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All right, please give your 
attention to the reading of 

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God's Word, Ephesians chapter 1,
verses 4 through 6. 

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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 

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love, He predestined us for 
adoption to himself as sons 

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through Jesus Christ according 
to the purpose of His will to 

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the praise of his glorious grace
with which he has blessed us in 

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the beloved. 
This is the word of the Lord. 

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All right, and you may take your
seat. 

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So I'm going to quickly pray our
gracious Heavenly Father, as we 

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come for some to what could be a
difficult text. 

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I just pray that you would just 
open our eyes, give 

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understanding and clarity to our
minds, and then would your 

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spirit make it real to our 
hearts. 

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And we pray that you would do 
this because we need you to do 

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this because these doctrines 
that we're about to look at are 

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meant for those who struggle 
believing that you love them. 

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And so I pray that you would 
convince us this morning of the 

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eternal, unchanging, never 
ending love that you have for 

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your children. 
And we ask of this in Jesus 

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name, Amen. 
All right, I'm just going to say

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it upfront. 
The impact that fathers have on 

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their children, good or bad, 
cannot be denied. 

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Everyone in this room has been 
impacted positively or 

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negatively by their father. 
Who you are today in some way 

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has been molded and shaped by 
the presence or the absence of 

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your father. 
So to speak about fathers and 

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fatherhood like this can elicit 
a strong emotional response from

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people. 
And I'm going to be honest, the 

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goal of my sermon this morning 
is to elicit a strong emotional 

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response from you. 
This is one of those giant texts

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that I cannot do justice to. 
I feel like we're standing on 

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holy ground because the weight 
of these words and the meaning 

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of its content is giving us the 
eternal heart of God and His 

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eternal purpose for our lives. 
Our text is loaded with meaning 

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and it's also loaded with 
controversy both inside and 

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outside of the church. 
Paul deals with two words that 

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for some today are swear words 
in Christianity. 

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So I want to stayed upfront. 
We can either get caught up in 

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the controversy of election and 
predestination, or we can find 

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our greatest comfort in these 
doctrines. 

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See, Paul does not view these 
words as controversial. 

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In fact, he tells us that these 
are reasons for why God is to be

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praised. 
To Paul, the meaning of these 

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words do not separate and divide
people. 

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They are meant to unite, to 
assure, and to comfort people. 

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What was it like to know that 
your dad was displeased with 

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you, either by something you did
or by something you didn't do? 

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How did your father react? 
Did he blow up in anger? 

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Did he walk away in disgust? 
Or did he just give you that 

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look of disappointment on his 
face that caused you to die 1000

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deaths? 
How did it make you feel to know

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that your dad was displeased 
with you? 

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And what were you most afraid of
when he was displeased with you?

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All of us have experienced the 
displeasure of our earthly 

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fathers, and whether we're 
willing to admit it or not, it 

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has had a profound effect on the
way that we view God as our 

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Heavenly Father. 
Why do we at times think that 

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God will withhold blessing? 
Why do we fear that God will 

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love us less? 
Why do we think God will 

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abandoned and leave us? 
Aren't these fears rooted in the

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fact that we think God's giving 
or withholding blessing? 

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It's based on what we do or 
don't do. 

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We think God's love for us is 
based on our love for Him. 

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We think that if we do what is 
right, we earn God's blessing, 

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but if we do what is wrong, we 
earn His punishment. 

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What is the proper context to 
understand the doctrines of 

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election and predestination? 
Answer. 

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It's when people think God 
withholds blessing from them. 

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It's when people are insecure of
their standing before God 

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because they fall into sin, 
leaving them fearful that God's 

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love for them is going to 
change. 

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It's when people question their 
status as God's children, 

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thinking that they can't be a 
son or a daughter because the 

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life resemblance isn't that 
good. 

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It's when people fear that God 
will punish them, thinking that 

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God will kick them out of the 
house, saying, and don't you 

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ever come back. 
We all know what it is like to 

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experience the displeasure of a 
Father. 

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Our text is written so that we 
would know and always experience

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God's favor. 
The doctrines of election and 

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predestination are meant to 
convince us that God's love for 

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His children. 
It's an eternal, it is an 

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unchanging, and it is a never 
ending love. 

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But before we move into the 
heart of our passage, I want to 

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just quickly address two things 
that are so easily forgotten, 

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predestination and election. 
They're not New Testament terms 

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that Paul invented. 
In the Old Testament, God chose 

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Israel. 
God predestined Israel to be his

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children. 
And Deuteronomy 7 verses 6 

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through 9, it says, For you are 
a people holy to the Lord your 

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God. 
The Lord God has chosen you to 

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be a people for His treasured 
possession out of all the 

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peoples who are on the face of 
the earth. 

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It was not because you were more
in number than any other people 

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that the Lord set His love on 
you and chose you, for you were 

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the fewest of all peoples. 
But it is because the Lord loves

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you and is keeping the oath that
He swore to your Father's, that 

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the Lord has brought you out 
with a mighty hand and redeemed 

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you from the House of slavery, 
from the hand of Pharaoh the 

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king. 
Know, therefore, that the Lord 

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your God is God, the faithful 
God, who keeps covenant and 

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steadfast love with those who 
love Him and keep His 

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commandments to 1000 
generations. 

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This is not a New Testament 
invention. 

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It's ancient. 
It's old and then second, the 

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one writing this letter was 
chosen and was predestined. 

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And verse one Paul says an 
apostle of Christ Jesus by the 

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will of God. 
Paul did not seek to be an 

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apostle. 
It was not Paul's will to be an 

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apostle. 
God chose him and set him apart 

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for this task. 
So right away, Paul, at the 

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beginning of this letter is 
identifying himself as an elect 

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person, someone whose destiny 
has been determined by the will 

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of God, not by his will. 
And this is what struck me is 

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that Paul is rejoicing in this 
fact, despite the circumstances 

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that he's faced with while 
writing this letter. 

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Paul busts out and prays to God 
while he is in prison because of

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God. 
So here's the question, Why is 

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Paul not questioning God's good 
intentions towards him while 

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he's suffering in prison? 
Why is Paul not bitter at all 

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that God has put him through? 
Why is he not complaining, 

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wishing he had a different or a 
better life? 

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Why is he not doubting God's 
love for him? 

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Why is he not wondering whether 
God has abandoned him because 

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he's left him alone in prison? 
Answer Because Paul knows that 

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God's love for him is an 
eternal, unchanging, never 

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ending love. 
And this knowledge, it impacts 

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Paul's life no matter what his 
circumstances are. 

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Despite being in prison, Paul 
can praise God as his Father 

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because he knows that as his 
Father he loves to bless his 

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children. 
Because these blessings have 

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nothing to do with what we do or
don't do. 

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They have everything to do with 
what Jesus did. 

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See. 
Why do you doubt God's love to 

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be gracious to you? 
Why do you think God withholds 

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blessing? 
Yes, the fact that our earthly 

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fathers can affect our view of 
our Heavenly Father, but there's

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more to it than that. 
We struggle to believe what Paul

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says in verse 3 because we know 
we don't deserve His blessings. 

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Paul says that as our Father, 
God has already blessed us in 

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Christ with every spiritual 
blessing in the heavenly places.

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The verb tense tells us that 
this is an already accomplished 

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fact. 
Those who are in Christ, he 

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says, have already been blessed 
with every spiritual blessing, 

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which means there's nothing that
God withholds, there's nothing 

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that we're missing, there's 
nothing that we lack, there's 

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nothing else that we need to 
seek to get from God that we 

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don't already have in Christ. 
If we have already been blessed 

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with every spiritual blessing, 
then why do we think we can lose

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God's blessing? 
Why do we think He withholds 

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blessing? 
Well, maybe it's because we 

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still think His blessing depends
on us. 

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Now we need to remember verses 3
through 14. 

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It's one long sentence, the 
longest sentence in the Bible, 

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and the key phrase in these 
verses is in Christ. 

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Paul says we should praise God 
because as our Father, he 

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blesses us. 
Don't miss this with Christ's 

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blessing 12 times. 
In verses 3 through 14, Paul 

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refers in various ways to a 
believer spiritual union with 

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Christ. 
All that we have been given is 

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what has already been given to 
Jesus. 

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Therefore, all of the spiritual 
blessings that God gives are not

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given because of what we do, but
because of what Christ did. 

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These blessings, in other words,
it's like peeling and onions. 

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There's just layer upon layer 
upon layer upon layer. 

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That's why it's one long 
sentence, because once Paul 

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starts, he can't stop. 
He just goes. 

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And for the remainder of our 
time, we're only going to look 

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at the two that are mentioned in
verses 4 through 6. 

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But before we look at these 
blessings, I do want to briefly 

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address what it means to be 
united to Christ. 

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To be in union with Jesus means 
that everything that is true of 

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Jesus is true of everyone who is
united to Jesus. 

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What does that mean? 
That means his identity is our 

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identity. 
That means what is declared of 

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Him is declared of those who are
united to Him. 

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Everything He did is applied to 
us. 

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How God views him is how God 
views all of those united to Him

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as our Father. 
God is to be praised because He 

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blesses us with Christ's status.
And this includes 2 things. 

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It includes Christ's sanctity 
and Christ's sonship. 

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Look at verse 4. 
Paul says God chose us in Him 

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before the creation of the 
world, before He even laid the 

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foundations of the world, before
anything existed. 

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He chose us in Him. 
Why? 

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To be holy and blameless in His 
sight. 

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God's purpose in electing people
is so that they would be holy 

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and blameless in His sight. 
He did not choose people because

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they were holy. 
He chose people in order to make

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them holy. 
To be blessed with Christ's 

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sanctity. 
This means God removed something

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from us, and then God supplies 
something to us because 

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believers are united to Christ. 
Here's what Paul is saying. 

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We have our blame removed. 
Everything that causes us to 

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experience guilt and shame is 
removed. 

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Everything that justly condemns 
us is no longer held against us.

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All of our blemishes are removed
in God's sight. 

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All of our sin is removed in 
God's sight. 

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We are without blame. 
But there's more. 

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Not only does God remove all 
blame from us, but He also 

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supplies us with Christ's 
righteousness. 

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See, the holiness that Jesus 
achieved by living a perfect, 

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sinless life is now declared to 
be ours. 

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Like this robe that covers me, 
Jesus's righteousness covers 

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those who are united to him. 
Because Jesus is holy, God views

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and treats His children as if 
they are holy. 

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God sees us as holy. 
God removes our debt. 

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He credits us with Christ's 
righteousness. 

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This is why Christians get it so
wrong. 

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We only believe 1/3 of the 
gospel. 

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We believe Jesus died for us to 
pay for sins penalty. 

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But we don't know. 
He lived for us, He accomplished

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righteousness for us, and He 
graciously gifts us with His 

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righteousness, which means it's 
unlimited righteousness. 

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So do you see what this means? 
God is not angry with you. 

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This means God will not blow up 
in anger at his children because

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they still sin. 
It means God will not walk away 

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from you in disgust. 
It means God will not look upon 

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you with disappointment. 
It means there's no more reason 

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to fear that God will love you 
less. 

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00:18:10,680 --> 00:18:18,560
No more reason to fear that God 
love will change, No more reason

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to fear that God will punish 
you. 

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No more reason to fear that God 
will somehow withhold blessing 

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from you or take some privilege 
away from you. 

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It means no more experiencing 
the Father's displeasure. 

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We are holy and blameless before
the Father because of Christ. 

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But God's blessing doesn't end 
there. 

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God is to be praised not only 
because He blesses us with 

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Christ's sanctity, but also with
His sonship. 

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Look at verse 5 In love. 
What drove this love? 

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In love? 
He predestined us for adoption 

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as sons through Jesus Christ in 
accordance with His pleasure and

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His will. 
God takes pleasure in adopting 

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people who aren't naturally His 
into His family. 

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God has will to adopt children 
through the work of Christ. 

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As adopted children, believers 
have all the rights, They have 

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all the privileges and all the 
affection that God has for His 

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own Son. 
The love that God has for His 

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Son is the love that He has for 
all those who are united to His 

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Son. 
Jesus is the eternal Son of God.

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By right we become eternal sons 
and daughters. 

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By adoption, the status that 
Jesus has before His Father is 

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given. 
To those who are united to 

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Jesus, God is to be praised 
because He blesses us with the 

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blessing bestowed upon Jesus. 
So how do we get these 

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blessings? 
How does God give us his Son's 

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status? 
How does Jesus's sanctity and 

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his sonship become ours? 
Or, according to verses 5 

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through 6, all of God's 
blessings come from God alone. 

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According to these verses, they 
come to us because of God alone,

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to the praise of His glorious 
grace with which He has freely 

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given us and the One He loves, 
which means none of these 

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blessings are caused by us. 
None of these blessings are 

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because of us. 
These blessings are freely given

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to us because of the work of 
Christ alone, which means 

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salvation is not about our 
earning and it's not about our 

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deserving. 
It's all about God's grace. 

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Now we're ready to understand 
the significance of election and

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predestination because it's 
meant for people who struggle to

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believe that God loves them. 
The doctrines of election and 

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predestination are meant to do 2
things. 1st it's meant to drive 

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you completely away from 
trusting in yourself so that you

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would trust more in Jesus. 
And 2nd, it is meant to convince

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you that only in Christ can you 
know the eternal, unchanging, 

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never ending love of God as your
Father. 

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For Paul, election and 
predestination. 

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They're not meant for 
unbelievers. 

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And believe it or not, John 
Calvin even said that it's meant

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for those who believe but 
struggle with what they believe.

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So I have two applications for 
two different types of people. 

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First, for those who do not know
Christ, for those who do not 

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trust in Christ for their 
salvation, wouldn't you like to 

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know what it is like to not live
under God's displeasure? 

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Wouldn't you like to know what 
it is like to live with no 

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blame? 
Wouldn't you like to know what 

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it is like to not live in fear 
of being punished? 

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Then flee to Jesus. 
Trust in Jesus's righteousness, 

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not your own. 
Flee to Jesus to see that He 

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received all of the punishment 
for all of your sin so that God 

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could adopt you into his family.
And then for those who do trust 

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Christ, but they struggle to 
believe that God loves them, 

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what is God saying to you in our
text? 

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I loved you before the world 
began, so don't doubt me now. 

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My love precedes your 
accomplishments and outlasts 

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00:24:32,200 --> 00:24:38,240
your failures because my love 
for you is an eternal love. 

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00:24:40,880 --> 00:24:48,440
It is an unchanging love. 
It is a love with no end and no 

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limits. 
Let me pray, our gracious 

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Heavenly Father man, for those 
of us who are married chose who 

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00:25:12,160 --> 00:25:14,280
we wanted to spend the rest of 
our life with. 

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And this text tells us that 
before we were even created, you

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set your affection and love upon
us. 

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Not because of anything in us, 
all because of what Your Son has

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done for us. 
So now convince us of it, 

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comfort us with it, and then 
change us because of it. 

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And we ask her this in Jesus's 
name, Amen.