Crucial Concepts

Well, brethren, sometimes as we study our Bible, we encounter certain words that may not be familiar to us. Words that we just don't use every day. Sometimes we may just read right past them or over them, or maybe try to figure out the meaning from the context. Or sometimes we might wonder, well, what do these words really mean? What is the author saying to us? What should we be getting from these words? As an example, let's turn to the book of Romans.

Romans the eighth chapter, I'll start reading in verse 28. Romans 8 and verse 28, we'll take a look at some words that we don't encounter all the time. Just as an example of what I'm referring to, Romans 8, starting in verse 28, it says, And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he foreknew, he also predestined, to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he predestined, these he also called. Whom he called, these he also justified, and whom he justified, these he also glorified.

So here we see terms that we don't really run across every day. Words like predestined, or called, justified, glorified. Words that we don't encounter frequently. Today we're going to look at the meaning of some of these words, to see what the meaning that they have for us and why they are important for us. Words that I call crucial concepts. We'll see what these words mean and what we can learn from them. We do not want to just read over some of these words and maybe try to pick out the context. Now these words are important.

They are concepts for us to learn and understand. We need to read the Scriptures with understanding. Each of these words or concepts could be a sermon in and among themselves, or a Bible study in and among themselves. But I'm not going to dig into them that deeply. I'm going to give the basic definition so that as we understand them, as we encounter them, as we read them, we'll be able to read with meaning. So today we're just going to take a look at the basic meanings. We're going to see some what I call crucial concepts and see what we can learn from them.

I'm going to be giving several definitions today, as you might guess, and unless I state otherwise, I'm going to be using Unger's Bible Dictionary. I will use some others and I'll cite them as I go along, but basically I'll be using Unger's Bible Dictionary. First word I'm going to talk about is called. Called. I know this is a basic word. It's a word that we use all the time. But just to go through the list of words here, called. According to Unger's again, to be invited to the blessings of the Gospel, to offer salvation through Jesus Christ.

So a calling is an invitation. It's an invitation from God, an invitation to have a relationship with Him, with Jesus Christ. He opens up our minds to think differently, to think about the wisdom of His ways, and also about the error of our ways.

You might want to hold your finger in Romans or put a marker there, as we'll be coming back from time to time. Turn back to John 6, 44. John 6, verse 44. Mr. Seelig was talking about ancient history. 20 Mule, Team BorHex. BorHex. Must have been before my time. No, actually, I confess, I do remember the 20 Mule Team. There's a television show about it. Black and white, probably, for those of you who don't relate to that.

But anyway, John 6, 44, in the days gone by, we used to hear this scripture a lot. Mr. Armstrong used to talk about this scripture a lot. John 6, 44, it says, No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. So unless we have an invitation from God, we won't know the Father, we won't know the Son.

It takes an invitation. It takes a calling. And for emphasis, this is repeated in verse 65. Verse 65, John 6, it says, and he said, again, read letters, Jesus Christ, you know, talking. Therefore, I have said to you that no one can come to me unless it has been granted to him by my Father. So it takes an invitation in order to know God and to know Jesus Christ. There are obviously many who have studied the Bible years and years, and yet they do not have the understanding that is there that is available, the understanding that is given to us through a calling.

Now, another word that is associated with calling, but different, is the elect, or the election. As I said, it is associated with calling because the calling goes out, but then once we accept this calling, then we respond to God and we are considered elect. We are brought into a special relationship with God. And obviously, I'm going through various things here. This will be after baptism.

They are the elect. They are the one that received the call from God, and they respond. They answer to that call. And again, a definition from Ungers says, the elect, those selected by God for a special office, work, or honor, continuing into election. The election, the divine choice of nations or communities for possession of special privileges with reference to the performance of special services. Again, God has a job for them to do, and Ungers says the Jews were a chosen nation. Actually, I'll say, all Israel was a chosen nation. In the New Testament, churches are referred to as the elect. And of course, what is the definition of a church? A church is a group of called-out people. The second way the election is used is the divine choice of individuals to do a particular work.

Cyrus was chosen by God for the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the rebuilding of the temple. Paul was selected by God to be the apostle to the Gentiles. They were selected for a specific task or work or function. And then the third way is the divine choice of individuals to be the children of God. Now brought into a family relationship with God, a very intimate relationship with God. It's a divine selection. Now it's not elected. We think of elected as somebody that's voted into office. This is not that at all. This is chosen, elected, or selected by God for a special purpose. Yet I'm not going to turn there, but Matthew 24-22 talks about, unless those days should be shortened. This is Matthew 24, the Olivet Prophecy. Unless those days should be shortened, no flesh would be saved, but for the elect's sake, those in a special relationship with God. Verse 24, same chapter, if possible, Christ is talking about false Christ and false prophets. And if possible, they would deceive even the elect. And then in verse 31, it talks about God sending His angels to gather the elect. There is many references to the New Testament, or in the New Testament, to those who are elect, those selected by God. Now when you think about this, I'm going to pause here a little bit. This is really quite special. If you look at the greater Cincinnati area, according to the Internet, there's roughly 2 million people. This is the greater area, not just the city itself. Say that there are, I'll say, 2,000 people of God today. And again, people of God as we understand what the people of God are. I'll be generous with the numbers. Say there's 2,000. I don't know if the number's that high, but just using that as a number. That means about one-tenth, one percent of the people in greater Cincinnati are elect of God, are in this special relationship.

Think about that. You're here in a room with not very many people. There are other people in other rooms with it. Not very many people. But it's a very special calling. It's a very special election. As far as the world is concerned, it gets even more, the calling and selection gets even more unique. For the world, there are approximately 8 billion people, again, from the Internet.

Say that there are 100,000 people of God, as we understand that term. That means 0.001% or a thousandth of 1% of the population of the world is in special relationship with God. That would be considered the elect of God. There's only a tiny amount of the population of the world that has been brought into this relationship with God.

Now, in one way, it's a very special privilege, but it's really, when you think about it, it should not be surprising that in the New Testament, the church is referred to as the little flock. We also understand from the feast of Pentecost that God is not trying to save the world now. That comes in the future. He is dealing with a small group now, a group of firstfruits. And we are part of those firstfruits. But these are only statistics. They can illustrate a point about numbers, but numbers can be difficult to relate to. These are some big numbers or little teeny numbers that I was talking about. So I want to encourage all of us, and not necessarily right now, but think back to your calling. Maybe later on in the Sabbath. Think back to your calling, whether you were a first, second, or third generation or more Christian. Think back to your calling. How did it happen? Where were you? When did it happen? What were you doing at the time? For those who are second or third generation or beyond Christians, when did that happen? At some point, there was an aha moment where you realized that God was really dealing with you, with me, with others. There was a point, an aha moment, I'll call it. Perhaps it was at a camp. Perhaps it was at a feast, or wherever it was. You might want to think about that later than in the Sabbath. It's a very special calling. There was a time when God opened up our minds to understand about Him and to understand about His ways. It wasn't just knowledge. It wasn't just information. It was an invitation.

It was an invitation to a relationship with God, to go forward together with God. It was God dealing with us and us responding to Him. It's a very special relationship. We have a very special calling.

But the calling is not because of us, because of our talents, because of our brains, our brawn, our money, or whatever we would have to offer. We are in this because we are invited by God and selected by God to give God the glory. It's according to His purpose and according to His will. Remember 1 Corinthians 1, verses 26-29. Not many mighty or noble are called. Not at all. God has a purpose for those who He calls, that no flesh should glory in His sight. So being called and being elect is a divine choice to have a relationship with God. It's an invitation and then we respond to that invitation. So the elect answer the call. They are called and the elect answer the call. Another term that I'm going to talk about, this moving head, is justification. Justification. According to Baker's Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology, justification is the declaring of a person to be just or righteous. It is a legal term signifying acquittal or freedom from guilt. Justification is a legal term meaning like acquittal or not guilty in religion. It points to the process whereby a person is declared to be right before God. Thus, justification means being made not guilty. Clerid of guilt in God's sight. It is a legal acquittal of guilt. It does not make a person righteous. It only removes the unrighteousness. Turn back to Romans the third chapter. Romans the third chapter. And I'll read verse 23. I'm going to start reading in verse 23. We'll read verses 23 to 26. Romans the third chapter. Hopefully you put a marker back in Romans.

It says, For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And that all is all. It's everyone and everybody. Verse 24, it says, Being freely justified. There's that word, Freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Whom God set forth to be a propitiation. A term we'll come back to. Set forth to be a propitiation by his blood through faith to demonstrate his righteousness. Because in his forbearance, God has passed over the sins that were previously committed. So we are acquitted. We are forgiven. The guilt is wiped away from sins previously committed. There's nothing here regarding future sins. Nothing at all. Although for some reason, some people seem to think that once you're acquitted, you're acquitted. To use a term that I'll also come to later, like once saved, always saved, once you're acquitted, that's it. No, it's only for previously committed sins, not future sins. Some Bible dictionaries or commentaries will state that justification makes a person a righteous before God. And again, as an example, I'll use Unger's Bible Dictionary, where it says, Justification is a divine act. It's a little wordy at first, but we'll get to the point. Justification is a divine act whereby an infinitely holy God judicially declares a believing sinner to be righteous and acceptable before Him because Christ has borne the sinner's sin on the cross and has been made unto Him righteousness. In other words, because of Christ's righteousness, you know, we're also righteous. Well, the statement, I'll say, is true, but it's not complete. Not complete at all. We are righteous because the unrighteousness has been removed by Christ, but that does nothing for future righteousness. It implies, this statement implies, that there's nothing left for a Christian to do. You know, one's justified, he will always justify. A Christian can be forgiven and made guilty, and as I said, he's righteous at that time because he's not guilty. But that does not mean that he's righteous from that point forward. He may be viewed as sinless now, but he has to remain that way. Just think, for example, you know, a courtroom with a judge, and the judge declares a person not guilty, declares them justified. The person must now remain a law-abiding individual, or they will break the law, and they will be declared guilty again. Likewise, we are justified. We're declared not guilty of past sins, but we have to continue on with God, righteously, so that we remain righteous. Christ's righteousness does not apply to us in that case. It does not apply for future sins. Once God has forgiven a person, excuse me, once God has forgiven a person and made him righteous and not guilty, the Holy Spirit within us enables us to continue on in righteousness, and we need to do so.

So, in summary, justification is being declared not guilty or forgiven of past sins. The next word I'm going to come to is righteousness. Righteousness is a purity of heart, the being and doing right. From the United Church of God's New Covenant booklet, it says, righteousness is used mostly in reference to virtuous character. So, as I mentioned, to remain justified after being forgiven, one must conduct themselves in a righteous manner, in a righteous way. And, of course, the question then arises, you know, what is right? You know, what is righteousness? And I'll say for starters, Psalm 119.172, which I'm just going to reference at this point, all the commandments are righteousness. Living by the commandments of God are righteousness. Likewise, God's ways and God's truth are righteousness. Sometimes people may think that doing good things, you know, righteous acts of, well, of good acts of doing well, of doing good, that earns them something with God. Sometimes people will only go through so many various types of rituals, or for that matter, we could think back in the Old Testament as far as the Jewish people are concerned, as far as meticulously keeping the law, earning favor with God. Well, we're in Romans 3, and we'll read verse 20. Romans 3 and verse 20, it says, Therefore, by the deeds of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. So it's not through righteousness that we can earn justification. It's not through righteousness that we earn anything other than, you know, we're doing what's right and we should do what's right. But it doesn't really earn justification. It doesn't earn salvation.

It just doesn't earn our entrance into the kingdom of God. Romans 3, 20, again, to be justified is to be declared of past guilt. All of our law-keeping going forward doesn't clear us of past guilt. Just like, again, I use that example of a judge in the courtroom.

If the judge does not declare a person not guilty, once you break the law, if you keep the law from then on, you're still guilty. You're still guilty of what happened back here. So justification is not earned at all. Galatians 2, 16, which I'm not going to turn to, says that no one is justified by works of law. It cannot earn justification, but it says we are justified by faith in Jesus Christ.

And it also contrasts the righteousness of the law to the righteousness of faith. Still in Romans 3, in verse 27, it says, where is boasting then? You know, if you're a law-keeper, where is your boasting? It is excluded by what law of works? No, but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. And again, going back down to verse 20, it says, by the deeds of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight. And in verse 28, just bouncing back up there, it says, therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. So we are justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. It's not something that we earn. It's not something that, you know, we work up and somehow deserve. We're justified by the works of faith. But that is not the entire story. It's not the entire story, because some people will look at this and say, well, all I have to do is just believe. You know, just believe, and that's all there is to it. The righteousness of faith, that's all there is to it. So I say, that's not the entire story. Let's turn ahead to James 2, verses 21 to 24. James 2, verses 21 and 24, some verses that will look very familiar to you. Thank you very much, Zach. Now, it doesn't hurt to repeat something. James 2, starting in verse 21, it says, was not Abraham our father justified by works? Well, wait a minute. Didn't we read that you're not justified by works? Isn't that what Romans said? It did, and we'll go on. Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works, faith was made perfect? So what is saying here that Abraham believed God, he understood what God wanted, and he did something. He obeyed, he acted, he took action. This is what Abraham did. He demonstrated his faith by his works, and by his works, again, you knew what his faith was. Continuing on, in verse 23, it says, and the Scripture was fulfilled, which says, Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness, again, the righteousness of faith. And he's called the friend of God. It says, you see then that a man is justified by works and not by faith only. There was a famous theologian that had the statement, you know, not by works, but by faith alone. Well, this Scripture contradicts what that theologian was saying, and says justified by works and not by faith only, or not by faith alone. And then in verse 25 and 26, likewise was not Rahab the harlot, also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way. She believed, she had faith, and she did something. She acted, she had works. So we have faith and works, and verse 26 says, it says, for as the body without the Spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

James is not saying that justification or forgiveness of sin is earned by works. Rather, he's confirming that once we're justified, declared not guilty, we have to have to live righteously. We have to have God's righteousness. It takes faith to go forward with God. It takes faith to be obedient to God, to continue to do righteous acts, to continue to do what he said.

And of course, if we do not continue with him, then we sin, and we need forgiveness and justification all over again. I just think about our Christian lives. At baptism, we are justified. We're declared not guilty. We're forgiven. But we're also not very mature as Christians. After baptism, there's a growth process. And this growth process lasts our whole life. A whole life long. God does not immediately give us spiritual maturity once we're baptized. It's a beginning. It's a start. We grow in righteousness as we want with God. Righteousness is used in reference to virtuous character. It means living correctly, living according to God's commandments. So again, in summary, righteousness is used in reference to a virtual character, to virtuous character. It lasts our whole life long as we go through the process of salvation. The next word I'm going to talk about is atonement. Atonement. This is a covering of sin. It really means a covering. It's a covering over of sin. And, well, again, according to Ungers, the covering over of sin, the reconciliation between God and man, accomplished by Jesus Christ. So it's sort of like Jesus Christ saying to us, I have your back, or I have you covered. Christ has our sin covered. We have a debt, and Christ covers that debt for us. He takes care of our debt. He covers our sins, and in doing so, takes our sins away, and that enables reconciliation with God to be possible.

Sin is a barrier between God and us, between us and God. Christ takes away that barrier, and it makes reconciliation possible. As a reference, I'm not going to turn there, but if you'd like to look at later Exodus 29.36, Exodus 29.36 talks a little bit about atonement, about the sacrifice.

The next word I'm going to talk about is propitiation, and I will spell that word, P-I-R-O-P-I-T-I-A-T-I-O-N. And again, according to Ungers, it's the divine side of the work of Christ on the cross.

Christ's atoning death for the world's sin altered the whole position of the human race and its relationship with God. So in the definition, it uses the word atone, and I'll come back to that in a minute. Turn ahead a few pages to 1 John 2. 1 John 2, and we'll read verses 1 and 2. 1 John 2, and I'll read verses 1 and 2.

William Barkley in his daily Bible series comments, The meaning of this word is very similar to the word atonement. Atonement and propitiation are similar, and both lead to reconciliation with God. One is the covering of the sin, the other is the removal of the sin. Both involve the removal of sin.

It's a barrier, as I mentioned, between God and man, and it makes reconciliation possible between God and man.

So propitiation is a sacrifice for sin and reconciliation with God. It involves the sacrifice and reconciliation.

The next word I'm going to refer to is redemption.

Redemption. This is a loosing, particularly by paying a price. And according to an old Good News article from 2005, March-April issue, there's an article, What does it mean to be redeemed? It says, For Christians it, redemption, means deliverance from death by means of a payment of a very high price. And of course, this high price is the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, of his death. There are several places in the New Testament where it talks about Christians are bought back, they're redeemed. 1 Corinthians 6, 20 says, We were bought with a price. Acts 20, 28 says, If Christ purchased the church with his own blood. I will turn to 1 Peter, the first chapter. 1 Peter, the first chapter, and I'll read verses 18 and 19.

1 Peter 1, verse 18, it says, Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Jesus Christ as of a lamb, without blemish and without spot. Again, this is nothing new, but we're redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ. Not silver, not gold, not money, not any physical thing. We're redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ. Christ's sacrifice paid this penalty for our sins. That is redemption being bought back, having the penalty of sin removed from us. The next word I want to talk about is sanctification.

Sanctification. This is a separation, according to Ungers again, a separation from the secular and sinful and setting apart for a sacred purpose. In other words, it's to make something holy. God wants us to be a holy people.

Turn back a few pages to 2 Thessalonians 2, chapter 2. 2 Thessalonians 2, chapter 2. And I'll read verse 13. 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 13. Where it says, But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren, beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation, through sanctification, by the Spirit and belief in the truth. So God chose us for salvation through sanctification, setting us apart, making us holy, again, by the Spirit and belief in the truth.

John 17, 17. Thy word is truth. Sanctify them with your truth. God wants us to be a holy people. In 1 Peter 1, verse 15, which I'm not going to return to, Peter says, Peter writes, Be holy, and he's actually quoting the Old Testament, Be holy as God is holy. God wants us to be a holy, special people.

A short time ago, I gave a sermon here that God wants us to be holy people. He wants us to have holiness. And by way of review, I'm not going to go through that whole message, but I talked about the definition of holiness and about the definition that in order to help us to understand, there's basically three parts of holiness. One is, something is set apart from other items of like kind.

Number two, second part of the definition, is set apart for a special purpose. And three, God is involved in the setting apart. He imbues someone, some place, or some, some one, some place, some thing with holiness. As an example, I'll just use the Sabbath day. I think this will make the terms very, very easy to understand. The Sabbath day is set apart from all other days.

It's a day, 24 hours, but it's set apart from other like items. It's set apart for a special purpose. And obviously, God is involved in the setting apart. He's the one that made it special. So we are to be holy as God is holy. Turn back a page or so. 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 23. 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 23, where it says, Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is kind of interesting here. It says that, you know, may the God of peace sanctify you completely.

It implies that some are sanctified more than others. Some are being made more holy than others. All of us should be striving to become more holy. All of us should become more like Jesus Christ and like the Father. Here again, sanctify completely. So there are differences in sanctification and holiness.

And you need to think back to the parable of the sower and the seed. And those in the fourth category, some bought forth through 30-fold, some 60-fold, and some 100-fold. Likewise with holiness. This is something for us to strive for, to become more completely sanctified, to be more holy. The next word I'm going to talk about is salvation. Salvation. Again, according to Ungers, it says, a term which stands for several Hebrew and Greek words, the general idea of being safety, deliverance, or ease, or soundness, you know, being rescued.

It says in the New Testament, it is regarded almost exclusively as from the power and dominion of sin. It has to do with being saved from sin and from death, and specifically being saved from the second death. I quoted, or actually read Romans 3.23, where it says, all have sinned and shall come forth, come short of the glory of God. Romans 6.23 says, the wages of sin is death. So if we go out and earn something, what we earn is death.

It says, but the gift of God is eternal life. In Jesus Christ our Lord. Salvation is that gift of life. And again, there's nothing that we can do to earn this. It is a gift of God. It's a tremendous gift of God to understand about salvation. This thing, we understand the purpose of life. You know, why we are here. We understand that purpose. We understand what happens after death. You know, we go to a funeral. We understand about the person who's died.

We don't sorrow as others who have no hope. We have understanding of life and of death. We have understanding about the kingdom of God. This is salvation. This is being changed from physical to spiritual, from mortal to immortal. We also understand, the Bible, that salvation is a process. And by that, there's a past, present, and future of salvation. It's not one saved, always saved, as I'm sure all heard that saying. It's not that at all. We understand there's a past, present, and future of salvation.

Turn back a few pages, or actually ahead a few pages. 2 Timothy, the first chapter. I'll read verses 8 and 9. 2 Timothy, the first chapter, verses 8 and 9, it says, Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel, according to the power of God. Who has saved us and called us? And I'll stop at that point. Who has saved us? We have been saved from past sins.

We've been justified by sins previously committed. We've been forgiven of sins previously committed. We are saved from the penalty of past sins, sins previously committed. Doesn't say anything about future sins, but it does talk about past sins. We have been saved, the past tense. Turn to 1 Corinthians, the first chapter. 1 Corinthians, the first chapter, and I'll read verse 18. It talks about salvation being in the present.

As soon as I get there, I will read it. 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 18, where it says, For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, present tense, it's the power of God. So we are in the process of being saved. And it's a process of growing, of overcoming, of falling short, of failing, of repenting, and then repeating the process. Repenting, growing, overcoming. It is a process of salvation. And as I mentioned previously, it's a process that's going to last all of our lives. And then turn back to Romans 5 verse 10. Romans 5 and verse 10. We'll see about salvation in the future. Romans 5 and verse 10.

Paul says, If when we are enemies we are reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. What Paul is referring to here is salvation in the future, in the kingdom of God, complete salvation, because once you're in the kingdom of God, you're not going to sin anymore.

God's children don't sin. So it talks about salvation in the future. Another scripture that goes along with this, Matthew 24, 13, again, the Alavic prophecy, says, He who endures to the end shall be saved. Future, we shall be saved when we are born into the family of God. We'll be saved from sin and death. Another thing we understand about salvation is that once we're in the process of being saved, it's possible to fall away. It's possible to miss the mark. Again, I've mentioned there are some, you know, the ones saved, always saved, or ones justified, always justified.

It doesn't really work that way. It is possible to fall away. 1 Corinthians 9, 27, which I'm not going to turn there, Paul knew that it was possible for him to lose out. Again, after all that he did, and all the work that he did, all the understanding that he had, it's possible for him to miss the mark and to not make it. And then in Hebrews 6, verses 4 to 6 says that, you know, if someone falls away, they cannot be renewed to repentance. It's not a matter of once saved, always saved.

It's a matter of we have to continue on in the salvation process. Once begun, we've got to keep going. It's kind of interesting. I read an article by a theologian. Well, I'm not going to quote it this time. But he talks about that, whatever you want to do, you know, once you're saved, you know, have at it. You know, it's again, once saved, always saved. And it's kind of like the argument that Paul says, you know, sin more so grace can abound. And he goes on to say that you could kill or commit adultery a thousand times a day. You know, once you're saved, you know, it doesn't matter. You know, that's it.

You know, you're golden. Obviously we know different. We understand about salvation. Salvation is going through a process of past, present, and future. And ultimately being born into the family of God. The next word I'm going to talk about is predestination. Predestination. There are a couple of ways to understand this word. One of the ways to understand the word is that God has everybody's life all planned out. You know, way in advance. And of course, this happened before the foundation of the world.

He planned this out. And just think what that would mean. You know, cover everybody's DNA. You know, how tall you are. You know, how much you weigh. The color of the hair.

The color of the eyes. You know, of your race. Of your nationality. All sorts of things would have to be predetermined. And of what God would have to do in order to make sure that a specific individual turned out the way that they did. And of course, even more than what a person looks like. And also predestination, according to this theory, would include who he's going to save. And of course, then who he's going to condemn.

And there's nothing a person can do about it. You know, if it was all predetermined, all determined in advance. You know, what it is is what it is. Those who would be saved, be saved. Those who would be condemned would be condemned. It means he decided in advance, everything. Another way to understand predestination is that before the foundation of the world, God has planned, well, planned his plan. His purpose of adding children to his family. And the way that this was going to come about.

He determined that, you know, during this time, there would be a people of God. In the Old Testament, more in the New Testament, you know, up to the time of Jesus Christ. And then of course, on beyond that. When I said the time of Jesus Christ, the time of Christ returned. And then beyond that, he outlined his plan. He had a purpose. He had a number of individuals involved. He knew in advance that he would be saving people at this time.

Not necessarily specific names, not necessarily specific individuals, but there would be a people. Just think about this, you know, going all the way back to beginning, in Genesis chapter 4, God tells Cain that he has to rule over sin. God tells us, you know, we need to rule over sin. If it was all predetermined, why would we have to do that? Or why would Cain have to do that?

If it was already predetermined that Cain was going to sin, why would God tell him? It wouldn't make any sense. Because Cain wouldn't have a choice with him, one way or another. But God does give us a choice. We call that choice pre-moral agency. We have a choice. We can choose what we're going to do. And again, that affects our relationship with God. God gave advice to Cain, and he gives us the same advice, to choose.

And of course, he wants us to choose life. He wants us to choose wisely. Now, I will say that as God looks down upon us, he probably has a pretty good idea of, you know, what we're going to do in a specific situation. Just as parents, we can look at our children in a specific situation, and we can have a pretty good idea of what they're going to do.

Now, sometimes we're surprised, but we can have a good idea of what they're going to do, and I think God has a pretty good idea. But he does not necessarily know. Just think again what God said to Abraham when Abraham was ready to sacrifice Isaac.

Now I know that Abraham will rear his household according to God's ways. God says, now I know. Up to that point, I think he was pretty sure, but then he knew.

Next point I'm going to talk about is glorification. Glorification. Again, according to Unger, the glorify is to make one glorious or honorable. According to Baker's Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology, it says, in the Scripture, the idea of glorification deals with the ultimate perfection. In other words, what they'd be referring to is being born into the family of God. Being in the first resurrection is the way we would understand it. It says the word glorification is not used in the Hebrew Old Testament or the Greek New Testament. So apparently, it's not in the Bible. But the idea of glorification is conveyed. So where is it conveyed? In the Old Testament, I'm not going to turn here, but Daniel the 12th chapter, Daniel the 12th chapter, verses 2 and 3, where Daniel talks about those who will be in the resurrection and those who are wise, it says, will shine like the brightness of the heavens and those who lead many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever.

Glorification, you know, shining like a star. This goes along with what's in the New Testament. Turn to 1 John the 3rd chapter. 1 John the 3rd chapter, and I'll read verses 1 to 3. 1 John 3, I'll read verses 1 to 3, where it says, I'll slow down a little bit. I still hear some pages. I was looking at the high-tech congregation here. Oh, God, you know, the Bible on your iPads or cell phones. Even some of the old guys. I think you'd identify with that. Or gals. I'm not prejudiced. In any case, 1 John 3, verse 1, it says, Beloved, now we are the children of God. In other words, we've been begotten. We have God's Holy Spirit. We are the children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be. But we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. Again, Daniel talked about, you know, the brightness. We're going to have tremendous, powerful spirit bodies. Tremendous power will be like God. We'll see Him as He is. And then, continuing in verse 3, it says, So we look at the potential, you know, the great hope that's ahead of us, being in the first resurrection, living with God forever in bodies that don't get tired, don't get sick, you know, don't get hungry, don't get weak. Bodies of incredible power and strength and might and wisdom. It says, I'm going to go... I am going back to Romans the 8th chapter, Romans the 8th chapter, which is where I started. And I'm going to read verse 30 again, because this thought may have occurred to someone here. Maybe not, but just a case that it did. Romans 8, verse 30, it says, Notice all these words here are past tense. Those he predestined, those he called, those he justified, and these he glorified. It's past tense. Why would it be written past tense? Glorifications in the future. At the time, for us, it would be the first resurrection. Glorification is in the future. This seems to say that glorification is in the past, but no, it is in the future. The Scriptures of Daniel that I referred to, and 1 John that I read, show that it's a future event. It's not an event that's in the past. Well, according to the Jewish New Testament commentary, it says, from God's viewpoint, that's on this particular Scripture, from God's viewpoint, it's already accomplished. Hence, for us, there's a certainty on which we can rely. Romans 4, 17 and Isaiah 46, 10, go along with this. As far as God is concerned, it's as good as done, even though it's not really accomplished yet. And I'll turn back to Romans 4, 17, and I'll read what it says. It's an interesting verse. It says, As it is written, I have made you a father of many nations. And this is talking to Abraham. And this is talking to Abraham before Isaac was born.

And yet God says, I have made you past tense, a father of many nations. And says, in the presence of him he believed, even God, who gives life to the dead, and calls those things which do not exist as though they already did. In other words, some things that when God says, it's as good as done, even though in fact it's not done yet. As I mentioned here, that you know, Abraham was told he'd be a father of many, or you have been made a father of many nations. And this is before the birth of Isaac. So, brethren, these words are concepts, I call them crucial concepts, that we covered today are very important. The words that we went through were called, election, justification, righteousness, atonement, propitiation, redemption, sanctification, salvation, predestination, and glorification. These are words that are rich in meaning. As I mentioned, each of these words we could really delve into very deeply and make a whole sermon about each one of them, or a Bible study about each one of them. There's a lot this contained. I've given a basic definition. I didn't thoroughly examine each word or each doctrine. What I did was give meaning to these words, so that as we encounter them in our daily Bible study, they will know what the definition is, and will more properly understand what the author is saying. And this will help us to improve and have more fruitful studies of the Bible.