WEBVTT 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:03.040 This morning, Ephesians 1, verses 3 through 6. 00:00:03.279 --> 00:00:05.120 Let me read it for us. 00:00:08.000 --> 00:00:16.800 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. 00:00:17.120 --> 00:00:23.679 Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. 00:00:24.320 --> 00:00:38.479 In love, he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the beloved. 00:00:40.880 --> 00:00:46.799 When you praise God, it's worth asking, what do you praise him for? 00:00:47.840 --> 00:00:56.000 I have heard well-meaning people try to make a distinction between praising God for who he is and for what he's done. 00:00:56.320 --> 00:01:08.719 And even those who often pray to the ACS acronym, you know, adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication, usually start that acronym with praising God for who he is, and then you work later to praising God for what he's done. 00:01:08.799 --> 00:01:14.000 And so I understand that there's some can be some good that comes from distinguishing between those two facets. 00:01:14.159 --> 00:01:27.120 You can be thankful to God for who he is and for what he's done, but I want you to appreciate this morning that what he's done for you is a reflection of who he is. 00:01:28.000 --> 00:01:36.959 That when you are praising God for his character, you often see and experience his character through his acts towards you. 00:01:37.680 --> 00:01:44.799 We learn about God from his word, but we also learn about God from how he acts in this world, from what he does. 00:01:46.480 --> 00:01:56.640 And so the more you appreciate his actions, the more robust and rich and deep your worship to him will be for who he is. 00:01:56.719 --> 00:02:00.640 And so let me give you just kind of a superficial example from marriage. 00:02:01.040 --> 00:02:13.120 Deidre and I are doing premarital for a couple from our church right now, and one of the questions that the premarital work we're going through asks is, you know, what is your love for your future spouse going to be rooted in? 00:02:13.199 --> 00:02:17.120 And, you know, kind of the the answer that an engaged couple gives. 00:02:17.199 --> 00:02:20.240 And it's just adorable to listen to an engaged couple talk about this. 00:02:20.960 --> 00:02:28.159 You know, they're they're gonna love each other through thick and thin no matter what the other person does, because they're committed to the relationship and they they make the vow. 00:02:28.240 --> 00:02:34.879 And that's this kind of thing that can sound very romantic even and mature before you're married. 00:02:35.680 --> 00:02:36.159 Right? 00:02:36.400 --> 00:02:44.000 Like uh, I will love you no matter what and no matter who you are, because that's the choice we're making, and through better or worse, you know, it's the vow and everything. 00:02:44.080 --> 00:02:48.639 But like around year 10 of marriage, that's not a romantic answer anymore, is it? 00:02:50.319 --> 00:02:51.360 And why do you love me? 00:02:51.520 --> 00:02:54.000 Well, I love you because I made a commitment to you. 00:02:54.479 --> 00:03:04.240 It's not based on how you act or what you've done, but in who you are. 00:03:05.840 --> 00:03:06.159 Okay. 00:03:07.280 --> 00:03:17.680 So the truth is, and we understand this at a marriage level, that the longer you're married, the deeper your love should grow for your spouse because the more you see how they act towards you. 00:03:18.719 --> 00:03:25.360 That analogy breaks down at some point because we are sinners and we act towards each other in unbecoming ways. 00:03:26.000 --> 00:03:30.319 But it does not break down when you apply that rubric to God. 00:03:31.039 --> 00:03:48.080 The longer you know the Lord, the deeper your love for him should be, because the more evidence you've seen in your life of his kindness and his mercy towards you, the more you appreciate his actions towards you, the more you grow in your love and affection for him. 00:03:48.319 --> 00:03:59.039 The more you know about God, the more you can praise him accurately and more intimately, and the more rich your love will be for him when you ponder all of his wondrous deeds. 00:03:59.120 --> 00:04:02.560 And this passage in Ephesians 1 explains that very well. 00:04:02.719 --> 00:04:11.439 Of all the New Testament, this I think is the passage my mind goes to when I see the nature of God connected to the actions of God. 00:04:12.319 --> 00:04:25.519 This passage moves you through the Trinity, the Trinity by its nature, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and shows you how all three persons of the Godhead act towards you according to their nature. 00:04:26.639 --> 00:04:33.600 We'll look at this over the next four weeks, but we'll begin this week by looking at how the Father acts towards us in the gospel. 00:04:33.839 --> 00:04:45.360 And so let me give you an outline this morning because the verses we'll look at this morning really capture these three facets of this, these three reasons we praise God, and they're all connected to his sovereignty in salvation. 00:04:45.519 --> 00:04:59.839 So verses three through six of Ephesians 1 stress for you, they underline these three ways God acts towards you in salvation, which should then cause you to rejoice and love and praise him all the more. 00:05:04.480 --> 00:05:08.480 But what we're looking at this morning is specifically the Father. 00:05:09.120 --> 00:05:13.680 The actions we'll highlight this morning are three ways the Father acts towards us. 00:05:13.839 --> 00:05:20.399 And as we look at this passage over the next month to come, we're going to work through all the persons of the Trinity because Paul goes through them in order. 00:05:20.480 --> 00:05:22.720 The Father will act, and we'll see that today. 00:05:22.879 --> 00:05:26.079 The Son will act, we'll see that next week, and then the Spirit will act. 00:05:26.160 --> 00:05:28.399 We'll look at that in a few weeks. 00:05:29.120 --> 00:05:31.120 There is an order to the Trinity, though. 00:05:31.279 --> 00:05:37.920 The three persons of God are all God, they all share the nature of God, but the Bible does present them in order. 00:05:38.000 --> 00:05:41.360 It is always the Father first, the Son second, and the Spirit third. 00:05:41.519 --> 00:05:48.079 There is this order as revealed in the Trinity, and you see this all over the Bible from Genesis 1 all the way here through Ephesians. 00:05:49.120 --> 00:05:57.519 In Genesis 1 with creation, you see the Father who speaks, the Son who is the Word, the Spirit who hovers above the waters. 00:05:57.680 --> 00:06:07.920 You see the Father who sends the Son, the Son who comes to earth to procure our salvation, and the Holy Spirit who comes to earth to draw us to faith in God. 00:06:08.240 --> 00:06:19.360 All three persons of the Trinity, you see them in creation, in redemption, in how in providence, how God orchestrates the affairs of the world for the glory of the Son and the ministry of the Holy Spirit. 00:06:19.439 --> 00:06:25.120 The Bible presents the members of the Trinity, the persons of the Trinity, always in that same order. 00:06:26.319 --> 00:06:28.000 It's always the Father who is first. 00:06:28.079 --> 00:06:31.199 That's what it means to be Father, is he is in some sense the source. 00:06:31.360 --> 00:06:33.360 It is he that gives life to the Son. 00:06:33.519 --> 00:06:36.800 Of course, without beginning, the Son is eternal and the Father is eternal. 00:06:36.879 --> 00:06:39.920 But what it means to be the Father is that he has a Son. 00:06:40.000 --> 00:06:42.560 And this goes back into eternity past. 00:06:43.680 --> 00:06:53.680 It's Jesus Himself who said, as the Father has granted me to have life in myself, speaking of the eternal nature of his life, so he gives eternal life to us. 00:06:53.839 --> 00:06:56.319 There's always this order in the Trinity. 00:06:56.639 --> 00:07:02.240 It's the Father who sends the Son, the Father and the Son together who send the Spirit. 00:07:02.639 --> 00:07:07.199 And I mentioned this just because we begin this morning with our look at the Father. 00:07:07.279 --> 00:07:13.920 And I do fear that the Father is in some sense the forgotten member of the Trinity in our own evangelical culture. 00:07:15.040 --> 00:07:17.360 We have a high appreciation for Jesus. 00:07:17.519 --> 00:07:19.519 Everything in our mind goes back to the cross. 00:07:20.240 --> 00:07:22.079 The cross is the center of Scripture. 00:07:22.160 --> 00:07:25.120 We interpret all the passages of the Bible and how they relate to Jesus. 00:07:25.279 --> 00:07:31.360 We have a very Christocentric view of theology and of the way God is working in the world, and that's that's good and right and proper. 00:07:31.600 --> 00:07:44.000 The danger of that is that it's very easy to lose sight of who the Father is and how the Father acts in eternity past, how the Father providentially ordains the affairs of the world, how the Father's character is unmovable. 00:07:45.120 --> 00:07:48.879 He's the rock, he's the fountain of all things in the world. 00:07:48.959 --> 00:07:50.879 And we lose sight of that, I think. 00:07:51.439 --> 00:07:55.279 It's much easier to look at the cross than it is an eternal father. 00:07:55.759 --> 00:08:03.680 Of course, we experience the Holy Spirit most immediately and how he saves us and sanctifies us, that it's just so easy to lose sight of the Father. 00:08:03.839 --> 00:08:11.839 We had dinner last night some friends and people from the seminary with a guy who got saved out of oneness Pentecostalism. 00:08:11.920 --> 00:08:35.919 He grew up in a oneness Pentecostal church and he mentioned to us that they weren't allowed to pray to the Father because oneness Pentecostalism is the idea that God is one person and he may appear in different forms, you know, a shape-shifting God, you know, in time where he's the Father in eternity past, he's the Son in this world, he's the Spirit as you encounter him now and in heaven, and it's the same person just in different forms. 00:08:36.000 --> 00:08:38.240 And that's the it's a heretical doctrine of modalism. 00:08:38.320 --> 00:08:40.080 It denies the nature of the Trinity. 00:08:40.240 --> 00:08:51.120 But he pointed out that in that, growing up in that, they would only pray to Jesus, not to the Father, because when you're praying about the gospel, your prayers go to Jesus. 00:08:52.080 --> 00:08:59.039 While that is heretical, I think if we're honest, it often captures our own attitude towards theology. 00:08:59.440 --> 00:09:08.240 When we want to talk about Jesus and worship Jesus, we can lose sight of the Father as the one who is the architect and the source, the fountain of all things. 00:09:08.320 --> 00:09:11.919 And that's what we find here in Ephesians chapter 1, verse 3. 00:09:12.000 --> 00:09:18.080 He begins, Paul does, with saying, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, by identifying God as the Father. 00:09:18.159 --> 00:09:23.360 He's identifying him as the source of every good and pure thing. 00:09:24.480 --> 00:09:28.960 He is the Father, the Father even of the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God. 00:09:29.039 --> 00:09:32.960 And so the first reason we praise God, we praise the Father for his gifts that he gives us. 00:09:33.039 --> 00:09:34.879 And that's where Paul begins in verse 3. 00:09:35.039 --> 00:09:41.279 We praise the Father, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. 00:09:41.519 --> 00:09:46.080 Paul begins by saying, We praise God because he's given us every spiritual blessing. 00:09:46.320 --> 00:09:50.320 It's worth marveling here for a second where Paul is writing Ephesians from. 00:09:50.480 --> 00:09:53.840 If you recall, Paul is writing this from prison. 00:09:54.960 --> 00:09:56.879 And was Paul guilty? 00:09:57.360 --> 00:09:57.679 No. 00:09:58.879 --> 00:10:00.399 It was mob justice. 00:10:00.559 --> 00:10:08.320 They thought he was trying to overthrow the world and bring an end to the idol makers and causing riots and defiling the temple, which he wasn't doing. 00:10:08.399 --> 00:10:10.240 He makes that clear he wasn't defiling the temple. 00:10:10.320 --> 00:10:14.080 The Jewish mob grabs him, arrests him, he's turned over to the Romans for trial. 00:10:14.240 --> 00:10:20.960 Even the Roman governor and king recognizes that Paul is innocent and was going to give Miss Freedom if Paul didn't appeal to Caesar. 00:10:21.039 --> 00:10:26.720 And so he's in custody here on the Mediterranean coast in the Caesarea Maritime, eventually transferred to Rome. 00:10:26.879 --> 00:10:33.360 It is from these prisons that he's writing Ephesians and Philippians and Colossians and Philemon. 00:10:33.759 --> 00:10:34.960 These are jail letters. 00:10:35.039 --> 00:10:41.840 And notice that when Paul starts this jail letter, he does not start by saying, please pray for my freedom. 00:10:41.919 --> 00:10:47.600 This is a miscarriage of justice, an offense against religious freedom now and forevermore. 00:10:48.080 --> 00:10:50.159 I mean, think about how you would write a letter like this. 00:10:50.240 --> 00:11:01.200 If you were arrested for being a Christian and thrown into prison and you were writing a letter to your church, would you begin it with, here's nine reasons I'm really stoked about worshiping God right now. 00:11:01.679 --> 00:11:04.720 Number one, he's sovereign over all things. 00:11:04.960 --> 00:11:06.799 Is that where you would start? 00:11:07.200 --> 00:11:09.039 That's where Paul starts. 00:11:09.759 --> 00:11:13.600 Paul's so consumed by the heavenly blessings of the gospel. 00:11:13.759 --> 00:11:18.559 He's it's as if he doesn't realize he's in jail when he's riding and worshiping God. 00:11:19.759 --> 00:11:26.799 His wrists are in chains, his feet are in a jail cell, his heart is in heaven, and he wants yours to be there too. 00:11:28.639 --> 00:11:29.919 That's where he begins. 00:11:30.080 --> 00:11:37.919 Just, he's unbelievably filled with awe about all of the spiritual blessings God has given us. 00:11:38.080 --> 00:11:40.080 Every spiritual blessing, he says. 00:11:40.320 --> 00:11:43.360 Now, of course, every spiritual blessing does come from the Father. 00:11:43.519 --> 00:11:45.759 He is the source of everything that is good. 00:11:45.919 --> 00:11:50.879 As we'll see next week, the Son is the gift, and in a few weeks the Spirit is the one who applies the gift. 00:11:51.840 --> 00:11:54.000 But it all starts with the Father. 00:11:54.159 --> 00:11:58.639 We praise the Father because every good and perfect gift comes from Him. 00:11:58.799 --> 00:12:04.080 He is the Father of lights in whom there is no variation or shifting due to change. 00:12:04.240 --> 00:12:09.120 If there is something good spiritually in the world, it comes from the Father. 00:12:10.320 --> 00:12:12.480 It's his nature to be a giver. 00:12:12.960 --> 00:12:14.080 He gives himself. 00:12:14.240 --> 00:12:17.200 In eternity past, he gives life to the Son. 00:12:17.279 --> 00:12:20.320 And in time, he gives us all good things. 00:12:20.559 --> 00:12:24.960 Everything we have in our world comes from China. 00:12:26.879 --> 00:12:32.000 This iPod, this Bible, Crossway Prince their Bibles in China, this remote made in China. 00:12:32.879 --> 00:12:34.960 This podium is probably from China. 00:12:35.279 --> 00:12:37.039 This rug certainly is. 00:13:29.679 --> 00:13:31.360 Faith is a spiritual gift from him. 00:13:31.600 --> 00:13:39.039 Chapter 1, verse 15 of Ephesians says, uh, for this reason I praise God because of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love towards the saints. 00:13:39.200 --> 00:13:41.759 He gives thanks to God because of faith. 00:13:42.559 --> 00:13:45.840 Freedom from sin is a gift from the Father, John tells us. 00:13:46.000 --> 00:13:47.679 The gospel is a gift from the Father. 00:13:47.840 --> 00:13:49.440 Jesus is a gift from the Father. 00:13:49.679 --> 00:13:51.039 Light, love, life. 00:13:51.200 --> 00:13:56.559 Notice what those words have in common, where the scriptures often define God as light and love and life. 00:13:56.720 --> 00:13:58.399 They're all, you know, luminaries. 00:13:58.720 --> 00:14:00.399 God is radiating light. 00:14:00.639 --> 00:14:02.080 He is giving love. 00:14:02.240 --> 00:14:05.440 He is dispensing life from himself. 00:14:06.559 --> 00:14:09.120 Every good and perfect gift comes from him. 00:14:10.879 --> 00:14:12.960 Is there something good that is spiritual in the world? 00:14:13.120 --> 00:14:14.720 It is from your heavenly Father. 00:14:14.879 --> 00:14:17.279 Is there something good spiritually in you? 00:14:18.480 --> 00:14:20.639 It is from the Father. 00:14:21.360 --> 00:14:23.919 And he doesn't give us these gifts reluctantly. 00:14:29.840 --> 00:14:32.240 He doesn't give them in a stingy fashion. 00:14:32.399 --> 00:14:34.320 They come from the overflow of his heart. 00:14:34.399 --> 00:14:38.720 And verse 5 says one of these gifts is he adopts us through Jesus Christ. 00:14:38.879 --> 00:14:47.440 And if you are a father, if you are a rich, kind, benevolent father, the best gift you could give somebody is adoption. 00:14:48.320 --> 00:14:52.559 So Paul is using these hyperbolic, lofty terms here. 00:14:52.879 --> 00:15:01.440 Although God really does adopt us, in Paul's mind, this is the most lofty word he can describe, the most lofty gift God can do. 00:15:01.600 --> 00:15:07.919 If he is a true eternal father, what is the most extreme blessing the eternal father can do? 00:15:08.080 --> 00:15:09.840 Well, he can adopt you as his son. 00:15:10.639 --> 00:15:12.559 There's nothing greater than that. 00:15:12.879 --> 00:15:19.440 Because if you're adopted into the Father's household, you have access to him. 00:15:20.799 --> 00:15:24.720 You're partaker of his kingdom, of his nature, of everything. 00:15:25.840 --> 00:15:28.240 We partake in the riches of the one who adopts us. 00:15:28.399 --> 00:15:30.240 Those are the spiritual blessings he gives us. 00:15:30.399 --> 00:15:34.639 And it is worth noting that all these gifts, verse 3 says, are in Christ. 00:15:34.879 --> 00:15:38.639 He's blessed us with them in Christ, the middle of verse 3 says. 00:15:41.200 --> 00:15:47.360 Non-believers, those outside of Christ, they can experience good things, they just can't experience good spiritual things. 00:15:48.559 --> 00:15:50.320 There's common grace in the world. 00:15:50.960 --> 00:15:58.320 Non-believers can watch, you know, Monday night football, they can have a milkshake, they can be married, they can have kids and enjoy the sunset. 00:15:59.039 --> 00:16:01.200 But those aren't spiritual blessings. 00:16:01.519 --> 00:16:04.000 Those are blessings of common grace. 00:16:04.399 --> 00:16:09.279 Spiritual blessings come only, verse 3 says, through Christ. 00:16:09.759 --> 00:16:15.039 They come from heaven through Christ, and they're spiritual because they're applied to us by the Holy Spirit. 00:16:15.120 --> 00:16:19.519 So notice in verse 3 here, you see all three persons of the Trinity right away in verse 3. 00:16:19.759 --> 00:16:23.200 The Father is the giver, he gives his gifts through Christ. 00:16:23.360 --> 00:16:29.200 Christ is the channel, and the Holy Spirit is the one who applies them, making them spiritual blessings. 00:16:30.960 --> 00:16:33.200 But they all have their origin in heaven. 00:16:33.360 --> 00:16:35.759 He is the Father of lights. 00:16:36.559 --> 00:16:38.159 Every spiritual blessing comes from him. 00:16:38.320 --> 00:16:41.360 So praise God because he gives you spiritually good things. 00:16:41.519 --> 00:16:44.000 Secondly, you praise God for his choice. 00:16:44.159 --> 00:16:45.519 You praise the Father for His choice. 00:16:45.600 --> 00:16:47.039 That's where Paul goes in verse 4. 00:16:47.279 --> 00:16:58.000 Even as he chose us, this phrase, even as he gives us all spiritual blessings, they're connected to the choice that he has made for us to be in him. 00:17:01.360 --> 00:17:15.359 So God, Paul's now tying that God has given us spiritual blessings through Christ by the Holy Spirit, and he does so because he chose us to receive them before the foundations of the world. 00:17:15.920 --> 00:17:23.279 This is the doctrine of election, also called predestination in verse 5, that God chooses whom to give these blessings to. 00:18:04.720 --> 00:18:09.359 Certainly, salvation is first and foremost among our spiritual blessings. 00:18:10.799 --> 00:18:14.559 And verse 4 says he has chosen for us to receive that. 00:18:14.799 --> 00:18:20.240 And specifically, Paul calls out a couple things that we're predestined for here that we're chosen for. 00:18:20.480 --> 00:18:24.079 By the way, predestined just means that the destination is chosen beforehand. 00:18:24.880 --> 00:18:29.200 I mean, you understand this in the era of cell phones and GPS maps or whatever, you're gonna go somewhere. 00:18:29.519 --> 00:18:31.920 You put in the address before you start driving. 00:18:33.839 --> 00:18:35.680 Before you start driving. 00:18:36.640 --> 00:18:37.839 Can I get an amen? 00:18:40.319 --> 00:18:43.039 You know, come on. 00:18:44.160 --> 00:18:48.240 The idea though is that you've selected your destination before you're going. 00:18:48.319 --> 00:18:50.000 That's all the word predestined means. 00:18:50.160 --> 00:18:58.720 What's connected here to the choice of God is that God has predestined people for heaven based upon his choice of them. 00:18:58.960 --> 00:19:03.039 He chooses to save them, he chooses to give them his spiritual blessings. 00:19:03.119 --> 00:19:07.119 Namely, the two Paul specifically calls out are holiness and heaven. 00:19:07.279 --> 00:19:10.799 He chooses to set them apart, he says in verse 4. 00:19:10.960 --> 00:19:12.079 Set that we should be holy. 00:19:12.240 --> 00:19:13.680 Holy is a word for set apart. 00:19:14.000 --> 00:19:16.559 He chooses us to be declared righteous. 00:19:16.720 --> 00:19:18.559 That's the phrase for blameless there. 00:19:18.720 --> 00:19:26.559 He chooses to have the record of our wrongs nailed to the cross, where Jesus bears the penalty for our sin, and he declares us to be righteous. 00:19:26.720 --> 00:19:33.359 Our salvation in a very real way was accomplished on the cross when Jesus declares to telestai, it is finished. 00:19:33.440 --> 00:19:35.279 It was done and achieved at that point. 00:19:35.519 --> 00:19:44.880 We experience it in time, but it was accomplished at the cross, and it was planned by God before he made the world, he says. 00:19:45.839 --> 00:19:56.720 By using the word predestination here, Paul's stressing that it was planned before time, but will carry on after the end of this world as we go right on into heaven. 00:19:56.799 --> 00:19:58.799 So there's a very eternal scope here. 00:19:59.039 --> 00:20:01.519 Before time, God chooses us for heaven. 00:20:01.839 --> 00:20:10.400 In time, he creates the world, the Son dies on the cross for our sin, the Holy Spirit saves us, and then we die and we go to heaven. 00:20:10.640 --> 00:20:13.759 So it's it is spanning all of eternity here. 00:20:15.440 --> 00:20:17.839 When did he make this choice of us? 00:20:18.480 --> 00:20:22.880 Well, it says, before verse 4, the foundation of the world. 00:20:23.039 --> 00:20:24.799 That's when he made this choice. 00:20:25.680 --> 00:20:30.240 And there's a lot to just be gobsmacked at about that, isn't there? 00:20:30.640 --> 00:20:41.519 That he didn't make the world good, holy, and pure, and then sin enters the world because the devil got in the garden and Adam and Eve sinned, and now the human race has fallen, and now God says, Uh-oh. 00:20:43.279 --> 00:20:44.160 What's gonna happen? 00:20:44.319 --> 00:20:48.160 Adam and Eve are gonna have children, they're gonna populate the world, I will save some of them. 00:20:48.720 --> 00:20:50.960 That's got the order of this all wrong. 00:20:51.839 --> 00:20:57.839 God knew about the fall before he made the world. 00:20:59.440 --> 00:21:09.839 And not just the fall, God chose people to save, which means that he knew you before he made you. 00:21:10.319 --> 00:21:12.559 And he knew you before he made the world. 00:21:12.880 --> 00:21:15.279 Before the foundation of the world he chose you. 00:21:15.599 --> 00:21:18.240 I mean, that's staggering to think about. 00:21:19.200 --> 00:21:24.559 So now you're starting to get this plan of God in his mind before he creates the world. 00:21:24.720 --> 00:21:26.000 He he plans. 00:21:27.440 --> 00:21:29.440 This is a plan that God has. 00:21:30.720 --> 00:21:40.720 That he will make the world, that sin will come into the world, that people will fall into sin, and he will save specific people, and this is in his mind before he makes anything. 00:21:42.240 --> 00:21:48.000 And it was Spurgeon who said, It's a good thing God chose me before I was born, because he never would have afterwards. 00:21:51.440 --> 00:21:57.519 The point he's making is that God is determinative on who is going to be saved. 00:21:59.119 --> 00:21:59.440 Now. 00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:06.799 You can go too far in this, and you can have an extreme understanding of predestination and election, which negates means. 00:22:07.200 --> 00:22:08.160 That's called fatalism. 00:22:08.240 --> 00:22:12.960 A fatalist would say that since God knows he's going to heaven and hell, nothing matters. 00:22:13.200 --> 00:22:14.559 There don't need to be means. 00:22:14.720 --> 00:22:21.599 But the Bible makes it very clear, even in Ephesians 1 and 2, that God does use means to save people, namely the means of faith. 00:22:21.680 --> 00:22:24.319 You see this in verse 1, chapter 1, verse 15. 00:22:24.559 --> 00:22:26.640 God saves people through their faith. 00:22:26.880 --> 00:22:29.200 God saves people through the sending of his son. 00:22:29.599 --> 00:22:31.680 God saves people through the gospel. 00:22:33.359 --> 00:22:39.039 So God chooses how he will save people, in addition to choosing whom he will save. 00:22:39.200 --> 00:22:40.319 He chooses both. 00:22:40.480 --> 00:22:46.079 So it denies the clear teaching of Scripture to say because God chooses some to heaven, we don't need to pray for them. 00:22:46.160 --> 00:22:47.279 We don't need to witness to them. 00:22:47.359 --> 00:22:48.559 We don't need to bring the gospel to them. 00:22:48.640 --> 00:22:52.079 They don't need to have faith because God's already chosen them, Sarah, Sarah. 00:22:53.279 --> 00:22:55.519 No, that's not what the Bible teaches. 00:22:55.759 --> 00:23:11.599 The Bible teaches you do pray for non-believers, you do evangelize non-believers, you do bring them the gospel, they do need to exercise faith by placing their trust and confidence for salvation in the previous death of Jesus Christ, who was sent by God to the earth to die for sinners. 00:23:11.759 --> 00:23:13.920 All of that is necessary for salvation. 00:23:14.160 --> 00:23:22.640 Nobody will be saved unless they call upon the name of the Lord, and nobody can call upon the name of the Lord unless they hear of him, nobody can hear of him unless the gospel messenger is sent. 00:23:23.119 --> 00:23:25.599 So this is all a part of God's plan. 00:23:27.039 --> 00:23:37.200 What I'm saying is that God doesn't only choose who to save, he chooses how he will save them, namely through their faith, namely through the sending of Jesus Christ, and namely through the preaching of the gospel. 00:23:37.359 --> 00:23:39.359 So we take that whole package together. 00:23:39.519 --> 00:23:43.440 The overarching, deep-seated point here is that God chooses this. 00:23:44.000 --> 00:23:46.000 This is God's choice. 00:23:47.440 --> 00:23:53.440 When Paul starts this jailhouse letter, he does not start with a celebratory tome on free will. 00:23:53.599 --> 00:23:56.799 He starts with a celebratory tome on God's free will. 00:23:57.680 --> 00:23:59.440 That God chooses this. 00:23:59.519 --> 00:24:02.240 This is not a teaching confined to Ephesians 1. 00:24:02.400 --> 00:24:03.519 This is Jesus' words. 00:24:03.759 --> 00:24:04.880 John 15, verse 16. 00:24:05.039 --> 00:24:08.000 You did not choose me, but I chose you. 00:24:08.880 --> 00:24:11.920 Many are called, Jesus says, but few are chosen. 00:24:12.000 --> 00:24:15.920 And what that means is that the gospel call, in some sense, goes out to the world. 00:24:16.160 --> 00:24:20.240 I know not every nation has the gospel, not every person will hear the gospel. 00:24:20.880 --> 00:24:27.279 But the point is the call is broad, but the way to life is narrow. 00:24:28.000 --> 00:24:32.240 Not all who hear the gospel were chosen to receive salvation. 00:24:32.400 --> 00:24:34.240 This is what the scriptures teach. 00:24:34.400 --> 00:24:45.200 But the scriptures also teach that the Father chose you to be set apart and holy, the Father chose you to be blameless, to have the record of your sins nailed to the cross, and you would be adopted into his family. 00:24:45.359 --> 00:24:47.039 This was all his choice. 00:24:47.599 --> 00:24:50.640 If you're a believer, Paul's story here is your story. 00:24:50.799 --> 00:24:52.160 God chose you for this. 00:24:52.319 --> 00:24:57.839 These are truths that are not merely confined to the Apostle Paul, but apply to every believer. 00:24:59.680 --> 00:25:08.799 Often I think those who were raised apart from the church have an easier time believing this than those who were raised in the church. 00:25:08.880 --> 00:25:10.400 That's been my experience. 00:25:10.720 --> 00:25:19.759 Because when you're raised apart from the church, it's very easy to believe in the sovereign, predestinating power of God and his electing love. 00:25:19.839 --> 00:25:22.400 I mean, I did not go shopping for Jesus. 00:25:22.720 --> 00:25:29.039 I wasn't, as an 18-year-old, who was living a life of sin and living for myself and worshiping the God of Baal. 00:25:29.119 --> 00:25:33.839 I pronounced it ball, soccer ball, but it was the God of Baal. 00:25:34.079 --> 00:25:35.039 That was my life. 00:25:35.200 --> 00:25:36.640 I was flung headlong into sin. 00:25:36.720 --> 00:25:39.039 I was not on the lookout for Jesus. 00:25:39.279 --> 00:25:41.440 And yet he came and found me. 00:25:41.759 --> 00:25:49.920 A friend was tenaciously inviting me to church and sharing the gospel with me, and that I finally, you know, gave in and went to church and heard the gospel. 00:25:50.720 --> 00:25:51.920 I did not go that morning. 00:25:52.079 --> 00:25:55.599 Believe me, I did not go that morning expecting to leave as a Christian. 00:25:56.079 --> 00:25:57.599 And the Lord saved me. 00:25:57.839 --> 00:26:05.039 So it's very easy for me to believe that, you know, God chooses him, he's going to save, because there is no other explanation for me. 00:26:05.839 --> 00:26:13.440 I have often encountered obstacles to this teaching from those who are raised in the church because they have lacked that experience. 00:26:13.519 --> 00:26:19.680 You know, if you're you're born, and as my three girls are, we do family devotionals almost every night. 00:26:19.839 --> 00:26:22.079 We will read a passage and talk about it. 00:26:22.240 --> 00:26:25.759 We will sing a song together and talk about a hymn together, we pray together. 00:26:25.839 --> 00:26:27.440 This is how my kids are growing up. 00:26:27.519 --> 00:26:36.480 And so when they exercise faith, it's going to be harder for them to say, this is so supernatural, because it's all they know. 00:26:37.759 --> 00:26:46.000 And so it's challenging for them to have to go back in their mind and say, Well, who chose my parents for salvation? 00:26:47.440 --> 00:26:51.920 Or who chose, on Deidra's side, who chose her parents for salvation? 00:26:52.000 --> 00:27:03.039 I mean, they had very unlikely salvation testimonies, which we always tell our girls because we want them to appreciate that that this is, you know, the gospel entered our family through unlikely means. 00:27:04.559 --> 00:27:13.759 Her dad was a salesman in Quebec who got snowed in this hotel room and couldn't doesn't know French, couldn't watch TV, finds a Gideon Bible, the only thing in English in the hotel room. 00:27:14.000 --> 00:27:16.720 You're gonna tell me God's not sovereign over salvation. 00:27:19.119 --> 00:27:20.880 Not a business trip in Toronto. 00:27:21.039 --> 00:27:23.200 I wouldn't be married if his trip was in Toronto. 00:27:26.319 --> 00:27:31.920 Sometimes there's obstacles to this teaching from parents who raise their kids in the church and the kids then leave the faith. 00:27:33.599 --> 00:27:35.359 Because then who's responsible for this? 00:27:35.519 --> 00:27:38.480 Is this saying that that's God's fault? 00:27:39.279 --> 00:27:42.000 Why didn't God choose my son and daughter for salvation? 00:27:42.720 --> 00:27:44.640 That seems to be what this is saying. 00:27:44.960 --> 00:28:05.599 And so there's objections to this truth, but you need to let the full force of this hit you that God has a plan for salvation incredibly and inexplicably in his own mind that he brings to pass in this world, and he brings it to pass by choosing to save some, predestining some for heaven. 00:28:06.079 --> 00:28:08.079 People will say I don't believe in predestination. 00:28:08.799 --> 00:28:11.519 Well, the word is barking at you from verse 5 here. 00:28:11.680 --> 00:28:14.400 I mean, it's it's pretty loud, too. 00:28:15.519 --> 00:28:20.400 So I don't, you don't want to be the person who reads verse five and says, Yeah, I don't believe that. 00:28:20.960 --> 00:28:23.039 Okay, I mean it's still there. 00:28:23.680 --> 00:28:26.000 Even if you don't believe it, it's still there. 00:28:28.319 --> 00:28:29.200 Still there. 00:28:32.160 --> 00:28:34.880 And God's unconditional election is just that it's unconditional. 00:28:34.960 --> 00:28:38.880 I've heard it said that God chooses to save people because he knows that they'll choose him. 00:28:40.799 --> 00:28:42.000 What does that even mean? 00:28:43.599 --> 00:28:45.200 It doesn't make any sense. 00:28:46.079 --> 00:28:51.119 God knew that I would choose him when he saved me, so he saved me. 00:28:52.559 --> 00:28:55.680 It's like the you remember the VCR tapes that had the sticker on it? 00:28:56.079 --> 00:28:57.599 Be kind, please rewind. 00:28:58.799 --> 00:28:59.920 It's bad theology. 00:29:00.079 --> 00:29:03.440 That God watched the movie ahead of time, rewound it, and chose what would happen. 00:29:04.240 --> 00:29:05.759 That doesn't make any sense. 00:29:06.319 --> 00:29:14.480 It's not choosing what would happen if you watched the movie ahead of time, especially the things he's watching is him intervening radically in people's lives. 00:29:16.480 --> 00:29:18.400 No, that's not what this teaches. 00:29:18.559 --> 00:29:23.440 This does not teach that God saw what you would do, so he chose you to do what you chose to do. 00:29:25.359 --> 00:29:34.559 It's unconditional that God in his own mind chose us to be in him before he made any of us. 00:29:35.599 --> 00:29:38.160 Well, the third reason we praise God. 00:29:38.640 --> 00:29:43.039 We praise the Father for His gifts, namely every spiritual blessing, one of which is salvation. 00:29:43.200 --> 00:29:49.359 We praise the Father for His choice, that He chose to save us and make us holy and blameless and adopt us into His family. 00:29:49.519 --> 00:29:56.400 And thirdly, we praise the Father for His purpose, because all of this is going to raise this question. 00:29:57.279 --> 00:30:00.480 Why doesn't God save everyone then? 00:30:00.720 --> 00:30:00.960 Right? 00:30:01.200 --> 00:30:02.000 That's the question. 00:30:02.160 --> 00:30:04.240 Why doesn't God save everybody? 00:30:04.799 --> 00:30:09.200 Well, it's a very good question. 00:30:10.480 --> 00:30:16.000 And I hope you appreciate, if you understand this part, the rest will fall into place. 00:30:16.640 --> 00:30:22.480 I hope you appreciate that you have to answer that question whether or not you believe in predestination. 00:30:23.920 --> 00:30:26.960 So say you're a person who says, I deny predestination. 00:30:27.119 --> 00:30:28.640 God does not choose. 00:30:30.160 --> 00:30:36.400 God chooses to save everyone, the devil chooses to damn everyone, it's a tie vote, and you cast the deciding vote. 00:30:36.480 --> 00:30:37.759 That's the decision. 00:30:38.799 --> 00:30:41.279 So people are in charge of who goes to heaven. 00:30:41.519 --> 00:30:45.200 Not God, not the devil, people make the choice. 00:30:46.960 --> 00:30:47.279 Okay. 00:30:49.200 --> 00:30:50.319 Does God know? 00:30:50.480 --> 00:30:53.680 I'm gonna apply your be kind, please rewind theology to you now. 00:30:54.480 --> 00:31:04.559 Does God know that this person, person X, that this person will not choose him before he makes that person? 00:31:05.759 --> 00:31:06.400 Yes. 00:31:06.960 --> 00:31:08.720 Does he make him anyway? 00:31:09.599 --> 00:31:10.240 Yes. 00:31:10.720 --> 00:31:14.960 So you still have to answer the question, why did God make him? 00:31:15.599 --> 00:31:18.559 Why doesn't God only make people who will choose him? 00:31:20.079 --> 00:31:28.640 I mean, everybody has the same problem here, namely that the road to heaven is narrow and the way to hell is wide. 00:31:28.799 --> 00:31:30.000 That's the problem. 00:31:30.160 --> 00:31:34.000 And that is a problem from Genesis 1 straight through Revelation 22. 00:31:34.079 --> 00:31:39.039 It is a problem everywhere in the Bible that the way to heaven is narrow. 00:31:40.160 --> 00:31:41.279 And you find it. 00:31:41.359 --> 00:31:42.799 I mean, that's the issue. 00:31:45.119 --> 00:31:57.920 So one answer is God chooses to magnify free will, magnify the importance of our choices and decisions by saying, I will make you, and you can choose what happens to you. 00:31:58.240 --> 00:31:59.279 That's one answer. 00:31:59.440 --> 00:32:03.359 I do not see that answer taught in the Bible, and it is not acceptable to me. 00:32:03.599 --> 00:32:05.200 It's not worth it for me. 00:32:05.680 --> 00:32:07.519 The juice is not worth the squeeze there. 00:32:07.599 --> 00:32:12.640 It's not worth it that hell is real and most people are there so that I can have a high view of free will. 00:32:14.720 --> 00:32:16.799 There's got to be better answers. 00:32:17.119 --> 00:32:28.799 Well, the answer that Paul gives here, anyway, is that God has a purpose in this, namely, the end of verse 5, this is all to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace. 00:32:28.960 --> 00:32:35.119 That God has designed salvation to work this way because this magnifies his grace. 00:32:35.279 --> 00:32:37.200 It's singing praise to him. 00:32:37.440 --> 00:32:42.240 His grace is seen as glorious by doing salvation this way. 00:32:45.920 --> 00:32:51.440 Now, let me say first, I might not agree with that. 00:32:51.920 --> 00:32:56.559 If it were up to me, I would say God's grace would be seen as more glorious if he just saved everyone. 00:32:57.680 --> 00:33:05.440 However, upon consulting the footnotes here, I realized God didn't ask me. 00:33:06.160 --> 00:33:08.319 I was not consulted with this plan. 00:33:10.559 --> 00:33:19.279 So something is going on where God designs his grace to be made more glorious this way than by saving everyone. 00:33:21.200 --> 00:33:23.039 So what is going on there? 00:33:25.839 --> 00:33:27.599 I pretend I bring two people to church. 00:33:27.680 --> 00:33:28.799 This happened to me one Sunday. 00:33:28.960 --> 00:33:36.240 I brought two different friends of mine from my soccer teammates in college. 00:33:36.319 --> 00:33:37.039 I brought two of them. 00:33:37.119 --> 00:33:37.920 I'm a brand new Christian. 00:33:38.000 --> 00:33:40.319 I lean on two of them, two of them come to church with me. 00:33:40.559 --> 00:33:42.240 We hear a great gospel sermon. 00:33:42.480 --> 00:33:44.480 Pastor preaches the gospel, incredible sermon. 00:33:44.559 --> 00:33:47.119 You're like, you hear the message, and you're like, everyone who hears this needs to get saved. 00:33:47.200 --> 00:33:50.000 And I brought two non-believers with me, one on my right, one on my left. 00:33:50.079 --> 00:33:54.480 They're both gonna get saved, and one of them gets saved and not the other one. 00:33:57.039 --> 00:33:58.640 Why one and not the other? 00:33:58.799 --> 00:34:00.880 Why this guy and not that guy? 00:34:01.200 --> 00:34:03.519 What separates the two of them? 00:34:04.880 --> 00:34:07.759 Was one more predisposed to be saved? 00:34:08.000 --> 00:34:09.599 On his own volition? 00:34:09.760 --> 00:34:11.679 Was one more eager to be saved? 00:34:11.840 --> 00:34:14.079 Was one more ready to be saved? 00:34:14.239 --> 00:34:18.960 Was one more, I don't know, inclined to believe authority or truth, or I don't know what it is? 00:34:19.360 --> 00:34:23.039 Or maybe just in the right mood? 00:34:23.199 --> 00:34:26.480 I mean, I don't know what there's no answer for that question. 00:34:27.360 --> 00:34:37.920 And if your answer is about something inside of the person, like, oh, this person, he got saved because there was something in him that made him more ready. 00:34:38.079 --> 00:34:40.320 Do you see how that magnifies the person? 00:34:41.360 --> 00:34:44.000 There's something in him that led him to faith. 00:34:44.159 --> 00:34:47.519 That does not magnify God's saving glorious grace. 00:34:48.239 --> 00:34:50.320 In fact, the opposite is probably true. 00:34:50.480 --> 00:34:55.599