WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:29.699 We all want to be chosen, don't we? 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:38.000 Whether you're a third grader standing on the side of the field hoping you get picked first for the kickball game. 00:00:38.000 --> 00:00:45.000 Whether you're a junior in high school hoping you get asked for the prom. 00:00:45.000 --> 00:00:58.000 Whether you're the tenor who never gets noticed hoping that you might get picked to sing a solo in the Christmas Cantata. 00:00:58.000 --> 00:01:06.000 Or whether you're waiting for someone to get down on the scene, open up a little box and say, you're the one. 00:01:06.000 --> 00:01:10.000 You're the one that I love. I choose you. 00:01:10.000 --> 00:01:26.000 I think a part of our human experience. To long to be chosen. To long to be seen and known and cherished and loved in that way. 00:01:26.000 --> 00:01:32.000 Maybe it's because it makes us feel special when we stand out in the crowd. 00:01:32.000 --> 00:01:38.000 Maybe it's because we feel like we're seen and recognized for our uniqueness. 00:01:38.000 --> 00:01:44.000 Maybe it's because we desire so desperately to belong somewhere. 00:01:44.000 --> 00:01:50.000 And when someone says, I choose you, it helps us to sense that. 00:01:50.000 --> 00:02:00.000 I don't know what your life has been like. Some of you probably feel like you've never been chosen for anything. 00:02:00.000 --> 00:02:06.000 And so when you raise this question, it's pain that is your response. 00:02:06.000 --> 00:02:18.000 Nobody's ever chosen for me. I've lived my life feeling more abandoned, overlooked, or orphaned. 00:02:18.000 --> 00:02:24.000 Some of you here have probably always been chosen. 00:02:24.000 --> 00:02:30.000 Some of you have felt like you've grown accustomed to being seen as special. 00:02:30.000 --> 00:02:34.000 If you go to that big university process, you can see it in the street. 00:02:34.000 --> 00:02:36.000 They will tell you that you are the best and the brightest. 00:02:36.000 --> 00:02:40.000 And that of course, you were chosen. 00:02:40.000 --> 00:02:45.000 My guess is most of us are somewhere every two. 00:02:45.000 --> 00:02:50.000 We have a little bit of both. Maybe a lot of one. Maybe a little bit of the other. 00:02:50.000 --> 00:02:59.000 Tonight we look at a passage. We're continuing in our series of the Word of Ephesians. 00:02:59.000 --> 00:03:06.000 And we're going to look at the very beginning of the letter as Paul launches into his message to the church. 00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:11.000 To the church of Egypt Minor, certainly the emphasis, but probably more than that. 00:03:11.000 --> 00:03:18.000 We're going to explore for a few minutes the wonderful and glorious truth. 00:03:18.000 --> 00:03:27.000 And to be a Christian is to experience the deepest and most profound sense of being chosen. 00:03:27.000 --> 00:03:36.000 In fact, all of these other longings that we have in our lives are nearly signed books that point us to this. 00:03:36.000 --> 00:03:38.000 To this truth. 00:03:38.000 --> 00:03:45.000 That God has chosen his people for wonderful faith in us. 00:03:45.000 --> 00:03:54.000 If you haven't been here for the last two weeks, just to remind you, Ephesians seems to be a book written almost generally, probably to more than one place. 00:03:54.000 --> 00:03:56.000 Or more than one place was in mind. 00:03:56.000 --> 00:04:00.000 But it was written almost a primer of what does it mean to be Christian? 00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:06.000 How do we understand who God is and how are we meant to live in the world in life of that? 00:04:06.000 --> 00:04:18.000 So we're going to look at the beginning. I'm going to read a bit of the section from chapter 1, verse 1, walk away through verse 10, just to see if we get a little bit of context. 00:04:18.000 --> 00:04:22.000 We're going to be focusing on verses 4 and verse 6 this evening. 00:04:22.000 --> 00:04:24.000 So let's read this together. 00:04:24.000 --> 00:04:35.000 Paul, the apostle of Christ Jesus, by the Lord of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus, 00:04:35.000 --> 00:04:40.000 Praise to you and peace from God our Father and Lord Jesus Christ. 00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:51.000 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, 00:04:51.000 --> 00:05:01.000 Even as He chose us in the hymn before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. 00:05:01.000 --> 00:05:19.000 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 blood. 00:05:19.000 --> 00:05:45.000 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of His will, according to His purpose, which He set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in Him, things in heaven, and things on earth. 00:05:45.000 --> 00:05:47.000 Let's pray together. 00:05:47.000 --> 00:05:48.000 Let's pray together. 00:05:48.000 --> 00:05:52.000 Lord, we ask tonight that you would be amongst us to look at your word. 00:05:52.000 --> 00:05:58.000 We pray that you would teach our minds to know you rightly and truthfully. 00:05:58.000 --> 00:06:05.000 We pray that you would train our hearts to love you as we ought to, as we see your loveliness. 00:06:05.000 --> 00:06:17.000 And Lord, that you would train our goals to surrender to you to a way of you to our lives as a spinning person to rise to life. 00:06:17.000 --> 00:06:20.000 Lord, use me in that prayer. 00:06:20.000 --> 00:06:23.000 We speak your words in Jesus' name. 00:06:23.000 --> 00:06:24.000 Amen. 00:06:24.000 --> 00:06:25.000 Amen. 00:06:25.000 --> 00:06:31.000 It's striking as Paul launches out verse 3. 00:06:31.000 --> 00:06:39.000 If you haven't listened to Pastor Nick's sermon on verse 3 last week, it was a beautiful big picture approach to what Paul is doing in his book. 00:06:39.000 --> 00:06:47.000 So I recommend you on the Rack4 website, you can click find it in the list and click on it and get some of the big pictures. 00:06:47.000 --> 00:06:56.000 But part of what he said is, Paul is launching us into an exploration in the richness of what God has done for us in our salvation. 00:06:56.000 --> 00:07:01.000 And he said, we find our place in God's story. 00:07:01.000 --> 00:07:04.000 We see God's purposes for us and for his world. 00:07:04.000 --> 00:07:10.000 I don't even remember the other two, but those are the big picture parts that I remember. 00:07:10.000 --> 00:07:16.000 And it's interesting as he transitions out to verse 3, which is sort of this sweeping statement. 00:07:16.000 --> 00:07:19.000 God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 00:07:19.000 --> 00:07:20.000 God has blessed us. 00:07:20.000 --> 00:07:28.000 And then he says in chapter 4, he focuses in 4-6, particularly on the work of the Father. 00:07:28.000 --> 00:07:33.000 And he focuses particularly on all the things he could have said about God the Father. 00:07:33.000 --> 00:07:38.000 What he says is, he chose you. 00:07:38.000 --> 00:07:41.000 This is the very core of what you see. 00:07:41.000 --> 00:07:44.000 Look at me again in verses 4-6. 00:07:44.000 --> 00:07:47.000 Even as he chose us in him. 00:07:47.000 --> 00:07:51.000 And then you see again in verse, at the end of verse 4. 00:07:51.000 --> 00:07:57.000 In love he predestined us for adoption as sons. 00:07:57.000 --> 00:08:03.000 Let's think a little bit about what Paul is actually saying. 00:08:03.000 --> 00:08:04.000 Look at this passage. 00:08:04.000 --> 00:08:11.000 There are a number of things that Paul says about the nature of God's choosing of his people. 00:08:11.000 --> 00:08:15.000 He says first, it was before the foundation of the earth. 00:08:15.000 --> 00:08:23.000 And friends, we could spend an hour or 24 hours talking about whether God is in time and out of time. 00:08:23.000 --> 00:08:26.000 And some of the high level philosophical discussions. 00:08:26.000 --> 00:08:28.000 And you know, those are worth explaining. 00:08:28.000 --> 00:08:33.000 But what I want you to hear tonight is that I think Paul had a purpose in sharing this. 00:08:33.000 --> 00:08:42.000 Paul wanted you to know that God wasn't responding to you in your goodness or your madness when he chose you. 00:08:42.000 --> 00:08:45.000 He chose you before the foundations of the world. 00:08:45.000 --> 00:08:52.000 And Paul is reminding us of that so that you would know that you can't look it up. 00:08:52.000 --> 00:08:58.000 God didn't choose you because you were good enough. 00:08:58.000 --> 00:09:11.000 Because he saw something intrinsically in you that compelled him to respond to you personally in a particular way. 00:09:11.000 --> 00:09:15.000 No, in fact, it's the other way around. 00:09:15.000 --> 00:09:19.000 It's the very thing that's in him that caused him to choose you. 00:09:19.000 --> 00:09:23.000 This is why he says, in love, he predestined you. 00:09:23.000 --> 00:09:28.000 Look at verse, again, verse 4, right? 00:09:28.000 --> 00:09:32.000 In love, he predestined us for adoption to his sons. 00:09:32.000 --> 00:09:34.000 And he goes back to the beginning. 00:09:34.000 --> 00:09:35.000 He chose us in him. 00:09:35.000 --> 00:09:46.000 His love for us is what caused him to choose us. 00:09:46.000 --> 00:09:53.000 And he chose us to come and be to himself, to be a part of his family. 00:09:53.000 --> 00:10:01.000 And it was a very personal and it was a very relational action that God did. 00:10:01.000 --> 00:10:02.000 When he chose us. 00:10:02.000 --> 00:10:13.000 You may have heard, this is a commonly talked about in evangelicalism, that what it means to be a Christian is to have a personal relationship with God. 00:10:13.000 --> 00:10:16.000 And some people wonder, why do we say that? 00:10:16.000 --> 00:10:18.000 The Bible doesn't always talk about it that way. 00:10:18.000 --> 00:10:21.000 There are lots of different ways for us to talk about it. 00:10:21.000 --> 00:10:23.000 Well, here is where you see it. 00:10:23.000 --> 00:10:28.000 God has called you to be adopted even in his family. 00:10:28.000 --> 00:10:33.000 And that's the personal of the guests. 00:10:33.000 --> 00:10:42.000 Not only has he adopted us to be a part of his family, but he's adopted us to come in as full members. 00:10:42.000 --> 00:10:51.000 When he uses the imagery of being adopted as his son, part of it is simply continuing the father-son image that he uses. 00:10:51.000 --> 00:10:59.000 But it's clearly not gender specific because God has always been calling men and women into his family for all time. 00:10:59.000 --> 00:11:09.000 But in this context, always using this metaphor because to be adopted in a Roman context is the most mind-blowing thing. 00:11:09.000 --> 00:11:20.000 You are brought in from outside where you are a nobody with no family, no inheritance, no standing in society, no family homes or women. 00:11:20.000 --> 00:11:29.000 You have done a ton of those things that you have done in a family, which usually happen only in the wealthy, if I understand it properly. 00:11:29.000 --> 00:11:46.000 But in this context is to be brought into the riches of a home where every need is met and where you are standing in society as now being still upon you, fully and completely. 00:11:46.000 --> 00:11:49.000 And that's why he uses the image of a woman here. 00:11:49.000 --> 00:11:53.000 Because that's what a myth for a Roman to be adopted as a son. 00:11:53.000 --> 00:11:58.000 And this is true for all men and women who God chooses. 00:11:58.000 --> 00:12:07.000 That when he brings us into this family, we experience the richness and riches of this household. 00:12:07.000 --> 00:12:13.000 And finally, he chose us in him. 00:12:13.000 --> 00:12:19.000 Nick talked about this last week, but I want you to see it again and again and again. 00:12:19.000 --> 00:12:27.000 In this whole section is Paul reminding the Ephesians of the work of salvation that God has done. 00:12:27.000 --> 00:12:36.000 The centerpiece, the context of all of that work is in Jesus Christ. 00:12:36.000 --> 00:12:50.000 And every time you see him, in Jesus, in Jesus, in Jesus, God did this for me. 00:12:50.000 --> 00:12:54.000 And so this family connection is really rich. 00:12:54.000 --> 00:12:58.000 We'll come back to that at the end and explore it a little more. 00:12:58.000 --> 00:13:02.000 But what I want you to see here is that Paul launches into this. 00:13:02.000 --> 00:13:06.000 What do you need to know about the Father and his work in the world for you? 00:13:06.000 --> 00:13:11.000 What he's emphasizing is he has chosen you. 00:13:11.000 --> 00:13:21.000 He has chosen you, believers in Christ, to be a part of his family. 00:13:21.000 --> 00:13:22.000 Okay. 00:13:22.000 --> 00:13:30.000 Now I know that I've used the word chosen, and that's a great word because it doesn't use the word election. 00:13:30.000 --> 00:13:33.000 And it doesn't use the word predestination. 00:13:33.000 --> 00:13:44.000 And these are the words that we all step on and blow up in terms of our intellectual trying to work out how in the world do we understand this? 00:13:44.000 --> 00:13:49.000 And how do we process the question of how do I work in the world? 00:13:49.000 --> 00:13:51.000 And what about my experience? 00:13:51.000 --> 00:13:54.000 It felt like I chose to believe in God. 00:13:54.000 --> 00:13:56.000 One day I didn't, and then another day I did. 00:13:56.000 --> 00:13:57.000 And isn't that true? 00:13:57.000 --> 00:13:58.000 And what about other people? 00:13:58.000 --> 00:14:01.000 Can I tell them that they can choose to believe God? 00:14:01.000 --> 00:14:02.000 Is that okay? 00:14:02.000 --> 00:14:05.000 Or does this mean that they can choose to? 00:14:05.000 --> 00:14:12.000 And there are all these questions out there about the doctrine of predestination and election. 00:14:12.000 --> 00:14:13.000 Okay. 00:14:13.000 --> 00:14:18.000 I'm going to in some ways bracket that. 00:14:18.000 --> 00:14:29.000 Because at the core of it, there is a philosophical question that is actually quite difficult to know the question of God's real and our will and how they intersect. 00:14:29.000 --> 00:14:35.000 And in fact, I might even argue that part of the reason why I'm bracketing it is because I think that that is important. 00:14:35.000 --> 00:14:37.000 There's a bit of mystery here. 00:14:37.000 --> 00:14:46.000 Human minds have developed into it for centuries and have struggled to be able to express it in a way that doesn't. 00:14:46.000 --> 00:14:54.000 In some way, when you resolve it logically and rationally, what we end up is something that's unbiblical most of the time. 00:14:54.000 --> 00:14:59.000 We somehow violate something that's clear from Scripture when we resolve it. 00:14:59.000 --> 00:15:00.000 And so there's something that's unbiblical most of the time. 00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:09.000 And so there's something of a mystery here that I want us to say, okay, we have more work to do to understand God and how He works. 00:15:09.000 --> 00:15:10.000 But I want something that's unbiblical most of the time. 00:15:10.000 --> 00:15:21.000 But I want to be right in the book because I want to, as a pastor, I want to give you a pastor's heart for how I think God wants you to receive this truth. 00:15:21.000 --> 00:15:22.000 Okay? 00:15:22.000 --> 00:15:23.000 So a couple things I want to say. 00:15:23.000 --> 00:15:28.000 First of all, it seems very clear actually that this is how God works. 00:15:28.000 --> 00:15:41.000 When you read this passage, when you read Romans chapter 9, when you read some other places, even the passage that I read to you in the regular service in Yurani, this is a pattern. 00:15:41.000 --> 00:15:48.000 In the book, God is working freely without compulsion in this world. 00:15:48.000 --> 00:15:53.000 And He is not integral to us at one level for His actions. 00:15:53.000 --> 00:16:01.000 He does not make Himself dependent upon us to accomplish His will in the world. 00:16:01.000 --> 00:16:04.000 And this is the witness of Scripture. 00:16:04.000 --> 00:16:12.000 At the same time, Scripture also continually calls on human beings to respond to God. 00:16:12.000 --> 00:16:15.000 Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. 00:16:15.000 --> 00:16:16.000 Trust in the Lord. 00:16:16.000 --> 00:16:17.000 Do not be afraid. 00:16:17.000 --> 00:16:19.000 And so on and so on. 00:16:19.000 --> 00:16:27.000 And over and over and over again, we are treated as moral agents who are meant to respond to God properly. 00:16:27.000 --> 00:16:33.000 And this is the witness of Scripture. 00:16:33.000 --> 00:16:38.000 There is a sovereign God who does what He wants and therefore He is not dependent on us. 00:16:38.000 --> 00:16:46.000 And yet He calls us over and over and over and over and over again to respond to Him and to act and to do things. 00:16:46.000 --> 00:16:51.000 And these things are both true. 00:16:51.000 --> 00:16:54.000 It does not make us a real heart. 00:16:54.000 --> 00:17:09.000 Or it does not guide us over and over again to say that God is sovereign and that in salvation He has chosen us before the foundation of the world. 00:17:09.000 --> 00:17:19.000 The reason why we see this doctrine taught more and over again to the New Testament is not to will out who's in the news out. 00:17:19.000 --> 00:17:20.000 Jonathan, I think you're okay. 00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:21.000 You're in. 00:17:21.000 --> 00:17:22.000 Jane, really sorry. 00:17:22.000 --> 00:17:23.000 I don't think so. 00:17:23.000 --> 00:17:30.000 So, you know, that's why Christians are so often talking about that because of this idea that God has chosen some, 00:17:30.000 --> 00:17:32.000 well now I need to figure out who He's chosen. 00:17:32.000 --> 00:17:36.000 And then I sit in His seat as his sort of subordinate chooser. 00:17:36.000 --> 00:17:39.000 And that's a terrible place for us to be in. 00:17:39.000 --> 00:17:42.000 And that's inevitable the place that Scripture has to say be in. 00:17:42.000 --> 00:17:46.000 We are not called to take on to that. 00:17:46.000 --> 00:18:00.000 Instead, this is held out again to those of us who have been orphaned from God by our sin as a comfort and a security. 00:18:00.000 --> 00:18:01.000 You aren't abandoned. 00:18:01.000 --> 00:18:03.000 You aren't alone. 00:18:03.000 --> 00:18:04.000 You're alone. 00:18:04.000 --> 00:18:05.000 You're alone. 00:18:05.000 --> 00:18:10.000 The God who made the heavens and the earth calls you to come to Him. 00:18:10.000 --> 00:18:16.000 And all who come to Him will come to Him because He has chosen them. 00:18:16.000 --> 00:18:20.000 And if you are thinking you want to come to Him, He will never turn you away. 00:18:20.000 --> 00:18:27.000 So then you will rest in the comfort that He has chosen you. 00:18:27.000 --> 00:18:36.079 There is surely, there is delight, and there is assurance in knowing that God has chosen us. 00:18:40.579 --> 00:18:44.980 The place that stings the most is our pride. 00:18:45.920 --> 00:18:50.119 Because in our pride, we long to be independent. 00:18:50.799 --> 00:18:56.440 And we long to be able to say, God chose me because I'm kind of special. 00:18:57.000 --> 00:18:58.019 In some way or another. 00:18:59.740 --> 00:19:02.000 And we want God to do that. 00:19:02.319 --> 00:19:07.779 And even if we feel heaped on by condemnation and God will never choose me, 00:19:08.059 --> 00:19:14.740 there is still a pride under that that says, well, God can never choose me because I'm not good enough, 00:19:14.960 --> 00:19:17.819 or I should be good enough, and that's my pride again. 00:19:17.819 --> 00:19:24.900 Because I want you to accept me based on how good I am, or what I can offer, or what I have to do. 00:19:24.900 --> 00:19:30.000 And it is one of the most humbling truths of the New Testament. 00:19:32.560 --> 00:19:38.120 That the reason why God loves us is not because of us, but it is because of him. 00:19:40.640 --> 00:19:45.640 He has loved us first because he is a God of love. 00:19:45.640 --> 00:19:51.800 He has chosen us. 00:19:51.800 --> 00:20:02.520 And our helplessness, our neediness, our dependence before God is actually a beautiful place to be in. 00:20:02.840 --> 00:20:04.000 It's very comforting. 00:20:04.000 --> 00:20:13.839 It's comforting only, though, because of the character of the one who has chosen us, and the one who oversees our lives. 00:20:13.839 --> 00:20:23.059 If we were in a world where we had to prove ourselves, and we were helpless, that would be a terrible thing. 00:20:24.279 --> 00:20:32.119 But in fact, God has put us into a place where we have nothing spiritually offered to him in our sinfulness. 00:20:33.279 --> 00:20:36.240 And he says, you will write where I need you to be. 00:20:36.240 --> 00:20:40.420 Now you can receive my grace, my undeserved favor. 00:20:40.819 --> 00:20:42.660 Now you can receive my love. 00:20:42.920 --> 00:20:46.059 It's not because of who you are, but because of who I am. 00:20:46.279 --> 00:20:51.779 Now you can receive my patience, and my kindness, and my peace, and my strength. 00:20:55.200 --> 00:20:57.420 Because this is what I created you for. 00:20:58.240 --> 00:20:59.819 To depend on me. 00:21:01.200 --> 00:21:04.400 And to find me to be the source of your life and your mind. 00:21:04.400 --> 00:21:12.000 Let me just delay one final fear that is out there. 00:21:12.660 --> 00:21:15.519 I've already addressed it a little bit, but I want to make it very clear. 00:21:17.360 --> 00:21:28.880 We fear sometimes, if God has chosen some to be his people, that there might be someone out there who really, really, really wants to know God. 00:21:30.080 --> 00:21:31.440 But God has chosen them. 00:21:31.440 --> 00:21:34.220 And I guess he's left out. 00:21:35.580 --> 00:21:39.700 And we have this deep, stiff fear that that might be true. 00:21:40.700 --> 00:21:45.580 And friends, logically, that is a possibility as we lay it out before us. 00:21:45.940 --> 00:21:47.440 But biblically, it is an impossibility. 00:21:48.980 --> 00:21:55.420 There is never, ever, ever in Scripture someone who longs to know God who cannot know him. 00:21:55.420 --> 00:22:01.880 In fact, what we see instead is God constantly coming to people who don't care at all about him. 00:22:02.180 --> 00:22:03.380 Saying, I love you. 00:22:03.460 --> 00:22:04.180 I love you. 00:22:04.320 --> 00:22:05.700 Turn back to me. 00:22:06.100 --> 00:22:10.200 Forsake your other ways, your other cause, your foolish life. 00:22:10.380 --> 00:22:11.360 Come to me. 00:22:13.759 --> 00:22:16.100 Stop living out on your own. 00:22:16.880 --> 00:22:18.860 Where you're getting beat up by the world. 00:22:18.859 --> 00:22:24.839 And come back into my family where you were created to be from the first place. 00:22:26.659 --> 00:22:35.779 And never has God turned away one who has turned to him with a humble heart and a sense of his desperate need. 00:22:35.779 --> 00:22:42.700 And so this doctrine of being chosen is a beautiful thing for us. 00:22:45.180 --> 00:22:49.899 Let me just play this out quickly in three little applications. 00:22:51.660 --> 00:22:59.660 The fact that God has chosen his people in Christ, believers in Jesus, that he's chosen them, 00:22:59.660 --> 00:23:07.840 means that when we know it, as Christians, and I mean really know it, not some respectable little, 00:23:08.120 --> 00:23:12.980 oh, I do have my tax return, or I mean something heinous and awful. 00:23:13.519 --> 00:23:16.660 When we think this is the worst thing and now I'm done. 00:23:16.940 --> 00:23:18.300 I am no longer chosen. 00:23:18.500 --> 00:23:19.820 I am outside the family. 00:23:21.259 --> 00:23:24.120 He can never forgive me of this. 00:23:24.119 --> 00:23:31.299 When we fail on a grand scale. 00:23:33.619 --> 00:23:40.159 Just like, by the way, Moses and David and Abraham and Peter and a few other people in the Bible did. 00:23:41.699 --> 00:23:43.039 And might have felt this way. 00:23:43.799 --> 00:23:49.939 The knowledge that God has chosen us gives us a place to come back into the house. 00:23:50.319 --> 00:23:53.059 Just like the prodigal son who came to his senses. 00:23:53.059 --> 00:23:56.440 He said, my father's house, that's where I belong. 00:23:57.940 --> 00:23:59.059 And he came back in. 00:24:00.919 --> 00:24:05.379 And so in the face of our worst failure, there is still hope. 00:24:06.460 --> 00:24:08.740 Because God has chosen us. 00:24:10.099 --> 00:24:11.599 And he won't forsake us. 00:24:12.379 --> 00:24:15.460 Secondly, in the face of uncertainty. 00:24:16.720 --> 00:24:19.759 When you are wondering about your life. 00:24:19.759 --> 00:24:22.480 When your plans have fallen apart. 00:24:23.119 --> 00:24:27.839 When, if you were in New York City on Friday night and you're wondering, 00:24:28.039 --> 00:24:30.740 how can I ever know that I will be safe again. 00:24:31.180 --> 00:24:38.119 When you are on the brink of a job change or a graduation or a transition to a new place. 00:24:38.259 --> 00:24:41.119 And you're wondering, how in the world can I live? 00:24:41.119 --> 00:24:43.919 Here is an anchor for your soul. 00:24:46.799 --> 00:24:50.500 God has set love on you in Jesus Christ. 00:24:52.659 --> 00:24:54.000 He's chosen you. 00:24:54.839 --> 00:24:56.019 And he will go with you. 00:24:56.159 --> 00:24:57.199 And he will be with you. 00:24:57.279 --> 00:24:58.500 And he will walk with you. 00:24:58.500 --> 00:25:00.459 And he will walk with you through all of that uncertainty. 00:25:00.460 --> 00:25:05.039 And he will not be abandoned or orphans or alone. 00:25:06.840 --> 00:25:15.279 And finally, because we know that the greatest, according to the Bible, the last enemy is death itself. 00:25:16.000 --> 00:25:17.660 When we are facing the enemy. 00:25:19.600 --> 00:25:22.420 Some of you may be near to that than others. 00:25:23.059 --> 00:25:26.140 Your brother in the city died yesterday in the answer. 00:25:26.140 --> 00:25:30.820 Some are wrestling with these questions. 00:25:31.680 --> 00:25:32.759 Here is the hope. 00:25:33.560 --> 00:25:35.800 If God has set his love on me. 00:25:36.020 --> 00:25:40.560 If he has chosen me to be adopted as his child. 00:25:40.940 --> 00:25:42.220 And to be a part of his family. 00:25:43.520 --> 00:25:47.100 Then even death, which seems like the worst in the world. 00:25:48.420 --> 00:25:50.460 Loses its power in its sin. 00:25:50.840 --> 00:25:53.400 Because I know whose I am. 00:25:53.400 --> 00:25:56.180 And I know where I belong. 00:25:59.200 --> 00:26:04.900 And even death will be just a transition into an eternity with him. 00:26:08.900 --> 00:26:17.140 So friends, it is good news to be chosen to be adopted as his children in his love. 00:26:17.140 --> 00:26:22.200 There are two implications from this in this passage. 00:26:23.000 --> 00:26:28.020 I spend most of our time simply sitting in this truth of being chosen by him. 00:26:28.120 --> 00:26:30.440 There are two implications that I want to draw out. 00:26:30.720 --> 00:26:32.420 Because they are in there in verse 4. 00:26:33.259 --> 00:26:34.320 Look with me again. 00:26:34.660 --> 00:26:38.420 Even as he chose us in him before the foundations of the world. 00:26:39.259 --> 00:26:42.920 That we should be as holy and blameless before him. 00:26:42.920 --> 00:26:48.279 One of the purposes of him choosing us and bringing us into his family. 00:26:49.019 --> 00:26:55.640 Is so that we might be set apart from the world that we live in. 00:26:55.779 --> 00:26:58.160 And all of its fallen dynamics. 00:26:58.360 --> 00:27:00.120 And destructive minds. 00:27:00.740 --> 00:27:03.500 Spiritually and personally destructiveness. 00:27:04.019 --> 00:27:06.740 That is what sin is like us. 00:27:06.740 --> 00:27:11.519 And what Paul is pointing to here is to say. 00:27:11.920 --> 00:27:13.859 He has brought you into his family. 00:27:14.299 --> 00:27:16.799 And now he wants you to act like a family member. 00:27:17.160 --> 00:27:19.680 Act like someone who belongs to God. 00:27:20.799 --> 00:27:23.720 I remember when I was in 9th grade. 00:27:23.880 --> 00:27:27.319 I was able to get on to a traveling soccer team. 00:27:27.720 --> 00:27:29.039 And it was a different world. 00:27:29.740 --> 00:27:30.839 And I had ever lived. 00:27:30.900 --> 00:27:33.380 I always lived in like a full-wrecked soccer place. 00:27:33.380 --> 00:27:35.279 And suddenly I was in this bigger world. 00:27:35.279 --> 00:27:38.680 And I remember looking at the guys who had done it before. 00:27:39.180 --> 00:27:40.119 And the older guys. 00:27:40.299 --> 00:27:42.139 And I was thinking, I want to learn from them. 00:27:42.359 --> 00:27:43.339 How do I behave? 00:27:43.639 --> 00:27:45.339 Now that I belong to this team. 00:27:45.440 --> 00:27:46.899 How do I do this well? 00:27:47.839 --> 00:27:52.039 And I learned everything from what's the coolest shoes I should be wearing. 00:27:52.399 --> 00:27:54.019 To how do I practice. 00:27:54.440 --> 00:27:56.480 To what do I do with my time off. 00:27:56.579 --> 00:27:59.240 I didn't always see good things, to be honest with you. 00:27:59.480 --> 00:28:03.779 But I had this deep impulse of, I'm a part of a team. 00:28:03.779 --> 00:28:06.399 I want to live in light of that. 00:28:06.680 --> 00:28:08.599 I want to live according to that. 00:28:08.680 --> 00:28:12.539 So that I'm going to live out of this reality that I'm a part of a team. 00:28:13.299 --> 00:28:15.779 And that's what God is doing here. 00:28:16.539 --> 00:28:19.839 God is reminding us that when we've been brought into God's feeling. 00:28:20.279 --> 00:28:23.240 We don't just say, now I can do whatever I want. 00:28:23.639 --> 00:28:26.059 Like sort of the rich millionaire heir. 00:28:26.480 --> 00:28:27.799 Who is a playboy. 00:28:27.960 --> 00:28:30.440 Who just slaughters his parents' money. 00:28:30.639 --> 00:28:32.220 And does whatever he wants. 00:28:32.220 --> 00:28:37.740 No, instead it's as we realize the incredible privilege and honor it is. 00:28:38.079 --> 00:28:39.579 That God has chosen us. 00:28:40.079 --> 00:28:41.680 And brought us into his family. 00:28:42.700 --> 00:28:44.559 It inspires us. 00:28:44.720 --> 00:28:46.279 And draws out of us. 00:28:48.319 --> 00:28:49.880 This new life. 00:28:50.539 --> 00:28:52.960 Of I want to live as God's child. 00:28:53.319 --> 00:28:56.640 I want to live fully and blameless in this world. 00:28:56.640 --> 00:29:03.500 It is the status of sonship that produces this kind of life. 00:29:03.500 --> 00:29:08.619 When someone who can reverse it and say, God can only be a son of God or a child of God. 00:29:08.759 --> 00:29:09.720 Right to the right. 00:29:11.359 --> 00:29:12.740 But Paul is saying, no, no. 00:29:12.799 --> 00:29:14.599 God has chosen you for this. 00:29:15.420 --> 00:29:16.660 And this is part of the purpose. 00:29:16.779 --> 00:29:18.599 That you live like a family member. 00:29:19.259 --> 00:29:25.519 And the beautiful thing is the book of Ephesians is going to give us all sorts of really practical ways of what that looks like. 00:29:25.519 --> 00:29:33.119 Chapter 1 through 3 is going to lay out for us the riches of what it means to be part of this household. 00:29:33.839 --> 00:29:39.099 And chapters 4 through 6 are going to say, in this time you should live in life that. 00:29:39.639 --> 00:29:40.559 So stick around. 00:29:40.839 --> 00:29:43.079 And you'll get all the allocations from this point. 00:29:43.379 --> 00:29:44.759 And I'm not going to spell that now. 00:29:44.759 --> 00:29:50.859 Come back in the middle of October and start talking along through the fourth year. 00:29:51.039 --> 00:29:51.700 I don't even know. 00:29:51.779 --> 00:29:53.779 Maybe this January or maybe we can get there. 00:29:55.700 --> 00:29:56.059 Anyway. 00:29:56.859 --> 00:30:04.579 But the reality is that the book of Ephesians gives us all sorts of practical advice on how to live as God's people. 00:30:05.799 --> 00:30:11.740 But it springs out of this being adopted into his family, into his household. 00:30:14.759 --> 00:30:20.180 Thirdly, we see this in verse 6. 00:30:21.819 --> 00:30:34.039 He repeats, he loved, he predestined us for adoption, for adoption as sons of Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace. 00:30:34.839 --> 00:30:36.579 So this is the second implication. 00:30:36.579 --> 00:30:43.720 And that is that we who perceive this love, this choosing, that had nothing to do with our deserving it. 00:30:43.919 --> 00:30:46.059 That is the definition of grace, right? 00:30:46.480 --> 00:30:53.519 God's grace is his undeserved favor and blessing and bestowing of love. 00:30:53.720 --> 00:30:57.419 And ultimately, it's saving us from our sin. 00:30:57.420 --> 00:31:01.259 When we couldn't save ourselves from him. 00:31:04.480 --> 00:31:09.800 And we are now given the purpose of living to the praise of his glorious grace. 00:31:09.799 --> 00:31:15.480 I don't know if your high school had a trophy case. 00:31:16.720 --> 00:31:18.359 We had one in our gymnasium. 00:31:19.019 --> 00:31:23.700 We had soccer trophies and wrestling trophies. 00:31:23.700 --> 00:31:32.680 And individuals who were super special, superstars who got whatever kind of accolades, who got little plaques and all that stuff. 00:31:32.680 --> 00:31:37.100 Friends, you know what God wants us to be? 00:31:38.060 --> 00:31:42.860 A trophy case where the content of those trophies is God's grace. 00:31:43.759 --> 00:31:47.600 Where people look at our life and they see, this is what God has done in our life. 00:31:47.700 --> 00:31:49.200 This is what God has done in our life. 00:31:49.320 --> 00:31:50.779 This is what God has done in our life. 00:31:51.100 --> 00:31:52.980 This is how he saved me from sin. 00:31:53.259 --> 00:31:55.400 This is how he's shown himself faithful to me. 00:31:55.640 --> 00:31:57.539 This is how he has sent his love on me. 00:31:57.840 --> 00:32:01.480 This is God's grace to me over and over and over again. 00:32:01.480 --> 00:32:07.319 And that's what it means to live, to be to the praise of his glorious grace. 00:32:07.319 --> 00:32:16.400 It's that our lives become a display case whereby God shows his grace to the world through us. 00:32:18.400 --> 00:32:20.579 And this is an incredible privilege. 00:32:21.700 --> 00:32:26.620 And we are that when we go back into the, but I want credit. 00:32:27.039 --> 00:32:28.539 I want to get this my way. 00:32:28.940 --> 00:32:30.279 I'm going to do it myself. 00:32:30.279 --> 00:32:31.599 Thank you very much. 00:32:31.599 --> 00:32:38.759 When we fall back into those patterns of pride and independence and performance, 00:32:39.899 --> 00:32:44.319 we tarnish the trophies and the kings. 00:32:45.119 --> 00:32:52.420 As we live this life of independence and humility and rejoicing in what God has done for us. 00:32:52.420 --> 00:32:55.820 And that he has chosen us and set his love on us. 00:32:56.820 --> 00:32:58.600 Then we are in his way of his way. 00:32:59.440 --> 00:33:00.640 For his glory. 00:33:02.039 --> 00:33:06.000 And this is for us exactly what we all need, isn't it? 00:33:07.480 --> 00:33:11.480 We need God to do what we couldn't do for ourselves or else. 00:33:11.480 --> 00:33:13.860 And having done that now. 00:33:13.860 --> 00:33:18.740 And having done that now, for all who have trusted in Christ, God calls us to then live out this calling. 00:33:19.579 --> 00:33:20.339 Be different. 00:33:20.339 --> 00:33:23.659 Because of where you belong now. 00:33:23.659 --> 00:33:26.079 And have a purpose. 00:33:27.359 --> 00:33:28.679 Not about yourself. 00:33:29.959 --> 00:33:33.899 But about this gracious God who is blessed so much for you. 00:33:33.900 --> 00:33:38.240 And he closes the phrase in verse 6. 00:33:39.560 --> 00:33:45.440 To the praise of his glorious grace with which he has blessed us in the beloved. 00:33:46.120 --> 00:33:49.259 Friends, this is the most amazing thing about what God has done. 00:33:49.500 --> 00:33:56.940 As he has chosen us, the way that he actually did the work so that he could bring us into his family. 00:33:56.940 --> 00:34:02.220 It's an intensely personal and intensely costly action. 00:34:02.880 --> 00:34:09.599 Because God the Father and God the Son were together in this predetermined before the beginning of the world. 00:34:10.119 --> 00:34:11.320 That he would do this. 00:34:13.240 --> 00:34:15.480 That the beloved of the Father. 00:34:15.820 --> 00:34:18.400 The second person of the Trinity. 00:34:18.800 --> 00:34:21.240 The Son would take on human form. 00:34:21.240 --> 00:34:24.079 And Jesus Christ would guide him. 00:34:24.079 --> 00:34:26.880 The beloved who was perfectly obedient. 00:34:27.259 --> 00:34:29.159 And live as a child. 00:34:29.279 --> 00:34:30.259 A son of God. 00:34:30.579 --> 00:34:32.420 His whole life in perfection. 00:34:34.039 --> 00:34:36.019 When he hung on that cross. 00:34:36.840 --> 00:34:37.639 He cried out, 00:34:37.779 --> 00:34:39.099 My God, my God. 00:34:39.539 --> 00:34:41.480 Why have you forsaken me? 00:34:43.239 --> 00:34:43.860 He 00:34:43.860 --> 00:34:50.739 Bore the price of being outside of God's household. 00:34:51.279 --> 00:34:53.360 Outside of God's family. 00:34:53.360 --> 00:34:55.740 Forsaken by God. 00:34:57.039 --> 00:35:01.860 So that we, who had chosen to forsake God in our sin. 00:35:02.180 --> 00:35:04.780 Who had chosen to live independently from him. 00:35:05.059 --> 00:35:09.079 Who had chosen to live in our pride and our performance. 00:35:09.920 --> 00:35:12.660 Could be humbled and brought back in. 00:35:15.059 --> 00:35:16.059 With him. 00:35:16.820 --> 00:35:18.360 As he rose for the dead. 00:35:19.700 --> 00:35:21.220 Into the family of God. 00:35:21.219 --> 00:35:25.459 What a beautiful, beautiful thing he does. 00:35:26.339 --> 00:35:27.980 Friends, this is the gospel. 00:35:28.959 --> 00:35:30.719 And it calls on us for a response. 00:35:32.559 --> 00:35:36.239 For those of you who have placed your faith in Christ over here tonight. 00:35:36.239 --> 00:35:41.359 I pray that you will rejoice in the riches of what God has done. 00:35:41.360 --> 00:35:43.360 That you will be glad. 00:35:43.360 --> 00:35:43.460 That you will be glad. 00:35:43.780 --> 00:35:45.120 Not wrestle with it. 00:35:45.120 --> 00:35:48.039 Not fight against the fact that God has chosen you. 00:35:48.300 --> 00:35:50.760 But that you will rest in the helplessness. 00:35:51.640 --> 00:35:53.860 Before your sovereign king. 00:35:54.240 --> 00:35:55.380 Loves you like that. 00:35:56.380 --> 00:35:58.980 And that you will be able to praise his grace. 00:35:58.980 --> 00:35:59.420 And if you will be able to praise his grace. 00:36:00.619 --> 00:36:02.099 If you were here tonight. 00:36:03.039 --> 00:36:03.800 And you were wondering. 00:36:04.800 --> 00:36:06.420 Could God choose me? 00:36:08.420 --> 00:36:10.039 Friends, this is the invitation. 00:36:11.000 --> 00:36:12.659 To admit your sinfulness. 00:36:13.099 --> 00:36:15.059 To admit your inability. 00:36:16.360 --> 00:36:18.460 To gain God's faith on your own. 00:36:18.639 --> 00:36:20.320 To say, I have nothing to pray. 00:36:20.320 --> 00:36:23.280 But what you have done for me in Jesus is not. 00:36:24.320 --> 00:36:25.940 And to trust in that. 00:36:26.340 --> 00:36:28.780 Say, God, I want to be in your family. 00:36:29.180 --> 00:36:34.260 I want to be adopted as your child. 00:36:35.080 --> 00:36:37.580 And this is the invitation for you. 00:36:37.720 --> 00:36:38.440 Let me pray. 00:36:39.180 --> 00:36:40.539 Lord, we pray tonight. 00:36:40.660 --> 00:36:43.039 That you, by your spirit, reward among us. 00:36:43.980 --> 00:36:45.320 Lord, that we would succeed. 00:36:45.680 --> 00:36:48.620 And be captured by the greatness of what you've done for us. 00:36:48.619 --> 00:36:50.299 That we are restored. 00:36:50.880 --> 00:36:52.359 Always to have a word of promise. 00:36:53.059 --> 00:36:53.839 Even now. 00:36:54.599 --> 00:36:56.179 We pray this in Jesus' name. 00:36:57.500 --> 00:36:57.900 Amen. 00:36:59.179 --> 00:37:02.739 Let's continue to worship this amazing Jesus.