Take your Bibles and turn with me to Ephesians chapter 1. As you all know who have been here, we're in a 12 week rotating study on the subject of basic principles of doctrine. Every week we look at a different principle. Last week we looked at the doctrine of justification. The week before that was the doctrine of salvation. The week before that was the doctrine of sin. The week before that was the doctrine of man. Well, today we're going to go deeper into the doctrine of salvation with a subset topic. And that subset topic is the doctrine of election. We're going to read Ephesians chapter 1 and we're going to read verses 3 all the way down to verse 14. That's your memory verse? Oh good, good. I get you to stand up and read it for us? Well that's good. Which one are you memorizing, the ESV? Good. Well, let's read. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of His will, to the praise of His glorious grace, with which He has blessed us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of His will according to His purpose, which He set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in Him, things in heaven, and things on earth. In Him we have obtained an inheritance, having also been predestined according to the purpose of Him, who works all things according to the counsel of His will, so that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be to the praise of His glory. In Him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of His glory. Father in heaven, I pray even now that You would forgive me of my many sins, and Lord, especially my sin of doubt. And I pray that You would instill and encourage in me a heart of boldness as I preach Your Word. Pray that You would keep me from error. Pray that You would keep my mind on what I'm teaching. And I pray, O God, that the men in this room would hear the Word of God today and be moved by it. I thank You, O God, for all that You have given us. May You bless us now with Your presence. May we ever know that You are God and there is no other. In Christ's name, Amen. Now guys, what we're going to do today is we're going to do an exegetical study of this passage. Rather than what I normally do, which is look at several passages and collaborate together on a topic, we're simply going to see what does this passage teach us about election. And we're just going to start at the beginning. We're going to sort of outline it as we go. Now if you have paper and you want to take notes, great. If you don't, that's fine too. I'm not a note taker. When I listen, because I tend to find as I'm taking notes, he's still talking, and I end up getting behind. So if you don't want to take notes, that's fine. But if you do, I'm going to outline some things on the board that you might want to at least jot down if you're interested in taking notes. The Apostle Paul is writing to the Ephesian church, and he says these words in verse 3. He says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. So right away, we see some people being named. We see some individuals being identified. And when you do exegesis, you start by simply making observation. This is how you do Bible study, by the way. There are three steps to Bible study. Observation, interpretation, and application. That's the three steps. So what do we observe in verse 3? We observe first that Paul is exalting God. He is saying, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is pronouncing that God is blessed. And he is saying that he is the father of our Lord Jesus Christ. So we have two people in view here. We have the father who is called God. We have Jesus Christ who is called Lord. Theos and Kourios. Theos is the word for God. Kourios is the word for Lord. And Kourios is the word which is most usually associated with Christ. He is the Lord Jesus Christ. All things are put under His feet. He is Lord. And so the word koreos for Him is an important term. And it says that the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has blessed us. Who is the us? We the people sound like the Constitution. In this context, the us can be related back up to verse 1. Notice what he says. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus. So, who is the us? Paul's talking about himself and he's talking about the saints in Ephesus. That's the immediate, what we would call antecedent to the pronoun. The pronoun is us. Anytime a pronoun is used, it has a noun which precedes it. That's called the antecedent noun. And so we look back to the antecedent, and the antecedent of us is Paul and the church at Ephesus, right? So immediately, Paul has a limited audience and view. It's himself and the church at Ephesus. But we could extend that to say all the saints would fall into this category. Not just the saints at Ephesus. Would you agree? that all the saints are blessed? That blessed be the God and Father who has blessed us? Okay, so the us here is not just referring to 2,000 years ago. It's not just referring to the saints in Ephesus, but it's referring to all saints of all times. So I can look at this and I can say because I believe that I am saved and I believe that I am one of the saints. I don't believe I am a perfect man, but the Bible says because I'm in Christ, I have been made holy, I have been made into a saint. And so, you know, so have you if you are in Christ. You are Saint JP. I don't recommend going around calling him that. But that he is a saint, he is a believer. The word saint is simply the word hagiosmos, which is the Greek for sanctified or to be made holy. And so, huh? Set apart. That's right. Yeah, you've been set apart because you've been placed into Christ. So, He says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us, you could say, who has blessed me. If you're in Christ, you're part of the us. You could say, Blessed be the God and Father of my Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed me. Right? If you wanted to make it personal. Now that's going more into application at that point. But still, we're making an observation of who is in view. Who is in view? God the Father. Who is in view? The Lord Jesus Christ. Who is in view? We are. Us. Then we get what we are blessed with. He says He has blessed us in Christ. And I'm going to write that on the board. Woo! There's already something on the board. Sorry, I sound like Ric Flair. Woo! Hey son, how are you? By the way, this is our mascot. If y'all don't know, this is JJ. Alright, in Christ. Very quickly, I want us to take note of something. Let's look through this passage real quick and see how many times we see the phrase, in Christ. Alright, so it says, I'll count that one too, because it's talking about in Christ. Well, I won't count that one, but it is in Christ. for adoption through Jesus Christ according to the promise of his will to the praise of his glorious grace in which he has blessed us in the beloved in him we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of his grace which he lavished upon us and all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will according to his purpose which he has set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time To unite all things in Him, things in heaven, things on earth. In Him we have obtained an inheritance. Right? Verse 13, In Him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, believed in Him, were sealed. So right there, five times. Right? We either have the phrase, In Christ, or the equal phrase is, In Him. That is very important. Because when you understand the doctrine of election, you need to understand election is in Christ. God chooses us, but He does not choose us apart from Christ. I've heard people say, why do you share Jesus if God's already chosen who He's going to save? I say because God has not chosen to save people independent of His Son. We share Christ because it is in Christ that their election actually is made known. No one can say that person is elect but he doesn't believe in Jesus. Does that make sense? You can't be elect and be outside of Him. You are elect in Him. And so Christ is the foundation of our election. That's so important. The in him five times. Anytime you see a phrase that repeats in a very short amount of time in Scripture, understand that that phrase, there's an attempt by the writer to try to establish a point with that phrase. It's called the Law of Proximity. We see these phrases that come up in a very small proximity or a very small area. And that tells us this is the key to understanding what's happening here. And the key to understanding this passage is that it is all about the work of Christ. It is in Him. Go ahead, brother. There was no exclamation point. No, no. And so the way that they made exclamation was by repeating things. Jesus shows us this. Yes, one long sentence. It is one long sentence. And the whole idea in him, in him, in him. Paul is trying to establish in the mind of his hearers the concept of election in Christ. We are elect in Him. You're not outside of Him. You are in Him. I'll give you my illustration that some of you have heard, but it's my favorite illustration. When you go back to the Old Testament, you go back to Genesis chapter 6, God calls a man named Noah to build an ark. And he says, you're going to build an ark, and you are going to cover it with pitch, which is like tar, and you're going to make an ark that will survive a massive cataclysmic flood that is going to destroy the world. You and seven others, you, your wife, your three sons, their wives, are going to go onto the ark, and you are going to take two of every animal and bring them on the ark with you, and only you and those animals, other than those who live in the ocean, of course, are going to survive the flood. So Noah gets to work. Noah builds the ark. Noah takes his family onto the ark. God closes the door. Hey puppy. God closes the door of the ark. And then the judgment comes. Once the judgment comes, everyone who is outside the ark experiences the judgment of God. I'll say it again. Everyone who is outside the ark experiences the judgment of God. Everyone who is in the ark is safe from the judgment of God. Now, if I have to draw the picture, I hope I don't. I hope you get what I'm saying. Christ, in that sense, is a picture of the ark. Or the ark is the picture of Christ. The Bible says we are either in Him or we are not in Him. If we are in Him, we are safe. If we are outside of Him, we are not safe. Now, the question is, how do we get in? We're getting there. We're getting there. But the first thing is to understand that we are blessed in Christ. and it is being in Him that matters. So if somebody comes up to me and says to me, well, I don't know if I'm saved, I don't know if I'm elect. I say, that's not really the question the Bible seeks that you ask. The question the Bible seeks that you ask is whether or not you are in Christ. Now how do you get into Christ? We'll talk about that in a minute. But the point is, that's the issue. That's the distinction. There were two men on the cross next to Christ. They were both robbers. They were both degenerates. They were both thieves and murderers. They were hanging between heaven and earth. And both of them reviled Jesus at the beginning of the day. But sometime during the day, one of those men's heart was changed. It could have been fear of death, and I'm sure that that had played a part. And he looked into the eyes of the Savior, and he saw in Him what he had not seen before. He saw salvation. And the Bible says that he said to Jesus one of the sweetest and simplest statements of faith, Lord Jesus, remember me. when you go into your kingdom. So what did he say in that? One, he recognized him as Lord, he recognized that he had a kingdom, he recognized who he was. He didn't ask him to save, he just said, remember me. And what did Jesus say to him? Yeah. Today thou shalt be with me in paradise, right? The beauty of that moment. One man is in Christ and he is safe from the judgment of God. Now that man... I'll answer in just a minute. Let me finish my thought. The powerful thing is that man was elect before the foundation of the world. But he did not come to his understanding of Christ until mere moments before he would close his eyes in death. Now, that does mean that there is such a thing as deathbed conversion. However, I wouldn't count on it. I wouldn't wait. Turn today and live. The Bible says today is the day of salvation. Don't be thinking you're going to have time. You never know if you have time. Brother, you had your hand up. What was that? Not a good plan. Not a good plan. That's right. Go ahead. What's the brother's name that comes on Tuesday afternoon out of the tent? Aaron? I promise we didn't share notes. I don't even have notes. So that's just the Lord. That's a good point. The woman at the well is a good example. Because it just so happened. It didn't just so happen. The Bible said Jesus said, I must need to go through Samaria. Yeah, I like the King James. I don't know why. I must need to go. I need to go that way. Why? Because there's a woman there who's going to hear my message. And God is going to open her heart to believe. And through her, an entire town is going to hear the Gospel. And so yes, God's sovereignty in election must never be forgotten. But God doesn't save us. The point of what I'm trying to say is God doesn't save us independent of Jesus. Election is to the Son. It is in the Son. It is not apart from or devoid of the Son. Okay, well we're going to keep on in the text and it will come up and hopefully I'll explain it a little better but you feel free to ask any questions you want as we go. Okay, the word elect in the Bible simply means to choose. Every four years, we have a presidential election. We choose the president. Actually, we don't. We choose the electors. The electors choose the president. But that's another conversation. But that's what the word election means. It means to make a choice. So when I say that God has elected you, I'm saying God has chosen you. Yeah, absolutely. I would say absolutely Noah was chosen by God to do what he did. And the thing that we learn in Romans 9, I had to decide this morning whether I was going to preach Ephesians 1 or Romans 9. I could have preached Romans 9. Romans 9 is very good because Romans 9 reminds us that we are elect not because of what we do. Romans 9 is deep. It tells us we're not elected because of what we do. We're elected by the sheer mercy of God. God shows mercy to whom He will mercy and He shows compassion to whom He will compassion. That is God's will. And so, the only way that will ever make sense to you or anybody is if we understand that nobody deserves mercy. Nobody deserves to be chosen. It's like this, if you had a king who had a kingdom and he was leaving. And he said to his... Citizens. Citizens, I'm going away. While I am away, take care of my kingdom. And he goes away. And when he returns, he finds that his kingdom has been overrun by all of the citizens. They have all turned against his law. They have all rejected his commandments. They have all burned his facilities. They have raped his wife. They have ravaged his family. And the king stands outside with the power to destroy every citizen in the kingdom, knowing that every one of the citizens have violated him and his holy commands and his beloved bride. Would it be right of the king to destroy every citizen in that kingdom? Absolutely. The king would have every right to destroy every citizen. But if the king chose to show mercy to some, would he have the right to do that? He certainly would. He's not obligated, but he has the right. But because he has the right to show mercy to some does not mean he must show mercy to all. It's like a governor who has the right to grant a stay of execution to one man on death row. That doesn't mean he has to give every one of them a stay of execution. He has the right to choose. And God has the right to choose. None of us deserve His mercy. His grace is sovereign. That's why we call our church Sovereign Grace Family Church. Because we believe God's grace is from Him alone, and for Him, and to Him, and through Him. It's not because of me. God didn't save me because I'm better than you. I'm not. And God didn't save you because you're better than the guy next to you. Trust me, you're not. God saved you by the mercy of His own sovereign will. He will have mercy on whom He has mercy. And He will show compassion to whom He shows compassion. And you will say to me, why does He still find fault? For who can resist His will? But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will the thing formed say to Him who formed it, why have you made me this way? By the way, I'm just quoting Romans chapter 9. Because the Apostle Paul asked the logical question. Well, then it's not my fault. It's all God. Who are you, O man, to answer back to God? You are but dust. Remember when Job went through his trials? And he cried out to God? What was God's answer? Where were you when I laid the foundation of the world? You can't even put a hook in the nose of the Leviathan. Behold behemoth that I have created. Who are you? I mean, that's the answer. The answer to Job is I'm God and I don't owe you an explanation. You see, we have a very small view of God. It's just like that song from the 90's. What if God was one of us? Well, He ain't. And y'all might not even know I'm old. Some of you, I see a few of y'all a little gray hair might know what I'm talking about. He's not one of us. God is sovereign. He is the Lord of the universe. So listen again to the passage. He has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing, even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world. Notice again, He chose who? Us in Him. Thank you, JJ. When? That's right, it's man work. When did He choose us in Him? Before the foundation of the world. So when someone says, Well, God chose me because I first chose Him. You weren't even there when the choosing was going on. See, that's the problem. People say, God chose me because He knew I was going to choose Him. God doesn't function based on your desires. God doesn't make His plans based on you. And by the way, when did He learn what you were going to do? God can't learn. The very definition of omniscient means all-knowing. And a being who is all-knowing never learns anything. Has it ever occurred to you that nothing's ever occurred to God? Let me say it again. Has it ever occurred to you that nothing's ever occurred to God? He's never been without something and went, wow! I just found the answer. That's not how God operates. Now my hope today is not that I discourage you in regard to the God who exists, but to enlighten you as to why the God who exists should be worthy of your worship. Because if He has chosen you and you didn't deserve it, that's all the more reason for you to praise Him. Because if He chose you because you chose Him, then you played a part. But if He didn't choose you because you chose Him, but He chose you by His sheer mercy and grace, then you can at that moment say, praise God, amazing grace. By the way, John Newton believed this, and John Newton was the one who wrote, amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a good old boy. No, that's not what it said. What does it say? Saved a wretch like me. And a wretch is not a nice thing. A wretch is a wretched thing. Yes? Okay. Omniscient means all-knowing. It's the root word of science or knowledge. So omniscient. Omnipotent means all-powerful. And omnipresent means everywhere or all-present. Always present. And that's based on, you know, was it Psalm 139? If I go into heaven, you are there. If I go down in Sheol, you are there. Omnipresent. Alright, so let's go back to the text. It says, even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. By the way, your election is not just to get you saved. Your election is that you might be holy and blameless before Him. God doesn't just save you so that you get your ticket to heaven punched. God saves you that you would be like Christ. Think of Romans 8. All things work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, did He also predestine to be conformed to the image of His Son. You were predestined for a purpose. And it ain't just going to heaven. You were predestined to be conformed to the image of Christ. So don't ever let me hear anyone ever say this. My salvation is not going to affect my life. I'm going to keep on living exactly as I lived before. Now, I'll say this. You're not ever going to be perfect. You're always going to battle sin. And I'll say that, and I know it, because I know it experientially as well as biblically. But I will say this, a man who says, I've come to Christ, but it didn't change my life, has not come to Christ. So, when we say, very simply, when we say that we are predestined, we need to understand that's not just talking about what happens after you die. That's talking about this life. Predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son. That's the goal of election. And by the way, election causes predestination. Election is God's choice, which results in a determined destination that happens beforehand, which means it is predestined. The word in Greek is prohorizo. Prohorizo is predestined. The root word, horitso, means it's the horizon. And you know, if you look at the horizon, go out to the ocean, go out to Miya Island and look out at the horizon, you see as far as you can see, that's the end point, as far as you can see. Predestined. means your end is determined. Yeah, He's already determined the end from the beginning. Isaiah says this very clearly. I have determined the end from the beginning. God is not reading the newspapers every day wondering what's going to happen. God doesn't wonder who's going to be the next president. God doesn't wonder. In fact, I'll tell you this. I preached last week. The title of my sermon Sunday was God Will Still Be on His Throne Wednesday. And I preached that because of the election. God Will Still Be on His Throne Wednesday. I preached that same sermon every four years. Because I want to remind our people. God is still sovereign no matter who is the president. Jesus is king. And so, I preached Isaiah 45. Do you know what Isaiah 45 says? It says that God raised up a man named Cyrus, he was the king, to bring the people out of captivity. But here's the thing, Isaiah wrote that 150 years before it happened. Hear that again. Isaiah wrote that Cyrus would take the people out of captivity before Cyrus was born. And, by the way, if you doubt the existence of God, there's a huge hunk of evidence. He named Him by name before He was born. What if His mama would have named Him Leroy? Or John-boy? What if His mom would have named Him something else? Named Him Cyrus! And His name is written 150 years before He came onto the earth. And the people weren't even in captivity yet. Isaiah prophesied that Cyrus would take them out of captivity before they were in captivity. That deserves an amen. So, when we talk about election, when we talk about predestination, we're talking about God's sovereign hand on all of us. Predestined to us. In Him. When? before the foundation of the world. Not everybody believes in predestination. Not everybody believes in election. But they have to look at the passages like this and basically just go, la, la, la, la, la. I don't want to see it, because it's right there. Well, it's certainly debatable. And the thing is, This is a topic I have had to address a lot. Well, because our church is Calvinistic. The title of my podcast is Coffee with a Calvinist. Everybody knows. So this is sort of, you know, when they say people have wheelhouse, you know, it's sort of my wheelhouse. I'm OK with it. I've spent so much time dealing with it. I'm not saying I know everything about it. I'm not saying I can explain everything perfectly, but I've had to fight the battles. We've been through the wars, and I feel a little more comfortable with it. And not everybody agrees with me, and I'm okay with that. I'm okay with having a conversation. But I think if you walk through the text, The text will give you the answers that you need. You spend some time with Romans 9. You spend some time in Ephesians 1. Spend some time in John 6, John 8, John 10, John 17. He says that's the whole thing. People say, well, there's only one or two verses that talk about predestination. There's a Greek word for that and it's baloney. That's absolute baloney. Yes sir? A Calvinist is a person who holds to the sovereignty of God in election, which would be salvation and predestination. A Calvinist typically refers to the five points of Calvinism, which were defined actually well after Calvin died, but it was a acrostic that spelled tulip that describes five heads of doctrine that Calvin would have affirmed. And those five heads of doctrine are total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, and the perseverance of the saints. That's the five points of Calvinism. Yes, and I would affirm all five. And I've taught extensively on each one. But it is a system of theology that is based on one simple principle. God is sovereign and man is depraved. That's why I say one simple. It's actually two. God is sovereign and man is depraved. Yes. Total depravity. What I said earlier. Remember what I said about all the citizens that raped the wife of the king and came in and destroyed everything? I was talking about us. Because we have violated God's commands. The Bible says all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. The problem is we think that's not a big deal. Sin is cosmic treason against the owner of the universe. God who created all things owns all things. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills, right? He is the God who establishes His law. And sin is any one of conformity to or transgression of the law of God. So when we sin, we are breaking the law of the King of the universe. And He has every right to bring quick and permanent destruction upon us. But He chooses not to, and that's because He's gracious. See, we go to the Old Testament and God says, Go destroy the Canaanites. And everybody goes, I can't believe God had them do that. And I say, slow down. That's what everybody deserves. Do you remember when in Luke 13, people came to Jesus? And they said, Jesus, Pilate has killed some men and mixed their blood with the blood of the sacrifice. So he tainted their death by mixing it with the blood of the sacrifices. And they said, Jesus, what about those men that Pilate killed? And Jesus said, do you think they were any worse than you? I will tell you this, unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or what about those in Siloam where the tower fell upon them? Do you think they died that way because they were worse than you? No, and I tell you this, unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. That's the words of Jesus Christ. The point that Jesus was making is when we see someone else suffer tragedy, we should not look at them and say, well, he deserved it because that one finger pointing at him has three pointed back at me. I deserve it too. And unless I repent, I will receive it. Yes, sir. I just wanted to say something about one thing that I've learned in my walk is give place under wrath, give place under vengeance, belongs to the Lord, pray for your enemies. And that is very, very true. Don't pray for them to be chastised, don't pray for their discipline, pray for their well-being, pray for them to be blessed. Amen. And that wrath will come anyway. Amen. We pray that God would save them. That's my, you know, what does it say when we pray for our enemies? I'll tell you this, sometimes, think about like false teachers. I pray that God would save them, or that He would close their mouth. But ultimately, I want them to be saved. You know, we pray for our enemies and love those who persecute us. Old Pastor told me one time, he said, if you've got problems with people, Yeah, yeah, and like I said, I Yeah, yeah, I'm not yeah, we're There are times in the Bible where we see what's called imprecatory prayers, and that's praying for the destruction of enemies of God. I think we have to be careful with those. Yeah, just pray God's destruction. Yeah, pray over it. Gotta be careful because we deserve it too. If I prayed against all of God's enemies, I'd be praying against myself at one point. What if God would have killed me at 16? What if God would have let me die at 18? Yeah, we're our own worst enemy. I have a friend... I've seen a lot of people die very young. I've stood at the deathbed of many a young man. And that could have been me. Yes, sir, go ahead. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, God bring your wrath. Yeah, would you bring fire down on them? That's why they were called the sons of thunder. James and John. I want to get to verse 5 because I don't think we'll get much further than that because of time, but I want to show y'all something. He says in verse 4, even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before Him. Notice what it says right before verse 5. In love He predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of His will. That one verse could be a sermon. In love He predestined us for adoption Through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will. So, what caused Him to do it was love. Love caused God to choose. God didn't have to choose. But He is a loving God who chose in love. See, when somebody says, well, you believe God is arbitrary because you believe God chooses. I say, no, I believe God is loving because He chooses. Because He didn't have to choose to save anyone. God could have chosen that I wouldn't be saved. God could have chosen that I died at 16 years old. I got a driver's license the day after my 16th birthday. I was, my 16th birthday fell on a Monday, and the driver's license place was closed. I was so excited, my dad had bought me a 1985 Dodge Daytona, it was silver, looked like the back to the future car. And then, no, it was just a Dodge Daytona, it was probably a four cylinder, but it was a stick shift, and I was, On April 3rd, 1996, I was handed my operator's license. And ever since then, I have been 18 inches from eternity. Because every time I drive down the road, that's about how far I am from the other car going the other way. And all it would take was a guy spilling his soda in his lap, or dropping a cigarette, or being drunk for that 18 inches to close. And bam, I'm gone. And I'm not a reckless driver, but anybody driving down the road, front tire blow out, flip the car, kill everybody inside. It happens. Thank God you're still here, brother. But that's the point I'm making. The very fact that my heart's still beating in my chest is the mercy of God. Because I could have been gone a long time ago. And it was 1999 that God saved me. And I say that. God saved me. He didn't have to. I wasn't looking for Him, I'll tell you that. I remember some of the things I wanted to do as a 16, 17, 18 year old. I wasn't looking to serve God. But God saved me. And that was His gracious love. that saved me. Not Keith Foskey's good behavior. Nobody gets into heaven on good behavior. Yes, sir. Okay, that's fine. That's fine. Let me say this. Verse 5. He says, In love, He predestined us for adoption. Now what is adoption? Adoption is when you are brought into a family that's not your own. See, a lot of people will say, we're all children of God. The Bible says that's not true. The Bible says we're all created by God, but that's not the same as being a child of God. Because the Bible says in John chapter 1, that if we, if we, believe, or rather it says if we receive the Lord Jesus, we become children of God. Remember that? John 1, it says, He came unto His own, and His own received Him not to as many as received Him. To them He gave the power to become children of God who were born not of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. You were born of God because of the goodness of God. And you were adopted into His family because of Christ. I have five children. Two of my children are adopted. My oldest, this one's not. This one's my second natural child. But I have an adopted 22-year-old daughter and an adopted 20-year-old son. And if you saw the five of them, you wouldn't know the difference, except for my son's skinny, like really skinny. But I mean, other than that, we've never treated him different. We've never argued for a place in the home for any difference. Because when those children became my children by adoption, they became my children as much as the other children are my children. I received a birth certificate with my name on it. It said, Medford Cody Foskey, that's my son, born in Virginia Beach, Virginia. I've never been to Virginia Beach, Virginia, neither has my wife. But it says, mother, Jennifer Foskey, father, Medford Keith Foskey. That's my first name, by the way. We are his parents. By law. And by love. And there's no difference. Jesus Christ is the only begotten son of God. But you are a son of God through Christ. God adopts you into His family. And you become, what Romans 8 says, a joint heir with Christ. I would say a fellow brother. A fellow heir. We are adopted into God's family. And it was because He loved us and He chose to adopt us. And He chose us before the foundation of the world. Election is a grand doctrine. It should not cause the consternation that it does. It should not cause the frustration that it does. It should cause us to erupt in glory because God has loved us and God has chosen us when we didn't deserve it. So election is the gracious choosing of God, of a people who did not deserve it. and He chose us before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless in Him. Beloved, that's what I have to say today. I'm going to close early. I've got five more minutes, but I'm going to give it to you all and have an extra long break. Let's pray. Father, I thank You for this time, and I thank You for the love that You've given us in Christ. God, would You bless us today. May You bless us, Lord, to want to know more about You. May You bless us to want to know more about how You saved us. May You bless us to want to know more about how much You have, in Your mercy and grace, given us all the goodness and blessings of heaven through Christ. And it is in His name we pray. Amen.