Title: Those Who Foreknowledge and Preselected by God
Contents
“Those whom God foreknew also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, 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. ’ (Romans 8:29-30)
Those whom God foreknows and chooses in advance are not those born from below, but those who will be born again from above. This is what the Bible calls the children of promise. Therefore, unless you are born again from above, following Jesus Christ, who was born from above, you cannot enter the kingdom of God. That is why the Bible testifies, “Jesus answered and said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again (from above) he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3).
For this reason, the Bible says, “You are from below, and I am from above; you are of this world, and I am not of this world” (John 8:23). .
Abram's son Ishmael was born according to the flesh of Hagar, the maidservant, and Isaac son of Abraham was born according to the promise of Sarah, the superior. For this reason, the Bible calls children born after the flesh as descendants, and children born after the promise as children from above.
Therefore, those who are born from above according to the promise are children of God who are born of the Holy Spirit. For this reason, the Bible says, “To all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were not born of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12-13). ) and also testified that “the children of the flesh are not the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring” (Romans 9:8).
Therefore, as the truth testifies, some of the children who are born of the flesh have been rejected and some are not chosen, but the first born of the flesh has been rejected and all the second who are born of the Spirit are chosen.
That is why the Bible says, “He will send his angels with the sound of a loud trumpet, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (Matthew 24:31). Of those given to me, I will not lose any of them, but will raise them up on the last day” (John 6:39).
For this reason, the children of God born again by the Spirit say in Christ Jesus, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, who chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world, and to be holy and blameless before him in love, according to his good pleasure he predestined us to be his sons through Jesus Christ, to the praise of the glory of his grace, which is freely given to us in him whom he loves.” Ephesians 1:3-6) is to offer a sacrifice of praise to God.
Salvation, then, comes through the predestination through faith in the gospel of the covenant established by the blood of the Son, and the assurance of the Holy Spirit, which is sealed with an oath. For this reason, the Bible says, “People swear by one greater than themselves, and the oath is final in all their quarrels. This is so that we, who are fleeing to obtain the hope that lies ahead, may be greatly comforted by these two unchangeable facts, in which God cannot lie” (Hebrews 6:16-18).
It is also written, “He also sealed us and gave the Holy Spirit as a guarantee” (2 Corinthians 1:22), and again, “It is God who made this happen for us and gave us the Holy Spirit as a guarantee” (2 Corinthians 5). :5) is what you testified.
Therefore, those whom God foreknew and chose beforehand are not those who are in the flesh, but those who are in the spirit, those who are born again of God. It is the same as the written testimony, “If the Spirit of God dwells in you, you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit. If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not of Christ” (Romans 8:9).
For this reason, the elect are not those born from below, but those who are from above. Those born below are not children of God. Only those born from above are children of God. Amen, thank you Lord.