DIVINE INHERITANCE | Ephesians 1:11-12

The Apologetic Dog

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We live in a world of uncertainties. You may have maybe had plans

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Friday night like I did and then it started raining sideways for hours and hours and then plans changed.

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You may have been coming to 12 -5 expecting to see a tent outside but it's not there. It wasn't certain to stay there.

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We have so many uncertainties in life like we pray for our kids but the future is not, we don't know the future of what it's going to be like for their lives.

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We pray for them. We have many sports teams that we want to win but we don't know if that's going to happen.

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Many of us, some of us, maybe just me, will step into the debate arena and we don't really know how it's going to go down.

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It's because we live in a world of uncertainties and a lot of times these uncertainties cause us to worry.

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They give us fears, the things that are outside of our control. But friend, you want to know what is absolutely certain and a guarantee to happen?

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The promises of God. If you would, please turn with me in your copy of God's Word to Ephesians chapter 1.

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I want us to look at verses 3 through 14 as Pastor Nathan has been teaching on.

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This is one continuous thought in the Greek and so I want us to be aware of the context here. So if you would join me and look with me at verse 3 where Paul says, blessed be the

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God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places even 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 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 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 in 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 are the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory in him you also when you heard that the word of truth the gospel of your salvation and believed in him were sealed with the promised

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Holy Spirit who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory please join me in prayer

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Heavenly Father we we praise your holy name this morning and we thank you so much for your word which is truth which converts the soul and sanctifies us

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God I pray that you would open up hearts to be able to receive your truth and to see your majesty put on display

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Jesus pray these things in your name amen so this morning I want to drive your focus back to verse 11 in our text where we read 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 those first two words really emphasize the whole context of the book of Ephesians right in him we read in Paul's writings in him we have obtained an inheritance in Christ all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell here in Ephesians 1 we see he chose us in him before the foundation of the world in him we have redemption through his blood it's all about Christ and that's what we see here in Paul's letter and so we look at this word inheritance what does that mean who is it to well this inheritance is promising salvation for anyone who would believe in Christ whether Jew or Gentile our inheritance in a word is heaven it's the sum total of all of God has promised us in salvation our inheritance is both now and future and so you may say

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Jeremiah how can this be future when here in the verse it's past tense we've already obtained this inheritance well in English we see it rendered in the past tense but in the

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Greek it's showing us that it's something that's past tense that's already future how is that possible because it's a certain guarantee it is an absolute truth because of the one who promised it to happen and so pastor

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Nathan has been talking about this paradigm of us living in the already and not yet we already have relationship with Christ but not in the fullness we have an inheritance here and now but not in its fullest and so yes it is now and future we have a future blessed hope verse 10 reminds us of that for in the fullness of time he is going to unite all things together whether things in heaven and whether things on earth and so we are reminded that we are adopted as children we have been sealed with the

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Holy Spirit amen Danny we've been sealed with the Holy Spirit to receive this possession he says in verse 14 the

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Holy Spirit is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory and so we see in verse 14 there's a future reality to our inheritance and so that should motivate how we live here and now okay yes we are in Christ but we await that future blessed hope so that changes everything to live as Christ but oh is it gain one day when we pass from this life to the next so we should live each and every day anticipating those sweet words that Jesus told us well done good and faithful servant

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I long for that day that gets me fired up here and now you want to know what else Jesus said come you are a blessed by my father inherit the kingdom prepared for you before the foundation of the world well that sounds a lot like Ephesians 1 that's because it's

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God's truth whether Jesus says it or the Apostle Paul our inheritance awaits us and that ultimately means seeing

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God it means being with Christ and enjoying his glory it means that we will reign with Christ if we suffer with him then we shall also reign with him the kingdom of God here is talking about in its fullest it's here but it's also not yet and so one of my favorite quotes from Martin Lloyd -Jones he says we shall be on this new earth and under the new heavens and we shall enjoy paradise and eat of its celestial fruits we shall spend our eternity doing so we will judge men we will judge angels because we are in Christ with him we shall enjoy that eternally blessed state which will never end in quote

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Paul says in him we have obtained an inheritance but Jeremiah a lot can happen between now and then a lot can happen in this world a lot of trials just continue to beat me down beat me down how do

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I know that it is a guarantee well it's because of who God is God promised it he is the

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God of truth and he cannot lie put your trust in him don't put any of your trust in the uncertainties of this world

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God is absolutely sovereign and no created thing can thwart his purpose amen so we move to the second part of verse 11 which explains more and more about this beautiful reality of how we do have an inheritance that is a guarantee look with me

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Paul gives four major reasons why our divine inheritance is a absolute guarantee having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will so four keywords for you note takers out there we have predestined purpose counsel and will and so if you pay careful attention all this stems out of God's counsel so we have number one the counsel of God and the reason why this comes first is because everything in this world is leaving a trail and if you follow this trail back it's ultimately going to lead to God within himself and his counsel from eternity past and so that God the one true

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God is trying in which pastor Nathan pointed out this morning what does that mean well try meaning three and you for unity there is one true

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God who has revealed himself in three divine persons and we call him the

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Trinity and so I want you to think back with me for a moment as far as your mind will let you go before the foundation of the world before there was a created universe before there was time before there was any angels and it was

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God and God alone verse four in our text clues us in that this was taking place before the foundation of the world you had

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God the Father God the Son God the Spirit they were counseling and considering every conceivable possibility within a created world in Ephesians 1 we see this

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Trinity right look earlier in verse 3 blessed be God and father of our

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Lord Jesus Christ in verse 14 tells us about the Holy Spirit so you have a divine counsel from eternity past and their counsel brought forth their will okay so that brings us to point number two

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God's will this is God's decision a choice was made and please don't miss this the decision was to create the world it's all inclusive everything will come to pass the way that God purposes it it is

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God who works all things after or according to the counsel of his will this shed some light on other passages of Scripture like James chapter 4 or we read come now you who say today or tomorrow we will go to such -and -such a city spend a year there and make a trade or profit yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring what is your life for you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes away don't miss this instead you ought to say if the

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Lord wills we will live and do this or that James is saying you do not know the future only

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God knows the future because he is working all things together the way that he purposed it the

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Proverbs tell us the same truth in many different ways many are the plans of the mind of man but it is the purpose of the

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Lord that will stand out of God's will comes forth his choice of the elect the elect or God's chosen those whom he set his heart of affection to be his own possession we see this earlier in the context of Ephesians where we read blessed be the

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God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places

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Jeremiah who is the us right in this talking about some impersonal plan no this is talking about the

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Saints he addresses the beginning of the letter to the Saints who are in Ephesus he's not talking about a nameless and faceless group no

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God's plan is personal and intentional to show his love to an undeserving people

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I want you to feel the love the eternal love that we just sang about right verses 4 and 5 goes on to say even as he chose us in him before the foundation the world that we should be holy and blameless before him why in love he predestined us for the adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will

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God's choosing is not random it is not impersonal it is quite the opposite God's choosing is according to the kind intention of his will it is deeply personal in love this is also should blow our mind this is from before the foundation of the world guess what

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I can't comprehend that this was a time before time and yet we were shown that God has marked out everything from the foundation of the world especially those whom he set his love upon he has marked out where the elect would be born in history whether who their parents would be what their gender would be that moment when they would come to saving faith in the

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Sun who they would marry their entire life the Old Testament tells us in Psalm 39 all the days of our life have been written in a book before we've ever lived one of them that that should blow your mind

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God is big enough to do that God is sovereign and I want you to understand that all of God's will will be accomplished and no one can say how you can't do that no

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God is God and you are a part of the creation and so we should bend the knee and submit to him

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God's counsel is within himself father son and spirit they being the one true

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God made a decision and this was from eternity past and this brings us to number three

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God's purpose we're gonna camp on this one for a little bit having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will now we see this word purpose this word in English occurred a few more times earlier in the passage back in verse 9 and verse 5 but these are different words in the

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Greek I want you to hear how he used it earlier according to the purpose of his will according to the purpose that he set forth in Christ those two

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Greek words are eutychia talking about God's kind intention we see God's heart expressed in love but here in verse 11 it's a different Greek word this word in Greek means setting forth of a thing placing it in view to put on display and so the idea is out of God's counsel from eternity past came forth his will and God's purpose is to be put on display and he is determined to execute it perfectly in fact it is so certain that God will accomplish his will because he is the one declaring the end all the way from the beginning

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I want to share with you an Old Testament truth that honestly in the when

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I'm going through hardships and I'm going through times of hurt and pain this is where I go to I look to the the

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God who is speaking the world into existence and sustaining it nothing is catching him off guard the prophet

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Isaiah said this about the one true and living God remember this and stand firm recall it to mind you transgressors remember the former things of old for I am

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God and there is no other I am God and there is none like me declaring the end from the beginning from ancient times things not yet done saying my counsel shall stand and I will accomplish all my purpose calling a bird from the prey of the east and a man of my counsel from a far country

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I have spoken and I will bring it to pass I have purposed and I will do it does it sound like any created thing can thwart that God ain't no way and this is in a context where there were so many pagans fashioning idols with their hands and Isaiah is saying okay let's compare your gods with Yahweh the creator of the world

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Isaiah goes on to say ask your idols give us an explanation of why things have happened in the past and declare to us the things that will come in the future can't do it no created thing knows the future because they are not sustaining all of creation only the true and living

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God can give us an explanation about the past because he had an intention for it only the true

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God can give us prophecies about the future because he has a purpose for it coming about Isaiah says to the idols behold you are nothing and your work is less than nothing an abomination is the person that chooses you here's the point

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I'm getting it we want to be careful not to create God as an idol with our imagination we distort

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God all the time in our minds and it's easy to do when you're not going to his word

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God has revealed who he is to us that's why we praise the triune God the

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Father is God Jesus is God the Holy Spirit is God this is so important we do not we have to be so careful not to create

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God in an image that we imagine it baffles me to no end that there are professing

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Christians that say God does not know the future he is simply learning as time goes on no most of us are like yeah

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I'm buying that that's like a man just blown up on mega size okay

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God doesn't learn and there's this other view that floats around that says well God knows all things but he just kind of sees down the timeline to see what we're gonna choose and then

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I'll make choices in light of that that's wrong too God is omniscient and he is sustaining his created order guess what time is created by God that means all the events that happen within time have a purpose by God God knows all things

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God is not reactive God is not like man that he should learn no

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God is all -knowing he is all -powerful and he is sovereign then we just read that I am

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God and there is none like me declaring the end from the beginning saying my counsel will stand and I will accomplish all my purpose if I have spoken it

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I will bring it to pass I have purposed now we'll do it course God knows all things he is the one setting out to accomplish all of his purposes and that's what

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Paul is getting at here in Ephesians chapter 1 he is telling us that God has an eternal purpose to redeem and undeserving people to himself that he might put on display the full range of his glory what is the glory of God it is all of who

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God is it's all of his attributes we know many of his attributes like God is love

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God is gracious God is merciful he is long -suffering we should find comfort in those attributes of God but God tells us more about who he is

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God has other attributes that glorify him like he is holy he is just and he is wrathful against sin and so when we ask who

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God is that's the most important question by the way you could ask yourself who is God let

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God tell you who he is don't rely on your own imaginations and fallen human reasoning

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I'll start with God and who he's revealed himself and trust in him he will give you the truth and make your path straight and so our main text in Ephesians chapter 1

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Paul uses this word purpose a setting forth and I want to show you another place in Ephesians if you don't mind to turn a page to chapter 3 he uses the same word talking about what he's doing and putting on display before the creative world look with me if Ephesians chapter 3 starting in verse 9 where Paul is talking about the grace of God in his life and how he is called to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ and then he says

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God who created all things so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our

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Lord so I want to highlight a few things here beginning with God created all things now what that means is that everything that exists has divine purpose everything in God's creation was carefully planned to occur according to the counsel of God from eternity past this firstly starts out in Genesis how

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God created everything good then he created man in his own image and it was very good okay that's what you see

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God being the author of everything that is good and he causes it to exist he speaks it from nothing but we also learn that God is sovereign that he permits and ordains everything that comes into this created world even sin whoa

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Jeremiah God had a purpose for sin entering into his creation it did not catch him off guard but wouldn't that make

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God evil or something no he's very good his loving hand spoke this world into creation and it was very good

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I want you to have those categories in your mind God is the author of everything that is good and he authorizes evil to exist can we get an amen on that Proverbs 16 4 says it like this the

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Lord has made everything for its purpose even the wicked for the day of trouble

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Jeremiah I don't like that Jeremiah if I was God I would have created a different world

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I get it I would have to I'm a fallen person with a very limited perspective

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I would have done everything different so I want to empathize with you on that point but let me ask you this are you worthy are you worthy and perfect to put your glory on display no

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I'm not either we don't get to ask those types of questions I recall

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Job was not happy with his circumstances understandably and presumed that God should have created a different world with different circumstances and it probably didn't go the way that he thought okay and so please understand

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God is worthy he sits in the heavens and does whatever he pleases revelation 411 says worthy are you our

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Lord and God to receive glory and honor and power you created all things and by your will they existed and were created

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God created all things and so we see in this passage the wisdom of God being put on display look with me at verse 10 so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places

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I'm one of those nerds that reads a bunch of dead theologians and all their content love it and so I found this quote by 20th century theologian

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AW pink I promise you he had to be reading Ephesians 3 here when he said this from all eternity

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God designed that our world should be a stage in which God should display his manifold grace and wisdom in the redemption of lost sinners for the accomplishment of the glorious design

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God has governed the world from the beginning and will continue it to the end that sounds like Isaiah 46 he goes on to say it has been well said we can never understand the providence of God over our world unless we regard it as a complicated machine have an infinitely interwoven parts directed in all of its operations to one glorious and I love that God is putting his glory on display to the world and God's wisdom is so complex from our perspective doesn't

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God's word tell us that his ways and thoughts are higher they are transcendent than our way so I'm hoping that you feel just a little bit uncomfortable talking about who

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God is he is all together differently than us and yet paradoxically he has made himself known to us through this

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I love that he's so different and yet we can know him personally first and says once again that he made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places this is a reference likely to angels both holy and fallen and holy

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Adam meaning set apart right because God alone is holy holy holy and so God is putting his glory on display not only to mankind but to the angelic hosts

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I think that is incredible because all angels see the glory of God being put on display in salvation they do not fully comprehend these things right they long to look into the things of salvation they do not experience the mercy and grace that we experience but they see

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God's glory his purpose being shown forth and so God they see

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God's purpose that this created world allowed sin to happen so that the second person of the

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Trinity could take on flesh and be the one and only Savior to redeem the world all to the praise of his glorious grace what that means is there's been plan a with God there is never a plan

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B so back in Ephesians 1 verse 11 if you turn back there with me out of God's counsel came forth his will and he is determined to display all of his purpose and that brings us to predestination that makes a lot of people start sweating hey it's in the

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Bible I just tell people you got to believe it it's there now how we understand it may be a little different but you can't deny that it's there okay it's at least a good starting point so predestination is the guarantee that God's sovereign will his eternal master plan will be brought to pass from God's perspective everything is a done deal everything created has a predetermined purpose in God's world now from man's perspective we don't know what everything has that's why we share the gospel with everyone right and we trust

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God to give the increase right there are many things in this world that seem random to us right if you get some sawdust it looks like those things are just going randomly everywhere in God's world it has a purpose even though we cannot see that all the time

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Proverbs 1633 tells us God's perspective and man's perspective the lot is cast into the lap that's like the rolling of the dice that's random from our view but then it says but it's every decision is from the

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Lord God has a purpose in all things so I want you to think about something that's kind of hard a little bit if we were there at Calvary when

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Jesus was beaten when he was whipped when he was dying on the cross there might have been some people that think oh no what is happening why is

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God the Father allowing this to happen is Satan winning are these evil men thwarting

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God's will not a chance even though people are tempted to think that it was predetermined to happen in a very specific way this is what scripture says in Acts chapter 4 for truly in this city there were two there were gathered together against your

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Holy Servant Jesus whom you anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate along with Gentiles and the people of Israel to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place earlier in Acts it says according to the foreknowledge of God meaning he knew it beforehand and it's all according to the definite plan that God is executing not only was

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Jesus dying on Calvary predestined but even the wicked actions of the men like Herod and Pontius Pilate and everyone else involved and understand these men will be held accountable what they meant for evil

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God means for good that's the principle God is big enough to operate in those categories those both can be true man can can truly choose to do evil and be held accountable and God can have an overriding purpose in all things and understand what separates you if you're in Christ from that wicked person that denies

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Christ it's not something that you conjured up deep within yourself it's the grace of God and it didn't begin with your decision it began in eternity past we're getting to how we can know how do we have an inheritance that's certain to happen it's not because of you it's because of who

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God is the cross was predestined it was long ago prophesied

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Isaiah 53 says yet it was the will of Yahweh God the father to crush the suffering servant

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Jesus amazing truth to know that even though what man means for evil

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God can choose for his good please do not think for one second that God was not sovereign over what was happening at Calvary not just Calvary but everything

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God knows exactly what's going to take place he is the one declaring the end from the beginning now

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Jeremiah you've given us a lot of information how does this relate look back with me one last time at verse 11

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I want you to see how our inheritance is directly tethered to predestination in him we have obtained an inheritance having been predestined this should be the sweetest news for a believer who has tasted that the

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Lord is gracious this should renew our hearts and our minds and our souls to know that if I am in Christ by faith and faith alone apart from any works that you possibly could accomplish then that is eternally set that is eternally secure we're sealed baby right it's a guarantee to happen what does the book of Jude say to those who are called beloved in God the

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Father and kept in Jesus Christ you mean that if I'm called by God he's going to keep me oh yeah even through the difficult times no matter how many trials and hardships you go through you will never stumble away and lose your inheritance in what

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Christ has promised it's not possible that's how Jude closes his letter with the majesty and power of Christ to accomplish all things he says now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy to the only

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God our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord be glory majesty dominion and authority before all time and now and forever amen dear saint understand that if you have this truth about God in your heart it changes the way that you read verses that you already know about it changes everything it changed the way that I read

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Romans 5 verse 1 therefore since we have been justified by faith we have peace with God through our

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Lord Jesus Christ if God is sovereign the way that Ephesians 1 says that we understand that this faith was not just a mere decision during an emotional altar call no this faith was a gift from God who is gracious who set his love and affection on you changes everything faith is not something that originates with yourself but it originates with God and Paul says that we can have peace with God we can be justified by faith and if you're not familiar with justification that's a one -time past event where the judge says innocent no longer guilty that judge is not going to change his mind and we can have peace with God if that peace could somehow be lost on my effort and that war could erupt all over again that's not peace that's not peace but if the creator of the universe says you are my child you have an inheritance that's been prepared for you before the foundation of the world that is true peace that is true

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Shalom that can never be lost are you starting to see if you have a right view of God then that changes how we look at normal Bible verses we're like oh no it's all different from here on out if God is absolutely sovereign over his creation you'll never read

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Romans 828 the same again and we know that for those who love

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God all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose you might think oh the emphasis changes it's all about his purpose the things that he is working out but it's very connected with love right when he says that he's working out all things together that sounds a lot like Ephesians 111 right where God is working all things according to the counsel of his will

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Paul here in Romans chapter 8 is saying that God is doing all these things for those who love him now a lot of people say they love

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God right but if they don't know what Jesus as of the God man the second person the

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Trinity they don't love God they've created some God with their imagination that cannot save them and Isaiah says it is an abomination to worship and so we don't read these verses the same again and we know that for those who love

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God all things work together for good okay so what's the good here cuz

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I've heard a lot of people start twisting that as well maybe maybe it's my health wealth and prosperity nope not what he's talking about here it's about God's purposes he tells us in Romans 8 that for those whom he foreknew not those he foresaw and learned but those whom he foreknew before the foundation in the world those that he set his love and affection on he goes on to say for those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers the good there is being made more and more like Christ is our sanctification if God is sovereign the way that we've been talking about that should change how you view your circumstances but Jeremiah you don't understand

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I'm going through a really broken time guess what it's for your sanctification it's making you more and more like Christ you may still have hurts and pains and tears in the moment but you can rejoice also knowing that God purposed this for your life to make you more and more like Christ all of these things are for our good and for his glory in Ephesians 1 12 kind of completes the thought here so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory

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Paul repeats this over and over again in Ephesians all to the praise of his glorious grace if we allow these truths to sit in our heart knowing that God is sovereign in every circumstance of life then you will know that you have an imperishable unspoiled unfading eternal divine inheritance that awaits you in glory and please hear me this changes how we live day in and day out but for those of us for those that think well

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Jeremiah I struggle with this I think that salvation can actually be lost or for those people that think that they initiated their salvation hear me those are impossible concepts because of who

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God is God had planned these things in eternity past and if you've experienced his grace then he who began that good work in you will bring it to completion how do you know that you have a divine inheritance that awaits for you in glory this truth right here for those whom he predestined he also called and those whom he called he also justified and those whom he justified he also glorified if you make a note those are all past tense because it's certainly going to happen no one can thwart

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God's plans and so please rest in knowing that all things are working together for our good and for his glory oh the depth and the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God how unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways for who has known the mind of the

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Lord or who has been his counselor or who has given him a gift so that he might repay for from him and through him and to him are all things to whom be the glory forever amen

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Heavenly Father some deep truths this morning but we praise you

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Lord your thoughts and ways are higher than our ways so God just pray for those of us that have trouble digesting these deep truths

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God please help us to never call into question your character God you are worthy you alone are worthy and God please help us to worship you and all that we do