Just a Thought "75"

Romans 8:29 - Do you grasp the full scope of what predestination means if you are a believer? Think about this for a moment, God has predetermined something where you are concerned once you believe Paul’s good news message and God’s mind is not going to be changed on this.

Now if you are a believer, what does that mean to you that God pre-decided something? God did not predetermine to cause some individuals to belief unto eternal life. God predetermined to conform everyone who believes to his son, Jesus Christ. You the believer are to be conformed to the imagine of God’s son!

God in his infinite wisdom pre-decreed that every believer would be joined to his son, fully identified with his son. God also pre-decided that you the believer would be blessed with all the blessings and privileges of an adopted adult son. God decided in advance that you the believer are to be the praise of the glory of his grace. Ephesians 1:4-6

You are predestined to these outcomes, God has pre-determined them simple as that, God’s mind is set. You see God wants us to praise him for all these things and he certainly wants us to thank him for all these things, because he has pre-determined these outcomes for you, for ever believer. God wants us to rest in these things.

1 Timothy 6:9 - “they that will be rich” Do you see how the entrapment takes place? Those who are bent on satisfying the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life fall into a snare, in that they become addicted to the manner in which they satisfy those lusts. Without any concern whatsoever for keeping your service to those lusts at bay, then serving those lusts will entrap you, such that it will become increasingly more difficult for you to do. 1 Corinthians 9:27

Paul was not talking about being wealthy; nothing wrong with being wealthy. Paul was talking about those with an insatiable desire to become wealthy, their sin lies not in being wealthy, but in coveting riches. They fall into temptation and a snare, the addictive entrapment. A person who covets wealth, makes that their goal in life, can be easily swayed by the sin nature toward dishonesty, and dishonesty can become a lifestyle, rather than a one-time event.

Whatever, or whomever, you choose to serve, you become a servant to, a slave to that person or to that thing, you are going to become enslaved to that which you choose to put yourself in servitude. Choose to serve sin and you can soon become addicted to the manner in which you have chosen to serve sin. That is the principle. Romans 6:16

Paul goes on to say, they fall into many foolish and hurtful lusts (not only harmful to themselves, but hurtful to others around them) which drown men in destruction (“damage” whether it be physical, mental, emotional, or functional, and damage to a person can take any number of roads) and perdition (total waste or ruination) of that individual. Paul is talking about what those who pursue the satisfaction of the sinful lusts of the flesh reap to themselves, not from God, but through that to which they are reaping.

Romans 8:12-13 - We do not owe anything to this flesh, because it will never please God. That is why our flesh is going on down to the dust and God is going to give us a new body. Our fleshly production did not gain us our identity in Christ in the first place, and it certainly can not gain us heaven. If the works of our flesh did not contribute to getting us save, how can the works of the flesh play a part in keeping us saved.

How will we die if we live after the flesh? If we live after applying rule-keeping to our righteousness, we are going to be functionally dead when it comes to the production of fruit in our lives. Paul was functionally not capable of producing any fruit that God could accept, he died functionally when he tried to apply law-keeping to perfect his flesh.

If we are trying to satisfy God’s justice on a daily basis or however by conforming to a standard of rules and regulations, we are going to find that just the opposite becomes true in our flesh. We are going to find ourselves constantly focusing on the flesh. The milk of self-righteousness will sour under the divine heat of God’s justice. It is either an issue of God’s righteousness, or it is an issue of self-righteousness.

Living after the flesh, from a functional pony of view is taking the credit yourself. Walking after the new nature is recognizing the source of the fruit. To walk in the new nature is to take the credit away from yourself. You realize that God is not looking at how well you adhere to any standard. God is not looking at your production. God is not looking at your behavior in order to view you as being in favor with him. God is looking at your identification with his son, and at what his energizing power from on high is producing IN you.