this kingdom. However, much was to learn of this by the master. ( verse 11)

The nobleman parable lets them know quickly, he is going to go away, stay gone to secure his kingdom, and then return. This is not what they thought nor expected. And the same today. Men do not know.

That should be quite eye opening to these hearing the parable. What they expected is not going to happen as they think. It is all settled at the determinate counsel of God before the foundation of the world. If they would listen, they would hear, and they would know.

What are these to do with the money he leaves them. Verse 10 says they are to “Occupy” until he returns.

Basically they were to "engage in business" until he gets back. This is a test for them, and they really do not know it.

It is interesting now to note in verse 14 as this parable unfolds, another class of followers turn up. We are now introduced to “His citizens”.  They wait until the nobleman leaves to declare to him, we hate him….and we will not have this man rule over us.

Wow, what a statement. But yet many say the same thing today.

We will not accept his Kingdom.  We will see how that plays later.

I can say with that statement, Their unbelief did not alter the nobleman in any way. Their choice to not have this man rule, does not affect the plans of the nobleman….not in any way, shape, or form.

It would be interesting to know how these felt having declared this.  Can not help but wonder their attitude having made their opinion made.

Another of the time element shown here.  The returning king will deal with that in his time.

In verse 15, He returns and has with Him the kingdom.  Also with his return he now commands for the servants to come together and give an account of how they “engaged in business” while he was gone.

This parable is to be applied to people who believe they are the Lord’s servants-not unbelievers.

There are two sins that are noted in this parable, which really will be seen in the end to be one sin. What is the sin of the servant in verses 20-23? His sin is doing nothing.

You will see that the thing he is requiring is nothing but FAITHFUL in VERY LITTLE.(verse 17)

This is not about money. The money was just a little thing or called very little.  This small amount of money meant little. It was just a small matter to the returned king…..it was faithfulness he was holding the servant accountable for.  They were being tested for authority in this kingdom.

What have you done with the gospel that has been given you and left for you to “engage in business” until our Nobleman returns?

The first two servants passed their accountability. However in verse 20 we find the third servant had simply hid and sat on the money and gained nothing for the King.

The focus of the parable rests on the third servant in the story.

Look how in verse 21, this slothful servant accuses the King for all of this. For I feared you, because you are an austere man. This is your fault for expecting too much of me.

Wow, the blame is to the king, not the slothful servant himself.

Notice how the king responds. I will judge you from your own lips, your own words.

Judgement is coming. It is sure. Accountability is sure. Judgement is set for those who are called and chosen.

For these servants, judgement was set.

A servant is one who follows his king or his master.This was nothing but a proving and trying of servants to the king relationship. What the king requires has come home in the kings’ return.

This servant was judged unable to carry out the tasks given and all was stripped from him. He sat judged.

It is an interesting thing to see in verse 13, that he called up 10 servants, and only three are used in the analogy.

“Many are called, but few are chosen”

Notice now we have one more group here that the king must deal with. This is a group or a remnant if you will, that thought they would stop the king and his kingdom, by refusing to be subject to the king. “We will not have this man rule over us”

Verse 27 seals their fates. Bring those citizens, ones who are citizens of my kingdom, who refuse to have me as their king.

Remember back, these changed nothing for the king. Their refusal did not alter the king nor his kingdom in any way. Their accountability is set and now judgement is passed on them. All in the kings timing.

“But those My enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me.”

They started out as citizens, but ended as enemies.

Another discussion must be added, Acts 3: 19-21. The Kingdom in Acts. No study on the Kingdom is completer without this scripture. We will add that later.