Well, good morning. I'd like
to welcome our visitors, all from Lexington this morning.
I'm glad y'all are here so much. If you would open your Bibles
with me to Ephesians chapter one, continue our study in Ephesians
chapter one this morning. Before we begin, let's bow before
our Lord and seek his blessing. Our Father, which art in heaven,
holy and reverent, is your matchless name. Father, we come before
you this morning, bowing before you all in reverence before the
thrice holy God. Yet, Father, how thankful we
are because of your mercy and your grace, we can come before
you as your children, crying Abba Father. And oh, we're thankful. Father, your children cry out
to you that you might give us, that you might be pleased to
give us a blessing from your storehouses of grace this morning,
that you might reveal to us again the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is our constant prayer with
our brother Moses of old, show us your glory. Oh, if you'd show
us your redemptive glory in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ,
by his obedience, by his sacrifice and his immeasurable love for
his people. We beg of you that you give us
faith to believe, faith to rest the entirety of our soul upon
the Lord Jesus Christ. He is sufficient. He's all that
we need. Father, you blessed us so abundantly. How can we begin to thank you?
The physical blessings on top of, Father, the spiritual blessings,
the spiritual blessings we hope to look at this morning that
you've given us everything that you have for a sinner in Christ
our Savior, that you've given us everything that's required,
that sinful men and women such as we are can stand accepted
in the beloved. Father, while we, how we freely
admit you blessed us, there are also those that you brought into
the time of trouble and trial by your will and by your purpose.
We're thankful to know these things are not an accident, but
they're under your direct control. directed by the loving hand of
our Father. Father, we pray that you'd heal.
We pray that you'd comfort. We pray that you'd direct. And
above all, Father, we pray you'd give a fulfillment of your promise
to your people, that you'd not leave them nor forsake them,
and that your grace is sufficient. All these things we ask, and
we give thanks in that name which is above every name, the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ. I titled our lesson this morning,
The Blessing of Predestination. We're going to spend a few weeks
looking at the blessings that the father has given all of his
people and his son, our Lord Jesus Christ. There's quite a
few of them listed here in Ephesians chapter one. In verse three,
Paul says, Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ. Last week, we looked at the blessing
of God's election of a people. This morning, we're going to
look at the blessing of God's predestination of a people. In
verse five, Paul says, having predestinated us under the adoption
of children by Jesus Christ himself, according to the good pleasure
of his will. Now, the word predestinated that
Paul uses here means to determine beforehand or to decide beforehand. And predestination simply means
this, that God has a will and a purpose that he determined
before he created anything. And now in human time, everything
God is doing is carrying out that will that he determined
before to be done. And I want to give you five points
here that'll help us understand what predestination really is
and help us see the blessing of God's predestination of a
people. Number one is this, predestination is God's sovereign right. Paul
says here, it's according to the good pleasure of God's will.
Since God is the ruler over everything in his creation, it's only right
that God would predetermine a merciful outcome for the sinners that
he elected to save. Scripture says, it's he that
made us, not we ourselves. Isn't that right? God's our creator.
Well, since God created us, He owns us. And He has the right
to do with His own what He will. Look back at Jeremiah chapter
18. You know, Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, he was a prophet in
such a difficult time in the history of Israel. And one day
the Lord came to his weeping prophet and He says, Jeremiah,
you go down to the potter's house I'm going to teach you a valuable
lesson. Let's read these verses. Let's go to the potter's house
with Jeremiah. Maybe the Lord will be pleased
to teach us this same lesson. Jeremiah 18 verse one, the word
which came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying, arise and go down
to the potter's house and there I will cause thee to hear my
words. And I went down to the potter's house and behold, he
wrought a work on the wheels. And the vessel that he made of
clay was marred in the hand of the potter. So he made it again
another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make it.
Then the word of the Lord came to me saying, O house of Israel,
can I not do with you as this potter saith the Lord? Behold,
as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand,
O house of Israel. Now, you know, it's, this is
just a referendum on man's dead nature. Nobody would dare think
to question the potter about him taking a lump of clay, divide
it into two pieces, and out of one piece, he'd make a chamber
pot. He just makes a chamber pot.
He doesn't decorate it. He doesn't paint it. He just,
you know, makes a chamber pot. Out of the other lump, he makes
a beautiful vase. He paints it. It's a work of art. Now, why
did he choose this lump of clay to make the beautiful work of
art and this lump to make a chamber pot. Well, he needed both and
he just chose to do it that way. Nobody would ever think of questioning
the potter about that. Now we won't question a man who's
like us. Why do we think it's all right
to question God? Why did you predetermine to do
this? And before we ask that question, look at Romans chapter
nine. The apostle Paul, gives us a
commentary, New Testament commentary, on what the Lord taught Jeremiah
down there at the potter's house. Romans chapter nine, verse 20. Nay, but O man, who art thou
that replyest against God? Shall the thing form, say to
him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the
potter power over the clay? of the same lump to make one
vessel unto honor and one vessel unto dishonor? Here's what Paul's
saying right there. You can write this in by verse
20 if you want. Who do you think you are? Did
your parents ever tell you that when you were growing up? Who
do you think you are? Who do we think we are to question God
Almighty? You know, you and I are just
creatures of the dust, and yet we still predetermine the things
that we're going to do, don't we? When you get in your car,
you don't sit down in that car and say, well, now, I wonder
where this thing's going to go. You know, I wouldn't dare. I
wouldn't dare violate, you know, the rights of this car to make
a decision to where it's going to go. That would just be so
horrible. You don't wonder, where's this
car going to end up? No, the car's dead. It can't make any
decisions for itself. Before you got in that car, you
predetermined where that car is going to go, didn't you? And
then you directed to go to the place you predetermined to go. Now, you and I predetermined
what we're going to do with the dead objects that belong to us.
Why would we think God doesn't have the same right to predestinate,
to predetermine what he's going to do with his creatures? I'll
tell you why, because we're dead in sin. That's why that's that's
the only reason we think God doesn't have the same rights
to predetermine what he's going to do with his own like we do.
You know, really, we predetermine most things that we do, don't
we? Now we say the Lord willing, I'm going to do this, that or
the other, but we predetermined that we're going to do it. I
have predetermined what I'm going to do later on today. I'm going
to eat dinner. I'm going to kick back in my
recliner and take a nap. I've predetermined that. And
Lord willing, that's what I'm going to do. And Savannah can
tell you, there's very little that's going to stop that from
happening, isn't there? Very little. I've predetermined that.
Now, Lord willing, that's what I'm going to do. And if we don't
predetermine what we're going to do, very little of any value
is going to get done, really. I mean, I tell janitists all
the time, you've got to have a plan. I mean, you got to have
a plan. Flying by the seat of your pants
just seldom gets things, you know, very good things done.
And let me tell you, Almighty God does not fly by the seat
of his pants. He's not just reacting to us
and wonder, oh, what they're going to do? And he's got to
constantly react. He's not flying by the seat of his pants. Almighty
God has a will, has a purpose that he determined before time
is going to happen. And he's doing it. He's doing,
he's accomplishing his purpose and it's his sovereign right
to do it. All right, number two. Predestination, this is so important,
always has to do with Christ. Predestination doesn't really
have to do with the place. It has to do with the person.
Just like God did not elect some people to heaven and some people
to hell. He didn't elect them to determine the place that they
would go. God did not predestinate a people
to determine the place that he didn't predestinate some people
to hell and some people to heaven. God didn't have to do that. He
didn't have to predestinate some people to go to hell. We do a
fine job of that on our own. Fine job. Look at Romans chapter
eight. If you're there, just turn back
a page. Predestination always has to do with our Lord Jesus
Christ. Romans eight verse 29. For whom
he did foreknow, he also did predestinate. Predestinate what? To be conformed to the image
of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Now the father elected a people
to save and he predestinated those people to be made just
like his son. See, the father didn't predestinate
a people to go to heaven. Now that's the end result. If
we're made just like Christ, we have to be where Christ is.
But the father predetermined his purpose was to make a people
just like his son. The father loved his son so much
he saw his perfection, the perfection of his character, the perfection
of his person, pleased the father so much he determined to fill
heaven with a number of people no man can number and make every
last one of them just like his son. That's what Paul means here
when he says the father predestinated a people that the Lord Jesus
Christ might be the firstborn among many brethren. He might
be the king. He might be the first of many
more to come. Now God's predetermined purpose,
what he predestinated was to make his elect people to be just
like his son. Now I ask you, who doesn't want
that? Who doesn't want that? God predestinated a people to
be made just like his son. And you know, that should be
our goal too. To be just like Christ. That should be our goal.
Now, make no mistake about it. I do not want to go to hell.
I do not. And I would like to go to heaven,
but not just to be in heaven. That place is so much more glorious. than our language can express.
But more than anything, I want to be just like Christ. I want
to be with him and to be made just like him. Now, wherever
that's at, that's heaven. That's heaven. The streets of
gold and pearly gates and mansions mean nothing without Christ,
without being made just like Christ. That's what predestination
is all about. And you think I mean, all we
can do is imagine it because we can comprehend it. What a
blessing it will be to not bear Adam's image anymore. I mean, not even have the bridge
of his nose, not have the first bit of his character, to not
be like Adam anymore, but to be just like Christ. I mean,
what a blessing. This predestination of a people
to be made like Christ is an unspeakable blessing. To be made
holy. To have a body and a nature without
sin. To not even have a thought of
sin or a desire of sin. What a blessing it'll be to have
perfect love. Oh, we love God, don't we? because
he first loved us, but our love, it's fickle. It's fickle. But there, our love will be perfect,
because we'll be made just like Christ. That's a blessing. I mean, I'm talking about things
I can't even fully explain. I don't have the words for it.
What a blessing that the father predetermined to make a people
just like his son. Here's the third thing. He predestinated
people to be like Christ, and He predestinated the way of their
salvation. He predestinated the way that
they would be made like Christ. Look at 1 Corinthians 2. 1 Corinthians
2. Verse 7. But we speak the wisdom of God, in a mystery. I want to stop
a second and talk about that. This is what Paul's saying about
the mystery. When we preach the gospel, now
I want you to understand the words that I'm saying. In the
last week or so, it's become a joke at our house. Brother
Clay Curtis told me if you type your messages out in Microsoft
Word, At the end, there's this little thing you can run. It'll
tell you the reading grade level of your notes. And Clay said,
you get up seventh, eighth grade, you got to go back and redo everything.
He was so happy one day, he got a reading level, grade three,
you know, so that now, as competitive as I am, this is my goal. I want
to have a reading level, you know, grade three. I want you
to understand the words that I'm saying. But we preach a mystery. You can't bring the gospel down
to man's level so that man will love it or man by nature will
understand it. You cannot do it. We preach a
mystery, a mystery that must be revealed by the Holy Spirit.
When we preach the gospel, we're not trying to bring God down
to our level like it's up to you to accept him or reject him. That's easy for the natural mind
to understand. That's what the natural mind
already thinks. But it's wrong. It's wrong. We're not preaching
the gospel that way. We preach a mystery. The mystery of God's
electing love. That God would choose to save
a sinner like me. That's a mystery. We cannot understand that. The
mystery of his mercy and his grace. The mystery of his mercy
and his grace that does not violate his justice or his holiness,
but rather exalts it. We preach a mystery. God has
determined to save a people in such a way that it magnifies
both his justice and his mercy at the same time. That's a mystery. Now read on verse seven. We speak
the wisdom of God. We preach the gospel in a mystery,
even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the foundation
of the world under our glory. And this wisdom Paul's talking
about is the wisdom of God. How God predestinated a merciful,
gracious salvation for his people that was just at the same time.
How God determined he was gonna be merciful to his people and
exalt his justice at the very same time. God in his wisdom
predestinated a people that forgives the sin of his people and at
the very same time fully punishes that sin. That's amazing and that's a mystery.
It's a mystery to the natural mind that God found a way to
be just and still justify guilty sinners. And the only way that's
possible is through the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. And
that would Job ask, how should a man be just with God? Man drinks
iniquity like water. How is it possible I can be just
with God? Well, Job asked that question
and you'll notice nobody gave an answer to it because the natural
mind can't find an answer to that question. Nobody but God
can answer that question. God in his wisdom found a way
to forgive sin and punish it. See, God must punish sin because
God's holy and God's elect are born dead in sin. They're spiritually
bankrupt. The debt must be paid, but they're
bankrupt. They have no way to pay the debt.
See what the father did? He determined to take that sin
of his people. Brother Henry used to use his
Bible. He said this is the black, black, heavy weight of sin. He
took it from his people. And he put it on his son. His
son bore the debt. His son bore the sin. His son
bore the guilt of that sin. And he put it away by the sacrifice
of himself. His precious blood paid the debt
in full. Since the debt's paid, the Father
forgives the sin of His people, and He's just and right to do
it, because the debt's been paid. The Father forgives the sin of
His people. To this full extent, He said,
I forget about it. You know why the Father can forget
the sin of His people? Because the blood of Christ made
it to not exist. The blood of Christ made it so
there's nothing to remember. And the Father is merciful to
his people in justice. Now that's the wisdom of God.
He predetermined the way to make his people just and holy in his
presence. That's a blessing. All right,
point number four is very closely tied to that. God predestinated
the sacrifice. He predestinated the Savior.
and predestinated the sacrifice for the sin of his people. Look
back at Acts chapter four, Acts four. This is what Peter was
preaching. Verse 26, the kings of the earth
stood up and the rulers were gathered together against the
Lord and against his Christ from a troop. against thy holy child
Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate
with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together
for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before
to be done." Now, Calvary, wicked men, did exactly what their sinful,
wicked hearts wanted to do. They thought of everything that
they could think of to do, and they did it. because that's what
they wanted to do. But God worked it in such a way
while they wanted to kill and they wanted to torture Jesus
of Nazareth. They wanted to get rid of this
man, Jesus of Nazareth, because he's upsetting their religious
apple cart. They ended up doing everything God predetermined
before to be done. These men did not do what they
wanted to do. I mean, they did, but they didn't
accomplish their purpose, did they? They did everything that
they wanted to do. And these scribes, these Pharisees
who are so steeped in the scriptures, forgot all the scriptures that
they'd studied, all the scriptures that they wrote down. But it
seems like they flipped through the Old Testament scriptures
like a script in a play, saying, what are we supposed to do next?
What are we supposed to say next? And they did it. They followed
it like a script in a play. They did what God predetermined
before to be done. And they accomplished not their
purpose, but the purpose of Almighty God. See, they wanted to earn
salvation by their works, by their morality, by their observance
of the ceremonies and by the sacrifice of Christ. They provided
the one way of salvation through the blood of Christ. They wanted to get rid of this
man, Jesus, so we could go back to our ceremonies. And when Christ
died, all the ceremonies were ended. God showed him that. He
tore the veil in the temple in two from top to bottom. The ceremonies
are done. There's no more Passover. Christ,
our Passover, a sacrifice for us. There's no more observance
of the Sabbath day. Christ is our rest. There's no
more animal blood to be offered. There's no more goats. There's
no more lambs. There's no more sheep. Christ, our sacrifice,
has already been offered. So we don't use the picture.
We don't use the ceremony anymore. We've got the real thing. So
much better, so much better. These men did everything their
wicked hearts wanted to do, but they failed to accomplish their
purpose, and they accomplished God's. I love that. I love how God brings good out
of evil. You know, aren't we thankful?
Aren't we? God's will is always done. His people, the sacrifice for
their sins, The death's been paid and we're thankful. God's revealed his son to your
heart. You're thankful for that salvation,
aren't you? But I'm telling you, our salvation is so much greater
than we realize right now. We're thankful for it. We stand
in awe of it. It's just, it's greater than
our human mind can comprehend it, but it's so much greater
than we realize now. And I'll tell you when we'll
start to get an idea of the greatness of this thing. When we start
to get an idea of the greatness of what God predetermined for
His people is in glory. We're gonna start to get an idea
of the blessing of this thing. All right, here's the fifth thing. Look at it back in our text,
Ephesians 1. God predestinated His people to be His children.
Not just random citizens in his kingdom now, but his children,
his children. Ephesians 1 verse 5, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself. And
he did it according to the good pleasure of his will. Just like
election, I told you that the doctrine, the teaching of election
is not a means. hard doctrine. It's not a restrictive
doctrine that keeps people out. Never. If we think that way and
we preach it that way, we're thinking about it wrong, we're
preaching about it wrong. Election is a loving doctrine. It's the
only way a sinner can be brought into the presence of God. Well,
predestination is the same way. It's a loving doctrine and it
needs to be taught like a loving doctrine. The father predestinated
the people to be made just like his son. And he also predestined
those people to be his children. And the father's love for his
children. A human father's, a human mother's
love for their children. It's so great. You just, you
can't understand it to experience it. You just can't. The father,
loves a people so much he made them his own children. He doesn't
love him as his children, like they're his children. He loves
his children. All of his love is children.
I want to end with this example that might help us understand
what Paul's talking about here. Having predestinated us unto
the adoption of children. I don't know, I reckon that they
have orphanages like they used to have, you know, the places like you see in A&E or
whatever, you know, very uncomfortable, very, very bad places. But, you
know, they used to have these orphanages. You imagine an orphanage
like that, you know, they're feeding the kids wool three meals
a day, you know, they're working them to death, they're dirty,
they're not, you know, well taken care of. They're just keeping
them alive. Nobody's loving these kids. They're in an orphanage.
And one day, here comes a fine young couple. I mean, oh, the
husband. He's finely dressed. He's in
a nice suit. He's a three-piece suit. He got
a chain in his suit going to his pocket watch. Shoes are black
and shiny. He's tall, dark, and handsome.
His wife, oh, she's a beautiful woman. You can just tell, she
looks so kind and sweet. Oh, you can just tell this couple,
they've got love to give to their children. And from the way they're
dressed, they got the means to give to these children. Here
comes this fine couple. Oh, all those kids in that orphanage.
Boy, whatever best clothes they got, they put them on. They wash
their face, they comb their hair, they brush their teeth. Oh, everybody
wants to be adopted by this couple. Just look at it. This looks like
the answer to my dreams, you know. Everybody in that orphanage,
every child, is getting ready to put their best foot forward
for this couple. They want to be adopted by this
couple. Except one teenage boy. I know something about a sullen
teenage boy. I was one. And this sullen teenage
boy, He'd been scarred by being through this procedure too many
times. This is what he knows. Nobody's
going to pick me. They want a cute little baby. Maybe a cute little toddler.
I can't. I can't compete with him. And
he hardly even gets up off his bed or off his chair or something.
He just lays there in whatever clothes. He's laying there reading
old magazines or something. And that couple, they come with
all the children. That orphanage. And you know
who they picked to take home? That Solentini boy. And he thinks
they picked me? They picked him. This is too
good to be true. There's got to be some catch,
doesn't there? He gets in their car and they take him home. He keeps waiting for their shoe
to drop. He keeps waiting, thinking this is too good to be true.
And they pull up this beautiful little home, beautiful little
white picket fence, beautiful home. And he comes in, that house
is all clean and he'd never seen something so clean. And they
said, come here, let me show you your bedroom. He never had
a bedroom to himself. He got a whole bedroom to himself.
Just all the things a teenage boy could want in there. Just
such a nice bed, such a comfortable room, big old closet, and he
opens up the closet and you know what's in there? A whole new
wardrobe. Clothes that just fit him perfectly. Just all the latest
fashions and styles, and they're all clean and pressed. And he's, whew, blessed. And he wasn't wrong, was he? Oh, how blessed that the Father
predestinated people to be made His children. The Father looked
down on all humanity, of all the ones He could pick. He didn't
pick one who's powerful in themselves. He didn't pick one who's beautiful
in themselves. Every one of them He chose was
a sullen teenager who refused to get up and wash his face and
comb his hair. And the Father predetermined
I'm going to make that one my son. I'm going to make that one
my daughter. And he takes him home. He reveals
his son to him, and in him. And he gives that child a home.
He tells him, I've gone to a fairer place than you. He gives him
a new wardrobe. And it fits him perfect. It's
the righteousness of his son. Oh, how blessed. How blessed
it is. The father would choose sinful
men and women like we are and make us his children. I hope
that would be a blessing to you. Hope that helps us understand
something of the blessing of predestination.