In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of understanding and knowing God in order to truly worship Him. He explains that many Christians lack worship because they lack knowledge of God. The preacher then discusses the concept of predestination and how God works to make believers like Christ. He highlights that this process is initiated by God's will and is accomplished through the good pleasure of His will. The sermon concludes with a reading from Ephesians 1:1-6, emphasizing the blessings and adoption that believers have received through Christ.

Mr. Ephesians, chapter one. We are these days in a very mountaintop revelation. This marvelous first portion of Ephesians, the first chapter. There was a time, years gone by, when I really began the special to the Ephesians was the 15th verse, because I found it just a little bit difficult to understand the first 14 verses. But in the passing of the years, when one's heart and mind and spirit yearns and longs to understand him, to know him, we find that you're being drawn over and over again to this rich portion. And we're there, and we've been there, and probably will continue here for some time, until I trust that it is embossed upon your mind. And when you come to these 14 verses, you're going to find that your heart is bowed in wonder, love, and awe. And you will worship him, the altogether worthy one. May I begin reading with the first verse. 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, 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 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, through 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. 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 hath purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, 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 he also trusted. After that you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after that you believed you were sealed with that holy spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession under the praise of his glory. Now, dear friends, from verse 3 to verse 14 is one sentence, according to the way it's been punctuated by the King James translators. In the Greek they didn't even give you the assistance of colons or semicolons or commas or periods, they simply put it there and you had to, they assumed that you would seek to know the thought. We have sought to know the thought. He tells us that he's blessed us with all spiritual blessing, and he tells us that these are in the heavenlies, that they haven't had a beginning, they didn't start sometime when we came on the scene, but from eternity past, before the foundation of the world, he blessed us with all spiritual blessings. And it behooves us to find out what these spiritual blessings are. The first is in the fourth verse. He has chosen us in him, in Christ, before the foundation of the world. Now this has been called by the theologians election. The doctrine of election has to do with choosing, has to do with a culling or selecting, and this is what he has done. He's chosen in him before the foundation of the world. And the fruit of this choosing, or if you will, the proof of this choosing, is that we are to be holy and without blame before him in love. Immediately contradicting any assumptions that might be made by unthinking people who would say that they're chosen in Christ and content to live in sin. There's a complete contradiction. It isn't, it just can't be put that way because it's an election on the holiness. And therefore the evidence that one is part of that company is that the purpose of their heart is to be holy. That is to think as God thinks about everything in which God has uttered his thought. And to live as God would have one live in every area of life. This is holiness. To think as God thinks, to know his will and the purpose to do it. And to do it by his grace and by his spirit in continuous increase of achievement. And there is two aspects. There's that immediate holiness which is yours when you believe in Christ. And then there is that which is wrought in you by the Holy Spirit. Implementing the purpose he's given you to please Christ. So that has to do with election. And so the theme this morning on understanding predestination. An attempt is made on my part to deal with that which has been confusing across the centuries. And to a great many people. In fact I suppose that there's a great deal more than I know that I'm going to know. Perhaps I should make a date with you now to come back in 10 years. And we'll see what further the Lord has to say on this tremendously important theme. But let it be before us at this time. That we're trying to understand the difference between election and predestination. You say well what's the difference? I don't want to get in a theological haggle on Sunday morning. Well my dear, you aren't going to. Because the amazing thing about what we've seen in the fourth verse. Is that it stirs our hearts to worship. This is the result of understanding that before the foundation of the world. You were chosen in him. And you begin to contemplate this. Your heart is going to be bowed and bent. And you're going to simply let it overflow with the worship. And the love and the delight of your heart. You understand of course that you only worship God to the degree to which you know him. And the reason why in so many Christians there is so little worship. Is because there's so much ignorance. Him whom ye ignorantly worship declare we unto you. Could not only be stated of the people that lived in Greece in the time of Paul. But it might be stated today. Generally speaking folk are only interested in getting out of God. What they really need until God brings them to the place. Where our needs aren't nearly as important as once we thought they were. And then it isn't so much what we can get from the Lord. But what we can give to the Lord. And the only thing that you can offer to God that he wants that you have. Is the worship and the adoration and the love of your heart and life. That's all you need. That's all you have that he needs or that he seeks. For God seeketh such to worship him. The measure to which you are given to worship. Is in direct proportion to your knowledge of him. I said last Sunday evening in dealing with this. This is the very reason why Dr. Dozer felt. That he would live until he'd completed the work. The knowledge of the holy. Because he felt our generation desperately needed. To have someone speak to it in its own terms. In its own parlance concerning the nature of God. If you haven't read the knowledge of the holy. Then it's required reading for this next week. And just as long as you can stay with it. Until it becomes more than just a book. But it becomes the passion of your heart to know him. Well that's what we're doing now. We're endeavoring to know him. And we find that he has chosen us in him. Before the foundation of the world that we should be holy. And without blame before him in love election if you please. But then the next verse says having predestinated us. Under the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself. I say many have confused the two. And have used them interchangeably. Thinking that election and predestination were the same word. Or had reference to the same act on the part of God. And they do not in my estimation. The election is choosing. But the word predestined as we have it here. Comes from a root idea of to mark. By definition or by delineation. To set a mark. To set a boundary. And or to fix if you please a goal. Not so much the choosing of the ones that are to be saved. Rather what is going to happen to the people that he has chosen. It has to do then with destination. Not selection. If you get that thought in mind at the moment. Then you're going to understand that his concern. Was not only the ones that would savingly receive his son. But he was concerned also about what he would do for them. And what he would do to them. You ought to be concerned about that. You ought to ask yourself two questions. Am I one of his? And you answer that best by examining your heart. And your state of consciousness. We've said the three best evidences that you're born of God. Are first a hatred of sin. And conversely a desire for holiness. And secondly a longing to know God. To understand him and to have fellowship with him. And thirdly a longing that others should come to know the Lord. And I think these three are are the best evidences. That you're truly a child of God. A hatred of sin. A hunger for God. And a heart of compassion for the lost. You ought to see that. You ought to lay hold of that. And you ought to let it lay hold of you. Is this true in your life? Do you truly hate sin? Is it your purpose to deal with anything that grieves God? His name is holy. He has a holy bible. He's given us revelation of himself. And a holy son Jesus. He's the holy father. And he's given to us the holy spirit to make us holy. And we're to be holy as he is holy. And holiness is the theme of this book. And we've defined holiness as this. On your part at least. Not his own essential holiness. But holiness on your part is to know the will of God. And to do it. To know it and to do it. How can you know it? By his book. By his spirit. How can you do it? By the determination of your own will. For this is not someplace where you're passive. But where every faculty that you possess is fixed and set. In the determination to please God. And that purpose of your heart implemented by the presence and power of the lord Jesus Christ. For the holy spirit. So this is an election unto holiness and predestination unto sonship. We could summarize it that way. He's chosen you to be holy. He's predestined you to be conformed to the image of his son. This is the end to which we are predestined. And we would mark that as the first division of thought. The end to which we are predestined. You will have to turn to Romans chapter 8 verses 28 and 29. If you are to understand that you are actually predestined. For there are only two places in the word of God. That this word predestination or predestined to you. Romans 8 and Ephesians 1. We find in Ephesians 1 11 which was read that he's predestined us. Uh being predestined according to the purpose of him. Who works all things after the counsel of his own will. Predestination was made on the basis of God's omniscience and his omnipotence. He knows everything and he chooses all that which is going to be to his purpose. What is his purpose? We are now answering the question rising out of the text. What is the end to which we are predestined? And I find it here in verses 28 and 29. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God. To them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow he also did predestinate. To be conformed to the image of his son. That he might be the firstborn among many brethren. You must understand this verse. If you're to understand what God intended to accomplish by the death of Christ. And why God used the means that he did in providing your salvation. For instance if all God was concerned about doing was to save you from the penalty of sin. There would have been legally no reason why. The spear in the hands of the soldiers that apprehended him there in the garden of Gethsemane. Might not have been thrust have pierced his heart. And his blood have flowed his life have been poured out. And he died there in the garden and have escaped all the agony of the ensuing hours. If it blood that makes atonement for the soul with the shedding of blood. There's the remission of sins without it no remission. But God's purpose was not only to save you from the penalty of your sin. But he also wanted to save you from the curse of the law. And the only way that he could redeem you from the curse of the law. Was for him to be made a curse for us. And curse it is everyone that hangeth on a tree. And therefore it was necessary for the Lord Jesus. To experience that in measure the curse. The curse was the poor taste of the penalty. And thus it was necessary for the Lord Jesus. To be suffered in his body. To be bruised to be beaten to go through those hours of agony. In preparation for or in anticipation of his death. If God had only wanted to save you from the penalty of your sin. He could have died in the garden. But had he died in the garden. He couldn't have redeemed you from the curse of the law. The penalty yes but not the curse. And consequently he was willing to endure the agony of the cross. That he might redeem you from the penalty of the law. And the curse of the law by the same token. The Lord Jesus Christ not only died for you. But he died as you. Why he not only wanted to save you from the penalty of what you have done. But he wanted to save you from what you were. He became what you were. So that you could become what he is. And God working all things after the counsel of his own will. Had the Lord Jesus in those days and hours of his dying agony. Accomplish everything that was necessary. For this purpose. Well what is his purpose? To save us from hell. Yes that's a byproduct. A marvelous product. And as the nearer we get to home. The more we're aware of how glorious it is. But salvation from hell was not his only reason. He wanted to save you from sin. He not only wanted to save you from hell and from sin. But he wanted to give you a body like unto his own body of glory. He not only wanted to do all of this. But during the days of time that were to remain. He wanted you to be continually transformed into his image and into his likeness. Therefore he's worked all things after the counsel of his own will. And he's predestinated us in accord with what he was prepared to do. Now the point. What was he intending to do? The answer. He was intending to have you just like Jesus Christ. There it is in the 29th verse. For whom he did foreknow. He did predestinate. This is the boundary. This is the mark. This is the destination. He predestinated you to be conformed to the image of his son. Now let that grip you. Let that take hold of your mind for these moments. The Lord Jesus didn't just die to save you from hell and from the penalty of sin. He died in order that he might have you conformed to his image. Now how did he do it? Well we'll only touch on it by saying that in 2nd Corinthians 5 in the last verse it says that he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin. That we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Or put it this way. The Lord Jesus Christ became what you were so that you could become what he is. Now the end therefore of God's grace is to be conformed to the image of his son. That's one aspect of it. To be like the Lord Jesus. Now if you'll go to Ephesians 1 5 to our text. You'll find that he has predestinated us not only to be conformed to the image of his son. But he has predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself. He's not only going to make us in the image and likeness of grace. But he's going to place us in the family. And give to us all of the privileges that pertain to the members of the family. We shall be joint heirs with Christ and share all that he has. Election is grace. Predestination is the glory of grace. In grace he chooses. In his glory of his grace he predestines us to be adopted into his family as children. How marvelous that he would have forgiven us. And then made some little sub-basement you know. As they have in these enormous skyscrapers. Where he could have confined the pardoned and the forgiven. And we should have had that been the case throughout the endless ages of eternity. Let our praise rise up the elevator shaft. Where the angels were gathered in the presence of the Lord. Singing praise because we were there in the third basement. Oh no this wasn't this wasn't the glory of his grace. The glory of his grace was not only that he forgive us. But that he forget. And that he remember our sins against us no more forever. And that he places in his family as children. And he make us to be heirs together of all that he's provided for his son. This is predestination. Predestined to the adoption of son. Predestined to be conformed to the image of his son. Predestined to be in the family sharing all that the father has provided for the son. And I think that when I when that happens I don't want to see anybody. When I my mind lays hold of this I don't want to talk to anyone. I want to get alone in the closet and bow my head down between my knees. And and let my heart flow with love and adoration and worship to God. Who could be so gracious to such an unworthy wretch as I. Pardoned I could understand possibly forgiven. But chosen in him before the foundation of the world. And predestined to be like Jesus. So utterly unlike him in every facet of character and nature. And predestined to be the adoption of sons. My friend when you dwell upon salvation all you can do is join your heart with a songwriter who cried amazing grace. How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. That's what God intends this word of his to do. To move our hearts that way. That we should be filled with awe and filled with love to him. But now let's notice closely. Not the end of to which we are predestined is clear I believe in your mind. To be like your son and to be placed in his family as a son. But what's the cause of this? Why what's the cause? The question might be is there something in me that's caused him. Does the instrumental cause of this glory of his grace lay in what I am? And the answer to that is an unqualified no. He isn't doing this because of what you are. But he tells us here in the text having predestinated us under the adoption of children by Jesus Christ. By Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ is the cause. As eternal son he wanted brethren. As eternal bridegroom he wanted a bride. And the father to please the son has chosen. The father to please the son is predestined. The father to please the son has done everything necessary to bring it to fulfillment. And so it's all by Jesus Christ. All on account of Christ. Not on account of what is in you. Now you say well I just can't believe that I'm ever going to be like Jesus. I just can't possibly believe that I'm ever going to be in that sense in his presence. As a son joined here with grace. Because I know me. Just about the time that you think you don't know you. God allows circumstances to crowd up on you and you get a good glimpse of yourself again. Turn away utterly utterly nauseated filled with loathing. Because I've seen me. And all when you see you the whole the whole heavens crowd in around you. And they become as brass. And how could God ever have any interest as person as evil. All sin is mine. Then you realize that the cause wasn't in what you are. But it's in Christ. And he proposed to make us all that were to be. He was the one that for whom the father did this. Now the principle or the efficient cause of this is the good pleasure of his will. Notice it. Having predestinated us under the adoption of Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will. How marvelous that is to the person that's been in bondage. You know he said if I can pray 10 times a day. And if I can give and if I can make this trip. And if I if I can work. And if I die all of a sudden he says but I can't. Well what am I going to do. He hears the good pleasure of his will. The good pleasure of God. But what was the good pleasure of his will. That the Lord Jesus Christ should come by the virgin birth. That he should live a sinless life. And that he should die for you. And that you'll come bringing your hopelessness. You'll come bringing your sin. You come bringing your self-loathing. You come in your bankruptcy. A broken spirit. And he provides everything else. You bring your need and he supplies everything else. Well this is the good pleasure of his will. That it should be by grace and not by works. It should be a good pleasure of his will. That it should be to the undeserving and not to the deserving. This is the good pleasure of his will. That it should be through the Lord Jesus Christ. And not through rite or ritual or ceremony. And he's doing all of this according to the good pleasure of his will. You see here the trinity is at work. God is involved. Not just the Lord Jesus. But the father purpose. Oh don't ever let your heart lose sight of this. The father purposed all this before the foundation of the world. In the fullness of time the son provided what the father had purposed. And now the Holy Spirit is waiting to work in you. All that the father purposed and all that the son provided. That's what he wants us to understand. He's blessed us with all spiritual blessing. You're going to say well how will I ever be like Jesus? I've tried so hard. I've worked so hard. But it's according to the good pleasure of his will. Notice the cause. The instrumental cause is Jesus Christ. The efficient cause is his will, his power. And the final cause or the reason. Notice that in the sixth verse. To the praise of the glory of his grace. We're so inclined to say he's doing all this for me. Well he's doing all this for you. But he's not doing it for you. You are the one who receives it. But you're not the reason why it's being received. It's for the glory of his grace. For the praise of the glory of his grace. And he's doing it for the Lord Jesus Christ. He's doing it for his lovely son. Now what does this mean to you? Well it means that there ought to come into your heart a passionate longing to be like Christ for his son. For whom the father orders all things. It means that in your witnessing. You ought to be doing everything that God will enable you and guide you to do. Not simply for the sake of poor sinners. Oh for their sake. But not primarily. But for the son's sake. I told you how I went to Africa so many years ago. Now I hardly like to remember they've gone so fast. But I really went to improve on the justice of God. I didn't think sinners should go to hell without a chance to be saved. And when I got there and found how that they deserved hell. It changed everything. I wanted to come home frankly. And then I remember his saying to me yes. Will not the judge of all the earth do right? These people do deserve to be lost. But I died for them. You're not here for their sake. You're here for my sake. I was meeting with a group of Spanish young people over and down the lower east side yesterday. And speaking to them. And we were talking about this very very thing. Talking about the claims of Christ. And the theme was that whose disciple are you? And they were saying well if you present this on his terms. There won't be that so many that come. And one of the young people said yes. But so many that have come haven't amounted to anything. Maybe we better start to putting it on his terms. And we then I heard them see and say. We go out and we witness. And we present God's terms. And we present the message. And there are some who will come. The father knows who they are. With a city like New York trying to touch everybody on the shoulder would be impossible. To witness effectively would be utterly impossible. What are you going to do? Well you begin to realize that the father has planned to give some people to the Lord Jesus. They're the reward of his suffering. And that he's planned to use you. And all you have to do is be available and be ready and be sensitive. And he will lead you to the ones that are there. And you're not going to them primarily for their sake. But for his sake. For his sake. For whom? For whom? That's what you see in the text. He's predestinated us under the adoption of sons by Jesus Christ. For whom? And when you once see that it is for him. That it is for him. Not just for the sinner. It changes everything. So we've seen two things. The end is to be like Christ and be placed in his family as sons. The cause isn't in us but it's in God. In the Lord Jesus Christ as the instrumental cause making it possible. In the Trinity as the efficient cause. God working. Father purposing. Son provided. And for the Lord Jesus his glory. His praise as the final cause. But notice now in closing. The course that God uses in effecting this predestination. What's he going to do? How's he going to make you like Christ? Well let's go back to Romans 8 28 shall we? These two verses are tied together and it's going to let you know that that God's been busy. Maybe you're not satisfied. Well I know you're not because I'll give you the reason for it in a moment. But I want you to know what's happening. What God is doing to affect this. Now Romans 8 28 can only rightly be understood when you understand God's predestination for you. His purpose for you to be like Christ. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God. To them that are the called according to his purpose. All things work together for good to them that he's called. And his purpose is to make us like Christ. And he's called us to be holy. And because everything that God is doing is doing on the foundation of his omniscience knowing everything. And his omnipotence ordering everything. It's therefore true that in your life from the moment you repented of your sin. And I could prove that it began long before that. But I shan't. But in the moment that you came to Christ in repentance and faith from that moment. God in his sweet sovereign grace has not been allowing anything to touch you. But what it could be to the end of making you like Christ. Oh that's so hard to grasp. Because so many things that happen to us are what we would have chosen at all. And the Lord seems so distant. The sky seems so heavy. And there are times when we become depressed. Terribly depressed. The clouds settle down around us. And we cry out oh wretched man that I am. Has anyone ever been as I am in the strait of difficulty? Has anyone ever suffered as I've suffered? And it's because we are like Peter getting our eyes on the waves. Instead of keeping them fixed looking off onto Jesus. The author and the completer of our faith. But what you discover if you rightly understand God's predestination. God's predestined love in your life is this. That nothing can touch you but what your father allows it to the end of making you like Christ. Now also sometimes we hear people quote this. All things work together for good to them that love God period. My friend if you put a period on there you don't have scripture. You don't have truth. You don't have anything that I know of except something that you tried to make convenient that isn't going to work out that way. Because there isn't a period and that's no place to leave it. We know that all things work together for good to them that love God. To them who are the called according to his purpose for whom he did foreknow he did predestinate. This is why they work together for good. Because God and his sovereignty have said everything that touches you, you, you, you is going to be the end of making you like Christ. Everything, everything, everything. Well now this is the foundation for that verse in first Thessalonians 5 18 in everything give thanks. Because if it's going to make me like Christ then I can say thank you. Circumstances however pleasant or difficult they may be. Personalities however pleasant or unpleasant they may be. Problems however difficult or simple they may be. Death and the preparation for it and the actually passing through the veil. Everything that touches you is a child of God. He has sovereignly ordered must contribute to this end of fulfilling his predestinating purpose for you to make you like Christ. Now if he could, if he couldn't have chosen you before the foundation of the world then he couldn't have predestined you to be conformed to the image of his son and then he couldn't certainly have controlled the circumstances. But since he did choose he can predestine and he can control and he does rule and overrule and he protects you. David knew it. Psalm 17 15 he said no I shall not be satisfied until I awaken your likeness. Deep in the heart of every child of God every person born of his spirit is a longing to be like Christ a passionate desire to be like Christ and a pressure to move in that direction that's going to make us like Christ. When will it happen? When will it happen? Well in writing in first Corinthians 15 Paul said in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump for the trumpet shall sound and the dead in Christ shall rise and we shall see him and we'll be like him and transformed into his image and likeness. There'll come a moment there'll come a moment but it'll be finished. But what about the interim? What about now? We're not concerned about then. We know that when we that time comes then we'll be instantly transformed and the task will be completed. But what about today? May I close with turning you to first John 3 John's beloved letter in which he writes to people that were well on their pilgrimage well toward home. This word ought to comfort your heart. Beloved oh doesn't that have new meaning since you know that he's chosen you before the foundation of the world beloved doesn't that have new meaning since you know that he's predestined you to be conformed to the image of his son and under the adoption of sons and he's working it all after the counsel of his own will. Beloved now are we the sons of God and it doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know that when we he shall appear we shall be like him. All will be finished there but we shall see him as he is. That I've just spoken to from first Corinthians 15 52 but what about this? What about today? What about tomorrow? And everyone that has this hope in him purify himself even as he is pure. The evidence that you have some share in God's grace that you know his grace in bringing you to Christ and the glory of his grace in making you like Christ is that today having this hope this expectation in you you're purposing to purify yourself even as he is pure. Now thus the word leads us on to the place of the closet and worship alone with you. Shall we bow together in prayer? I think you begin to understand now perhaps a little more why Dr. Ironside in his exposition of the Ephesians called it in the heavenlies. Our heavenly father we're such creatures of time and sense we're so often concerned primarily about what we need what we're going to get even from the Lord Jesus. Now we begin to realize a little bit that all that thou has chosen all whom thou has chosen and all that thou has purpose for these whom thou has chosen is to the end that we should be to the praise of the glory of his grace. God and father of our Lord Jesus move upon our hearts today. If there's someone here who does not know him whom to know his life eternal might this be the day when they invite the Lord Jesus in for it's still by invitation to that waiting longing heart that he comes and no one has ever invited him in simplicity and in sincerity and in repentance and faith that he's refused to come so may it be this morning that someone invites him in for those of us who have may we realize that in spite of what the circumstances may show or conditions reveal we're going to be like Jesus for you determined this you predestinated us to be conformed to the image of your son you predestinated us to be the adoption of sons oh God of grace move we pray upon our hearts that having this hope in us we purify ourselves even as he is pure to that end seal the word may worship rise like incense from our wounded and blessed hearts amen let us stand for the benediction bow unto him who is able to keep us from falling and to present us faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy the only wise God our savior be glory and honor majesty and praise now and forever amen