Biblical Talks with Elder Michael Tolliver Podcast
When the term Reformed theology is used, it often refers to something less historical. Often it refers to a theology that acknowledges the doctrine of predestination and holds to a high view of the Bible as God’s inerrant Word. Sometimes it is also identified with the so-called five points of Calvinism: total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, and the perseverance of the saints. These are all important teachings of the Reformed tradition, but they do not fully encapsulate or describe Reformed theology.
A better starting place is five statements that have been called the five solas of the Reformation. These five solas (sola is the Latin word for “only” or “alone”) are sola Scriptura (Scripture alone), sola fide (faith alone), sola gratia (grace alone), solus Christus (Christ alone), and soli Deo gloria (God’s glory alone). Put together, these solas clearly express the central concerns of the Protestant Reformation, which was about worship and authority within the church as much as it was about individual salvation. The “alone” in each is vital, and they emphasize the sufficiency of God’s Word and the gracious nature of salvation, received by faith alone, in Christ alone. The last of the five solas, soli Deo gloria, is the natural outworking of the first four. It reminds us that Reformed theology understands all of life in terms of the glory of God. To be Reformed in our thinking is to be God-centered. Salvation is from the Lord from beginning to end, and even our existence is a gift from Him.
Biblical Talks with Elder Michael Tolliver Podcast
Sermon of the Week, John Piper: The Eternal Purpose of God's Election.
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Ephesians 1:3–14 is one of the most concentrated, exalted, and weighty descriptions of God’s purpose in the universe from eternity to eternity. It’s the kind of writing that stretches the mind to the limits of comprehension. It takes us back before the creation of the universe into the personal consciousness of absolute reality, God himself, and beckons us to understand the unfathomable good pleasure, will, purpose, counsel, and plan of God, as they were formulated in the infinite mind of God. We are invited to enter that mind and understand. It takes us forward to an everlasting inheritance. And it takes us to the center of the whole creation, where the most-loved Son of God shed his blood for the redemption of a people predestined to be the happy, praising family of God forever.
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Welcome to Biblical Talks. Sermon of the Week. Beloved, why did God choose you? In Ephesians 1, verse 4, paul says, even as he chose us and him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. Now, for the Christian, this is not optional. It is the purpose of our election. God chose us to be holy and blameless before him. Here's John Piper preaching on why did God choose us, the goal and ground of his election?
Speaker 2:Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with Every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him Before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him In love, he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, to the praise of the glory of his grace with which he has blessed us in the beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of his will. According to the good pleasure or the purpose with which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on the earth. In him we have obtained an inheritance having been predestined in him. We have obtained an inheritance having been predestined according to the purpose of him, who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory In him. You also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
Speaker 2:Now, before I pray again, let me say something from chapter one, encouraging and guiding to the way I want to pray for, you and me. Ephesians 1, 3 to 14,. What we just read is the most concentrated, exalted, weighty description of God's purpose in the universe in the Bible, from eternity to eternity. It's the kind of writing that stretches the mind to the breaking point. To the breaking point. It takes us back before creation, the creation of everything, into the mind of God, absolute reality, and it beckons us, wonder of wonders. It beckons us to understand the unfathomable good, pleasure and will and purpose and counsel and plan of God. This is the sort of thing that if I were to do it and not Paul, you would count it totally presumptuous. It totally presumptuous, but he did it. And he beckons us into the eternal mind of God and then he takes us forward to the everlasting inheritance. And then he takes us to the center, the most beloved son, blood shed for redemption. That we might be the predestined, happy, praising children of God forever and ever. God, forever and ever.
Speaker 2:The realities in those verses 3 to 14, are 10,000 times more important, more significant, more amazing, more relevant than anything that happens in Washington DC or in the Vatican or on the news scroll that you look at every day. They are, compared to this nothing. These are glorious realities beyond human description. And when he's done with those verses, at verse 14, what does he do? He prays. Now, this is not my assigned text, but it's not anybody else's either. Verses 15 to 23 is a prayer.
Speaker 2:The rest of the chapter is a prayer. What is he asking God to do? He's going to pray a second time. Chapter 3, verses 14 to 20, which may be the most beautiful prayer in the Bible. So, in chapter 1, this massive theology, followed by a prayer. Chapter 2, this massive theology, followed by a prayer. That's important, right, pastors, people, this is important Theology, prayer, theology, a prayer that's important, right, pastors, people, this is important Theology, prayer, theology, prayer, doctrine, prayer, doctrine, prayer.
Speaker 2:That's life for a pastor, that's life for a Christian. That's why I'm pointing it out. What does he pray? What does he pray? What does he pray? He doesn't ask God to help you do anything. Doing comes later. That's chapter 4, 5, and 6. Do you know? There's 41 imperatives in Ephesians? 40 of them are in chapters 4, 5, and 6. That's significant. He's not asking God to make us do anything. These prayers are upstream, way upstream from doing, from behaving Verse 16.
Speaker 2:Verse 16, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers that the God of our Lord, jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you. This is what I'm praying for you. Paul's praying for you may give you a spirit, the spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of God. Now, he just gave us a truckload of knowledge of God in verses 3 to 14 of chapter 1. And now he's praying oh God, grant that these Ephesians grant that these folks at TGC would be able to grasp and receive and treasure and be formed by the knowledge that I've just given them in these verses, these mind-boggling knowledge that I have poured out in verses 3 to 14. Oh God, grant that the Holy Spirit would shape their spirit so that it fits, because if you have a round hole in your heart and the truth of Ephesians is a square peg and you try to fit it, it will hurt and you might get angry. So he's pleading for us Make it fit, give them a spirit of revelation.
Speaker 2:Verse 18, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened. This is amazing. So there's about 7,000 of you, I'm told. Did you know that every person in this room has eyes in your head and eyes in your heart? That's what it says. I'm praying about the eyes of your heart. What it says, I'm praying about the eyes of your heart. You can read with these eyes. You have eyes that are darkened so that you can't understand anything in chapter 1. Or you have eyes that are lightened by the Spirit, so that chapter 1 makes you just leap with amazement at the grace of God. That's a gift. That's why you pray, that's why we pray. The only thing that matters at this conference is what you can't do. I can't do. So we pray.
Speaker 2:And then he gets specific. He wants three things to happen through the eyes of the heart. Verse 18,. In the middle of the verse that you may know what is the hope to which he called you? To the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the Saints. 3. What is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us when he raised you from the dead, like he raised Jesus.
Speaker 2:Most Christians don't know the power that saved them. They have to be taught, and then they have to be prayed over, and then a miracle has to happen so that, oh, I get it by grace. I was saved by grace. I didn't do this. You were born thinking you did, and you must be reborn to find out you didn't.
Speaker 2:The roots of this hopefulness, this riches, this power are all back in verses 3 to 14 of chapter 1. And we need to pray now that God would cut away the blinding cataracts of the heart. Father Paul has taught us now what to do when we have some theology to deal with. He prayed, that is, he asked you to do what humans can't do. I can preach. I cannot open the eyes of the heart, but you can. And there are blind people in this room who cannot see the wonder of what we're about to look at, unless you take this laser of yours and cut away the blindness of the eyes of the heart. So that's what we're asking for Come, open our eyes, give us light. I ask this in Jesus' name, amen.
Speaker 2:What's the main point of verses 3 through 14 of chapter 1? That is what is the point. Everything else is supporting. That's what I mean by main point. What's the point? Everything is clarifying, everything is defending, everything is guaranteeing. And that point is not hard to know. It's not hard to see because paul states it three times. And not only does he state it three times, he states it in a way as to say it's the main point, that there's a grammatical construction, construction.
Speaker 2:I'll read let's just look at them. You'll see the beginning of verse 6, I do hope you have your Bibles or your phone Bible open, because we're going to look at very specific words, because we're talking about mega issues that are sometimes confuted, that are sometimes confuted. Verse 6, at the beginning unto or to the praise of the glory. Now notice it is in ESV glorious grace. But that's fine, but I like the literal unto, the praise of the glory of his grace. Unto means that's the point. That's where we're going. That's where the universe is going. Election is going there, predestination is going there, adoption is going there, redemption is going there. That's where we're going. We're going to praise forever glory of grace. Okay, so that's clear, especially because of verse 12. The end of verse 12. Unto or to the praise of his glory. Again, verse 14. At the end, to the praise of his glory. This is not hard, right? Thank you, paul.
Speaker 2:These verses are to tell us that the universe exists, election exists, predestination exists, adoption exists, redemption exists, inheritance exists, sealing exists, so that there will be a people praising glory of grace forever. That's where it's going, and I'll tell you when I'm 22 something like me, 50, do the math quick seven, no, 70, I don't know. I'm 79, 22 years old. When that hit home, everything changed. I hope that happens or has happened for you. Everything in this paragraph serves to show that the glory of God is worthy of your praise. That's what this paragraph is for. Let's look at two of them. I wish we had time for three. We don't, so we look at two of those three instances. So I'm starting to read verse four.
Speaker 2:He chose us. I know I'm jumping in the middle of the sentence. If you start anywhere in the first 14 verses, you're starting in the middle of a sentence, because it's all one sentence. He chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him in love. He predestined us for adoption to himself as sons, through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure purpose of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace with which he has blessed us in the beloved, in the beloved.
Speaker 2:Why does Paul trace your election, your choice, your predestination, your adoption? Why does he trace it back before creation? You don't even need to go there, paul. It just gets controversial when you do that. Why do you do that? He did it to establish, clarify the nature of grace. What is grace? Why is it so glorious in Paul's mind?
Speaker 2:And he wants to clarify that the grace of your being chosen, your holiness, your predestination, your adoption, that grace, your predestination, your adoption, that grace is free and unconditional because it happened and was made yours before you existed. That's the point. You didn't exist, you didn't contribute to this before you existed. He predestined you Christian. He assigned, he assigned your destiny to be his child. And the point of stressing that you didn't exist is to say his grace was free, unconditional. You didn't do it or contribute to it. You didn't do it or contribute to it. You didn't exist. Now he wants to make that clearer. It's not just that it happened before you existed. He wants to make it clearer.
Speaker 2:So at the end of verse five, he adds two amazing words. He takes us. This is just mind-boggling to me that he would dare to do this. He takes us, shall we say beneath I don't want to say before, because I know time and God. He takes us beneath election, he takes us beneath predestination, as if you could go there. And he speaks of their, shall we call them roots, the roots of choice, the roots of predestination? What moved him to choose you before you existed? What's the root? How do you get to the bottom of this? See that little phrase according to the purpose of his will.
Speaker 2:According to the the another translation, perhaps a little more literal, you know, key and good pleasure stressing freedom according to the good pleasure of his will. So where does his choice come from? That's what Paul's getting at, isn't it? He's, he's going beneath predestination, beneath choice, and says it accords with this way down here, that choice accords with this. What Will he willed, and then he chose. It's like Romans 9, 15. I will have mercy on whom I have mercy. I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. So then, it depends not on human willing or running, but on God, who has mercy. So he could have just said that, namely predestination, choice, will, bottom line will of God. He doesn't stop. He doesn't stop. He goes another level down, down to purpose or good pleasure.
Speaker 2:This is just almost unfathomable to me that he would talk this way. He would invite us in to the mind of the eternal God, before there's any universe at all, any universe at all. And God is thinking, planning, willing, with a good pleasure. It's mind-boggling. So I predestine, I choose, I will, I have a good pleasure. What's the point? What's he trying to say? Why is he doing this? His point is that it is free, it comes from nowhere, but God, your choice comes from nowhere, but God, before you existed and deeper than choice, deeper than will, all the way down to whatever this is called God's good pleasure.
Speaker 2:Why was he talking this way? He was talking this way to keep you from believing that you were chosen on the basis of your foreknown faith, which is what a few hundred of you were thinking that I overlooked. Millions upon millions of people have been taught that Christians were not chosen on the basis of God's good pleasure or God's will or God's unconditional free grace, but on the basis of their foreknown ultimate human self-determination. At the point of their conversion, the point of their conversion, they became believers and they were taught. At that moment, when you became a believer, you were decisive, not God.
Speaker 2:Now I'm going to ask you when you look back on your conversion to Christ and I know that hundreds of you like me can't remember that because you were a child, but that doesn't matter what matters is that you know it happened because you're alive. Right, you don't prove you're alive by showing your birth certificate. You prove you're alive by breathing, and you prove you're a Christian by breathing Christ. So you know you're alive and you know you were born again sometime. And so I want to ask you, as you look back on that when you moved from death to life, when you moved from outside Christ to in Christ, where there's no condemnation, when you moved from unsaved to saved, was your decisive self-determination the key? Was it decisive at that moment, or was the grace of God decisive?
Speaker 2:That's the question that divides theologies. Sometimes it's called free will, because that gets a lot of traction in America. Did my free will or my self-determination become at that moment when I crossed from death to life from unbelief to belief. Was I decisive or was God decisive? And if you were to say that that that's what you believe to me right now, what I would respond is this I would say Paul is laboring in the words that he has chosen to keep you from believing that. That's what he's trying to do. He's trying to help you not believe that.
Speaker 2:1 Corinthians, 1.30, from God are you in Christ Jesus. You didn't graft yourself into Christ. God grafted you into Christ. Ephesians 2, that we'll hear more about this evening. God made me alive by grace. You've been saved. God gave me faith. Acts 13, 48,. As many as were ordained to eternal life believed, not the other way around.
Speaker 2:I love Reformed theology. I love sovereign grace because I'm saved. If God were not triumphantly free and unconditionally sovereign in giving me life, I would be in total rebellion against God Now, and you would too. What makes us sing? What makes us sing? I mean, who has conferences like this except people who sing? I'm saved by sovereign grace. I didn't do this. I was plucked out of that horrible, rebellious humanity, for nothing in me that makes you sing. If you thought you were decisive, we're going to go to have a conference to sing about that? They don't happen. They don't happen. You don't celebrate human self-determination at a conference. You really don't Just look around, you've got to hide it. Seriously, he's not done clarifying this. He knows that there's some other objections.
Speaker 2:Let's go down to verses 11 and 12 now. So here we get that other phrase to the praise of the glory of God, verse 12, to the praise of the glory of God. He doesn't say the praise of the glory of the grace of God, like he did in verse 6. He shortens it. And so I love to think of my being created for the praise of the glory of God. That's my destiny, it's your destiny if you're Christian. And he knows, and you know, and I know, the capstone of that glory is the glory of grace. So let's read this verse 11.
Speaker 2:In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined. So now we're back before creation again, having been predestined according to the purpose of him, who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. So what is it that leads to the praise of his glory here? What leads to the praise of his glory here what leads to the praise of his glory? He roots it. He roots it, verse 11, he roots the certainty of my future inheritance in the fact that we were predestined for it. Right In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined. That's the root of it, that's the confidence of it. So again now he's taken us back before creation, to the mind of God. Because of the predestination, your inheritance is sure. It's the ground of your hope.
Speaker 2:But now, just like in verse 5, he does more. He does it in a very similar way, with a couple of more amazing words. He says in verse 11, we're predestined according to that same phrase the purpose of him. You can stop there. According to the purpose of him, there's a plan, there's a purpose, there's a design, and that design causes him to destine his people for adoption. Then, to make it crystal clear, he doesn't stop with purpose, but he says according, it's a purpose. Let's read it carefully, the last half of the verse the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will. So, just like in verse 5, he said good pleasure of his will. So now, here in verse 11, it's the council, a different word, a council of his will. Now, what in the world that amazing God's got a will before the universe exists and a counsel of his will? Oh, paul, you would break our brains. Both phrases, according to the purpose and the counsel of his will, are shouting.
Speaker 2:Your election, your predestination, your adoption, your inheritance are owing entirely to God, freely, gloriously. God, his purpose, his will, his good pleasure, his counsel and will, his good pleasure, his counsel, and not anything in you. What you and I brought to this was deadness. That's why chapter 2 is so clarifying about the meaning of chapter 1. You brought your deadness, you brought your rebellion, you brought your sin. That's what you bring to this, which is why grace is grace and so so precious, so well. Should we even believe, receive, trust, treasure, pray, obey. Paul would answer. He does answer. Indeed, you will believe and you must believe. And when you have believed, tell me Christian, when you have believed and you make it to the end, like he will hold me fast, he will hold me fast. When you make it to the end and you turn around and you look at that moment when you came alive and that preservation, you are going to say grace, grace, grace. I mean, do you remember 1 Corinthians, 15, 10? Here's what Paul says.
Speaker 2:I worked harder than any of them. Nevertheless, it was not I, but the grace of God that was with me. That's the way Christians talk. Of course we work. I'm an old man. All I've done is work. I love to work and I love to give glory to God for my work. That's what we do. Every breath we take, every sight of the eyes, hearing with the ears, food in your mouth, faith in your heart. Thank you, thank you, thank you. That's why we have conferences, that's why we sing, that's why we raise kids, that's why we do church, that's why we evangelize the world. And what a power we have. I mean, it is glorious, isn't it? When the rich young man walks away and the disciples throw up their hands. Who then can be saved? Jesus doesn't bat an eye and says with man it is impossible, but with God, nothing is impossible. That's why anybody in here is saved.
Speaker 2:So we've seen, in verses 4 and 6, god chose us and predestined us for adoption unconditionally, unto the praise of the glory of his grace, not unto the praise of the glory of your free will, which does not exist. You were dead, free-willed, as a slave. Then, in verse 11 and 12, so that we may be confident that this predestination is going to get us home. He says he predestined according to a plan and this plan is going to hold because he works all things according to the counsel of his will. So he plans all things according to the counsel of his will. So he plans all things according to the counsel of his will. And then he works all things according to the counsel of his will, including my faith. He plans all things. He works all things according to the counsel of his will and the praise of the glory of his grace. And then, between verses 6 and 11, he lifts up Jesus Christ, crucified and risen. It's amazing how he does this risen. It's amazing how he does this.
Speaker 2:Everything that he's been aiming at in choosing, in predestining, in obtaining an inheritance for us, is accomplished through Jesus Christ, son of the Son of God, the beloved verse 7. In him, in Christ, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of his grace. You're kind of like whoa trespasses blood forgiveness. Where did that come from? That wasn't in verses 4 to 6, or was it it was. He did not choose holy people to be holy, he chose wicked people to be holy. He set his favor on wicked people and predestined them to be his children. This is just off the charts, amazing. God looked out upon a sea of rebels and he said I'll have a family here. And it cost him his son's life to do it justly, to do it beautifully. And so he put him forth. The blood of the beloved. Did you know I'm sure many of you know that the blood of the beloved.
Speaker 2:Did you know? I'm sure many of you know that the book of life which exists before the foundation of the world, according to Revelation 13 8, the book of life in which are written all of the chosen, has has a name. The book has a name. This is Revelation 13, 8. The book of the life of the lamb who was slain. That's the name of the book. It's on the cover. Your name is in there. My name is in there if you're a Christian.
Speaker 2:The lamb was slaughtered in the mind of God before the universe was created. The book of the life of the lamb who was slain. So he not only conceived and planned and chose and predestined according to the counsel of his will. It all folded into Christ who would have his bride. It's all to unite. That verse 10, is just so beyond me and my capacities to know what he means by to unite or to sum up all things in Christ. So we were chosen in him verse 4. Predestined through him verse 5. Redeemed in him verse 7. Inheriting an inheritance secured by him verse 11,. Sealed in him verse 13,. So we hope in him, which means that when you state that the ultimate point of verses 3 to 14 is to the praise of the glory of his grace, you really mean to the praise of the glory of Jesus Christ, the embodiment and the price of the grace of God. We beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Speaker 2:One more clarification for our closing application. I haven't said anything about the word praise. Unto the praise of the glory of the grace, the free and unconditional lavish grace of God, we exist and will always exist. To the praise, what? What is praise? It is not mere words. Do you remember how Jesus said this? People honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from so.
Speaker 2:I asked chat GPT. I typed in please compose a 30-second prayer to God in the spirit and theology of Don Carson, in praise to the glory of God's grace. Click Three seconds later. This is what I was given. Gracious Father, we bow before you, the sovereign Lord of history and redemption. Before you, the sovereign Lord of history and redemption, from eternity past, you purposed to lavish grace upon undeserving sinners through the blood of your beloved Son. We praise you for the glory of your mercy, unearned, unmeasured, made manifest in Christ, crucified and risen. May our lives, redeemed and sanctified by your spirit, be vessels of praise to the riches of your grace. To you be glory forever and ever. Amen.
Speaker 2:That's a machine, I'm asking. Is that praise? Amen. That's a machine, as I'm asking. Is that praise? No, this people, these machines, honor me with their lips and their bites, and their heart is far from me. So let's clarify the purpose of the universe quick, I'm done.
Speaker 2:I got 19 seconds. Let's clarify why were you made words? Computers do words better than you, seriously, better than me. Computers do words better than you, seriously, better than me. Computers do words. They don't feel anything.
Speaker 2:Therefore, the universe is created to have people who feel this is amazing. Think of it. The universe exists to have people in God's image who feel the worth of grace, who feel the glory of grace, who feel the beauty of grace, who feel the wonder of grace, and then everything in their life takes on a totally non-AI meaning of action and praise to God. So, in closing, if this is not your portion, that is, if your heart does not sing, it does not feel the beauty of the freedom of the grace of God in saving, you give yourself no rest until that is your portion. You were made to praise, that is, you were made to feel the preciousness of grace and to speak it and to show it. So, father, I cannot make anybody feel an authentic spirit-given affection for the glory of your grace, but you can, and I pray that as we move through Ephesians now, everything will flow from this heart embrace of the glory of grace.
Speaker 3:Hello, my name is Michelle Tolliver and Biblical Talks book offer for the month of December is Mere Christianity by CS Lewis. Our moral consciousness and moral judgments are proof to the human race that a moral being exists God. Mere Christianity explores the core beliefs of Christianity by providing an unequaled opportunity for believers and non-believers alike to hear a powerful, rational case for the Christian faith. A brilliant collection, mere Christianity, remains strikingly fresh for the modern reader and at the same time confirms CS Lewis's reputation as one of the leading writers and thinkers of our age. The book brings together Lewis's legendary broadcast talk during World War II legendary broadcast talk during World War II. Lewis discusses that everyone is curious about right and wrong, the human nature, morality, marriage, sins, forgiveness, faith, hope, generosity and kindness. For any amount of donation to Biblical Talks, we will send you the book. Please go to biblicaltalkscom and click the Donate here tab. Thank you for listening to Biblical Talks.
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