Morning, brethren. Let's go to
Ephesians chapter one. Ephesians one, and when we get
to Romans, you can put a marker there, because most of the verses
that we're looking at are from these two books. Now in Ephesians 1, Paul has
been declaring the blessings of our God provided for his people
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And he outlines and speaks to
all these spiritual blessings. These are spiritual blessings
which are given to the people of God, and they're all given
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And the way that God gives them
is in free, sovereign power, in free, sovereign grace, which
is given to those whom God will give them. They're all given
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And what we see is that every
one of these spiritual blessings is given according to God's purpose,
God's choice, God's will, according to his own counsel. Let me give
you a few examples. If you look at verse 5, we'll
see verse 5, 9, and 11. Looking at verse 5, he says,
having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus
Christ to himself. There's the blessing. We've been
predestinated unto adoption. We're in the family of God. That's
the blessing. And here's how God decided who
was receiving that blessing according to the good pleasure of his will. Then look at verse 9, having
made known unto us the mystery of his will, there is the blessing. This good news, this salvation,
how God saves, by whom he saves, is a mystery to the natural man.
They had this word in the Old Testament for hundreds of years. but they didn't understand, most
didn't understand what they were reading. There's the blessing,
it's been revealed to us, and that blessing is revealed according
to his good pleasure, which he hath purposed in himself. Then again in verse 11, in whom
also we have obtained an inheritance. Right, there's the blessing,
we've obtained, we've been given an inheritance. an inheritance,
something that we weren't expecting, something we didn't know about
or seek in any way, but it was given to us. We've obtained an
inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him
who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. And so what we're reading here
of all these blessings which are given to whom God will give
it, it's all, he's the one, he decided who would receive that
all within his own purposes, within his own counsel, within
his own decision, within his own choosing God chose who would
receive these spiritual blessings in the Lord Jesus Christ. And what that means is God didn't
receive or take counsel from any outside influence. He didn't
look at man. He didn't wait to see what man
would decide, what man wanted. That's like a parent wanting
to see what their child wants instead of you parenting them
and telling them this is what you need to have, this is good
for you, this is what you're getting. But the Lord made this
decision without outside influence from man. And so that means that
nothing that man does changes God's mind. Nothing that man
does changes God's mind. In His eternal counsels and purposes,
in these spiritual blessings, in the giving of these spiritual
blessings, God's purpose is not altered by the things that man
does or doesn't do. God gives these blessings in
grace, in sovereign, free grace. And that's why He told Moses,
I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. So then, the conclusion is, it's
not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth. It's not
of your decision or your works, but of God that showeth mercy.
Romans 9, 15, and 16. He already has purposed what
shall be before it comes to pass. He's God. He is the true and
living God. And so when it comes to the salvation
of man, it isn't man's decision that saves him because no works,
no deeds that we do save us. It's not our deeds of the law.
It's not what we do or don't do. If a man is saved by God,
it's because God has purposed to save him. God has purposed
the salvation, the blessings of that sinner in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And this in the scriptures is
called election. It's called election. God elected
a people in Christ for His purposes, for the purpose of giving them
all spiritual blessings in Christ. And so God is the one choosing
the people in Christ, and God has determined who Christ would
redeem or purchase with His own blood. It's God choosing to save
whom He will based solely upon His sovereign choice, and not
because of anything in men. Now, some people, some men, like
to defend their glory. They like to defend what glorifies
themselves, what glorifies them for their works, for their decision,
what they've decided to let God do. And the way that they get
around this plain teaching of the doctrine of election in scripture
is they say, well, God looked down through the annals of time
and saw who had a disposition for his grace, who was willing,
who would be open to letting God do what he would do for them. And having seen those who would
believe, therefore, they say, that's why he elected them. He
chose because we chose him, which is contrary to the scriptures,
which says we love him because he first loved us. We choose
Him because He chose us. We seek Him because of His grace
and mercy. It says plainly, if you look
at Ephesians 1 verses 4 and 5, according, our blessings, our
spiritual blessings in Christ are according as He hath chosen
us in Christ 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 my decision? No, no, not at all. Not according to my decision,
but according to the good pleasure of his will. And again, our Lord,
this isn't only in the New Testament. This truth is preached and declared
even in the Old Testament. The Lord, by the prophet Isaiah,
in Isaiah 46, verses 9 through 10, he says, remember the former
things of old. For I am God, and there is none
else. I am God, and there is none like
me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times
the things that are not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand,
and I will do all my pleasure. so that nothing you or I can
do can derail the purpose and the counsel of God. He's bringing
to pass what He will bring to pass, what He purposed to do
in ancient times, very ancient, so ancient they're eternal. And
the eternal mind and purpose of God, he's bringing to pass
everything. And so when God looks down through
the annals of time to see what's happening, he's seeing the unfolding
of his counsel and what he's already purposed to do in the
Lord Jesus Christ according to his pleasure. That's why Paul
even took the time in Romans 9 to say for the children, those
two boys that were conceived in Rebekah's womb, he said, before
they were born, so that they couldn't do any good or evil,
God chose Jacob. He said, Jacob have I loved and
Esau have I hated. It was all according to the purpose
of God. If he saw, if he was looking
to see what they would do, then it wasn't, what's the point of
pointing out that they did no works good or evil? And if we're
going by good works, Esau seemed to be the better child, the nicer,
the more obedient child, more so than Jacob. God chooses whom
he will. So I want to speak to you today
about two points under this election. First, God's choosing of Christ. God chose Christ to save his
people. He elected the Lord Jesus Christ
for this salvation. And then in Christ, he chose
or elected a people and gave them to Christ, committed them
to the care of the Lord Jesus Christ. And thank God that he
did. Because if it was left to you
and me, we would never seek the true and living God. We would
never come and bow before Him. So it's all of His grace. I've
titled this, God's Election of Christ and His People. So in Ephesians 1, let's just
look at verse 12. We're reading here in Ephesians
1 that God chose his people, and it says, verse 12, that we
should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ. And the way that's worded, who
first trusted in Christ, it makes me ask the question, who first
trusted Christ? Who first trusted Christ? You
know, we do know that there were Jews initially who heard and
believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and were called of God to go
and spread that word out to the Gentiles who then heard that
word and believed. But who first trusted Christ? Really, who first trusted Christ? The one who first trusted Christ
was the father when he elected the son. When he determined who
would do the saving and how he would do the saving, he chose
Christ. He determined this long before
the foundation of the world. He chose Christ, his son, to
be the God-man mediator in whom his people would be reconciled
to God when they fell. When they fell, God knew, he
purposed everything that should be. And so, the son, as the mediator,
is called, in the scriptures, the servant of God. God elected
him to that office, to be the servant of God, to fulfill, to
establish, to ratify the covenant of grace, in which God would
be gracious and merciful to his people. and forgive them of their
sins, and give them all these spiritual blessings, which are
for the people of God, to have and enjoy with their God. So
Isaiah 42, verse one says, behold, look, look at my servant, behold
him, my servant, whom I uphold, mine elect. I chose him, he's
mine elect. in whom my soul delighteth, I
have put my spirit upon him. He shall bring forth judgment
to the Gentiles." God is saying, my wisdom chose him. I purposed
this. I've determined this salvation
for my people. This is my glory, he says. It's
my wisdom. I'm the one who did this. The
three in one, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, they counsel together. They determined and purposed
this work of salvation for the people of God. And so he is the
elected Savior. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
elected Savior. And what that means for us is
that there's not another Savior. There's not another way of salvation. There's not different ways to
come to God. There's not many roads that lead
to God. That's a lie. That's man's imagination. Man
says, well, I don't know, I kind of like, maybe I'll be a Buddhist,
or maybe I'll follow this thing over here, or this tradition.
I like this, I like a little of that, and a little of this.
That's man's ways, and they're the ways of death, and they're
lies, and they don't lead to God, they lead to hell. But God
has said, I've determined the way, the truth, and the life,
and it's in my son Jesus Christ. He himself is the way, the truth,
and the life, and so God determined who would do the saving and how
we would be saved. God purposed it in his wisdom,
and we that are saved and know these truths rejoice in him,
give him thanks, and glorify his name, and Revelation speaks
of the people of God casting down their crowns before him,
because we're not worthy, yes, They're given to us the crown
of life, the crown of righteousness, but it's because of Him. It's
because of His grace and what He did to obtain our redemption
and our salvation. And so God draws the people of
God to the chosen Savior. He's the one who leads His people
to the Savior. who is their salvation. Peter
said it this way, 1 Peter 2 verse 4, To whom coming as unto a living
stone, disallowed or rejected indeed of men, but chosen of
God and precious. God chose him and he is precious
because he is the Savior. He alone is salvation. We are
weak and unable to save ourselves. We see in scriptures that we
are conceived and are born in sin of corrupt seed, of Adam's
seed. We come forth spiritually dead
in trespasses and sins. And so we're already deceived
when we come forth. We're already in darkness. We're
already dead to the truth of God. Our whole disposition is
not one of goodness, but one of deceit, one of death, the
ways of death, the course of this world. We're used to it.
We don't always think it's so bad because this is all we've
known. This is what we do is go the
course of this world. We've been in darkness, but the
Lord shows us that no Don't hold on to those ways of death. Don't
hold on to those things that cannot save. Don't hold on to
those things that are corrupt and evil and of your flesh. Look
to behold my servant. Look to the Savior whom I have
sent to save my people. The Lord shows us that if left
to ourselves, if it came down to our strength, if it came down
to my decision, my works, even one simple thing, I would die
in my sins because I will not come to Christ that I might have
life, except God be gracious to me and deliver me from death
and draw me to his son. And so we're weak and unable
to save ourselves, but the Lord in wisdom and in love for his
people has laid help on him who is mighty, him who is almighty. the true and living God, who
willingly came and sacrificed himself for the sins of his people,
to purchase them, to redeem them by his own blood, to deliver
them from death, and to give them life in him, to give them
an expected end in Christ, to know these blessings, to enjoy
this life and fellowship and communion with the true and living
God. so that whatever it is that we
go through, we have a hope, a good hope in the Lord Jesus Christ,
knowing it's not resting on me, and what I do or don't do, it's
resting all on Him, and He is the successful Savior who has
paid the debt that I owe, put it away, justifying me so that
I no longer have the guilt of sin, because there is no sin
to be guilty for. it's all been put away by Him. And He has washed me clean in
His blood, and given me hope and love and life in Him, and
restored me in Christ Himself. all by himself, everything is
in him. All life, all salvation is in
the Lord Jesus Christ. He was foreordained by God to
this before the foundation of the world, and that's why he's
called the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. As we've
seen in our study in Genesis, it's all declaring and speaking
of Christ, Christ, Christ, and what he did to accomplish his
people. And so it's all in the eternal
decrees of God who chose his son to this most crucial and
meaningful work, this most necessary work. He chose it. He did it.
He's the one who elected the son to come in flesh and bone. You and me are first born in
flesh and bone. And so like we are, like the
children are, he came taking upon himself the same, this flesh,
became like us yet was without sin and faithfully did all the
work the Father appointed him to do to redeem us. God chose
him. He chose him. 1 Peter 1 18-20
says, Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible
things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received
by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of
Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, who
verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world,
but was manifest in these last times for you." This brings us
to the next point, our election. And as the Father elected the
Savior, so He elected the people whom the Savior came to save. Just as he elected Christ, so
he elected, he chose the bride for his son. So God chooses,
whom God chooses, he's going to bring forth fruit in them. There's going to be a testimony,
a witness, born in the people of God that they are the people
of God. One of the complaints throughout history about the
doctrine of election is it can't be denied that it's in there,
but they either try to find other meanings for what it is, or they
say, well, you just shouldn't talk about it because it scares
people. People get afraid. Well, it should
drive you to the Lord, to cry out to him. If you hear this
and you know it's true and you have no concern or care about
it, that's very concerning. That should terrify you if you
don't care whether you're the elect of God or not. But those
who are the elect, God reveals it. He manifests it in his people.
He manifested. And we're going to look at these
manifestations of God's blessings in the Lord Jesus Christ. Those
things which God gives to his people and reveals in them that
they are the elect. Because otherwise, if everybody
exhibited these things, we'd be wondering, well, how do I
know that I'm the elect? How do I know if God loves me?
And we'd be thinking that we're striving and laboring to be accepted
of God and wonder, but am I his? Is he going to reject me at the
end? No, the Lord reveals these fruits by his grace in his people
so that they know that Christ is the Savior and that He's done
this for them. So all these spiritual blessings
are given by God in Christ Jesus and none are given outside of
Christ. And so because we have been given,
elected and chosen in Christ and given to him before the foundation
of the world, these are the blessings and the benefits and the properties
of these blessings in the Lord Jesus Christ. So let's cover
six blessings. Six blessings that are the result
of our election. First, you that have been elected
or chosen of God are called. You're called by the gospel. He calls you by the gospel, the
good news of the Lord Jesus Christ, declaring to you what Christ
has done. You're going to hear the gospel. It says in Romans 8.28, Romans
8.28, you can go there. We're gonna just look at a few
verses from there as well. Hold your place in Ephesians,
but in Romans 8.28, You're familiar with this verse,
but it says, and we know that all things work together for
good to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to purpose. You're the called according to
the purpose of God. So he calls his people. He doesn't
leave you in that darkness. He calls you by his grace in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at verse 30, Romans 8.30.
Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called. Their predestination are the
steps which God has purposed and determined that whereby we
should be conformed to the image of Christ. And so the elect will
hear this gospel. He'll get this gospel to you.
He'll send you the gospel, or he'll bring you to the gospel.
He said in John 4, verse 4, to that woman at the well, it says
that, well, it says he must, needs go through Samaria. He had to go there. Why? Because
he had one of his chosen elect people there in darkness. But he came and brought the light
of his gospel to that woman and to others in the city. He brought
it to them. That Syrophoenician mother, right,
he went way out of the way for one sinner chosen of God to bring
them the truth of the gospel. He went way out of his way. I
think she came a little of the ways, but he brought it. He made
it happen. And so that's what the Lord does.
He'll bring you the gospel because he loves you. You are his child. And so in 2 Timothy 1.9, I'll
read it, who had saved us and called us within holy calling,
not according to our works, but according to his own purpose
and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world
began. So the elect of God are called,
they're called by the gospel. Second, being called of God in
Christ, he regenerates his child. He sends His Holy Spirit and
regenerates them, giving them the new birth. They are born
again. And how do you know if you've
been born again? Well, who are you glorying in?
Where's your hope? Is your hope in you and what
you've done, the decision you made, the aisle you walked, the
altar you went down to and gave your heart to Jesus, the prayer
you prayed, your baptism, the church membership that you have?
Is that your hope? or is your hope all in the Lord Jesus Christ? Lord, I'm a sinner. I love you. But I'm a sinner, and I need
your grace and mercy. Lord, keep me. And all my hope
is in the Lord Jesus Christ." That's what he does for his child.
That's the baptism of the Holy Spirit. You stop glorying in
self, and you glory in the Savior, because the Spirit testifies
of the Son, of the Son. So he doesn't turn you to look
to yourselves and what you've done for the Lord, but what he's
done for you. And so we read in Ephesians 1,
verse 13, Ephesians 1.13, in whom ye also
trusted. After that ye heard the word
of truth, the gospel of your salvation. And so when you're
born again, when he's giving you the spirit, there's going
to be the production of spiritual fruits, faith, love, hope. And faith and hope that is seen
is not faith or hope. Why do you yet hope or have faith
in something that you already have? But we see by faith that
Christ is the Savior and He keeps us. stayed upon Him, looking
to Him, believing Him. Even when in ourselves we don't
see what we think we ought to see, we know, Lord, all I know
is that You are salvation. You've promised everyone who
looks to You and believes on the Son, they shall be kept. They shall endure to the end.
You shall keep them and preserve Your people. Lord, keep me. Don't
let me go, don't let me apostatize, don't let me fall away like so
many, but keep me ever looking to Your service. your Savior,
the one whom you chose because in Him, in Him alone, is salvation. So He keeps His people. Those
are fruits of His righteousness being testified in you that you
have the Spirit of God. And so it says, in whom also,
in that same verse 13, in whom also, after that ye believed,
ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. There's a
manifestation. You follow Christ. You follow
Him. you pray to him and you beg him
for help to keep you following him because you know it's all
of his grace. Third, there's communion. We have communion
with God that's restored in Christ. In other words, God doesn't save
his people and then leave them in utter darkness and leave them
in the prison where they were when He brought this news to
them. He gives them light. There's
an appointed hour when the chosen people of God shall hear and
believe. Just like in Acts 13, 48, there
were those Gentiles who were living in darkness, but they
heard the gospel being preached to the Jews and the Jews rejecting
it. And Paul and Barnabas saying, well, we're going to take it
to the Gentiles. They heard. what was being said, and they
heard this, that it was coming to them, and it says, they rejoiced
in it, and all they that were ordained to eternal life believed. They were ordained, and therefore
they believed, because God purposed in that hour to bring salvation
to those Gentiles there in that city. As the Lord Jesus Christ is enabled
it says that thou mayest say to the prisoners go forth To
them that are in darkness show yourselves. He says come out
of that prison You that are hiding in darkness come into the light
God's God the Spirit's gonna reveal to you that everything
is The deliverance that you've received has been wrought for
you, in you, by God. By God. Fourth, there is justification. There's justification. Because
we are elected, Christ died in the place of his people to obtain
their justification. So back in Romans 830, it says,
whom he called, them he also justified. In other words, The
reason that we're called by grace is because Christ's death successfully
put away our sin. There's no sin. There's no sin. You are justified. Could you
imagine if the state, you had a relative, and this relative
had murdered a family member. And the state said, well, there's
been a technicality, there's a mistrial. And so they're not
going to jail, and they're a minor. So they're going to come and
live with you, because you're the closest relative that we could find.
Would you be OK with that, living with somebody who murdered another
family member because they didn't like what the family member said
or did? You wouldn't be comfortable with that at all. There hasn't
been a mistrial in our justification. You're justified. There is no
crime. It would be a different thing.
If the state said, well, we tried this family member, but we found
them not guilty because we uncovered in the process the true murderer,
the true guilty party, and they're the ones who have been punished
and gone to jail, and we need you to take this minor into your
family, then you'd have no problem. being with them and communion
with them because they're justified. There is no crime. There is no
sin being committed. And that's how it is in Christ.
There is no guilt of sin because there's no sin. Christ has put
it away. You are justified of your sins
and accepted of God and have communion with Him. It says in
Romans 8.33, Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?
It is God that justifies. It is God that justifies. So
no charge can be laid because the sin has been put away. And
fifth, we've seen this earlier, we're adopted into the family
of God, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure His will
and it says in Galatians 4 6 and Because ye are sons God hath
sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts crying Abba
father Abba father daddy father all right Jew or Gentile we cry
we call out upon our God because we're his sons and daughters
and we have been adopted. 6. There is a glorification,
whom he justified, them he also glorified. We shall enjoy the
presence of our God and Savior in eternal glory. It says in
Romans 9.23 that he might make known the riches of his glory
on the vessels of mercy which he had aforeprepared unto glory. unto glory, so our God chose
whom he would in eternity, according to the covenant of grace. He
elected Christ unto this work, and he chose a people and gave
them to the Son. And the Son came and fulfilled
all that work. And he manifests all these spiritual
blessings in us. And we glory in him, we declare,
We glory in what God has done for us, knowing that it's not
because of us, not because of what we've done, what we said
or didn't do. It's because of God's grace and
mercy, which he put into the hands of the one he chose. And
all these blessings are given to you who are chosen of him
in grace in the Lord Jesus Christ. So rejoice, rejoice in God, your
salvation. Speak of him, declare what he's
done for you and what he's accomplished for sinners of his grace and
mercy. I pray the Lord bless that word
to your hearts. Amen. Let's close in prayer and
then we'll be dismissed for 15 minutes. Our gracious Lord, we
thank you, Father, for this grace. We thank you, Lord, for this
blessing, these spiritual blessings which are given to us in Christ
as a result of you choosing him and you choosing us in him. Lord,
we thank you. We know we have nothing to boast
of except You are God. Accept our Lord and Savior and
what he's done for us. Lord, we thank you. We see how
unworthy we are in ourselves, but we see how worthy of honor,
glory, praise, and power you are. And we thank you for this,
that nothing is left to chance, that nothing can be undone, that
it's immutable and unchangeable and eternal. It's in Christ's
name we pray and give thanks. Amen.