Ephesians 1:4
Chosen in Him
Intro:
Last week we began an in-depth series looking at the Blessings that are for the
Christian Blessings that are in Christ !!!!
A) See when you become a Christian two
incredible things happen Christ comes to live in you by His Spirit Your heart His Home
B)
And you are Placed in Him !!!! His Kingdom So that all that belongs to Him
is now available to you
1) BLESSINGS
PRESENT / BLESSINGS FUTURE
C) Think of it this way: Lets say that you were taken & placed into
the Gates Family Bill Gates Richest men in the
world
1)
You are taken & placed into his family as a full member
D)
Now there are certain things that come w/ that name that you would be able to
enjoy right away: Simple things like:
1)
Best table at the finest restaurants / Court side seats at B- Ball games
Great seats at World series /
Also
more important things like : Easier access into the finest colleges
A) Certain sense of financial security
& Status that comes w/ being a part of that family
B)
And then there are also future blessings to look
forward to : An inheritance
1)
The Privilege of having the opportunity of being involved in some of the most cutting edge things in technology
C)
As well as many Philanthropist & CHARITABLE
endeavors to help our country & even the world at large
1)
All of that comes to you because you have been placed into the Gates family
In
like fashion you and I as believers are placed into a similar situation when we
come to faith in Christ { Many blessings for being in the family
A) Some of those blessings deal w/
status and are meant to give us confidence & assurance as we move thru life
B) Some of those blessings are Present & deal
w/ Privileges that are made available to us in the Lord
1)
Privileges of Strength / Privileges of
Responsibility / SERVICE
C)
Some of those blessings are FUTURE and deal w/
our inheritance in the Lord what we have to look forward to in eternity
Today
begin by looking at v.4 & the Blessing of Being Chosen in Him
A) This is the great Doctrine of
Election God Choose us
4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love
B) The Doctrine of ELECTION is one of the most
Fascinating & yet confusing doctrines in all of the Bible God
Chose us -
1) Jesus told his disciples in John
15:16 You did
not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear
fruit,
C)
Now if you try to figure out the doctrine of Election You will lose your mind
Hard to Fathom God Chose you before the
foundation
1)
It is mind boggling
D)
Especially since the scriptures make it clear that Although God chose you You
still have a responsibility to Choose Him !!!
1)
Rev 22:17 And
the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that hears say, Come. And let
him that is thirsty come. And whosoever
will, let him take the water of life freely.
SO
the whole thing gets complicated Try to explain election & you will lose
your mind brain hurt / Short circuit
A) So many unanswered questions the
greatest being why ! / Why did God Choose me ?
B) Try to explain election & you will lose your mind But Try to explain it away and you will lose your heart
1)
But the heart gets touched when I just take it at face value & Accept
it
GOD CHOSE ME !!!
C)
Now although we cannot fully comprehend this doctrine it is good for us to
CONSIDER what the bible says about it { Not all the answers
1)
Better understand our Status in the Lord
So
with that in mind lets consider certain aspects that the Bible tells us about
this great doctrine of election Note several things
A)
1st The term ELECT is always used in describing believers it is a
descriptive term that Describes those who are saved
B)
Descriptive rather than Predictive: Describing who they
are rather than the Process by which
they became Christians
C) The Terms Elect / Saint / Christian /
Child of God / are all synonymous
Terms
referring to some one who has received Jesus Christ
1)
Think of it is in this way : Governors race Several
candidates
Anyone here run? -
D) After the Election only one of them is the GOV ELECT
After
which the term Gov & Elect are Synonymous
1) Same is true in this sense Elect is just
another term that gives us
Insight into those who have become Christians
Paul Expressed the
blessing of being Gods Elect in this way:
Rom. 8
31What then shall we
say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32He
who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He
not with Him also freely give us all things? 33Who
shall bring a charge against Gods elect? It is God who
justifies. 34Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and
furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes
intercession for us. 35Who shall separate us from the love of
Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or
nakedness, or peril, or sword?
37 Yet in all these things we are
more than conquerors thru Him who loved us.
NOTE : The term
ELECT is never used in the sense of someone being
Elected to
Damnation / But Only Salvation
A) It is
very important to understand that ONLY a person
who has received
Jesus
Christ as their Savior is Considered an Elect
B) To put it
another way the Bible does not teach that some are
Elected to Salvation while others to Damnation { Never Never
Never
1) Only used
in that Way Speaking of a Believer: Refers to the blessing of being Chosen By
God !!!!
Now
the 2nd thing that we want to consider is the process thru which one
becomes an ELECT { Turn to Romans 8
Rom 8:28 And we know that all things work together
for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His
purpose.
A) So Everything is working together for Good if you love God and are called
according to his purposes
1) But Who are the called ?
Rom 8:29-30
29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to
the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.30
Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He
also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.
B)
Here in Romans 8:29 & 30 Paul gives us tremendous insight into this Process
called election
C)
Starts with For whom He foreknew, He also predestined:
1)
So what Paul is telling us here is this: We are Predestined & called
according to the foreknowledge of God
D)
Peter put it this way 1 Peter 1:2 We are the Elect according to the
foreknowledge of God
But what does that
word Foreknowledge mean?
A)Now when we talk about the
Foreknowledge of God there is a General & a Specific understanding to the
Word
B) In a General sense Gods Foreknowledge speaks of Him knowing things in ADVANCE
C) Pastor Chuck -
Parade analogy / Infinite
looking into the finite sees everything at Once
1) We see it only as it happens He sees the whole
perspective
D) So in a General sense it speaks of
knowing in Advance God knew before you were even born before world
began
1) You were going to respond to His gift of Salvation offered thru
Christ !!!!
In a Specific sense it
means much more :
A)The word FOREKNOWLEGDE comes from the word to Know
1) It is
used 500 times in the O.T. & 220 times in the N.T./
In Almost
every case it is TRANSLATED to Know intimately / relationship
John 17:3 3And this is eternal life, that
they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
B) O.T.
Gen. 4:25 Adam Knew His wife again ( Very Intimate)
1) It speaks of Knowing in an intimate personal way /
knowing them
In
a Relationship !!!!!
C) So When we talk about the Foreknowledge of
God it is always used in the sense of Relationship : God Knowing some one in Relationship
1) Now when you put the General and the specific
together it sheds
Incredible
light on this whole Concept
D) Because it means more than the Fact that God simply knew WHAT you
were going to do in Advance
1) But it means that God Knew You in Advance / He knew You in
A
relationship / He saw You in Christ before
Creation
Think of it in this way : Although God knows all things/ and
He knows
Everything about EVERYONE / He only knows believers
A)Only those who have put their faith in Christ are known intimately
By the Lord ( Only those who
have entered in a relationship thru
Christ)
B) Think : What is the Lord going to say to
unbelievers in Judgment ?
Depart from me I never Knew You
1) Did He Know everything about them? Absolutely but
He didnt
Know
them intimately He didnt have a relationship w. them!!!
C) So although God knows everything about everyone / and He sees
everything that happens way before it ever does
1) He Knows in advance
those who are going to respond to the
Gospel
& those who are going to reject it
D) A big part of His Foreknowledge includes the fact that He Knew us as
Believers before the world was ever made/ before we were ever born /
1) He Saw us in His Son !!!!! { Eph 1:4 Chose us in Him !!!
So His Choosing
you had a lot more to do w/ than just the fact that he knew that you were going
to respond to the gospel
A) In reality He saw you in Jesus way before :
He predestined you to be in Christ based on his Foreknowledge
Jer
1:4-5
Then the word of the LORD
came to me, saying: 5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before
you were born I sanctified you;
I ordained you a prophet to
the nations."
B)
YOUR LIFE -
Purpose { Specific Plan Our Joy is discovering that Plan
1)
I thought Pro Baseball Coach { I love what I am
doing
C)
I thought marry someone else / So blessed by Denise
/ I thought I would be living some where else Love NC SD
D)
God Knew it all from before time
But God in His Sov lets the whole Process
play out lets us make decisions
1) Biggest one being : the
opportunity to receive Christ
E) And Yet He knows the
outcome way a head of time This is where it gets mind boggling Cant
compute Just accept Rejoice: I am Chosen
Now Some
would ask - If we have a free will doesnt that
take away Gods Sovereignty Not At all but it really magnifies
His Sov.
A)See He is God He can set things up anyway that He
wants to this is what He has done Sovereignty
given man a Free Will
B) 3rd thing Consider is why God
in His Sov. Has given man the ability of Choice: 2 reasons
1) 1st is because God is Love Because
He is love He is not going to force his love On anyone !!!!
C) If I put a gun to my wifes head and forced her
to marry me Marry me or else Not
healthy relationship: ( Buy a dog to taste every meal)
2nd God Desires Relationship //
not robots / Not Programmed
response
A)If Denise & My kids were like one of those
dolls pull the String I love you honey / we
love you Daddy ( Mean nothing to me)
B) I have
been around many of those dolls thru the yrs Does nothing for me !!!!
C) If God
wanted Robots He would have made us like Robots but instead
He made us
people w/ a capacity to respond to His Love
1) TRUE -
we loved Him BECAUSE HE first loved us
Now
Some would ask well if God knew that certain people wouldnt chose him why
did He allow them to be born at all
A)
Answer is He has to let it play out If
God didnt there would be this perpetual argument
B)
I saw you before the foundations of the world & saw that you were not going
to chose my son so I am not going to chose you
1)
But I would have
no you wouldnt / yes I would
.
C)
So God lets the whole thing play out to prove that his judgments are righteous
& altogether true:
1) God made it clear that Jesus came Jn 3:16 And died for the sins of
the world
16
For God so loved the world{Not
just the Elect}that
He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not
perish but have everlasting life
D) God just knew those who would respond
& those who wouldnt
1)
At white throne see every
opportunity to respond but rejected instead or made excuses
Now
is this what we are supposed to tell unbelievers ? No this is family stuff
A) You dont talk to unbelievers about
being Chosen you talk to them about their need to Choose
Josh 24:15 Choose
you this day whom you will serve
2 Peter 3:8 But, beloved, do
not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years,
and a thousand years as one day.9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise,
as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that
any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
1 Tim 2:1-5
Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers,
intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men,2 for kings and all who
are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness
and reverence.3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our
Savior,4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of
the truth.
Rom 10:9-13
if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus
and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be
saved.10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth
confession is made unto salvation.11 For the Scripture says, "Whoever
believes on Him will not be put to shame.".13 For "whoever
calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved."
That
is what we need to tell believers is that the Salvation that comes thru Jesus
Christ is available to all men They need to Choose
A) That whosoever wills can come the
door is open that is the invitation written on the door to heaven from God
B)
Once They respond & enter thru that door come in & look behind them
see the verse You did not chose me but I have chosen you
1) Lord I thought that I chose you No I just let you think that for a
while
C)
Well that doesnt seem fair God What if I am not Chosen ? Listen Pray right
now open your heart to the Lord & you will find that you are chosen
D)
But if you dont pray right now to receive the Lord then you simply chose not
to be chosen
1)
The Choice is yours
E)
Blessings of Election { Back to Ephesians
God choose
you in Him before the Foundation of the World
A) To be Holy & with out blame
B) Predestined
adoption { Adult Status
C) Made us Accepted in the Beloved
D) All because: v5-6 according to the
good pleasure of His will,6 to the praise of the glory of His grace,
E) Means Your
Status is Secure : Your Place in the Lord is important and Special He
Choose you
1) Your Purpose for life is to please
Him & enjoy the wonder of His plan
EXCITING COSTA RICA