Those who are called

The title of my article comes from a well-known and oft quoted verse, Roman 8:28. I'm sure many have the verse memorized, "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." The next verse is seldom quoted and many would not find it familiar, "For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the first born among many brethren." The next verse is even less familiar to many, "and these whom he predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified."

These three verses together make a compelling and profound statement about those that have been born-again by the Holy Spirit. All things work together for their good. They love God. They have been known by God in eternity past. They are predestined, to be conformed to the image of His Son. God has decreed that they will become like Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God. Jesus is the first born among many brethren. All this has been predestined, decreed, by God in eternity past. When they are called they are also justified, declared righteous by God and glorified. In the eyes of God they have already been placed in the Kingdom of light. In God's mind it is a settled matter. 

Now considering the fact of who has done all this, God, is there any power in all creation that can annul what has been decreed by God? Paul answers this with finality, further on in Romans 8:38-39, "For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Paul exhaust the possibilities of anything that can separate the believer from God's love and we need to take special note of why. It is because they are in Christ Jesus. It has nothing to do with men and everything to do with our Lord. It is the love of the Father for the Son that makes it certain. We always read this with ourselves at the center but that is not what is central. It is Jesus Christ. If the Holy Spirit abides in us we are in Christ and therefore we are loved because of that position. Salvation itself is supremely the work of the trinity and the love that exist within the Godhead. In Ephesians one is a beautiful litany of salvation and in verse six we read this, "To the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved." The Beloved is the Son, Jesus Christ. Our acceptance by God the Father is all contained in the Father's love for the Son. Those who are in the Son, in the Kingdom of Jesus Christ are secured by the Father's love for His Son. God's grace is ours because we are in the Beloved and we have already read how secure we are in that love.

Who is entitled to be at the center of all things, except God. In fact it is a fact. God is at the center of all creation and all that exist in eternity. We were created from the dust of the earth. We are not beings of light but beings of darkness and only the light that came into the world, Jesus Christ, can transform us into light. If we fail in our walk it is because we fail to acknowledge who He is and what we are. We strut about the earth patting ourselves on the back at all the great things we have done and don't even see what a complete and total disaster we have made of everything. Only the constraining hand of God keeps it from being worse and one day He will remove His hand and we will see the consequences of sin that God has saved us from. Yes, we will finally see men as they truly are, the way God knows them to be. We will truly understand that there but for the grace of God go I

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