Predestined for Adoption (Eph 1:5-6)

You can hear me all right. Well good morning. Come on in. It's good to have everyone here. There should be plenty of seats and if you gotta squeeze in go ahead and squeeze in. But we've got a good crew here today.

Praise the Lord. Ready to worship the Lord together. Good to be in the house of the Lord isn't it. Amen. We've got some announcements before we officially start our service. A reminder that every single Tuesday morning between 7 and 8 a .m. we open the doors to this building and this is a time for intentional prayer.

There's a group of us that are that are here consistently but if you can only be here for a few moments before work or you know before school or whatever that may be if you can come in for five minutes come in pray.

We want to be a people of prayer. We want to be a people that go to the source and are constantly reminded of our desperate need for God to work in our hearts. And that's what prayer really is. Prayer isn't changing God's mind.

Prayer is God working in us to change our minds. And so we want to pray for you. If you have a prayer request if anything in your life circumstances or whatever that might be let us know so we can put that on the list and we can be intentional to pray for you by name or whatever that circumstance may be.

So every Tuesday morning between 7 and 8 these doors are open to anyone. Also Wednesday nights if you've not been able to join us for Wednesday night Bible study you have been missing out. I know some of you have work and schedules that don't allow that.

But if you can at all I encourage you. Wednesday nights are a very intimate unique time as we open God's word together and we just walk through. All of us as adults we meet in this room. We have some tables set up and we're walking through the book of Jude looking at how we deal with false teachers and we're just verse by verse.

I think we actually just spent two weeks on one single verse. Didn't we. Because we're just talking through it where it's a dialogue type of setting. And then the youth have been going through the book of first John with pastor Jeremiah there he is over at the house.

And so if you know youth that want to be involved in.

That.

What a phenomenal teacher. I can't imagine if I would have grown up with a youth teacher like pastor Jeremiah pouring the word into me praise God for.

That.

So take advantage of that time. It's 630 on Wednesday nights every Wednesday and then finally we have our Quintinia feast our fellowship feast every single Sunday. Please plan on staying. We have plenty of food for everyone.

This is a great time to grow in relationship. It's fellowship and men you know the routine we break down the chairs and set up tables immediately after service. Thank you for for helping us with that but as soon as we're done eating we do every week a sermon Q &A so the sermon today will be the topic of our Q &A and if you have questions if you have concerns if you have critiques this is a time where we open the floor and be able to talk through that.

So I encourage you if you're interested in that to be able to stay well before we actually start our service. We always pray for another another local body and this local body that I would like for us to pray for today is is actually not super local to us but it is a local body of believers in Tampa Florida and the church is is named the Grove and the Grove has actually been instrumental as of late in helping us.

They have been sending us financial resources because they love what God's doing here and they're hoping to send teams up this way and pastors and people that work in specific ministries to help us formulate this is a great a great church.

I believe the pastor there Kirk Gephardt I've known him for a long time and I believe he actually was on staff with John MacArthur for 10 years of his life. So this church is a very like-minded church.

They love the Lord and they love us so we want to stop now. We want to pray for the Grove and pray that God would work in their midst today so if you don't mind pray with me. Dear Heavenly Father God we come to you this morning and thank you for bringing us together.

Father we we know that we are not the only saints gathering this morning even in this community there are other saints all over town all over this this region and state and country and world that are going to worship you in spirit and truth and Father I pray that you would be honored in it.

But God right now we want to lift up our brothers and sisters at the Grove in Tampa Florida. I pray that you prepare their hearts even now as they gather to worship you to love you to adore you. I pray for their elders and their leadership that you would give them wisdom and discernment.

I pray that you would allow whoever is preaching this morning to boldly proclaim the full counsel of God not to not to skip things that are difficult and hard but to address whatever is in the text and address it well clarity and that you illuminate the hearts and minds of the people that are there that they may be molded by your truth by your word Father I pray that you bring about revival in their midst.

I pray that you would work within them not a superficial emotional response but true deep life-changing revival one that begins to permeate within to a community change it because it's salt and light.

Father we just lift those brothers up we thank you for them we pray you bless them in Christ's name. Amen.

Our call to worship comes from Psalm 96 where we read ascribe to the Lord. O families.

Of the peoples. Ascribe to the Lord the glory and the strength.

Ascribe to the Lord the glory do his name. Worship the Lord in in the splendor of holiness. Say among the nations the Lord reigns and all God's people said Amen. Let's pray this morning. Heavenly Father we just want to adore your holy name and God we thank you for all that you do.

We see the splendor of your majesty in the creation all around us and God thank you so much to be able to gather together and to worship you in spirit and in truth. God I just pray that you would help us to remove all distractions and all of our focus would be on you Jesus.

We pray this in your name. Amen.

Join with the heavens to carry the wonders of his faithfulness forever.

Sing with me, sing of the victory.

Sing of the victory, the hope of the world. The Savior has risen, the Spirit has come to build. Oh we are the people. Giving life at such a price. The Father calling has won. This is what we are. The people of God with the freedom.

The hope in our hearts how great it is. The love of the Father.

All creatures of our God. Creatures of our God and King. The voice of courtesy. Alleluia.

Now burning sun with golden silver. Lights of grace.

Scripture reading comes from Psalm 61. Where King David cried out. Hear my cry oh God, listen to my prayer. From the end of the earth I call to you and my heart is faint. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

For you have been my refuge. A strong tower against the enemy. Let me dwell in your tent forever. Let me take refuge under the shelter of your wings. Say love. For you oh God have heard my vows. You have given me the heritage of those who fear your name.

Prolong the life of the King. May his years endure to all generations. May he be enthroned forever before God. Appoint steadfast love and faithfulness to watch over him. So I will ever sing praises to your name as I perform my vows day by day.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father. God I just pray that our hearts too would cry out to you. That we would recognize who you are. You are the everlasting King. May your name forever be magnified and exalted.

Lord we simply confess before you that we are people in need of a redeemer. A savior that was long prophesied ago. And God we know your word does not return empty. But God your word is truth. And so when you say something it is going to happen.

So Lord we just pray for your power this morning. We pray that your spirit would illuminate our hearts to the preaching of your word. We praise things in your name Jesus.

Amen.

My soul is purchased by his blood this morning. God we thank you for the word that is present here. And we sing these songs back to you Father God as you have given them to us. And I just pray that you accept this offering of praise.

Lord I pray that each person here is ready to receive the word that you have for God.

This we know with all our hearts. You have paid my ransom. Full poetic truth. You have paid my ransom. And this is why we gather today. Amen. Amen. We'll go ahead and open up your copy of God's word to Ephesians chapter 1.

Ephesians chapter 1. I believe we're now coming into week 7. And our primary text for today is going to be verses 5 and 6. However as a reminder for those of you that have been with us in this study. You know that in the Greek starting in verse 3 all the way to verse 14 is one long run on sentence.

Meaning that that entire section is one continuous thought from the Apostle Paul. And so even though we're going to focus on just a couple of verses. I want us to read it as a whole as we gather every week going through these.

So we get the understanding and we kind of get a well-rounded context of what Paul is getting at. So let's start reading there in verse 3 of Ephesians chapter 1.

Where Paul says,.

In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ. To the purpose of his will. To the praise of his glorious grace with which he has blessed 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. 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 to him. Things in heaven and things on earth. In him we have obtained an inheritance. Having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will.

So that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also when you heard the word of truth. The gospel of your salvation and believed in him. Were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.

Who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it. To the praise of his glory. I don't know about you but every time I read that one long sentence from the Apostle Paul. I'm just, it gives me peace.

And it makes me excited all at the same time. So let's pray, let's go to the Lord in prayer once again. Let's ask that he would illuminate our hearts and minds to this immense truth. Dear Heavenly Father, God we come to you once again and we acknowledge our frailty.

And understanding the deep truths that you've given us in scripture. Even though those deep truths are clear and precise. Lord I ask now for all of us here. That you would through the indwelling and the illumination of the Holy Spirit.

Help us to understand. God guard my lips from error. That I may speak only truth from your word. Lord I pray that you prepare our hearts that this word. Just as you promised your word does not return void.

It always accomplishes what it sets out to accomplish. And we ask that it would do that sanctifying work in our hearts this morning. In Christ's name, amen. Well two weeks ago we saw there back in verse 4 of this section.

How the creator of the universe, the triune God. Chose us in Christ. And he did so before he had ever even created anything. Before any of the universe was created. It was the triune God alone and he chose us.

And how this choosing was not based on anything in or of or from you and I. Had nothing to do with us. There was nothing about us that made us more appealing than any other person to God. There was nothing in Nathan that made me more appealing to God than someone else.

Nothing about you that made you more appealing to God than something else. Meaning that we were not smarter, we were not wiser, we were not more lovable. We were not more forgivable than any other created image bearer.

This choice was based solely on the sovereign perfect counsel of the triune God. God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit alone. This God that was in perfect union and perfect oneness throughout all of eternity.

That took counsel only in himself. Has chosen. And the purpose of this choosing was what? It was to make us holy and blameless before him. We weren't wise, we weren't lovable, we weren't good.

We were dead.

And we were sinners. But he set his love upon us and chose us so that we may be holy and blameless. And how did he accomplish this? How did he accomplish setting out, choosing us and making us holy and blameless before him?

He does so by the work of that triune God. The work that only a triune God could accomplish. No outsourcing of any way from a created being. It was all in himself. The Father chose us before the foundations of the world.

The Holy Spirit regenerated us. That new birth that we've talked about recently. That we've been brought from death to life. Paul says we are dead in our trespasses and sins and we need life. Just as Jesus spoke to Nicodemus and he said you must be born again.

The Holy Spirit sets out to regenerate us and bring us into life. So that we could see what the second person of the Godhead did. Jesus the Son. What did he do? He purchased us. He purchased us through his life, through his death and through his resurrection.

And subsequently justifying us. Making us righteous. Making us holy and blameless. And bringing us created beings into union with that perfect triune God. That was perfectly self-sufficient. It's amazing right?

What a beautiful truth this is. What a magnificent truth that we can now rest in as Christians. This gives us great hope and courage moving forward. This gives us a view of the God of the Bible. In a way that the human mind can't even begin to comprehend.

To be chosen, to be sought after and redeemed by the Creator. Don't fall asleep Christian, hold on. Think about that for a second. Don't let that become just white noise in the background. Because you're so used to hearing this in church.

The Creator of all things chose you, sought you and redeemed you. To make you holy and blameless before him. What a beautiful truth. But wait, there's more.

There's more.

You say more? More than that? How could there possibly be more? The idea of just that alone causes my heart to just burst with joy and gratitude. Because my Creator purchased me at such a cost. He purchases me at the cost of his own son.

And he buys me. And I will gladly serve him. And I'll serve him as a slave. I will serve him as I feed off of the leftovers and the crumbs from his table. That's what my heart desires. Because I think, how could there possibly be more?

But it turns out that he didn't choose me for that. He didn't choose you for that. Even though we didn't deserve him chasing after us and redeeming us. He has prepared so much more than crumbs and leftovers for us.

So much more. Look at verse 5. As a matter of fact, look at where verse 5 is and then jump back two words. The verse headings are unfortunately placed wrong here. But Paul says, in love, he predestined us for adoption.

To himself. As sons through Jesus Christ. This choosing, even though it was not based on anything lovable about me. It was not arbitrary. It was intentional. And it was because he loved me. He loved me.

He loved you.

In love, Paul says. In love because of his great love. Rooted in his agape love. A deep rooted forever abiding love that will never end. Because of this love he predestined. I know this is a scary word for many Christians today.

I've actually had professing Christians say, you know what? I don't believe all that predestination stuff. Paul sure seems to believe it. He uses this exact phrase four times in his writings. Luke even uses it over in the book of Acts himself.

It's hard to deny something when you see the very word in scripture, isn't it? This word simply means determining beforehand. Ordaining. Deciding ahead of time. So when Paul uses this word predestined.

It means that God has determined certain things to occur ahead of time. To deny this truth or to try and make it mean something other than that is to deny scripture. I'm sorry. Words have meaning. And those words are used very intentionally here by the apostle Paul.

He chose us. And he predestined us beforehand. And he does so for us. For you and I. Those of us that are in Christ.

For what?

What did he predestine us for? What's Paul saying? Adoption. Adoption. Adoption is a beautiful thing, isn't it? We actually have some adopted children in this room right now. Man, praise God. Some of you may have been adopted and raised by parents that loved you and cared for you and provided for you.

When I think of adoption, I can't help but think of a friend of mine. I want to share a story. I don't share many stories on Sundays, do I? But I like how this story connects to this concept of adoption.

There was a friend of mine who he and his sister were both adopted. And they were adopted out of unthinkable circumstances. I remember hearing his story, and as he's sharing it, I remember tears running down my face going, I saw such a beautiful picture of the gospel here.

I was just overwhelmed by it. It stuck with me. He and his sister grew up as young children in Russia. They were both very young, very small children. And yet, he was pushed out of the house and left to fend for himself on the streets, stealing for food and living in the cold and trying to provide for himself.

And when I say young, I mean very young. His sister had it worse than him. His sister lived in a one-room flat with her mother. And I'm not even going to go into detail, but was exposed to things that you and I could not even imagine.

Praise the Lord, they were eventually brought into an orphanage. And it was found that they were siblings, and so they were paired up. And that is until an American couple came to that orphanage and specifically chose them, looked at them, said, I want them.

I want to love them. And he tells the story, he says, on the way to the airport when all the adoption was going through, they asked them, what would you like to eat? You can eat anything. And he recalls always seeing those golden arches and never tasting it and being drawn to it.

And so he chose, oh, McDonald's. And he realized, oh, things are about to change when he got to order anything he wanted to, and he got to finally taste. Siri's trying to talk to me here, sorry. He got to taste this amazing McDonald's.

And so, again, he knew his life had changed. But the magnitude of this change did not reveal itself until he got into the States. You would think that first-class seats on a plane would have set it off, but he had no context for any of that.

It turns out that this couple that adopted them was extraordinarily wealthy, even according to American standards. And, my friend, he recalls pulling up to the gate of an estate. And there's a gate there, and on both sides of the gate is engraved the first letter of the initials of this new parent's name.

And the father, the new adopted father, turns around to these two children, and they can barely understand, but he turns to them and he says, all of this is mine, and now from here on out it is also yours.

And he said, those initials on that gate, those are now your initials. And my friend said it just got better from there. He drove up this driveway, and I've seen this house, so I know exactly, he's telling the truth.

He drives through the gate and drives up this driveway and sees the horse pasture with a beautiful barn, and all these beautiful horses and trainers and people taking care of them. And he looks over and he sees a private lake that belongs to them alone.

He sees the tennis courts. He drives up to the 23 ,000 square foot mansion in the dead center of this estate. And best of all, he said, there was family. If there was ever a modern day picture of the magnificent doctrine of adoption, this is it, isn't it?

What a beautiful picture of what it means to be brought into the household of faith as a child. But you see, that story, as moving as it is, and as beautiful a picture it is, still falls so short. It falls short because you and I were not lovable, seemingly innocent little children.

We were children of wrath, just like the rest of mankind. We were enemies of God. Paul says later in Ephesians chapter 5, he speaks of the sons of disobedience, that at one point we were disobedient to God.

We hated the Creator. We railed against the Creator. And then realizing this brings deeper meaning to being adopted as sons, doesn't it? Something far greater than a mere estate with horses and lakes and tennis courts.

My favorite theologian, a man by the name of John Owen, he described adoption as the great and fountain privilege of salvation in Christ. The great and fountain privilege. You can hear the poetic nature of those words ringing true.

It's this beautiful fountain. Not only did God redeem us from our enmity with Him, but He does so in order to give us the privilege of sonship. And this is accomplished, as Paul said there in verse 5, when he says, in love He predestines us for adoption to Himself as sons through Jesus Christ.

We see this truth clearly in Paul's writing in Galatians chapter 4. As a matter of fact, turn your Bibles over there with me. I want you to see it. Galatians chapter 4, and we're going to be looking starting in verse 4.

Paul says there, in verse 4 of Galatians 4, but when the fullness of time had come, what is Paul meaning? That perfect timing of God's ordaining purpose. God had aligned, even the stars were aligned up for the very birth of Jesus.

And that life of Jesus lived out exactly the way it should until God had ordained for Jesus to be hung on the cross. And then three days later, the perfect timing of Him raising from the dead and defeating that death, claiming that it has no victory over Him or us, those that He brings in.

That's what Paul's saying is, but when the fullness of time had come, he said God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, just like you and I, right? Except different. We're born under the law.

We're born under that judgment. But Jesus didn't have sin because He was born of a woman. He didn't have an earthly father, right? We all have an earthly father. That's why the virgin birth is so important.

He's born of a woman, born under the law. He is sinless, but He is still there to fulfill the law. That's what Jesus did. He fulfilled the law. He lived under it so that He could fulfill it to its perfection.

And in verse 5, He says He does so to redeem those who were under the law. Who's that? It's you and I. We're the those. We're the ones that were under the law so that we might receive crumbs and leftovers as slaves.

Is that what it says?

No.

It says so that we might receive adoption as sons. What does that all mean? What does He mean by this? What does that look like? Well, look at verse 6. And because you are sons, God has sent the spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

What's Paul talking about? He's talking about the fact that our Savior, Jesus Christ, is interceding on our behalf. The Holy Spirit is interceding. He is crying out, Abba, Father. We are held by Christ.

We are adopted. We are brought in. We are made sons. And Christ Himself is interceding to the Father for us. Look at verse 7. So you are no longer a slave. You're no longer eating crumbs and leftovers.

You're no longer a slave. You're no longer a slave to sin. You're no longer a slave to death. You're no longer a slave to self. You are but a son. A son. And if a son, if you are a son, if you have been brought from being a slave that was dead in his trespasses and sins, you are now a son.

And if you are a son, what does that mean for you and I? That we are now heirs through God. You and I are heirs through God. I have to address something here. A lot of people like to say, you are no longer a slave but a son or a daughter.

And if a son or a daughter, then an heir through Christ. The problem is they're missing the point. That's not the purpose of what Paul is saying here. You see, back then, only the son is an heir. Only the son.

The daughter was not an heir. Does that mean that only male Christians are the heir to whatever this inheritance is? Absolutely not. Of course not. This is imagery of the spiritual position that all believers, male and female, Jew and Gentile, every single believer are beneficiaries of.

We are sons because we inherit.

We are heirs.

I had a friend ask me today, actually in light of this very topic, he brought up this hypothetical. He says, doesn't an heir only inherit whenever the father passes away? You see his line of thinking.

He's like, because our father never passes away, we never actually inherit anything. And so he got stuck in this vortex, this cycle of the cyclical thinking. But that question implies, though, that we as sons don't have access to the father's wealth until he's gone.

And that's just not true. Here's the way to think about it. We don't control it. It's not ours to do with as we please. We simply have access to the cattle on a thousand hills. And that access that we have to the cattle on a thousand hills is based upon our good and gracious all-knowing wise father seeing fit to give us access.

It doesn't mean that it's not ours. It just means that our father knows us. And he gives us what we need when we need it. It goes back to what we mentioned earlier on in this study when the Apostle Paul said, God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing, we have access to all of it.

Every spiritual blessing. But he gives us as we need. And we have no need.

We are heirs.

Our father is the one that keeps it. And he shares with us his children. Look at verse 7 of that passage in Galatians there. So you are no longer a slave. You see, this phrase would have resonated with these Christians back then.

Most Christians during that time were at a lower economic status. Not many rich, not many noble are called, right? And Christians struggled during this time. Most of them. And they could understand this concept of being purchased.

They understood being bought into servitude. They understood that far greater than we can today. It's hard for us to get our minds wrapped around it. We have so much freedom. But for them, they knew that that was a great possibility for them in their lives.

And in some cases, probably the best case scenario, that they get crumbs and leftovers as a servant. Because someone has purchased them. But Paul doesn't leave it there. He keeps mentioning this word, adoption, doesn't he?

And we've already talked about a beautiful picture of adoption that we've seen, even in our culture today. But they understood adoption differently than we'd even do. For them, adoption, and I think this is why Paul refers to it often, within the Roman culture of that day, adopted sons had actually more rights than biological sons.

If you went through the process of adopting someone, you were actually purchasing them. So it was rare in the Roman culture for children to get adopted. They saw that as just a burden on the family. And it's unfortunate.

Their purpose for adoption was a legal purpose. What they would do is, let's say you had a son, and your son's probably not really good with money and resources. And you know if he takes over the family name, that son is going to squander the family wealth, and everyone's in trouble.

And so what they did was they said, okay, well we can find the child of a servant, or we can find a lower income family that has a son that has an aptitude towards these things that I can train, and he is gifted in these areas.

And I can then adopt that son, and sometimes they would pay a great price for these men. And it was usually someone in the range of 16 to 20, late 20s. And they would purchase these men. And what they would do is they would adopt them into the family, and they would then give them their name.

And they would then place them over the household when they go, when they're gone. And this was a way to protect the family name. It was a way to protect the family wealth. It's interesting, right? Very different reasonings for adoption in that culture.

And the reason that they would do this is because they knew by law that when they brought that young man in, they could never remove him. They were legally never allowed to disown him. They were legally never allowed to cut him out of the will.

No matter what he did, he was permanently secure, and they were not allowed to disavow him at all. It's pretty secure, right? So think about that for a second. This is how these Christians were thinking about adoption, as Paul keeps using this word.

And he correlates it with a slave. A slave is purchased, but a slave is purchased as a slave. An adoption was a purchase, but an adoption was secure and was given the name. This context in which Paul is writing changes the whole dynamic, doesn't it?

You can see it from their perspective. And so when he says there in verse 7,. So you were no longer a slave, but a son. And if a son, then an heir through God. This heir through God can never be disowned, can never be cut out of the inheritance.

This idea that they had been brought into the household of God through adoption was transformative to them. This must have blown their minds as they were looking at this going, to simply be a slave of a good master was still a slave.

That's a good thing, to be purchased and made a slave of a good master. That's a good thing in their minds because my life is going to be better, right? Leftovers and crumbs are better than starvation.

But they also saw that even a freed slave, someone that has actually been freed by their master, in that culture were still considered only slightly better than a slave that was in bondage. They didn't have the rights and the privileges.

They didn't have the name. So when Paul says that we're not simply freed, we're adopted, that's a game changer. And remember, Paul's using this in a spiritual sense. But to the people he's writing, this is how they would have understood this.

God didn't purchase us so that we could be indentured servants. That wasn't the purpose of Christ shedding his blood for us. He did so to give us a seat at the table, a seat that can never be dismissed.

We'll look back at our passage in Ephesians. Verse 5 again. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself. And remember, God doesn't change, does he? God doesn't change his mind. God doesn't regret when he does something the way a man would regret.

He knows all things. There's nothing that we can do that will shock him and cause him to disown us. Our adoption is secure because it's through Jesus and to the Father. This adoption is far more secure than any earthly adoption.

All shadows of things fall short, don't they, of the substance. In 1 John 3 .1, John writes,. See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God. And so we are.

See what kind of love the Father has given to us. This is what God has given us. And with God there are no takebacks, are there? Praise God. He's not going to bring us into the household of faith and adopt us just to strip that from us because he doesn't like our actions.

Because he's mad at us. Because we didn't live up to his expectations. He already knows. He knows that failure that you had yesterday. He knows that failure that you're going to have again today. He knows the failure that you're going to have next week.

And guess what? He already paid for it. It's done and you're secure. And you can rest in this beautiful truth of adoption. And we see that in our passage in verse 5. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will.

Again, no outside source. God does not come to us and say, what would you like? What would you like to do? Let's counsel together. Let's rally. Let's brainstorm here, guys. What's best for you? No, God does what he sees fit.

And everything that he sees fit is good because all things that God does is good. And he doesn't reverse it. So we've seen that he has chosen us before the foundation of the world. And that in love he predestined us to adoption as sons.

But why? Why has he done so? We know it wasn't because we were lovable. We know that it wasn't because he was lonely and needed our companionship. We know that he was self-sufficient in and of himself perfectly, the triune God in eternity past, and had no need of even worshipers to worship him.