CHOSEN in LOVE (Eph 1:3-6)

But how you love me,

I don't deserve Grace on top of that More than I'm passed for, more than I'm worth

Grace on top of my sweet, sweet place

I once lost and now found

Heaven came down and grace rescued me

Hallelujah, I am free From my sin and guilt

At the cross you took my place With your grace on top of me

Lord, how we love you Lord, how we love you because we have heard

Grace on top of grace Think of your glory and your worth

Grace on top of grace How sweet, how sweet the sound

I once lost and now found Heaven came down and grace rescued me

Hallelujah, I am free From my sin and guilt

At the cross you took my place With your grace on top of me

Hallelujah, I am free From my sin and guilt

At the cross you took my place With your grace on top of me

With your grace on top of me With your grace on top of me

One of the students said, it means togetherness. And I said, that's right. Togetherness, joint participation, worshiping the triune

God together. And so one way we do that here at 12 .5 is we read the scripture together in a back and forth.

Togetherness, right? And so our call to worship this morning comes from Hebrews chapter 12.

For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them.

The city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to the innumerable angels in festival gatherings, to the assembly of the firstborn who enrolled in heaven and to God.

And to the spirits of the righteous made perfect and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

See that you do not refuse him who is speaking for if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven.

At that time, his voice shook the earth, but now he is promised. Yet once more.

This phrase, yet once more, indicates the removal of things that are shaken.

That is, things that have been made in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain.

And let us offer to God acceptable worship with reverence and awe. So this is a wonderful time of togetherness, right?

We get to participate in the worship of our sovereign God. And so now as we go to the

Lord in prayer, there's another way that we get to do this togetherness, even with saints of old.

I love studying the prayers of the Puritans, so I'd like to share one with you this morning and invite you to pray this from your heart as well.

So if you would, please join me in prayer. O son of God and son of man, you are incarnate.

You did suffer and rise, ascend for our sake. Your departure was not a token of separation, but a pledge of your return.

Your word, your promises, sacraments, show your death until you come again. That day is no horror to us.

For your death has redeemed us. Your spirit fills us. Your love animates us.

Your word governs us. We have trusted you, and you have not betrayed our trust. We waited for you, and we have not waited in vain.

You will come and raise our body from the dust and reunite it to our soul by a wonderful work of infinite power and love greater than that which bounds the oceans of waters, the ebbs and the flows of the tides, and it keeps the stars in their course and gives life to all creatures.

This corruptible shall put on incorruptible, this mortal immortality, this natural body, a spiritual body, this honored body, a glorious body, a weak body, a body of power.

God, we triumph now in your promises as we shall do for all eternity.

For the head cannot live without its members and stay dead. Beyond the grave is resurrection, judgment, acquittal, dominion.

Every event and circumstance of our life will be dealt with. The sins of our youth, our secret sins, the sins of abasing you and disobeying your word, the sins of neglecting ministers, their admonitions, the sins of violating our conscience, all will be judged.

And after judgment, peace and rest, life and service, employment and enjoyment forever for your elect.

Oh, God, keep us in the faith and ever looking for Christ's return.

Amen. Sing this with me.

Come, behold. Come, behold the wondrous mystery in the dawning of the

King. He, the theme of heaven's praises, robed in faith, humanity.

In our longing, in our darkness, now the light of life has come.

Those who Christ who condescended took on flesh to ransom

Him. Come, behold the wondrous mystery.

He, the perfect Son of Man. In His living, in His suffering, purchased all the state of sin.

Seek the true and better life. Come to suffer no bound death.

Christ, the great and sure, fulfilled all of the longings.

Come, behold the wondrous mystery.

Christ, the Lord, upon the tree. In the span of human sins,

He's the Lamb of God. Come, behold the wondrous mystery.

Slain by death, the God of life.

But no grave could ever stay. In His living, in His suffering, there no taste of death.

Christ, the Lord, upon the tree.

Christ in power, resurrection, as we will be.

One more time, for the full taste. For the full taste of deliverance, how unwavering our hope.

Christ in power, resurrection, as we will be when

He comes. Do you feel the world is broken?

Do you feel the shadows deepen? We do. But do you know that all the dark won't stop the light from getting through?

We do. Do you wish that you could see it all made new?

Is your creation calling?

Is a new creation coming? Is the glory of the

Lord to be the light within our midst? It is.

Is it good that we remind ourselves of this?

It is. It is. Is anyone with? Is anyone with?

Is anyone whole? Is anyone able to break the seal and open the scroll?

The Lion of Judah will conquer the grave.

He is David's fruit and the Lamb who died to ransom the slave

Is He worthy? Is He worthy?

Of all blessing and honor and glory Is He worthy of this?

Does the Father truly love us? He does

Does the Spirit move among us? He does

And does Jesus, our Messiah, forever bless us?

He does And does our

God and Church, as well as the King of Hosts Be loved?

Is anyone good? Is anyone whole?

Is anyone able to make us sin? Or awaken us from the lying of truth?

The darkness of grave He is David's fruit and the

Lamb who died to ransom the slave Is He worthy? Of every people and tribe

Of every nation and tongue He has made us a

King from a priest to God To live with the Son Is He worthy?

Is He worthy? Of all blessing and honor and glory

Is He worthy? He is

He is He is

He is He is worthy

He is worthy Of all blessing and honor and glory

He is worthy of this

Yeah When I fear my faith will fail

Christ will hold me fast When the tempter would prevail

He will hold me fast I could never keep my hope

Through loss before power For my love is often cold

He must hold me fast He will hold me fast

He will hold me fast For my

Savior loves me so He will hold me fast

For those He saves are His to buy

Christ will hold me fast Precious in His holy

Son He will hold me fast

He'll not let my soul be lost His promises shall last

Bought by Him at such a cost He will hold me fast

He will hold me fast He will hold me fast

For my Savior loves me so He will hold me fast

For my life

He planned I Christ will hold me fast

Justice has been satisfied He will hold me fast

Raised with Him to end this fire He will hold me fast

Till our faith is turned to strife

When He comes at last

He will hold me fast He will hold me fast

For my Savior loves me so He will hold me fast

He will hold me fast He will hold me fast

For my Savior loves me so He will hold me fast

That You would show us truths about You, Father, that we need for this week, God. That we need to be more like Christ.

We praise You for this time of worship. Through singing, through studying, through giving.

God, through just being together in a corporate body, Father, we thank You. We praise You for that, God. Thank You for that.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. He will hold me fast.

What a great declaration. We can come and gather today and worship in spirit and truth.

You want to talk about a revival? You want a real revival? Keep coming.

Come to church. Follow those common means of grace that God has prescribed for His people. Because He will hold us fast.

And we will experience His presence in a gracious and beautiful way. Let's go ahead and open up your copy of God's word to our study here in Ephesians.

We're in Ephesians chapter 1. I believe this is week 6. And so we have now made it to verse 4.

But I want us to read this whole section, verses 3 on through verse 14.

Because just as I mentioned last week, if you were with us, you would remember that this section, despite what you see in the

English, is actually one long run -on sentence in the Greek. From the Apostle Paul.

So this is one continuous thought. So as we break down each of these sections each week,

I want us to read it together as a whole. The Apostle Paul says in chapter 1 in verse 3, he 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 to Himself 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.

We made it through. What a beautiful portion of Scripture here that we see coming and just bursting out of the

Apostle Paul. And before we jump into it, let's go to the Lord. Let's thank

Him for His word. He's given us this. He's given us His word. He's not left us to ourselves. Let's pray that He would illuminate our hearts and minds to its truth.

Dear Heavenly Father, God, we come to You once again, and we are so grateful that You have gifted us with Your word.

God, help us not to become indifferent to the fact that our

Bibles are copies of that great word and oftentimes sit on ourselves and collect dust.

And we often do not commune with the Creator of all things by setting and gleaning from it.

Well, Father, forgive us in that. But God, sometimes when we do come to it, we find it difficult to understand hard truths.

But Your word is clear. So, Father, I pray that You would illuminate our hearts and minds, those that are in here that have the indwelling

Holy Spirit because they are in Christ, that the Holy Spirit would illuminate in our hearts this deep truth.

Give us a love for Your word. Lord, help us to see the richness of it. Help us to see the beauty of it.

And in that, help us to see the beauty that is You, the triune God. Oh, Father, help us in this.

Guard my words from error, for I am a fallible, sinful man. God, Your word is true.

Help us to hold it in its truth. In Christ's name, amen. Well, this rich declaration from the

Apostle Paul that we see here in this section really breaks down our past, our present, and our future salvation.

And we see this great truth of salvation in Christ just bursting out of the

Apostle Paul. And what does he do? He begins with praise. This phrase starts off with praise and worship to God.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Where Paul starts off with God.

He starts at the source, doesn't he? He goes directly to the source of all blessing.

And what has God done? He has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.

What is Paul doing here? Paul is praising God for blessing us in Christ with everything that we need.

And what is everything that we need? How do we know we have everything that we need? Well, His word tells us.

And what is it based in? It's based in the fact that if we are in Christ, if we have

Christ, we have absolutely everything that we need in the heavenly places and all of creation, here on earth and in heaven itself.

And ultimately, this whole first section here, as Paul starts this phrase out, he's saying we bless

God because He blessed us with every blessing. It's essentially what it boils down to, right?

And now, Paul goes on to tell us how he did it. Paul goes on in the next few phrases that we just read here, and he unpacks the spiritual blessing that we have in Christ.

He says, bless God because He blessed us with every spiritual blessing, and here's how he did it.

We see that in the correlating transition here in verse 4. You see it says, even as.

He's connecting this previous thought to what he's getting ready to say. Some of your translations may say just as.

It's essentially the same thing. How has God blessed us in Christ? He chose us in Him.

In who? In Christ. He chose us.

This is how He blessed us with every spiritual blessing. He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world.

So Paul here, he starts off with praise and blessing to the source of this tremendous blessing, and as soon as he starts talking about how he carried out and accomplished this blessing, he goes back to the beginning.

He says, this is what we have, Christian. Look at it. Praise God because of the blessing that we have in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.

Now let's go back to the beginning, and let me show you how that's done. Let's see how

God has blessed us. He's basically saying it all started by choosing us.

This is where it all began. This blessing was accomplished by first choosing.

This is where Paul starts. Talk about a spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, being chosen, being selected, being sought after by the creator of all things.

Of course this is where Paul starts. This is where it all begins in the process of salvation is being chosen.

This phrase, even as he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, is often interpreted in one of three ways.

This is how people approach this, and each one of these three ways informs us as to how we read the rest of this letter.

As a matter of fact, it informs us how we read all of Scripture, and even it informs us of how we see

God himself. It shows us what we see God as.

In this first interpretation, it acknowledges the fact that God has chosen something before the creation of the world.

There's no way of getting around that. You read the phrase and you say, God's chosen something before the foundation of the world, and so they have to acknowledge that.

What they say is that when he says, even as he chose us in him, look at your

Bibles. I want you to look at it. Even as he chose us in him, they say that Paul is not saying that God chose individuals.

They're saying that God chose Christ. Look at it.

He says, even as he chose, and then they go right over to the in him. In who?

Christ. So this is how they come to this conclusion. Meaning, according to them, that God chose

Christ, whom we, the us you see in there, in between that phrase, are in.

Are you following? They're saying that God chose Christ, whom the us, we, are in.

So he's not choosing individuals. He's choosing Christ. One of the many problems with this theory is, move on to verse 5.

Huh. He predestined us. It's the same word there.

He's speaking of identifying individuals here, right? He predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ.

So, Paul's not going to contradict himself in one breath, and in the next breath, say something different, right?

Or vice versa. Say something in the first, and then contradict himself in the second. Paul's not going to do that.

This cannot be connected in any kind of grammatical sense.

He's meaning that there is a specific individual referenced to us as being made sons.

This theory makes no grammatical sense at that. You can't read this sentence and truly come to this conclusion in the

Greek when you go back to the original language. This is theological gymnastics at its best.

You can't come to this conclusion with any scholarly integrity. The second interpretation, then, is probably the more popular interpretation, which is referred to as the corridor theory.

Okay? The corridor theory. They read the text in its proper grammatical structure and come to the conclusion that the third interpretation that we're going to talk about here in a moment, we haven't talked about it yet, we're going to talk about it in a moment, but they come to the conclusion that that interpretation cannot possibly be true about God.

And so, they arrive at this explanation, that God, before the foundations of the world, looked down in the corridor of time, looked down and saw who would choose the free gift of grace.

And based upon that information, God, then, would choose us.

This is the corridor theory. And this seems like a lofty explanation, doesn't it? I've heard people talk about this and say, well,

God is so big that God can look down the corridor of time and he can see what

I'm going to do and then he can make his decision based on that. That's how powerful

God is. He's not constrained by time at all. And yeah, that's true.

It's called the omniscience of God. God is omniscient. It's just a big word for saying that God knows everything.

He knows everything from eternity past and he knows everything in eternity future and everything.

He's not constrained by time. God is all -knowing of all things at all times in every element of life and eternity.

But you see, in that lies a massive glaring problem with this interpretation.

Being that if God looked into the future and learns anything, he's no longer omniscient.

He's no longer all -knowing. You've lost the omniscience of God in this corridor theory.

If he made a choice based upon our choice, then there was something that he didn't know in eternity past.

Right? There was a point that he didn't know something. And if that was the case, what does he not know in eternity future?

How do you have any security in this God? Whatsoever, because he has to learn things just as you have to learn things according to this theory.

That's not the only problem with this theory. There's multiple. I'm only going to point to a couple. It also makes

God out to be a liar. If God looked down the corridor of time and saw how we would choose him and then makes his choice accordingly, then he's a liar.

Because in Isaiah 46 .10, this is what God declares about himself, essentially.

Declaring the end from the beginning. Not manipulating the end from the beginning. Not guessing the end from the beginning.

Not working out the end from the beginning. Declaring. That word carries with it certainty and absoluteness.

Declaring the end from the beginning. And from ancient times, things not yet done. Saying, my counsel shall stand.

Not my choice. Not your counsel.

Not my counsel. His counsel shall stand. And I will accomplish all my purposes.

This is God. If this is true about God, then

God cannot learn about my choice and base his declaration upon the choice of a created being.

And if that isn't true about God, then God is a liar. And we know that can't be true because Numbers 23 .19

says, God is not man that he should lie, or the son of man that he should change his mind. This is the

God of Scripture. Now, as if contradicting one of God's attributes, namely, omniscience, wasn't enough to dismantle this view, it has a litany of other problems, as I said.

One, is that it's predicated on the assumption that we had the ability to choose him outside of his first choice, choosing us in the first place.

This is based upon this idea of a libertarian free will of man.

Meaning that there is nothing that constrains man's will, nothing informs man's will. Man does freely as he chooses what he wants.

Which we believe to be true. The question is, what does man want? We believe in free moral agency.

That's a biblical truth. Man is responsible. But God is sovereign.

And man's responsibility is based upon his nature. If God looked down the corridor of time and saw that we would choose him, then what

Paul says later in Ephesians 2 .8 makes no sense. Look at it. For by grace you have been saved through faith.

And this is not your own doing. It is a gift of God.

You didn't do it. This is something that God has done.

And also, Paul quoting Psalm 14 over in Romans 3. If you remember this one,

Romans 3, verses 10 -12, Paul reminds them of what was written back by the psalmist.

None is righteous. No, not one. No one understands. And few seek for God.

Is that what it says? No. It says, no one understands and no one seeks after God.

All have turned aside. Together they have become worthless. No one does good except a few of the smart ones that grew up in America and heard the gospel.

That's not what it says. It says, not even one. Not even one.

And I can't help but think when Paul's writing those words to the church in Rome and he quotes

Psalm 14, he's thinking of himself. Going, I wouldn't have turned to God.

I was on my way to kill Christians. And I had all the intent of doing so until Jesus stopped me in my tracks.

I would never have turned to God. I had created a God of my own imagination and I worshipped that.

And I hated the God of the universe. Jesus pointed to this in John 644.

Jesus' own words, hear me? If you're one of those people that says, I only care about the red letters of the

Bible. Well, for starters, they're all red letters. But let's look at some red letters here. John 644.

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.

No one can. Not no one will, not no one may, no one can come to me.

And the reason that we can't is what Paul mentions in 1 Corinthians 2 .14 when he says the natural person.

What's he talking about? Well, he's talking about someone that has not been reborn, right? Someone that has not been taken from death to life.

Someone that has not been brought anew into a spiritual understanding. The natural person does not accept the things of the

Spirit. For they are folly to him. And he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

You feel yourself being backed into a corner with God's word? It's clear.

There's a problem here. So if this is true about man, then how could we have possibly chosen him first?

How could that have even happened? We could not have. We would not have.

We would never choose Christ on our own. We cannot. We will not.

No man can. We were, as Paul says, dead in our trespasses and in our sins.

What's a dead man capable of? Nothing. So you see, this corridor theory has no legitimacy.

It can't. Not only does it undermine a great attribute of God and his omniscience of all knowing, but it also contradicts what

Scripture teaches about the ability of man. Man would not choose God first.

So God could not have looked down the corridor of time, learned something, and then responded to man's choice.

Because if God did look down the corridor of time and responded to man's choice, we'd all be without hope. Because he would see what he already knew, which is the fact that we won't turn to him.

And we won't choose him. We won't run to him. We will not confess our sins. We will not accept

Christ. We cannot. So this leads us to our third interpretation.

We finally come to this third common interpretation, which is referred to as the doctrine of election.

Look at the verse again in verse 4. Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world.

When reading this, we see these words from Paul as a personal, individual, unique choosing of a specific person whom

God himself sovereignly chose. And to be honest with you, this is one of the most beautiful, game -changing truths in all of Scripture.

I say that a lot around here, don't I? Every time I'm preaching something, I think it's the most beautiful thing in all of Scripture, because it all is.

I'm overwhelmed by it. But I've spent all week just gazing upon this truth from God's word and just resting in this idea that God chooses a people for himself.

He chases after us. He finds us and he seeks us. It's a beautiful, game -changing truth.

When you begin to grasp this, you begin to see your identity in Christ in a way that causes you to simultaneously rest in the sovereign hand of God and work for his good pleasure.

This paradoxical thing that we're resting and working, and it causes you to chase after him.

Because now you've been given the ability to do so. And you worship him, just as Paul did at the beginning.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Wow, blessed be the God and Father of our

Lord Jesus Christ. If he truly did choose me, because you see his great love for you and that he chose you before he had ever even created you, is what

Paul is saying here. Before he had ever even created the universe, you see the triune

God in all of eternity, self -sufficient, go, I love

Ryan. I love Meredith.

I set my love upon them and I will find them and I will redeem them.

If that doesn't incite worship in your heart, there's something wrong. This is one of the greatest truths in all of Scripture.

I don't know why some pastors skip over these. It blows my mind when I hear pastors and they get to this verse and they just kind of skim over it like, there's confusion, we don't know.

No, there's clarity and there's beauty. And it's for our good. We know that it wasn't because we were lovable.

It's because of his sovereign choice. His sovereign choice to not leave us to ourselves, to sacrifice his own son to purchase us.

He didn't pour his wrath out upon his own son to potentially purchase you. I promise you that. He did not waste one drop of Christ's blood to potentially purchase you.

It was absolute. He did it with precision. He did it with a guarantee of your redemption.

This blessing of being in Christ starts with being chosen. And why did he choose us?

Why did God choose us? Let's look, turn over to Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8,

I want to start in verse 28. A very similar train of thought from the

Apostle Paul here to the church in Rome as he's writing in Ephesians. And this section is commonly referred to as the golden chain of salvation.

We see a process of the working of salvation in it. It starts in verse 28 of Romans 8.

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

For those who are called. Those who are called according to his purpose.

Verse 29. For those whom he foreknew. He also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son.

He predestined those who are in Christ conformed to the image of his son. So I want us to look here.

The language that Paul uses here gives us a little bit of insight as to why God chose us. This word foreknew.

This word that we see in the Greek is actually made up of a compound of two Greek words. Pra, which essentially means before.

And ginosko. It's to know intimately. And so these two words combined in the

Greek is to know someone intimately beforehand. This word is not a cognizant knowledge of one's being or one's existence as we often read it in the

English. We think, well, God knew us before. Paul is not saying that God knew of you and I before our birth.

In an intellectual sense, which of course he did. But that's not what foreknow or foreknowledge is pointing to.

This word carries with it a far deeper meaning. We see this word ginosko in passages like Luke chapter 1 verse 34.

And Mary said to the angel, right? The angel has come to Mary and told her that she will give birth to a child.

And she says, how will this be since I am a virgin? You're like, okay, what does that have to do with ginosko?

Well, that's our ESV translation. As a matter of fact, I actually like the New King James Version better. It says, she says, how can this be since I do not know a man?

That same word, ginosko, to know. You see, Mary obviously knew men.

In that knowing of them, she knew of Joseph. She was betrothed to Joseph. So that's of course not what she's talking about.

She's not saying I didn't know him intellectually. But it's speaking of a deep relational intimate knowledge.

That's why she says, I've not been with a man. How am I pregnant? It's ginosko.

We see the same word again in Matthew 7, 23. It says, and then I will declare to them, and this is

Jesus speaking to the people who come and say, didn't we prophesy in your name? Didn't we do this, these works in your name?

And he says, I never ginosko you. Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.

Again, Jesus knew these men. Jesus knows all things, right? He knew who these men were.

He probably knew their names, where they were from, every little thought that they had ever had in their entire life. He knew the state of these men.

However, Jesus is speaking of the intimate relational knowledge that he has with only his children, those that are in him.

Many people know of Jesus. Very few know him and are known by him.

This is where we get this word, ginosko. For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son because he had set his love, an intimate love, a relational love, an agape love, upon these and those that he would predestine to be conformed to the image of his son, that he had chosen to be in Christ.

He had set a great love upon you and I. Again, not because we were lovable, but because of his sovereign choice and his purpose, which will stand.

Look at it in verse 30 there of Romans 8. And those whom he predestined, he also called.

So he had predestined those that he loved. He says, I loved you before I even created anything.

I chose you before I created everything. I predestined you for this very thing.

And he says, he predestined. He also called. And those whom he called, he also justified.

This word simply means made righteous. Just as if I had never sinned.

Justified, right? And he also justified. And those whom he justified, he also glorified.

Meaning that if he foreknew us, if he foreloved us, which caused him to call us, he will most certainly justify us through his son and ultimately bring us into glory.

If this is a God that learned something, he can't accomplish this. One wrong move from God in his plan and it's all shot.

Because he had to learn something according to the other view. But he hasn't learned anything.

This is his foreordained plan that he would justify us through his son and he will absolutely glorify us.

He will bring us into perfect glorified bodies. That's what it means to be conformed to the image of his son.

Amen? This is a beautiful truth that we can hold to because God does not lie. And God's plans will stand.

There is nothing that can thwart that. He is the one that sovereignly chooses. Look back at our verse in verse 4 of Ephesians 1.

Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, there's that foreknowledge, right?

Before the foundation of the world, there foreknew that we should be holy and blameless before him.

That we should be justified. That we should be eventually glorified.

So this is a hard truth, I know. This is a very, very hard truth to come to as someone that thinks in our modern day sensitivities.

And I think this is hard for humanity in general. Because it goes against the grain of what we experience.

Right? I prayed the prayer, didn't I? I did.

I prayed a prayer and I repented of my sins. And I trusted in Christ.

And if you in here in Christ, you did the same thing at some point in your life, didn't you? You experienced this.

But let me tell you, what we experienced was only the result of what God had already done. God had already chosen you.

Because he foreknew you. Because he loved you. And he called you by name.

And the Holy Spirit came and awakened you. And breathed new life into you. And you were a dead corpse spiritually laying there and all of a sudden your spirit awakens.

And you see the beauty of what God the creator has done. Something you had not seen before. You see

Christ. And Christ is standing there saying, My child, we found you. And you gladly run to him, don't you?

You gladly fall on your face and you go, Oh, Savior, forgive me. I trust you.

Because now you see it. Because of what God has done. Because he sovereignly chose you.

He set his love upon you. Oh, man. You can tell

I get emotional about this great truth because this is a beautiful truth from God's word. And if you need more evidence,

I'm going to give you some verses here for you to jot down. I want you to go study these. 2 Timothy 1 .9

Says, God who saved us and called us, there's that word again, to a holy calling, not because of our works, but because of his own purpose and grace which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began.

It's all over scripture, isn't it? Revelation 13, 7 and 8 says,

Also, it was allowed. What's the it? It's the beast. He's talking about the beast here. It, the beast, was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them.

And authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation. And all who dwelled on earth will worship it.

Everyone whose name has not been written.

Here's the key. Before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the lamb who was slain.

There's a book of life? And your name's written in it? Before the foundation of the world?

Are you telling me that God wrote someone's name in there and they didn't choose him and he had to scratch it out?

It don't work like that. Are you telling me there's a name in that book that he couldn't convince to follow him?

No. Every name in there, every single name in that book, he finds.

He finds every single one of them. 1

Corinthians 1 .22. I know I'm throwing a lot of passages at you, but this is a hard truth and I want you to study it on your own.

Don't take my word for this. 1 Corinthians 1 .22 -24. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach

Christ crucified. The gospel of Jesus Christ, right? And what does he say about Christ crucified?

He says it's a stumbling block to the Jews and a folly to the Gentiles. It's foolishness.

To the Gentiles, a savior that's been hung on a cross, the lowest of all lows, that's absurdity.

It's foolishness. And to the Gentiles, a stumbling block. And verse 24 says, but to those who are called, both

Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God.

Those who are called, they see it. Jesus said in John 6 .37,

he says, all that the Father gives me will come to me. And whoever comes to me

I will never cast out. They will. And this is all, as Paul says in Ephesians 1, later on in verse 6, to the praise of his glorious grace with which he has blessed us and the beloved.

That's what the whole purpose of this is, for his glory. He has chosen a people for himself for his own glory and praise be to him for doing so.

And we are the recipients of this glory. For those of us in here who have been foreknown and called according to his purpose, this should incite a worshipful heart of gratitude and praise for not leaving us to ourselves.

This should encourage us to go to every tribe, every nation, every tongue, and boldly proclaim the gospel, the good news of Christ.

Because he has those who he has chosen in every one of those settings.

Those that he has created as vessels for honorable use, doesn't he? This gives us boldness.

Those that are his lost sheep, your neighbors, your family members, your co -workers, God has them from every walk of life.

So why would we not spread the gospel liberally? Why would we not scream it from the mountaintops?

Why are we not boldly proclaiming this wonderful truth knowing that one of your brothers and sisters is still in darkness?

Do you get that for a second? There's a sheep out there that's in darkness. And we get to be a mouthpiece and we get to proclaim the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ.

And you get to be a part of going and sharing that gospel with them. And that lost sheep, that brother, that sister that is out there wandering in the darkness has awakened to truth.

And you found them. God has found them and he's used you to be a part of that. What beautiful simplicity there is in God's design.

And he chose those that are his. I have to say for those of us that are in here or those of you that are in here, if you aren't sure if you are chosen,

I get that question a lot. What if my child's not chosen? What if I'm not chosen? What if that's the case?

Here's my answer to you and it's simple. Call on the name of the Lord and you will be saved.

You want to know if you're chosen? Call on the name of the Lord and you will be saved. Here's how you know.

Because we've already confirmed that no one who isn't chosen will call on the name of the Lord. They won't.

They would rather spend eternity in separation from God and under his wrath and eternal torment than to have to be in his holy presence.

That's what it boils down to. If you want to know if you're chosen, call on the name of the Lord. He will by no means cast you out.

If you come to him in faith and repentance, he will not cast you out. It means that God loved you enough to purchase you with the blood of his

Son. That's something to worship about, right?

If you want to talk about this, if you need to pray with someone, me and Pastor Jeremiah will be up here during the

Lord's Supper. Come speak with us. You're not distracting us. You're not taking away from what we're doing.

If you need intercessory prayer, if you need to just talk with us for any reason, you are welcome to.

That's why we're up here. But for those of you that are in Christ, let's see this beautiful truth played out in front of us.

Amen. Let's go to the table as we do every week. Let's partake in the elements that Jesus said to partake in until he returns.

The wine and the bread, the beauty that is in these elements that are simple elements.

They're not truly the blood and body of Jesus, but they represent the blood and body of Jesus.

And as we partake together, we are representing our oneness in him, that we are in Christ, that he is in us.

We're representing the oneness that we have together in Christ and the future glory that is to come, that we can rest in the finished work of Christ.

So as we do every week, if you're not familiar with this, how we do it is we go towards the back and come around on each side, around the outside.