Bible Reading: Ephesians 1:1-14 (Part 1)

And in His sovereign counsel, Sing eternal thoughts of love to me, Eternal thoughts of love to me. Now, as most are aware, the reading this morning is in Ephesians chapter 1. I'll ask you to turn to that, Ephesians chapter 1. As our brother Corey is already in his opening welcome and his remarks, reminded us the need of keeping up our voices. And that would include myself, because I am a speaker of a habit of dropping it and people don't hear.

There's nothing more frustrating in the Bible reading than when people can't hear. Now, we fail to do that if you somehow would just raise your hand. That means you're not going to be asking a question.

He can ask a question, that's fine. But if you're not hearing, please somehow let us know you're not hearing, for the sake of repeating it for whatever it might be. And then brethren, to my immediate left and right, I am going to ask them to, even though they may think they are shouting in my ear, to keep their voices up, because that's quite often what happens.

And I think Al will get over his nervousness here, and he'll keep his voice up. So we'll be all right with that. And our brother Corey mentioned in his opening remarks about the many levels of this building.

And I'm going to remind you of many levels of this Bible reading. And we're going to keep everybody on one level. So if you get a little too deep, I'm going to bring you up.

If you get up there too high, I'm going to bring you down. We're going to be maybe on different streets at times, but we're going to be in the same community, okay? So just to let you know where we're going. And I'm going to also ask these brethren to not be too hard on me this morning.

For the simple reason that I really didn't ask for this job. I was good at it. I didn't fish for it.

I didn't write and say, where's your Bible and who's taking it? I was asked to take the reading, and I was invited to the conference, and I appreciate it. They've invited me before the privilege of being here. I'm Brother Scott McLeod, and I certainly appreciate the opportunity to be with you for your conference.

A real privilege. And by that, I don't mean that I'm not thankful to the brethren for considering me when it comes to the opening of it. But just so you understand.

And with that, I will start. I'm going to read Ephesians chapter 1, verse 1. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God to the saints, which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. Grace be to you and peace from God, our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Blessed be the God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the 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 the 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. 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 and which are on earth, even in him.

In whom also we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him, who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. That we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ, in whom ye also trusted after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after that ye believed ye were sealed with that bullish spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession under the praise of his glory. And that doxology really ends there and then verse 15 says wherefore, and I will just read the remaining verses though they are not really before me, they may get into them some, we'll just leave that.

Verse 15 says wherefore, in other words in view of that, I also after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and love unto all saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of him. The eyes of your understanding being enlightened that you may know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us were to believe according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places. Far above all principality, power, might, dominion, and every name that is named not only in this world and hath put all things under his feet and gave him to be head over all things to the church which is the body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all.

Now, just I will try to keep the opening as brief as I can because I have to admit I'm a little severe sometimes on long openings. Another thing in the reading, you know, it's not a sermon I'm asking, well, I'm catching my breath, brethren, to fill in. It's a Bible reading.

I really have written ten rules for good readings. I've never had the courage to send them to anybody. I think I sent Scott a copy maybe, but that was it.

But there are rules for good readings, so we're going to try and abide by that this morning, which the brethren do, of course, in other readings. Along with the Colossians, Philippians, and Philemon, Ephesians is one of the so-called prison epistles. I think that's likely known to all.

Which imprisonment maybe has been questioned, but I think likely was the first given to us written about A.D. 60. You know, Ephesus was not founded really until after the Galatian church and the European churches, filled by Thessalonica and, of course, Corinth. Now, the people were there.

Many of them were slaves. Some of them were traders. They were business people.

Some of them were doctors. Some of them were very learned. So there was quite a multiplicity of levels of which the people are really being addressed.

We sometimes might not think that when we think of the language and the structure of the epistle itself, but they were that. These are truths that they were expected, of course, to enjoy as they would read this. Now, I have not passed out or pre-printed an outline of the reading as such, likely for one of two reasons.

One is that after verse number 3, it is a doxology that takes us where the brethren want us to go as far in this reading as verse 14. So I think it was most profitable to just go verse by verse by verse. And secondly, I think I often say, outlines are wonderful things, but as soon as I sit down, that's usually the first thing to get the permanent wave is the outline.

It's gone. We all just carry on. There's nothing wrong with that.

Yeah, printed outlines sometimes are helpful for people just to know where we're going. However, I think most understand, very simply, it's been pointed out that the Ephesian epistle is in two divisions. Chapters 1 to chapter 3, of course, it is doctrinal.

In chapter 4 to chapter 6, it is practical. Chapter 1 to chapter 3, it's the believer's wealth. And indeed it is that.

When we come to chapter 4 to chapter 6, it is the believer's walk. It's interesting, but the key to both of these sections are the first verses that you read right here in chapter 1, and again the first verses that you will read in chapter 4. If I was to give a very simple, simple, my own little division of the chapter, I would see with the salutation what you've got here is really the presentation of persons. And we'll notice that.

We'll notice how he addresses these Ephesian believers in the language that he uses. Verses 4 to 14, we have praise for possessions. What we have come into the good of.

Inheritance. The things that we enjoy. They are things that we enjoy relative to our state and our standing in Christ.

And of course, as you know, from verses 15 to 23, there's a prayer for perception. It is likely the longest outflowing of praise in form of a doxology that you have of the apostles' writings anywhere are in these verses that we will consider this morning. You know, he looks at it as a body, as a building, as a bride.

He looks first at a body that cannot be dismembered. He looks at it in its entirety. He's considering what we look at as the church in its wide aspect.

I know some don't like the term universal. It doesn't really bother me. But the church in its widest aspect.

Now, there's times, of course, when he's keeping in mind who he's writing to. He's writing to Ephesian believers and has in mind likely that local company. But in the broad aspect of the widest aspect of the epistle, he is thinking, of course, of the church which is his body.

He considers it not only as a body that cannot be dismembered, but a building, he says, that cannot be destroyed. He says this building cannot be destroyed. Just as the body is something that is living, this building is something that is lasting.

And then, of course, he considers, if we were to go to chapter 5, he's thinking of a bride that cannot be divorced. And that is something that is loving. The Ephesian epistle answers really to Joshua.

Our blessings and our battles are in the heavenly, in a sense. And it is the thought of entering into the good of the possession of the land that God had given to his people. We'll notice in this chapter, verses 5, 9, and 11.

In verse 5, the pleasure of his will. Verse 9, the mystery of his will. And verse 11, the counsel of his will.

And when we get to those verses, we'll maybe consider just what he has in mind when he prefaces them by those different expressions. You know, there's so much more I guess I really could give you in the way of opening. But I think that that's the place I think we need to keep going here, because it will take our time.

I spoke to the brethren, and I think it is a good idea, blanketly, at about 15 minutes past the hour, 11.15, I will give out a hymn, a short hymn. And we'll stand, just to keep everybody's circulation going good. And we rest this.

And if you fall asleep, we will wake you up and tell you that we're singing a hymn. That'll likely be somewhere around 11.15. So, with those few remarks, and like I say, there's much else we could go into, but I don't want to make the opening long. We'll commence.

And like I say, we appreciate and would encourage the participation of brethren here this morning. And we would be glad to ask a form of a question or contribute to the reading. I didn't go by a Cabello store this morning.

If I had, I likely would have picked me up a canoe with some paddles, that if this thing got, I could have it over my head, I could make my way to shore, where it is much safer, much drier. But we're not really too concerned about that. But we will start then in verse number one.

Now, if somebody has something they would like to say as to the overall of the epistle, that's fine. It's interesting enough, brother, a relationship between Romans and this epistle, isn't it? Both of them emphasizing God's work on behalf of man and what is for God's glory. I would think that in Romans that the emphasis is the grace of God and the gospel reaching man in his guilt and justifying him, delivering him, placing him before God in acceptability.

Here in this epistle, it's God and his grace and purpose reaching man in his deadness, his inability, and bringing him into the place of acceptability in Christ and giving him life. And of course, both are unfolding to us the purposes of God, being worked out by the power of God and ultimately for the pleasure of God. So that it's centered on his purpose and what is for his pleasure and to which we've been brought into by means of blessing.

That's very helpful, brother Joel. And I'm glad you mentioned that. Ultimately, with all the blessings that we have and that we can enjoy, it is first to his pleasure.

And when it is to his pleasure, his delight, then our enjoyment soon follows from that. Just an introductory comment. I think it's interesting, as you said, brother, the book of Ephesians is taken up with God, the body of Christ worldwide, every believer from Pentecost up until rapture.

And of course, as you go through the epistle of the Hebrew Ephesians, you're going to find that it's the building, the habitation of God. So you think of what was in the city of Ephesus, the temple to Diana. It was over 200 years in building.

You think of the architecture and all that sort of stuff. And it was one of the seven wonders of the world. Lift your voice up.

One of the seven wonders of the world. Dramatic. And people came from all over to see this temple.

Now you think of people that were saved out of that system. What do they have? Well, he starts to lay out God's building. Forget about the architecture and the design of this earthly temple.

It will never last. You get occupied with this. God's building is going to be eternal.

So I think the contrast is very interesting. Very good. Thanks.

To add to that too, Scott, back in Acts 19 when there was the uproar in Ephesus, the town clerk reminded them that they had the goddess Diana, and the image had fallen from Jupiter. So they had some consciousness of things beyond them. But this epistle and what we're going to be looking at is that every Christian is blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenless, in the heavenly places.

So what the believers in Ephesus were being immediately reminded of is they had something far exceeding anything that that city had been absorbed with before. In relation to the significance of the church being looked upon in the big aspect, the universal aspect, that is something really that only God can see, isn't it? I mean, it has never yet been together in one place at one time. It is a concept that's set out in the word of God, and the first time that we will all be together is at the moment of the rapture.

So this is God's view of it that we're looking at in Ephesus. Very good. Just on a very practical note, and I appreciate that, Brother William, yet the whole church being together at one time, you know, you think of it, unless it is maybe a smaller assembly with six or eight believers, and of course our thinking is, well, that has to count, so everybody has to be there.

But how few times, and I only speak from home, and it is no fault of necessarily the believers, but how few times does that local church come together, as was expected from first Corinthians, with all, and I speak from the local sense, all the churches gathered together. Okay? I mean, I'm thinking of Miriam, I'm thinking of Michigan, different places here. The whole church, isn't it lovely? I think very few times, but I watched this particularly when the whole church had come together.

Everybody was there. Nobody's working, nobody's sick, and they were there. Now we have people in their homes that can't make it, same as back home, but it's something nice about that.

I appreciate that. Brother Slaybaugh, did you have something at this point? I was noticing that we have the role of the Father, the role of the Son, and the role of the Spirit here, chosen by the Father, redeemed by the Son, and sealed by the Spirit. Very good.

I was going to just mention something about the will of God. Paul being an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and I'm sure you had something of that relative to the fact that it wasn't his own choosing. That's right.

Marvelous grace of God to this man, and bringing him where he was and to what he was going to do. Right, so what Brother Al is telling us is that the will of God, Paul mentions he can now see that in his own experience. Now here's something future in their experience that will be attributed not to their will, but to the will of God.

I appreciate that. Paul was an apostle. What is an apostle? That's what we've got you here.

You can give them a nice simple definition of an apostle. I understand it to be a sent one. Paul, a sent one of Jesus Christ through the will of God.

In Acts chapter 9, Ananias was told that he is a chosen vessel unto me. So God had earmarked Paul, if you will, for the work that he had appointed for him to do. The apostle to the Gentiles to take the gospel to the Gentile nation.

Does he not choose all believers and have a purpose for each of us too? I recognize that Paul was a specially chosen to be used of God in a remarkable way. But are we not all chosen? Yes. Yes, I can accept that.

And he goes on to speak of the saints, which are Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus, to the saints. Now, that is not always necessarily a term that is in keeping with our conduct. It is more maybe with our state, our standing.

He addresses the Corinthian church the same way, and we know the behavior there was different, but becoming saints. But he still addresses them here as saints. And then he speaks of the faithful.

And I don't think it's the thought of trust, what was trustworthy, but he's really speaking of their conversion, what you and I have been brought to by God's grace, by God's purposes. We have to speak up a little. Let's project our voices this way.

Okay. Thanks. Speak up as much as we can.

In this section, of course, as you've been saying, as we've been noticing that it emphasizes God's work towards us, it would only be in keeping that he's emphasizing Paul is, of course, that he is an apostle by the will of God, and also that the saints are that because of God's calling. And they're marked by being full of faith. That is not that they're faithful in a sense of a personal.

They should be, of course, faithful. We should be trustworthy. We should be true to the calling.

But it's the thought that they are linked with salvation, and as a result, they are full of faith. They have put their confidence in Christ, and they're brought into that blessing as a result. Very good.

But emphasizing primarily that positional aspect, I believe, as you've been saying. So he's not addressing two different categories of believers in Ephesus. This is the character of every believer.

They are a saint in position and characterized thus by faithful living. So just highlight that one point. Saints.

The religious world around us will try to tell us that once you die, then there's a number of years in the process, and then you're a saint. You become a saint. But the minute you're born again, say, you are a saint.

So don't let anyone ever take that from you. Clear what the Word of God teaches. He's writing to living people here, not dead people.

Very good. We'll move to verse 2. Verse number 2. Now it is interesting that when he begins the epistle, he speaks of grace and then peace. Grace, of course, must first be manifested in the life as a result of conversion, of a result of repentance and faith in Christ.

Following that comes a peace that we can enjoy. But it is interesting when he comes to the end of the epistle, chapter 6, likely the second to last verse, he now reverses that order. He says peace, and he speaks about grace.

So we're on verse number 2. Grace is used, is a word that is used, by the way, 13 times in this epistle alone. 13 times is the word grace. I think that likely, I didn't really look up, I think that likely exceeds any other epistle or book in our Bible.

Grace would be linked with the Gentile believers, I know it's linked with all believers, but in particular with the Gentiles, and peace would be a Jewish connection, Jewish greed, shalom, and so on. So right here in the salutation, Jew and Gentile are addressed. Grace speaks to you, you know, very briefly, when I think of an Old Testament picture, just to allow, if you'll allow this, I think of Mephibosheth, of whom it is said concerning David that he wanted to show the kindness unto him.

But he goes beyond that, he speaks of the kindness of God. And the word that is used there is a similar word to the word grace that is used in our New Testament. Now David was a kind man, but that man, Mephibosheth, needed a kindness that exceeded that of a David.

So he speaks of the kindness of God. The reason God could come out in kindness through David to Mephibosheth, it involved the death of a loved son. Jonathan had died, and as a result of that, David says he wants to show kindness unto the house of Saul.

And that resulted in a message being sent to a man that was an enemy, that had no claim upon David's place, or David's table, or anything. Him receiving that message, obeying it, makes his way, or is taken to David's house, and again falls on his face, acknowledging that he was not worthy, not worthy to even be there, such a dead dog as I am, and so on. But my point is this, before this took place, before Mephibosheth knew anything about it, there was conversation that took place where the king was.

And there were plans that were made there. And the result of those plans were realized, Mephibosheth knowing nothing about it. But it's interesting, David could bring him to that table, and remember, they talk about serving, he could make him a servant, but he could never make him a son.

And so we'll see how the grace of God has exceeded that, in our own experience as we move through the epistle. Now I know that you're going to come up, and it's going to come a little later about the truth of election, whether it was that which is corporate, or that which is individual, and so on, but we'll deal with that when we come to it. But we are on verse number 2, and appreciate any more that... I'd like to suggest, brother, that grace, of course, is being expressed in what God is unfolding to us, the result of His eternal purpose.

As you mentioned in relation to Mephibosheth, and also as we acknowledge in each one of our lives, we don't deserve even the least of what God has begun to bestow upon us. But the word peace here is a word that is the idea of spiritual prosperity. And that would link with what He is telling us, has been given to us, the spiritual blessings.

Every spiritual blessing, not just some, but every possible spiritual blessing, that has brought us the eternal and present spiritual prosperity that we have in our relationship with the Lord Jesus. Very good. The deity of the Lord Jesus is emphasized in verse 2, or at least it's found there, because this comes from God our Father and Lord Jesus Christ.

The very structure of the sentence is indicating the equivalence, in terms of authority, of God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. They are equal. Right.

So that leads him to this verse number 3, where he starts out now with this doxology. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. And you'll notice that the places is a supplied word.

It's in the italics like in most Bibles, so it is in the heavenly. And really places, as I understand, is maybe not in the original. So he ascribes all praise to God and identifies God as even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

So clearly two distinct persons. That's right. There is, even in this state, a resurgence in some places of the idea of a Unitarian God.

Just one person manifested in three different ways. But the Bible clearly teaches three persons in the Godhead. That's right.

Very good. So the word God would emphasize His manhood and the Father would emphasize His sonship. Would you agree with that point? Sure.

Sorry. The word God would emphasize the manhood of the Lord Jesus and then Father would emphasize His deity, His sonship. So you've got both aspects are brought in.

Even if you were to look at the way he uses the terms in verse 1, Jesus Christ, and now in verse 2, the end of verse 2, he moves to Lord Jesus Christ. Well, you've got a resurrected Savior now. And that's where the grace and the peace is coming from.

The book of Hebrews says that the less is blessed of the greater. So how come in verse 3, Paul is saying, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In what sense? I had taken it, Brother William, that he is going back to the God as the originator, if I could use that word, as the one who first brought this about.

Okay? And then we know first as God, then as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who had blessed us. Now, I'm not taking from it the triune God here, as we appreciate it, the absolute deity of the persons mentioned, but I just appreciate it that way. What did you... It's the word eulogy, isn't it? We're familiar with that.

To speak well of. And it is Paul here, by the Spirit of God, speaking well of God the Father, praising Him, if you will. So it's not inappropriate to say in prayer, We bless God.

Right. Very good. We bless God.

It's interesting that in one verse, in verse 3, we have the word blessed in three different forms. The first one is an adjective. God is most blessed.

He is the possessor of every blessing. He is worthy of all blessing. Then He has blessed us.

That's the verb. And that is the result of His outpouring of grace and kindness toward us. We have been blessed.

And then the last one, He's given us every spiritual blessing. That's the noun. So that every facet of blessing is pertaining to Him and His expression of what He has done for us.

And so He brought us into that sphere to enjoy the blessings that come from Himself, who is the blesser, worthy of all blessing. You mentioned in your, McCandless mentioned in his opening comments that the book of Joshua answers, or the book of Ephesians answers to Joshua. Their blessings was all materialistic.

They were physical. Our blessings, and in a sense, if Ephesians chapter 1 doesn't make me worship, I don't know what will. Amen.

That's right. Very good. I appreciate that Brother Al, and that is true.

With the nation, with Israel, their blessings were earthly. They were tangible. Now that does not mean they did not have as well spiritual blessings that they were to enjoy as a result of that.

But primarily, that's how they come to appreciate them. However, when we come to our day, this day of His grace, the blessings which we have been blessed are in heaven. They are spiritual blessings.

And enjoying those spiritual blessings works almost in the reverse of Israel. It helps us to enjoy the temporal things. Because we realize that all these blessings flow from God.

The Father, who is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. So, in verse number 3, Murray, why does he use spiritual and heavenly? Are they different? What is he trying to bring out there? Well, I think with just what has been discussed, that the spiritual is the thought that first of all there had to be this link with God and with the Father, the Lord Jesus. There had to be salvation.

There had to be the new birth to enjoy these things in the heavenly. That is the spiritual enjoyment of what we've been brought into by His grace. Well, I was just thinking the spiritual is in contrast to the physical.

Not a lot of people get saved and they don't have a very good physical existence. But they are fully blessed spiritually. And that's going to be unfolded as he goes through this chapter.

And then when he comes to the heavenly, the heavenly, and as you rightly said, places is not in the original, but it's contrasting what is of the earth and what is of the heavens. So, temporary, permanent, coming from a risen head, in the heavens, spiritual in nature, we all have the moment of conversion. Yet we haven't come to the end of the verse.

It's how, in what manner, can God bless us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places. It's in Christ. And there's the emphasis, and I think most of us will appreciate the terms in Christ as a positional truth.

That's where a believer is by the moment, at the moment of taking Christ as Savior, he's in Christ. And by virtue of that, God, if I can just say it lightly, keeps everything else on. So, in Christ is acceptability position.

When you read in the Lord, in the New Testament, it's the idea, not so much of acceptability, but responsibility and the practical aspect of your life. So, in the heavenlies, it's a plural word, in the heavenlies is where the Lord Jesus Christ is, right now. And we have been raised up together and made to sit together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus.

So, by virtue of the fact that He is there, we are in Him and therefore in the heavenlies, in God's sight, where our spiritual blessings are in Christ. Very good. But not just that, then William, the emphasis comes that we are secure.

That's right. The only way, sad though many would promote it, the only way a Christian could ever have his salvation affected is to protect Christ. And that's beyond even consideration.

You know, going back to the Old Testament, Joab and Abner, it's interesting, Abner never comes into this city, but Joab knew enough of this. He knew that as long as David was in the city, regardless of Abner's past, he was safe. All he had to do was declare his case before the elders, throw himself in the mercy of David and whatever David did would be right.

But David could make him safe, even though the law could, David could. So that what we enjoy today is because of where he is. He's in the heavenly place.

He's there and because he's there, I'm there with him. And I can enjoy the safety and the security and all these blessings that we are now going to consider in verse number four as a result of where he is. So I enjoy those blessings in real time, right now as a believer in Christ.

Yes. I've been blessed with every blessing. Yes.

And kind of a distinction to that, we live in a modern evangelical world that speaks about, you come to know Christ and whatever terms they use in these and then suddenly, you know, you don't have a visa that comes due anymore. You don't have house payments. It's all wealth and it's all this and that.

Brethren, it is so consistent with what this Bible teaches and some of us have seen people that have succumbed to that and they never really were saved and their expectations were never ever realized as a result. So the first of these blessings now that we've been thinking about is the one that is mentioned in verse four. That's right.

Divine choice of the believer. Right. And I appreciate that, Brother John.

We have been brought now to verse number four. 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. So that one of these blessings is the fact that there has been a choice that has been made.

Now unfortunately, the first choice that man made was a wrong choice. And the last choice that man will make in Revelation chapter 20 is a wrong choice. It is a choice to disobey God and to really rebel against God.

And that really is what happens at the beginning of our Bible. So man when it comes to a choice doesn't have a good track record. But God's is perfect.

God has made no mistakes. Remember the Lord Jesus when he had to remind his disciples have not I chosen you. Now if we were not then the disciples we likely would have picked out different ones and thought eh, what are you picking for? Now I know you're leaving Judas aside for a minute.

I'm not really going into the subject of the reading. But even as believers sometimes we have to keep that in mind. That God has made choice of us.

And it helps us not only to appreciate what God has done but causes worship from our hearts to realize well why me? It's like before we were saved you know sometimes people will say to us as gospel preachers you know people get concerned they say well why won't God save me? Well why would he? Why would he? God owes salvation to nobody. And we're going to touch a little on that. God is never ever put under obligation.

And you cannot nobody's going to convince me that because a person claims he's elect that he can do as he likes and God's under some obligation to save him. That's not what this book teaches. It's not there.

So but he does say according as he had chosen us in him before the foundation of the world. Brother Murray you mentioned that man's first choice was wrong and at the end of the Bible the choice is wrong. It was just as well that every choice in between man left to himself will always choose against God.

Always. There is none that doeth good there is none that seeketh after God. Man left to himself is a wreck a ruined wreck can never reach the shore.

And just I appreciate that but there is one choice that we can make between those two as the choice for Christ. That's what Moses leads with the people as it it's got to be in Deuteronomy 33 there about choose life that both thou and I see may live. Make a right choice.

He knew those people would make a wrong choice and they did. They made a wrong choice. But there was Caleb and there was the Joshua of course that made the right choice.

We're looking at people today and the choice did not save us. Thank God for his grace that somewhere along the line we made a right choice. That choice was Christ.

And of course that's not the whole story because his word of God was at work in our hearts. I realize that I didn't have time to tell the whole story. Just like you were mentioning that the Lord chose the disciples that included Judas because his choice was primarily for the fulfillment of a purpose.

Same way he has chosen believers for the fulfillment of a purpose that they should be holy and without blame before him. So that God's choice in relation to Israel or believers or disciples always has a view of a task or a work that he intends to perform through them. And that's what he's emphasizing here.

We're not only brought in the sphere of blessing but we're given a sphere of responsibility that can carry that out of course by enabling power that he gives us. Right. And of course there would be raised too Brother Joel just adding to that which I appreciate that God would the question could be asked well why would God ever and Moses even questions that why would he ever make choice of a people who are so openly disobey him and there's such lack of appreciation of love and appreciation of all he had brought them into.

Well that's fine we can sit with a pointing finger at Israel. What about us today? That's a good question to ask. So he says before the foundation of the world that we should be holy in other words and without blame before him in love.

Now there is a sense in which he has chosen us unto holiness and the result of that without blame before him in love. So would you take it from verse 4 that holiness would strike at the inward and that is now going to have a practical outworking without blame. And it's always before God.

Interesting that the epistle opens with the word love and it closes the same way. If you go to chapter 6 the second last verse there in love again he uses the same. Just a simple question is this choice permanent? On God's part? Yes.

Yes. You could modify that question put it another way too. Is being in Christ permanent? Just I bring that up just from the comfort as a believer that we can draw.

Very good. God isn't going to change his mind regardless of my life not to contradict what's been said already but God's choice is permanent. That choice was not based on anything in me.

That was his sovereign choice. To make that which is not holy ultimately perfectly holy. Right.

So there is the future aspect of holiness when we are in heaven we'll be perfectly holy in every possible way. Right now in Christ we are viewed by God as being holy. That's right.

And that was the reason why the Spirit of God first of all before salvation took a deal with us. We were chosen to salvation 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit onto belief of the truth. So the Spirit of God was at work pre-salvation with this in view that when God had completed his work we would be sanctified set apart absolutely holy before him.

Verse number 5 brethren we must move to it. Having predestinated again I would take that truth as the truth relative to these blessings that we have to realize that this had taken place predestination or forward nation is the thought of the setting of bounds of course it links itself with a sonship and adoption we're going to come into that but this is the start of it. You know he could have saved us without making us his sons.

Okay let's just keep that in mind. God could have saved us without making us his sons but his choice was to do both. That he has not only saved us but he has made us sons.

So brother Murray how does this adoption then differ from the adoptions of the world or are we looking at the same thing here? Yeah it's nothing to do with the adoptions of the world really at all it is the thought here of the adoption would be in the spiritual sense like in a natural sense you know a person makes a choice of a child and they adopt them they bring them into their family that's all they could do but he has made them through adoption sons give them that standing. So at an earthly level I can adopt a child I can give it my physical name but I can't give it my nature. So 1 Corinthians 3 and 16 talks about the indwelling of the spirit of God and you tie that through the New Testament whereby we cry Abba Father so from the moment of conversion God is my Father.

That's tremendous right from the very core and that's what we're moving into here. So verse 5 the word predestinated has got to do with destiny right? So it's God working towards a destiny purpose purpose if you will in the previous verse we had the expression before the foundation of the world so that's looking at God's choice from back then but it's working toward a destiny that's right so everything in between is God working toward that purpose that destiny because he works all things after the counsel of his own will. The day that I was saved I was born again into God's family.

What's the distinction between the new birth and the adoption here? Well the new birth obviously is we sometimes could use an expression which maybe isn't the best and that is that I was birthed into his family the result of that birth was really nothing of my own part my part was the trusting of him was the placing of faith with repentance and faith in him that's something that God had constituted me as a child okay? So but now as a child he brings to another level and he brings his sons okay? So that's where I think the truth of adoption comes in is that predestination of course is the balance of taking us as Brother William has pointed toward the destiny to the final okay thanks to the final purposes of God and the result of that is in adoption is that Standing? Yes, standing. Do you have something more on that? Well that's the distinction I was drawing new birth imparting life adoption standing as sons okay in other words new birth relationship sonship adoption of sons responsibility yes exactly but could I could we emphasize though in all these things we're looking at these are the spiritual blessings that every believer has so nothing is expected of the believer here to achieve these things as yet it's all in him chosen in him before the foundations so that all the blessings that he had purposed would be brought to pass and one of them is in place as a son and as the verse goes on to say through Jesus Christ so every one of these things we're looking at are things that are realized at the moment we trusted Christ and these are things that cannot be changed and I think it was our brother Al said you can't read this chapter without getting to the point where you're going to worship could I just add another dimension to that as we get down pleasure of his will I say this reverently I can sense God getting a little excited in what's being unfolded here this is thrilling to his own heart what's been perfected in his son isn't there a sense though just to be a little more specific maybe not all in agreement on this but in a sense sonship is future the full enjoyment of sonship the adoption is a son placing and Romans chapter 8 indicates that the spirit that we receive enabled us to anticipate what will be fully ours in the genuine expression of all that God has produced in us so that it's the anticipation as brother William has said of a destiny that God has in view bringing many sons unto glory right go ahead the new birth is that which we presently have as a nature because of what the spirit of God has produced in us sonship also carries the thought of maturity that's right and you know no longer a minor no longer just just a child although in the family the new birth brought us there we're children in the family but sonship has in this context has the full or destiny in view what God intends for us like unto his son in the full maturity of that purpose exactly now just going back not to take us back to adoption in a earthly sense but I know of a family right now where there's an issue going on there's four children that are children by birth there's a fifth one that's been brought into that family father's gone there's a relatively sizable inheritance that boy that was brought into that family was never really legally adopted okay he was brought in there because of the kindness of the man that died and to him he was a father and his wife was to that boy a mother however when it comes to inheritance his claim I've been here all these years but there's only one difficulty is yeah he's never really born into that family as such he enjoyed the privilege of that etc. etc.

but coming back to what brother Joel has said the truth of sonship while it is future there is something that we are intended by God to enjoy today as a result of what he's going to do when he ultimately brings it to his destiny to his purposes in Christ Jesus so we know it now we rejoice in it but we will realize the fullness of it in a time to come right now are we the sons of God but it doth not yet appear what we shall be that's right there's a future aspect to it as children as children yeah children I'm applying that so we will move to and of course it's nice the way that the verse really doesn't end I know we've been using that expression at the end of the verse and that's fine for the sake but it's a comma but it's according to the good pleasure of his will and now to verse six to the praise of the glory of his grace where he hath made us accepted in the beloved and we shall and there is a period there we are accepted in the beloved or in the beloved one so we're at verse number six I just want to emphasize again brother Murray every time in him in Christ in the beloved how could these things ever be and I'm going to go back not to take us back there but to verse four chosen in him Christ was the vehicle whereby God could with all justice with all liberty ever choose us I've been wondering how could you choose me how could he ever choose you when he did it in Christ he had the best basis on which to do it and nothing will not be fully realized because of that we need to point out in verse six I don't think it has been mentioned yet we have this expression to the praise of the glory of his grace verse six to the praise of the glory of his grace who's the subject it's God the father alright now drop down to verse twelve that we should be to the praise of his glory and who's the subject in that section it's the lord Jesus Christ in whom we have redemption so it's to the praise of his glory that God is working out his purpose then verse fourteen the end of the verse on to the praise of his glory who's the subject from verse thirteen it's the holy spirit is the subject so God is working out his purpose not only for the praise of God the father but for the praise of God the son and for the praise of God the holy spirit the three persons of the trinity are involved in putting into practice of fulfilling the purpose of God carrying it through making it work bringing it above there's a nice thought in verse number six where any have made us accept it that greek word accepted only appears two times in your new testament go back when the angel appeared to Mary thou that are highly favored there's your word so back to our brother stu's comment in the word of God you got two federal heads in Adam in Christ the moment i put my faith in Christ i'm in Christ now dear child God do you feel highly favored of God today i hope you don't say yes to that i don't know how you'd ever feel it this is written to know it okay God always wants the mind to know and then let that affect your feelings you meet Christians that are up and down up and down eternal security there one day they're sad i always say they've got their heart on the throne not their mind this is for your mind to know it and let it work out in your life that you have all blessings in Christ so in this context brother scott are some Christians more acceptable with God than others absolutely not just my enjoyment of it what if i sin am i less acceptable with God absolutely not in this context absolutely not it's good to remember too that that grace is an act of God okay it's not a state it's never a condition as such it's something that is here like i say is an act of God that he speaks of into which his grace has brought us the idea of verse six don't you think brother brethren i should say there's not so much acceptability that's true but it's really being taken into favor being brought into a sphere that we can appreciate the love of God and the kindness of God toward us and all that God desires to give to us well we're all fully accepted there's no question about that acceptability before God doesn't depend on whether i have failed or whether i have not failed it's all dependent upon the fact that i'm in Christ because of being in him i couldn't be more in the favor of God and more accepted before him emphasized in this verse in the beloved this is one that is the heart fulfillment of the God of heaven his son as he loves him remember the Lord Jesus said we've seen the expression before the foundation of the world was three times in the new testament the first time in john's gospel when the Lord Jesus said thou hast loved me before the foundation of the world that love is eternal and in him believers have been hearing grace favored accepted in the one that is most acceptable to God himself the beloved son just in case now any believer should be tempted to think that when we speak about positional truth that it is just mere theory that it's just mere theological theory that's of no real practical relevance to us just in case we're tempted to think that way we are made perfectly accepted in Christ but when you come to chapter five and verse ten we are to be proving what is acceptable unto the Lord so it has a practical outworking in life and that's how God works he makes us something in Christ and then we are to live it out practically in the good of it live it out in our life how could he accept us though Murray I mean in view of what we are by nature and by practice how could he accept well he doesn't look at us in that condition he looks at us in his condition and he at us in his and he in his and he looks at us in his condition and he looks