"Predestination" & "Evidence of Real Salvation" Kathryn Kuhlman

we've had some mighty wonderful heart -to -heart talks regarding this thing of, now, shall I say, eternal security or being eternally secure or call it anything that you will, but in reality, it's just this. If after once you had been born again, And you've had this wonderful experience of having accepted the Christ as your personal Savior. Are you eternally secure? No matter what you do, will you still be an heir of God and a joint heir with Christ Jesus? Oh, I know. This thing has put many a church wide open. I know that's one of the reasons that we have Baptists and Methodists and Presbyterians. I know it as well as you know it. Well, you know, sometimes I think that some of these things that we consider doctrine and that we'd stake our life on are things that have just been handed down from one generation to another. when really we need to get back again to the Word of God. Now, in one of our heart -to -heart talks, we read from the first chapter of Ephesians this wonderful relationship that there is between that one who's born again, that one who's a Christian, the Lord Jesus Christ, and God the Father. Oh, it's glorious. And you will remember that from this portion of God's word in the first chapter of Ephesians, and may I just read two verses to refresh your memory. According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him. in love having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by jesus christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will to the praise and of the glory of his grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved oh what a picture what an inheritance My friend, this is the most thrilling portion that there is in the Word of God. This is glorious. Every human being from the first Adam to the very last person to be born in the flesh was predestinated. It was in the perfect will of God. that he should accept the Christ and be literally an heir of God Almighty and a joint heir with God's Son, Jesus Christ. That's what it says. Sure, I believe in predestination. I've got to believe in predestination. I believe in it because the... Bible says so. But hold steady just a minute. I believe in predestination exactly as it was in the plan of God. In his plan, he did not plan that any man should be predestined to hell. That's a shocker. If you go to hell, it will not be because God ordained that you be sent to hell or predestined that you be lost. It was never in his plan that any man, any woman should be lost. You have made the choice. He is not willing that any should perish. He is not willing that you should be lost. That is the reason he has done everything in his power to keep you from going to hell. That's the reason he sent Jesus. That's the reason the Holy Spirit, the mighty convicting power of the Trinity, in the world today. It was in His perfect will, even before the foundations of the world, even before you were born, it was in His perfect will that you should be His heir and a joint heir with His only Son. Jesus Christ. But you have not chosen to be his heir. You made the decision. I made my decision. You are free to make your decision. You have made it. And you cannot blame God for the decision you made. When you came into the world, when you were born, you were born with a will separate and apart from the will of God. You make your own destiny so far as your soul is concerned. But it doesn't change the fact one iota. That he hath chosen us. That's you. That's me. In him before the foundation of the world. That we should be holy and without blame before him in love. Having predestinated us, you and me. unto the adoption of children by jesus christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will why to the praise and of the glory of his grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved all plans all arrangements all power is there for you to be the very heir of And yet you have chosen a different life. And there it is. You can't get around it. Well, sir, now watch something. I have to leave that because I could stay on that for a week. It's all so thrilling. It's all so wonderful. Now remember, you are a free moral agent. Everything from here on out depends on your will and on what you do with your own life. Now, turn with me, if you will, please, to Hebrews, the sixth chapter. I just touched on that briefly the other day. And I want you to see something. It means something to be a Christian. It's much more than joining a church. It's much more than just kneeling down and saying a few prayers. It's much more than having a father and a mother who are Christians. It means much more than just shedding a few tears. It means much more than immersion, or sprinkling, or dedication, or knowing the catechism. Much more. Mm -hmm. And there are thousands, I say advisedly, tens of thousands who believe that they are Christians, but it's only by their own standards, are the standards of their church, are the standards of two or three generations. before them. We've got to get back to the Word of God. There's no substitute for God's Word. For one of these days, every man and every woman will be judged from His Word, the Holy Word, of which the Holy Spirit is the author. I referred the other day to the sixth chapter of Hebrews, and some folk really were in for a shock because there's a portion of the sixth chapter of Hebrews that has been misconstrued, misinterpreted. Let me read. For it is impossible for those who are once enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift were made partakers of the Holy Spirit and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come. if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance, seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. Now watch that ninth verse. But beloved. Now he's talking to another group. He begins by saying, it is impossible for those. Now, he is talking to another group when he says, But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you and things that accompany salvation. If you've been born again, if you've had this wonderful experience, there will be certain fruits that will accompany you. accompany your salvation. And it's just like that. The Bible says we're to work out our own salvation. And there are people who literally have spent a lifetime working out something they've never had. Oh, they're working themselves to death today. They're working at being good until, honestly, I tell you the truth, they're so good, they're good for nothing. They're working so hard at something that they've never had. You've got to have something before you can work it out. You cannot work out your own salvation until, first of all, you've been born again. Then after you have been born again, then, my friend, you work out your own salvation because there are certain things that will accompany salvation. I'll come to that in just a moment. Because I don't want to allow you to be hanging there in thin air and not knowing what that scripture means prior to this ninth verse. And just in case, there are those who did not hear my interpretation of it under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit when I gave it recently. Those to whom he was talking to prior to this ninth verse had never experienced salvation. And this is the appalling thing. The great tragedy in the world today is the fact that there are thousands of people who are making a pretense of this thing of being a Christian. And they have never been born again. I repeat, it means something to be a Christian. You can fill a church pew 52 Sundays a year. For 50 years, you can be given every award that they give a human being for perfect church attendance. You can sing from that hymnal and know every song and every verse of that song. You can stand and repeat the Lord's prayers, sing the doxology, be able to quote the scripture better than the man who stands behind the pulpit, and yet be lost. I'll go a step further. Hold on to your seat now. And if we're standing up, lean against the wall. This is going to be a shock against some of you. You can even enjoy the things of the spirit. You can even speak in an unknown tongue and never having been born again. I better pause just a minute while you get your bread. That's right. Somebody said, oh, Miss Cooman, you're on dangerous ground. I'm never on dangerous ground when I can back up everything that I say with the Word of God. One never has to apologize. If you stay with the Bible, but there are too many people who have their own theology, there are too many people who have left the Word of God or who have taken just a portion, of a verse or you've taken it out of context. My friend, watch something. We need to get back to the word of God again. Stop being swayed by every newfangled doctrine that's coming up on the horizon. I've gotten to the place where I've stopped reading these religious magazines and these books and every book that's being published and one has to go a little further than the other and get a little more sensational than the other. I'm sick and tired of this sensational business. We need to get back again to the word. And when you stay with the word, you'll never get off in fanaticism. And the devil will never be able to make a religious nut out of you. That's right. Somebody said, I wish I hadn't tuned in. Well, I'll tell you, honey, just stick with me a little longer. And if you'll just sit there with an open mind and an open heart, let the Holy Spirit speak to you. We need some of this old -fashioned preaching again. We've gotten so far away from thus saith the Lord. Mm -hmm. There are those, I give the scripture, who were once enlightened. You know. Oh, I'll say you know. You know you sing in the choir. You go to church, you're there for the prayer service, you attend those prayer meetings in somebody's home, you sing louder, you pray louder, you yell louder than anybody else. Sure, you've tasted of the heavenly gift. Sure, you felt the power of the Holy Spirit. You were made partakers of the Holy Ghost. You know all about it. You have all the answers. You've tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come. Sure you have. But watch. Had you ever been born again, have old things literally passed away and old things having become new? Mm -hmm. Do you have the things that accompany salvation in your life? There's no substitute for the love that we as Christians manifest if we've really been born again. There's no substitute for the power. the real power of the Holy Ghost. If you've really been born again, you will not deliberately sin. I mean that. If you've really been born again, it is not that you no longer have the ability to sin. No, because even though we've been born again, we're still in the flesh. This is still corruption. We are a new creature in Christ Jesus, but when we were born again, the devil wasn't born again at the same time. He's still in the world. He wasn't born again. We still have sin all around us. Mm -hmm. We're still in the body of flesh, the body that is still corruption. But when we were born again and we had that wonderful spiritual experience, that new birth, born of the spirit, a new creature, old things having passed away, and behold, all things becoming new, we were given a love for others, but a supernatural love for God and the things of God where we will no longer deliberately go out and commit sin. We may commit sin, but the minute we do, we'll ask His forgiveness. I would no more think of going out and deliberately. knowingly commit sin, put Jesus, the Son of God, to an open shame for anything in the world. My friend, let's take this natural love. I love my Papa more than any human being that I have ever known. I have never known my father to ever laugh. Never. I don't think Papa ever laughed audibly. I was the only noisy one in the family. But I knew his every facial muscle. I knew it. My friend, I could watch Papa's face. He didn't have to open his mouth. He never laughed audibly. But I could tell by the expression on his face whether he was pleased, whether he was hurt, whether he felt badly. My papa never whipped me. My dad never laid a hand on me. Never. Not that I didn't need it. Mama made up for it. But papa didn't. Not that I was afraid of him. But I loved him too much to hurt him. And the very moment... that I saw that book on his face where I'd hurt him or displeased him. Believe me, my friend, I was very careful to make it right. I love my Heavenly Father enough that I would never think of going out and deliberately, knowingly, Not that I am afraid of his wrath. It's because I love him too much. I love Jesus Christ, my Redeemer, my Savior, enough that I would not think of putting him to an open shame by deliberately going out, knowingly committing sin. And my friend, if you belong to him and you've been born again, you will not deliberately sin.