The Bible is with you. You'll
find a Pew Bible there. You're welcome to use it. Ephesians
chapter 1, and I want to begin reading in verse 4 and read through
verse 7. Paul had been talking in verse
3 about the Lord blessing us with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places, in His kingdom. He's blessed us. He puts us in
His kingdom and blesses us. And he says in verse 4, according,
these blessings 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 the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of
his grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved, in
whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of
sins according to the riches of His grace." Now, we come here
today in verse 5 to this word, predestinate. It's written, mentioned
four times in the Scriptures It's mentioned twice in this
chapter, and it's mentioned twice in Romans chapter 8. Of course,
its equivalent is mentioned several times in God's Word. But here
we come to it in verse 5. He hath predestinated us unto
the adoption of children. Now, I would imagine, and well,
I don't have to imagine, I know by experience that if Every religious
person in Newcastle was here this morning and heard me read,
having predestinated us. I could say overwhelmingly the
majority of them would be shocked. They would be surprised because
they have no idea that this word is even in the Bible. I have
talked to some dear souls that have read the Bible all their
life. And you mention this very word,
and they're shocked to think that it was even in there. But
you know, we often use this concept. We hear this used in our society
all the time. We use just a little bit different
term than predestinate. But how often have we heard someone
say something to this effect? I knew old John, when he was
a young kid, was destined to do something great. I knew when
he was a kid, old John was destined to do something great. We call
it destined. The Bible calls it predestined. Predestined. Old John. Old John. People talk about old John being
destined, but one thing that very few people will enter into
and discuss with you, who was it that destined John? It wasn't luck, because we say
he was destined. That means it's fixed. It's for
sure. If old John is destined, then
whatever old John is destined to will come to pass. Who destined
it? Who predestinated it? It wasn't
chance. It wasn't by happenstance. Who
is it that predestinates anything? There's only one who can. To
preordain, predestinate, only God can do that. Only God can
predetermine or predestinate. And here, according to verse
5 in our text, what's God predestinating? He's predestinating something.
Well, in verse 5, it says here that He's predestinated the elect,
His chosen, to be adopted as His children. They're destined
to be adopted. Now, in verse 4, We saw the elect
themselves. And this is the difference between
election and predestination. We sometimes don't distinguish
between these two things, but election has to do with the elect
themselves. That person. God has elected
that person. That's what we've been looking
at. Predestination has to do with the blessing that He predestinated
them to. Here you've chosen these people.
Now what are you going to do with these people? I'm going
to predestinate them to be adopted as my sons. And that's what we're
told here in verse 5. In verse 4, we're told that He
chose us to this end that we should be holy. That's the blessing
we looked at last week. He chosen us to be holy. And
here's another blessing in verse 5. He's predestinated us unto
the adoption of children. Now here's how personal this
is. Let me tell you how personal this is and let me say it to
you like this. Let me give you this example. If you had in your
possession, this cannot be, but let's just say this for the sake
of proof of something. If you had in your possession
the book of life, the Lamb's book of life, with all the elect
names written in that book, and if you had the capacity and you
had the omnipresence to go watch every child be born. When that child left his mother's
womb, you could go there and turn in the book of life, and
you could find that child's name. And you say, this child, this
baby that was just born is destined to be a child of the living God. Now that's how personal that
is. That's how sure and certain that is. God, who separated me from my
mother's womb, and called me by His grace, before I formed
thee in the womb, I knew thee, and I predestinated you to be
my adopted child." Now, when we talk about being a child of
God, the Scripture talks about three ways that you and I are
children of God. Three ways you find this in the
Scripture. The first way we're said to be children of God is
by faith in Jesus Christ. We are all the children of God
by faith in Jesus Christ. I do not hesitate to you this
morning to say to anyone in this building, believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and you shall be a child of God. Believe on the
Lord Jesus and you'll be saved. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and you shall be a child of God. Now some dear brothers, dear
brothers of ours, they've got this argument among themselves,
and Brother Larry's talked about this several times. They're trying
to figure out which comes first, the new birth or faith. And some
say that faith is the fruit of the new birth, and some say that
the new birth is the result of faith. But when you come right
down to the nitty-gritty, You couldn't separate those two views
with a hair on my head. That's how close they are. Those
who believe, they're born of God. And those who are born of
God, they believe. There's never been a believer
who is not born of God. There's never been one who is
born of God that does not believe. I know the dear brother won't
admit it, Larry, but it's just splitting hairs, ain't it? It's
just splitting hairs. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and you're a child of God. That's the way we become children
of God. But He's got to be born again
first. Well, so be it. But I tell you
this, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you'll be a child
of God. That's what the Bible tells us. Whosoever believeth
that Jesus is the Christ, he is born of God. That's a great
compliment. I tell you, it's a source of
great assurance, too, because I believe that Jesus is the Christ,
the Son of God. Don't you believe that? Now,
I know you can't know that apart from Revelation, but if you believe
Him, you're born of God. And secondly, the second way
that we're said to be children of God is by new birth. We're
born of God. As many as received Him, to them
gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe
on His name, which were barned, not of the will of the flesh,
or of blood, or of the will of man, but barned of God. Of His own will begot He us. If God is our Father, it's because
He's begotten us. He's given us a new birth. A
new nature. If we know that God is righteous,
we know that everyone that doeth righteousness is born of God. If you come here this morning,
dear soul, and you've walked through those doors and you were
the non-believer, and you come in here right now and you believe
on the Lord Jesus this instant, you're born of God, then you're
a child of God. But you say, I was just... Yeah,
you're a newborn baby. But you're a child of God, just
as much as me who had been on this way for 33 years. You're
as much a child of God as I am, if you're born of God. And then
thirdly, we're said to be children of God in this way that we find
here in our text this morning, by adoption. Having predestinated
us unto the adoption of sons." Listen to this passage of Scripture.
When the fullness of time was come, God sent forth His Son,
made of a woman, made under the law to redeem them that were
under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. Now, this is the most precious
concept. The commentators tell us the Jews knew nothing about
adoption. If you're going to be a Jew,
you're going to have to be born a Jew. And they tell us that
Greeks knew nothing about adoption, but it was the Romans that came
up with this whole concept of adoption. And of these three
ways that I've told you this morning, faith in Christ and
being born of God, this aspect of being a child of God reaches
my heart. And I better reach your heart
more than these other two. And the reason I say this is
for this. Webster's gives the definition
of adoption like this, the taking and treating of a stranger as
one's own child. Don't you love that? The taking
and treating of a stranger as one's own child. The receiving
as one's own what is new and not natural. Now, we've got that
here in this book. Look over here in chapter 2 of
Ephesians. Look here what he says. That's exactly the way
in which God has made us His children. Look what he says in
verse 12. At that time, You were without
Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers
from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God
in the world." We were strangers. Strangers from God? We were aliens
from God? And yet, in verse 3 of chapter
2, it said also that we were the children of wrath. by nature. We were so contrary to God, but
here our text says that God has adopted us. And you notice as
you read verse 5 and chapter 1 very clearly, it doesn't just
say that He's adopted us into His family, but He's adopted
us, He's predestinated us into the adoption by Jesus Christ
to Himself. Did you notice that? to Himself. In other words, He says, I'm
adopting you as My own child. You're Mine. You're My child. My own dear child. And what this adoption does,
it takes one who was a stranger and treats that one as their
own child. That's the most precious concept,
adoption. It wasn't yours by birth. It wasn't yours by nature.
That child was a stranger. But you found that child and
said, now you're mine. And I'm going to treat you just
like you were mine. And I'm going to give you all
the rights that I would give a true son. That's what adoption
is. If you adopt a son or a daughter,
and you put your name on those papers, You're going to have
a more difficult time disowning that adopted child than you would
a natural child. The law binds you to take care
of that child because you've adopted that child. If the new birth gives us the
nature of a son, then adoption gives us the right of a son. And when the devil comes to you
and he says, you have no right to call God your Father, Look
what a miserable wretch you are. You were born in sin. You lived
in sin. You are miserable. You are wretched.
You are deceived. No, you went too far, Mr. Devil. You went too far. Am I
born in sin? Yes. Am I miserable? Yes. Am I wretched? Yes. But
am I deceived when I address God as my Father? No, I am not
deceived. Yes, I was born contrary to Him. Yes, I was born and lived contrary
to Him. But God in His gracious purpose
has adopted me as His child. And I've got as much right, listen
to this, and I say this with all reverence, I have as much
right to own Him as my Father, as the only begotten Son of God
has Himself. Now that's a statement, ain't
it? But you remember what the Lord Jesus said when He told
His disciples, I send to my God and your God. I send to my Father
and I send to your Father. He has given us as much right
to own Him as our Father as Jesus Christ Himself has to own God
as His Father. He even tells us, because we're
adopted sons, He gives to us the spirit of His Son. Now you adopt a child, but you
can't make him look like you. You can't make him act like you.
But God can. God can. I know Joe and I have
a couple that's our neighbors, and they've adopted two little
Korean kids. And they don't look a thing like
their mom and dad. And that will never change. That will never
change. But when God adopts a heathen
like us, do you know what He does? He not only calls us His
son, but He gives us the spirit of adoption. And what is this
spirit of adoption? Well, it's the Spirit of Christ
Himself. God's Son. Because you're sons, God has
sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts. And what does He say? You remember when the Lord Jesus
was in the garden, and He was praying, Father, if it be Thy
will, let this cut. Remember how He phrased that?
Abba, Father. Abba, Father. The same way He
prays, that's the same way the adopted child prays. Why? Because
we have the Spirit of God's Son. So not only the adoption, God
put your game up for a minute, okay? Thank you. So not only
do we have the spirit of adoption, the adoption rights, but we have
also the spirit of a son, the spirit of adoption. We're heirs
of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. And notice this now,
we come back to our text. We're not children by chance
or by happenstance, not because of some decision God has made
or we have made lately. But why are we adopted child? Why are we? We are. Why are we? God's eternal purpose. God has predestinated us into
the adoption of sons. Go back to my first example about
activity. Go back on in eternity, in the council halls of eternity.
And there you see a name written. Whose name is that? Lord, can
I look on your book of life? Can I see a name written there?
Well, there's Barb Wilson's name. Lord, why did you put Barb Wilson's
name down in your book? I'm going to bless her. You're going to bless Barb Wilson?
Lord! What do you mean you're going
to bless her? How are you going to bless her? I'm going to adopt
her as my child. Oh, what a blessing! If it had
been by chance, if just a few years ago the Lord had decided,
well, I think I'll adopt Barb Wilson, that would have been
mercy enough. But it wasn't a decision God
made lately. And it wasn't by chance. And
it wasn't by decision that Barb made. It was God's purpose to
do it from all eternity. That's the amazing and wonderful
thing about this adoption. Beloved, what manner of love
the Father hath bestowed upon us that He has purpose to make
us His children. That's wonderful. That's wonderful.
What would make God purpose to do such a thing? Why has He done
this? We see here from the text, we
can't deny it. Why has God did this? Well, we're
given three reasons here. Look in chapter 1 and verse 5
and the last portion of it. Here's why God has predestinated
a great host to be adopted as His children. The last portion
of verse 5. According to the good pleasure
of His will. That's all you can attribute
it to. No sense looking in yourself to try to find some reason. You
won't find it there. Why did God choose anybody? Why
did He predestinate the elect to be adopted the good pleasure
of His will? Well, I know of nothing. Right
now at this point in my life, I don't know of anything else
that satisfies my soul more than to know that I'm saved according
to God's will. That means more to me right at
this point in my life than anything else I know of. Nothing else
matters. I'm saved according to His will. If He don't want to save me,
that's His will, that's okay. You say, Bruce, are you just
a fatalist? You just go on and think, no,
I'm not a fatalist. I have cried to God to save me. I have begged Him to save me.
But at the same time, I think I've reached the point, Lord,
not my will, but Yours be done. And then when you find out that
it's His will to save you, oh, what a blessing. I'm saved, and
it's God's will to save me. You know, that's the attitude
of the master, ain't it? They're in the garden. I don't want this
cup. I fear this cup. This cup's got
your wrath in it. I don't want to drink these dregs,
but not my will, but yours be done. Relinquishing oneself to
the will of God. And when you find out that it's
His will to save you, oh my, that's wonderful, that's wonderful.
Let me tell you five or six things quickly about the will of God.
And we find this in the Scripture. The will of God is a mysterious
thing until He reveals it. There in verse 9, having made
known unto us the mystery of His will. The will of God is
a sovereign thing. He does it. The will of God reigns
in heaven and in this world. Daniel wrote and said, He hath
done according to His will in the armies of heaven and among
the inhabitants of this earth. No man can say His hand or say
to Him, what does that? It's a sovereign thing, the will
of God is. And thirdly, it's an active thing. It's a working
thing. Look in verse 11. 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." The will of God is an active thing. He didn't
create everything and just set up there in heaven and just going
to wait to see how everything turns out. God is working. He
is working in society. He is working in His children
to will and to do. He says to His Son, rise. He says to the rain, be on the
earth. He feeds man. He fills hearts
with gladness. He feeds the beast. He sends
the seasons. He raises up nations and pulls
down nations. What is God doing? He's continually
working. And what's the criteria? My will. My will. He's got His hands in
everything. In everything. We just can't
see it. We've got these poor, weak, finite
minds, and we can't see this sovereign hand moving and disposing
and dispensing all events. If we did, we'd get confused
because we can't bring it together. Because He not only works, but
He works in justice, He works in wisdom, He works in goodness,
He works in love and in grace, and we don't have the capacity
of mind to bring all these things together. But He does. His will
is active. And fifthly, His will is a securing
thing. It secures His little children. This is the will of God, the
Master said, that not one of these little children should
perish. Take a little child that believes
on Him. It's not the Father's will that one of them will perish. Well, then one of them won't
perish, because He does according to His will. The will of God
is not only securing things from perishing, but it secures for
the believer a resurrection and eternal life. Listen to this. This is the will of Him that
sent me, that if every one which he hath given me I should lose
nothing, but raise it up again at the last day. That's God's
will. It's a thing that is good in
itself. The will of God is good. I tell
you, if I'm opposed to His will, it's my will that's not good.
God's will is right. He cannot have a will that's
sinful. He cannot have a will that's wrong. His will is good. It's right because He's God.
And we don't have to explain that. It's just so, ain't it?
according to the good pleasure of His will. And He predestinated you to the
adoption according to the good pleasure of His will. It's not
that you had control over God. That's impossible. And He didn't
predestinate you to the adoption because of anything He saw in
you. You look at yourself and you can't find any rhyme or reason
why God would predestinate you. But there is a good reason He
did. And you know what it is? The good pleasure of His will.
That's reason enough, ain't it? That's cause enough. There has
to be a cause. Well, this is His cause. The
will of God. That's the first reason that
He did it. according to the good pleasure of His will. Secondly,
here's the second reason that He did it, and it's found in
verse 6. Look at this. Here's why He predestinated them
to the adoption. To the praise of the glory of
His grace. That's why He did it. I don't
know how men could sufficiently or begin to praise God if they
don't understand predestination. At least a degree of it. If we
believe that God saved us by accident, how can we praise Him
for that? When we begin to see that He
saved us on purpose, oh, that's when our hearts begin to melt
before Him and worship to the praise of the glory of His grace. It excites within us thanksgiving
and adoration I'm not preaching this to you this morning to stir
up opposition. I'm not saying this to make you
angry. God forbid that I get up here
and say, boy, I'm going to load their wagons today. I'm going
to make them mad today. This is not calculated to stir
up opposition against God. This is calculated to produce
within us praise. in thanksgiving and adoration
to God. This is grace for the guilty.
This is medicine for the sick. This is strength for the weak. Everything that is needed is
found in this for a poor, miserable sinner. And all it stirs up praise
and adoration to the Lord. Beauty for ashes. the garment
of praise for the garments of the Spirit of Heaven. This precious truth that God
has predestinated a great number to the adoption of children is
not to stir up opposition or anger or ill will or despair,
but is to stir up praise and worship and hope and hope Is
there such grace that would reach down through time and set itself
upon the most unworthy objects? Is there grace in the heart of
God for that? Then I may be one of them. Maybe
He set His grace upon me. I'm surely an object of scorn
to myself. I don't find anything in myself
worthy. I'm wretched and miserable, but His grace has looked down
through me, set itself upon such people. Then maybe me. Oh, we praise Him. We adore Him. It's grace. It's grace. And thirdly, and lastly, is this. God has done it, first of all,
simply because it's the good pleasure of His will. Secondly,
to excite in our hearts praise to Him for His grace. And thirdly,
and lastly, is this, and you find it there in the last portion
of verse 6, He's done it to get His Beloved a great name. He's
made us accepted in the Beloved. That simply means He's poured
out all these blessings, all this grace, all this mercy, He's
poured out it on us through Jesus Christ. You and I can't read the Bible
without seeing this is a book concerning Jesus Christ, the
Son of God. No matter where you look, there He is. He just jumps
out at you. He's everywhere. And when you
and I come here, especially to this first chapter of the book
of Ephesians, you see Christ all through it. All He talks
about in Christ, and from Christ, and by Christ. It just reveals
His person It makes known His merits, His love, His mercy,
His goodness, His faithfulness. God has gotten His Son a great
name. You read beginning in verse 1,
and read always especially down through verse 11, and you'll
see that all of these things, God has put them in. the Lord
Jesus Christ. Everything from choosing us in
Christ to this inheritance that we have in Christ. It's all because
of Him, and through Him, and in Him. And then we come down
here to verse 12 and verse 13, and what the Holy Spirit does,
He brings the elect from all nations, Jews or Gentiles, In
all generations, He brings them to put all their trust and their
hope in Jesus Christ. Look what He says in verse 12
and verse 13. That we should be to the praise
of His glory who first trusted in Christ. Well, the Jews trusted
Him first. And then the apostles, they trusted
Him. And look what he says to the Gentiles, 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. You know the first
evidence that God has predestinated you to be adopted. You know the
first evidence of that. You hear of Christ and you trust
Him. That's the first evidence. No
sense you racking your brain trying to figure out if God's
chosen you. Am I one that He's predestinated? The only way you
can know, the first way you can know, are you trusting Christ? Have you heard of Him? Have you
given yourself up to Him to be saved by Him? And when I talk about trusting
Him, I'm not talking about, and I said this last week, I'm not
talking about you walking an aisle. I'm not talking about
you repeating the sinner's prayer. I'm not talking about you deciding
for Christ. I'm talking about you putting
all the trust of your heart in Him. Giving yourself up, lock,
stock and barrel, to the Lord Jesus to be saved by Him. We've
got souls. We've got souls that we're going
to lose if we don't trust them to Christ. We've got sins that
God's going to charge us with if the blood of Christ don't
sweep them away. We're facing death, we're facing eternity,
we're facing the judgment of God. When we talk about trusting Christ,
it's vital that you trust Him. If you don't trust the Lord Jesus
Christ, you'll be lost forever. If you don't get along somewhere
just between you and God, and you don't approach to Him through
Jesus Christ, and find yourself accepted in Christ, complete
in Him, then you'll perish at last. That's how important this
is, to hear of Christ and give yourself up to be saved by Him. Everything that I have been saying
to you this morning is true. But if you are here and you are
lost, there is no sense concerning yourself as to whether you are
one of them or not. Your main concern is this, that
God has sent His Son, the Lord Jesus in great love gave His
life upon the cross. God exalted Him from the dead.
He is seated there at the right hand of God. Go to Him and give
yourself up to Him. Trust Him with all your heart.
Give your soul to Him to be saved. And then you can say, Pastor,
I'm one of them. I'm one of them. Now I can trace
my salvation. I can trace my adoption all the
way back to God in eternity. Then you can believe it so. Trust
Him. I heard a politician say the
other day, He said, you know, we're all God's children. And
he was including everybody, without exception. But you know, if you're
not born again, you're not a child of God. If you don't believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ as we've been talking about it, you're not a child
of God. And if He's not predestinated
you unto the adoption, you'll never be a child of God. That's
how serious this is. That's how serious we make sure
that He's done it. That's why it's detrimental if
I go to Christ and give myself up to Him to be saved. God bless
His Word.