The Sovereignty of God

“The Foreknowledge of God”
Romans 8:29 “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.”

For the next several weeks we are going to look at several words from Romans 8:29 – 30. Every one of these words deals with the Sovereignty of God as far as salvation is concerned. We must understand that salvation that is preached from most pulpits is a myth at best. It clouds the mind with a fairytale of somehow man being able to change his own will and make a choice to follow Christ and this is done by the sinner himself. However as God brilliantly told us through the Apostle Paul in Romans 3:10 - 12 “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: (11.) There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. (12.) They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.” This means that no one, not one single human being will ever be able to make a choice for Christ, EVER! However there is hope God said in Ephesians 2:8 - 9 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: (9.) Not of works, lest any man should boast.” This means that salvation is possible because God by His loving grace has elected to save some, not all but some by grace through faith and that faith is not of themselves (or within their own means) but by grace is the gift of God. It is also not by works because that praises the sinner instead of God. Salvation is not something we can boast about but rather something we can praise God for, because it is His gift to all that have it.

With this being understood we now want to look at the word “Foreknowledge” and that is the “The Foreknowledge of God”. Paul said in the 29th verse of Romans 8 “For whom he did foreknow…” The word “whom” tells us that he is speaking of a people but who; well if this verse and verse 30 are taken in context he is speaking of those who are going to be saved and those are the ones that God foreknew. The word “foreknow” means - to know beforehand or to ordain” now most of those fairytale Pastors will tell you that God looked into the future and saw who would make a choice for Christ and foresaw their choice of faith and chose them to salvation, however this whole theory makes no biblical sense because God cannot look into the future if He is already in the future, and this fairytale is not taught anywhere in the entire bible. What this word means is that all things from eternity past, to eternity present, to eternity future are known to God. There is no future with God as he defined by calling Himself “I AM” in Exodus 3:14 “And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.” When God called Himself “I AM” here He expresses as absolute, unchanging and the eternal Being. God cannot change therefore before the creation of all creation known unto God was all His works Acts 15:18 “Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.” This is the facts; God chose them that were going to be saved before the world was created and in time called them to come to Christ, this is why we say God saves sinners. It is not up to man to change his own heart but God Who will change it for him. It is not up to man to choose Christ God chose us in Him before the world began. This is in the “ordained will of God” as stated in Ephesians 1:11 “In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:” and Jesus prayed “As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.” John 17:2 or those foreknown of God or those ordained to eternal life before the world began.