Well, I'm not alone in saying there's no richer passage in all of Scripture than our passage again tonight. Again, I'm going to read the first 14 verses. Tonight we'll be looking at verse 4 of Paul's letter to the Ephesians in chapter 1. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints who are at Ephesus, who are faithful in Christ Jesus, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm in Christ. just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on 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 on us. In all wisdom and insight He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him. with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth, in Him. Also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose, who works all things after the counsel of His will. to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory in Him. You also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of His glory. Lord, sometimes we come to places in your word where your majesty, your glory, your grace, and your mercy and your love are in truth incomprehensible to us. Where we learn of your working in a time that existed before time. We learn of a love you had for your people before they ever were. And Lord, I pray that you will open our minds and hearts to hear and grasp, as best as you would have us, this word tonight. In Christ's name, amen. Well, on his third missionary journey, Paul came to Ephesus. It was the second time he'd arrived there, but this time he stayed for three years. This is between 52 and 55 AD. While he was there, he made that sorrowful trip to Corinth. He wrote 1 Corinthians from there. And like the people in Corinth, Ephesus was comprised of people who were coming out of both pagan and Jewish backgrounds. They were Greek by culture, and their histories were very different. They were varied among them. It was a seaport city. It was a big city. It was a central city. Ephesians was written by Paul, though, during his imprisonment in Rome around 6162 A.D., within a few short years of his death. It was during the reign of Nero, and this letter was likely circulated among the churches in Asia Minor. Those churches would include those mentioned in the letters that Jesus sent to the churches in Revelation chapters 2 and 3. This letter was also written at or near the same time as Colossians, Philippians, and the letter to a man named Philemon. Ephesians is rightly regarded as a profound theological treatise of the Christian faith. All of Ephesians is applicable to all Christians. The predominant message of Ephesians is that all things are summed up in Christ, that this has been God's plan from all eternity, that Christ is the focal point of all things, of all history, things of the heavens, things of the earth, and that in the final consummation, all things will be summed up in Him. Because we're all sinners, all men are sinners, stained by sin, and God is righteous and holy and just, no man could ever, after Adam's fall, come into God's presence on his own merit. No one could ever earn that. Paul shows us in chapter 1, verses 3 through 14, that before God created man, Before He created the world, God made provision for the fall of man. He made provision for the redemption of sinners from their fallen state. He made provision for the rescue of sinners that He had chosen in Christ from eternal condemnation. We saw last week verses 3 through 14 are what's known as a berakah in ancient Hebrew, a eulogy, a writing or speech of praise for someone else. And throughout this passage, we see the work of the divine trinity, all three persons involved. See the Father who has blessed those chosen by Him with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Think about that. You see, he gave these blessings in Christ. And he applied these blessings to people through God the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity. But what's unique about this barricade, this eulogy, is that it sets forth significant doctrines of the Christian faith. It's an extraordinary recounting of divine activity from eternity past, all the way to eternity future. Paul sets forth here the doctrines of grace. God's electing and redeeming some sinners from the power of sin, from the penalty of sin, through the saving work of the Son. His adopting of those chosen in Christ as His own children, all before they were born, before Adam sinned, before God created the world. That's what Paul says here. And all of this was according to His will. Verse 3, last week we saw that all God's elect have received the gift of, now hear this, every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm. And that God has bestowed all those blessings in Christ. Verses 4 through 6, we are taught that these blessings were decreed by God in eternity past, but are given to those chosen in Christ in this life. They're bestowed during this life. And that election is the root of all of these spiritual blessings. Philippians 2. You might want to turn there. Here Paul explains how God accomplished in time what he had decreed in eternity past. Philippians 2.6. Speaking of the eternal Son of God. Now remember, the Son is there from all eternity. And here Paul wrote that although he, the son, existed in the form of God, he did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but he emptied himself. He took the form of a servant, and being made in the likeness of men, being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. This is how God accomplished that which he had decreed in eternity past. The Father sent the Son into the created world, the Son agreed to become a man, to fulfill all righteousness, and to then go to the cross, an unblemished offering for the sins of those chosen in Him before the foundation of the world." Now, that's clearly what Paul's teaching here. Beginning in verse 4, Paul explains the content of those spiritual blessings, of the every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm. Now, here's verse 4, He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love, He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His own will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved, in Christ. So Ephesians, remember this is a barakah, a eulogy, a celebration, a word of praise of God for his grace. It's a celebration by Paul of the salvation with which God has blessed those whom he has chosen. Paul is celebrating the blessings of God. Paul does not reject the truth of God's election of some to eternal life. He praises God for it. He praises God for his grace here. This barakah is a celebration of the love and the will and the grace and the plan and the purpose of God, written under the inspiration of God the Holy Spirit. Scripture teaches, and we'll see it in many passages before we're done tonight, that salvation is entirely a work of the triune God. And Paul celebrates that here. So here we have four aspects to God's election in verse 4. His elect were chosen in Christ. His elect were chosen before the foundation of the world. The goal of this election, third, is that we would be holy and blameless before Him. And fourth, His motivation in election of those He chose in Christ is love. In love, He predestined us to the blessings of our election. Now, five blessings are listed here. It's not the only five, but these are the five that Paul speaks of. Adoption as sons, redemption from the power of sin and our fallen state, forgiveness of sins, and inheritance in his kingdom, and the gift of the Holy Spirit. Now these are the five blessings of which Paul writes here in verses 3 through 14. First, he chose us in Christ. In Christ. That is, all who have come or will come to true saving faith in Christ were chosen in Christ. Apart from Christ. And I trust, as believers, we know this. Apart from Christ, no spiritual blessings would come to anybody, to any sinner. Apart from Christ, whose sins would be forgiven? You have a way to get forgiveness of your sins, to obtain forgiveness of your sins from God, apart from Christ? You do not. Apart from Christ, no one would be adopted as a child of God. These are all blessings in Christ. Apart from Christ, there would be no redemption from bondage to sin. Apart from Christ, there'd be no inheritance in the heavenly realm. Apart from Christ, you would have no peace with God. Apart from Christ, all mankind would remain in Adam, under condemnation, and without any hope or ability to do anything about our condition. If God had left our salvation to us, up to something we thought or something we did or believed in our own power, we would all be eternally condemned. So the threshold question here is this, what does it mean to be chosen in Christ? The basic answer, one writer says, I think correctly, must be that from before the foundation of the world, Christ was the representative and the guarantor of all of those who in time would be gathered into his flock. He has been our head, our representative head, since before the foundation of the world. That's what Paul shows us here. All the elect are unworthy of eternal life. There's nobody who's worthy of eternal life. There's nobody who is worthy of fellowship with God. This is why God did this. One reason. Because there must be an atonement for sin and we must be cleansed. We can't cleanse ourselves. We can't atone for our sins. God's righteous justice, though, cannot be done away with. There must be an atonement for our sins. There must be a cleansing of us. And it's in Christ that that atonement and that cleansing is made. He alone could do it. And this is accomplished, turn to Psalm 40, this is accomplished in the fulfillment by the Son of His promise to the Father. I'm going to show you how we can see that, how we know that. Psalm 40, verse 7. Then I said, Behold, I come in the scroll of the book it is written of me. I delight to do your will, O my God. Your law is within my heart. Well, you say, well, those are David's words. Those aren't Christ's words. Well, now turn to Hebrews. chapter 10, where we learn that these words of Psalm 40, verse 7, are the words of the Son of God spoken to the Father. This happens frequently in David's Psalms. Hebrews 10, in verse 5. And we're going to see Psalm 40, verse 7 here, in verse 8. Hebrews 10, 5, Therefore when he comes into the world, he says, Sacrifice and offering you have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me. In whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you have taken no pleasure. Now this is Jesus speaking, of course. And then I said, Behold, I have come, in the scroll of the book it is written of me, to do your will, O God. Now the writer of Hebrews here tells us that these words of Psalm 40 are the words of Christ, spoken through David. And so, Galatians chapter 4 verse 4, When the fullness of time came. Now think about this, God created the world, He created time, and when the fullness of time came, that means that's exactly the time determined by God. When the fullness of time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, that He might redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. These are two of the five blessings of which we read in Ephesians 1, 4 through 6. And Paul goes on here in Galatians, because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts. The third of five blessings, crying, Abba Father. And then the fourth blessing. Therefore, you are no longer a slave, but a son. And if a son, then an heir through God. I want you to turn to John chapter 17. We know this magnificent prayer. It's the Lord's Prayer to His Father on the night before He died. And it's a glimpse into the relationship between Father and Son that we get only here in John 17. In John 17, He went to His Father and He reflected back before creation. and he prayed to the Father. Look at verse 4. Jesus prays, I glorified you on the earth, having accomplished the work which you have given me to do. Now think about that. The work the Father gave the Son to do. Why? To accomplish and win these blessings on those people we read about in Ephesians 1.4. Now look at verse 5. Now Father, glorify me together with Yourself with the glory which I had with You when? Before the world was. The glory that the Son had with the Father before the world was. Try and drink this in. So, in Christ, true believers, all of whom are by nature entirely unworthy, are declared righteous in the sight of God. Why? Because of their union with Christ. Because they are in Christ, and Christ is in them. By His satisfaction of all the requirements of the law, which are credited to all those chosen in Him, in eternity past. This Declaration of Righteousness, this is a judicial Declaration of Righteousness, and it is essential to all the other spiritual blessings. God has declared you not guilty at the moment you are born again. And it may fairly be said that He declared you not guilty of your sins in eternity past when He chose you in Christ. Election in Christ is not some mystical thing, although in a sense for us it is. It's an objective reality. It's a fact. Paul presents it as a fact. It was in him, in Christ, that the people of God were chosen. And all that's involved in election and its fruits depends on Christ. Sometimes I end up repeating things because Paul ends up repeating things. Remember what we saw, 13 times in 14 verses the name of Christ appears. Only in one of these 14 verses does the name or a reference to Christ not appear. That's how central He is, not only to this passage, but to all things, to our salvation. Second, the time when believers were chosen in Christ. Well, this is pretty obvious. Before the foundation of the world. Before time came into being. Try to imagine this. It was at a point when only the triune God existed, Father, Son, and Spirit. God's election took place before time existed. But the work that accomplished those blessings occurred in time. Jesus entered into time. And the initial blessings of God's election, the deposit, the earnest of those blessings occurs in time. When will the ultimate fulfillment of those blessings be? At the end of time. Christ comes back, time ends. The blessings are fully realized. Now I've been talking a lot about eternity here and I realize eternity is not merely a difficult concept for us. It is in truth incomprehensible to us. But God lived in eternity, past. And God created time before he created man. Now, all the way back to Genesis, chapter 1. Beginning in verse 14 of Genesis 1, we see God creating time. And later in chapter 1, we'll see God creating man. Genesis 114. This should be the first page of your Bible. Then God said, Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. Let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and for years. Time. And let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth. And it was so. God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day. You know when day's over, when the sun goes down. The lesser light to govern the night. He made the stars also, and he placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth and to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. This is how he established time. And God saw that it was good. He didn't need time. He did this for us. So we'd have a way of keeping track of things. And when He created the nation of Israel, He used constellations and the stars and all of these things. And there was evening and there was morning a fourth day. So that's day four. But it was on the sixth day that God said, Let us make man in our image according to our likeness. The whole trinity there. Remember back in chapter 1, or verse 1, the Spirit of God is hovering over the water. And then the Word of God came forth. But the point is, God chose his people in Christ before he did any of these things that we read about in Genesis 1. The material world, all the material things of the world, they're but devices, they're instruments provided by God to man in the implementation of the plan he made before he created man, before he created the universe. And the very time when election took place before creation proves that the grace of God to sinners was freely given, that it was of God's free grace, for what could any man have deserved, what merit could any man have earned before the world was made? There's an argument, it's kind of a foolish one, put forth by the Pelagians in the 4th century, that claimed we were chosen because God foresaw that we would be worthy. Now this is a falsehood on its face. It's a denial of the truth that all men are lost in Adam. All men are lost in sin. Both Old Testament, Psalm 14, and New Testament, Romans 3, affirm there is none righteous, there's none who does good, not even one. So some, seeking to deny the words of the Holy Spirit here in verses 4, 5, and 6 of Ephesians 1, they claim God foresaw that we would believe. But this too is an outright denial of Scripture. Because look at Romans 3.11, there is none who seeks for God. Nobody's seeking for God unless he does a work in you. And Paul doesn't say here, by the way, the Father elected us because he foresaw that we were going to be holy or because he foresaw that we were going to believe in Christ. If election to salvation were dependent on God foreseeing our belief, election wouldn't be election. It would just be a response to something we had done. It would not be of grace. It would be because of something we did. Election, folks, is salvation's root. It's not the fruit of salvation, it's the root of salvation. And all of these arguments are directly refuted by the Holy Spirit in Romans chapter 9. Some of which we read earlier, but I want to direct us back to Romans chapter 9, verse 10. And this makes it clear there's nothing anybody ever did to lead to God's election of his people in Christ. Romans 9 10. And not only this, but there was Rebekah also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac, for though the twins were not yet born, and had not done anything good or bad, so that God's purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works, but because of Him who calls. So it was said to her, the older will serve the younger. Just as it is written, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated, before either was born. What shall we say then? Paul asks. There's no injustice with God, is there? May it never be. He says to Moses, I'll have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy. But verse 18, so then he has mercy on whom he desires, and he hardens whom he desires. What's he mean by that? It means that God allows some who oppose him to remain in their sin, to remain in their hardness of heart. You say he has no right to do that. That's not fair to everybody. Why does he still find fault? Well, Paul understood his readers when he wrote this letter to the church in Rome. That question would come into their heads. And here's what he says on Romans 9 20. Who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, why did you make me like this? Will it? Or does not the potter have a right over the clay to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use? What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? And He did it to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy. which He prepared beforehand for glory. God did foreknow His elect before they were born. It doesn't mean He foresaw what we would do. It meant He was in an intimate, loving relationship with them before they were in the womb, before the foundation of the world. Now, will you argue? Well, God, even God couldn't be in a relationship with one who hasn't been born yet. You don't know God if you think that. Jeremiah 1.4. Jeremiah 1.4. This is God's call on Jeremiah. Magnificent words from the father of prophet Jeremiah, chapter 1, verse 4. Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. That intimate relationship that God had with Jeremiah, before he was formed by God in the womb. Before you were born, before you were born, I consecrated you, set you apart. I've appointed you a prophet to the nations. We must never restrict God to our capabilities. We must never restrict God to time and place. How much scripture do we have to deny so that we may deny the truths of Ephesians 1, 4, 5, and 6? Verse 4, Paul states, the goal of this election is that we would be holy and blameless before Him. Now, none of us has ever been holy and blameless by our own works, by our own merit. We're all sinners. To be holy, though, is to be set apart by God to Himself, to be consecrated to Him for His purposes. Men are chosen, Spurgeon wrote, not because they are blameless before God, but that they may be made blameless before Him. We're not chosen because we're blameless or holy. We're chosen that we may be made blameless. This is the end for which the Lord chose you by His grace. Election comes before holiness, before godly character. Election comes before the new birth. The election is the moving cause in producing godly character. Turn to Ephesians 2.10. I don't know if we still have a bookmark there, but look at Ephesians 2.10. After telling his readers that faith is a gift of God, They were saved by faith, a gift of God. He says this, Ephesians 2.10, For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works. Look at that, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. So the salvation of any sinner is brought about by the will of God, by the work of Christ, and it's applied to sinners by God the Holy Spirit, and it's all by His grace. And when men are presented with the manifestation of this amazing grace, there's only one right response. The only proper response is gratitude and adoration. Not a demand for an explanation. Not a demand for why this and why not that. Every man who seeks to diminish his grace in our salvation, and they are by the millions, stands in opposition to the Word of God here. There are churches And I'm not going to spend much time on this, but we know there are churches that claim to believe what's written in the Bible, but deny the plain meaning of this passage, or find some way to explain it so that it doesn't mean what it says. I suspect we've all been in such places. What happens is people believe those passages that appeal to their human sensibilities, but reject those truths that do not. We're having this going on right now with this sexuality business. Folks, we are not free to pick and choose what we will believe, what we will celebrate, and what we will reject in Scripture. We're not. Let me give you this example. We know this. We read it in the papers all the time now. There are now thousands of churches that say they are Christian, but now deny or ignore what the Bible teaches concerning human sexuality and sexual practice. Now, these have rejected the Word of God. The Word of God says no person who's practicing these practices of aberrant sexuality will inherit the kingdom of God. Period. And it says it several times. These folks have invented a God of their own design who will tolerate things that God says are sin. But the God they've invented is not a God who can save anyone. God says, Romans 1.32, those who practice such things, talking of aberrant sexual behavior, those who practice such things and those who give approval to them will not inherit the kingdom of God. Period. It's as clear as day. Now, what's that have to do with what we're talking about here tonight? Well, the Bible does not explicitly say that those who deny the teachings of verses 4, 5, and 6 here will not inherit the kingdom of God. It doesn't say that. But those who reject the doctrines that are set forth here, I believe are walking perilously close to that same line. Now, nowhere has it said those who don't understand this doctrine or don't receive it will not inherit the kingdom of God, as it does with these human sexual sins. But it's a danger zone to reject the Word of God. And certainly there are those who would say those who would reject what God says here are in great, great trouble. It's important that we understand, folks, that the election of sinners by God is not some one-time doctrine here. It's not a doctrine stated only once in Scripture. It's stated many times. Old Testament and new. Old Testament, out of all humanity, who did God choose? Abram. Why? What had Abram done? His father was an idol worshiper. That's all we really know about him. And he was pretty rich. He chose Abram, the son of an idol worshiper, and blessed him and made a covenant with him. He said, in your seed, I'll bless all the families of the earth. And then he had a couple of sons. God chose Isaac, not Ishmael. He chose Jacob over Esau. Not on the basis of anything either had done. We just read it in Romans. So the Lord then chose Israel, the nation, to be his treasured possession from among all the peoples. Election wasn't new when Paul sat down to write this letter. Even God's raising up of the sons of Jacob was by God's sovereign election of them. Turn to Deuteronomy 7, 6. Deuteronomy chapter 7, verse 6. This has been God's way from before the foundation of the world. And I'm spending this time on this because I know there is some erroneous teaching out there, a lot of it, on these things. Deuteronomy 7, 6, speaking to Israel, For you are a holy people to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. The Lord did not set His love on you, nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all the peoples. But because the Lord loved you in love, he predestined them to be his old covenant people. He loved you and kept the oath which he swore to your forefathers. That oath he made with Abraham, and then Isaac, and then Jacob. Because of that oath, the Lord brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. And I've never met anybody who was offended or thought God unfair because he chose Israel, not the Assyrians or the Babylonians or the Egyptians or the Phoenicians. It's really rather ironic that so many who deny the truth of God's election in Ephesians and many other New Testament books, which we'll look at in a moment, have no hesitation to celebrate his election of Israel. and who still have this romantic fascination for Israel, which had been the Old Testament elect of God. But let's look in the New Testament now. Romans 8, 29. And when you have this discussion, it's almost unfair to somebody who opposes these things because of all the Scripture. All the Scripture supports what Paul writes here. Now some of it he wrote in other letters. There's four other of his letters that he explicitly affirms this doctrine. Romans 8, 29, For those whom he foreknew, with whom he was in an intimate relationship before, he also predestined to become conformed to the image of his Son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brethren. And these whom he predestined, he also called. And these whom he called, he also justified. And these whom he justified, he also glorified. That's start to finish. We're talking about in those two verses from eternity past sweeping all the way into eternity future. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. Verse 13, 2 Thessalonians 2, 13. But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth. It was for this that he called you to our gospel that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Turn to Titus chapter 3. This is one of the very last letters Paul wrote, as was Ephesians and as was 2nd Timothy, which we'll look at in a moment. Titus chapter 3, verse 5. He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration, that's the new birth, and renewing by the Holy Spirit, look at this, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, being justified by His grace, we would also be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This is a trustworthy statement. And concerning these things, I want you to speak confidently, so that those who have believed God will be careful to engage in good deeds. 2 Timothy 1.9. 2 Timothy 1.9. Back a couple of pages. Paul writes of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was granted to us in Christ Jesus, when? From all eternity. and now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. To the right, a few pages, 1 Peter 1. 1 Peter 1, verse 3. I can't tell you how many times I've heard people of some faith say, Well, that's just Paul. Oh, okay. We're going to throw out half the New Testament if that's just Paul. 1 Peter 1.3, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again. This is virtually in every book of the New Testament. Not every one, but every one that addresses it. to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Now Jesus talked a lot about this. Let's go back to the Gospel of John. Gospel of John chapter 6. Now you remember, we read at the beginning, all those chosen in Christ. And then when Jesus prayed, he talks about those you have given me. Well, here it says in John 6, 37, all that the Father gives me will come to me. How would he know that? Well, He was there when we were chosen in Him. And the one who comes to Me, I will certainly not cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all He has given Me, I lose nothing. I raise it up on the last day. Verse 44. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day. I read a couple of verses from John 17, but turn there, I have two more I want to read to us. On the night before he died, Jesus prayed to his Father for those chosen in him. John 17, 6. Speaking of the apostles here, John 17 6, I have manifested your name to the men whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours and you gave them to me and they have kept your word. And then the glorious verse 24, I would hate to think that we weren't resting on an eternal plan of God. I would hate to think this is just being made up as we go along. I would hate to think this depended on anything I did, any thought I had. Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, be with me where I am, so that they may see my glory, which you have given me. For you loved me when? before the foundation of the world. Folks, it's way bigger than us. It's way bigger than us. We are so arrogant in this world. With all that being said, it remains true that it is every man's duty. Don't lose sight of this part. It's every man's duty to acknowledge his sin, to confess his sin before God, and to believe in the gospel. Don't ask me to explain all of that. But also don't ask me to deny what's plainly written in Scripture. If one fails to do those things, if one fails to acknowledge his sin and cry out to God and believe the gospel, it's because that's what he's chosen to do. See, man's will is, in a sense, free, but every man is in bondage to his own will. And apart from a work of God in each man, every man will always choose that which he desires most. And unless God changes his will, that will always be that which gratifies a man. It won't be God. There's none who seek after God. That's what Romans 3.11 tells us. And so, apart from a transforming work of God, men will choose to reject Christ and His gospel, and that will be by their choice, unless God does this merciful, compassionate work, changing their will. God doesn't compel any man to believe, but by His indwelling Spirit, He transforms a sinner He changes our will so that we do desire God, so that we desire the blessing of God above all this earthly stuff. This was the response of godly men to some who denied the doctrines of Ephesians chapter 1 400 years ago. Here's what they said, here's what they wrote in the Canons of Dort. When God accomplishes this, His good pleasure in the elect or works in them, true conversion, He not only provides that the gospel should be outwardly preached to them and powerfully illuminates their minds by the Holy Spirit, that they may rightly understand and discern what are the things of the Spirit of God, but He also, by the efficacy of the same regenerating Spirit, pervades the innermost recess of man, opens what is closed, softens what is hardened, circumcises the uncircumcised heart, and infuses new qualities into the will, and makes a will that had been dead alive. Makes that which was evil, good. Makes that which had been unwilling, now willing. It actuates and strengthens it, that as a good tree, it may now be able to bring forth the fruit of good works. whereupon the will, being now renewed, is not only actuated and moved by God, being actuated by God, itself also becomes active. Wherefore, man himself, by virtue of that grace received, is rightly said to believe and repent. Well, we're going to have much more to say about this as we work through this letter and we're going to stop there for tonight and pick up in verse 5 next week. Lord, we thank you that you've given us your spirit by which we have the ability to have some understanding. Though Lord, it's so unreachable for us to reach into the depths of eternity and into your mind. But Lord, what's plain to us is the blessing you chose to confer on those who seek to gather with you in your church. And Lord, we know it's all a work of your grace, even though we can't not understand every nuance of it. We thank you. And Lord, we worship you. And I pray, Lord, that our responses to your grace will be what you desire, that we will respond always, day by day, in a way that is pleasing to you. Because you have loved us with a love we cannot even begin to fathom. And so, Lord, we stand before you. We pray and we worship you in Christ's name. Amen.