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| Photo from B. Smith's Kitchen Window |
295 - DOES THE BIBLE TEACH FATALISM?
May 30, 1965
Pastor Henry F. Kulp
Romans 8: 28, 29 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. 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.
As we have been studying this portion of Scripture, we find this is our fifth week on this one portion of Scripture--I have found that it is absolutely impossible to exhaust these verses. Of course, you can’t exhaust any part of the Bible, this Bible is just so rich with many wonderful thoughts, that you could preach week after week, and still you would have so many more wonderful things to bring out.
1/ I would like you to see this morning, when it says, all things work together for good. I was thinking about that this past week and my mind was hit with it in a wonderful way, and it is interesting to notice that the words, “thing” and “things” are found more than 1600 times in the King James version of the Bible. It is also very interesting to me that in Paul’s epistles we find the expression “all things” 76 times. We could not possibly exhaust the 76 times that Paul mentions them, but there are a few things I would like you to see about “all things”.
2/ Our society lives for things. Not just material things, but circumstances, happenings--our economy is based on things--our happiness is based on things. Notice, the study of the word, “happiness”, it has “happenings” in it. But in Colossians 1: 17 we read, and He, Christ, is before all things. He, Christ, is the One Who has always existed. He is more important than things because He was before things.
3/ Now let us go back to Colossians 1: 16 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. For by Him, were all things created that are in Heaven, that are in earth, visible and invisible. Christ is the Creator of things. Then in Colossians 1: 17 And He, Christ, is before all things, and by Him all things consist. Are held together--are kept in their perfect harmony. Is it any wonder we can say, all things work together for good to them who love God?
4/ Colossians 1:18 --that is in all things He might have the preeminence. This is at the present time--God wants Him to have preeminence in all things. Do you give Him pre-eminence in your life? This, of course, means that He is to have first place.
5/ Hebrews 1: 2 We read: Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;
--that God hath spoken in these last days by His Son, Whom He hath appointed Heir of all things. Notice, Heir, not of many, not, of most, but of all things. And, of course, we are joint-heirs with Christ, so all things are ours.
6/ Because of all these things, we as Christians, should obey Ephesians 5: 20 Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;--giving thanks always for all things. Notice--Thanks for all things--all things work together for good, and we are to give thanks for all things. And then, of course, it should follow that we do--Philippians 2: 14--Do all things without murmurings and disputings: When we know that all things work together for good, and all things are ours, and that Christ is to have preeminence in all things, we can be thankful for all things, and it is possible to do all things without murmurings and disputings. This is a natural result.
7/ Of course, we are not to pray for more all things. We are to appreciate and appropriate our all things.
8/ All things work together for good because we are a part of God’s predestined program. As we told you last week, predestination is not an evil thing, but it is a very good thing. It is not something to be afraid of, but something to shout “Hallelujah” about. We said it comes from two different words--the first word, “pre”,which means before, or beforehand. Destiny--which means climax, or the end. So, predestination has to do with something beforehand, and something at the end. It has nothing to do with anything in between. It has nothing to do with salvation, it has to do that God had a corporate body in mind and God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit decided in eternity past, that this program would come into existence--there would be a church which is known as the Body of Christ and that one day, this Church would be made like the Lord Jesus Christ, predestination is being conformed to the image of God’s Son.
9/ God does not predestinate individuals, but rather He predestines a corporate body. And you become part of this corporate body by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember, predestination is for a corporate body. God did not predestinate the individual, but this complete corporate body to be like the Lord Jesus Christ. But now, in the Bible, there is one exception to this statement. God has predestined one outstanding individual in two places, and you will find this fact in I Peter 1: 11. Notice, the Lord Jesus Christ was predestined to suffering, and He was predestined to the glory which should follow. In the original Greek, the word, Glory should be in the plural--it is “glories”. Of course, the Old Testament prophets wrote of the sufferings of Christ, and the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, because God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit decided this program in eternity past. The Church which is the body of Christ is possible as a predestined group because Christ was predestined to bleed, to die and to suffer and then to be glorified after He was resurrected and ascended into the Heavenlies.
10/ Now, let us think about this matter of Christ being predestined to suffering, to death and to glory. Revelations 13: 8 where we read: And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Christ was slain from eternity. There are some folks who have a very poor view of this matter of salvation. They think God made the universe, and then the devil came in and spoiled it--the whole human race fell, and then God had to get busy and do something to counteract it. That is what I would call a makeshift plan of salvation, and salvation isn’t a makeshift. God knew all about it from eternity--even before He created this universe, this world--long before He created this universe, this world--long before Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. All plans were laid from eternity. Salvation started away back before the foundation of the world, and the devil is powerless to stop it. He is not as powerful as most people think he is. Here Jesus Christ was predestined in ages past to come to this earth and to die and purchase our salvation. This is the end of salvation--nothing else can be done for our salvation--He paid the price on the cross of Calvary. That is why He sat down, because the work was finished.
11/ Now, notice, none of this is fatalism, because God’s predestined group, the church, is a corporate body. God also has another predestined group, and it is Israel. But none of this is fatalism. If you want to be part of this program, you must make a decision for Jesus Christ, you must trust Him.
12/ Notice the rest of Romans 8: 29. For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son--for what reason? That He, Christ, might be the first born--among--many brethren. Here is the final climax of the eternal purpose of God. All things work together for good--we know that because we are called according to His purpose, and this purpose is that Jesus Christ might be the first born among many brethren. You have these folks who like to come to your door, knock on your door and act real studious and tell you there is no hell and there is no Trinity. They try to tell you Jesus Christ is the first-born of God. This means He had a beginning. And it doesn’t mean that at all. Let’s examine what it means to be the first-born among many brethren.
13/ Christ was never born before He came into this world, and when He was born into this world, He was not the first-born of God. He was then born of man. When He was the first-born of God is an entirely different time.
14/ Let us turn and study very carefully Colossians 1: 18. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.
Here, Christ is the Head of the Body, the Church, Who is the beginning, the first-born from the dead. Some have argued that since Christ is the first-born, He had a beginning. The first born is, of course, the first one born in any family, and Christ is here called the first-born. Some have argued that there must have been a time, then, when Christ was begotten because He is also called “the only begotten”. Here you read in Colossians 1:18 He, Christ, is the first-born from the dead. There was a time when God gave His Son to die. God had only one Son eternally, and God gave that Son to die, and He was dead and buried, and in the grave three days and three nights, and why He was begotten of God from the dead, brought back from the dead--that was the time that He was the first-born from the dead.
15/ Acts 13: 33 God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. And here we read, quoting the 2nd Psalm Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee. When was that day? This verse says, when He raised up Jesus again. So, the Lord Jesus Christ is the first-born from the dead, and He is the first-born of a new creation--a creation of which you are a part, if you are saved. God began a new thing in the resurrection, a new creation.
16/ Up to the time of the resurrection, no man had ever been raised from the dead in a glorified body, but the Lord Jesus Christ was. And God, in Christ, is creating a new race. He is the first-born from the dead.
17/ You will remember that Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God, but when He came to this earth and He was made sin, He laid aside that privilege, and God had to forsake Him--give Him up as He was made sin. But in resurrection, God the Father, declared Him to be His only begotten Son. Now He is seated on the right hand of God the Father and He is the first-born of this new creation. And this new creation is the church which is the body of Christ. This new thing that God is doing today--this corporate body that is predestined to be like the Lord Jesus Christ.
AMEN
REF: 05/30/1965/ 295 - DOES THE BIBLE TEACH FATALISM? / 10/17/2019
