Take your Bibles and turn with me to Ephesians chapter 1. These are all verses that we have heard many times and know pretty well. I think most of the folks in here I want to read them for you again. Ephesians chapter 1, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus, those who believe. Grace be to you, and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. According, now notice that word, it appears many times. I brought a whole message on, the title was According. according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will. To the praise of the glory of his grace wherein he hath made us accepted into beloved in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace. Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he purposed in himself. That in the dispensation of the fullness of time, He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him. In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will, that we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ. in whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory. Wherefore I also, after that I heard of your faith, in the Lord Jesus, and love to all the saints. Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. The eyes of your understanding being enlightened that you may know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us who believe according to the working of his mighty power, which he brought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in heavenly places. Far above all principalities and powers and might and dominion and every name that's named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come. And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all. Now if you will, take your Bibles and turn back with me to Ephesians chapter 1. I want to talk to you for a little bit about the blessings of a loving father. Often in my study I think about the gospel I'm going to preach, and I'm reading and going from this verse to that verse, from this book to that book, and I get lost in the scope of the whole thing. The scope of salvation takes in everything that is. And I say in my heart, who is sufficient for these things? That's what Paul said. He was an apostle. God gave him visions that no man could entertain. And you look at these things. God opens the scriptures to his pastors and they in turn declare these things to men. But I'm telling you, it's a humbling thing when God opens things to you that you know are so. And you're looking at these scholars who, college graduates who studied for years, some of them learned foreign languages just to be able to read the books that they studied by, who never understood the things that you're about to preach. It's a humbling thing, I'm telling you, it is. It doesn't build pride in a preacher. It don't. It makes you humble. It makes you realize that these things are not something that you did. And I get lost in the scope of it. I say in my heart, who's sufficient for these things? I was preparing to preach a message from Acts chapter 4 verse 11 about Christ the chief cornerstone, and it occurred to me that From that cornerstone, you can see both ways at once. You can see humanity and divinity. You can see eternity and present. You can even look into the future standing at the cornerstone. You can see all things through Christ. He's the cornerstone. We've been given eternal life. Isn't that what the scripture said? I'll give unto them life eternal. They'll never perish. He didn't just say he's going to give you life. He said eternal life. You know what that means? That means from as far back as you can see to as far forward as you can see. Life. We've been given eternal life. In Ephesians chapter 2, where it says, you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins, that quickening is not just a call out of darkness. That's not what he's talking about there. This quickening, and he says it again, but God who is rich in mercy, verse 4, for his great love wherewith he loved us even when we were dead in sins quickened us together with Christ. That quickening is an eternal quickening. God chose you and put you in His Son. That's what He's talking about there. He made you one with Christ. When did He do that? Not when He called you out of the world, because Christ already came into the world and died for you long before you were born. This quickening happened way back yonder in eternity. And that quickening was part of what I want to talk to you about this morning. We've been given eternal life. A life that began in the mind and purpose of God, being inspired by the Holy Ghost. Paul writes these things as if, like John, the Spirit had carried him out and opened the door and let him view it. John stood there and looked into the door of heaven and saw it as if he was standing there. And this is the way Paul writes here in Ephesians chapter 1. As though he was standing there in that place and hearing God say these things himself. He writes as if He were present when it was spoken. And the Father chose a people in His Son and blessed them, He says, with all spiritual blessings. Now listen as the Holy Ghost moves this man's pen to write. These grand and glorious blessings declared by the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He's not talking here about a sprinkling. He's not talking here even about handfuls of purpose like we read over in the book of Ruth. He's talking here about the whole of God's will toward men. Given to us according as He's chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world. And I've heard preachers talk about this as though this is what God wanted. But he's not getting it exactly the way he wanted it. Men are resisting, they're doing this, they're doing that. Well, let me tell you something. To bless chosen sinners, a priest must be appointed. That's the first thing in order. A priest has to be appointed, and so Jesus Christ was appointed, or ordained if you will, a priest He tells us in the book of Hebrews, after the order of Melchizedek, who was he? He's the priest of the Most High God. That's who Melchizedek is. It's a pre-appearance of Christ, as far as I can tell, long before he actually appeared as a man in this world. He was chosen, appointed a priest after the order of Melchizedek. Without father, without mother, without beginning, without end, a king-priest. And at the ordination of God the Father, listen to this, Hebrews 5.5. When he appointed this priest on our behalf, this beginning of blessings, here's what he said, Hebrews 5.5. Thou art my son, today have I begotten thee. Or was he born when God appointed him as Melchizedek, as the priest of the Most High God? No. No, he wasn't. But he was in the mind and purpose of God. You see what I'm saying? That's what he's talking about here. These blessings began in eternity past. Where did they begin? In God's purpose and counsel. He's talking about the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Well, Christ is God, isn't He? He thought it not robbery to be equal to God. Made Himself with no reputation. He was God. He's God the Son. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. But this is not talking about that. This is talking about a provision that God the Father has purposed for His people. And the first of that is to appoint a priest, the priest of the Most High God, to represent this man. He has to have a representative. And so in that appointment, in that ordination, here's what he says about that. Thou art my son, today have I begotten thee. That's how he is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, by appointment. And thus concerning this being blessed by the Father, he appoints his son, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. So why am I saying all this? I want you to know that he's the full provision of the blessings, every blessing, all blessings. He blessed us with all spiritual blessings. Now listen, in heavenly places, in Christ. That is, from the very beginning. There are no blessings outside of Christ. He is then the full provision of God concerning the church. The whole of God's treasure house of grace is according as we were chosen in Him before the foundation of the world. And here's the reason. Here's why. that high priest must be chosen. That those being blessed should be holy. You're not going to come into his presence apart from being holy. And that doesn't mean how long your dress is, and how long your hair is, and the language that you talk. You know, if you're going to go into church out here in the world, you better learn their language. They have a whole different language than what we grew up with. good brother and good sister and good this and good that and reverend this and reverend that. That's not holiness. God's holiness is the whole of his character. And that character is untangible. It stays the same no matter what. It's the same when he's angry, it's the same when he's not. God never changes. They're not even a shadow of turning with God. That's what James said. And he said he chose us in Christ that we should be holy. Represented in him, we're holy. We have the same character as God in his sons. Be holy means to have or be consistent with the character of God. Our calling, our persons, everything, consistent with God. God's character, just to name a few of his attributes, is righteous. God is righteous. No sin in God. The thought of foolishness is sin with God. I can't even imagine. I've had nothing in my character but sin since I was born. I'm used to it. I'm acquainted with it. But I know nothing about pure holiness, not even to have a thought of sin. Think about it. But in Christ, I have holiness. I have righteousness. flawless righteousness. And God is just, perfectly, righteously just. God's gracious, merciful, long-suffering, and kind. And God is good. There's none good but God. And God is immutable. He'll never change. God is almighty. He's all-wise. He's everywhere present. God is spirit. And God is love. And God never compromises His character to do anything, nothing. And so all God's eternal blessings are made effectual to His elect by His Son so that our salvation does not compromise God's holiness. He chose us in Christ that we might be holy. And then secondly, that we should be without blame. made a high priest after the order of Melchizedek to put away our sins. He's a priest forever. He's not like, you know, the old high priest. They couldn't continue by reason of death. They'd get old and die. Now what? We don't have a priest. God would replace him with another priest. But that's not so with Christ. He has no beginning of days or ending of days. He's after the order of Melchizedek. And his priesthood continueth forever." What does that mean? That means he can save to the uttermost everyone that comes unto God by him. That's exactly how it's explained in the book of Hebrews. Having offered unto God one sacrifice for sins forever, he sat down at the right hand of God, his work of redemption being accomplished He now sits expecting his enemies to be made his footstool. And because he continueth ever, he has an unchangeable priesthood, Hebrews 7.25. He's able also to save them to the uttermost who come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. He's a priest forever, our priest. And then thirdly, And I pray that the Lord will allow us to enter into this. He chose us in Christ. This is part of those blessings and that provision in Christ. He chose us in Christ that we should be before Him in love. That is being loved. You can't sit here this morning because you haven't taken thought of it. And I hope I'm not getting crossways of your thoughts this morning. Not my intention. But you can't sit here this morning, I bet you haven't had one thought since you've come in here, that God's looking at you this morning and loving you. Huh? There's never a time, never a time, when God doesn't love His people. And the reason is because there's never a time when they're not in Christ. That's how He was so long suffering and forbearing us before our conversion, when we was out here doing who knows what with who, and he's looking at us and he's loving us. The first time I ever read this with any understanding of what it's saying, I thought about my little grandbabies. They'd come over to my house and I had a concrete driveway out in front of the garage and they was just real little. And I'd give them a drywall bucket, a five-gallon bucket full of water, and they'd play out there in their diapers in that water. And they was as happy and as free as a bird. They just played out there, played and played and played. And I sat there and I loved them. And I thought, you know, I'll always love them. And I started thinking about God's love to me. He chose me in Christ. I might be before Him being loved. They come to my house and received everything that they wanted or needed. We give it to them. And there was never any doubt that they were loved. Never any doubt. Oh, children of God, our great God and Father chose us in His Son and secured His love for us forever. He made provision in His Son that any and every reason for that love to be extinguished was taken away. And so Paul says in the last of Romans chapter 8, he said, I am persuaded, how? By the full persuasion of God in Christ, by His Word, by His Spirit. I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. How do I know that? Because he raised him from the dead, escorted him into glory, and with loving arms embraced him and sat him at his own right hand. He chose us to receive the full benefits, having our Father's blessings, now listen, by our election in Christ. Oh, one man had a message, the hated doctrine of election. I hated it before I ever heard it. It's not a hated doctrine, it's a beloved doctrine, his election. When a sinner realizes that he's a sinner, the hardest thing in the world for him to believe is that God actually chose him and loved him and has forgiven him all his sins. Only the Spirit of God can convince a sinner of that. And election, now listen to me, election is not just writing your name in a book. When our great God chose of people to be blessed, he chose them in Christ, that is, by an eternal covenant of grace. And he made Christ the surety of the covenant. What's that mean? That means he's responsible for all the conditions of the covenant. Whatever the covenant calls for, he must produce. Think about it. And the only way eternal wisdom could secure a people to be blessed of God and glorify God is to declare them to be one with His Son. There's no other way. We can't produce what God demands. We can't fulfill the covenant. We've proved that in the covenant of works. And to manifest this elective grace, His Son came down from heaven, was born of a woman, made under the law to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive our adoption. He become the God-man. God and man in one glorious person. How much oneness is there with Christ and His Bride? They become one flesh. You wonder what that act's all about between men and their wives? They become one flesh, one person. Now watch this, Ephesians 1.5, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will. There's no other way for God to bless us with eternal blessings apart from predestination. God has to control everything from the concept of salvation to the accomplishing of salvation. There can't be any loose ends. You say, well, we're going to meet tomorrow at 4 o'clock and we're going to have a steak dinner. Yeah, but there's a thousand things that can cancel that. But there's nothing that, and the reason is you've got no control over it. But he declares the end from the beginning and from ancient times to things that are not yet done, saying my counsel shall stand and I'll do all my pleasures. Yeah, but there's a whole nation of men out here who hate God, and there's a heathen nation over here that don't even know God, and they're both set against him. And they both set their feet in the ground and said, we're going to kill this man. We're going to kill God's Messiah. And so they do. And when they've done it, what did they do? Huh? They accomplished God's counsel and will. That's exactly what it is over in Acts chapter 4. They did what God determined before to be done. You mean He predestinated us unto the adoption of children. Nothing's going to prevent that. It can't prevent that. And this adoption is in Christ, His own Son. But not only that, but it's according to the good pleasure of His will. Who's going to resist the will of God? And there's no other way for God to bless us with eternal blessings apart from predestination. But our eternal election in Christ, we're predestinated to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself. Now an adoption, think about this, an adoption is a two-sided thing. It's one thing to love a child and want to be a loving father to him, but it's another when the child is unwilling and resists it. Turn with me to Galatians chapter 4. I quoted this earlier, but I want you to see it. Let me show you how this predestination adoption works. Here it is, Galatians 4.4. But when the fullness of the times were come... What times? Times predestinated by God. fixed in his eternal counsel and will. God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law. Why? To redeem them that were under the law. And again, I say why? That we might receive the adoption of sons. And he will, in this redemption, manifest not only God's provision but God's affection. What's missing out of most messages when they talk about election? Affection. Is it not? Why did God choose these people? He loved them. He loved them. Listen to this down here in Ephesians 2. But God, who is rich in mercy, For that great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, has quickened us together with Christ. Our election, our predestination began in the love of God. That's what he's telling us here. Our election not only shows us God's provision, but God's affection, God's mercy, God's grace, that oneness of election will be declared, now watch this, Ephesians 2, 7, it's going to be, he's going to show us the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. That's how he's going to reveal this oneness, that's how he's going to reveal our oneness in Christ, our election, our predestination. Galatians 4, 6, And because of your sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. And this is where election is made known, when the gospel is sent by way of a messenger of God, and the Holy Ghost attends his preaching, and your election is made known. I know your election, Paul said, of God. I know. You don't, but I do. Because our gospel came not unto you in word only, but in power and the Holy Ghost and much assurance. You become followers of us and the Lord. Why would you follow anybody if you don't love them? Huh? You won't do it. Listen to the words of this old hymn. Years I spent in vanity and pride, Caring not my Lord was crucified, Knowing not it was for me He died on Calvary. And by God's Word at last my sin I learned, Then I trembled at the God I'd spurned, Till my guilty soul in flooring turned to Calvary. And oh, the love that drew salvation's plan. Oh, the grace that brought it down to man. Oh, the mighty gulf that God did span at Calvary. When God saves sinners, He declares to them His adoption, His provision, and floods their hearts with love and grace. And they become willing in the day of His power. Oh, preacher, you don't believe in the will of man. Sure I do. He's made willing. Man ain't going to do anything he's not willing to do. That's nuts. God's going to make him willing. And he doesn't do it by twisting his arm. He does it by flooding his heart with love and grace. And that loving spirit of God, our blessed Comforter, comes as a witness of what God has purposed and accomplished in Christ. The end of God's covenant of grace is that we'll be like Him. Huh? We'll be just like Him. We'll know Him as He is. We'll see Him as He is. He'll be to us a God and we'll be to Him a people. That's the covenant. fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God, blessed beyond anything we could ever imagine. Oh, the lust of this flesh has concocted many things, but no eye has ever seen what God has prepared for them that love Him. And these blessed things were revealed by His Spirit to chosen souls called out of darkness into His marvelous light. But you say, how do I know or even begin to think that I might be one of God's chosen? Well, I know of no other scripture better than John chapter 6, and I've read this to you so many times. John chapter 6, verse 37. All the Father hath given to me shall come to me. That's what Christ said. How am I to know or at least have some confidence that those I speak to and they come up to me and say, well, I want to be baptized. I want to go in the church. I believe what you're preaching. What's the one thing that's going to give me confidence in that? They came to Christ. I preached to you who Christ is, why He came, what He did, and where He's at. I preached to you the Christ of the Bible. I've tried to show you in the Scriptures exactly who He is, why He had to come, and all these things. And when a man comes to Him, this is what Christ said. He manifests His election of God. All those given to me of the Father, they come to me. And Him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. but I raise him up at the last day. And the reason is because I came into this world to do the will of the Father, and that's His will, that of all which He has given me I should lose nothing, but raise it up at the last day. I don't care who you are or what you've done, that man or woman who came by faith, come to Jesus Christ, the Lord, as he stands before you in God's gospel, mediator, savior, substitute, representative, and redeemer. Wait a minute, preacher. Scripture don't say that. Yes, it does. I'll put down a few verses. The Jews murmured over in John 6, because Christ said, I come down from heaven. That makes him God. And they murmured. You remember what Christ said? He said, don't murmur. No man can come unto me except my Father which sent me draw him. Well, who's he? That's my loving Father. That's the one who made full provision for all his people in me. You're not going to come to me except my Father draw you. How's he going to do that? loving providence. He is going to bring you to hear the gospel through a chosen ambassador or preacher. How are you going to call on him who you have not heard and how are you going to hear without a preacher? You are not going to hear. God doesn't leave you to yourself. He will let you find something out here that appeals to you. then you'll go in there and join that church and you'll love it and you'll love everybody in it and you'll participate in all their activities and you'll wake up in hell. That's exactly what will happen. Lo, I come in the volume of the book that's written of me to do thy will, O God. His redemptive will, His elective will, His eternal will. And he said, don't burn me. No man can come to me except the Father who sent me draw him, and I'll raise him up at the last day. So how does God the Father draw chosen sinners? It's written in the prophets, they shall all be taught of God. Every man, therefore, that has learned of the Father comes to me. Well, how do you learn of the Father? Through his chosen means, the preaching of the gospel. Ephesians 4, 11-15 tells you how you learn of the Father. Also Romans 10, 14-16, in which Paul sums up the whole thing, and he says, So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Alright, well how much does a man have to know to be saved? Enough to convince him to commit his soul to Christ. How much is that? I don't know. I don't know. Enough to cause him to surrender to Christ. Throw up his hands. Stack his guns in the corner. War's over. And I don't know if anything I've said this morning makes any sense to you. This message is so vast, it's hard for me to know where to begin and where to end. It's so vast that preachers spend their lives preaching the gospel, studying the gospel, and can't even scratch the surface. Oh, I pray he'll take at least some part of what I've said this morning, part of what I've quoted and read, and write it in your minds and hearts. that will come to Christ and keep on coming to Christ until we see Him as He is.