WEBVTT 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:06.639 This morning, Ephesians chapter one, verses eleven and twelve, I'll read them, and then we'll begin. 00:00:07.040 --> 00:00:24.640 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. 00:00:26.640 --> 00:00:32.159 There are essentially three different ways to plan a vacation. 00:00:33.759 --> 00:00:49.039 The first way, which is how Dieter and I did our honeymoon, is that we went to Argentina, we planned the destination, and then we planned that we were leaving about a month later from Chile. 00:00:49.679 --> 00:00:54.240 And everything in between was somewhat nebulous. 00:00:54.799 --> 00:01:02.079 Like we got off the plane and took a taxi into downtown Buenos Aires and then found a place to stay, kind of nebulous. 00:01:02.399 --> 00:01:07.120 That we wandered around the country for a few weeks, uh charting our own course. 00:01:07.200 --> 00:01:09.040 No agenda, no just just moving around. 00:01:09.280 --> 00:01:11.359 We knew we knew we got there, we knew we were leaving. 00:01:11.519 --> 00:01:15.280 Everything else in between was left kind of to see how things went. 00:01:15.359 --> 00:01:17.359 So that's one way to plan a vacation. 00:01:17.680 --> 00:01:19.840 That would make some of you nervous, I think. 00:01:21.359 --> 00:01:33.120 Another way to plan a vacation, I'm gonna call vacation by divine fiat, where I chose where we were going, I chose what flights we were we're gonna be on. 00:01:33.200 --> 00:01:34.959 We went to Florida for a week. 00:01:35.120 --> 00:01:40.799 I chose the location, I chose the flights, I chose the place we were staying, I chose you we're gonna go. 00:01:41.120 --> 00:01:45.120 We land on Tuesday, Wednesday we're going to Disney World, we're gonna do these rides and these orders. 00:01:45.200 --> 00:01:46.000 I installed the app. 00:01:46.079 --> 00:01:47.280 Look, it's all right there. 00:01:47.760 --> 00:01:51.599 The next day we're gonna go to the pool for this long, the next day with these friends at this place for that long. 00:01:51.680 --> 00:01:53.760 Boom, on these flights out, it's done. 00:01:53.840 --> 00:01:54.719 Let's go. 00:01:56.400 --> 00:01:57.920 There's another way. 00:01:59.840 --> 00:02:07.840 The way I will call it collaboration, that Deidre and I get together and we say, Where do you want to go? 00:02:08.000 --> 00:02:08.479 Hmm. 00:02:08.800 --> 00:02:11.280 See, look, I'm learning and the progress here. 00:02:12.240 --> 00:02:14.719 How about let's go to California for a couple weeks? 00:02:14.879 --> 00:02:15.919 Yes, great. 00:02:16.080 --> 00:02:18.479 Uh you want to go on Tuesday and come back on the Saturday? 00:02:18.639 --> 00:02:18.800 Yes. 00:02:19.120 --> 00:02:19.919 How do these flights look? 00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:20.159 Yes. 00:02:20.800 --> 00:02:21.439 Where do you want to stay? 00:02:21.520 --> 00:02:25.840 You want to stay with your parents, you want to stay with these people, you want to do this for a few days after a few days? 00:02:26.240 --> 00:02:29.840 And the two of us talk it out together and we plan it out that way. 00:02:30.960 --> 00:02:36.080 And lo and behold, in so doing, we discover we actually want the same things on vacation. 00:02:36.159 --> 00:02:38.800 So it works out very well to do that that last way. 00:02:40.080 --> 00:02:41.919 Now I have a question for you. 00:02:42.639 --> 00:02:58.159 Of those three options, which of those best describes in your mind the way you see God exercising his sovereignty over the world? 00:02:58.639 --> 00:03:02.240 So we're transitioning here from vacation to theology, okay? 00:03:02.960 --> 00:03:04.159 Everyone keeping up? 00:03:07.439 --> 00:03:13.759 In your mind, when it comes to God's sovereignty, does God choose the beginning? 00:03:13.919 --> 00:03:22.240 He'll create the world, something in the middle, there's the cross, death and resurrection of Jesus, something at the end, Jesus will come back and set up his kingdom. 00:03:22.400 --> 00:03:26.400 The rest of it, we're just gonna let this thing play out and see what happens. 00:03:28.960 --> 00:03:44.240 Or does God rule the world through a singular ultimatum or meticulous d decree covering every event of all time from his singular voice? 00:03:45.360 --> 00:04:08.319 Or I submit to you this third approach, that when the Bible speaks of the sovereign decree of God, that it presents it in the language of a counsel, in the language of collaboration, in the language of a decree that comes from multiple persons. 00:04:08.800 --> 00:04:21.199 Now I will clarify this language a little bit later, but I just want you to notice it first, before we talk more about it, in verse 11, that all things are worked according to the counsel of his will. 00:04:21.439 --> 00:04:37.839 That when the Bible speaks of the divine decree of God, it usually uses it in language like counsel or covenant in Luke 22, which implies multiple people or some kind of action from many voices. 00:04:39.279 --> 00:04:43.040 I think that's the way the Bible describes the sovereignty of God. 00:04:43.199 --> 00:04:57.279 But the catch here, the thing you need to understand is that as God gives his decree about how the world will come to pass and all that will take place in it, he does convene a council, but you and I are not on that council. 00:04:58.000 --> 00:04:59.839 We were not consulted. 00:05:00.079 --> 00:05:04.800 We were not brought into the throne room of God and asked, how do you think I should do this? 00:05:04.879 --> 00:05:07.199 And God didn't partner with us. 00:05:07.439 --> 00:05:13.360 There is no give and take and compromise between us and God and his sovereign plan for the world. 00:05:13.519 --> 00:05:16.240 So who are the people involved in the council? 00:05:16.319 --> 00:05:22.160 And I think you learn in Ephesians 1 that this is a Trinitarian council. 00:05:22.639 --> 00:05:29.920 That the three persons involved in the plan for the ages are the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. 00:05:31.279 --> 00:05:35.839 This plan comes from three voices who have a united will. 00:05:36.000 --> 00:05:39.199 The Father and the Son and the Spirit all share one will. 00:05:39.279 --> 00:05:47.839 It's not as if the Father wants one thing and the Son wants a different and the Spirit wants a third, and so they have to figure out a way to work together and cooperate here. 00:05:48.000 --> 00:05:50.480 No, the three persons share a united will. 00:05:50.639 --> 00:05:51.920 They share one will. 00:05:52.480 --> 00:05:57.519 All three persons are equal in majesty and glory and honor. 00:05:57.600 --> 00:06:08.800 They all possess all attributes of deity, including the divine will, but the Bible presents these three persons as operating together, yet distinctly. 00:06:10.399 --> 00:06:19.920 When the Bible speaks of the decree of God, it presents it into the world as coming through not one person, but three. 00:06:21.120 --> 00:06:27.120 Now you see this hinted at in the book of Ephesians and taught explicitly later on here, but just look up at verse one. 00:06:27.360 --> 00:06:30.319 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God. 00:06:30.480 --> 00:06:36.399 And so this concept of the will of God is what's driving the book of Ephesians is introduced at the very beginning there. 00:06:36.560 --> 00:06:39.600 And then we see that it comes to us through multiple voices. 00:06:39.759 --> 00:06:45.439 Verse 2, grace to you in peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:06:45.600 --> 00:06:54.319 And so this will of God, this secret will of God is coming into the world through both God our Father and to the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:06:54.480 --> 00:06:55.839 You see it again in verse 3. 00:06:56.000 --> 00:07:06.000 Blessed be God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing. 00:07:06.079 --> 00:07:08.560 There's the third person, with every spiritual blessing. 00:07:08.720 --> 00:07:17.920 And so you see the Father and the Son and the Spirit working together to bring this divine will into the world. 00:07:20.319 --> 00:07:22.639 Again, he chose us, verse 4, in him. 00:07:22.879 --> 00:07:24.959 The Father chose us in Christ. 00:07:25.279 --> 00:07:32.720 In love, he predestined us, verse 5, through Christ, according to the purpose of his will. 00:07:32.879 --> 00:07:42.720 So there is this Father, Son, and Spirit working together, predestinating, choosing, adopting through his will. 00:07:48.959 --> 00:07:51.120 The Son redeems according to his will. 00:07:51.279 --> 00:07:58.000 The Spirit, we'll look at his role in this next week in verses 13 to 14, saves people according to his will. 00:07:58.160 --> 00:08:01.040 And all three persons are operating under the same will. 00:08:01.199 --> 00:08:12.800 So why is it significant to say that it's a council of his will or a covenant of his will or to present it coming through multiple voices instead of through one singular voice? 00:08:12.959 --> 00:08:15.600 And there's some differences that I think are key. 00:08:15.759 --> 00:08:31.199 When you say that a will happens by one singular voice, one person plans something, one person acts on it, one person does it, it implies some kind of selfishness, it implies some kind of scheming, it implies some kind of fiat for his own ends. 00:08:31.600 --> 00:08:52.799 But when you describe something as collaborative, it implies self-love and sacrifice that I'm doing something because I love you and you're doing something because you love me, and there's there's we're working with an intellect and a love and a community that's absent if it's one person. 00:08:54.480 --> 00:08:59.840 That's why it's so critical to see the fingerprints of the Trinity all over Ephesians 1. 00:09:00.000 --> 00:09:14.080 Because when you're talking about predestination and you're talking about election, and you're talking about the divine and secret will of God, it's critical to see that God presents it as an act of love between three persons. 00:09:15.120 --> 00:09:24.159 As they give to each other and as they love each other, and as they work with each other to glorify each other. 00:09:24.720 --> 00:09:27.279 It is very self-deferential. 00:09:28.000 --> 00:09:36.000 As each person, the trinity pursues each other, magnifying each other, glorifying each other, loving each other. 00:09:36.159 --> 00:09:37.679 That's the nature of the Trinity. 00:09:37.840 --> 00:09:40.720 This is why Christianity is a religion of love. 00:09:42.080 --> 00:09:48.559 Whereas religions that don't have the Trinity tend to be authoritarian. 00:09:49.440 --> 00:10:02.240 Because the very root of our concept of divine counsel and divine providence and divine will is this image of love and community even within the Godhead. 00:10:03.600 --> 00:10:09.919 And the Bible describes this through the language of a council in verse 10. 00:10:10.159 --> 00:10:11.840 I'm sorry, verse 11. 00:10:12.879 --> 00:10:15.679 As a plan or as a covenant. 00:10:15.919 --> 00:10:24.720 Theologians often refer to this as the covenant of redemption, the plan between the Father and the Son and the Spirit of how to create and save. 00:10:26.080 --> 00:10:31.519 If the phrase covenant of redemption makes you nervous, call it a plan of salvation. 00:10:31.679 --> 00:10:35.039 You can call it whatever you want, a covenant of redemption, a plan of salvation. 00:10:35.200 --> 00:10:38.240 Even the phrase a plan of salvation, notice what that implies. 00:10:38.399 --> 00:10:42.080 When you describe the gospel as a plan of salvation, whose plan? 00:10:44.240 --> 00:10:45.679 Clearly God's. 00:11:14.159 --> 00:11:15.919 That's what the covenant of redemption is. 00:11:16.000 --> 00:11:18.320 That's a theological textbook's definition. 00:11:18.480 --> 00:11:20.240 Let me give you a Bible verse about this. 00:11:20.399 --> 00:11:22.399 2 Timothy 1, verse 9. 00:11:22.639 --> 00:11:24.159 Listen carefully to this. 00:11:24.480 --> 00:11:35.679 God saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works, but because of his own purpose and grace. 00:11:35.840 --> 00:11:51.279 That God saved us, not based on things we had done, not working for salvation, but based on God's own purpose that he has inside of himself, which he gave us in Christ before the ages begin. 00:11:51.360 --> 00:11:52.960 That's 2 Timothy 1.9. 00:11:53.200 --> 00:11:56.559 In other words, God has a purpose within the Trinity. 00:11:56.799 --> 00:12:04.399 That purpose breaks through into this world through the gospel, but it was planned before the ages begin. 00:12:04.559 --> 00:12:09.120 That is the eternal plan of salvation, the covenant of redemption. 00:12:10.000 --> 00:12:11.519 So what is this plan? 00:12:11.840 --> 00:12:13.919 What does this plan entail? 00:12:14.240 --> 00:12:15.840 I want to use that as an outline this morning. 00:12:15.919 --> 00:12:19.039 I want to look at the components of the covenant of redemption. 00:12:19.120 --> 00:12:20.720 What the covenant of redemption entails. 00:12:20.799 --> 00:12:25.919 And again, some people aren't comfortable with the word covenant there that makes their skin crawl. 00:12:26.000 --> 00:12:31.919 So if you don't like covenant of redemption, swap out plan of salvation or whatever floats your theological boat. 00:12:33.759 --> 00:12:41.919 When God plans salvation before creation, what does his plan entail? 00:12:42.080 --> 00:12:44.320 That's the question I want to answer this morning. 00:12:44.399 --> 00:12:47.519 And let me give you my answer here at the beginning. 00:12:47.759 --> 00:12:52.080 And this is going to be up on the screen all morning long, so don't break your wrist writing it down right now. 00:12:52.720 --> 00:13:05.759 The covenant of redemption includes the sending of the Savior, the dying of the Savior, the rising of the Savior, the actual salvation, the saving of the Savior, and the ruling of the Savior. 00:13:05.919 --> 00:13:10.960 All of this is planned by God from before the foundation of time. 00:13:12.080 --> 00:13:14.720 I want to look at these one at a time this morning. 00:13:14.799 --> 00:13:16.559 And as we do so, let me just let you know. 00:13:16.720 --> 00:13:20.159 This is going to be less of a sermon and more of a Bible study. 00:13:20.480 --> 00:13:22.559 So normally I'm more in a preaching mode. 00:13:22.639 --> 00:13:25.919 This is my attempt at more of a teaching mode this morning, more of kind of a Bible study. 00:13:26.080 --> 00:13:28.480 We're going to branch out from Ephesians 1, verse 11. 00:13:28.639 --> 00:13:42.399 I want to give you kind of a survey of what the Bible says about the covenant of redemption to give you insight into all that is in the mind of God that's revealed to us in the scripture about how and why he has planned salvation. 00:13:43.519 --> 00:13:48.559 And this begins, of course, with God's design that he would send a Savior to the world. 00:13:49.279 --> 00:14:04.559 Our first indication that this is God's plan is back in Genesis 3, when sin enters the world, God declares that the seed of the woman will come and be born, that a person will be born and she will crush, the Savior will crush the head of the serpent. 00:14:05.360 --> 00:14:10.799 That evil will, from her seed will come a person who will crush the head of the serpent. 00:14:10.960 --> 00:14:13.039 That's all that Genesis 3 says about this. 00:14:13.200 --> 00:14:19.200 But as the Old Testament unfolds, you realize that the whole narrative is pushing towards the advent of the Savior. 00:14:22.240 --> 00:14:27.279 The Savior will be stricken, smitten, and afflicted by God, that God will strike this person. 00:14:27.440 --> 00:14:32.320 At the same time, the scriptures make clear that the Savior will also be God. 00:14:33.759 --> 00:14:38.720 Isaiah says, speaking for Yahweh, that he will not share his glory with another. 00:14:38.799 --> 00:14:44.720 Though God the Father will strike the Savior, the God the Father will crucify the Savior. 00:14:44.960 --> 00:14:47.840 At the same time, the Savior will be God. 00:14:48.399 --> 00:14:50.240 A huge mystery in the Old Testament. 00:14:50.399 --> 00:14:53.840 How can the Savior be both David's son and David's Lord, to put it that way? 00:14:54.000 --> 00:14:58.240 How can the Savior be a person and but be sent by God and yet be God? 00:14:58.399 --> 00:15:02.639 In fact, the word Messiah even means the word Messiah means sent one. 00:15:02.879 --> 00:15:03.600 Sent by who? 00:15:03.759 --> 00:15:04.720 Well, sent by God. 00:15:04.799 --> 00:15:09.039 This has always been the plan that God would send himself. 00:15:10.159 --> 00:15:13.519 Specifically, the Father would send the Son. 00:15:13.919 --> 00:15:20.879 Now, yesterday I read the Gospel of John, looking for all of the verses, all the descriptions of the Father sending the Savior. 00:15:21.039 --> 00:15:23.120 By my count, I counted 41 of them. 00:15:23.200 --> 00:15:24.480 There may be more than that. 00:15:24.639 --> 00:15:25.600 That's what I came up with. 00:15:25.759 --> 00:15:29.919 There's probably another nine or so in the New Testament, which puts you to about 50 times. 00:15:30.080 --> 00:15:38.159 The New Testament describes the Messiah as being sent by the Father, sent by God from before creation. 00:15:38.399 --> 00:15:39.600 Let me show you a couple of those. 00:15:39.679 --> 00:15:44.399 I won't show you all 41 of them, because the fruit of the Spirit is self-control. 00:15:46.320 --> 00:15:47.840 But I will show you a couple of them. 00:15:47.919 --> 00:15:59.759 One, John 6, John 6, verse 38, Jesus speaking, for I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. 00:15:59.919 --> 00:16:01.679 Notice what's behind Jesus' words here. 00:16:01.840 --> 00:16:03.279 He says, I'm coming to the world. 00:16:03.440 --> 00:16:09.600 I am not operating on my own agenda, but I'm operating with a divine agenda. 00:16:09.679 --> 00:16:14.240 In fact, the one who sent me, God the Father, I'm operating on his will. 00:16:14.320 --> 00:16:19.200 Now remember, the three persons of the Trinity, Father, Son, and Spirit, share a will here. 00:16:19.279 --> 00:16:24.879 And so what Jesus is indicating is that in his humanity, he's not operating on his own human will. 00:16:25.039 --> 00:16:31.600 He's not setting out on his own, but rather all that he's doing is in accordance with the will of God. 00:16:32.960 --> 00:16:39.679 Let me put it to you this way: Jesus, when he came to earth, is not going rogue. 00:16:40.960 --> 00:16:56.960 It's not as if the world fell into sin and the father and son and spirit are watching this happen, and Jesus sneaks away and comes to the earth and leads a sinless life and dies a substitutionary death, and then hopes the father appreciates it. 00:16:57.200 --> 00:16:59.120 Hopes the father receives a sacrifice. 00:16:59.279 --> 00:17:00.960 No, he's not going rogue here. 00:17:01.120 --> 00:17:03.759 He's coming in accordance with the divine will. 00:17:04.160 --> 00:17:06.480 This is the will of God that he would come. 00:17:06.640 --> 00:17:07.920 And he was sent. 00:17:09.279 --> 00:17:12.079 And I say to you, this sending happens even before time. 00:17:12.160 --> 00:17:14.000 Let me show you another verse that indicates that. 00:17:14.160 --> 00:17:15.920 John 3, verse 34. 00:17:17.519 --> 00:17:21.519 For he whom God has sent utters the words of God. 00:17:21.839 --> 00:17:22.799 Another sending passage. 00:17:22.880 --> 00:17:30.799 And what John is saying here is that Jesus, the Savior, the Messiah, the sent one, speaks the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure. 00:17:30.880 --> 00:17:33.119 God has given Jesus the Spirit without measure. 00:17:33.279 --> 00:17:35.839 The prophets got the Spirit in a restrained way. 00:17:36.079 --> 00:17:40.559 Jesus has the Spirit unveiled, fully spirit-filled. 00:17:41.119 --> 00:17:42.880 And so he's speaking the words of God. 00:17:43.039 --> 00:17:53.759 Jesus, when he's speaking in his life, is not speaking on his own authority, but speaking on the authority of God himself, specifically the authority of God the Father, who sent Jesus as the Savior. 00:17:53.920 --> 00:17:55.039 Look at verse 35. 00:17:55.440 --> 00:18:01.680 The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. 00:18:02.960 --> 00:18:08.559 In other words, in the sending of Jesus, the Father has given all things in the world to Jesus. 00:18:08.799 --> 00:18:11.759 Jesus has authority over the world because the Father gave it to him. 00:18:12.000 --> 00:18:13.359 This has been the plan. 00:18:14.799 --> 00:18:16.400 Just as the Father loves the Son. 00:18:16.480 --> 00:18:18.799 When did the Father start loving the Son, by the way? 00:18:19.200 --> 00:18:20.640 He's always loved the Son. 00:18:20.799 --> 00:18:22.799 In eternity past, he's loved the Son. 00:18:22.960 --> 00:18:27.759 And part of this love is that the Father is giving all things to Jesus. 00:18:30.640 --> 00:18:39.039 Do you see in here how the plan of salvation at the heart of it is the love of God for himself. 00:18:40.240 --> 00:18:44.799 That the Father loves the Son so much, he gives the world to him. 00:18:45.920 --> 00:18:49.039 The Father loves the Son so much, he gives his elect to him. 00:18:49.440 --> 00:18:51.279 These people that he will save. 00:18:51.519 --> 00:18:58.799 And the Son loves the Father so much, he will save them and he will sanctify them, and then he will give them back to the Father. 00:18:59.039 --> 00:19:07.359 The church, in a very real sense, is a gift from the Father to the Son that when the Son acquires, he sanctifies and gives right back to the Father. 00:19:07.519 --> 00:19:13.519 We are an example of how much the Father loves the Son, and we are an example of how much the Son loves the Father. 00:19:14.079 --> 00:19:20.000 That's the importance of seeing this as a counsel, a divine will here between the Father, Son, and Spirit. 00:19:20.240 --> 00:19:29.599 They are loving each other and serving each other just in the very nature of the gospel and sending the Son is an example of the Father's love for the Son. 00:19:30.640 --> 00:19:32.960 The Father sends the Son because he loves him. 00:19:33.279 --> 00:19:36.240 And the Son goes because he loves the Father. 00:19:36.480 --> 00:19:42.720 Well, he doesn't just come on a mission, he comes with a specific mission, and his mission is to die. 00:19:42.960 --> 00:19:45.759 John 10, verse 18 says, This is a Jesus. 00:19:46.880 --> 00:19:51.440 Not even around the time he's going to die, several days before. 00:19:51.599 --> 00:19:54.319 He says, No one takes my life from me. 00:19:55.519 --> 00:19:57.920 But I lay it down on my own accord. 00:19:58.480 --> 00:20:02.319 I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. 00:20:02.480 --> 00:20:03.839 Notice what Jesus is saying here. 00:20:04.000 --> 00:20:07.599 When he dies on the cross, it's not as if his life was robbed from him. 00:20:07.759 --> 00:20:11.839 Jesus was most certainly murdered, but he gave up his own life. 00:20:12.000 --> 00:20:13.519 He breathed out his last. 00:20:13.680 --> 00:20:19.119 He declared from the cross, Father, into your hands I commit, I submit my spirit. 00:20:19.200 --> 00:20:20.319 I'm giving you my spirit. 00:20:20.400 --> 00:20:21.759 I'm surrendering my spirit. 00:20:21.920 --> 00:20:28.319 So Jesus, though he was killed by sinful hands, surrenders his life to God. 00:20:28.880 --> 00:20:31.359 He is in charge of his own death. 00:20:34.319 --> 00:20:37.599 The Bible says it is appointed for man once to die. 00:20:38.240 --> 00:20:48.880 You know, it doesn't matter how much you worry about your life or you worry about coronavirus, you are not going to add or take away one second from your life. 00:20:49.279 --> 00:20:52.400 It is appointed to you exactly when you're going to die. 00:20:53.039 --> 00:20:55.680 And the same thing is true with Jesus. 00:20:55.920 --> 00:20:58.079 It was appointed for him when he would die. 00:20:58.319 --> 00:20:59.759 Here is the difference. 00:21:00.079 --> 00:21:03.920 You and I were not involved in the appointment of our own death. 00:21:04.400 --> 00:21:05.680 We weren't consulted. 00:21:05.759 --> 00:21:06.799 We don't know. 00:21:07.200 --> 00:21:11.200 But Jesus was very much involved in the appointment of his death. 00:21:11.359 --> 00:21:18.960 It was from the divine counsel, the sovereignty of God, the part of the decree that the Son of God was part of. 00:21:21.039 --> 00:21:25.920 And the Father gives Jesus authority over his own life. 00:21:28.559 --> 00:21:30.240 And he lays his life down. 00:21:30.480 --> 00:21:31.200 Why is this? 00:21:31.279 --> 00:21:33.759 Look at the end of that first, John 10, 18. 00:21:33.920 --> 00:21:36.319 This charge I received from my father. 00:21:36.640 --> 00:21:38.960 When did the father give Jesus that authority? 00:21:39.200 --> 00:21:39.920 Before time. 00:21:40.079 --> 00:21:40.960 He gave him a charge. 00:21:41.039 --> 00:21:42.880 Here the language is a charge. 00:21:43.200 --> 00:21:45.599 So we've seen counsel, will, covenant. 00:21:45.680 --> 00:21:46.400 Here's a charge. 00:21:46.559 --> 00:21:49.359 The father charges Jesus to do this. 00:21:52.079 --> 00:21:56.079 Charge here is just another word for the covenant of redemption, the plan of salvation. 00:21:56.240 --> 00:21:59.599 It's pointing you into the secret things of God, into the hidden. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:01.839 Secret communication within the Trinity. 00:22:02.000 --> 00:22:05.200 What were the persons of the Trinity talking about before creation? 00:22:05.359 --> 00:22:06.240 What were they planning? 00:22:06.400 --> 00:22:09.440 What were they designing before they spoke the world into existence? 00:22:09.599 --> 00:22:11.039 What were they talking about? 00:22:11.200 --> 00:22:12.960 And you get an example here. 00:22:13.119 --> 00:22:24.000 One of the things they were talking about is that the Savior would die, the Son of God would become a human being and die for sinners. 00:22:26.240 --> 00:22:31.279 John 17, verse 4 reiterates it this way is Jesus' high priestly prayer. 00:22:31.359 --> 00:22:33.440 This is the night before he dies, the night he's betrayed. 00:22:33.519 --> 00:22:39.920 He prays, I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. 00:22:40.240 --> 00:22:42.400 So Jesus says, I've I've run my race. 00:22:42.480 --> 00:22:44.319 I've done what you sent me to do. 00:22:44.480 --> 00:22:48.079 The Father gave Jesus, God gave Jesus things to do. 00:22:48.319 --> 00:22:49.119 He has done them. 00:22:49.200 --> 00:22:58.000 And now, verse 5, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. 00:22:58.160 --> 00:23:13.920 So the night that Jesus is betrayed, there is a cord running from his heart all the way through his life, all the way back into eternity past, all the way back to the triune fellowship of God from before the world existed. 00:23:14.400 --> 00:23:16.079 That's incredible. 00:23:18.079 --> 00:23:32.559 That Jesus says this glory, this intra-trinitarian between the three persons of the Trinity, this glory and love and fellowship that they have results in him being sent to earth and dying for us. 00:23:34.640 --> 00:23:38.640 That would be a very sad plan if it ended there. 00:23:39.759 --> 00:23:41.759 But of course, the plan continues. 00:23:47.759 --> 00:23:49.440 Acts 13, verse 32. 00:23:49.599 --> 00:23:58.720 We bring you, this is Paul preaching, we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, this he fulfilled to us, their children, by raising Jesus. 00:23:58.880 --> 00:24:04.960 So what Paul's saying here is that the Old Testament promises the Savior will die, but be resurrected. 00:24:05.039 --> 00:24:07.119 And I wish we had time to look at all those promises. 00:24:07.519 --> 00:24:11.359 We don't, but Abraham's conversation with Isaac would be one of them. 00:24:11.519 --> 00:24:13.680 Even the Davidic covenant would be another one. 00:24:13.759 --> 00:24:19.519 There's several examples in the Old Testament where God prophesies that the Savior will be resurrected. 00:24:21.759 --> 00:24:24.079 But Paul doesn't stop with those promises. 00:24:24.240 --> 00:24:31.359 He's not content to have people flip to the book of Genesis and see how God promised the Savior would be resurrected. 00:24:31.519 --> 00:24:33.759 Paul has something even earlier in mind. 00:24:34.160 --> 00:24:39.440 He quotes Psalm 2: You are my son, today I have begotten you. 00:24:39.599 --> 00:24:41.680 So he goes even further back. 00:24:41.839 --> 00:24:43.519 That's a decree in Psalm 2. 00:24:43.599 --> 00:24:46.319 That's a conversation among the Trinity. 00:24:46.559 --> 00:24:53.359 Before time began, the second person of the Trinity is the eternal Son of God. 00:24:54.160 --> 00:24:58.160 There was never a time where Jesus became the Son of God. 00:24:58.559 --> 00:25:01.039 He's always been the Son of God. 00:25:01.279 --> 00:25:05.680 And so when it says, Today I have begotten you, today you are my son. 00:25:06.799 --> 00:25:09.440 This is referencing an eternity past. 00:25:09.519 --> 00:25:12.160 If we have an eternal father, we have an eternal son. 00:25:12.480 --> 00:25:15.200 As long as God has been a father, he has had a son. 00:25:17.279 --> 00:25:22.640 And so Paul says, You know Jesus was going to rise from the grave because of who he is. 00:25:22.799 --> 00:25:24.240 He's the eternal Son of God. 00:25:24.400 --> 00:25:26.640 Of course he would be resurrected. 00:25:27.119 --> 00:25:33.359 In the very nature of the Trinity is this idea that the Savior would come and be resurrected. 00:25:34.720 --> 00:25:39.599 The resurrection becomes a picture of the sonship of Christ rooted in eternity past. 00:25:39.759 --> 00:25:47.599 And it's because of the resurrection that he can be the Savior, also appointed in eternity past, which leads to the next component of this covenant of redemption. 00:25:47.759 --> 00:25:50.079 That the Savior would also actually save people. 00:25:50.160 --> 00:25:51.440 This wouldn't be hypothetical. 00:25:51.599 --> 00:25:55.599 He would really save people, and that's from the divine plan and counsel of God. 00:25:55.680 --> 00:25:57.519 That's John 6, verse 38. 00:25:57.839 --> 00:25:58.880 Sorry, verse 39. 00:25:59.279 --> 00:26:09.440 This is the will of him who sent me, Jesus says, speaking of the Father, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 00:26:09.599 --> 00:26:18.160 This is a description here that the Father has given Jesus people whom he has chosen, whom he's predestined, whom he's elected, and he's given them to Jesus. 00:26:18.240 --> 00:26:23.839 And Jesus says, I'm going to go get them and I am going to save them and raise them up with me. 00:26:24.000 --> 00:26:26.640 And again, he's not acting in isolation here. 00:26:26.799 --> 00:26:29.519 He's acting in collaboration with the Trinity. 00:26:29.680 --> 00:26:33.200 The Father and the Son and the Spirit are all in this together. 00:26:33.839 --> 00:26:41.119 This is the will of my Father, Jesus says, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life. 00:26:41.200 --> 00:26:43.839 And I will raise him up on the last day. 00:26:44.319 --> 00:26:45.839 So that's what's going to happen. 00:26:46.000 --> 00:27:04.079 Jesus is going to come, he's going to be crucified, and every person who looks at themselves and sees their sin and looks at the Savior and sees their only hope, they put their hope in him and they believe in him, they will have eternal life, and they too will be resurrected, just like Jesus was. 00:27:05.039 --> 00:27:07.519 Because that's the divine plan of God. 00:27:07.839 --> 00:27:10.000 That's the eternal will of God. 00:27:10.799 --> 00:27:14.319 This is what I mean when I often say that God is a savior by nature. 00:27:14.400 --> 00:27:17.119 I've had people ask me, what do you mean when you say God's a savior by nature? 00:27:17.279 --> 00:27:18.480 This is what I mean. 00:27:18.720 --> 00:27:26.799 That within the divine counsel of the Trinity, the Father and the Son and the Spirit, they have planned and purposed this. 00:27:29.920 --> 00:27:33.119 The three persons of the Trinity love each other so much. 00:27:33.359 --> 00:27:51.920 They desire to show their love and their glory to a race of people, believers, redeemed, saved, that can magnify the grace of God by seeing how he is a loving, self-giving, omnibenevolent is my new favorite phrase. 00:27:52.720 --> 00:27:54.559 Just he loves to give himself. 00:28:03.440 --> 00:28:06.799 It keeps going into the future where he will be ruling. 00:28:07.279 --> 00:28:09.920 I will tell the decree of Yahweh. 00:28:10.400 --> 00:28:16.319 Psalm 2, verse 7 says, this is the same psalm that was quoted earlier in Acts 13. 00:28:16.480 --> 00:28:20.880 I will tell the decree of Yahweh when he said to me, You are my son, today I've begotten you. 00:28:20.960 --> 00:28:23.680 Remember, this is going into eternity past when that happens. 00:28:23.920 --> 00:28:28.319 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, the ends of the earth your possession. 00:28:28.480 --> 00:28:43.519 In other words, in that pre-time plan, before time began, God did not only plan that the Father would send the Son and the Son would die on the cross, and the Son would rise, and the Son would save, but also that the Son would rule over the nations. 00:28:44.079 --> 00:28:45.920 Ask of me, he says. 00:28:46.160 --> 00:28:48.400 And when does this conversation take place? 00:28:48.720 --> 00:28:49.839 Before time. 00:28:50.960 --> 00:28:53.359 And the ends of the earth will be yours. 00:28:54.160 --> 00:29:04.480 The New Testament declares that this will be fulfilled with the second coming of Christ, that he will return to earth, he will set up his kingdom, he will reign over the nations from Israel. 00:29:04.640 --> 00:29:06.480 This is described in Haggai chapter 2. 00:29:06.559 --> 00:29:10.559 He will shake the nations, and their wealth and the treasure will come to Jerusalem. 00:29:10.640 --> 00:29:15.119 It's described in Hebrews chapter 12, in the second half of Hebrews 12. 00:29:15.759 --> 00:29:18.720 This takes place at the second coming of Christ. 00:29:18.960 --> 00:29:23.440 And then again in Revelation 20, where he will reign for a thousand years. 00:29:23.839 --> 00:29:26.960 He will take the earth as his possession. 00:29:28.079 --> 00:29:34.160 Here in Psalm 2, it connects the eternal sonship of Christ to being the reigning Savior on the earth. 00:29:35.759 --> 00:29:40.079 When you take all of this together, you come away convinced of this basic fact. 00:29:40.240 --> 00:29:51.920 If there was no covenant of redemption, if there was no plan of salvation between the Father and the Son and the Spirit, there would be no way for sinful people to be reconciled to God. 00:29:52.079 --> 00:29:54.319 And there'd be, oh, would there be no creation? 00:29:54.480 --> 00:29:57.519 Why would God create a world unless it was for his glory? 00:29:57.920 --> 00:30:04.559 And how could it reveal his glory if he is self-loving and self-giving by nature without a savior? 00:30:04.799 --> 00:30:11.279 And so all of this is leading us to the fact that God is a savior and creates the world to demonstrate that. 00:30:13.200 --> 00:30:16.480 That's the covenant of redemption. 00:30:16.880 --> 00:30:18.480 Now, all of that is introduction. 00:30:18.559 --> 00:30:23.279 I have five minutes left for the sermon, which I'm excited about. 00:30:25.839 --> 00:30:27.200 Verse 11. 00:30:28.079 --> 00:30:31.279 In Him we have obtained an inheritance. 00:30:32.400 --> 00:30:37.839 Our inheritance is all the riches of this plan, all the riches of what God wants to share with us. 00:30:38.000 --> 00:30:39.279 That's ours. 00:30:39.680 --> 00:30:41.599 And it's ours because we're in Christ. 00:30:41.759 --> 00:30:43.680 It's ours because we're predestined. 00:30:43.839 --> 00:30:45.279 But how do we get this? 00:30:45.440 --> 00:30:46.799 Do we go get it ourselves? 00:30:46.960 --> 00:30:49.759 Do we storm heaven ourselves and acquire it? 00:30:50.000 --> 00:30:51.680 Do we wrestle it from God's hand? 00:30:51.839 --> 00:30:54.640 Do we earn it by our own strength and our own merit? 00:30:54.720 --> 00:30:55.920 Do we get this salvation? 00:30:56.079 --> 00:30:57.920 That's not the way scripture describes it. 00:30:58.079 --> 00:31:00.720 Verse 11 says, In him we have obtained. 00:31:00.960 --> 00:31:04.160 Might not be obvious in English, but in Greek, this is a passive verb. 00:31:04.240 --> 00:31:07.279 That means an active verb would mean you obtained it. 00:31:07.359 --> 00:31:08.400 You went and got it. 00:31:08.960 --> 00:31:09.759 Active. 00:31:10.079 --> 00:31:13.039 Passive verb is it happened to you. 00:31:14.559 --> 00:31:28.160 Here we are, sinful and separated from God, aliens to the promises, isolated from the covenant and the commonwealth of Israel, away from his inheritance, away from his blessings, away from these spiritual riches. 00:31:28.400 --> 00:31:32.799 And then we receive them. 00:31:33.039 --> 00:31:34.880 It happens to us. 00:31:36.559 --> 00:31:38.240 When did this happen to us? 00:31:38.559 --> 00:31:40.400 If you look carefully, this is past tense. 00:31:40.480 --> 00:31:41.759 You can recognize that in English. 00:31:41.920 --> 00:31:43.519 This has already happened. 00:31:44.160 --> 00:31:45.359 Well, when did this happen? 00:31:45.519 --> 00:31:47.039 When did we receive the inheritance? 00:31:47.279 --> 00:31:50.000 Verse 11 says, Because we were predestined. 00:31:50.079 --> 00:31:51.519 That's when it happened. 00:31:51.759 --> 00:31:53.759 These are contemporaneous verbs. 00:31:53.920 --> 00:31:57.599 When we were predestined, we received the inheritance. 00:31:59.680 --> 00:32:05.440 And then all the rest of history is God's sovereign working out of his will. 00:32:10.079 --> 00:32:12.640 All things according to the counsel of this will. 00:32:12.880 --> 00:32:17.200 This is a loving will, a sacrificial will. 00:32:17.839 --> 00:32:21.440 But it's a will that covers all things. 00:32:23.759 --> 00:32:27.920 There's a federal law that requires that preachers make this joke at this point. 00:32:28.720 --> 00:32:32.640 I looked up what all things means in the Greek, and you know what it means? 00:32:33.279 --> 00:32:35.039 You've heard the joke. 00:32:36.960 --> 00:32:38.160 All things. 00:32:38.799 --> 00:32:44.799 So if something exists, it exists for the glory of God. 00:32:46.000 --> 00:32:54.559 And all things exist for the glory of God to demonstrate his divine will, particularly in how he will save his children. 00:32:55.039 --> 00:33:05.519 Verse 12, so that we were the first to hope in Christ might do so to the praise of his glory, so that we who have been saved are saved so that we can praise him all the more. 00:33:05.680 --> 00:33:09.119 That's why he's saving us so that we can praise him. 00:33:09.440 --> 00:33:12.319 That's why he is pursuing us so that we can praise him. 00:33:12.640 --> 00:33:21.119 That's why after having saved us, he still works in our life to cause us to grow in godliness as we worship him all the more. 00:33:22.240 --> 00:33:34.960 So if something is going on in your life that is going on in your life, if you're not a Christian, so that you would be saved, or so that others would be saved, or if you are a Christian, so that you would grow in your faith, or so that others could be saved. 00:33:35.119 --> 00:33:36.319 That's what God is doing. 00:33:36.480 --> 00:33:38.079 I mean, what's he doing with his providence? 00:33:38.160 --> 00:33:39.759 What's he doing with his sovereignty? 00:33:39.920 --> 00:33:49.519 He's directing all things in the world so that his children would come to faith and then grow in faith to the praise of his glorious grace. 00:33:49.839 --> 00:33:58.400 Not to the praise of our own works, not to the praise of her own efforts, our own ingenuity, or our own integrity or any of that, because then we would be the objects of praise. 00:33:58.559 --> 00:34:04.319 Things only make sense when God is at the center of them and you relate them back to God. 00:34:04.400 --> 00:34:07.599