Father in Heaven, we give you praise.
We're so thankful for the Word that you've given us, what
you've revealed to us, Holy Spirit, about our Savior, the
Word open up our hearts and minds, open our ears, enable us
to think rightly about all of Your Word overwhelm us that even
this day we would leave unable to stop speaking about the
things that we've seen and heard.
All from you all for your glory, we pray this in Jesus name,
Amen. If you would remain standing for
the scripture reading, we're picking up again our study of
Ephesians. Even during winter grace, we
stayed in this wonderful little book.
This morning I'm going to be reading from verses 4 through 6
of chapter 1. I'm focusing on verse 4
primarily today. We're going to be in this same
passage, the same 3 verses next week, and maybe even beyond a
bet. Listen now as I read.
These are the words Paul wrote as he was carried along by the
Holy Spirit, even as he chose us in Him before the foundation of
the world, and we should be holy and blameless before Him in
love. He predestined us for adoption
to Himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose
of His will, to the praise of His glorious grace with which he
has blessed us in the Beloved. This is the word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God. Please be seated.
One of my absolute favorite things to do as a pastor is to
be present at an event, whether it's large or small, where those
who are present have the privilege to ask any question
they want about the Bible. As a youth pastor for many
years, this was something that we would do And no, I've been a
senior pastor here for almost 18 years.
I delight in going on the Florida trip.
I delight in teaching on the Florida trip.
I delight in taking time to listen to students as they ask
questions. This past November, my daughter
Maddie Maddie Bennington, who helps Co lead a middle school
girls Bible study of 8th graders, invited me to their
Bible study. About 25 and you talk about
energy in a room. 25 eighth grade girls with questions for
their pastor. And I know what some of the
questions are going to be. What about dinosaurs?
What about evolution? But I can tell you with absolute
certainty that the question I've been asked the most over the
years has been, do you believe in what predestination?
Do you believe in predestination?
If you're new to our church today, you're going to hear what
we believe. If you've been a member of our
church for some time, this is probably not going to be new to
you, but there is going to be an element where some of you might
say, wow, I didn't know we believe that.
Why do we believe that? Now this is an amazing doctrine,
but it's a mind blowing doctrine.
It is a doctrine that is saturated in Scripture, that is
affirmed from the beginning of the Bible to the end.
But yet for most people who profess faith in Jesus, this is
a doctrine that they either distance themselves from, don't
even believe it's biblical. And so the question comes often,
do you believe in predestination?
Now, I can respond very quickly. Yes.
Next question But why would I answer?
Yes, every question that is asked, the answer I must give
and you must give as a follower of Christ is What does the word
of God say? And it's clearest teaching with
the powerful illumination of the Holy Spirit.
What does the Word of God say? So this morning and next week
and into the next week, we're going to be looking at this
passage. So we're not going to cover
everything today, but we're going to get a start.
And the way I want to start is by thinking about dot to dots.
And then I want to think about tracing.
And then I want to think about a puzzle first, dot to dots.
Do you believe in predestination?
The answer we give has to be according to God's word.
Not my intuition, not my human experience, not what makes sense
to me. Because God is incomprehensible
in the ways of God are beyond the ways of man.
So what does God's Word say? And I'm going to give you 3 very
simple statements When it comes to any part of Scripture, any
doctrine of Scripture, any aspect of theology, 3 things.
Start with the word #2 stay with the word #3 surrender to the
Word. Start with the Word.
So when the person asked me, Pastor Mark, do you believe in
predestination? Yes.
Why do you believe it? Because I believe every word of
the Bible to be true. And while all of it's not as
clear as other parts, I believe this part actually is really
clear, though it's a mystery. Why do you believe it?
Because it's in the Word. Start with the Word.
What does the word of God say? And when things that the word of
God says, that blows our minds. And it does, and it will.
When you meditate upon these truths, your brain at times is
going to crack. There are going to be moments
when you simply say, I cannot reconcile that God is absolutely
all powerful, all knowing, all wise.
He is eternal. He's incomprehensible.
And yet I have the ability to make real choices that have real
consequences. I can't wrap my mind around
that. Start with the Word of God.
Stay with the Word of God and surrender to the Word of God.
Because to be honest, the goal isn't actually that we
understand it all. It's not that we will have
questions that lead us into greater mystery, but it's that
we will not reject that which we can't comprehend, but we will
receive it. We will trust it.
Start with the Word. Stay with the Word, surrender to
the Word. So if you were here today and
your first time ever to this church and you're like, they
actually believe that thing called predestination.
Why? Because it's in the Bible.
Here's what I want you to think about for a moment is Paul is
carried along by the Holy Spirit.
He's not writing his own words, He's writing what the Holy
Spirit has led him to write. He's writing this letter to a
church, and he's writing this letter to a church that would be
circulated to other churches to encourage them, not confuse
them. Why would he start with this
doctrine? It's because as He is seeking to
root this church in eternal things, He's taking them back to
eternity, back before the foundations of the world,
rooting them in the deepest possible foundation, God
himself. Start with the Word, stay in the
Word, surrender to the Word. It's a dot to dot.
You begin to take passages of Scripture and you move from one
point to another, and you see the truth that is there.
I want to do this for us this morning for a moment.
Sometimes people were like, well, the doctrine of
predestination actually wasn't even invented till John Calvin
came up with it. It's called Calvinism.
That is not true. Hundreds, thousands of years all
the way back to the beginning. This doctrine has been taught in
God's word. Some people say, well, it's just
Paul's word. Well, I'm going to start with
Paul's word in Ephesians one, verse 4, right?
The beginning of this long sentence, in this long blessing.
He says even as he chose us, he chose us.
That's his children, that's all who were saved, all who were
born again, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of
the world. Then he says in the very next
verse, He predestined us. Notice it says in love He
predestined us for adoption. It's not the only place Paul
mentions this even in this long incredible beginning of
Ephesians verse 11. In him we have obtained an
inheritance, having been predestined according to the
purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel
of his will. Well, there's a hint right
there. Whenever you can't comprehend
something, remember it's not incomprehensible to God.
Whenever you can't understand why He would do this and not
this, remember He's always doing it for His glory, and His glory
is always right and holy and just.
Even if you can't understand it, even if you don't like it.
Start with His words. Stay in His word.
Surrender to His word in the book of Romans, Paul also writes
of election. In fact it was in our statement
of faith today Romans 829 to 30. For those whom he foreknew and
foreknowledge doesn't mean that God was looking into the future
to see which people would choose him and then those would be as
that puts the responsibility on the human being and we could
never choose God. One of the reasons people don't
believe in predestination is they don't believe the right
doctrine of sin. What Paul's going to say in
chapter 2 of Ephesians is that none of us had a heart that
could beat for God. We were dead, not sick, not just
immoral. We had the inability to cause
our heart to beat for God. If God didn't shock our heart,
if God didn't resurrect our heart, if God didn't open our
mind to the truth, nobody would ever choose God.
So when it uses the word foreknowledge, that's not what
it means, Paul continues. For those whom he foreknew, he
also predestined to be conformed to the image of a son, in order
that we might be the first born among many brothers.
And those whom he predestined he also called.
And those whom he called he also justified.
And those whom he called he also glorified.
The book of Thessalonians. Near the beginning, Paul writes
this pastoral letter and says this for you know, brothers
loved by God, that he has chosen you because our gospel came to
you not only in Word, but in power and the Holy Spirit.
But it's not just Paul's theology.
Listen to Peter first verse in the first book of Peter chapter
one verse one to those who are elect exiles.
That's those who are born again. Then in chapter 2, verse 9,
Peter writes this. But you are a chosen race, a
royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession,
that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called
you out of darkness into the marvelous light, His marvelous
light. It's not just Peter.
It's the gospel writers writing the Gospel of Luke in that which
accompanies it, the book of Acts.
Luke wrote in Acts 13. And when the Gentiles, that's
those who are not Jews. When the Gentiles heard this,
they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord
and hear this. And as many as were appointed to
eternal life believed, and the word of the Lord was spreading.
The apostle John writing his last book, the last book of the
Bible in Revelation 2 different places.
He says this chapter 13, seven and eight Speaking of people
worshipping the beast, John writes, and all who dwell on
earth will worship it the beast. Everyone whose name has not been
written, hear this before the foundation of the world, in the
book of life of the Lamb who was slain.
Before John wrote that book, he wrote his Gospel, the Gospel
according to John. He records Jesus's very own
words. Listen to these words, John 637.
Jesus says All that the Father gives me will come to me, and
whoever comes to me I will never cast out, for I have come down
from heaven. Here he's Speaking of this
covenant of redemption. I have come down from heaven not
to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.
And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose
nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last
day. Later in that same chapter, John
writes Jesus saying no one can come to me unless it is granted
him by the Father. In John 15, that great chapter
on abiding, Jesus says very clearly to his disciples, You
did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you
should go and bear fruit. Robbie included that in his
prayer this morning. It's not John Calvin's
invention. It wasn't even Paul's invention.
It's the truth of God's Word and it's mind blowing truth.
It's truth that's not meant to just leave us in a state of
confusion, but a truth that's meant to encourage us as His
church deeply. But it often doesn't.
Why? I want you to think about this
for a moment. I gave you just a few verses.
I didn't even move into the Old Testament where it begins.
But in the history of redemption, from beginning
Genesis 1 to the end of Revelation, there is this
constant thread of a sovereign God in control of all things,
calling Him people to Himself. So what I want you to do for a
moment now as I want you to trace your journey.
If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you've rested and
received him alone for salvation, you've been born
again, then you have a testimony.
If you have not done that, today might be a remarkable day in
your life where He's revealing the truth of who you are as a
Sinner separated from Him, and who He is, is the only one who
can save you. This is a big day, but if you're
in Christ, I want you to trace your testimony.
Whether you were a child, a high school student, a college
student. Later in life is when you came
to Christ, whenever it was, you have a story.
Some of you know the exact day, some of you don't.
Some of you have a testimony that says I've never known a day
that I haven't believed and rested in Jesus.
Praise God for that. But every one of us who are in
Christ has a testimony. And if you will take time, I
encourage you to do it. It will bless you and you think
back and ask the Holy Spirit to show you behind the scenes what
all was happening in my life. You're going to begin to see
things that you might not have seen before.
I know the exact day I came to faith and when I came to faith
in June of 1982 and I came home to tell people what happened.
These are the kind of words that came out of my mouth.
I chose to accept Christ as my Lord and Savior, and that was
absolutely true. I did make that choice.
Something had happened inside me that made me go to my young life
leader to say something's wrong with me.
He knew the truth because the same God that was changing me
and drawing me to himself had done the same thing in his life
as he watched the Billy Graham crusade on TV and he told me the
gospel, and I chose to trust Jesus.
I had no knowledge of the things I'm thinking you've never heard
of the apostle Paul, never heard of the book of Ephesians.
But over time, as I began to trace my story, I began to
realize all the things God had done behind the scenes in my
life to bring me to that place. And He's done the same in you.
It might be the parents He's given you, AVBS leader, He gave
you a camp, you went to an Ruf ministry, could be any number of
things that God used. But trace your testimony and I
want you to go back as far as you can.
But here's what I want you to understand.
According to God's word, you're probably not going to go back as
far as you should. If somebody said to you, well,
tell me your testimony and you asked, well, where should I
start? You are either going to start
with the day you were born and maybe where you were born and
raised, or you'll probably start with the day you were born again
or the season of your life where you were born again.
That's not the beginning. Your beginning is the same as my
beginning, and our beginning in Christ is the same as the
apostle Peter and the apostle Paul.
It all began before the foundation of the world.
So if you were ever tempted to say I don't really have a
testimony, I'm a believer in Jesus, but I don't really have a
testimony. I mean, the men of Nehemiah,
those men, they have testimonies.
If any of those men have come to saving faith.
Their testimony doesn't start the day they cried for help.
Their testimony doesn't start the day they actually said, well
this is the day I profess faith. Their testimony started the same
day mine did, and yours before the foundation of the earth.
Now does that blow your mind? It should because it's beyond
our ability to comprehend, but it's what God's Word says over
and over again. Start with the Word, stay with
the Word, surrender to the Word, trace back your testimony.
But I also want to encourage you to trace back your understanding
and exposure to this doctrine, the doctrine of predestination,
the doctrine of election, the doctrines of God's Providence,
His sovereignty. For some of you, that might be
today. This might be the first time you
have ever heard this truth or heard it explained.
For the others of you, you've been there a long time.
For some of you, it's like this maybe for most of us, at least
initially. Do you remember 3D art?
Do you remember? I think it was called the the
Magic Eye, Those drawings and sketches that you would look at
and it would just be a bunch of different colors.
But if you stared into it and you stared long enough and your
eyes kind of became a little bit blurry, then you could see 3D
images coming at you. Y'all remember those?
The book Magic I actually was published the same year this
church came into existence. It was 1991.
Best seller sold millions of them.
And people would look at those pictures and some people would
look at it and go where is it? I don't see it.
And then all of a sudden, oh, there it is.
Oh, a spaceship. Oh, aliens and planets.
Or maybe it was giraffes or mermaids.
But you saw it, and others of you just got frustrated.
I can't see it. You looked closer.
You stared, but you couldn't see it.
In some ways, a doctrine like this, it's hard to fully see.
In fact, we won't fully see, but as we look, starting with the
Word, staying with the Word, surrendering to the Word, these
truths began to become clear. And some people, by God's grace,
their eyes are opened. And these doctrines don't just
become something that's so complex, but even in the
complexity and the mystery, by God's grace we surrender to it
and say, I believe it because it's in his Word.
And I started with this word, and I'm staying with this word,
and I'm going to surrender to his word.
And as you stare into these doctrines, you're not dependent
upon your own ability to fix your eyes a certain way.
You're dependent upon the living God, the Holy Spirit to help you
see. So why would God give us this
text at the beginning of this letter?
You see, this passage creates questions, and we must be honest
about that. If God is that big, that
transcendent, that sovereign, are we just puppets?
Are we just pawns? We're going to talk about that
next week. What about those who aren't
elect? What am I to think about that?
What about my choices? Are they real?
We're going to look into that because it matters.
But it's those kinds of questions that most often lead
people to have a man centered theology where they say, because
I can't make sense of this in my mind, it can't be true, so I'm
going to reject it. That is not starting with or
staying with the Word of God, and it certainly isn't
surrendering to it. Every one of us need to stay
with His Word when we can't fully comprehend it.
We need to still surrender to it and study it, trusting Him.
But more than that, questions that might be moving in your
mind, I want to replace for a moment with this one.
Why would Paul start his letter with this?
To bless us, to bless his church.
He begins this passage with blessings.
He doesn't sense the need to give them something that will
confuse them, but to give them something that's going to cause
them to be confident and secure and humble and holy.
This is the word of the Lord as Paul was carried along to write
it. He was carried along that these
words might bring hope and comfort to the church.
So what are some of the blessings?
1st The God that we worship is so much bigger and greater.
He's incomprehensible except in the places where he makes
himself comprehensible. It's one of his attributes.
He is transcendent. Our ways are not His ways.
He knows that our minds can not fully comprehend all that He is.
But it still doesn't mean it's not true.
It's true, it's true. The bigness of God is present in
this doctrine. A second blessing, though, is
humility. You must ask the question, if
I'm one of God's elect, why? And the only answer is for his
own glory, He chose to save you. That's why there should never be
a Christian who holds to the doctrines of the Reform faith,
who is arrogant, who is prideful.
He didn't look into the future and say I knew you were going to
get it a little bit more than others.
Everything we have received is from him.
If when you stared into this text that's so mind blowing and
you were able to surrender to it sooner than others, don't be
prideful about that. Be thankful for God's grace.
If this is all new to you, be confident in God's grace, but
always be humble. Lastly, and we heard this
beautifully from David Gibson, this doctrine should make us so
grateful that we who were dead spiritually, like the rest of
the world, by His grace He desired to make a life.
You were born again because He chose you to be born again.
You are a St. because before the foundation of the world, your
name was written in the book of life.
Why my name? Why your name?
For his glory. It's glory.
That's it. That's why anytime the tag given
to people who hold to these truths that are biblical first,
then we can call them Reformed. When anybody gives us the title
the frozen Chosen, rebuke them unless it's true.
And if it's true that that zeal and affection for the Lord isn't
in you, it's because you really don't get the doctrine.
So start with the Word, stay with the Word, surrender to the
Word. Because when we realize what He
has done for us and how big and transcendent He is, and yet
through His Spirit, He lives in us, we should never be frozen.
We should never appear dead. We should never appear dry.
He, the living water, is inside us simply because before the
foundation of the world, He desired to save you.
This is what the Word of God says.
Today, like every Sunday, whoever's preaching here, we
seek to start with the Word, to stay with the Word, and to
surrender to the Word. If today your mind is spinning,
your brain is cracking, you're having a difficult time with all
this, that's normal. But just because you can't wrap
this up, it doesn't mean it isn't true.
May God bless us on this journey, making us humble and
deeply grateful. Father, as we prepare now to
come to the table which you have given us, even this table we
don't deserve. But because of who we are in
Christ, we are coming. We're coming in obedience.
We're coming with expectation. We're coming to have the
richness of this meal pressed deep into our hearts and minds,
where there is dryness, where we might really look frozen, where
we are not just absorbed in gratitude.
Do that work for Your glory by reminding us once again of your
grace, your pursuit of us. And Father, for those even this
day where questions are swirling through their mind, thank you
for that work, Spirit. Draw them to stay in your word.
Reveal to them this truth. And Lord, may we just continue
as your people to give you praise for all that you've given
us in Christ and whose name we pray.
Amen. Please stand.