God Foreknows Us

God's attributes include foreknowledge. God foreknows us in Christ. God foreknows all things. His foreknowledge has to do with all His people in Christ. God has foreknown His people in Christ. God foreknows His relationship with each one of us. We are foreknown as justified and glorified in Christ (Romans 8:28-30).

Augustine taught that God's people are foreknown in Christ. "Since only One foreknows, only One knows that number and can already name them by name, not because this is already decreed by universal foreordination, but because God's knowing is contemporary with every moment in time, including future moments with all their contingencies."

God foreknows us in Christ, yet that does not remove the command for all people to repent (Acts 17:30). God foreknows us in Christ through a personal relationship, yet that does not dismiss our responsibility. We are responsible for our choices. We must repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, according to the gospel (1 Peter 1:2; 2 Peter 1:10).

God foreknows us in a personal relationship through Christ. All of us are foreknown through the eternal covenant with Christ, the great Shepherd (Hebrews 13:20-21). God's foreknowledge includes all things to the least detail. God foreknows us in Christ as his people. That includes our calling, gifting, and service (Ephesians 1:4-6; 2:10). 

Your Full Salvation

Our full salvation is in three tenses: past, present, and future. That is to say, in Christ you have been saved; you are being saved; you shall be saved. Three terms describe the three tenses of your salvation in Christ: justified, sanctified, and glorified.

You have been saved. That is justification by faith in Jesus Christ. You are being saved, growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18). That is sanctification. You shall be saved. That is your glorification, when Christ returns. In essence, you shall be like Him (1 John 3:2).

Salvation is justification, sanctification, and glorification. It's all by grace through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. He is your full salvation. In Christ, you are justified and free from all condemnation. In Christ, you are being sanctified until glorified. In Christ, you shall be made just like him, when he appears.

Your full salvation is God's work in Christ. God began your salvation; God continues your salvation; God shall complete your salvation. "Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:6). In Christ, you have been justified (Romans 5:1). In Christ, you are being sanctified (1 Corinthians 1:2). In Christ, you shall be glorified (1 John 3:2).

Blessed or Cursed

All covenants in Bible days had promised blessings and warned of the curse. Matthew 25:31-46 describes our King, the Lord Jesus Christ, coming again to bring judgment. Those who are not blessed are cursed. Everyone is either blessed or cursed. There is no other covenant option. There is a sharp contrast between those who are blessed and those who are cursed.

Those who are blessed are like sheep. Our Lord Jesus is the great Shepherd of the sheep. They hear his voice and follow him. Those who reject Jesus as Lord are described as the goats. They neither hear his voice nor follow. The sheep are blessed, whereas the goats are cursed.

Those at the King's right hand are blessed. Remember, covenants were made with an uplifted right hand. That was an oath of promise. Those at the King's right hand are his covenant people. They have believed and received his covenant promises. Those at his left hand have neither believed nor received his promises. They are cursed at his left hand.

The sheep at the King's right hand are blessed to receive life everlasting. They are believers in the Son of God (John 3:16). The goats at the King's left hand are cursed with everlasting punishment. The word cursed means to be cut off and marked for destruction. The everlasting covenant of our Lord Jesus Christ is a blessing for all at his right hand (Hebrews 13:20-21). Yet, the curse is for all at his left hand.

God Is Everywhere

Don't think of God as being far away, because God is present everywhere. "For in Him we live and move and have our being"(Acts 17:28) That means God is where you are. God is there all the time. Only faith recognizes God is present everywhere. Unbelief does not consider God present anywhere.

God is everywhere. He's where you are now. Even though you don't see God, the Bible teaches that God is everywhere. Theologians use the word omnipresence, which means God is everywhere. Therefore, we can say with the psalmist,"The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth"(Psalm 145:18).

There is not only the omnipresence of God, but there is also the manifest presence of God. While God is everywhere all the time, yet God may manifest himself in different ways at different times. God manifested his presence on the Day of Pentecost in a dramatic way (Acts 2). Yet, we must not think of God as only present in dramatic and unusual ways.

Faith sees God everywhere all the time (Hebrews 11:1-6). We need not dramatic manifestations to know that God is with us everywhere. Someone may say,"How can God be with us? We can't see Him nor feel His presence." Faith does not require feelings nor manifestations to know that God is present everywhere.

What a Joy Divine

An old hymn of the church has these words: "What a fellowship. what a joy divine, leaning on the everlasting arms." The Bible says, "Truly our fellowship is with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ" (1 John 1:3). Our fellowship with God brings joy. When we are out of fellowship with God, we need to confess our sins, that the joy we once knew may be restored. Sin separates us from fellowship with God. 

Restored fellowship with God results in joy. The barrier of sin is removed, as we confess it to God. The joy of salvation is restored. We may pray, "Restore to me the joy of Your salvation" (Psalm 51:12).

Our fellowship with God is joy. His joy is our strength for living. Fellowship makes you aware of God's presence. His presence is the place of joy. Your joy now and forever is found in fellowship with God.

Make fellowship with God a daily part of your life. Praise God through prayer and singing unto Him. Give thanks to God for His love, goodness, and joy to you. 

Ask God to bring to your attention any sins that you need to confess. Recognize that fellowship with God is your joy. Then, we can truly sing, "what a fellowship, what a joy divine, leaning on the everlasting arms." That's our fellowship with God!

Only One Mediator

"For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time" (1 Timothy 2:5-6). A mediator brings two parties together who are in disagreement. God's disagreement with us is on one issue alone. That is our sin. There is only one Mediator with God. Jesus is the only one!

God the Father gave His Son as the one and only Mediator of mercy, grace and love (John 14:6; Acts 4:12). Rejecting the Lord Jesus Christ is rejecting God's mercy, grace and love. Jesus is the one and only Mediator between God and man, because He alone is the God-Man, fully God and fully man, incarnate deity.

Jesus gave Himself as our ransom at the cross. He is the gift of God the Father, who alone has paid the price to set believers free from condemnation and wrath (John 3:18, 36; Romans 8:1). Here we clearly see why Jesus is the only Mediator with God. Jesus giving Himself for sinners at the cross is grace so amazing. Grace is the gift of God's unmerited favor for us (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Jesus Christ is the only Mediator through the everlasting covenant. He works in believers to do what is well pleasing to God (Hebrews 13:20-21). God the Father is well pleased in His only begotten Son. We can only please God when His Son Jesus works in us and through us to the praise of His glory. 

How We Are Redeemed

We are redeemed from the bondage and curse of our sin in Christ. The word redeemed means to pay a price to set someone free. Christ redeems believers at the cross. The only way we can be redeemed from condemnation is believing on the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 16:30-31).

We are redeemed from the curse of the law in Christ. The word curse is a covenant term. It means to be cut off from the blessings of God because of sin. Jesus died at the cross, "having become a curse for us." He died in your place, as your substitute. Jesus paid it all. As a believer, see Christ dying on the cross to take away the curse of your sin.

"Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who hangs upon a tree'), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith" (Galatians 3:13-14).

We are redeemed "that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles." Jesus fulfilled the covenant God made with Abraham to be a blessing to all nations (Genesis 12:1-3). God blessed Abraham in all things (Genesis 24:1). Believers are blessed in all things,because they are redeemed in Christ (Ephesians 1:3). The blessing of Abraham is ours by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.