To embarrass me, we'll go to the Lord in prayer. Our great Heavenly Father, we have come here today for the purpose of corporate worship. Lord, we've come here to hear Your Word, that Your Holy Spirit might speak to us, that it would change our lives, Father, that we would look upon You with a new outlook, Father, that we would see You for who You are. Lord, there are so many distractions that would take us away from this, and I pray, Father, that you would be here in the power of your Holy Spirit and that you would open our eyes, that you would open our dull eyes, Father, and show us your glory. We thank you for all that you've done, Lord, and we pray that every moment of this time is glorified to your name, for that is our chief end, Father, to glorify you and enjoy you forever. I pray this in the name of Jesus, our Lord and Savior. Amen. Ephesians chapter one. Verses three through six, if you would turn there and follow along with me as I read to you the word of the Lord. Ephesians one beginning in verse three, Paul writes, Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ. who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places 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. Stop there. Paul has opened up this wonderful letter with the doxology of praise, which he began in verse three here, praising God, blessing God for giving to us every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. And then what he does here is he goes on and he tells us just how truly blessed we really are. And he does this by viewing our redemption, our precious salvation from sin and from death with a view to an eternal perspective. Now, I've pointed this out before if you've been with us. So just as a reminder, from verse three to verse 14, what we have there is one single sentence in the Greek, one single sentence where the apostle simply pours out the truth of our salvation by viewing it from eternity past. from the presence aspect of our salvation and what awaits us in the future, our inheritance. Now, today, we're going to finish up looking at our salvation from the viewpoint of eternity past. This is where Paul deals with the past aspect of our redemption from from verse four to the middle of verse six, where we just stopped now. Verse four, which we looked at last week, shows a very, very important truth that we As Christians were chosen unto salvation before the foundation of the world itself. That is to say that in eternity past, God chose whom he would lavish the riches of his grace upon, and then we who believe Christians were chosen in him before we ever drew one single breath on this earth, before God even made the world. Now that, that is truly astounding to think about. It's astounding to me, and it should be astounding to you as well, to think that God, the eternal, all-knowing, infinite, the almighty God of the universe, had me in mind before the world ever began. That is a wonderful thought. But to think that in his mind, he also knew what kind of wretch I would be What kind of sinner I would be and that still in spite of me, in spite of my sin, God chose to elect me to be the recipient of his saving grace. Now, that thought makes my heart leap for joy. You see why, Paul? here in these verses just breaks out into this wonderful outpouring of praise. These thoughts are flooding his mind as the Holy Spirit shows him how super abundantly blessed Christians truly are. That from before the world was made, God set His affections on sinful men and women. That He knew beforehand. He knew we would fall into sin. He knew we would fall into rebellion. That from before the world began, He chose us out of that world of sin. To be his forever. The whole truth, the biblical truth about God's sovereign election of sinners is one of the most wonderful things that we can ever peer into. And listen to me now, if you think that this is just all a big waste of time, that these are just theological issues that should be confined to a dark classroom for for professors and theologians, it's very obvious. That you have a heart that is not set on spiritual things. It's very obvious that you followed a culture that simply wants a preacher to stand up and tell you 10 steps to having a better life now. Christians, these things are for us. These are for our joy. They're so your joy can be made complete. They are here so that you and I fall on our faces and worship an eternal and all powerful, almighty God. And I mean, look at this right here. Paul shows us the most astounding thing that God has ever done for sinful men. We have the privilege. of touring through the scriptures and getting a little glimpse, a little glimpse of the plans of God before time itself. This is amazing. And I would not have you ignorant of these things, and I couldn't contain them myself, even if I wanted you ignorant. This is praiseworthy. Our hearts should melt with joy. They should melt with awe. They should be poured out in thanksgiving when we see these wonderful truths. So, the question is, what do these things mean to you? Do you have a heart? Do you have a desire to know spiritual things? Do you have a heart that wants to peer into the plans of an almighty, gracious God? And it's as if he's saying to us here, come on, my sons, my daughters, take a look into this. Take a look into my sovereign plan of salvation, my master plan. My perfect plan that I made from before the world even existed. Look into it and see yourself there in my mind. I can't tell you how many emotions flood my mind in the wake of this wonderful truth that there I was before I was even born. Verse five here, Paul just keeps going. He uses two central terms here. Their predestination and adoption are the two big words in the verse, their adoption being the central of the terms used here, while predestination simply shows us that Paul is he's still looking back into the realm of eternity past. He's looking into our our past redemption. As it says, he predestined us to adoption. So we're going to quickly take a look at the word predestined and then we'll jump into the main point here, the wonderful and beautiful truth of adoption. It is. essential to understand, and it is praiseworthy as well. Predestined in the Greek chorizo. There's no debate on the meaning of the word. There's none. The word means this to decide beforehand, to destine, to decree, to determine, to appoint or to settle beforehand. Zodiati's word study says this about the The word predestined used here in Ephesians, he says here, it is presented not as an arbitrary or whimsical exercise of raw will or unreasoned impulse, but as the expression of a deliberate and wise plan which purposes to redeem those undeserving sinners whom God freely favors as the objects of his mercy. So, in other words, this is what it says in the Greek God. In his master plan of salvation, God predetermined, he appointed, he destined, he settled, he determined beforehand to adopt certain people as his sons. Simple as that. God chose to adopt specific people as his son. That is what the text says. And that is the definition of predestination. And listen, this is not something we should run from. This is amazing. This is amazing. So, as I said, Paul keeps us in what we would see in our human perspective as a realm of eternity past here, beyond the confines of time for us. Going back in our own minds anyways, he shows us that not only did God choose us for him from before the foundations of the world, but that he, that God in choosing us God also predestined us to adoption as sons. That's the key central issue of this passage. Now, as I told you when we started Ephesians, I don't know what it was, five sermons ago. I hope that you as Christians. Are at least starting to grasp just a little bit about the truth of the identity that you have in Christ. I hope you're starting to at least sense how blessed you really are in Christ, that you are predestined for this. So great is your identity in Christ that God planned it all out before the world was made. This is amazing to understand your identity, so let's dive in here. And be ready to see how rich you truly are in Christ, because this is absolutely amazing. We have seen what predestination means. Let's look at the point of predestination. And I have six points today here in the text. We're going to look at the motive behind the predetermined plan. We're going to look at the purpose of the plan. We're going to look at the means by which this plan was carried out, how this is all possible. Also, to whom? Who to whom are we adopted? Why God has done this and the results. The result of this knowledge, why God is sharing with us this whole idea of truth in his word, what is this knowledge supposed to result in? So the motive, the purpose, the means to whom, why and the results. Now we'll start with the motive. Go back to verse four. The last two words there in verse 4 say, in love, in many of your translations. Now, these two words come at the end of verse 4, and they're marked with commas, and I think the King James translation, some of your translations have no sentence structure really at all there. The New American Standard has a period thereafter, before him, and then in love, beginning verse 5. Now, it can be confusing to try to distinguish what's going on here. But remember, as I told you, in the Greek there's no commas, there's no periods, there's no stops, there's no slowdowns, there's nothing to indicate that Paul paused for one moment in writing this whole 202 word sentence out. It's all one big piece. Now, the reason why every translation is so different is that the translators are simply trying to put this all into a readable English format here, and so they just put things where they think they ought to go. Keep in mind. The verse markings, the commas, the periods in your Bible are not inspired. They're there. They're all added by the translators to help us with difficult particular portions of scripture so that we don't get set off by all the confusions that could happen here in translation. So the end of verse four, last two words would be in love in the Greek, Greek version of this in love. Now, I believe that begins at the beginning of verse five. That's what I think there's many other scholars. I'm not going to debate it. There's a little debate on whether Paul's talking about the motive for being holy and blameless or whether he's talking about the motive for God's predestination. A plain reading of the text indicates that it's about God's motive for predestination. Now, we have to follow this through with an understanding of the whole counsel of God says here in love, he predestined us to adoption. We can't skip over that. We have to go back here to the central theme of the gospel message for God. So love the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever should believe in him should not perish, but have eternal life. Now. Keeping keeping this all in mind, the biblical definition of love is not. Some flowery little emotion. It's not some fuzzy feeling in your stomach. It's not something that just kind of buzzes up inside of you. Agape love, biblical love, is a disposition of the heart to go and seek out and meet the welfare and needs of others. As Jesus said to his disciples, greater love has no one than this, then that one lay down his life for his friends. Now follow this now and don't be numb to it. You've probably heard this all before, but you need to open up here. God's love was so great for us that God himself took on the form of a man and laid down his life for the ones that he chose to adopt into his family. Listen to me now. God himself became a man. He became flesh. And, as we know from Philippians, although he existed in the form of God, he did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking on the form of a bondservant and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in the appearance as a man, he humbled himself. God humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death. even death on a cross. That is the biblical definition of love. That is love. That is love we cannot even fathom in our wretchedness. That God himself laid aside the glories of heaven, his infinite glories, and he came down here and he died on a cross. He bore our sin in his body. He bore the payment for our transgressions. It is love that God would die for us. The ultimate act, the ultimate act of divine love was settled before time. God determined this before the foundation of the world that he would give his only son, that God himself would come in the form of a man and he would die as a propitiation for our sins. This is love. When we ponder this, when we ponder the mysteries of the cross, when we look at it in fear and wonder, and our minds cannot possibly conceive what it was that kept Jesus on the cross, What was it that took God himself out of heaven, out of the high courts of never ending praise? What was it that caused the creator to die for his creation? It's the divine act of love. This is the love of God. And if you're thinking, well, pastor, you know, God is love. Why is this so amazing to you? We talk about this all the time. Everyone knows this. Let me tell you something. I don't just look at the love of God and ignore the rest of his attributes as so many superficial Christians would today. The love of God has become so sanitized and culturalized and twisted and shaped into this sentimental postcard expression that most people have no idea what the implications of this truth is that it was in love that God predestined us to sons. There was a time when people also believed in the perfect justice of God. People also believed in the holiness of God when people were shocked, when they were astounded to hear the preaching about God's love because the doctrine was so difficult to fit into our minds in view of the rest of His attributes. But now we live in a culture where the love of God surprises no one. It's all self-esteem now. It's a world where we think, well, why wouldn't God love me? I'm as good as the next guy. I'm not as bad as that guy. I'm OK. You're OK. God loves me. God loves you. God is just love all the time. And he could never not love someone. Do you see what we've done to the love of God? We've made it trivial. We've made it laughable, we've made it silly because we have ignored everything else that does not make us feel good about ourselves. We've made a God that fits our own desires, a God of our own imagination. You know, people want to debate about election and predestination and the responsibility of man and how these things all harmonize. These are the big theological debates of our day. Yet we have successfully strained out a gnat in order to swallow a camel. I'll ask you this now. How is it that a perfectly righteous, perfectly holy God cannot look upon our iniquity and cannot look upon our sin with without crushing us. How did God set his love on people who hate him and rebel against him? And then not only that, in an act of divine love, come down from heaven and justify sinners by dying on a cross. There is no more difficult doctrine than the love of God, my friends. D.A. Carson said this, today, most people have little difficulty believing the love of God. They have far more difficulty believing in the justice of God, the wrath of God and the non contradictory truthfulness of an omniscient God. But the biblical teaching on the love of God. Maintaining its shape when the meaning of God has dissolved in mist. What he's saying is you cannot be impressed at all with the love of God until you have the correct God of the Bible, until you understand the rest of his attributes. When you look into the Bible, my friends, and you read things like Psalm 5, 4 through 6, it says, For you are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness. No evil dwells with you. The boastful shall not stand before your eyes. You hate all who do iniquity. Where does that leave us? Verse 6, you destroy those who speak falsehood. Is there any liars here today? The Lord abhors the man of bloodshed and deceit. Do you see why the doctrine of the love of God is so difficult? Why it is so amazing? Why, when we behold it, it breaks us. We have to let go of this silly notion that God hates the sin and not the sinner. That is not what the Bible says. Proverbs 6, 16 through 19, familiar for many people. There are six things which the Lord hates. Yes, seven, which are an abomination to him. Haughty eyes. A lying tongue. Hands that shed innocent blood. A heart that devises wicked plans. Feet that run rapidly to evil. A false witness who utters lies. And the one who spreads strife among his brothers. Hosea 9, 15, all their evil is at Gilgal. Indeed, I came to hate them there, says the Lord, because of the wickedness of their deeds. I will drive them out of my house. I will love them no more. And then we come to Ephesians. Especially chapter two, verse four, but God. But God being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us. Even when we were dead in our transgressions, He made us alive together with Christ. Don't you see that this is love? Not that we loved God, but that He loved us. And listen to me, as I read the Bible and I learn about the attributes of God, the only reason you could convince me of the love of God is that He gave Himself That's a propitiation for my sins, that he gave me faith to believe that, yes, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life, that in love he predestined me to adoption as a son. Do you know why so many of you can sing songs like Amazing Grace and songs like Behold What Manner of Love the Father has given unto us, a wonderful song? How you can sing hymns of praise to God about His love, songs like In Can It Be and Amazing Love, and yet you stand there singing about the love of God with hearts as hard as stone? encased in your superficial view of the love of God, not moved one inch by your worldly perspective, just as civilized and professional as if you were sitting in a business meeting or at work. Do you know why so many of you are not touched to your very souls when you think on the love of God? Doesn't this concern you that you're not moved to tears like the apostle when you speak of things like the love of God? Because we have not viewed the love of God in light of the rest of His attributes. You haven't looked at the full picture of God that would terrify you to behold and to believe. And so you walk and you live and you worship in complete ignorance of how glorious this truth is that it was in love. That it was in love that God predestined us to adoption as sons. Your heart should bleed. Your eyes should well up with tears and every part of your body should shake when you contemplate the love that God has shown to us. The love of God is the greatest truth I know, but we have to view it in light of the rest of God's attributes. Two words that are so important in love. That's the motive. In love, he predestined us to adoption. Our next point, the purpose of predestination is given to us in this word that encompasses. So many blessings that our physical minds cannot even begin to comprehend what this means. Adoption of sons. Adoption. Now, there's there's no earthly example of what Paul's trying to express here. Many commentators will go on and on and on about Roman adoption and Jewish adoption and adoption here and adoption there. There is nothing on this earth that can even be used as an example of this adoption. In the New Testament, this means sonship, it's spoken of as the state of those whom God, through Christ, adopts as his sons and thus makes us the heirs of his salvation. So in a divine act of love, God, this is love. God has taken us out of the family of the devil. He was taking us out of the family of fallen man, the family of Adam. And in this divine act of love, God has not only saved us, he's not only regenerated us, he's not only given us the Holy Spirit, he's adopted us as his children, as his sons. And as sons, we're even given a pledge of that inheritance, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. We are given the very nature of God to dwell in us. You see, in human adoption, we can't look at this in terms of physical things. In human adoptions, parents can adopt a child. They can love that child. They can love that child as much as they love their own flesh and blood. But one thing a parent, a human parent, can never do with an adopted child is to impart to that child any of their nature. They cannot do it. They are not bone of their bone or flesh of their flesh. There is no hereditary link between those two people. They can show immense love, but you cannot look upon an adopted child and the people who adopted them and then see how those two became that one flesh. So we must view this very differently. But God. God takes us orphaned children. He takes us stillborn, spiritually dead children who are slaves, who are slaves and sons of the devil from our birth. And he adopts us and he not only adopts us, he imparts to us his own nature. We are one in Christ. If you're a Christian, if you could get this in your very nature, you are a child of the living God. This is your identity. You're not a Republican. You're not a Democrat. You're not a truck driver. You're not a doctor or a banker or whatever else. You do those things. But if you are in Christ, you, Christian, are a child of the kingdom. Nothing less. You have immense privileges that nothing on this earth can ever compare to. There is nothing here to satisfy you. Nothing. You must see that you are a child of God in your home, your inheritance, your father, who dwells in unapproachable light, has made you into a part of his family. This is who you are. We are servants because Christ is Lord over all, but we are more than servants. We are citizens of the heavenly kingdom, as Peter has talked about throughout his epistle. We have a great inheritance waiting for us in the coming kingdom when we leave this world. We are even friends, as Jesus tells us in John 15. But we are so much more than citizens. We are so much more than just friends. We are so much more than servants there. It's a deeper relationship that happens when God makes us His children, when God adopts us and gives His nature to us. You see, when we are converted to Christ by grace through faith, we become children of God. We have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear, but we have received a spirit of adoption as sons where we cry out, Abba, Father. We Christians, this is amazing, we cry out to the eternal almighty living God who is clothed in perfect holiness, that God that no man can look upon and live, that God who is infinite in glory. We as Christians cry out to him and we don't cry out to a slave driver. We don't cry out to a cruel, unconcerned master who's just running things from outer space. We cry out to him in the same manner that Jesus cried out to his father in the Garden of Gethsemane when he was sweating drops of blood, preparing to take our sin and die for us. We cry out to our daddy. We cry out to our father. And I just pray that the Holy Spirit will awaken you to see this. That you will realize the immense blessings that God has poured out to you in adopting you as His own. That you would abandon the things of the world. That you would forsake dust and ashes. That you would live like a child of the kingdom. There is nothing that can satisfy you here on this earth. Nothing. You're a child of God. And you've been given His very nature. As the song says, rise up, all men of God. Be done with lesser things. I read these things in the word of God, and I know they're true by faith, and I just hate what we have done to Christianity in America. I hate how the devil has slipped in with these stupid worldly possessions and these entertainments and these cars and these houses and football and everything that rusting garbage that we cling to so tightly. For many of us, the devil has successfully stolen from you the truth of your identity in Christ and has rendered you useless. Imagine an adopted child of the eternal father. Who lives for things of a world that is full of pride. Selfishness who lives for every last of the heart and eyes and everything drags you further and further away from the joy of who you are. There are times when I wake up in the mornings and I just wish that everything would crash. I wish that the entire country would crash, that the economy would go, that there's nothing left, there's no money at all, and we're all left to fend for ourselves. For one reason, not that I want to suffer, no one wants to suffer, only a fool wants to suffer. But for the sake, for the sake of Christians, that your joy would be made complete, that every distraction would be taken away from you and you would be forced to depend on and subsequently see much of God. Her father will care for you. You are children of God. You are adopted out of the world. When you see and hear and you read things like this in his word and the Holy Spirit quickens this truth to your heart, you should be melting in your seats with a hot, fiery zeal for the God who made you his own child. Stop being so civilized. Weep over these things. Let your heart bleed for your Father. Cry out to your Father as a child and start living like who you are. You are not just regenerated. You are not just saved and then left out in the cold all on your own. No! You have a new family now. You have a new nature now. You have a Father who is unlimited in might, who is unlimited in power, and He loves you very much. So much that He died on a cross to make this adoption possible. We cannot forget who we are. We are sons of the living God. That's the purpose of predestination. The motive was love. In love, He predestined us as sons. And don't worry, ladies. As sons doesn't mean you have been left out. Sons in these times were the heirs of the inheritance of the father. And you, like sons, will receive that same inheritance as well. You're not excluded here. Don't worry. Paul is making clear that your inheritance will be the same as the inheritance of a son. In fact, turn back in your Bible, one book, Galatians chapter three. In fact, keep a finger in this section, because I'm going to use it for the rest of the message. Galatians chapter three. Here is here's how the women can have all of the assurance that they are. Yes, you are also sons of God in the sense that I just explained in a positional sense. Galatians three, verse 26. Since for you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who are baptized into Christ have closed yourselves with Christ, there is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither slave nor free man. There is neither male nor female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. Now, you don't lose your identity as a woman. You keep that. You don't lose your identity as a Jew or a Gentile either. You keep that. But positionally, we are all one in Christ. We are all sons of God through faith in Christ. So I have to point that out. Let's move on to the means. Keep your place there in Galatians. We're going to see how how this is possible, how adoption is possible, considering now that we were once slaves of man, we were slaves of sin. How was it that God satisfied his nature of justice? How did God satisfy righteousness and make this transfer of identity consistent with who he is? Says there, he predestined us to adoptions as sons through Jesus Christ, through Jesus Christ. This is how it was all possible for us, my friends. Galatians 4.1 Paul says, Now I say, as long as the heir is a child, he does not differ at all from a slave, although he is owner of everything. But he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. So also we, while we were children, were held in bondage under the elemental things of the world. Are you getting what Paul's saying here? At one time, we were children of the devil, in a sense, held under the bondage of the world, but we were predestined for adoption. And so, he continues, but when the fullness of time came, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, so that he might redeem those who were under the law. That would be us. That we might receive the adoption as sons. Your incorporation into the family of God is only possible through Jesus Christ. That's it. That sounds very basic, but you would be surprised how many people don't believe that it is by union with the Son of God. who came and died to pay the price for your sin. It is his death, his burial, his resurrection, that this whole plan of salvation, this whole adoption can be made possible. And yet God could remain consistent with his nature. You see, adoption is an aspect of God choosing us to be holy and blameless before him. Our union with Christ means that we are now on a path We are now on a path of conformity to His image and likeness. You see, we now, because we've been imparted that new nature, we reflect His character because we are in Him. We are in Christ. We follow after Him because by our very nature, we want to do the things that Christ does. We want to do the will of our Father, just as Christ did. You have to understand this is a family lifestyle here in the church of Jesus Christ. We are united with Christ. We are seeking to do the will of our father because we bear his very nature, because he indwells us in such an intimate and spiritual way. And all of this was made possible through Jesus Christ. Think on this, Christians. The simple gospel, every time you take the simple gospel and you look at it from a different perspective, how amazing does it get? Unlimited. Let's move on here. I have three more points to make. The next one is going to seem redundant, but it's so wonderful. I'm going to hit it again. I'll just be brief. In adoption, someone has to do the adopting. In adoption, someone has to do the adopting. So to whom are we adopted? In love, he predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to himself, to himself. If I if I could just have you go back to Galatians again, where we left off in chapter four, verse six. Says, because you are sons. God has sent for the spirit of his son into our hearts, crying Abba Father. Abba Father, we are adopted by God to Himself. And listen, the intimacy of this relationship that God has initiated through adoption as sons, it is so close, it is so personal, that the new nature of Christ in us, that new nature is what cries out, Abba Father. Now, Abba, many of you probably know this, but I'll bring it up. It's an Aramaic term of endearment. It was used by children when they spoke to their physical fathers. We now would use the words dad, or more correctly, we would say daddy. We would say daddy. Now don't misunderstand the purpose of this. This is not here in the Bible so we can go, oh wow, how cute. We get to call God daddy. No, here, this is all put here so we understand the intimacy of the relationship that God has brought us into. God is our father. In verse 7 of Galatians there, therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son. And if a son, then an heir through God. You see, slavery is an evil taskmaster forcing us to do this, forcing us to do that. Laws and ordinances and do this and do that. The keeping of rules and regulations, being a slave to a system or a person. And here's what we have to realize. God has done away with the law. He's done away with it for those who are in Christ. Christianity is about being a child of the kingdom and living your life in light of the truth of your adoption as a son. An example, let me put this into perspective here. When I was a child and I would break a rule and it happened a lot. I remember a specific time where I was at school and I got into trouble and my parents had to come down to the school and they had to talk to the teachers and the principal. And it wasn't the punishments that I would receive after I got back or the punishments from the school that hurt. It wasn't the fear of being in trouble that disturbed me at all. It wasn't even a fear of my own father's discipline that was hardest for me to bear. It was looking into the eyes of my father and seeing that I had broken a relationship. My disobedience had resulted in the fracturing of a relationship. I had wrongly misrepresented my father. And now, in the eyes of someone else, he was a faulty parent. Here's a faulty parent who couldn't even control his own child. Was my father to blame? No, my father was not to blame. I was to blame. It was my disobedience that was an attack on the intimacy of a father-son relationship. And my father was misrepresented in my disobedience, in my breaking of rules. The point in the Bible of you calling God your father and you being able to cry out to him, Daddy, is not some cute, happy little line to feed your emotions. It is so you realize that you are not a slave any longer to rules, but as a child of God, that any time you fail to be obedient, it is a violation of an intimate relationship. It is not just the breaking of a rule. verses 8 through 11 in Galatians 4. However, at that time, when you did not know God, you were slave to those which by nature are no gods. But now that you have come to know God, or rather, I love how the apostle inserts this here, or rather to be known by God. How is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things to which you desire to be slaved all over again? You've been set free from the laws of sin and death, from that slavery. And you're now a son adopted by God into a close, intimate, personal relationship with Him. So why would you ever go back to elemental things? Why would you want to be enslaved all over again? Verse 11 is the heart cry of a pastor here. I fear for you. that perhaps I have labored over you in vain. But watch these believers go back to things that enslave them, fracturing a relationship. Our Heavenly Father here, God has set you apart from slave masters of the world. He sets you apart from the elemental thing that bounds you in that slavery. He has saved you. He has made you his child. He has taken you out of that bondage. And as a son, He has given you every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. We have His nature. We're in His family. We are identified with Him, with the God of the universe who is our Father. That should drive us to be obedient. Not out of slavery to the law, but a concern for this relationship that we have with Him. This is to whom we've been adopted. Why has God done this? The next point, the reason for this love, the reason for this adoption through Christ to himself. The end of verse five, back in Ephesians, it was according to the kind intention of his will. Kind intention of his will, you see, This is all the reason I can give you for God putting this whole plan of salvation together and then letting it all come to pass. Luther said that God has no why. He has no why. I don't know why God did this other than what it says here. It was according to the in the Greek, the kind intention, according to his good pleasure. That would be a better way to translate it. The good pleasure of God's will is why God has adopted you as sons. Just accept it. God is God. His purposes and his activities have no ultimate cause outside of his own being. There is nothing external. There is nothing outside of God. This is praiseworthy, and I'll show you in a moment. Nothing outside of God influenced his decision to make a world, to create a world, allow that world to fall into sin and rebellion against him, and then in an act of love, according to his good pleasure, motivated by love, the kind intention of his will, he sent his only son to die and save these ones. that he elected that he predestined beforehand for adoption as sons. You know, the saying goes like this, if I had if I had the sovereign power of God, I would change many things in this world. But if I had the wisdom of God, I would change nothing. It's all going according to plan. And what we can see here is that God was not disappointed to save you from your sins. This is so important for you to understand. God was not burdened by it. He was not upset that he had to do this. No, God was well pleased to make us his children. He's not looking down on certain Christians now and going, boy, I should have never saved that guy. He's fully aware of this entire plan, and God is happy. He gets joy and pleasure in making us his children. One writer said this, those singing God's praise are not inventors of the joy. But rather by their pleasure in God, they respond to God's pleasure in doing good. We don't have a grim Lord watching over the execution of a predetermined plan, but a smiling father. Smiling father is praised when we sing and shout to him, he enjoys imparting many riches to his children. God is well pleased to save us unto adoption as sons. The outpouring of his grace upon us is pleasing to him. He enjoys this. Now, I can't fathom that. But I believe it. And that is how I can worship him, because when I go before God in praise and worship, I know that he does not see me as some eternal and great regret. I was not simply a burden upon him. I know that God looks upon me as a son, a son that he was well pleased to adopt and bring into his family. You want to talk about us approaching the throne of grace with boldness. I have been adopted by my God, and it was well pleasing to him even before I was born. It was pleasing to him to predestine me to this adoption. My God, my father, the God of the Bible, he looks upon me, he looks upon this work of salvation that he has done in my life and it brings him great joy. There's only one result for this all coming together, it all comes to a head right here. Here's the result, my last points, perfectly consistent with the nature of God. that he in love has predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, to himself, according to the kind intention of his will. Verse six, to the praise of the glory of his grace. To the praise of the glory of his grace, and don't miss it here. The emphasis is on grace. Predestination, which is the product of God's electing grace. Listen, predestination resounds to the praise and the glory of that grace, OK? That's the ultimate purpose here. This is why this is all taking place. This is why Paul has delved into this whole controversial subject, as we would call it. These truths are not to remain hidden in obscurity. They are not to be ignored. They are not for ivory tower theologians. These things, election and predestination, they are fuel for the fiery zeal of your worship of an amazing, awesome God. That's why they're here. The final goal to which everything else contributes. The final point is that we respond in adoring recognition. We respond in praise. We praise God for this manifested excellence. We praise God for the glory that is the unmerited, undeserved favor of His sovereign grace. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who we can now come to and cry out as well, not unto us, Lord, not unto us, Father, but unto your name be glory. Hendrickson says here in Ephesians at the close of each paragraph, there is genuine adoration. Such adoration as was not only God's intention in saving man, but also the Thanksgiving offering presented to God by his servant Paul, whose heart is here in harmony with the purpose of his maker and his redeemer. God has put together an amazing, amazing master plan of salvation. He has purposed it from before the foundation of the world chosen in him before we were ever born. predestined to adoption as sons into the family of God. And Paul just breaks out in praise and adoration. And he's merely glimpsing into this master plan. And now we just we just look way back into eternity past, seeing that even there we were known intimately by God. This results in two things and two things only. You will hate this with all the passion you can muster Or you will worship God like Paul. You will break forth into eternal songs of praise. You know, Paul may have had just one single sentence here that contains over 200 words in the Greek, giving commendation of God's goodness for his eternal plan of salvation. The book of Revelation says there's only 30 minutes of silence in heaven. For all of eternity, we and Paul and all the saints, for all times, will never cease worshiping God for this wonderful, predetermined master plan of salvation. Before I shut down here, we're going to enter into another realm of our redemption next week with a view to the realm of time, verses six through 11. We'll be looking at our current aspect of redemption. I want to briefly answer some questions that always come up when we talk about election, when we talk about predestination. Many of you could be hearing this for the first time, and I understand that it's difficult for some people to hear. And you may need some clarification on how this affects the rest of our lives as Christians, especially the logical question is, how does this affect evangelism and missions? Turn quickly to Romans, chapter 10, verse 13. I'll try not to go too long here. The Bible, as we know, clearly teaches the doctrine of God's sovereign election. It teaches clearly predestination to argue against that. And I'm going to say this so that you don't call me on Monday to argue against that is to argue against the clear teachings of the word of God. Your difficulties with the doctrine of election are not difficulties with me. They are difficulties with God's word. There are two truths that we always have to keep in mind, and I pointed this out when we first broke into this whole subject. Keep in mind when coming to these issues, one is God is completely sovereign. God is completely sovereign. And then to Romans 10, 13, for everyone who will call in the name of the Lord will be saved. Now, we see throughout the Bible, God commands everyone. God does not just command his elect to repent. He commands everyone to repent and believe the gospel. God's sovereignty and human responsibility, and as I said, I don't have to try to harmonize that. That's God's job to harmonize those things. They're both true. I just let God be God. And that mystery remains. And I simply believe them both. And I strive in faith and I strive in obedience. Now, the question is, if God is sovereign, over salvation, then what is the point of evangelism? What's the point of doing mission work? If God's going to save who he's going to save, then why do we need to go risk our lives to preach the gospel? That's a logical question. Here's what's great. Not only is God sovereign over the end results, not only is he sovereign over whom he will save, God is also sovereign over the means by which he brings about those results. God is sovereign over the means as well as the end result. Now, that is really good news to Christians, and it will delve deeply into all aspects of your Christian life. But it is really good news for us because we who are called to go into all the world and preach the gospel, look at verses 14 through 15. How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach unless they are sent, just as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things. Now, God has determined that his elect, his predestined to adoption children, will come to faith in Christ Jesus through the preaching of the gospel. That's just biblical. but it's the preaching of the gospel by, here's the means, human agents. God in his infinite wisdom has chosen the means to bring about the results of his predetermined redemption, just as God sent his only son to die for our sins. He also was predetermined. He also sends us his children into the world to tell the world about the good news of Jesus Christ, who preached to all men everywhere, whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. What you need to recognize is this. God does not need you to accomplish this work. He doesn't need your money. He doesn't need your intellect. He doesn't need your speaking skills. He needs nothing from us. And I will promise you all right now, I firmly believe in my heart and I will openly admit God has no need for me to stand in this pulpit on Sunday mornings. He could raise up a rock. God could set a rock, a pebble, if he wished, and give that rock a voice that would make you shake with fear in your seat. He could raise a stone. To speak so strongly and convict you so greatly of your sins and your vileness before a holy God that you would never sit down in peace again until you fully repented of your sins and believe fully on the Lord Jesus Christ. God could have a rock do that. He is not dependent on us to go out and save people. He has ordained, though. He has ordained that through the preaching of willing vessels, His elect would come to faith in Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. And you must understand this. This is our privilege. This is a great privilege. It is our honor. It is our joy to go into the world and preach the gospel and make disciples to be fishers of men. You know, I'm reminded again of a childhood situation when we lived back in Alaska, we had wood stoves. pretty much essential to survival. I remember seeing my dad go down to the woodpile as a young boy, and he chopped wood and carry it back up to the house. And I just wanted to go help. I just wanted to go out there and help dad. Now a lot of you parents know how the story goes. The kid who just wants to help is great. There are all kids want to help. But the truth of the matter is they don't help very much. You see, my father was perfectly capable of chopping that wood, of loading that wood up in his arms and carrying it into the house. He certainly did not need my help. But, but my father was well pleased to allow me to come down and join him in his work. Even if I was just carrying a few sticks of wood. Evangelism and missions is the work that God has given to us as His children. Keep in mind, lest you become prideful, that God does not need you to accomplish this work. God allows us to take part in this work. And you know what amazes me? If God took me out of the equation, it would be less difficult for Him to say, if He used the rock, things would go a lot smoother, because now He's got to fight against my sinful lusts, and my sinful desires, and my pride. A rock is truly better equipped to reveal biblical truth than I am. And I remember before I became a pastor and I was the owner of a business and it was successful and it all turned to ash in my mouth, I prayed so diligently that God would send me off to the deepest, darkest jungles in the world, somewhere that my life would not be wasted doing worldly things for worldly people, for worldly possessions. I just wanted to do the work of my father. And this world is dust and ashes. And I want to be involved daily in spiritual things. And as you know, God didn't send me to a jungle. He sent me here. But I can assure you, I would not be here in this pulpit this morning if I was not fully convinced and fully in faith, believing in the sovereign power of God to save his children. What hope does man have in this work of redemption by himself? This is a privilege to fight in a war where your victory has already been determined. We get medals for a victory that's already won. And I stand here in a pulpit or I go out into the world to evangelize the lost, knowing that God has a people who will hear his voice, who by the power of the Holy Spirit, their predetermined election will become a reality to them through the preaching of the gospel. The foolishness of men preaching the gospel. We have the power of the Holy Spirit and the assurance of perfect success. The assurance that all that the Father has given to Christ will come to Him. All of them. Not some of them, all of them. So when I go into the world and I'm calling men and I'm calling out to the crowds and I'm saying repent and believe the gospel, I do it knowing that in the midst of those people, somewhere in that crowd of persecutors, somewhere out there, I am calling to a fellow brother and sister in Christ who has been chosen for the foundations of the world. Do you see how wonderful this is? We who were once lost are now the ones given the privilege to call our brothers and sisters out of darkness into life, out of the world and into salvation and out of loneliness and into the family of God. Into the fellowship of the church, we get to call them to the feast that takes place in the heavenly kingdom, the feast of ongoing, continual joyous praise, and we do it with power. Knowing that God's children are in every tribe, they are in every tongue, in every nation. Having great confidence, as God says in Isaiah, for as the rain and snow come down from heaven and do not return there without watering the earth and making it bare and sprout and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so will my word be which goes forth from my mouth. It will not return to me empty without accomplishing what I desire. There is great hope in that. There is great hope in that we do not labor in vain, that we have fixed our hope on the living God and the power of his salvation. That 100% success is guaranteed. Whenever you go out and preach the gospel, it will not return to him void. I could not bear to stand in this pulpit and preach week after week and night after night and morning after morning, thinking that it was all up to me. If your spiritual lives were up to me, if your salvation, if I thought for one moment your salvation was on my ability to convince you of truth, I would never preach again for the rest of my life. I would not take your blood upon my hands, but brothers and sisters, I have been given a task, if you want to call it a task, where success is not dependent on me. Success is guaranteed that the work of God that he has begun in you will be completed. There's a reason that we thank God for our salvation. There's a reason that we pray for the salvation of our lost family members. There's a reason that we pray at all, and it's because we know in our hearts that God is truly sovereign over salvation, or we would never pray those prayers. We would never pray them. As Paul says in Philippians 2.13, he says, for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Let's close in prayer. Heavenly Father, we have looked so deeply into amazing truths, Father, and help us not to lose focus in the end here about the point of the message today that we are sons of the living God. And our adoption was predetermined that we are secure in that adoption. That you, Father, have taken us out of the world and into your family, and you hold us so tightly that nothing can pull us from your grasp, Father. You bought us and you've paid for us on that cross. I ask, Father, that you would open these things to our hearts That our dull minds would see these truths, Father, that we would forsake the world. We would forsake everything. Have our joy made complete in knowing that we are part of the eternal family. We praise you, God, for all that you've done. In the name of Jesus, Amen.