03 Ephesians 1:4-6 Glorious, Abounding Grace

Title: Glorious, Abounding Grace Text: Ephesians 1:4-6 FCF: We often struggle praising God for His glorious grace. Prop: Because The Father elects and predestines people to be His children in Christ, we must praise the Father for His grace. Scripture Intro: [Slide 1] Turn in your bible to Ephesians chapter 1. In a moment we’ll read verses 4-6 from the New English Translation. You can follow along in the pew bible or in whatever version you prefer. As I said last week, verses 3-14 are one sentence, one prayer, one thought of Paul’s. And it is this one thought that governs the rest of the letter both in teaching and in application. As such, it is incredibly important not only to get the meaning of every single word correct, but then to see how those words relate to each other. Don’t expect too many short sermons as we move forward, and definitely expect to have grammar lessons every week… this week included. So let’s get to it. Please stand with me to give honor to and to focus on the Word of God as it is read. Invocation: Sovereign and infinite Father, You sit on a throne above all things. You created time, matter, space, light. You brought order from chaos. You have formed and shaped all that is and all that will be. You have decreed what is Your will and published it. And not one decree or purpose You have made, can be altered or thwarted by any being. You are in absolute control over all things in Your creation, including the salvation of Your people. I pray that You would help us to see and understand this, so that we, as Your children, may praise You rightly for Your glorious grace. We ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen. Transition: [Slide 2] “All objections to predestination proceed from the wisdom of the flesh” Martin Luther “The reason for the predestination of some and the reprobation of others must be sought for in the goodness of God.” Thomas Aquinas [Slide 3] “To get rid of predestination we have been willing to degrade our God into a godling.” B.B. Warfield “Let a man go to the grammar school of faith and repentance before he goes to the university of election and predestination.” George Whitefield And with Mr. Whitfield’s comment, the bell has rung and class in the University of God the Father has begun. Let us set out to study God’s Spiritual blessing to us of election and predestination. I.) God, in His love, chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be justified, so we must praise Him for His grace. (4) a. [Slide 4] 4 - For he chose us in Christ i. The first word in the sentence here is an adverb. Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs and answer questions concerning the words or phrases they modify. ii. In this case, the question being answered is “to what degree” or “in what way specifically” iii. Paul has just said that God is to be praised because He has favored believers with every Holy Spirit benefit by uniting us to Christ. iv. Now Paul moves on to explain to what degree God has blessed us with Holy Spirit benefits in Christ. v. He begins by telling the Ephesians that He, meaning God the Father, chose them. vi. The word chosen means selected or elected out of many alternatives. The Greek word is also in the middle voice which indicates that the action of choosing is being done to or for the one doing the choosing. vii. This means that the choice being made is for God’s own reasons and to God’s own purposes. viii. Now some Christians oppose or take issue with the doctrine of election and predestination. They have interpreted these passages differently to assuage their discomfort with God choosing individuals for salvation. In this, they see God’s choice as a choice of a group or a kind of people rather than individuals. 1. They would say that God predestined the church, believers, whoever they may be. 2. They would say that God selected the cruise ship to get us to salvation, ie Jesus Christ, but not who specifically would board that cruise ship. It is up to each of us to decide whether we want a ticket or not. 3. The phrase “in Christ” in this text seems to support their point. And even what we’ve said last week puts that spin on it. God only gives these promises to Christ and we inherit them by being united with Him. 4. Ironically, although these Christians use Ephesians 1:4 to support corporate, non-individual election, Ephesians 1:4 is actually very challenging to such a view. 5. Not because of the words “in Christ” but because of the little pronoun, “us.” 6. In the context, the word “us” cannot refer to the universal church as a whole. 7. It can APPLY to the universal church, but the only people to whom Paul has referred in this letter so far are himself and those who are saints in EPHESUS. 8. That is a very specific collection of individuals. 9. Furthermore, if we are to assume that the Spiritual blessings mentioned in verses 3-14 are applied to each individual saint and not simply to the church as a whole, then we must understand this choosing to have been done individually and not just corporately. 10. Additionally, it is impossible to think about a group of people without also meaning, to some degree, individuals who make the group. 11. Taking the cruise ship example, any who are on the cruise ship get to go on the cruise. But to be on the cruise ship you must have a ticket. And how are tickets distributed? Individually. Even if you get a “group rate” how are those tickets dispersed? Individually. 12. Added to this, the word for God’s choosing here is used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament almost exclusively when God chooses individuals. 13. Therefore, the only consistent understanding of God’s election of people is on an individual level which produces as an effect, a corporate body. 14. In other words, we must think of it as BOTH individual and corporate and not merely corporate. 15. God has chosen individuals to be in Christ forming His universal church. ix. Why should God the Father be praised? Because He chose us, every believer, individually, by name, in the lamb’s book of life. x. And He did this in Christ. xi. But rather than seeing “in Christ” as though God only chose Christ and not individuals… xii. The preposition “in” here refers to location, meaning that Him choosing us is choosing us TO BE united to Christ. xiii. God did not choose us when He chose Christ… instead He chose us to be united to Christ, to be inside the covenant in which Christ is the mediatorial head. xiv. All the blessings of the New Covenant come to Christ alone. But we as individuals, are chosen to be in Christ which means we are chosen to receive those same blessings. xv. When did God choose this for us? Was it when we believed? xvi. No. Long before that. b. [Slide 5] before the foundation of the world i. The preposition simply introduces something that occurs before something else. ii. Foundation here means establishment or laying of a foundation of a house. iii. This phrase foundation of the world then, establishes that God’s individual election of each believer to be united to Christ occurred before God created the world. iv. Before Adam fell, God already chose individuals to be united to Christ through faith and create a group of people that would be His kingdom of priests. v. Taking the cruise ship example, did God choose to put our names on our tickets when we decided we wanted one? No. He purchased the ticket with our name on it before the foundation of the world. vi. The scriptures speak of a book called the lamb’s book of life. vii. In it are recorded all those INDIVIDUALS who are part of God’s Kingdom and in Revelation 13 the scriptures teach us that those names written in this book have been there since before the foundation of the world. viii. This utterly destroys the corporate election idea. It is simply not what the scriptures teach. At least not in isolation. God thinks individually and corporately for both sinners and His elect. ix. This also cripples the argument that God assigns our names upon our confession of Christ. It is simply not true. God has assigned our names to the lamb’s book of life before the foundation of the earth. Before we did any good or evil. Before we had any capacity to believe or not, God chose us to be united to Christ. x. Some object and say, that God looked into the future to see who would believe and chose them. 1. Not only does this add significantly to the definition of the word foreknowledge, but it also creates more problems and doesn’t solve the problems it tries to. 2. The problem it tries to solve is that God punishes people for sin when He had not elected them for salvation. But if God looks ahead to see who would choose Him, and chooses them, why then would God create the people who wouldn’t choose Him. By creating people who He knew would not choose Him, isn’t He just as culpable for their punishment? Isn’t that election for reprobation too? 3. Furthermore, it is hard to see how God electing us to salvation because we would choose Him, is NOT works based salvation. Does God ever tell us that He make these choices based on the qualities He sees in us? Is that what the scriptures teach? And if He does, how is salvation a work of God and not of our doing? xi. No. As difficult as it may be, we must see it as the apostle Paul sees it here. God chooses who He will put into Christ and He does so before the foundation of the world without considering any worth we may have. xii. But for what purpose? Why did God do this? c. [Slide 6] that we may be holy and unblemished in his sight i. God the Father chose this for individuals, not simply so that they would be saved, not simply that they would inherit the blessings of the covenant relationship between the Father and the Son… ii. But so those who inherit these blessings would also be His true people. A people who He sees as holy and unblemished. iii. Again, this hints at both individual and corporate election. iv. God chose individuals in Christ so that we might be something collectively… namely… a holy and unblemished people who accurately image Him. v. There is some scholarly debate as to whether Paul refers to justification or sanctification. Is this talking about God’s declaring us righteous or is this talking about becoming more holy and blameless? vi. In favor of the justification view, 1. The words “In His sight” might hint at this being about justification. 2. Being holy and unblemished in His sight could mean something different than actually being holy and unblemished. And I think if we are honest, it kinda has to. For none of us are holy and unblemished. Not really. 3. But in Christ… because Christ is holy and unblemished and we are chosen to be in Him, we inherit that status legally. We are as good as our covenantal head, even if we as individuals are still sinners. God sees us as holy and unblemished. And Christ will present us holy and unblemished to the Father. 4. This also keeps the focus on God and His work rather than moving to our works. vii. However, in favor of the sanctification view, 1. This actually sets up the rest of the letter in that Paul will urge the Ephesians to actually live holy and blameless lives. 2. Holy meaning different by loving righteousness and blameless meaning lacking a love for sin. 3. Why must they live these lives? 4. Because they have been called by Christ’s name. They have been chosen to be something that they should live up to. viii. I think I slightly favor the justification view, but really, you can pick either one, both are biblically sound. d. [Slide 7] in love. i. It is difficult to know how to interpret the final two words of this verse. ii. It largely depends on what it modifies. Is it referring to God choosing in love, for us to be holy and blameless in love, to be before him or in his sight in love or could it go with what follows in verse 5? iii. What’s the difference? iv. Well, if God elects, predestines, or if we are justified in His sight in love, then this is emphasizing God’s motive in His sovereign role in salvation. That it is not a mindless, random, or cold choice but one done in love toward those He chooses, predestines, or justifies. v. If it goes with holiness and blamelessness then it would emphasize how God’s electing of us produces a holy and blameless living person who is also loving to others. vi. I slightly favor the view that this deals with God’s sovereign role in salvation. Mainly because that seems to be Paul’s point through this. It is giving glory to God for His role. It also fits a pattern that is repeated in verse 5 where God does something for a purpose from a certain motive. vii. But in reality, either view is biblically true. e. [Slide 8] Summary of the Point: Paul recounts just one of the Holy Spirit blessings that the Father has given to us. Namely that in love, God chose each believer individually, before the foundation of the world, to be put into Christ for the purpose that they would be holy and unblemished in His sight. As far as blessings go… Paul starts with a banger. Can you think of a greater blessing to start with? That, if you are truly a Christian here today, God chose you before time began, to be His possession and secured under His covenant which He made in His Son, so that you would receive the benefits of that covenant and be seen as though you were as holy and unblemished as the head of that covenant… which is Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father. Wow. If we are in the right frame of mind, I can think of two responses this should produce in us. First… is the question why me? And second is the need to praise the Father for His divine election. [Slide 9 (blank)] Transition: But this is only the first part of God the Father’s Spiritual Blessings that He gives to us. He has chosen us. But wait… there’s more! II.) God, by His mere good pleasure, predestines to adoption those whom He chooses in Christ, so we must praise God for His grace. (5) a. [Slide 10] 5 - He did this by predestining us i. The words “He did this by” are not actually in the Greek text. ii. But the NET actually does us an interpretive favor, because we might wonder what the relationship is between God’s choosing us in Christ and His predestining us. iii. Predestining is a circumstantial participle. Circumstantial participles tell us the circumstances under which another action occurs in the sentence. iv. Since the only action that has occurred in this sentence so far has been God’s choosing us, predestining us must provide the circumstances under which His choosing occurred. v. When circumstantial participles are in the aorist tense, like it is here, most of the time this means that the participle occurs prior to the verb and in some way necessitated or led to the main verb happening. vi. Ok, after all that Grammar gobbledygook, what does that mean? vii. God chooses us because or after, or according to His predestining of us. Meaning He predestines us and then He chooses us, all occurring when? Before the foundation of the world. viii. But what does it mean to be predestined? ix. The Greek word breaks down into two words. Marked out-beforehand. Or we could say, predetermined. x. The idea here then, is that God chooses us to be holy in His sight because He has predetermined for us… a destiny. xi. God does not give us a choice… He gives us a destiny. xii. Jesus says that those who believe in Him will not be condemned, but those who do not believe are condemned already because only Christ can save. xiii. In other words, we all start as condemned. We all start as unbelievers. We all start with one destiny. xiv. It is only those whom God the Father has predestined that are given a different destiny than condemnation. xv. And what is that destiny? b. [Slide 11] to adoption as his sons i. The preposition “to” is a preposition of purpose. ii. God has predestined us for the purpose that we would be adopted as His sons. iii. Our destiny is that we would become children of God by adoption. iv. Once again, this destroys the idea that God predestines and then elects a corporate entity. The metaphor of adoption makes absolutely no sense if this is not seen as individuals. v. In fact, the metaphor of adoption proves that God elects and predestines from individual to corporate. You are adopted individually to become part of a family. This is exactly what Paul is saying. It doesn’t work the other way. Whether you look at Greek, Roman, or Jewish adoption law, all three emphasize the paternal authority to adopt individual children. vi. How does He accomplish this? c. [Slide 12] through Jesus Christ, i. The preposition through here is a preposition of means. ii. Christ is not the instrument or tool to accomplish our adoption. Rather Christ is the path or the process for us to be adopted as sons of God. iii. Again, this emphasizes the Father’s role in adoption and the Son as the mediatorial head of a new covenant. He is the means to being made to be fellow sons and daughters of God with Him. iv. The NET here omits two words which are in the Greek. It was difficult picking a translation to use for this sermon. All had their pros and cons. This is a big con here for the NET. v. The two words omitted are “to Himself” vi. To is a preposition of direction, indicating for us that this adoption as sons through Jesus is a path that leads to God the Father. Essentially this is John 14:6 again, where Jesus says, “No one comes to the Father but by me” vii. Or perhaps another way we could say, “No one gets to call Him Father except through me.” viii. Well, how did God go about predestining and choosing us for this? d. [Slide 13] according to the pleasure of his will i. God chooses and predestines individuals in Christ to be holy by giving them a destiny for the purpose of making them His family members… and He made those decisions before the foundations of the world according to the pleasure of His will. ii. What does that mean? iii. According to is a preposition of reference. It is used to mark out the source of information, a plan, or an agreement. iv. What follows then answers the question, from what source did God consult to make these decisions. v. Pleasure here is actually good pleasure. It is a delightful intention or fixed intention of benevolent favor. vi. Will is the attitude of the mind to favor or choose one alternative over another. vii. The source God consulted to predestine and choose us, is His favorable will. viii. Again, this indicates that God did not predestine and choose in a cold, random way. Rather in a loving and benevolent way. ix. I’ve said this several times before but I’ll say it again. God doesn’t leave us guessing why He predestined and elected us to salvation. He tells us. We just don’t like the answer because it doesn’t tell us enough. x. God predestines and elects according to His good will. And that is it. xi. It is pure grace. Man has no part in any of this. e. [Slide 14] Summary of the Point: Paul’s second point here on this blessing of the Father is connected by the word “predestining.” His predestining is what led to the action of Him choosing us in Christ. As the firstborn Christ inherits all from the Father, and Christ has shared all with those whom the Father has adopted according to His good will. God didn’t give a choice – heaven or hell. He gave us a destiny. We were born with a destiny of condemnation. But because of His predestination and election before the foundation of the world – He gave us a new destiny. A new family through Christ’s atonement. A path carved out for our adoption. So, what should we do with this knowledge? What should this doctrine produce in us? Praise. Praise to the Father for His sovereign plan. [Slide 15 (blank)] Transition: So, we have seen what God has done. He has chosen us in Christ to holiness and blamelessness in His sight in love, by predestining us to adoption though Jesus according to His benevolent will. But why? What is His goal in all this? What is His purpose? III.) God graces us with grace in Christ, so we must praise Him for His grace. (6) a. [Slide 16] 6 - to the praise of the glory of his grace i. To is a preposition of purpose. And it marks out the purpose of this destiny of sonship. ii. It is to gain for Himself sons and daughters who praise Him. iii. But for what? iv. The glory, which means the majesty or the honor, or the esteem, or the fame of… v. His grace. vi. Not only is grace something that we should be wishing to others. Not only is grace the lifeblood of the Christian walk. vii. His Grace being big in our eyes and worthy of great praise, is the purpose of our election and predestination. viii. God elects and predestines us so that we will praise Him for His MATCHLESS GRACE! ix. It is so important for us to empty election and predestination of anything of men. Why? Because only then can we see the grace of God as truly matchless and glorious. x. A grace that predestines and elects based on what we will do or who we are… is no gift of grace at all. It is merely a reward for work. xi. But a grace that elects us out of pure favor and love, is a grace that is glorious indeed. xii. But how much grace has God given to us? b. [Slide 17] that he has freely bestowed on us i. The Greek word means to bestow grace. But several translations add the word freely or lavishly. ii. This is because it would literally be translated, “He graced us with grace.” Which forms an idiom of abundance. iii. To freely or lavishly bestow is to do so without end or without limit. That God gives grace without stopping. iv. God freely and lavishly bestows His glorious grace on us in our election and predestination. And we must praise Him for it. c. [Slide 18] in his dearly loved Son. i. Again, this is a preposition of location. ii. It refers to our unity to Christ. iii. We are one with Christ and therefore, just as Christ received unlimited blessing and giftings from the Father through the Spirit, so also, we are given unlimited grace through the Father choosing and predestining us to be adopted children who praise Him for His glorious and abounding grace. d. [Slide 19] Summary of the Point: Paul finishes the first stanza of His doxological eulogy about God the Father. He has told us that God has chosen us in Christ by predestining us to be adopted through Christ. He has told us that this is because He loves us and has good will toward us. He has told us that He has done all this before the world was created and without any consideration on who we are or what we might be or do. All of this sets up the Father’s glorious purpose in our predestination and election. And it is so we, as adopted members of His family, would accurately worship Him for His glorious grace which He has lavished upon us in Christ. Conclusion: So CBC, what have we learned today that refines our beliefs and guides our lifestyles? Basics of Faith and Practice: [Slide 20] In Paul’s opening words of his good word of praise to God the Father, he told us that God has blessed us with every Holy Spirit benefit and kept them for us in the heavenlies in Christ. Now Paul expands on what some of those Spiritual blessings are and how they lead to all other Spiritual blessings. And he opens with one of the most perplexing and unfortunately one of the most controversial doctrines in the scriptures. Yet Paul clearly has no intention of starting a fight or argument. He wants his readers to be swept away by the magnitude of God’s grace. So, however we understand this passage, we must see God’s grace loom as large as possible. And that means taking the most straight forward reading of the text, which is that God predestines and elects those who will be adopted as sons and be part of His family and He does this according to His own good will without consulting anything about who we are or what we’ve done. God doesn’t give us a choice; He gives us a destiny. A destiny we weren’t born with and one we’d never see if He did not give it to us. THAT indeed, is glorious grace. And we should praise Him for it. But let me break this down and, unfortunately, defend these doctrines which are so plain in the text this morning. 1.) [Slide 21] Mind Transformation: “What truth must we believe from this text?” or “What might we not naturally believe that we must believe because of what this text has said?” We must affirm that God chooses before the foundation of the world who will inherit the blessings Christ purchased in His atonement. a. A clear and straight forward reading of this text brings us to this exact conclusion. b. God lovingly chooses before the foundation of the world individuals who will become holy and blameless in His sight both in their justification and in their sanctification. c. Who He chooses is a mystery and the individuals He chooses certainly form a corporate group of people who all have been chosen together… d. But with those caveats aside, whether we want to or not, we cannot help but confess that this doctrine is 100% true. e. It is by God’s Sovereign choice in electing individuals that they inherit the blessings of the New Covenant. f. And when we go back to the passages about the New Covenant, passages like Ezekiel 36 and Jeremiah 31, we read about this. God gives them a new heart not as a nation, but as individuals within the nation. God guarantees that they will follow Him. He guarantees that each individual will not need to be taught about Him because they will know Him. God tells them it isn’t for them He will do this but for His name, or for His posterity. For His family. He tells them He will make them unblemished and cleanse them from their uncleanness. g. Then in Ezekiel 37 directly after this, He illustrates the New Covenant to the prophet by having him preach to the valley of dry bones. Bones cannot hear, much less respond to preaching. Yet Ezekiel preached and the bones came to life, took on flesh, and fled. h. Whatever God does in the New Covenant, it is clear from the Old Testament passages, that God does it by Himself. Why? Because WE are dry bones. We have 1 destiny. i. God chose, before He created the world, who He would unite to Christ. 2.) [Slide 22] Mind Transformation: “What truth must we believe from this text?” or “What might we not naturally believe that we must believe because of what this text has said?” We must affirm that God chooses based on His predestining us to be adopted into His family. a. Because of the relationship of the words in the text, we must understand that predestination precedes or in some way contributes to God’s choice before the foundation of the world. b. This means that God’s plan to give a destiny of adoption into His family preceded or contributed to who He would choose to be in Christ. c. This helps us to understand why predestination and election seem to have a corporate feel to it. d. Because God began with the intention to gain for Himself and family by adoption, He then chose individuals to be in Christ to form that family. e. There is an unmistakable corporate nature to this plan of God’s but it is accomplished through individual names put in the book of life before the foundation of the world. f. And we must recognize that this plan of God’s for His elect is not merely to save us from sin and death. It is to save us TO adoption. To be in God’s family, bear His name, and to be holy and blameless in His sight. g. God has a plan for us first and then puts names to it. h. He is truly sovereign over all – including salvation. i. Because these things are true, we must… 3.) [Slide 23] Refutation: “What lies must we cast down” or “What do we naturally believe, or have been taught to believe, that this passage shows is false?” We must deny that God chooses and predestines us based on something we are or something we have done or will do. a. God tells us what source He used to predestine and choose us. b. It was the good pleasure of His will. c. Now this answer doesn’t satisfy us. We kinda want to know more. d. But what this answer refutes, and what the scriptures refute, is that God determined these destinies and choices based on something He saw in us. e. God did not look ahead to see who would believe before he made their destiny to adoption and chose them in His Son. f. He consulted His good will and predestined and chose according to it. g. To say otherwise endangers the very core of the gospel being not of works and not of man. For if God chose us because of something we are or will do… is there no room for boasting? I see a lot of room for boasting. h. Instead, if God chose me because He is good and delighted to choose me… I have nothing but praise to offer. 4.) [Slide 24] Refutation: “What lies must we cast down” or “What do we naturally believe, or have been taught to believe, that this passage shows is false?” We must deny that God chooses and predestines a group and not individuals. a. I came into this text fully resolved against the idea that God predestines and elects corporately. b. Through this text, I have come to the conclusion that I was wrong. God most certainly predestines and elects those who are saved in a corporate way. He predestines a group. A family. c. But He doesn’t predestine and elect empty spots in his family. He elects individuals to adoption into His family. d. Based on this text and the rest of the New Testament, this must be how we see this. e. Because the blessings of the New Covenant are given to Christ individually, and because each of us must express individual faith in Christ for God to unite us to Him, and because God will give new hearts to individuals within that New Covenant, and because God has written individual names in the book of life who will not be cast into the second death and who will not be blotted out… f. We must come to the conclusion that this election and predestination is of individuals to a corporate destiny found in and through Jesus Christ. g. We must deny that God only elects a non-individual group to salvation. For this does not hold up to the scrutiny of the entire New Testament’s teaching on the matter. h. Based on all we’ve discussed this morning… There is one thing we must stop doing. 5.) [Slide 25] De-Exhortation: “What actions should we stop doing” or “What behaviors do we naturally practice that this passage tells us to stop doing?” We must stop fighting these doctrines and submit to them instead. a. Notice I did not say we must stop fighting OVER these doctrines, although that is also true. We must certainly stop fighting each other over these things. And I think I know how we can do that… b. Emboldened by this text, I exhort all of us to stop fighting these doctrines. Full Stop. c. Now, even when we lay aside all the caricatures and false representations of these doctrines, it does not make them easy to swallow. d. They are uncomfortable. I’ll give you that. It is uncomfortable to put all of our salvation in the hands of God and leave nothing for us. e. It is uncomfortable to think that there are many people God has not predestined and elected to salvation. f. But the scriptures rarely call us to believe what is comfortable. Most of the time the scriptures call on us to believe things that are quite uncomfortable. g. Paul makes it quite clear. God alone predestines and chooses who will be part of His family. In the same way God alone chose Seth, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, and David. God predestines and chooses. And we just need to yield to that teaching. h. It is ONLY when we yield to that fully that we can obey the true command of this text. i. Which is what? 6.) [Slide 26] Exhortation: “What actions should we take?” or “What is this passage specifically commanding us to do that we don’t naturally do or aren’t currently doing?” We must praise God for His glorious grace in predestination and election. a. God planned to adopt sinners into His family through Christ’s path. b. If you are a believer today… c. God then picked you before time began to be united with His Son and in the New Covenant. d. God did all this because He loves you and in accordance with His good and favorable will. e. He put your name in the lamb’s book of life. f. He chose Seth to produce a line that would lead to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, and eventually to the Messiah who would be your new covenantal head. g. He sent His Son in the fullness of time to pay for your sins. h. His Son was the firstborn of many brothers so you would be adopted into the family of God through His atonement. i. He did all of this… for you. For me. j. Why? k. So, we would praise the wonder, the power, the majesty, the glory… of His grace. l. God’s grace, his powerful favor to make you what He predestined and elected you to be. m. Your application from this text is not to go home and fight these doctrines. It is not to go home and argue with God thinking you are arguing with me. n. Your application is to praise the Father for the wonder of His grace! o. If you leave here and do anything less – it is disobedience to the scriptures. 7.) [Slide 27] Comfort: “What comfort can we find here?” or “What peace does the Lord promise us in light of this passage of scripture?” God didn’t just choose to save us from sin. He has appointed us to be in His family, inherit His name, and live like He wants us to live. a. I know we’ve mentioned this already but let me just draw attention to it one more time. b. God designed a destiny first and picked our names for that destiny second. He decided what He would do and then to whom it would apply. c. This is FAR BEYOND escaping hell. d. We were sons and daughters of Satan my friends! We were like our father the devil. e. But God didn’t give US a choice, HE chose us for a DESTINY. One He marked out before the foundation of the world. f. Do you not feel loved? Do you not feel comfort of the good pleasure of God’s will? 8.) [Slide 28] Evangelism: “What about this text points us to Jesus Christ, the gospel, and how we are restored?” Even though God predestines and elects those who He will save, God does not reveal to us the individuals for whom He has done this. Therefore, the invitation to repent and believe is given to all. And that means you! a. One of the dangers of preaching the doctrines of predestination and election is that it is largely an intramural discussion. b. As Whitfield said, one should start with grade school teachings before moving to university teachings. c. The gospel call is for people to repent and believe. Only after someone has done this will they come to recognize that their repentance and faith were gifts of God given to make sure they become what He chose them to be before time began. d. But a danger in preaching these things is that unbelievers become quite fatalistic. They conclude that if God has already decided this… then no matter what I choose, it doesn’t actually matter. I’m not going to change my destiny. e. But that is the thing… God doesn’t offer a choice; He offers a new destiny. And one piece of information God conceals from us… is to whom He offers this destiny. f. If you are here today and you are not a believer, then you know the destiny you have. That is condemnation. It is death. It is the wrath of God for your sin. g. But perhaps for the first time you’ve been made aware of another destiny in the family of God. One that God provides to all whom He unites to His Son by true faith. h. How do you know you have that destiny offered to you? i. By receiving it. Turn from your sin. Trust in Jesus as your new representative. Both to take away your guilt of sin and to give you holiness and blamelessness. j. Walk in a new family and live up to the family name. k. If you do this, then you know that God has destined you for it. l. It is kinda the way we always determine destiny isn’t it? How do you know you were destined to be a great singer? You sing. How do you know you were destined to be a great baseball player? You play. m. How do you know God has destined you for His family? You turn from your sins and you trust in Jesus as God’s Son and your new representative. In short, you trust what your Father says. n. Is that you today? [Slide 29 (end)] Let me close with a word of prayer from the English reformer Henry Airay. Set apart and dedicate our hearts, Lord, with the touch of your Holy Spirit, so we may worship you in spirit and in truth, and so we may rejoice in your Son Christ Jesus our salvation. Teach us to renounce all confidence in anything that does not include him! Purge us daily more and more from all overdone affections, and from all those unbridled desires which may draw us away from you or hinder us from serving you. Renew in us a right spirit, so we may worship you-not in a comfortable way that we dream up on our own, but in spirit and in truth, according to your holy word. Set us apart and make us holy through your Holy Spirit, so that as we completely abandon all worldly confidence, we may wholly and only rejoice in Christ Jesus forever and ever, amen. Benediction: Now may your rising soul survey The mercies of your God; May you be lost in wonder, love and praise, So that through every period of your life His goodness you will pursue, Until our Lord Comes again. Until we meet again, Grace and Peace to you.