| Introduction There are no better blessings than those that come from the hand of God. And of those blessings, there are no better blessings than those that have to do with our eternal life. The truth that God the Father has blessed us with every spiritual blessing leads Paul to break out in benediction. Among those blessings that led Paul to praise God is the blessing of having been chosen by God before the foundation of the world. Predestination is a doctrine that should bring joy to every Christian's heart. It did to Paul's heart! Yet, it often passionately denied by large segments of Christianity. This morning and through whatever time we spend on chapter 1, I want to light a fire in your heart for the glorious truth that God has chosen a people to himself because he wanted to and that he brought his plan to past through his shear grace in the Lord Jesus Christ. I. Five Spiritual Blessings: All by Grace, All Because of Christ. A. Being chosen by God in eternity past in order to be holy and blameless, 4. B. Adoption as children of God, 5. C. Redemption and forgiveness because of Jesus Christ, 7. D.The gift of the Holy Spirit, 13. E. The hope of glory, 14 (the redemption of the purchased possession). II. Predestination Is a Matter of Praise, 3-4. A. Predestination is a dirty word in some circles – some people hate this idea. B. But for those who allow the Scriptures to direct us how to think about what is true, this is a glorious doctrine. 1. Paul describes it as a spiritual blessing worthy of the character of heaven itself. 2. We should take it as Paul states it: a blessing. C. For Paul, the fact that God the Father planned to save his people in and through Christ is a matter of joy, comfort, blessing, praise. 1. This word blessedis different than the usual word for blessing elsewhere, e.g. the Beatitudes. a. Makáriosis the usual word. b. Here the word is eulogetós. 2. This word is made up of two words smashed together: well speaking. a. Paul well speaks of God because God has well spoken of us (blessed us), 3. b. He well spoke of us before the foundation of the world (kósmos), 4. 1) Before anything was made, before the first atom or sub-atomic particle was ever called into existence, God well spoke of us in planning how he was going to save us. 2) As far as we can establish from passages such as this one, Rom. 9, and others, the thought process in the mind of God concerning our salvation went like this: a) God determined to create the universe. i. That universe was the best possible conceived universe. ii. Multiverse theory speaks of infinite, equal possibilities for parallel universes. iii. The fact that God conceived and created the universe we live in means that there is no other possible universe since what he conceives and creates is always perfect. b) In that universe, God determined especially to create humanity. c) After he determined to create humanity, he determined to choose a people to himself and left the others to themselves. Rom. 9:21– Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor? d) Then he determined how he was going to make those who he had chosen be his people – he did that by planning the Fall and the redemption that eventually was going to be accomplished by the Son and applied by the Spirit. 3) This plan was the best and most perfect plan ever since God came up with it. 4) God's plan culminates with you and me becoming sons and daughters of God. 5) The execution of this plan exalts, praises, approves the glory of God's grace, 6. D.God's plan, executed perfectly by the Spirit, gives us and identity as well as a way of life: holy and without blame, 4. 1. Holy is who we are and what we do! 2. Holy is the result of being chosen in Christ. a. Our election is in Christ and because of Christ. b. It has nothing to do with whom we are. c. In this sense, it is unconditional – there is nothing in us that conditions God's choosing us. "For if we are chosen in Christ, it is outside ourselves. It is not from the sight of our deserving, but because our heavenly Father has engrafted us, through the blessing of adoption, into the Body of Christ. In short, the name of Christ excludes all merit, and everything which men have of themselves; for when he says that we are chosen in Christ, it follows that in ourselves we are unworthy." John Calvin "If men are chosen to be holy, they cannot be chosen because they are holy." Charles Hodge 3. Everything in this passage is a result of God grace in and through Jesus Christ. a. Nothing to do with whom you and I are. c. We don't subtract a thing – Paul will refer to us as dead in chpt. 2. E. Why did God do things this way? 1. Because of the good pleasure of his will, 5. 2. God thought that it was the best thing he could do. 3. No other explanation given. III. Why Do People Dislike the Idea That God Chose Us Apart from Anything to Do with Us? A. Because the wordschosen, predestined,electare used in the Bible, anyone who tries to take the Bible seriously has to deal with them. 1. People who don't like what I just said will explain election/predestination in terms of God's knowing that in the future you would choose him, so in eternity past he chose you. 2. Others say that God chooses you right after you choose him. B. One of the reasons, perhaps the primary reason, some Christians don't like this doctrine is exactly because we don't add anything to it, we have no control over it. 1. We tend to have a bit of Invictus in us. 2. We all want to be the masters of our fate and the captain of our souls. 3. The idea that the most important thing in our lives, our eternal destiny, is not in our hand frightens us. 4. But I want you to see that this is actually the most liberating thing we could ever embrace. a. God, not us, made us accepted in the Beloved, the lovely one, the Lord Jesus Christ. b. We were unconditionally chosen in Christ. c. At the same time, we don't have to wonder if he has chosen us! d. We just believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. 1) God doesn't tell us to figure out whether we were chosen by him. 2) Even when his Words tells us to make our calling and election sure, it tells us to do believing things, that is, to live out our identity as holy. 2 Pt. 1:5-11– But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will beneither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. C. Another reason some people have difficulty time with this doctrine is that they think that only a couple of people were chosen – they find it limiting. 1. This couldn't be further from the truth. 2. God has chosen a multitude more numerous than the stars of heaven, the grains of sand on the seashores, and the speckles of dust on the earth. Rev. 7:9-10– After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, "Salvation belongsto our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!" D.Another reason some people struggle with this doctrine is that they think it will hinder evangelism – if God has already chosen who is going to be saved and they will be saved, why tell them about Jesus. 1. When God chose who would be saved, he also determined how they were going to be saved – in Jesus Christ. 2. What he planned in eternity past, he puts in practice as his people goes out and tells others about the truth of the gospel of salvation, 13. Rom. 10:14-15– How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: "How beautiful are the feet of those whopreach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!" 3. The idea that God will save his people propels the church to go out and proclaim the gospel because we know that those who have been chosen by God WILL respond to the gospel. E. One last reason I will mention that some people struggle with this doctrine is that they are afraid that someone we love and is not a believer may not be elect. 1. This is a difficult thing, but it is a matter of faith. 2. What God does is right, or he is not God. 3. If we can't conceive of heaven without our kids, parents, etc., perhaps our hope of glory is not quite Jesus Christ. 4. This doesn't mean that we are indifferent to the lost in our families and friends. a. We proclaim the gospel to them and we pray for them as if their salvation depended on our words and prayers. b. But we rest on God – "the Lord gives, the Lord takes way; blessed be the name of the Lord." IV. The Result of Election Is Adoption, 5. A. Adoption as sonsis an important concept that goes beyond using a masculine word for a plural concept that should be translated childrenin English – Paul uses the word childrenseveral times (2:3; 4:14, 5:1, 8). B. The legal benefits of being adopted as a son were greater than as a daughter. 1. An adopted daughter had no right to an inheritance. 2. So, Paul says that the result of election is that men and women receive the benefit of having been adopted as sons. C. The greatest benefit of our adoption is eternal life with God, 14. 1. Our inheritance is God himself. 2. We know we are going to receive what God has promised us because we have the Holy Spirit (more on this in a future sermon). V. What Is the Impact of This Doctrine on the Way WE Live Our Lives? A. Assurance – we, on our best day, would not be good enough for God to choose us, and we on our worst day are not bad enough for God to turn his back on us. B. Thankfulness – if God hadn't chosen us, we would never have known him. C. Holiness – the fact that you believe in Jesus must show itself in obedient lives. D.Confidence – the proclamation of the gospel will result on people being saved. E. Love – God loved you even before you were.
Jesus says, "You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and thatyour fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you" (Jn. 15:16).
http://olympiabp.blogspot.com/2019/02/every-spiritual-blessing-eph-13-6.html
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