Our New Destiny
Summary
Steps
Italian Proverb
Destiny is determined not by chances but by choices. Once the game is over, the king and the pawn go back into the same box.
Source unknown
Summary
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. Romans 8:29
God gives us the summary of what will happen with each “true” believer, God will fulfill HIS purpose for the believer.
This is the second assurance of deliverance.
If pure logic of philosophy and theology are applied, then the passage says that God chooses some for heaven and others for a terrible hell. This is not the meaning God intends.
Think about it, in the midst of all the blessing we get by choosing to draw near to Christ why would God make such a statement. Instead, what God wants believers to do is to take heart, HE has assured their salvation.
God has “predestinated [believers] to be conformed to the image of HIS Son.”
If you looked in a mirror today, would you say you resemble Christ?
Why are we predestined? “That Christ might be the first-born [have the preeminence] among many brethren” (Romans 8:29).
God has ordained that Jesus Christ shall hold the highest rank and position: that He be the exalted Head of all creation and the One to whom all men look (cp. Col. 1:15, 18). Therefore, God will allow nothing to permanently defeat believers.
Believers will be conformed to the image of God’s dear Son. This means both an inward and an outward likeness.
Conformed” (summorphous) means the very form or likeness as Christ.
Image” (eikonos) means a derived or a given likeness. To be conformed to the image of God’s Son means...
·to become a partaker of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4).
·to be adopted as a son of God (Ephes. 1:5).
·to be holy and without blame before Him (Ephes. 1:4; Ephes. 4:24).
·to bear the image of the heavenly: which is an incorruptible, immortal body (1 Cor. 15:49-54; cp. 1 Cor. 15:42-44).
·to have one’s body fashioned (conformed) just like His glorious body (Phil. 3:21).
·to be changed (transformed) into the same image of the Lord (2 Cor. 3:18).
·to be recreated just like Him (1 John 3:2-3).
Let’s remember to see God’s love in this passage as HE guarantees all who will come to HIM eternal life.
“Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world” (Acts 15:18).
“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” (Romans 8:29).
“God hath not cast away his people [Israel] whom he foreknew” (Romans 11:2).
“Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: who verily was foreordained [foreknown] before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you” (1 Peter 1:18-20).
If you have “truly” called upon the name of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, you can rest assured of this glorious truth. God has predestinated you to be delivered from the suffering and struggling of this sinful world.
“According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will” (Ephes. 1:4-5).
“According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord: in whom [Christ] we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him” (Ephes. 3:11-12).
Steps
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. Romans 8:30
God has set into motion our individual processes of Sanctification.
Our “Positional Sanctification” occurred when we asked Jesus Christ into our hearts. We are identified by God as being “In Christ”.
We of course are talking about a “true” genuine believer a person who sincerely believes in Jesus Christ and diligently seeks to please Him by living soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world (Titus 2:11-13).
Only “true” genuine believers glorification is predestinated, set forever and ever by God.
If you have “truly” called upon Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior then you Dear one can rest in this glorious truth.
God has called, justified, and glorified all who truly call upon Jesus Christ.
God has called the true believer.
Some time ago the Spirit called and stirred your heart to come to Christ. The believer responded to the call. We each have a choice. If you have accepted Jesus, the call was effective; the call worked.
“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).
“Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God” (2 Cor. 5:20).
“Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me” (Rev. 3:20).
“And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely” (Rev. 22:17).
“Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Isaiah 1:18).
God has justified the believer.
Justification has already taken place for the true believer.
No matter how much you sense your shortcoming and failure, HIS promise is good and will come to pass.
“And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor. 6:11).
“My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:1-2).
Paul the apostle, a converted murderer, is a great example of this victorious attitude, the very attitude needed so desperately by us all.
“Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:13-14; cp. Job 17:9; Psalm 84:7; Proverbs 4:18; Hebrews 12:4).
God has glorified the believer.
This, again, is past tense: the glorification of the believer is an accomplished fact, a fact that has already taken place in God’s mind and plan. God already sees and counts the believer as glorified in His presence for eternity.
“For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18).
“For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (2 Cor. 4:17).
“[That ye may know] what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints” (Ephes. 1:18).
“Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself” (Phil. 3:21).
“When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory” (Col. 3:4).
“Therefore I endure all things for the elect’s sake, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory” (2 Tim. 2:10).
The question is then, are you willing to accept God’s summary of your New Destiny?
Have you been called, justified and glorified in Christ Jesus, Our Lord?
Then God is working to have you conform to the likeness of Jesus Christ…Will you today?
If you cannot be counted in this number, God has made a way for you to be “a child of God”…would you come forward today???
The transaction is so simple.
“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).
“Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God” (2 Cor. 5:20).
“Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me” (Rev. 3:20).
“And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely” (Rev. 22:17).
“Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Isaiah 1:18).
Have you asked Jesus Christ into your life? This is the only way for you to be guaranteed eternal life.
This is our great first step of faith.
