Election: Loved Before Time

They still have some work to do — they got to get the lights back on up here and a couple of things — but we certainly are grateful for all the work these brothers have done, especially Jim Spencer, who's kind of spearheaded that and many other works. We really do appreciate all the work.

Wanted to announce — we haven't said much about it — but our annual retreat is coming up in February, the weekend, I think it's the 10th, 11th, and 12th, if I remember right: Friday evening through Sunday morning. And I really want to encourage you to sign up for that and come and join us. This is a great time of fellowship. We're having Art Azurdia come and speak that weekend. He's one of the finest preachers I know, and I think you will be blessed and challenged and encouraged and edified in every way. He's going to be speaking on the ministry of the Holy Spirit, and I think you will learn and you'll be challenged, and you will also experience some great fellowship — a real good time of fellowship to get away like that.

So there's registration forms in the back wall, and you can see Doug or Don — Doug and Don, want you to stand up? Or Don's not here, I guess, but Doug's here. See — yeah, both of them — there's Doug. See one of those guys after church if you have any questions about things. If you are financially strapped and you have a need there, we'll try to help and get you there, because we'd love to have you come if your desire is to be with the saints and enjoy this fellowship.

One other little word of exhortation: I really enjoyed the singing this morning. Ephesians 5 and Colossians 3 tell us that when we sing, we are teaching and admonishing one another with these songs and hymns and spiritual songs, as we sing and make melody in our hearts to the Lord. So it's not only worship to the Lord, but we are teaching and admonishing one another.

I'd like you to think about what it is you're teaching those who are around you when you sing, by the manner that you enter in. And what are you teaching your children who are sitting next to you? What are they going to remember about these worship experiences when you, with your lips and your voice, lift up praise to God and sing those words? We have to think about that. God's called us to enter into worship through music, and so it's something you need to come prepared to enter in with, and realize that it's not only worship to the Lord, but you're teaching — if your children are sitting next to you, you're teaching them something by the way you sing, by the way that you express these great thoughts from the hymns of the church and the songs and spiritual songs.

Today we're going to begin looking at the book of Ephesians. You are all comfortably seated right now. If I were to say to you, "You know, you may be in the wrong seat — I'd like you to check and make sure you're in the right place," it might make a few of you nervous.

Jesus said in Luke 14 — he said to a bunch of people who had come to a feast, to a celebration they had been invited to at a big dinner, and they were all trying to get the best seats, the seats of honor, the highest seats of honor. And Jesus said to them, "You know, you need to be careful when you are invited as a guest. Take the lowest seat, and then if you're asked by the master to come up higher, you can move up higher. But if you sit at a seat you've not been assigned, then you're going to be embarrassed when he tells you that you need to move down."

One of the most important things in the Christian life is understanding the truth about where you are seated. The book of Ephesians talks about standing in chapter 6 — when it talks about spiritual warfare, we are to stand when Satan comes against us. In chapter 4 and 5, it talks about walking, over and over again, several times in fact.

Why not turn to Ephesians? Look at Ephesians chapter 4, verse 1: "I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, entreat you to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord." Now, "walk," in the Christian circles who practice biblical Christianity, is part of the jargon. It's a technical term. If you're into computers, you have technical terms like RAM and ROM and motherboards and all that kind of stuff. Well, in Christianity we have jargon too, and this is one of those words that is full of meaning and significance. When the Bible talks about walk — and how you are to walk — it's talking about how you order your life, how you live out your life, the decisions you make, the direction you go, the pace that you set. So he tells us over and over again in this passage, in chapters 4 and 5, how to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord.

If you notice, in verse 17 of that same chapter, he says to walk no longer as the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind. They are empty in their mind in regards to God because they don't take God into their consideration as they order their life. They live as though there is no God. There are people who claim to be Christians who live as though there is no God. And he said, if you are in that shape, stop it.

And then in chapter 5, verse 2, he says walk in love. In verse 8 of chapter 5, he says walk in light, walk as children of light. Verse 15 of chapter 5: be careful how you walk, walk in wisdom, he goes on to say. So this book, beginning in chapter 4, is all about your walk.

But before that — before we get to that — the first three chapters of the book of Ephesians is about where you are seated. Let me put together two verses in these first three chapters that gives you the impact, I think, of what Paul is going to tell us, what he is going to say to us as followers of Jesus Christ. He says this: God raised Jesus from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places. And he has raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

Now the implications for us in the Christian experience are these, and this is really important. First of all, you must be seated before you can walk. Now usually when you raise babies, when you raise children, they first learn how to sit and then stand and then walk. This book tells us we have to learn how to sit, and where we are seated, and then how to walk, and finally how to stand against satanic attack. But the implication is clear: until you are seated, you can't walk in the Christian life. There are people who are trying to live the Christian life who have never been seated in the heavenlies in Christ. And until you are seated in the heavenlies in Christ, there is no Christian walk. You first must come to be seated with him in the heavenlies.

The second implication of this — and we will talk about what that means, to be seated in the heavenlies in Christ — and secondly, your understanding of how God wants you to walk is always going to be limited by your understanding of how God has seated you in the heavenlies in Christ. The reason some of us are having so many problems in areas of our Christian life is we don't understand the truth about our being seated in the heavenlies in Christ and what that implies and what it means and the great blessing that it is.

The first three chapters of Ephesians is all about the Christian being seated in the heavenlies in Christ. It's a doxology. It's pouring out of the soul of the Apostle Paul. This is a prayer, these first three chapters. In fact, you could read this in your prayer time. This is a prayer and expression of gratitude and praise.

William Hendriksen, in his commentary, describes this doxology of the Apostle Paul in his first chapter, especially these first fourteen verses. He says it rolls on like a snowball tumbling down a hill, picking up volume as it descends. The words arrange like shingles on a roof, or like steps on a stairway, or like prancing steeds pouring forward with impetuous speed.

John Calvin said, "The lofty terms in which he extols the grace of God toward the Ephesians are intended to arouse their hearts to gratitude, to set them all aflame, to fill them to overflowing with this disposition of gratitude toward God for what he's done for us in Christ Jesus." That tells us the purpose, the goal, of this text in your life today — it has to do with your attitude and your understanding about God, and the gratitude that should fill your hearts when you come to understand, as believers in Jesus Christ, what it is that God has done for you.

Let's read these words and recognize that they are a doxology. I'm going to let you remain seated, but I wish that you would look at the page. Now that you can see the page, please look at these words.

Paul writes: "Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints at Ephesus and who are faithful in Christ Jesus: grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

"Now listen to this. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. Just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to himself, according to the kind intention of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace which he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. 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. He made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his kind intention which he purposed in him, with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of times — that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things upon the earth. In him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to his purpose who works all things after the counsel of his will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ should be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, after listening to the message of the truth, the gospel of your salvation, having also believed, you were sealed in him with a Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of his glory."

Let's pray. Our Father, as we approach you today with expectation that you can teach each one of us who has Jesus Christ living within us, we ask you to do just that — that you would take the Word of God today, the instrument, and that the Holy Spirit would take the Word and work with the Word and through the Word in our hearts, that you would open up our understanding, that these words wouldn't just be words and propositions that we understand with our mind, but they would be truth and reality that grips our hearts. May Jesus Christ be lifted up as we think about what you have done for us in him. May these truths lift us up today. May they be more exciting to us than a football game and more exciting to us than all the blessings in this life that are material and temporal. May our hearts be lifted up into the third heaven as we think about these things and we are challenged by them through the ministry of the Spirit. We pray this morning in Christ's name, amen.

Notice as this book opens, it opens typically as Paul's letters do with a little salutation. And typically in the opening of every letter, every epistle that Paul writes almost, he tells us who the author is. He tells us who the audience is. He gives a greeting, a word of greeting, and that greeting tips us off to what the tone of the letter is going to be, what the subject of the letter is going to be — as he writes these letters that are written in real life situations to groups of Christians and sometimes to individuals who have specific needs in their lives.

The striking thing about the book of Ephesians is he's not writing about any particular problems in the church. In fact, there are no imperatives in the first three chapters. He simply tells us what God has done for us. So that's good news for some of you — you can expect for the next few months that I'm not going to be telling you what to do. I'm just going to be telling you who you are based upon the text of Scripture. I may slip from time to time and tell you to do something — forgive me for being prescriptive — but I want to be descriptive, and I want the Spirit of God to penetrate your heart and open up your spiritual eyes to see who you are in Christ Jesus and what this really means.

Notice, first of all, the authority of this epistle as we see it here in this salutation. The authority is that it's written by the Apostle Paul. He is an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God. And that's significant. An apostle is one who has been sent with an authoritative proclamation of Christ's word to his people. The Apostle Paul says, "I wasn't sent by anything other than the will of God. [inaudible] It wasn't because some men appointed me. It wasn't just because I aspired to be an apostle, but it is because of the will of God. God has sent me with this message." And so what we receive from Paul is the very word of Christ to his people.

Secondly, the audience of the epistle. It says in our text, written to those who are at Ephesus — but notice how they're described. They are saints and faithful in Christ Jesus. Now the idea of those phrases is this: that they are saints, that is, they have been set apart by God for his glory and his service. And secondly, they are faithful, which means they are believers — that's the idea of that word. So they are set-apart ones for the service and glory of God, and they are believers.

Those two things always go together. If you're a believer, you're a saint. If you're a saint, you're a believer. People may think you're a saint, but if you're not a believer, you're not a saint. And if you are a believer, you are a saint — you've been set apart for the glory and purpose of God, for his service. And so this is who this book is written to. If you fit that category, if you have come to rest your faith in Jesus Christ, you are a saint — set apart for the glory of God and for his service. You are a believer in Jesus Christ. This letter and these truths are for you.

And then notice the motive of the epistle, and it gives us a hint of what he's going to be talking to us about, in verse 2: "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." It's grace and peace. Grace is God's kindness to us, which we do not deserve and we have not earned, but we desperately need. That is the fountain of all of God's blessing. It is his grace. Any way you can receive from God is through grace. If you want to earn something from God, there's no program for earning things from God.

In fact, that's the reason many people never come to faith in Jesus Christ — because they don't like the program, the program of grace. The program that is based upon the grace of God alone, that you have to come — we sang a song this morning in the communion time that talked about the fact that we come with empty hands, nothing in our hands we bring. Because we must receive what we receive from God by grace. It has to be received as a gift, or you'll receive nothing. [inaudible] The Bible says that means all of our relationship with God is based upon grace. You must receive it from the hand of God as a gift that you need, but you don't deserve and you have not earned.

That's the fountain out of which all the blessings of God come, and then he mentions the stream that comes out of that fountain, and that is peace. Peace with God and the peace of God. The peace that we now have — we were alienated and enemies of God before Jesus Christ did a work in us that brought us into a peaceful relationship with the living God. We are at peace with him, and it is grace that has brought that peace to us. And that is what he's going to talk to us about in this book.

In the next verses, verses 3 through 14, you have the stunning portrait of the rich blessings that we have received in Christ. It's an expression of praise from the lips of the Apostle. This is really a manifestation of what in the Old Testament was called a baraka, a blessing. It is a poetic description from the heart of a believer to God and in thanks and praise to him for the good gifts that he has bestowed upon us through his grace.

The object of praise, notice, is in verse 3: the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's quite a statement. Have you ever thought about the fact that God the Father is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ? This is what sets him apart from all the gods that men talk about. This is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

When it says that the Father is the God of the Son, it reveals his humanity — that the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, has actually become a man. Jesus on the cross said, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" And then in his resurrection, he told Mary, "I have not yet gone to my Father and your Father and my God and your God." That's an amazing thing.

Here is the second person of the Trinity who is God eternal. The Bible is clear about the fact that he has been God from all eternity, that he is co-equal and co-eternal with the Father, and yet he can say the Father is his God, because he has become a man. And in the realm of his humanity — on the cross, at the resurrection of his body — he could call God his God and his Father. And then the fact that he is called the Father reveals his deity. It's not just saying he is his Father because he was born in a manger. God is his Father from all eternity. This speaks of his deity and his eternal relationship with Almighty God.

He is exactly like his Father. He has the same exact nature as the Father. Everything that is true about the nature of the Father is true about the nature of the Son. They share the same exact nature. So it is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who is the object of our praise — that's who we are praising in this passage as we follow along with the Apostle Paul.

And notice the cause of the praise. Why is he praising him? He says he is the one who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. What great blessings he has bestowed upon us.

This phrase has literally changed my life. Twenty-five years ago, when I first came to realize that God has already blessed us with every spiritual blessing — there are people today in the Church of Jesus Christ who love Jesus Christ but are chasing their tails, trying to get a second or third or fifth or thousandth blessing from God that they have not yet received. And yet this passage teaches us clearly that there is no spiritual blessing that you have not been blessed with in Christ Jesus by God the Father.

You can give him thanks for it. You don't need to be seeking a second experience, a second blessing. You've already been blessed with every spiritual blessing. And let me tell you — when you discover what those blessings are and what you've already been blessed with, you're going to look like somebody who's getting a second blessing. You're going to sound like it when you realize what it is that the God of heaven, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, has blessed you with.

The blessings that he has bestowed upon us are all the good things that he's bestowed — that he's going to talk about in these next few passages. And notice the time of these blessings: he says he has blessed us. It's past tense. It's already occurred. It's something that God has already done. And notice the limitation — it's every blessing. Everything that fits into this category of a blessing has already been given to you. Everything that fits into this category of a spiritual blessing has already been given to you.

That's the nature of these blessings that Paul is talking about. They are spiritual blessings — that which comes from God, that which relates to the spiritual reality of your life and your relationship with him. The Bible says that God blesses the non-Christian. He blesses the pagan. He blesses the person who has not bowed the knee to Jesus Christ with physical blessings. He causes the rain to fall on the righteous and the unrighteous, the just and the unjust. And spiritual blessings are reserved for those who have bowed the knee to Jesus Christ, who are in Christ Jesus. And if you are in Christ Jesus, you have been given every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ.

And notice the location — it's in the heavenly places, right from the throne of God, where Christ is seated, we are told. This phrase "in the heavenly places" is only used in this epistle. It's the only place in the New Testament that it's found, but it's found four times in this book. It's where Christ is seated. It's where our blessings flow from. It's where we are seated — we're told in chapter 2, verse 6.

And notice the sphere of these blessings: it is in Christ. This is the key to this book. In fact, it's the key to the Christian life — "in Christ, in Christ, in the Beloved, in him." Over a hundred times in the epistles of Paul, the Apostle says we are in Christ. Now, if he says it over a hundred times in these thirteen letters that he wrote, it seems like it's a pretty important truth, isn't it? — that you come to understand what it means to be in Christ. Because all of these blessings that come to us come to us in Christ, and outside of Christ there are no spiritual blessings.

There are no spiritual blessings outside of Christ. You may have an out-of-body experience from your perception. You may have a near-death experience. You may have an after-death experience, you think. But there are no spiritual blessings outside of Jesus Christ. That's where his blessings are.

Now, in verse 3, it says that we've been blessed with every spiritual blessing — now he's going to begin to enumerate them. If you notice, verse 4 begins "just as," "according as" — in other words, this is how he has blessed us with every spiritual blessing. And he begins — if you notice in that little handout that you received in the bulletin — this is how he has blessed us. First of all, it talks about the Father's blessing in verses 4 through 6. And the Father's blessing is that we were chosen before time. In verses 7 through 12, he talks about the Son's blessing — we have been redeemed through his blood. In verses 13 and 14, he speaks of the Spirit's blessing — we are sealed. We have been sealed for the day of redemption.

Let's look this morning at these first few verses about the blessing from the Father — and that is, we have been chosen before time, God's elective grace upon his people. Notice, first of all, what he says. Let me read again these verses beginning in verse 4: "Just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to himself, according to the kind intention of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace which he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved."

In these few verses — in verses 4 through 6, these three verses — we have a description of God's blessing upon his people. Here is the first description of these all-spiritual blessings in Christ. Notice what this passage tells us about this truth of God's election of his people.

First of all, it tells us who the author of election is. It is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ — the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is the one who chooses the people that he's going to bless. It's just like what Jesus said to his apostles: "You did not choose me, I chose you." The Father today says that to you, believer: "You did not choose me — I chose you." An astounding truth.

Someone has described it this way: that when we hear the gospel call, we see a door, and on that door it says "Whosoever will, come." We go through the door. We exercise faith in Christ and we get inside. We look back, and over the door it says, "You have not chosen me, that I have chosen you." Every saint, every believer who has Jesus Christ living within him — when he comes to understand this truth, that you didn't choose him, but he chose you — it makes your heart leap for joy. And this is grace from beginning until end. You were chosen, and the author of the election is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

That's the reason we don't appeal to people, "Please give Jesus a break. Please feel sorry for Jesus hanging on that cross. Please choose Jesus." That's not the gospel appeal. The gospel appeal is: Christ has died for sinners. To everyone who comes to him in faith believing will receive forgiveness of sins and the gift of life and a relationship with Almighty God — come to Christ. And when you come, you discover you came because he drew you to himself and because he chose you from eternity past.

Notice the nature of election. The very word election, the Greek word itself — eklegomai — has the idea of something, of an act that is selective and personal. It means to pick, to choose something out of a larger number.

Turn with me back to John 15. Notice the words of Jesus, John 15, verse 19. He's speaking in the upper room to his disciples the night that he's arrested, just before he's going to go to the cross. He says to them in John 15, verse 19 — let me read from verse 18: "If the world hates you" — and the idea of that phrase is literally "since the world hates you" — "you know that it has hated me before it hated you."

In other words, if you're hated because you're a Christian — not because you kill abortionists, that's not why we're supposed to be hated. That is certainly not a demonstration of Christ in you, the hope of glory. That's not a demonstration of righteous indignation. That is a demonstration of absolute folly and sin. We're not to be hated because we do foolish things. We're to be hated because we are followers of Jesus Christ. And he says the reason they will hate you is because they hated me first.

"Now get this: if you were of the world" — in other words, if the source, if your connection was of the world — "the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you."

It's a rude awakening for some people. When they first come to faith in Christ, they hear the gospel call, they understand it, the Spirit of God works in their heart and regenerates their heart and they exercise faith in Jesus Christ, and they come to have that peace that passes all understanding and they know they're in a right relationship with God. And then all of a sudden, somewhere along the path, they discover that they have some new enemies. The Bible says that until you came to faith in Christ, the world, the flesh, and the devil were your friends. But when you come to faith in Christ, all of a sudden the world, the flesh, and the devil are your enemies. And they oppose this walk of faith that you have in Christ. The reason is you've been chosen. That's what Jesus is saying — because I chose you out of the world, the world hates you. You've been selected out from among the world.

Now in this passage, he tells us he chose us for this purpose: that we might be holy and blameless before him. So the implication is that he chose you when you were a part of a mass of humanity that was not holy and was not blameless before him, but he selected you out. So the idea of election is that God chooses out from a large group some upon which he is going to lavish his grace.

The second thing about this word is the form of it. The form of the word implies and communicates this: that God chooses for himself. It's not only that he elects, but that he elects for himself. He doesn't just choose people and say, "Okay, give it to him and him and him," but rather he chooses people for himself, to bring them into relationship because he wants them for himself.

The amazing thing about this — in fact, the Apostle Paul talks about it in 1 Corinthians. He says, "You look around and you look at the people of God and you say, 'Boy, there's not many well-born among us. There's not many people who have status in the culture among us. There's not many wise among us. Not many mighty among us.'" It seems like God didn't choose the mighty and the wise and the strong, but he chose the weak things — he's talking about us — he chose the foolish things, talking about us, in order to confound the wise. And we are predominated by the weak and the foolish. That's who he selected, in order to display his great grace.

Now you have to understand that when it talks about the election of God, God is talking about choosing among those who would have nothing to do with him, who are at enmity with him, who refused to bow the knee before him and honor him as God and Creator and Savior. He decides, out of his own volition in eternity past, that he's going to choose some among this race that is in rebellion against him, at war with him. He's going to choose some for himself.

Now I think it's a legitimate question for you to ask: why in the world would he want me? I don't know. I don't know. But according to his word, he chose us for himself.

The Apostle Paul was in the city of Corinth, and he was nervous, because up to that point he'd been thrown in jail in every city he'd gone into — or at least if he hadn't been thrown in jail, he'd been thrown out of the city, driven out of the city by the Jews. Every time he proclaimed the gospel, people would come to faith in Christ, turn to Christ, begin to follow him, and then they would begin to put pressure on Paul, beat him, or throw him out of the city or throw him in jail. So he gets to Corinth, then he goes into the synagogue and begins to preach the gospel. He's thrown out of the synagogue. And that night Jesus appears to him — and you can imagine what Paul is thinking: here we go again, where do I go from here? Jesus appears to him and says, "Paul, I don't want you to be afraid. I want you to stay here and I want you to preach the gospel, because I have many people in this city."

See, that's the motivation of evangelism. God has many people in this world who have not yet believed the gospel of Jesus Christ. The reason that you can proclaim the gospel with assurance that people are going to come to faith in Christ is because God has many people in this world who have not yet responded to the gospel. And he wants you to be the messenger that takes the gospel to them. When they hear, they'll turn to Christ, because he has chosen them for himself. They're his people and he wants to call them to himself.

And then notice the objects of election — it is us. He has chosen us. Well, who is the "us"? Well, in the context, it is the saints and believers — all those who are, or at one time or another in the history of the world, are destined to become saints and believers. That is, all of those who have been set apart by the Lord for the purpose of glorifying him and who embrace him by faith. That's who's elect. In other words, when a person comes to faith in Christ, we discover that they're one of the objects of grace. They've been chosen by Almighty God. And we don't know it until they respond in faith.

Turn back to John chapter 10 for just a moment. John chapter 10, John 10, verse 26. Notice verse 24: "The Jews therefore gathered around him and were saying to him, 'How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, if you're the Messiah, if you're the one that God has sent to save his people, then tell us plainly.'" You see, they didn't believe it, and he had been telling them plainly. He had been demonstrating it by his life and his teaching and his miracles, but they didn't believe it. But they keep pressing him — tell us plainly, because they knew if they wanted to entrap him — Jesus answered them, "I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name, these bear witness of me."

If you saw Jesus Christ raise a man from the dead, if you saw him heal diseases and deformities right before your eyes, and you heard him teach the message of truth, the gospel of the kingdom of God in truth — would you have believed? They didn't believe. He says, "My works bear witness of me."

But then notice this, verse 26: "But you do not believe because you are not my sheep." That's why you don't believe. Why do people reject the gospel of Jesus Christ? Because they are not his sheep. Notice what he says: "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. My sheep hear my voice, and they know me, and they follow me."

Look back at verse 16. Jesus says to them, "I have other sheep, which are not of this fold" — that is, not of the nation of Israel — "I must bring them also, and they shall hear my voice, and they shall become one flock with one shepherd." That's you — all of you who have responded to the gospel. You heard his voice. When the gospel came to you, somewhere, somehow — whether it was through reading the Word of God, hearing someone proclaim it in a church like this, or on the radio, or a friend sharing the truth with you, or reading a gospel tract — when you heard the shepherd's voice, you followed him. You believed upon him. Why? Because you're a sheep. Not because you're so smart. Not because you have better discernment than everybody else in this world, but because you're a sheep. And you began to follow him.

Notice in John 17, in his priestly prayer — John 17, verse 20: "I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in me through their word." His future disciples. That's you.

Some of you Christians are thinking, "Boy, he shouldn't talk like this — it's a family secret. This is kind of like having a crazy aunt up in the attic, or knowing that you've got a horse thief in your past generations." You shouldn't be saying this stuff publicly, because there are non-Christians here, and they hear this stuff, and it sounds so exclusive.

I want you to know: if you're here and you're not a Christian, all you have to do is come to faith in Jesus Christ. Come to him in repentance and faith, believe on him, and you'll receive the blessing of salvation. You know why you haven't come, but it's because you don't want to come. If you want to come, if you want salvation, you can receive it today. If you want Christ, you can receive him today. If you want Christ, I offer to you a crucified, risen Savior who will save you from your sins and deliver you from all the effects of sin and take you into eternity with him, and you'll live with God in relationship with him for time and eternity if you'll come. If you don't come, it's because you're not a sheep — but if you want to come, you can come.

This doctrine of election doesn't mean that anybody who wants to come will be refused. That's not what this doctrine is about. The doctrine of election is in perfect sync with the universal proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ: come to Christ and be saved. You who have come — I want you to know the reason you came is because you're a sheep, and he did something inside of you: your ear heard the gospel, and you responded in faith, and you began to follow him in obedience.

Notice the sphere of this election — it is in Christ. We were chosen in him before the foundation of the world. It was in him, in Christ. There could be no election apart from a Savior. God could have chosen you all day long and said, "Okay, I want you to be on my side," but if there's no Savior, you would never be on his side, because you don't have the will to be on his side. You don't have the desire to be on his side unless there's a Savior who comes and saves you from your sin.

We were guilty and we were corrupt and we were alienated from God, and because God is holy and righteous, sin must be punished. Sometimes we're confused about that, because in our culture — many times, as in the OJ Simpson trial — it's an amazing thing if you listen to the rhetoric. It isn't about justice and truth. It's about what this lawyer can do and what that lawyer can do. It's about how they can manipulate the law in order to get the results they want.

But I want you to know: there is a Judge. The Bible says there is one Lawgiver and Judge over this universe, and he is perfectly righteous. You can't buy him off. He won't take a bribe, and he knows the very hearts of people. He knows the thoughts and the intentions of our heart. And so when he judges — the Bible says in Romans chapters 1 and 2 — he will judge us according to our deeds and according to the motives behind the deeds, the secrets of our hearts. There's a judgment day coming.

Because there's a judgment day coming, in order for God to choose us for salvation, there had to be a Savior. And so we were chosen in him. It isn't enough that God simply chose you — it is that that election would be a part of this salvation plan, that your sins would be paid for by the Savior in whom you were chosen. And you would be set free when the gospel message came to you and your ears were open. It's based upon this promise of the Son, when he said, "It has been written, you prepared me a body, and in this body I am coming in obedience to you to go to the cross to save my people from their sin."

Notice the time of election: it is before the foundation of the world. That's a fairly familiar biblical terminology — "before the foundation of the world." It means in eternity past. The Bible pictures the world being built by God, and the first step of it was to lay the foundation. And it says before the foundation was even laid, before they even broke the ground to lay the foundation, God chose. He elected.

In 1 Peter chapter 1 — in verse 18 it says, "You know that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but you were purchased with the precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ — for he was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for your sake. For your sake." You want to know why Christ came to die on the cross? Because God chose you in Christ, and he came to save you from your sins.

Have you ever thought about that? That Jesus arrived on the scene — in 3 or 4 or 7 BC, whenever it was when he was born in that manger — he arrived there in order to die for your sins, to save you from your sins, and to bring you into a right relationship with God. Isn't that amazing?

I remember when this truth first penetrated my heart. I first discovered that God was God and I wasn't God. I wasn't a Christian because I decided, because there was something in me that welled up and I decided I was going to choose God. But it was because he chose me before the foundation of the world, and at the proper time he sent Jesus Christ to rescue me from my sin, and then he chose the day in which I would hear the gospel of Jesus Christ and it penetrated my heart. I rested my faith in Christ and began to experience this eternal life that he had purchased for me at the cross.

That's what God's done for you. What has he done for you lately? Well, he chose you in eternity past. He sent his Son to pay for your sins — died on the cross, was raised from the dead. Then he sent somebody to bring the gospel to you. And the Spirit of God regenerated you and your ears were open and your eyes were open and you began to see and understand and believe.

The Bible says that Christians — it calls them predominantly "believers." A believer is somebody who is believing. That phrase there, it's a present participle when it calls us believers. It doesn't mean somebody who believed twenty years ago — it means somebody who is believing. Now if you really believed twenty years ago, you're still believing. That's the truth of Scripture. You can't stop believing on Christ if you ever truly believed on him. But it also means that it is the characteristic of the saint, of the Christian, that he is believing.

Now you can have doubts. We all have doubts, and we have seasons of doubt. We have even seasons when we want to unbelieve — but we can't, can we? We can't. If you're a believer, you believe. You can't stop believing. You can't stop believing the truth. That's one of the reasons it is such folly to live in disobedience to Christ: because one of these days you're going to have to start obeying him. If you live in disobedience and you go off the path ninety miles, you're going to have to get back on the path, and sometimes that's the hardest part, isn't it? It's getting back on the path of obedience. But you're going to have to come back, because you're a believer and you can't stop believing.

Now let me tell you that Jesus is the one who taught this. Paul didn't originate this — Jesus is the one who taught it. In fact, turn with me back to John chapter 6. I'm going to keep running back to John, but that's okay.

John chapter 6. Jesus kept on calling those who come to him in faith "his given ones." Given ones. What does he mean by that? Why are you a given one? Well, you are somebody — if you're a believer in Christ — you are somebody that the Father has given to the Son. That's why you're a Christian today: because the Father gave you to the Son.

Notice what he says in chapter 6, verse 39: "For I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me" — what is the Father's will for the Son? — "that of all that he has given me, I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father: that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I myself will raise him up on the last day."

You see the logical connection there? The reason you believed, and the reason you're going to be raised up on the last day, is because you've been given to Jesus Christ by the Father.

Notice in chapter 17 of John — since you're there — John 17, verse 2: he says to the Father, "Even as thou gavest him" — that is, the Son — "authority over all mankind, that to all whom thou hast given him, he may give eternal life." He says, "You give me authority over all of mankind." And that's why in 2 Peter it says that Christ owns false teachers who don't believe on him — because Christ has authority over all mankind because of the cross work. But it is those who have been given to Christ that receive eternal life from him.

Notice in verse 9 of chapter 17: "I ask on their behalf" — that is, his disciples — "I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom thou hast given me, for they are thine." You're his property. Now for the believer, that's rejoicing. That's blessed, to say that you're his property, that he owns you, and you've been given by him to Jesus Christ.

Notice verse 11: "And I am no more in the world, and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep them in thy name — the name which thou hast given me — that they may be one, even as we are." Watch over them, he says, because they've been given to me.

Verse 24: "Father, I desire that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, in order that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me, for thou didst love me before the foundation of the world." He says, "I want them to be completed so they will come into my presence and see my glory. They'll see me in my glory when I'm with you, because you've given them to me." Isn't that a wonderful truth, that you have been given to the Son by the Father?

Chapter 6, verse 44 — Jesus said. Notice this interaction between them. I've got to watch the time here, be careful. John 6 — Jesus said, "The Jews therefore were grumbling about him because he had said, 'I am the bread that came down out of heaven,'" verse 41, verse 42, "and they were saying, 'Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, "I have come down out of heaven"?'" Jesus answered and said to them, "Do not grumble among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day."

That's why you came to Christ — the Father drew you. Maybe the reason somebody in this room is going to come to Christ today is because the Father is drawing you. That's why you came, believer: the Father drew you to himself, to Jesus Christ.

I think something we ought to note in this is that since this is true — what the Bible teaches — then all the glory for salvation belongs to God and to him alone. All the glory for salvation.

And then notice the purpose of salvation, the purpose of election: it is that we should be holy and blameless before him. This is a purpose clause, not a causal clause — let me give you a little grammar lesson. A causal clause would mean, "I elected you because you are holy and blameless." That's not what this is. This is a purpose clause. This is why he chose you: so that you would become holy and blameless before him. That's God's purpose. It is not based on foreseen merit, but it's based on foreseen need — that he saw your need. And he has chosen you so that you would become holy and blameless.

Because election is salvation's root, not its fruit. You understand? Election is the root of salvation, not the fruit of salvation. God didn't elect you because you elected him. That's what a lot of people believe: "Yeah, God chose me because I chose him." No? No. The Bible says you chose him because he chose you, because he worked in your life and you responded in faith. It wasn't because your parents were so good at communicating the gospel. It wasn't because you come from a long line of Christians. It wasn't because you sat in church for years. It's because the God of the universe chose you before the foundation of the world, and he chose you in order to make you holy and blameless before him.

Now this doesn't diminish our responsibility in the least. It simply is a motivation. It impels us — it doesn't compel us, it impels us — to live a life of holiness and righteousness, because that is the very purpose for which God chose us. That's your purpose in life. You want to know what your purpose is? Your purpose is to become holy and blameless before him.

I want you to get something here, and that is that election never goes halfway. People abandon Christ — if people make a start but then they abandon Christ. And what I'm not talking about is having struggles over sin. I'm saying when they abandon Christ, when they deny the Savior — they deny him either in word or in deed, in the sense that they decide they're not going to live under his authority and they carry that out in life — it's because they never began with him. That's what Jesus taught. Because the election isn't halfway. It doesn't carry you halfway. It carries you all the way — all the way — to that day when you will be holy and blameless before him. It doesn't end at conversion. It brings you to the place of perfection before God.

It says that this is God's goal: that you will be holy — that is, cleansed from all sin, pure, set apart for him — and faultless. That means without any blemish, just like the Old Testament sacrifices had to be. And it's going to be before him. Not before your critics, not before your mama and your daddy or anybody else, but before him. And he has perfect vision. And because he chose you, you're going to be perfect — holy and blameless before him.

Now notice the implementation of election in verses 5 and 6 of Ephesians 1. He says, "He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to himself, according to the kind intention of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace which he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved." He predestined us to adoption.

The word predestination — to be predestined — means that God in eternity past laid out the route that he was going to use in your life to bring you to the day of adoption. Now what does he mean by adoption? Well, let's look at this concept. This is the goal of his predestination — he has predestined you unto adoption.

Now Romans 8:29 describes it a little differently. It says — in fact, turn there. Let's hold your finger in Ephesians 1 and turn to Romans 8. Notice the parallel between these two. Romans 8, verse 29: "For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son." In Ephesians it says we were predestined unto adoption as sons. Here it uses a different phrase — we were predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son. Those two things are talking about the same thing, just from different perspectives. To be adopted as sons is talking about a work.

In fact, we're in Romans — look at verse 23 of Romans 8. He says, "And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit" — that is, we've received the Spirit and we are experiencing just the first fruits of salvation. And he says, since this has happened, "even we ourselves groan within ourselves" — because it's not complete yet. And so we're groaning because we know we still have sin within us. We're still failures in different ways and overwhelmed by our enemies and so forth. He says, "We groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons," and then he defines it for us: "the redemption of our body" — glorification. We stand before God and he presents us as sons to the entire universe.

Now you already are a son of God if you believe on Christ and you've received the Spirit of adoption, so that you cry to the Father, "Abba, Father." But the day of adoption — the day of this formal setting us forth before the universe as his sons — waits for the day of redemption, the redemption of our body. The day when God is going to complete this work and we stand before him perfectly, not only positionally but practically, experientially, as holy and blameless before him. At that day, we're going to be set forth before this universe as the sons of God.

And he says that he's predestined us to this. That means he's determined how he's going to get us there. In each and every life individually, God has determined how he's going to get you, believer, to the day of adoption, how he's going to work in your life and conform you into the image of Christ.

Some of you are going through deep trials right now, and sometimes you're tempted to think, "I've done something terribly wrong, and God has taken his hands off me, and he's standing back watching me, and he's going to let me mess my life up, because somehow — I don't know what it is — but I've made some wrong turn and I'm in big trouble." That's not a biblical perspective at all. The trial you're in the midst of right now is God-ordained. You may have precipitated it by your own decision, but it's God-ordained. God determined to allow you to make that decision if that's what it's from. He's even going to use that decision for your good in conforming you into the image of Christ.

Notice the standard of this predestination: it is according to the kind intention of his will. Bringing you to the day of adoption isn't a result of just determination — it is supreme delight. God delights in this. I think that's what's a shame about it sometimes: we don't delight in it. When the Christian life isn't an expression of our delight in what God is doing to us — it's because God delights in it. He gets great joy from this process that he has determined to carry out in your life, to bring you into conformity to the image of Christ.

Some of you have to make a determination like — Sal Stetson just had to make a decision to have surgery. She determined to do it and she carried it out just through sheer determination. It wasn't her desire, but she knew it was the right thing, and so she went through this carotid artery surgery the other day. Sometimes you have to make those kinds of determinations.

Then there's the other kind of determination — the determination, for example, to marry a sweetheart. That is a big difference between the determination to have surgery and the determination to marry a sweetheart. And the expression of God's determination here — [thank you, Steve] — the determination of God here is the kind of determination you have when you decide to marry a sweetheart. It's a glorious decision. It's one in which you enjoy carrying it out. He is saying that God finds good pleasure in accomplishing his will for your life, in conforming you into the image of Christ.

He's getting a kick out of this. He's loving it. He's loving it even when you're blowing it, and he knows he's going to teach you something from your stupidity or your stubbornness or your wandering or your ignorance, or whatever it is — he's going to teach you something that you desperately need to know, and he's going to shape you into the very image of Jesus Christ. He works everything according to the good pleasure of his will for his people.

The Bible says that God is not the God who takes pleasure in afflicting the wicked. He doesn't enjoy condemning the wicked. The Bible says in Ezekiel 33 it's his strange work to condemn the wicked. But oh, does he delight in conforming his people and working in their lives and shaping them and conforming them into the image of Jesus Christ.

Notice the purpose of this predestination — he says, "to the praise of the glory of his grace." I want you to know, if this stuff disturbs you, if it makes you angry — I can remember when I first heard it. I just had gotten married. I was probably 21 or 22 years old, sitting in — I was going to a Christian college, majoring in sociology, but they made you take Bible classes and doctrine classes, and I can remember I heard this doctrine taught, and it made me so angry. It made me angry to think that they were saying that I was saved because God chose me and I didn't choose him. Made me angry to hear this stuff — that God predestined. You may be feeling angry, but I want you to know it delights the heart of God, and when you understand it, it will delight your heart.

Jonathan Edwards says he hated this doctrine until God convinced him of it, and it became the doctrine he loved more than anything else.

When you understand this and you understand that this is to the praise of the glory of his grace — when you understand there's only going to be one hero in heaven, and that's Jesus Christ — when we look around us and we see the mass of people who've been chosen by God and redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ and perfected by the Spirit, standing there praising Christ, all the laud and praise is going to go to Jesus Christ. This is to the praise of the glory of his grace.

This is the final goal. It is an adoring recognition of the manifested glory of God's grace worked out in the lives of people — real people who need God's grace manifested in their life.

And then notice this last phrase — it's so beautiful. Verse 6: "which he freely" — that is, his grace — "his grace, he freely bestowed upon us in the Beloved." That phrase literally says, "He graced us with grace in the Son of his love." That's where you are, Christian. You have been graced with his grace in the Son of his love, his beloved Son.

Romans 8:32 says, if he's given you his Son, how can he possibly withhold any good thing from you? How dare you think that God would withhold any good thing from you if he's given you his Son? You're not on trial with God. He gives you exactly what you need, and he gives it out of his love for you, because you are in the Son of his love.

I hope you rejoice in this truth. I hope that you revel in this truth — that God from eternity past has chosen you for himself, and sent his Son to redeem you, and...

[Recording ends]