We are saints—we are chosen, and we are the ones “Predestined For Adoption”. 
Paul wrote, “having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He [a]made us accepted in the Beloved” (Ephesians 1:5–6). Before we get to the concept of adoption let’s take a moment and explain the term Predestined which has been so twisted and misused by the majority. The word “predestined” [προορίζω] is a verb and is defined by Thayer’s as : “to predetermine, decide beforehand”. Literally—from PRO which means to “before” and HORIDZO “to mark out the boundaries or limits”. It means just what it sounds like — to decide something to be – before it is.  Just like God decided that He was going to have a people for Himself and first that was Israel. The church exists because it was predestined – thought of in the mind of God before it was. Friends—this simply means God determined, decided ahead of time that the church would exist at some future point in time. Nothing more. 

Simple Example: A group of people are meeting in one family’s home as a church. Because of their evangelistic efforts they begin to outgrow the home where they meet. So, they predetermine—that is decided to build a building that is larger than they currently need. Why larger? Because the also predetermine that they will grow in number, that by sharing the gospel, others will obey and be added to their number. So, as they say, that my friends is that! There isn’t a supernatural, super-spiritualized, or mystical meaning attached – it just means God determined ahead of time as the New Living Translators put it, “God decided in advance”.

As for this lesson we want to focus on what God decided in advance…namely our “Adoption” and on the five basic truths. 1. Adoption is not cheap! 2. You cannot make someone adopt you. 3. Adoption is decidedly permanent. 4. God wants to adopt you, and 5. To the praise and the glory of His grace.  Join me in this study as we learn about who, when and how one is adopted into the family of God. . . 

We the question asked, is a person continuously saved, no matter what, which is what the majority of religious leaders promote, you’ll likely hear the cry, “Once Saved Always Saved”, which is their teaching of  religious error called “Continual Cleansing”. The bottom line—they say—you can’t loose your salvation, nor your place in heaven no matter how “bad” you are. One example: Sam Morris, deceased, once Pastor of the First Baptist Church, Stamford, Texas, wrote in his Bible tract, “Do A Christian’s Sins Damn His Soul?” “We take the position that a Christian’s sins do not damn his soul! . . . and all the sins he may commit from idolatry to murder will not make his soul in any more danger. . . . The way a man lives has nothing whatever to do with the salvation of his soul”. Another is Mr. Bill Foster a Baptist preacher in Louisville, KY who commented, “If I killed my wife and mother and debauched a thousand women I couldn’t go to hell—in fact, I couldn’t go to hell if I wanted to.”

If you have been taught this, you’re not alone, and you have been taught wrongly. Let’s examine the God breathed scripture (2 Tim. 3:16) on this subject a bit, and listen to what the Creator, and Almighty God has to say. Then, if what you have believed is not according to truth, then throw it out. If what you hear taught is according to God’s authoritative word, then you have no choice but to obey. 

God chose beforehand to build a church that would be filled with saints, who have become saints through obedience to the faith, by the blood of Christ. Therefore, every soul that obeyed the gospel becomes one of the chosen.  Great imagery of being chosen comes from the Old Testament. Israel was chosen by God. Listen to how Moses describes the selection of Israel in Deuteronomy 7. “6 “For you are a [a]holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. 7 The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; 8 but because the Lord loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of [b]bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt” (Deut. 7:6–8). 

Chosen because God wanted them. Not because they were great in number—not because they were particularly holy. Nothing Israel did warranted their deserving of being chosen—to be God’s special treasure. Imagine: A very short youth named Michael who has a strong passion for basketball: How broken hearted he would be—never chosen to play by his school’s team. . .because of his stature, and because of his perceived lack of ability. Now imagine Michael moves to new school and the team captain calls out his name. Chosen despite his stature—regardless of his ability—chosen just because they wanted him—they call out Michael, Michael come and join us. 

A million times more would the feeling be to know that God wants you to be in His family, so much more than that is how especially honored you should feel—knowing…

Moses said to the people, “Look, the Lord your God has set the land before you; go up and possess it, as the Lord God of your fathers has spoken to you; do not fear or be discouraged” (Deut. 1:21). Yet even after seeing the good land, taking from its fruit, and reporting, “‘It is a good land which the Lord our God is giving us” (v.25), the people refused to go and possess the land and rebelled against the command of the Lord God. Their own brethren discouraged their hearts, by saying “The people are greater and taller than we; the cities are great and fortified up to heaven…”, and Moses responded with, “Then I said to you, ‘Do not be terrified, or afraid of them. 30 The Lord your God, who goes before you, He will fight for you. . .” (vs.26-29). We in the church have nothing to fear because God is on our side. 

The term saint, like many other Bible words, has been utterly perverted, mistaught , and misapplied by religious leaders who seek only their own glory. To make a short lesson of this, every baptized believer is a saint. Not because of anything they did, only that they obeyed the gospel of Jesus Christ and were added to the body the church by the hand of God (Acts 2:38, 41, 42, 47) . That’s it in a nutshell. If you have been taught that to be a saint you must meet certain other qualifications like performing a miracle before, or after death. You have been deceived. If you were told that only certain church leaders can apply sainthood on an individual, you have been lied to. 

Such things we will study in this lesson. I hope you’ll listen with an open heart, and reason these things, and filter all teaching through the word of truth, which is the word of God (John 17:17). Jesus said, “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). Let’s learn truth together. . . 

The greatest cause for religious error to date is lack of respect for Bible Authority.  Second to that are people who claim falsely that God, Jesus or the Holy Spirit speaks to them directly. This is untrue, and has cause tremendous confusion in the area of religion. I know of a couple who believe strongly that their religious leaders receive revelation from God, saying things like, “God just spoke to me”. Paul warned of these people who “pervert the gospel”, speaking apart from the word that was originally preach, “But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be [b]accursed” (Gal. 1:8).  In this lesson I will reason with you from the scriptures, why people who claim such are deceiving many, and why it is unreasonable to believe that God who by His, “His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue” (2 Pet. 1:3), who has delivered the faith to the saints, “once for all” (Jude 3), why it is unreasonable to believe people who claim new revelation from Jesus. What would God need to add to a completed message, what is missing? What can man add to the inspired, God breathed word which completes us spiritually (2Tim. 3:16)? Answer, not a thing!

I hope, have a simple lesson on What Causes Division and Error and following up this evening with answer to the question Does God Speak to Man Today Apart from the Bible.  All these lesson are intended to be helpful for us – the church – so we know what commands we must obey, and continually learn how to answer everyone who asks us of the hope that is in us. Now as Paul wrote, if we are to be the Christian that pleases God and Christ we must always to His words. “1 Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, 2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain” (1 Cor. 15:1-2). What causes division and Error? I believe can be narrowed down to just three points — root causes if you will for religious error: Ignorance, which can be either from a lack of interest or study—or from a willfulness to remain in a comfortable state. There are some who are simply liars, for selfish gain, even some who lie to keep others from learning the truth and third is more common which is when people love the world more than God. . .

In that last message we discussed how Christians may be redlining people for various reasons such as differences in income, education, race, even physical appearance. In this message we will consider the fact that Christians will be redlined because of their love of Jesus, and their love for other souls. Being hated for your service in the Lord’s kingdom is far from uncommon, in fact Jesus made it very clear in many of His teachings. “18 “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. . . ” (John 15:18).  

Jesus gave command, “Go [a]therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 28:19), and go we must. But for some making disciples can become a stone of offense.

There is a term, “Redlining” was coined in the late 1960s by John McKnight, a sociologist and community activist referred to a practice that began with the National Housing Act of 1934, which established the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). Plainly speaking is was a practice of denying, or charging more for, services such as banking, insurance, access to health care, or even supermarkets, or denying jobs to residents in particular geographic areas. The use of blacklists – used by redliners to keep track of groups, areas, and people that the discriminating party felt should be denied business or aid or other support. It refers to the practice of marking a red line on a map to delineate the area where banks would not invest; later the term was applied to discrimination against a particular group of people Blacks, Jews, Indian, Latinos, Asians etc. 

For some Christians, this is a spiritual practice. Not in the sense that Christians draw redlines on maps to delineate areas where they won’t evangelize. But because they “feel” like they can’t talk to someone based on different backgrounds, different cultures, different education, even different skin color can for some be intimidating. Some examples of the you might relate to. You’re a Christian and you have an appointment with your doctor. You feel like talking to him or her about Jesus but you don’t. Why? Because you also feel intimidated, like they are “higher” up the scale than you because of their title, “Dr.”. Another example, you’re out doing door-to-door work and you come across a man who intimidates you because of his apparel and size. That is he is a very large man wearing black leather, tattoos all over, scraggly beard, and a chained wallet, i.e., a motorcycle gang look. So, you again feel intimidated and you pass him by and go to the next house. Many examples like this can be sighted including ones perceived attitude, skin color, and ethnicity. 

For most Christians, this can happen without malice or intent. Many are just intimidated, because they don’t feel like they can reach the person, the feel inadequate for the task. This is true in many areas of life, work, play, and school. But when we, as Christians, don’t speak to others of Jesus because of this, we are sinning, and we are forgetting the command of Christ, and the power of God. Fact is, if you are a Christian, you know what must be done to be reconciled to God, so just say that, and remember that if you don’t you are guilty of allowing your shame to hinder another. Paul said, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel [a]of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek” (Rom. 1:16). 

Note that this is a two part lesson, here we will open our eyes to the practice of redlining others because we don’t feel capable, and in the second lesson we’ll discuss the opposite where others redline Christians because of their beliefs. 

We are continuing from our last lesson with some things that Jesus will do on the Great Day of the Lord. We know that • Jesus Will Come Again • Bring Those Which Sleep in Him • Raise the Dead • Judge All • Put Down His Rule and • Deliver Up the Kingdom. Knowing these things brings Christians great comfort. 

But there are some in the religious world who teach Jesus will sit on the throne of David literally, which cannot happen. In most of this lesson we’ll search through scripture and reveal truth on this subject so that we will know the truth, and the truth will set us free from all the false doctrines of men.