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Good morning, everyone. I encourage you to open your Bibles
this morning to the book of Ephesians, chapter number one. We continue our consideration
in this epistle by the Apostle Paul, Ephesians chapter number
one. And again today it is remarkable
in the providence of God of the parallels between some of the
matters of discussion in the Bible study from Revelation 12
and 13 and some of the thoughts that I have been considering
during the course of the past week and how they have kind of dovetailed
together. Ephesians chapter 1, we still
have those gremlins in our system today. If they get too bad, I'll
just turn this off and try to speak louder. It's not that. I think I will turn it off. I'll begin reading with verse
number three of Ephesians chapter one. and read through verse number
six today. 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. and love He predestined
us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the
purpose of His will, to the praise of His glorious grace, with which
He has blessed us and the beloved. May God bless the reading of
His word, and may His people say, Amen. Let's join together
for a word of prayer. Holy Father, we come before you
again asking for your mercy and grace upon us as we consider
now your word. As has been read in our hearing,
you have given us your inspired word for our instruction, for
our benefit. And we pray, Lord, that you would
bless us in our consideration. Bless me as I try to speak from
it. Give me liberty to preach it
as it ought to be preached, as the Word of God. Give me freedom
and liberty from any fear of any man or any restriction in any way in
that matter. Let me only fear you as I stand
in this sacred place. Give me clarity of thought and
freedom of thought. and freedom to preach your word
clearly and demonstration of the power of the Holy Spirit
and give your people ears to hear. And Lord, if there are
those present that know not Christ as Lord and Savior, would you
move in their minds and their hearts and do a great work of
regeneration and sanctification and call them savingly and lovingly
unto Jesus Christ as their Savior. Forgive us of our sins and use
us mightily in your service. I do pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Last week, we've been in this study now
for three or four weeks, and last week we tried to consider
the spiritual blessings that are enumerated in verses 3 through
14 of this chapter. And among those blessings are
redemption and forgiveness of sins, the fact that we have the
revelation and knowledge of God's purpose in history, a holy heritage,
that being both that God has given us a holy heritage and
that we are God's holy heritage, and that we are sealed with the
Holy Spirit. And I would note today that the
fountains from which these blessings flow are God's sovereign election
and predestination, His sovereign decrees of election and predestination. Now we noted a little bit about
both of these doctrines last week, but the apostle declares
to us that those who are redeemed and forgiven by the blood of
the Lamb are the same ones that the Holy Spirit enlightens and
seals, and that these are the same people that the Father has
predestined and elected unto salvation. And we've noted on
more than one occasion, both last Sunday morning in worship
and then we had opportunity again in small groups later on, and
I know this has been noted on more than one occasion, we have
noted that the act then of salvation is an act of the Trinity, of
the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Even as Pastor Tyler
yesterday in the wedding ceremony made a point of the covenant
of marriage and how it references and reflects the covenant of
salvation, that the Father, in the eternal covenant agreement
with His Son, before the foundation of the world, chooses those who
will be members of His redeemed family. And that the Son then
redeems those that the Father has chosen. He redeems them by
His blood. And the Spirit effectually changes
the elect by giving them new hearts and granting us communion
with the Father and the Son. And he does that by dwelling
within us. We actually have the Holy Spirit
living within us. Now I also would point out today
that I want to know what I'll call three antecedent doctrines
of predestination and election. that these doctrines don't just
hang out there like ripe fruit all by themselves. They're not
just empty, or I shouldn't say empty, they're not just separated
doctrines that you pick up off of the ground, but they really
are attached. They are fruit that are attached
to limbs, that are attached to the tree, that have roots. They
grow from other doctrines. And so they have antecedent doctrines,
things that precede them, teachings that precede them. They're not
isolated. They don't stand by themselves.
And three doctrines that I would mention that are antecedent doctrines
that I would mention this morning are the love of God, the depravity
of man, and the sovereignty of God. Now, if you'll notice in
Ephesians chapter 1, Verse 4, 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. Now, depending on the translation
you may be using, there might be some variation in the way
that that sentence is structured. Some translations may have the
words in love connected to the end of verse four. It may say
that you should be holy and blameless before him in love. That may
be the way it's attached. And then other translations will
have it arranged the way I just read it to you. It'll attach
those verses to in love he predestined us. Well, as Dr. Godfrey mentioned
this morning, the Bible hasn't always had verses and chapter
divisions. The Old Testament had divisions
of chapters and verses long before the New Testament did. The first
English New Testament to have verses was in 1557. And then
later on, The first entire Bible to have
chapters and verses was the Geneva Bible. And so that was the first
one that actually had the entire Bible that was divided into chapters
and verses. And I'm not sure how the Geneva
actually divided this one out here. But I think the way that I've
read it to you from the ESV is a very good division by saying
that love is attached and is the motive for predestination,
because that seems very consistent with Romans 8, 29, where we read,
for those whom he foreknew, he also predestined, particularly
when you understand the meaning of the word foreknow. It's not
simply that it's the prior knowledge of God, But it's talking about
the love of God, those that God loved, He loved beforehand, are
the same ones He predestined. And so that's what we have here
in Ephesians, that in love He predestined us for adoption as
sons to Jesus Christ according to the purpose of His will. Now here's part of the issue. Some, if not a lot of people,
view the love of God as monolithic. They view it as His love being
all the same. That He loves everybody the same. He loves everyone the same way. Well, that's just nonsense and
you know it. The Bible doesn't say that. And we know that God's electing
love discriminates. I would just simply point you,
I'm not going to take the time right now, I thought I might,
but if I do that, I know my time will just go from me. But I could
point you to Romans 9, verses 9 through 18, and you can see
that the love, the electing love of God is a discriminating love.
But let me take you to Matthew 5 for a moment, just to point
that out. In Matthew 5, Jesus is teaching about electing, excuse
me, about common grace. Trying to get my watch figured
out here where I can see what time it is. There it is. In Matthew 5 and
verses 43 and following, Jesus is teaching about common grace
and how you and I as disciples should emulate God. And he starts off by saying,
you've heard it was said, you shall love your neighbor and
hate your enemy, but I say to you, love your enemies, pray
for those who persecute you so that you may be sons of your
father who is in heaven. And then he says, Christ says,
for he makes his son rise on the evil and on the good and
sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those
who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors
do the same? And he goes on, and then he says
at the end in verse 48, you must be perfect as your heavenly Father
is perfect. Now, the implication there is
that God, in a general benevolent way, in a common grace way, in
a general I've already said it, in a general benevolent way,
sends His reign and His Son on the good and the evil, on the
just and the unjust. And you need to be like God the
Father in your works. You are to love your enemies.
And so you are to do good to those that like you and those
that don't like you, even to your enemies. You're to love
your enemies. Now, does that mean that I have
this warm, emotional relationship with my enemies? Of course not. Does God redemptively love the
unjust and the wicked? Well, of course not. No, He doesn't. But He does good to them, just
as I am to do good to my enemies. I can love my enemy that way,
but I do not love them the same way I love a brother and sister
in Christ, or the same way I love my family. That's totally different. I've heard it explained this
way, and I've used this analogy here before. a person who believes
very much in helping people. They work all day, and they get
off from work in downtown Savannah. And they fight the traffic in
the afternoon, and they go to a shelter downtown, and they
help the homeless. And they get nothing for it.
They do it simply because they are a caring person. They care
about people. You can say they love people.
And they go help people. Like God sending His rain and
sun on the just and the unjust. They go and they help. And they
get through there and they go home. And they have to still
fight the traffic and work their way home after a long day's work. And they're tired and they're
worn out. But they've gone and helped people because that's
the kind of person they are. They're a caring person. And
yet when they get home, here comes their four or five-year-old
child running up to them with their arms open, smiling big,
greeting them at the end of the day, and they look at that child
and their smile beams across their face, and they grab them
in their arms and they pick them up. Don't tell me they love that
child the same way they loved and help those people downtown.
They don't. It's totally different. God's redemptive love is different.
We are his children, his bride, his family. Christ loved his
church in Ephesians 5 and gave himself for his church. So Paul states that it's in love
that he predestined us. Now think about that. There's
never been a moment in all of eternity when those that God in love predestined
and chose have not been on the heart of God. Never. Never. Before there was anything, his people were on his heart. As long as God has existed, his
love was set upon his people. That is, from the foundation
of the world, in love he predestined us for adoption through Jesus
Christ. Now, you begin to see then how
these doctrines are a tremendous blessing, and they are the fountain
from which these other blessings flow. And they're really not
subjects for argument, but rather they're doctrines for praise. That the Lord loves a sinner
like me, and in love he predestines according
to the kind intentions of his will. Which really then takes
us to the second I was going to say prerequisite
here, but the second antecedent doctrine here. And that is depravity. That is,
I am undeserving. That his law of an election are
unconditional, that it's according, we go back up to verse five,
it's according to the purpose of his will. Between the years 1999 and 2014, the number of babies born in
the US that were opioid addicted, were born to opioid addicted
mothers, more than quadrupled during that time frame. I don't
know after that. I didn't see any numbers for
that. But sadly, A baby that is born to a mother
who is an addict is an addict. Did you hear what I said? A baby born to a mother who is
an addict is an addict. And each year in the United States,
about 32,000 newborns diagnosed with neonatal abstinence
syndrome. That's four babies, what, per hour? And, of course, these babies
have other issues. They have other problems, quote,
defects, impaired growth, brain development, They have lifelong
problems including later addiction problems and etc. Babies born to human parents and their human parents are sinners.
Babies born to human parents are born sinners. And all humans are sinners. And in 2021, there were 3,659,289
babies born in the United States. And every one of them were born
in that same condition. And every one of those children
were born infected and affected by sin and under the penalty
of death. We don't like to hear that because
that's a baby. But they were born under the
penalty of death. And sin is not merely environmental,
it's genetic. It's our nature. And it's not
what it's not enough to be well behaved and smart and successful. But I we all I need redemption. I need forgiveness. I need salvation. And that's what he talks about
right here in Ephesians 1 four. That before the foundation of
the world. That God loved and he chose from
fallen, sinful people to save. And it's not based on
the person, but it's based on God. It's based on his purpose,
out of his love, based on his purpose, according to his good
will. And out of love, he chooses based
on his purpose, not what he sees in me, because there's nothing
in me to see that's good. And then there's one other, the
other antecedent here is the sovereignty of God. And we see
that repeated in this chapter in verse 5, in verse 9, in verse
11. And that is according to the
purpose of His will. According to the purpose of His
will. According to the purpose of His
will. And this is what I want us to
kind of focus on now. because God's sovereignty is
a true purpose and cause for praise and encouragement. But
that, according to the purpose of His will, is God is not indebted.
He doesn't owe me. He doesn't owe sinners. It's
not my right. But His choice, His love, His
actions of salvation are free and unconditional. And when you
think that that choice in salvation includes the giving of His own
Son as a sin bearer, then truly it becomes a matter of glorious
praise. Now in our confession in chapter
3, paragraph 7, and I think this is on your notes, it says this. It's talking about the doctrine
of predestination. So I just gave you the answer.
It says this, so shall, and that doctrine is made up of two parts.
Usually when I talk and teach about predestination or election,
I spend a class or two getting into the various parts of it.
And usually you think about Ford Nation being the big umbrella.
And under the big umbrella, you have, the big umbrella is basically
Ephesians 111. All things come under that. And then predestination
comes under the big umbrella. And now you're talking about
rational creatures. And that's angels and men and their end. And then coming under the rational
creatures, it's made up of two parts. Predestination comes down
to election and reprobation. That goes back to the Bible study
lesson this morning. He got into that a little bit
in Revelation 12. And so that's the way we usually
think about that, and we start teaching on that. But in our
confession, it makes this statement. So shall this doctrine afford
matter of praise, reverence, and admiration of God, and of
humility, diligence, and abundant consolation. This doctrine shall
afford matter of praise, reverence, and admiration of God, and of
humility, diligence, and abundant consolation to all that sincerely
obey the gospel. The point of reading that is
we often think of this as being cold and indifferent and something
to argue about. And our confession says, no,
it's something of warmth and devotion and of humility and
consolation. And that's what I want to think
about with you now for a few minutes. Now you recall that when we started
out in this book, we mentioned that if the book of Ephesians
is general or specific, and we looked at that statement in verse
1, to the saints who were in Ephesus, We talked some about
the phrase in Ephesus, whether that belonged in the text or
not. And I said, it really doesn't matter. In some ways it's irrelevant. I wasn't trying to be dismissive
of it, but I said in some ways it's irrelevant because most
cities in the Roman Empire were similar. And most churches in
the Roman Empire faced the same issues. So whether or not it
was written specifically to the church at Ephesus or it was a
general epistle really wasn't the key matter because most of
the churches face the same issues. And I also said that the culture
and the world at that time and the culture in the world and
the heart of the unbeliever, whether it was in Ephesus or
some other town around, it really didn't matter because their hearts
were the same. And the culture basically was
the same. Whether they were in Rome or
Corinth or Ephesus or Jerusalem, it really didn't matter. And
also it didn't really matter if whether or not, whether you
were in Atlanta or Jessup or Brunswick or Berkshire or Glenville,
basically we're all the same. The unbeliever's heart's all
the same, and the church, and what we face is basically all
the same. That we live in a world that's turned upside down. And
it's not turned upside down by Christians, but by wickedness and immorality. And sometimes it just flat seems
insane to us, doesn't it? It's just like, have people gone
crazy? And we think of Isaiah 520. Woe
to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for
light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and
sweet for bitter. And we go, our world doesn't make sense
anymore. I'm looking at you and I'm seeing
some, but do you ever, I think, you feel that way a lot of times,
don't you? And I don't think it's just a
phase. It's not a matter, we just have more news coverage. Saint Augustine of Hippo wrote
in his confessions, you have made us for yourself, oh Lord,
and our hearts are restless until they rest in you. And I've often presented Isaiah
55, first part of the chapter, using that confession from Augustine,
of the invitation, come, come and buy bread and wine and milk
without cost, because there is this need within us, a need that
can't be met, this, what later on we would call a God-shaped
hole in the soul of man, It's not met with the things of this
world that only God can fill it. We got in a brief conversation
in Bible study about our society this morning, our culture. We
discussed what is our culture? How do we identify our culture?
And that's a good question. There's a question whether or
not we still live in a post-modern society, or have we gone past
the post-modern society? And for the sake of the argument
right now, I'll say we're still in a post-modern society, even
though some are saying we're coming out of it into a different
one. But for right now, I'll say we're in a post-modern society.
And the hole in the post-modern society is not God-shaped. But
it's a shape shifter. And that's what makes it so crazy.
That's why it doesn't make sense to us. It can be a gay-shaped hole. Or it can be a gender-shaped
hole. Or a BL, Black Lives Matter,
BLM-shaped hole. Or an abortion-shaped hole. or
a CRT-shaped hole, or any other specialized community-shaped
hole. And that's why we scratch our
heads sometimes when we try to figure out what's going on, because
it doesn't make sense to a lot of us. As I was thinking about
some of this, I stumbled across a website called Teen Talk. And
they identified eight genders. And they wrote this. I'm quoting. We know that there are many other
ways someone may identify or may define themselves. And some
people prefer not to label who they are at all. You get to decide
who you know yourself to be and what, if anything, you like to
be called. There it is. It's shifting shapes. And there's this hole. And people
want to fill the hole. And how do they fill the hole?
Well, let me identify who I am. It's not recognized in the same
ways. And so that led recently, I'm sure most of you know this,
to a school district in Wisconsin that filed a Title IX complaint
against three eighth graders. And a Title IX is a serious complaint. And they filed a Title IX complaining
against three eighth graders, accusing them of sexual harassment. And just in the last few days
has that been pulled back, but that is serious. You know who
did their crime? They didn't use the right pronoun. They didn't use the right pronoun
to refer to a classmate. They didn't call them they. in their eighth grade. And just
recently, and I certainly am no fan of Lakewood Church, but
was it last week or the week before in Lakewood Church, where
the women stood up and began to strip their clothes and profanely,
profanely declared their right of abortion? Shapeshifting. They
have this whole, my right for abortion. Let me declare it to
you. It's not just me, but let me tell you in your face. or President Biden proclaiming
June last year, this year. I can't even get all the letters
right, but LGBTQI plus month. And he signed his presidential
proclamation. And this is the month. And he
called upon all the people of the United States to recognize
the achievements of the community, and to celebrate and to wave
their flags of pride high. And then our embassies and other government
buildings here and abroad fly that same flag on the same pole
as our national flag. I could see us flying the Christian
flag on the same pole, couldn't you? Yes, we live in a world of clashing
cultures. It's postmodern culture. In a
postmodern culture, people or certain communities of a population
are the essential factor in deciding what's moral or even judicial. And morality and legality revolve
around certain communities and their happiness. And things like
scripture or objective Facts are rejected. Legal standards
are rejected. Even science is rejected. That
was under humanism. At least you had claims of science. But you know where Ephesians
starts? Ephesians starts with God. Right where the Bible starts. And my point is, it's not just
you, and it's not just me that the world seems crazy to. It is. Because as a believer, we have
a God-centered view. And our view is founded on God.
A God who purposes and guides the course of history. And a
view that was read, 2 Timothy 3, of the authority of scripture,
that's God's authoritative word. And a view of Jesus Christ, who
is lawgiver and judge, before whom we stand. So let's think for just a few
minutes here. And I know time's about gone,
but let's think for just a few minutes. on the sovereignty of
God. Because that's where the book
starts. It starts right there. And the culture they were in
was a culture upside down. It was a culture of the goddess
of Artemis. And it was bottom side up. And
Paul, almost like in Mars Hill, says, let me tell you about God. And this is where he goes. This
is God. So what is the sovereignty of
God? We started the service today
with a very simple definition of the sovereignty of God. Pastor John read it. Psalm 115
verse 3. Our God is in the heavens. He
does all that He pleases. That's it. I can read to you
from systematic theologies, and believe me, I've read a stack
this week. I can read to you from systematic
theologies and give you, I'm gonna give you a couple of the
definitions, but that's as good as it gets. Psalm 115, verse
three. God does what He pleases. Now, Sister Tanya, if you can move
up one. This is from J.I. Packer, from
a book in 1961, Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God. He takes
a subtle approach. And he asks the questions, why
do you pray? He says, if you're a Christian,
I know you pray. Why do you pray? Well, you pray because you know
God can do what you can't do. God is sovereign. Do you thank God for your salvation?
Why do you do that? Because you know you can't save
yourself. Well, God is sovereign. Do you ever pray for the conversion
of others? Why would you do that? Because
you know you can't save them. Well, God is sovereign. And then
he makes this statement toward the end of that section. What
is true is that all Christians believe in divine sovereignty,
but some are not aware that they do. He's being very nice, isn't
he? And mistakenly imagine and insist
they reject it. That they reject it. On our feet
we may have arguments about it, but on our knees we are all agreed.
And so that was Packer's very nice way of defining and getting into the
discussion about sovereignty. Go to the next one, please. And
R.C. Sproul has always been a little
bit more confrontational. And Dr. Sproul wrote, if there
is one single molecule in this universe running around loose,
totally free of God's sovereignty, And then we have no guarantee
that a single promise of God will ever be fulfilled. Now that
kind of got the ire of some folks up. And one fellow wrote in response,
we ourselves don't control everything, and yet we make future plans
and bring them to pass all the time. Ever promise your kids
to bring them to an amusement park and then make it happen?
To say that God cannot accomplish anything without controlling
everything is to say that God cannot do what mere men do all
the time. Calvinists make God less than
a man. It is a weak and impotent God
who cannot grant free will to his creatures and still accomplish
his purposes and plans. I read that and I thought, well,
goodness, and James 4 comes to my mind. Come now, ye that say,
today or tomorrow we will go into this city and spend a year
there and trade and get gain. Whereas you do not know what
shall be on the morrow. What is your life? For you are
a vapor that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away.
That you ought to say, if the Lord will, if the Lord will,
we shall both live and do this or that. But now your glory is
your vauntings. All such glory is evil. To him, therefore, that knoweth
to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin. And I would
simply say to that fellow, how many times have you made plans
and they didn't come to fruition? So tell me about those times.
Will God's plans come to what he planned them, to the purpose
then he planned them to? Now the consolation of sovereignty. In Ecclesiastes 12 there is a
somewhat humorous but way too honest word picture of getting
old. I realized just the other day
my daughter Rebecca was in the kitchen and I was there and I
was trying to open a jar of pickles and I thought I'm not going to
get this jar of pickles opened. It was, you know, like, good
grief. What's happened to the hand strength? I'm gonna have
to go buy one of those jar opener things. That's gonna be embarrassing. Or when you sit down at the breakfast
table, and you hear snap, crackle, and pop, and you're eating oatmeal,
not Rice Krispies. Proverbs 20 verse 29 says that
the glory of a young man is their strength, but the splendor of
old men is their gray hair. That's true, Damien, as long
as you keep your hair. I don't know about bald-headed men, but
I'm finding out. So yes, strength is that for
the younger men, and I don't know about us old men. I heard
once that you know you're old, when other men quit seeing you
as a fret. You laugh, but now that one,
there's a lot of truth in that one. But a long time before that happens,
there are many things that can humble you, men, and make you
feel impotent and hopeless and vulnerable, and nothing more
so than your family, your wife, your children, I don't mean that
they do it in a, they set out to do it, that's not what I mean. I mean that there's nothing more
frustrating as a dad or a husband than feeling powerless. Than to be able to do what God
made you to do and called you to do. and you have in your very
genes to do. And that is to keep them from
all harm and protect them. That's part of our calling. That's
providing for our household. And if it's in our ability to
do it and we didn't do it, then we would be worse than an infidel
if we didn't do that. That's to love our wives as our
own flesh. And we love our children. And
I know there's not anything that we wouldn't do as fathers to protect them, if we can. And many of you men are trained,
and you're skilled, and you're very effective at what you do. And some of you young men are
very strong. And you can accomplish tasks that require a lot of strength. And some of you are very smart. And you can rely on your wit
and your brain power to work yourself out of situations or
work out a situation. And it could be, I don't think
it's so, but it could be that some of you men have yet to face
a situation where your native gifts, your strength, your intelligence,
your sheer willpower and determination, your love was not enough to overcome
whatever it was that you had to overcome. I don't know. Maybe you haven't
come to that place yet. You probably have. If you haven't,
you will. Have you ever come to the place
where you've had to come to grips with the reality, I'm talking
about the stone cold reality, that you're not in control? No matter how bad you want to
be, you're not. Because that's something we like
to have, isn't it? But the reality is God is in
control, that God is sovereign. Now we say God is sovereign.
We say that's a core belief. And yet, I want give me control. And then I fret when I'm not until I come to that place when
I realize I don't want to be in control. Because there are things that
are bigger and greater and stronger and a lot more powerful than
I am, no matter how great and powerful and strong or smart
or whatever I may think I am, or trained or whatever, and I
may be. Which brings us to the consolation
of God's sovereignty. God's sovereignty does not negate
my responsibility, or responsibilities, plural. In fact, it encourages my responsibilities. A lot of people say, well, if
God's sovereign, then why do this or why do that? Well, my
answer is, well, why not? Good gracious, it encourages
me in my responsibilities. Because God is over all things
and God is great. Well, then I know that Even my weak endeavors can be
used by an almighty God far beyond anything I can begin
to imagine. He can take some dirt and turn
it into a great father, a great Christian, a great preacher,
a great witness. I can never do that. He can. Our sufferings and our sorrows
and our persecutions, our defeats and our weaknesses are not accidents,
but they're used, they're orchestrated by God. And He uses weak and flawed vessels. And you're not always going to
be here, and I'm not always going to be here. Some of your family
will be, and then what? God's here. He's always here. And the question that Packer
had, why do you pray for conversion? Well, because God can do what
I can't do, and the very reality is that One of the greatest desires
of our heart is the conversion and salvation of our family members. And you may be one of the most
skilled people in the world, but you cannot save your family. Only God can. And the reality
is he can save the most stubborn-headed, hard-hearted, hard-hearted sinner
in the world. You're looking at one. And then those that God saves,
He keeps saved. He doesn't lose them. That is
a despicable fault that God saves somebody today and loses them
tomorrow. But they're kept in His hand and no one takes them
out of His hand. Because He's greater than anyone. No, sovereignty is not a doctrine
to be opposed. It's not one to be proud about. But it's one to be humbled before
and thankful for. And it's one to keep you and
me from bitterness and fear. I want to close with one last
thought here. So I'm going to go to the book
of Job for just a moment. If you'll just turn there just
in closing. If you were to search around
in the Bible for a classic example of a good father, who would you go to? Well, Job certainly would be
in the top running there, I think. He'd certainly be a father figure.
In Job 1, verse 1, we're told that he was blameless and upright,
one that feared God, turned away from evil. In verse 5 of Job
1, we're told that he would rise early in the morning. He would
offer burnt offerings for his children. For Job said, it may
be that my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts,
though thus Job did continually. So Job's children are gone, but
he would still pray for his children. He still cared for them. And yet, you know the story of
Job. You know the tragedies that befell him. And Job recognized the sovereignty
of God. In chapter one, verse 21, he knew, now he's not privy to the
conversation that went on between God and Satan, he doesn't know
any of that. But he knew, and he's not trying to protect God,
like people today, well God just, maybe he allowed this. He knew
what happened came from God. In verse 21 he said, Naked I
came from my mother's womb and naked shall I return the Lord
gave and the Lord has taken away. God did this. And he's right. This was from God. Blessed be
the name of the Lord. And all this job did not sin
or charge God with long. Well, eventually, Job, I'll just
say he cracked. I don't know. Maybe that's not
the best way to say it. But eventually, Job cracked. And that's understandable. Maybe
sometime we can look at that more. But he cursed the day of
his birth. He contended with God. He wanted
to know where God was. He said, I'd like to come before
him. I'd like to lay out my case, but I can't find him. I turn
to the left, he's not there. I turn to the right, he's not
there. I go forward, he's not there. I go backwards, he's not there.
I'd like to know where he is. And like many others, Job wrestled
with God's ways with the wicked. This is in Job 23 and 24. And
in Job 31, Job wrestles and he argues that he has maintained
his integrity. He said, I could understand this
if I had done this, or if I had done that, if I had done the
other, if I had, and you read through that chapter and see
all the ifs, ifs, ifs, ifs. So he's maintaining his integrity.
I haven't done these things. I've maintained my integrity.
Why is this happening? Well, you go to Job 38 and God
begins to answer Job. He tells him to hitch up his
pants. He's about to answer him. And there are about 75 questions
God asking. And the first one is enough to
wither you. And Job just melts under the
questions, because they come, just one after the other, after
the other. And you move through Job 38,
39, 40, 41, and just questions. It's like, where were you when
I laid the foundations of the earth? Wow. And through those chapters, there
is a display and a laying out of the sovereignty of God. In Job 42, Verse 2, Job says,
I know this is at the end of everything of that. Now, I think
he believed this before, but now he'll say, I've heard of
you, but my eyes now see you. But he says in verse 2, I know
that you can do all things, and that no purpose of you can be
thwarted. I don't doubt that he believed
the sovereignty of God in chapter 1, but in chapter 42, he got
a different job. He came to a greater understanding
of the sovereignty of God. In all of his sorrow, God never
tells him why. He just told him who. And the
answer is a sovereign God. A sovereign God. And with this understanding of
the sovereignty of God, I can only imagine Job was a much,
much better father and a better husband as you move forward.
Because yes, he does have more children. He does have a family. And so in a crazy upside-down
world of Ephesus, of Asia Minor, with the temple cult of Artemis,
that's where Paul began. Basically what the psalmist said,
our God is in the heavens. He does all that he pleases.
And that's what I would have you to know today in our crazy
upside down world. Our God is in the heavens and
he is doing what he pleases. Let's pray together. Holy Father, we bow before you.
And we confess that we live in a crazy world, and we often feel
like we're going nowhere, and often the wrong places in our
minds, in our lives, our hearts. We see many threats and dangers
before our families, things that are too big for us, dangers that we don't quite know
how to handle or wrestle with or to respond to. They're not
physical in nature. And Lord, it's... Lord, we're thankful that you
are the sovereign of heaven and earth. And while we would not abdicate
our duties, our responsibilities, we are encouraged that you can
bless our feeble efforts. And we are encouraged, Lord,
that you are on your throne. And we come before you as the
sovereign of heaven and earth. And we plead for your mercy and
your grace in the lives of those that we love. Upon our family
members, our children, our grandchildren, our extended family. We pray,
Father, for light to shine forth from the Church of the Lord Jesus
Christ into the world. We pray, Lord, that you would
use us as weak vessels to be your ambassadors in this
world. We ask for your guidance, for wisdom, of courage, and we
offer our prayer in the name of Christ our Lord. Amen. Let's stand together as we sing
the great hymn of the Reformation. Actually, Martin Luther wrote
this hymn in one of the most difficult years of his life,
A Mighty Fortress is Our God, hymn number 53.
Doctrines of Divine Comfort and Consolation
Series Ephesians
| Sermon ID | 72221838296901 |
| Duration | 1:02:34 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | Ephesians 1:3-6 |
| Language | English |
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