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Father in heaven, we come in the
name of Jesus, confident of the 

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work of the Holy Spirit, asking 
again that You would enable us 

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to see, to hear, to think and 
feel rightly for Your glory. 

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We give You praise for Your 
Word, which is God. 

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Breathe useful for teaching, 
rebuking, correcting and 

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training in righteousness. 
And we thank you for this church

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which upholds your word, 
trusting that it is from you, 

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God, Do what only you can do. 
Summon us to yourself. 

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Remind us of who we are in 
Christ and remind us of your 

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glory and the perfection of your
will. 

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We pray in Jesus name, Amen. 
This morning we're going to 

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continue in the book of 
Ephesians. 

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We're going right back to the 
same section of scripture we 

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were in last week. 
If you were not here with us, we

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covered a lot of ground as it 
relates to the doctrine of 

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election and predestination. 
We're going to continue that 

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theme this morning. 
But if you feel a bit lost or 

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wonder why certain things aren't
being covered, you might listen 

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to last week's sermon for a 
little benefit. 

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To help you know where we're 
going, let me read now, 

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beginning at verse 4 through 6 
of chapter 1. 

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Even as He chose us in Him 
before the foundation of the 

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world that we should be holy and
blameless before Him in love, He

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predestined us for adoption to 
Himself as sons through Jesus 

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Christ, according to the purpose
of His will, to the praise of 

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His glorious grace with which He
has blessed us in the Beloved. 

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This is the word of the Lord. 
Thanks be to God. 

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Please be seated. 
We're moving through this small 

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letter at a very slow and 
intentional pace. 

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Remember why it's written. 
First and foremost, it's written

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because God wanted us to have 
this word. 

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He called his Apostle Paul, his 
own son, his child, carrying him

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along to write these very words 
to encourage this one specific 

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church in Ephesus. 
This pastoral letter would then 

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be circulated to other churches 
and 2000 plus years later, we're

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still being fed by this very 
word of God. 

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Paul begins his letter with this
large, beautifully written, 

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dramatic, magnificent sentence, 
one sentence, hundreds of words 

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long. 
And at the beginning of this 

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sentence he talks about the 
blessings that we have in 

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Christ. 
So everything that he is 

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offering is meant to be a 
blessing. 

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And early in this letter, he 
begins by speaking about this 

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teaching of God's sovereignty, 
of God's Providence, of God's 

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election of predestination. 
Very quickly in review of last 

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week, I shared that there's 
never been a question I've been 

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asked more as a long time youth 
pastor, pastor in this church. 

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Then the question, do you 
believe in predestination? 

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The joy of answering that 
question with the word of God is

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truly a joy. 
Many people don't believe it's 

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in there because the idea of it 
overwhelms us. 

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It's hard for us to wrap our 
hands around it. 

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Today I'd like to do 2 things. 
I would like to look at the 

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puzzle of predestination and 
then the purpose of 

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predestination. 
It's clear in the text, and not 

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just this text what God has said
about who He is. 

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Last week I encouraged you with 
three simple statements. 

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Anytime we come across any 
teaching in the Bible. 

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So this applies certainly to 
doctrines that are harder to 

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understand. 
We must start with scripture. 

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In other words, if we don't 
start with Scripture, it's just 

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your idea, your inference, your 
experience that you're bringing 

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to the text. 
And that's man centered 

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theology. 
It begins with us and how we 

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make sense of the world. 
And therefore that's what God is

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saying. 
We can't do that. 

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It's not how God has made us and
it's not truth. 

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So we start with Scripture. 
Second, stay with Scripture. 

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God's word is meant to be read 
not just only one verse, but in 

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context, in context of the 
chapter of the letter of the 

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testament, of the whole. 
And so we start with Scripture, 

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we stay with Scripture, and then
we surrender to Scripture. 

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We submit to Scripture. 
When we cannot make sense of 

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something. 
We don't say. 

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Therefore, because I can't make 
sense of it, it can't be true. 

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So predestination doesn't exist.
It's a puzzle. 

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It is a mystery. 
Paul's going to use that word. 

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But just because it's a mystery 
doesn't mean it's not true. 

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So I encouraged you last week to
think of a dot to .1 verse leads

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to another and you begin to see 
the picture. 

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I also encouraged you, if you're
in Christ, to trace your 

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testimony, and I hope you did. 
I know some of you did because 

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you sent it to me and it was 
wonderful to read. 

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You trace your testimony back to
when you professed faith in 

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Christ. 
And if you're a child that's 

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grown up in a covenant family 
and you've always known Christ, 

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that's your story. 
And you trace it back and you 

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begin to look for what's going 
on behind the scenes. 

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And behind the scenes, you're 
going to see a sovereign God who

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brought people into your life, 
messages into your life, ideas 

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about life into your life that 
caused you, whether you were 

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little or older, or maybe even 
today to say, I need Jesus. 

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I rest in him alone. 
Everybody has a testimony who is

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in Christ. 
And I encourage you to go back 

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to the beginning. 
And I said, if you go back to 

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the beginning, you're either 
going to start on the day you 

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were born or you're going to 
start on the day you were born 

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again. 
And then I said very carefully, 

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according to this passage, 
that's not the beginning for 

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everyone who was in Christ. 
According to Paul, as he's 

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carried along with his Spirit to
write, the beginning of your 

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testimony is before the 
foundation of the world. 

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Think about that. 
His word says verse 4. 

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Even as he Speaking of Jesus, 
God the Father, Son, Holy Spirit

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shows us in him before the 
foundation of the world. 

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I went to other passages that 
showed where this exists, that 

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there is a list, and this list 
has all of those who are in 

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Christ. 
So here's what that means for 

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all who are in Christ. 
Before you were knit together in

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your mother's womb, Before your 
mother was born. 

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Before your mother and father 
fell in love, Before they had 

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the idea of this time to start a
family. 

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Before you ever met any 
siblings, you were already a 

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child of the living God. 
You are already one who had 

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Jesus as his brother before the 
foundation of all things. 

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That blows our mind. 
And because it blows our mind, 

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some of you immediately are 
like, so it can't be true and 

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you just want to take a sharpie 
and mark out that part of 

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Scripture. 
You can't. 

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It's what His Word says. 
And Paul gives us this word not 

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to confuse us, not to cause us 
to be dizzy, but to encourage 

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us. 
And so I shared with you that in

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some ways, it's like looking at 
one of those prints, one of 

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those Magic Eye prints, where if
you look long enough and your 

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eyes get distorted enough, 
suddenly there's a 3D image 

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coming at you. 
Some of you could see those very

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quickly. 
Some of you never could see 

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them. 
You just couldn't figure out how

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they saw aliens in a spaceship 
or reindeer. 

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Who knows what was there. 
But there are popular books. 

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We stay in scripture, not 
relying up on our own ability to

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do something with our eyes, but 
upon the Holy Spirit to show us 

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what is there. 
And let me encourage you, if 

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you're wrestling with these 
things, it's understandable. 

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People have wrestled with them 
for a long, long time. 

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For example, in 1618 and 1619, 
in order to counter what they 

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believed is heresy, the Canons 
of Dort were printed. 

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Listen to this statement seeking
to go straight to the Scriptures

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and to stay in the Scriptures 
and surrender to the Scriptures.

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My language they wrote this 
election is God's unchangeable 

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purpose by which He did the 
following before the foundation 

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of the world by sheer grace. 
That means not looking into the 

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future, seeing who would believe
that would be something more 

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than grace. 
By sheer grace, according to the

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free good pleasure of His will. 
God chosen Christ to salvation a

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definite number of particular 
people out of the entire human 

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race, which had fallen by its 
own fault from its original 

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innocence into sin and ruin. 
Those chosen were neither better

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nor more deserving than the 
others, but lay with them in the

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common misery. 
God did this in Christ, whom he 

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also appointed from eternity to 
be the mediator, the head of all

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those chosen and the foundation 
of their salvation. 

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Start with the Word, they did 
Stay with the Word. 

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They did. 
Surrender to the Word. 

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Even when your brain begins to 
crack, even when you simply are 

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like, I don't know how to make 
sense of this, keep staring, 

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keep looking at the Word. 
Wait upon the Lord. 

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Something that might be helpful 
is this. 

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In our worship today you've seen
lots about creation. 

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Scripture, clearly from the 
beginning of to the end, tells 

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us that God is the creator of 
all things. 

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Not once in Scripture does it 
ever say God's not in full 

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control. 
Hebrews 1/3 Christ upholds the 

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universe by the word of his 
power. 

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Jesus speaks of the sparrows 
falling and knowing everyone in 

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the book of Job. 
God speaking to Job says, does 

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the lightning go out from you 
and report back? 

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This is where I've been. 
God is awesome and big and 

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mighty and transcendent, but 
everything he has created, all 

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things he has created with 
specific properties. 

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So water acts like water, always
it's wet. 

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A rock acts like a rock. 
Its property is hardness. 

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So a rock is always hard. 
Plants are really alive because 

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God made them with the property 
of life. 

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We created in the image of God, 
have been made in such a 

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wonderful way that we have the 
property of being able to make 

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willing choices, choices that 
have real consequences and real 

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results. 
Many people think, when they 

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hear terms like election or 
predestination, therefore, that 

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we're just puppets that were 
just pawns. 

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That is not true. 
The thought that we are just 

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puppets reduces us to a subhuman
category, to a thing created by 

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man. 
We have been created in the 

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image of God and have the 
property to make real decisions 

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based on our own preferences and
desires. 

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And in God's grace, all who are 
in him, all the elect, like the 

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rest of the world you'll see in 
Ephesians 2, was dead. 

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But by God's grace, he caused 
those dead hearts to beat the 

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elect, those whose names were 
written before the foundation at

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some point in their life, and 
maybe it will be for you today, 

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that heart began to beat. 
That spiritual heart, the need 

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to know Jesus, to trust in Him, 
became alive, and the desires of

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your life changed. 
Before that, you were carried 

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along by the Prince of the power
of the air, the spirit that is 

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now at work among the sons of 
disobedience, among whom we all 

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once lived in the passions of 
our flesh. 

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But your desires changed not 
because you simply decided to 

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have them change. 
Something had to happen first. 

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God gave you a new heart. 
You are regenerate. 

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You were born again. 
And as you were born again, the 

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desires of your life begin to 
change. 

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God causes all things to happen,
but He does so in such a way 

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that He somehow upholds our 
ability to make willing, 

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responsible choices, choices 
that are real and for which we 

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are held accountable. 
Exactly how God combines His 

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providential control with our 
willing choices Scripture does 

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not explain to us. 
But rather than deny 1 aspect or

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the other, we should accept 
both. 

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In an attempt to be faithful to 
Scripture. 

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The Bible teaches both divine 
predestination and full human 

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responsibility. 
It was prophesied that Judas 

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would turn Christ over to the 
officials, but it was still his 

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choice and he received the 
consequences of it. 

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00:14:33,920 --> 00:14:39,200
Our minds have a difficult time 
wrapping around that mystery and

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around that puzzle. 
So this is what we have to 

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remember. 
God did not make everything 

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equally clear in Scripture. 
We start with scripture, we stay

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with scripture, we submit to 
scripture. 

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And as God through the spirits 
work, opens our hearts and minds

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to see, we give Him praise for 
what He reveals. 

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But this is so important. 
Ian Hamilton and his commentary 

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says this The Christians concern
should not be how to puzzle 

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through the mysteries of God's 
sovereignty. 

224
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And it doesn't mean you don't 
study, it doesn't mean you don't

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read it doesn't mean you don't 
keep staring at it. 

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But he said the Christians 
concern should not be how to 

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puzzle through the mystery of 
God's sovereignty, but to bow in

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worship before the sovereign God
who loved us and gave his Son 

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for us. 
He writes this divine 

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sovereignty is never presented 
to us in the Bible as a puzzle 

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to solve, but is a comfort to 
cherish. 

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It's a comfort though we can't 
wrap our minds fully around it. 

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Paul is writing this word to 
this specific church in Ephesus 

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to bring them comfort and 
encouragement. 

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Well, the question then might be
how? 

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How is this comfort? 
Paul tells us the two statements

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in the verses that we looked at,
particularly verse four and 

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five. 
The puzzle of predestination 

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must be met with the purpose of 
predestination. 

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What is the purpose? 
Look at verse 4. 

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Even as He chose us in Him 
before the foundation of the 

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world, that we should be home 
holy and blameless before him. 

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Well, there's part of the 
answer. 

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If somebody asked you what was 
the purpose of predestination? 

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What was the purpose of Christ 
coming? 

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Purpose, Paul tells us, is that 
we who were not holy, we who 

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were not blameless, even though 
we had our names written in the 

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book of life, we should be holy 
and blameless before Him. 

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And that's an important part. 
All are going to stand before 

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Him. 
All but all who are in Christ 

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for all eternity will be be 
before Him, and we will be safe 

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and secure because He has made 
us blameless. 

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He has made us holy. 
This is a dual description of 

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what's taking place in Paul's 
words. 

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First, let's take the word 
blameless. 

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You and I, because of what God's
Word is revealed and what we 

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know to be true of ourselves, 
have a long list of things that 

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we rightly can be blamed for. 
The word blameless comes from 

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the same root word as the word 
blemish. 

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And so when you think about your
life, you think about the 

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choices that you've made. 
You think about the things that 

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you didn't do that you should 
have, and the things you did do 

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that you shouldn't have. 
Every one of us have so many 

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marks, so many blemishes, so 
many ways in which we have 

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sinned. 
When Paul says, even as he chose

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us in him before the foundation 
of the world, that we should be 

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holy and blameless, there is 
this dual description of two 

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things taking place. 
First, something is removed. 

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All of those blemishes, every 
evil thought, every bitter deed,

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everything you've ever done 
wrong, everything I've ever done

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wrong, known and unknown, those 
blemishes in Christ are removed.

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For the Christian, those things 
are removed. 

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Every ounce of greed, every 
selfish act, every lust, every 

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moment of pride, every time my 
tongue is set a forest on fire, 

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every blemish has been removed 
before him. 

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But something else happens, and 
that is something is received, 

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the righteousness of Christ, His
perfection, the one who had no 

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blemishes is imputed to us. 
It is given to us. 

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We are holy because of Christ. 
We are holy in Christ. 

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What it means is that all of the
blemishes, a list longer than 

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any of us could make or 
identify, they have been removed

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as if that was in your bank 
account. 

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All the negative, all the 
negative, all the deficiencies, 

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they're removed. 
Suddenly your account before God

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does not have those. 
They're gone before him. 

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But your account is not just 
left neutral. 

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You're not just starting with a 
clean slate and then good luck. 

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You receive something and what 
you receive is a person. 

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And that person Jesus, who has 
no blemishes, whose 

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righteousness says perfect, it's
imputed to you. 

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And so Paul says This is why he 
chose us, that we should be holy

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and blameless. 
Now. 

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This is why it's really 
important. 

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Some people come against the 
doctrine of God's sovereignty 

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and the doctrine of election and
predestination and say, well, if

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that's true and I discover that 
I'm elect, then why would I ever

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care about the way I live? 
I'll do whatever I want. 

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That's called license. 
I have the freedom to do 

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whatever I want, sin however I 
want because I'm one of His. 

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00:21:10,360 --> 00:21:15,680
If that is your thinking and you
actually believe that, do not be

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confident and your salvation. 
That is not at all what God's 

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00:21:21,120 --> 00:21:26,720
Word teaches. 
God's Word reveals to us that He

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00:21:26,720 --> 00:21:31,160
sent His Son for the purpose 
that those who are His elect 

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00:21:31,160 --> 00:21:35,440
will be saved to be blameless 
and holy. 

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00:21:36,160 --> 00:21:42,920
So our holiness matters, one who
is truly saved, who understands 

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00:21:42,920 --> 00:21:47,800
what God did apart from any work
in themselves, and I mean any 

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00:21:47,800 --> 00:21:50,920
work in themselves. 
This is the greatest motivation 

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00:21:50,920 --> 00:21:53,560
towards holiness. 
Here's an example. 

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00:21:53,560 --> 00:21:57,920
The first Christian book I ever 
read, somewhere between 1984 and

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00:21:57,920 --> 00:22:05,000
9585, was Pursuit of Holiness by
Jerry Bridges and NAV Press 

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00:22:05,000 --> 00:22:08,320
Publication. 
I've never read a Christian 

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00:22:08,320 --> 00:22:11,440
book. 
I read that book and tried so 

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00:22:11,440 --> 00:22:14,760
hard to be holy because God's 
word says be holy, because I'm 

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00:22:14,760 --> 00:22:18,280
holy. 
And I fell miserably short. 

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00:22:19,360 --> 00:22:20,960
You would too. 
You did too. 

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00:22:22,200 --> 00:22:26,440
But I was inspired. 
I wanted to be holy, but who was

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00:22:26,440 --> 00:22:30,520
I focused on? 
Me, my ability. 

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00:22:32,080 --> 00:22:34,960
Not long after that book was 
released, he would write another

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00:22:34,960 --> 00:22:39,760
book called Transforming Grace, 
and in that book he would admit 

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00:22:39,960 --> 00:22:43,440
there wasn't enough grace in the
pursuit of holiness. 

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00:22:43,880 --> 00:22:46,160
He would write a third book 
called The Disciplines of Grace,

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00:22:46,160 --> 00:22:49,000
which was the best of those 
three. 

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00:22:49,760 --> 00:22:53,840
Speaking about our dependence 
upon the Lord and the Lord 

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00:22:53,840 --> 00:22:57,680
making us holy. 
And because the Lord makes us 

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00:22:57,680 --> 00:23:02,760
holy, it inspires true believers
to say, I want nothing to do 

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00:23:02,760 --> 00:23:05,200
with filth. 
I want nothing to do with 

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00:23:05,200 --> 00:23:09,400
anything that God opposes. 
So when we get to Ephesians 53 

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and Paul says these words, but 
among you this small church. 

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00:23:13,720 --> 00:23:18,920
There must not be even a hint of
sexual immorality or impurity. 

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00:23:19,120 --> 00:23:22,560
We all agree with that. 
But then he also says or greed 

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00:23:23,680 --> 00:23:30,840
for these are improper for God's
what holy people, we read that 

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00:23:30,840 --> 00:23:36,400
and say, yes, Lord, please, by 
your power, take away all greed 

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00:23:36,400 --> 00:23:38,200
in my heart and you know it's 
there. 

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00:23:38,720 --> 00:23:40,920
Take away all lust. 
You know it's there. 

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00:23:41,240 --> 00:23:48,280
There's a desire born out of his
purpose of predestiny and that 

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00:23:48,280 --> 00:23:52,480
is to see who we are blessed and
holy. 

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00:23:53,600 --> 00:23:55,720
Marta Lloyd Jones says something
that's really important. 

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00:23:55,720 --> 00:23:58,440
I actually have been blessed so 
much by this over the last few 

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00:23:58,440 --> 00:24:01,000
weeks. 
He says, according to the 

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00:24:01,000 --> 00:24:06,320
apostle Paul, we are not chosen 
with the possibility of 

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00:24:06,320 --> 00:24:10,000
holiness, but to the realization
of holiness. 

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00:24:10,560 --> 00:24:14,200
God has not chosen us before the
foundation of the world in order

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00:24:14,200 --> 00:24:17,280
to create for us the possibility
of holiness. 

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00:24:17,680 --> 00:24:25,640
He has chosen us to holiness. 
And brothers and sisters, this 

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00:24:25,640 --> 00:24:31,920
is what we should be encouraging
one another with this desire to 

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00:24:31,920 --> 00:24:39,000
bring him holy because he says 
even as he chose us in him 

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00:24:39,000 --> 00:24:42,440
before the foundation of the 
world, that we should be holy 

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00:24:42,440 --> 00:24:47,120
and blameless before him. 
OK, we're going to stop there. 

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00:24:49,040 --> 00:24:54,280
The theme of this morning's 
sermon will continue next week, 

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00:24:55,240 --> 00:24:59,120
focused on the word adoption. 
I thought we would get there 

351
00:24:59,120 --> 00:25:08,760
today, but it's 1032 and what 
we're going to do is this, take 

352
00:25:08,760 --> 00:25:13,200
your bulletin home along with 
the Word of God. 

353
00:25:14,240 --> 00:25:19,520
Read Westminster chapter 12. 
It was our profession of faith. 

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00:25:20,640 --> 00:25:23,960
That's where we're going next 
week, and we're going to focus 

355
00:25:23,960 --> 00:25:30,520
on what it means to be the 
adopted children who have all 

356
00:25:30,520 --> 00:25:34,040
the privileges beyond what we 
can even ask or imagine. 

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00:25:35,360 --> 00:25:38,800
I'm going to close this in 
prayer, and then we're going to 

358
00:25:38,800 --> 00:25:43,040
sit as the music begins to play,
and then we're going to rise and

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00:25:43,040 --> 00:25:45,840
we're going to sing. 
I pray with full voice. 

360
00:25:47,360 --> 00:25:54,880
Holy, holy, Holy Father in 
heaven, Your Word is impossible 

361
00:25:54,880 --> 00:26:01,680
for us to understand or to 
believe, to embrace or to live 

362
00:26:02,280 --> 00:26:07,640
apart from us being in Christ 
above all things. 

363
00:26:07,640 --> 00:26:13,640
What Paul is saying is that this
is what it means to be in Jesus.

364
00:26:14,520 --> 00:26:21,160
You, Father, before all time 
have listed those who are yours,

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00:26:22,000 --> 00:26:27,200
and in your own perfect way, at 
the pleasure of Your will, You 

366
00:26:27,200 --> 00:26:29,920
summon your children to 
yourself. 

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00:26:30,440 --> 00:26:34,720
Indeed you do. 
Adopt us today, though, Lord, 

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00:26:34,720 --> 00:26:40,280
even as we listen to this music,
and then as we sing, press 

369
00:26:40,440 --> 00:26:46,840
deeply into us the truth that 
You have made us to be a people 

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00:26:47,240 --> 00:26:54,680
set apart. 
Blessed, blameless and holy 

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00:26:55,320 --> 00:27:00,040
because of who we are in Jesus. 
Amen.