God's Master Plan of Redemption

For now, take your Bibles if you would please and turn to the book of Ephesians. Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 5 is where we're at. Ephesians 1:5, and we'll be talking about some doctrines today, and these beliefs, these hardcore beliefs are at the core of who God is. He is first, He is in control, He is the initiator, and I want you to be able to see all of these things from Scripture in Ephesians 1:5. And as we warm up to this text, I would like to briefly speak with you before we read the text on these questions.

Have you ever struggled with a bit of apprehension when it comes to witnessing and sharing your faith? And if you have, today's doctrines will be solidifying for you. Have you ever struggled perhaps with courage? The Bible is clear we are not only to be witnessing but we are to be people of courage. Well, today's doctrines will embolden you. Not only have you ever perhaps struggled with your Christian zeal, has your zealousness perhaps waned a little bit and you have thought to yourself, "I need to be serving more and I need to be more about Christ. I need to bring up Christ in conversation more." Perhaps your zeal has waned a little bit. Today's message will help you. And then most importantly, from these doctrines, have you ever struggled with the assurance of your own salvation? Have you ever struggled with whether or not you've lost your salvation? And if you have, you know what it is to agonize over that, to think, "Oh my, I have messed up. Am I going to hell?" Back and forth, back and forth. Well, that's a torturous position to be in, and the Lord doesn't want you to feel like that.

The answer to these particular issues is found in knowing who God is and knowing how He does what He does, and that it is in His hands and not in your own. It's not in your merit or your worth or anything that you can do or not do. It's in what God has already done. It's a done deal, and so these bedrock foundational truths will help you in your daily life and perhaps even help you in the middle of the night when you're agonizing over some of these things. Help you get better sleep, and so perhaps like you could look at Hebrews chapter 4 as being able to enter into the rest of God, not just resting as in resting from striving to achieve salvation, but rest in Christ. And now you've been saved, but actually perhaps get a good night's rest as well.

And so Ephesians chapter 1 verse 5, we'll read that together now. Ephesians 1:5, I'll be reading from the Legacy Standard Bible. It says, "By predestining us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will."

Let's pause and just pray for a moment. Lord, thank You for these doctrines, the doctrine of predestination and the doctrine that has already been mentioned in verse 4 of election, and then also in this verse the doctrine of adoption. And I pray, Lord, as we swim around in some of the information for which these doctrines hold, it would be emboldening and strengthening for us, Lord. Help us, dear God, we pray in the areas that we need individually by Your Word. We ask this in Christ's name, amen.

Now as we talk about these things, it's very important to get the context of a passage down, and so the context can be found here in verse 10. Read verse 10 with me: "For an administration of the fullness of the times, that is, summing all things up in Christ." Here's the context. Christ is summing up all things in the heavens and on the earth. Not only is He administering everything but He is also summing up all things. For what? This is God's master plan. If you want a title for today's message, it is God's master plan of redemption.

God has not put Himself subject to the whimsical feelings of humanity. He has a preordained master plan that is unfolding, and if you like the word history, you can hear it this way: it is truly His story. And so what is happening is an unveiling of what God has already planned. It's already done. You truly believe this. You've read Revelation and you see that evil loses, right? You believe that — Satan already knows that God's plan is already a done deal. He knows his final destination. He is just mad about it. And so for us to believe in God's master plan, it starts at some of these bedrock foundational truths, and we're going to talk about them today with soteriology. It's how God works us to be saved.

And so not only do we see all of these things getting started, let me give you a reference verse to where God does what He pleases. In Psalm 135 verse 6, the Bible says, "Whatever the Lord pleases, He does." And that's a very simple verse to remember in regards to God's sovereignty. "Whatever the Lord pleases, He does." Period. End of story. You don't have to think about it. And so God is working all things according to the counsel of His will.

The Bible says here in verse 11 — but I want to give you the who, what, when, where, and why real quickly as we move through this. Why? Well, it's for His good pleasure. Read verse 5: "By predestining us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will." That's the why behind the what. And if you aren't convinced, He repeats Himself. Verse 9: "Making known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure." There it is. Everything that He is administering is according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Him — that is, in Christ. That's the why.

What about the who? Well, the who are those whom He chose to adopt. Verse 5: "By predestining us to adoption as sons." And so as we have been predestined to be sons, those of us who are sons are fulfilling that plan. And so why? Who? Well, the predestined are the who.

When? Well, I'm glad you're thinking. Go back to verse 4. If you weren't convinced last week, let's look at when. When were these plans established? Verse 4 says, "Just as He chose us in Him" — there it is right there — "before the foundation of the world." And so that is a reference to pre-Genesis 1:1. That's before God created the heavens and the earth, before He spoke things into existence. He, the Godhead, the Trinity, had already planned this out. And this is pre-John 1:1 and through verse 3. Those wonderful verses predate the creation account.

And so in eternity — what scholars like to refer to as eternity past, speaking from our perspective — you have eternity past and eternity future. Or you could just say eternity, because eternity is outside of this little thing we call time. Time was created in Genesis 1:1 when God said "In the beginning." That beginning point started time; the clocks started rolling. But you see there is an entire eternity outside of our little measly watches. And so outside of time, we're living in a sphere of time, and outside of that, in eternity, God had already made His master plan. He is sovereign, He's in control. He is actually not only the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end of time, He is all of eternity. He's omnipresent outside of time, beyond time, and He fills all of eternity.

And so before the foundation of the world, pre-everything that you know, before everything, God was and is. He already did it. And so before the foundation of the world, everything that we're talking about today has already been thought through, planned out, and is unraveling. It's amazing how God views history. We think chronologically, but God views history almost like as you put a memory stick into a computer and then you have — wham! — all that information. You can see it all right there, as a computer can. We're not smart enough, huh? But God can see all of the past, the present, and the future — whoosh! — at the same time. And that is how He is. That's about all you can say. That is how He is. That's how He thinks. That's how He loves. That's how He knows. Everything, all the time, without any failure. We can't even remember what we ate yesterday for lunch. But God's master plan has always been.

If you know of that phenomenal book called the Adam's Chart, you can buy it for like $40 or $50 online. I highly recommend it. It's like this tall and it unfolds and it'll go across this entire worship center. And it starts in Genesis and century by century, by century, by century, it gives you an account of world history up until 1900. It's still going. But if you look at the centuries all at once, it's like — this is how God sees time. Outside of time, looking down, He sees everything and it's all unraveling unto His glory.

So when? Before the foundation of the world. Where? Well, this glorious, salvific process starts with God the Father. It's made possible by the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. And it's administered to individual hearts by the Holy Spirit as a spiritual blessing from the heavenly places. The Holy Spirit of God is the one who convicts and regenerates the heart. He converts. Okay, but it's from heaven. And in verse 3 in our text, these are spiritual blessings. Read verse 3 with me: "Blessed be the God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places." And so these spiritual blessings that we are looking at all the way through verse 14 — it is one great, grand Greek sentence from verse 3 to verse 14 — are going to be unraveling these wonderful blessings that are from heaven.

So you ask who, what, when, where? What's from heaven? The spiritual blessing of salvation is from God in heaven through Jesus Christ in His sacrificial atonement, by the Holy Spirit's work through and in your heart. And so there's the who, what, when, where, and why of God's master plan of redemption. A few verses that would kind of drive that home, if you want to do further study, is John chapter 6. That chapter is wonderful, especially John 6:37–40. What a wonderful, wonderful passage.

Now for a few more details: in verse 4 you see election, the doctrine of election. And that is God sovereignly and freely and graciously and kindly working — whereby choosing some to obtain salvation from eternity past, not because of their works or merit, but because of the pleasure of His good will. That's what Ephesians 1:4 says. This is election.

And then now in verse 5 we look at predestination, divine predestination. It's both God's uninfluenced choice of those who would be saved in eternity past, but it is also God's conforming of the elect to the image of His Son. Turn to Romans chapter 8 verse 28, and I want you to see that those who have been called and those who have been saved, they will also be conformed to the image of God. And so this predestining of God's will in the hearts and minds of whom He has chosen to be saved will not only result in true salvation, Romans 8:28–29, but it'll also result in the conforming to His image, the sanctification to become more like His Son. Romans 8:28–30: "And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, and for those who are called according to His purpose, because those whom He foreknew He also predestined to become conformed" — you see that — "to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom He predestined He also called, and those whom He called He also justified, those whom He justified He also glorified."

We're going to see just a little bit more about even more of these doctrines that unravel here in verse 30 in the message to come. Just hold on. We can't get it all in one message. I'm trying.

But here in verse 5 we see predestination. And the Greek verb here means that it has been determined beforehand. And in layman's terms, it's simply to mark out. Okay? So God has marked out, chosen, picked out — and it also means to separate — separated some for His own. And let me ask you a question. Is this not rather logical? Whom would you bring into the inner parts of your life? Whom would you bring into your heart and mind, into the most private parts of your home? Who would be a select few? Right? Narrow is the way, and few be there that find it. These truths we have grown up with, but it's hard to understand this from God's perspective. This is theology.

Most of us have grown up with a man-centered view of salvation, which is experientialism. And I would say that to a large extent, not only is it true theologically that God chose you, but also experientially — when you first get saved, you repented and you believed. And so that is what you feel. That is what you know. And that is your right response to the gospel. And that is required in order to be saved.

And so it's interesting how those who believe the full counsel of God — those preachers, those theologians, those who are faithful to the text, which our Bible study teachers here are — we all believe what I'm fixing to say. We believe this: not only predestination, but also personal responsibility. These are two parallel tracks that you see in the Word of God, and they are not in competition. They're best friends working out the will of God. And so your will and what you choose and what you do and God's work in you — your responsibility, His predestined plan — they're like two train tracks working together. Now, I wish my train track of life was straighter. But nevertheless, it's going to the destination that God wants me to go to. And sometimes He's got to lovingly say, "Case, come on." And I'm like, "Boom!" And I rear back onto this side over here. And then sometimes the Lord is like, "Boom!" "Oh, that's what you mean by that verse." Okay.

I just don't want to fall off the bridge, guys. I want to stay in the text. I want to get it right. And if preaching by faith is required of me, then I'm going to do it. There are things that we cannot understand. It is so easy to understand that God is greater. And He has put some of His knowledge in print, in human language — which, by the way, human itself is limited as compared to God's knowledge and wisdom. But He has put some of who He is into language. And He's communicated to us in a way that we can strive for the rest of our life to get to know Him. And you will be more and more in love with Him every year that you study the Bible. And you will become more and more enamored with the Word, with the text, as you study Him until the day you die.

And the simplest concepts in the Word of God — like "God is in control" — the simplest concepts will dumbfound you even in your latter days when you become scholarly. This is the brilliance and the wonders of God. How else will we be so captivated to worship Him for eternity? We know less than a speck of sand in regards to all of the sand on the entire earth about God. And as we continue to study the Word of God and get to know Him, these truths are so real.

God just simply put it to the Israelites like this: when it comes to some things that He knows — it's just a lot of things that God would say He knows — and some of the things that He's revealed to you, the revealed things are for you to understand and to keep trying to figure out. But He has withheld some secret things about Himself that He has not put in human language yet, that you can't even comprehend. By the way, you can't even be in His glory without being fried, much less having your mind blown and your heart exploded by the love of God and the infinite wisdom that He has. And so He simply puts it like this: "The secret things belong to Yahweh; the things revealed belong to us." Deuteronomy 29:29. There are revealed things that you will spend the rest of your life trying to figure out, becoming more and more acquainted with Christ your King, your Savior. And you will love Him more, and more, and more — so much so that you'd be willing to die for Him rather than recanting His name. You will love Him so much that it'll make the love that you have for your spouse and your children look like hatred, the Bible says. Do you see what I'm saying? There is so much there for us in our life in Christ and our knowledge of Him, that our love for God is so all-consuming that the love that we have for our family is minuscule in comparison to how we feel and act and think and live. It's beautiful. Deuteronomy 29:29 is this safety net for you to be able to understand — you don't understand it all.

God has secret things that He has not revealed to us, but the things that are revealed are right here. And so you ask, how does that work? Personal responsibility in God's predestined plan. Well, He didn't tell me, so I can't tell you. In fact, read Romans 9 and find out — there's a warning, you'd better not press in this area. "Who are you, O man?" the Bible says. You like that? Turn to Romans 9. Let's see it. Let's just make sure we're on the same page, because it's not either/or, it's both/and. Okay. Romans 9:15 is where we'll start. I recommend the whole chapter.

Romans 9:15 says, "For He says to Moses" — okay, we just read from Deuteronomy and some of the things that Moses was told, here to further that — "For He says to Moses in Romans 9:15: 'I will have mercy on whom I have mercy.'" See, this is according to the pleasure of His goodwill. Do you believe that God is good? Then you have no problem with what you're fixing to hear. "'I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.' So then it does not depend on the one who wills or the one who runs, but on God who has mercy."

Listen, do not struggle if you feel like you have messed up. It has not cost you your salvation. It doesn't depend upon you. So then on His mercy. On the cross — verse 17: "For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, 'For this very purpose I raised you up, in order to demonstrate My power in you, and in order that My name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth.'" "So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires."

"You will say to me then, 'Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?'" Here's the answer: "On the contrary, who are you?" Circle those words. Who are you? When it comes to the secret things of God, you'd better not answer back to Him. "Who are you, O man, who answers back to God? Will the thing molded say to the molder, 'Why did you make me like this?' Or does the potter have authority to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and the other for dishonorable use? And what if God, wanting to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath having been prepared for destruction, in order that He might make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy which He prepared beforehand for glory?"

"So even us whom He also called, not from among Jews only but also from the Gentiles, as He says also in Hosea, 'I will call those who are not My people, "My people."'" We could just read the whole rest of the chapter. It's glorious.

Paul answers this problem here, and keep in mind in the original text you do not have chapter breaks and you do not have verse breaks. And so in this line of thought, in this amazing treatise — by the way, in times past when universities were more Christian, they were founded upon Christian principles, and a lot of them were for training up pastors. But our Harvard universities and all these others have simply abandoned their founding. When our universities in America trained lawyers, they would use the book of Romans as a text to teach young lawyers how to eliminate everything else but the truth. And so they analyzed the document of Romans to do this, not only in a beautiful way spiritually, but also in a logical and legal way.

So what I'm saying to you is that Romans — look at it without chapter breaks — and realize that you have both God's grand master plan in chapter 9, but if you remove the chapters, his train of thought flows seamlessly into chapter 10, especially in verses 9, 10, and 13, where you have personal responsibility. Okay? It's amazing. Turn to chapter 10 with me and look in verse 9 and see your personal responsibility.

Romans 10:9: "That if you confess with your mouth" — you confess. By the way, it's not "ask." There's a big difference between asking Jesus into your heart — that dumbed-down sinner's prayer — there's a big difference. It's not a cheap prayer. It is confessing. It is you being broken before God and saying, "I recognize I have been born in sin and my sin is against you, but you sent your Son to die on the cross for me. And I believe that your substitutionary death is enough of a payment to pay for my unrighteousness, to pay for the punishment of my sins, and in my brokenness and in my sorrowfulness I confess I'm the sinner and I confess you as Lord." Read it: "That if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." This is no shallow confession. In verse 10 it says, "For with the heart a person believes." This is a deep confession leading to righteousness. This is not a confession where you make a confession and then you go live however you want for the rest of your life.

I'm so burdened for those who have made a shallow profession of faith and perhaps said the sinner's prayer early in life, rushed into the baptistry, and haven't darkened the doors of the church, haven't loved God, haven't prayed, haven't studied the Bible, haven't learned how to live the Christian life, haven't taught their children a thing, and now they have kids growing up. They're heathens, their kids are heathens, they live like the world, they love the world, they're saturated with the world, and yet they call themselves Christians. That is not what the Bible is portraying here. It's not a shallow confession. This is a meaningful transition in the heart.

And by the way, this confession in Romans was actually a death penalty, because in biblical times you were forced to confess not Christ as Lord but Caesar as Lord. They had this weird fixation with wanting to be called Lord — all the Caesars, all the emperors, all the dictators. You refer to me as Lord, or off with your head. And so to become a Christian in Roman times and to confess Christ as Lord would be then a death sentence for you. No wonder Peter speaks to the scattered, persecuted believers around all of the area — Cappadocia, all these different areas. And the same would be true for you if in this area it became illegal to be a Christian, because of our clear proclamation of Romans chapter 1, in that being gay or lesbian or bisexual or transgender was a sin. If by saying that it became not only hate speech but violent — which this is the direction of our society — then all of a sudden Christian speech is prosecutable.

You think that's not possible? Look at history. Weaseling their way to try and eliminate Christianity. They're not trying to eliminate Islam or Buddha or Muhammad or Hinduism. They're not trying to eliminate those false religions, and even humanism and secular ideologies, from elementary schools — they're not trying to get all of that out. They're trying to get "Jesus as the way, the truth, and the life," that singular, so-called judgmental perspective, out. It's not judgmental; it's loving, it's kind, it's the truth. And so this is not a shallow confession. Don't make it into that. When you lead your children to have faith in Christ, explain to them what the cost of a disciple really truly is in New Testament language, biblical worldview — not easy American believism.

And so you say, how? Well, it's both. God's predetermined plan, and preach like you mean it. Share the gospel like you mean it. Proclaim your faith like you mean it — like it all depends upon you. Work hard and serve in Christ as if you sharing the gospel is going to mean the difference in whether somebody else comes to Christ or not. You work hard and you serve Him because you believe this. It's a deep heart volition, and you do this out of even the sacrifice of your praise. You do this in an area that is oftentimes inconvenient, and you do this sometimes when it hurts. American Christianity pulls back and stops at the cost. They say, "Oh, makes me feel uncomfortable. I ain't going to share the gospel while I'm in the waiting room," or, "No, it makes me feel uncomfortable right now. It's going to cost me too much time to drive across town to share Christ with someone." The cost is where American cheap Christianity stops, but the cost is where true biblical Christianity starts.

So how do I live this out? How do I believe both predestination and responsibility? It's simple. It's very simple. Take for example Paul. He prayed and he preached like salvation is dependent on him, and then he went to his tent and went to sleep. And I would say for us, how about the same? Let's work like an Arminian with a post-mill view, and yet rest like a hyper Dutch Reformed Calvinist. That is believing in the two. You work as if it depends on you, and you rest because it's in God's control. How else do you think God set it up? It's by faith.

If it was truly just one or truly just the other, it would not be by faith, and so we live by faith. We act by faith. We share the gospel by faith. Preaching is an act of faith. Proclaiming the gospel — simply making the right choice — is living out your faith. It is a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful life.

And so for theology's sake, let me just go quickly through an ordo salutis, and that's a Latin term that helps to understand the biblical chronological sequence of how salvation actually happens. You can Google it later and look into it more if you would like. There are eight quick points. I would recommend you not try to take notes because I'm just going to rattle through them.

The ordo salutis. Number one is God's foreknowledge and choice — that is the doctrine of election and predestination. Number two, His effectual call. Okay? That is when He calls you — you are reborn. Then the new birth, you're regenerated. So number one, foreknowledge and the election and predestination of your soul has been planned before the foundation of the world. And number two, the effectual call, when He calls you. And then three, it's conversion — that's when you express your repentance and faith. When you're converted, that is when you have actually, from the inside of the depths of your heart, confessed. It comes from an overflow of sorrow, and you've repented of your sins. "God, I'm sorry." You repented of that. "I believe." And you expressed your faith. You repent and believe. Okay? You repent and believe the gospel. It's conversion.

And then what happens is called justification. God legally declares your standing before Him as righteous. Everything's been covered and paid for. It's justified. You are justified. And then five, there's this thing called adoption, which is in our text today. Not only have you been predestined, but adopted. And adoption is to be placed in the family of God. You are now one whom has had your rags turned into riches. It's amazing. You have now not only a wonderful ability to say that you are a child and a son of God, but you're in the family and you have an inheritance. Adoption is the apex of grace.

And then six is sanctification. This is the progressive growth of your holiness. And when you love God, you will continually deny yourself and take up your cross and follow Him. And then seven is perseverance. You're going to remain faithful until the end. Revelation talks about remaining faithful until the end, even until your death. And then we're all looking forward to the last point. Does anybody know what it is? Glorification. No more sin, no more agony, no more headaches, no more needs, just all glory. Amen. We'll be in heaven one day.

So the ordo salutis helps us to understand in a chronological way all that happens — kind of like a lot of that at once, except for your sanctification and glorification and perseverance.

Now, I want to defend this case with you, because there's a large section of Christianity that would say that salvation is not the main subject in Ephesians chapter 1. Turn with me if you would. You need to be able to defend what you believe. And so what would the main subject be if it is not salvation in this text? Well, lots truly believe in their good-heartedness — but it is most certainly willful blindness and a tradition of men — that service is the main subject.

Now, if you are in a Bible study class here at Beulah Baptist Church, which I highly recommend everybody being in, we don't do shallow quarterlies. You won't see "what you feel about the text" here. We extract the truth from the text and we teach the text. We go through books of the Bible. And so if you are using the 3D Bible study method, then you know that getting the theme right is important. You're going to reread that text over and over, and over, and you're going to get what's called authorial intent. You're going to understand what the author is saying to the audience. That's the truth. Okay. And then most passages you will have a main idea, a theme, a subject at hand.

Now, some would say that the subject at hand in Ephesians chapter 1 would be service and not salvation. And that is just simply not true. The subject clearly is salvation. And you can know that easily because of the context of Ephesians chapter 1. Grace in verse 2 is the grace of God leading to us for salvation. And then verse 4: "chose" — for salvation. Number 5, adoption. And then verse 7, redemption. And then in verse 7 again, the forgiveness of transgressions. And then again, "in Him." And then again it says "the gospel of your salvation" in verse 13. And then "having believed" in verse 13. And then "sealed with the Holy Spirit" in verse 13. And then "being God's own possession" in verse 14. How much more evidence do you need to know that the main idea is salvation in this text?

Well, you don't — but service of the saints, your service to Christ and the saints, has been proposed by Arminian theologians as the main subject at hand in this paragraph. And friends, may I say with all humility in my heart and concern and care, that is just simply willful blindness. It's not faithful exegesis. It's eisegesis. You're not bringing the truth out of the text. You're reading into the text what you want it to be. And we can all be guilty of that. It depends on how you grew up, where you grew up, what you've been told, what you've listened to. We all have pre-understandings that we have to remove so that we can truly study the text for what it is. And then when you study the text for what it is and you see what it is, and then you exegete, or bring out the truth, you are being faithful to understand God's Word. Otherwise you're playing the role of God and you're changing the Word of God.

And so the skill of academically analyzing Scripture to rightly divide and interpret it is called hermeneutics. And that's a starting point of where faithful Bible study begins — to know how to study the Bible. And we do that all the time here. If that is a foggy area for you, keep coming, keep studying with us, and you will get better and better at this skill. It is an art. It is a skill that you can get better, and better, and better at. And that's the reason why we need each other.

I'm just going to say that it would take some hermeneutical gymnastics to work around the text and to read into the text the main idea of service. And it would take eliminating a lot of basic truths to do that, and that is being unfaithful. And so when does service then come up in the text? I'm glad you asked. All you've got to do is turn the page and read with me in chapter 2 verse 8.

And then you will see it come up in verse 10. Chapter 2, verse 8: "For by grace you have been saved." Okay? Context is salvation. And now that this subject is transitioning a bit, you will see it transition into service here in just a moment. "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, so that no one may boast." Here we go. Ready? "For we are His workmanship." Now we're talking about working. Okay?

"Created in Christ Jesus for good works." And by the way, when did God prepare your good works? This is so beautiful. "God prepared beforehand the works that you would walk in them."

Listen to me, folks. Just walk with Christ. Remove all the pressure from your life. You don't have to get it all done. You don't have to set all these audacious goals. You just have to walk with Christ, and He will lead you. You will work hard in the areas that He has led you to. He will open doors that you could not open. He will close doors you're trying to keep open. And He will lead you. And as you walk, you are being made into His workmanship as you work for Christ. And these works that He has for you, He will supernaturally empower and gift you to be able to do them. And so be not overly ambitious to do more than what God's will is. In fact, pull back a little bit, study and pray more, and get in alignment with the Lord and just walk with Him. It's beautiful. You do not have to stress yourself out.

You can relax and rest and be diligent. We were made as diligent workers. We work hard, and you work to exhaustion, and then you go to sleep, and this beautiful body that God created regenerates overnight. And you just do it, and you just work, and you work, and you work, and you get better at it as you get older because you have less energy, right? You get better at obeying God because you don't want to waste your steps. Yeah. So service comes up later, but it's not the main subject of Ephesians chapter 1.

So I want to talk to the children. How do you make this concept, this huge theological doctrine, simple? And some of you are like, "Oh good, now he's talking to me." Yeah, me too. As I'm studying this, I'm like, "Put it in layman's terms. Help me to understand." Well, here it is: God is in control of everything at all times. Can you understand that, children? You got that? God is in control. All right. I see a lot of older people nodding too. God is in control of everything at all times. Or you can simply summarize it: God is in control. Right? Okay. You can summarize it again: God is. God is God. Being in awe of Him will keep you resting and praying and walking and enjoying life — no matter if it looks like secular Ephesus, no matter if everything around us looks like secular central Florida — we're praying and we're walking and we're serving because God is in control of everything at all times. Psalm 135:6, "Whatever the Lord pleases, He does."

And so now your security, your boldness, your confidence — all comes from an understanding of God's election and predestination and adoption in salvation. Your salvation being secure is something that is birthed from that foundation of security in Him. It's not that you're wishy-washy, going back and forth all the time, questioning whether or not Jesus's sacrifice on the cross was powerful enough to save you and keep you saved. It's the fact that I know that it has been done before the foundation of the world. And so therefore I am secure. It's based upon His merit and His work, not my merit. See, where the confusion comes in is you think it's based upon your merit and your doing, and you had nothing to do with it. Okay. He did it and He led you to it.

And so Jesus doesn't want you to be like a yo-yo, back and forth in fear of perhaps spending eternity in hell because you've lost your salvation sometimes. These weighty things — like your salvation — if you were in control of that, then that'll weigh you down and cause you to lose sleep, and you'll live in fear of Him. But hear this. If I'm speaking to you, write this down: 1 John 4:18. If this has been a struggle for you, write down 1 John 4:18.

The Bible says, "Perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love." God's aim is to perfect His knowledge and wisdom in you. You have not yet been perfected in His love if you fear losing your salvation. You have not yet ascertained what it is to rest in Him, and you still think you've got to have a hold of the reins. But perfect love casts out fear. And when you truly get this, you no longer fear God and fear losing your salvation. It's an amazing thing. And so this weightiness slips away.

And so our assurance and our confidence — it's not on our own ability. It's not on how consistent we are in Christ. We all get it. We're weak and we're feeble. We mess things up. We're very temptable. Okay. But even when you are in terrible situations, the unchanging God will keep you, and you do not have to worry about how this process, this ordo salutis, is. You don't have to force this. You have to yield to it. The biblical word in John chapter 15 is "abide" — abide in Him, abide in the vine. Listen, let Him lead you. Just simply be obedient to Him, because He has His will, His foreordained will, already mapped out in your life. And He is going to perfect that in you. He's going to do it. Okay.

Philippians 1:6 says, "For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus." Do you lack confidence in your salvation? Here's a verse for you. Philippians 1:6: "For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus." Our confidence is in Christ keeping and perfecting us until that day. We simply yield to Him. He will give you the power. And so it's God's sovereign power — not only to save you, but to keep you. It's this precious doctrine. It's stabilizing for Christians.

And it is perhaps unlearned preaching that would want to lord this over congregations as a tool to keep you underneath their finger, as if they can determine whether or not you're saved, or when you lose your salvation. This is an abuse in many denominations around the world today. Your salvation is not contingent upon another priest or pastor and what they say about you. It's based upon Christ and what He has done.

And so I implore you today in Hebrews 4:3 to rest, "for we who have believed do enter that rest." And now once you enter into this lifestyle and you comprehend these glorious truths, you will do exactly what Paul is doing in Ephesians chapter 1, which is praising His glory. Now you see it for what it is and you're like, "Wow, God is awesome. This is great — to be in Christ, to be secure, to be confident, to be bold, to have assurance. I ain't got nothing to worry about." No wonder Jesus said, "Do not worry about your life." No wonder Paul — that was Peter — but anyway, God did it. He went first. This is great. And so now we praise the glory of God. Thank you, dear Jesus.

For those of you who have truly been saved, you have not only these blessings, but you have a responsibility. Adoption helps us to understand that there is privilege in being adopted and brought into the family of God, but there is also a responsibility in having a higher status. You now have the power of Christ and in Christ. And so our job, our responsibility, is to act like it. Conform our thinking to it. Get rid of your stinking thinking. Conform your heart motives to the Word of God. When the Holy Spirit convicts you, yield to that, remove it out of your life. Retrain the brain, recondition your heart to the things that belong in the Word of God. Galatians 2:20 says, "It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me." So we need to mortify the flesh. Get rid of all this stuff that is displeasing to Him. That's our responsibility — to embrace Christ through the appropriate, disciplined behavior as a Christian.

And so in conclusion, I say to you, the more a Christian understands God's plan for redemption, the more peace, love, and joy you'll have, and the more courage you'll have, the more zeal you'll have, and the more assurance you will have. The Bible is clear. We are to be witnessing. We are to be courageous and zealous. We are to have assurance. And the way to get that is by knowing His Word and studying soteriology. If you lack these things, and if you have not been saved, I would say to you today that Jesus said in John 10:9 that if you would come to Him, you shall be saved. He likens Himself as the door to heaven. "I am the door. You come through Me. You go to heaven. No man comes to the Father except through Me." Okay. "I am the door. Come to Me." And the way you come to Christ is you come to Him in repentance and in faith. Come to Jesus. He is Savior and He is Lord. And if you'll come to Jesus, if you will simply believe in your heart that Jesus Christ died on the cross and rose again for your sin, and you bow in your posture before Him, He will save your soul.

Pray with me if you would. Father, thank You so much for this day. And I pray, Lord, now as we transition from worshiping You in song and in sermon, that You would utilize this invitation time to convict us as to where we need to grow, and help us to train ourselves for the purpose of godliness. Father, You have said through Paul to Timothy that he needs to train himself for godliness, and that truth is so true for us today. Lord, help us to do some self-examination. Help us, dear Jesus, to see that we must implement healthy habits of analyzing our own heart and walk, and seeing where we don't measure up, and then applying the medicine of Scripture to that particular sick place.

And if, Lord, we are not zealous in serving You, and if we are not passionate about witnessing, and if we do not have the assurance of our salvation, may we, Lord, re-look at the doctrine of election and predestination and adoption, and truly see how the foundation of who we are in You is right there in front of us. Lord, I pray and I empathize with those who have struggled with these and have perhaps seen it in a different way. Maybe today You've helped to illuminate the truth of the text to their heart and mind and have led them to a clear understanding of Your work of salvation and our responsibility to repent and believe.

Thank You, dear Jesus, for those whom You have saved already. And I pray, God, that Your preordained plan would continue to save people here at Beulah Church — to see them not only come to a genuine faith but also, Lord, to be biblically baptized, to join this local congregation, to learn what it is to study the Bible and make disciples. Dear God, our simple plan is based upon Your Word, and we want to be faithful to do that. Thank You for the wonderful things that You are doing here at this dear church. It's almost as if we're just trying to keep up with processing Your many blessings, and oh, we thank You for them. And it's in Jesus' name that we do pray. Amen.