DIVINE INHERITANCE (Eph 1:11-12)

Before we jump in, most of you already know, Tuesday mornings, this building is open every single

Tuesday from 7 to 8 a .m. We've got a group that comes in every week and is diligent to pray for you, to pray for the members of this church, to pray for the regular attenders of this church, to pray for guests that have come, to pray for this community, to pray for the church as a whole.

We are going to the source every single week, and of course we do that during service on Sunday, we do it on Wednesday nights, but Tuesday is just a great time.

If you can, and I say it every week, if you are only able to be here for five minutes before work, on your way into work,

I encourage you, come on in, pray with the saints as we seek the Lord for His wisdom, discernment, that He would do a work in our midst and in our community, and we are so grateful that He does that, and He gives us the opportunity to come to Him in prayer in that way.

So every Tuesday, 7 to 8 a .m., everyone is welcome to come to that. The next thing that we have is a lot of you have joined us on Wednesday nights over the past,

I guess, we've only been doing Wednesday nights for about a year, year and a half now, but a lot of you come. We have a big group in here, there's usually about, what, 40 or so that come on a

Wednesday night if we have a good group, and we have been walking through the book of Jude, and we have finally made it through Jude.

I flew through, didn't I fly through the last three weeks? I flew through the last three weeks. We crept through the first 10 weeks, 9 weeks, and then we wrapped it up, and we finally wrapped it up.

I could tell everyone was having Jude exhaustion, right? It was enough talk of false teachers.

So we are officially starting a new Wednesday night study, but this

Wednesday at 6 .30, come and join us because this Wednesday, what we want to do in between is just take a break from the study, and we want to have a night of worship, a night of worship and a night of prayer.

So we're going to sing, we're going to pray, we're just going to spend some time together as a church this Wednesday night at 6 .30.

I encourage you to come. You can bring friends with you. This is a great opportunity for them as we worship the

Lord together Wednesday night. But then the following Wednesday, which is the beginning of the month,

I believe it's on the 5th, I think is what that Wednesday lands on. But that Wednesday is when we're starting our new study, and what we're doing is we're walking through this book right here.

It's called Everyone's a Theologian. It's written by R .C. Sproul. And what this book is, is it's an introduction to what's called systematic theology.

So what is systematic theology? In its simplest form, systematic theology is just walking through individual topics and doctrines, say the doctrine of the

Trinity. We worship a triune God, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. Why do we believe that?

Well, it breaks it down and goes to Scripture and tells us why we believe in that particular doctrine. If we're looking at Christology, Christology is the study of Christ, the person of Christ.

Then we can look at what Scripture says about that, and we're going to walk week to week. We have these books available.

There are copies out on the table out here for you to take if you want to join us for the study.

Please don't take one of the books unless you're planning on coming on Wednesdays and joining us in that study. But if you would like these, there's no cost involved.

You don't have to pay, but to help offset the cost, there's a little box beside the books.

You can pay towards the books if you want. It's a donation towards offsetting the cost of that. But if you've not gotten a copy of this and you want to join us on Wednesday nights for this study, it's going to take about a year to walk through the entirety of this book together.

But I think it's going to be a tremendous time for us as a people walking through and just learning why do we believe what we believe?

What does that look like? What does scripture actually say about this particular topic? And don't be afraid.

We picked this book. It's not very thick with all those different topics. Each chapter is only like four or five pages.

So that's easy to read every week and we're only going to cover those. So there's that. There's the announcements.

Well, before we start our worship service, we always like to go to the Lord in prayer and pray for another local church, for other brothers and sisters in the community or elsewhere somewhere in the world.

We've prayed for churches all over the place, haven't we? We primarily try and talk about churches that are kind of near to us.

And there's one this morning today, Grace Covenant. This is a group of believers that are near and dear to our hearts that one of their elders is preaching this pulpit.

I preach in their pulpit. We have a lot of overlap. As a matter of fact, there's some even family overlap that we have at this wonderful church, this group of saints.

And they are going to gather this morning just as we do in worship. So let us as a people, let's go to the

Lord and let's ask that he works in their midst. Let's ask that he does a mighty work amongst those brothers and sisters there.

So if you would, join me in prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, thank you so much for this beautiful day.

Lord, as we got to drive into church this morning, you have given us sunshine.

You have given us a beautiful weather and all good gifts are from you, Father, and we thank you.

And Lord, we also want to thank you this morning for the fact that we have brothers and sisters all over this world that are gathering today to worship you as you have prescribed.

Lord, as the church has done since our Savior left, the church has gathered on Sundays and worshipped you.

And so we are so thankful for that common means of grace. And we pray for Grace Covenant today.

Lord, we love them dearly. And I pray that you would work in their midst this morning.

Through those common means of singing truth from your word, praying your words back to you by reading the scriptures and seeking the source.

Lord, through the preaching of your word, Father, I pray that you would work mightily in their hearts.

Lord, I pray that you would stir in them a hunger, a desire to honor you.

Father, I pray that they would worship in spirit and truth this morning and that you would bring people into their midst, people that would see the beauty of the

Savior and come to him. I will be awakened to that truth and be active participating members in that body.

And that you would use the pastors there to equip the saints for the good work, that they would make an impact by being salt and light in this community.

In Christ's name, amen and amen. Well, before we officially start our service with our call to worship, we have the privilege this morning of doing something that we very much enjoy doing.

It is always an encouragement for all of us, I know, is the fact that we get to do a new member recognition.

There is always, there are always people, it seems like all the time, we're constantly doing new member recognitions, right?

And that is a beautiful thing. God is bringing the saints that he wants here, right?

This is a body. This is a particular representation of the body of Christ in this body, and God keeps bringing people and body parts that this body needs.

And it's amazing to watch God work. So Whipple family, if you don't mind, come on up here with me.

Put you on the spot here, all right. So this is the

Whipple family, this is Dr. Joel. Joel is a general surgeon at NEA.

And how long have you been there now? For about nine months? About nine months, so he is a busy, busy man.

Sometimes you don't see him because he's saving some life over at NEA Hospital, praise the

Lord for that. And this is his beautiful family. How long have y 'all homeschooled?

Since you started. Since y 'all started homeschooling, that's awesome. And do you like homeschooling?

I guess, I guess you like it. I looked at the kids this morning, I said, if y 'all got your speeches ready, and you talk about big eyes, both of them, their eyes got real big, but we're just joking, aren't we?

We're not making you talk. Well, hey, we are so overwhelmed with joy to be able to welcome y 'all into this body.

They may have seemed like members because they've been coming for a while. And so every time we get to talk with them, they were very intentional about this step because y 'all knew the weight of what you're agreeing to, right?

They looked at those membership covenants and were like, okay, this is a serious thing. But what I learned in meeting with them is it wasn't one of those normal things where they were introduced to a membership covenant and then knew the weight of it.

This was a family that knew the weight of it before they even saw the membership covenant, right? Because y 'all had come from a church similar to this in East Tennessee, right?

So about nine, 10 hours away, right, when y 'all moved. And I have to say this, their pastor seemed like a great pastor.

He called me and asked me theological questions when they first moved here to help them weed out maybe some unhealthy churches.

So praise God for that. So I'm so grateful that y 'all were thoughtful. I'm so grateful that y 'all took your time and were patient and said, okay, is this really what

God is calling us to? And that spoke to me, that y 'all are the type that are going to take this very seriously.

And I'm so thankful for that. And we're thankful that we get to pour into y 'all's lives. And hopefully y 'all have seen and felt the benefit of that even in this whole process.

So the Whipple family, I think we should let them in, don't you? If you're a member of 12 .5

and you affirm the Whipple family and the covenant membership with us, please stand. Amen, amen.

Hey, this is a great day. And just as we do every single week, or every single week, every time we do a new member recognition, we have a commissioning, right?

This is part of it. This Bible, this ESV study Bible, I say it every time, it's not a gift, it's not what it is, it's commissioning.

This is what we're about. And I think that's why y 'all want to join here, right? Because this is what we're about. This is the tool, this is the source, this is everything we need for life and godliness.

And so if we want to equip the saints for the good work, this is what they have to be equipped with. And so for us, we want to give you,

Whipple family, a Bible. I know you got them. I know you got other Bibles, but hopefully this one is of benefit to y 'all as a family.

And so let us pray that God would work in their family and in our family with them now part of it.

If you don't mind, pray with me. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you so much this morning for all these good gifts.

And as we get to introduce this family into our family,

God, I'm overwhelmed with joy that you don't leave us to ourselves.

You call us to community. You call us to be committed to a local representation of your bride.

And I see that in this family. I see their desire to be a part of it. I see their desire to grow in the knowledge of you.

I see their desire to bring their gifts and their abilities to benefit the body and to be used as salt and light in a lost and dying world.

And I pray that for them. Lord, I pray that you would raise them up in this congregation.

And I know that you have specific plans for them as to where and how they're going to fit into this.

But I pray that no matter where it is, that they would use those gifts and those abilities for your glory and to further the kingdom purposes here, and that we as a people would commit to come alongside them and gird them up and bring our gifts and abilities to strengthen and grow them as a family and as Christians, knowing that it's not about church.

It's about Christ. And we are just here to encourage each other to continue to look to Christ.

Father, we thank you for them, bless them in Christ's name. Amen. Thank y 'all. Thank y 'all so much.

All right. Well, everyone, let's go ahead and stand. Let's start our service this morning with a call to worship as we do every week.

And our call to worship this morning comes from Psalm 148, the first six verses.

And I've broken this section of Scripture down as we do every week as a read and then a response.

And we do this for the purpose of really driving home the idea that what we're doing today is corporate, right?

This is not entertainers or leaders and then consumers, right?

This is not us trying to lead you into something. This is a corporate involvement, and that's why we read

Scripture together every single Sunday in our call to worship, because as we engage in this worshipful time of the

Lord, this is something we're all coming to do. And so as I read this section, you'll see on the screen, it will come up with a section for the people to read.

So Psalm 148, starting in verse one, the psalmist says, praise the Lord from the heavens.

Praise Him, all His angels. Praise Him, sun and moon.

Praise Him, you highest heavens. Let them praise the name of the

Lord. And He established them forever and ever.

And all God's people said, Amen. Father, we just come before you this morning to worship you.

As Nathan said, we are not here to lead into worship, as that is the

Holy Spirit that does that through us, God. We just pray that you accept our offering of praise this morning, because you are worthy of all, so much more than we can give,

Father. We thank you, Jesus, for what you've done for us on the cross, and we praise you for that work, that it is finished.

It is finished in total and complete payment, God. We praise you, Lord. Thank you,

Father. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. ♪ My soul, the peace that some deserve ♪ ♪

For the battle has ended,

I fear no shame or loss ♪ ♪ My solid rock and my salvation, my steadfast hope ♪ ♪

There won't be shame unless my soul will wait ♪ ♪

My solid rock and my salvation, my steadfast hope ♪ ♪

There won't be shame unless my soul will wait ♪ ♪

My soul will wait for you ♪

Amen, my soul will wait for you. What a great truth, amen.

Well, our psalm this morning, as we read consecutively through the psalms together as a church, we come to Psalm 64, where the psalmist says, "'Hear my voice,

O God, in my complaint. "'Preserve my life from dread of the enemy. "'Hide me from the secret plots of the wicked, "'from the throng of evildoers "'who wet their tongues like swords, "'who aim bitter words like arrows, "'shooting from ambush at the blameless, "'shooting at him suddenly without fear.

"'They hold fast to their evil purpose. "'They talk of lying snares secretly, "'thinking who can see them.

"'They search out injustice, "'saying we have accomplished a diligent search, "'for the inward mind and heart of a man are deep.

"'But God shoots his arrow at them. "'They are wounded suddenly.

"'They are brought to ruin with their own tongues "'turned against them. "'All who see them will wag their heads.

"'Then all mankind fears. "'They tell what God has brought about "'and ponder what he has done.

"'Let the righteous one rejoice in the Lord "'and take refuge in him. "'Let all the upright in heart exult.'"

And all God's people said, that's a beautiful truth to hold on to, isn't it?

So, let the upright of heart exult. That's what we're doing this morning.

We get to do it corporately, hopefully and prayerfully all through the week in your own time of prayer, in your own time of worship, you've been exalting the

Lord. You've been going to him and praising him for what he's done for you personally, for what he's done for your family, for what he's done around you, that he has protected you from the wicked.

And not only has he protected you from the wicked, he's called you out from the wicked. You were once the wicked and he's called you out and now we get to exalt in him.

But now we come together unified as one, together today in Christ and exalt him together.

And there's something uniquely special about that, isn't it? This time as we sing and as we pray and as we read the word, this isn't your personal worship time.

That's why we don't dim the lights and make it dark in here and make it very personal to where it's just you and God. That's not what today's about.

That should be in your closet. Do that in your closet. But today, oh, today is corporate. Today you get to look around and see your brothers and sisters exalting the great and mighty

King. And that encourages you, right? That causes you to leave this week and go into your closet and exalt the

King even greater because you have courage. You look around and I see the singing of the saints. I was just listening to our brother

Adam as he's on the bass, just singing those truths away and it was great encouragement to me. Wasn't it you?

The beautiful truth. Let us pray. Dear heavenly Father God, be exalted in our midst.

Father, I pray that this week all of us have been worshiping you, that all of us have been exalting you but now this morning we get to come together and we get to exalt you as your children and there is something uniquely special about that where you come into our midst in a unique, special way when you show us your presence in a unique and special way as we exalt you and your name is great among the nations and the world that is looking in, the world that wants to bring about harm to your people, the ones that look for injustice and all that comes with it, we are safe from them because you rule even them as our great and mighty savior,

Jesus Christ that's on the throne, he is their king. They may not acknowledge it but he is and he reigns and we get to worship that king and we get to come before him because of the blood that he shed on our behalf.

So Father, help us to rest in that. Help us to love you this morning. God, incite an overwhelming sense of worship within our hearts that we may see you and exalt you in Christ's name.

♪ Through the darkness ♪ ♪ You called my hands in darkness ♪ ♪

With mercy you, you called me up ♪ ♪

Lifted me up, how great is your love ♪ ♪

You took my shame, buried my guilt ♪ ♪

In the fields of grace, you called me up ♪ ♪

Lifted me up, how great is your love ♪ ♪

Light and heaven, you sent down to earth ♪ ♪

Innocent perfection, gave your life for us ♪ ♪

And we are amazed at how you reached heaven and earth ♪ ♪ For we have been changed by the power of the cross ♪ ♪

How great, how great, how great is your love ♪ ♪

How great, how great, how great is your love ♪ ♪

How great, how great, how great is your love for us ♪ ♪

Your kind made me whole, your presence lifted me up ♪ ♪

How great is your love ♪ ♪

From the heights of heaven, you stepped down to earth ♪ ♪

Innocent perfection, gave your life for us ♪ ♪

And we stand in awe, for we have been changed by the power of the cross ♪ ♪

How great, how great, how great is your love ♪ ♪ How great, how great, how great is your love ♪ ♪

How great, how great, how great is your love for us ♪ ♪

There'll never be a God like you, a love so true ♪ ♪

There's never been, there'll never be a

God like you, a love so true ♪ ♪

How great, how great, how great is your love ♪ ♪

How great, how great, how great is your love ♪ ♪

How great, how great, how great is your love for us ♪

Sing this with me. ♪ This is my soul, my

Savior ♪ ♪ God to Thee, how great

Thou art, how great

Thou art ♪ Come on, everybody knows this song. ♪ This is my soul, my

Savior, God to Thee ♪ ♪

How great Thou art, how great

Thou art, how great

Thou art ♪ ♪ This is my soul, my

Savior, God to Thee ♪ ♪ How great, how great, how great is your love ♪ ♪

How great, how great, how great is your love ♪ ♪

How great is your love for us ♪

Amen, praise you God. How great is your love. How truly great you are. God, as we continue this time of worship, thank you,

Father, for the Holy Spirit. He works through us, that he worships through us, Father God, and we praise you for it,

Lord Jesus. As this time of giving, I pray that it continues to worship and honor you,

Father God, in what we do and how we act, how we live, what we do with the things you give us, God, and how greatly you bless us.

Praise you, Father God. Thank you for this time of worship. I pray that the Spirit would open the ears so that we could hear your words this morning,

God, the things you have prepared for us. Praise you, God, in Jesus' name, amen.

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

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

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.

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 gonna be like for their lives, 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. 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, and it's because we live in a world of uncertainties.

And a lot of times, these uncertainties cause us to worry. 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? The promises of God.

If you would, please turn with me in your copy of God's Word to Ephesians chapter one. I want us to look at verses three through 14.

As Pastor Nathan has been teaching on, 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 three, where Paul says, Blessed be the God and Father of our

Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 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 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.

Please join me in prayer. Heavenly Father, 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.

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

Jesus. We pray these things in your name, amen. So this morning, I wanna 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,

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 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 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 Holy Spirit.

Amen, Danny? We've been sealed with the Holy Spirit to receive this possession.

He says in verse 14, the 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 is 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.

I long for that day. That gets me fired up here and now. You wanna know what else Jesus said? Come, you who are 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 God's truth, whether Jesus says it or the

Apostle Paul. Our inheritance awaits us, and that ultimately means seeing

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, end quote.

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 I know that it is a guarantee? Well, it's because of who God is.

God promised it. He is the 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. 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. 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 key words 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 God, is triune, which Pastor Nathan pointed out this morning.

What does that mean? Well, tri, meaning three, and un, for unity, there is one true

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

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

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 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 Trinity, right? Look, earlier in verse three, blessed be

God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and 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, 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, and it's all inclusive. Everything will come to pass the way that God purposes it.

It is God who works all things after or according to the counsel of his will.

This sheds some light on other passages of scripture like James chapter four, where 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 Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.

James is saying, you do not know the future. Only God knows the future because he is working all things together the way that he purposed it.

The 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

Lord that will stand. Out of God's will comes forth his choice of the elect.

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

Jeremiah, who is the us, right? In this talking about some impersonal plan, no.

This is talking about the 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, God's plan is personal and intentional to show his love to an undeserving people.

I want you to feel the love, the eternal love that we just sang about, right?

Verses four and five goes on to say, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of 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.

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 also should blow our mind. This is from before the foundation of the world. Guess what? I can't comprehend that.

This was a time before time, and yet we're shown that God has marked out everything from the foundation of the world, especially those whom he's set his love upon.

He has marked out where the elect would be born in history, who their parents would be, what their gender would be, that moment when they would come to saving faith in the son, 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 should blow your mind. 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, hey, you can't do that.

No, God is God, and you are a part of the creation. And so we should bend the knee and submit to him.

God's counsel is within himself, Father, Son, and Spirit. They, being the one true

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

God's purpose. We're gonna camp on this one for a little bit. Have him 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 nine and verse five, but these are different words in the

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 Greek words are eudaikeia, 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.

Hallelujah. 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.

I wanna share with you an Old Testament truth that honestly, when 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 God who is speaking the world into existence and is sustaining it. Nothing is catching him off guard.

The prophet 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 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, 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's saying, okay, let's compare your gods with Yahweh, the creator of the world.

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

Only the true 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 and abomination is the person that chooses you.

Here's the point I'm getting at. We want to be careful not to create God as an idol with our imagination.

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

God has revealed who he is to us. That's why we praise the triune God. The 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

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

Christians that say God does not know the future. He is simply learning as time goes on.

No, most of us are like, yeah, I'm not buying that. That's like a man just blown up on mega science, okay?

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

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. God is not reactive. God is not like man that he should learn.

No, God is all -knowing. He is all -powerful and he is sovereign. Didn't we just read that?

I am 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, I will bring it to pass. I have purposed and I will do it. Course God knows all things.

He is the one setting out to accomplish all of his purposes and that's what Paul is getting at here in Ephesians chapter one.

He is telling us that God has an eternal purpose to redeem an 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 God is. It's all of his attributes.

We know many of his attributes like God is love, 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.

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

God? Let God tell you who he is. Don't rely on your own imaginations and fallen human reasoning.

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 one, Paul uses this word purpose, a setting forth.

And I wanna show you another place in Ephesians, if you don't mind to turn a page to chapter three, he uses the same word talking about what he's doing and putting on display before the created world.

Look with me at Ephesians chapter three, starting in verse nine, 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, 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

Lord. So I wanna 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 God created everything good. Then he created man in his own image and it was very good.

Okay, that's what you see 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, Jeremiah. God had a purpose for sin entering into his creation.

It did not catch him off guard. But wouldn't that make God evil or something? No, he's very good. His loving hand spoke this world into creation and it was very good.

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, four says it like this.

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

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

I would have too. I'm a fallen person with a very limited perspective.

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, I'm not either. We don't get to ask those types of questions. I recall

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,

God alone is worthy. He sits in the heavens and does whatever he pleases.

Revelation 4 .11 says, worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power.

You created all things and by your will, they existed and were created. 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.

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

A .W. Pink. I promise you, he had to be reading Ephesians 3 here when he said this.

From all eternity, 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, 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 having infinitely interwoven parts directed in all of its operations to one glorious end.

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 God's word tell us that his ways and thoughts are higher? They are transcendent than our ways.

So I'm hoping that you feel just a little bit uncomfortable talking about who God is.

He is all together differently than us and yet, paradoxically, he has made himself known to us through the son.

I love that he's so different and yet we can know him personally. Verse 10 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,

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.

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 God's glory, his purpose being shown forth.

And so they see God's purpose, that this created world allowed sin to happen so that the second person of the 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 B. So back in Ephesians 1, verse 11, if you would 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 Bible. I just tell people you gotta 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, right? That's why we share the gospel with everyone, right?

And we trust 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.

Proverbs 16, 33 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

Lord. God has a purpose in all things. And so I want you to think about something that's kind of hard a little bit.

If we were there at Calvary, when 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 God the Father allowing this to happen? Is Satan winning? Are these evil men thwarting

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 four. For truly in this city, there were gathered together against your 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

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, God means for good. That's the principle. God is big enough to operate in those categories.

Those both can be true. Man 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

Christ, is 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 an 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 God is. The cross was predestined.

It was long ago prophesied. Isaiah 53 says, yet it was the will of Yahweh, God the

Father, to crush the suffering servant, Jesus. It's an amazing truth to know that even though what man means for evil,

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. God knows exactly what's going to take place.

He is the one declaring the end from the beginning. Now, Jeremiah, you've given us a lot of information.

How does this relate? Look back with me one last time at verse 11. 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

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. It's a guarantee to happen.

What does the book of Jude say? To those who are called, beloved in God the

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

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

God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before all time and now and forever.

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 Romans 5, verse one. Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our

Lord Jesus Christ. If God is sovereign the way that Ephesians 1 says, then 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 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 Romans 8, 28 the same again.

And we know that for those who love 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 1, 11, right?

Where God is working all things according to the counsel of his will. Paul here in Romans chapter eight is saying that God is doing all these things for those who love him.

Now a lot of people say they love God, right? But if they don't know Jesus as the God man, the second person of the

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 an idol. So we don't read these verses the same again.

And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, okay?

So what's the good here? Because I've heard a lot of people start twisting that as well. 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 eight that for those whom he foreknew, not those he foresaw and learned, but those whom he foreknew before the foundation and 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. It 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. 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.

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.

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

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 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 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 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.

Heavenly Father, some deep truths this morning, but we praise you.

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.

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 in all that we do.