After his rather difficult experience of being
spit up by a fish, Jonah prayed. At the conclusion
of his prayer, he said, Salvation is from the
Lord. No one ever knew that better than Jonah.
He was as good as dead and buried in the belly
of that great fish that God had prepared. When
he was free, He knew that salvation came from
the Lord and not from him. Salvation is God's
work from beginning to end. The universe which
God created is functioning according to his sovereign
and all -wise master plan. And the salvation
of his redeemed people for his own glory is no
exception to that. It is not left to chance.
It is perfect. Salvation is not 50 % God's work
and 50 % man's work, for if that were the case,
then man would receive 50 % of the glory for
it. It's not even 95 % God's work and 5 % man's.
Salvation is 100 % the work of the Lord. Jonah
was right. Salvation is from the Lord. In this
present age, God is putting together a body of
people called the church to be the perfect bride
for his beloved son. Such an exalted destiny
is unthinkable for the likes of us, deformed
and depraved, ruined by our sin. And that is
the reason that in Ephesians chapter 1 that the
Apostle Paul cries out with praise, to God. He
exclaims, Blessed be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ. Why is he praising God? Because
of the great work of God. Because of what God
has done in salvation. He blesses God because
God has blessed us. God has blessed us in that
he has provided in Jesus Christ a spiritual relationship
and resource that are complete and inexhaustible.
Our every need has been thought of in advance
and provided for because every spiritual blessing
is already ours in Christ Jesus. I said to one
of the men this morning after our membership
class, God bless you, and he said, he has. And
he was right. God has blessed us in Jesus Christ.
And then he blesses God as well because God has
chosen us. He has selected us before the work
of creation itself to be his own and his purpose
that we might be set apart as blameless to a
destiny that is beyond our wildest imagination.
I have not seen... Neither has entered into the
heart of man the things that God has prepared
for them that love him. But God has revealed
them unto us. In other words, we could never
think on our own of the things that God would
do. But God has told us what he has done for
us. And then he blesses God for a third reason.
That is, that he has predestined us, and that's
where we pick up the context this morning in
verse 5 of Ephesians 1. He predestined us to
adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to himself,
according to the kind intention of his will,
to the praise of the glory of his grace, which
he freely bestowed on us in the beloved. He predestined
us. What has God done? He has blessed us. He
has chosen us. He predestined us. Now briefly
notice with me again the object of what is taking
place here. It says he predestined us. This is
the same group of people that are spoken of in
the previous verses. It is those who are the
saints, all the way back in verse 1, who are,
in other words, the believers, the faithful in
Christ Jesus. In other words, it is those of
us who have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ
as Savior. for the object of this action. It
is worthy to note that predestination in any
context in the Bible never once deals with the
unsaved. Predestination, whenever it is mentioned,
always has to do only with the saved of God.
And that is the case here. We who are saved are
the objects of this work of predestination. Now
let's talk about the action, secondly. The action
that is involved in this work of God. The word
means to mark out with a boundary beforehand.
It might be compared to that work that Abraham
did when God told him to walk around the land
in Genesis 13. saying, I will give this to you
and to your descendants. Until the day that Abraham
died, he didn't receive it, but his descendants
did. He marked out beforehand by his walk the
boundaries of the land. That is simply what the
word means. It means that beforehand God marked
out with a boundary the destiny of his own. It
is an action that logically, preceded the work
of election. I don't know that we could say that
chronologically they were separated, but the
verb here, as it is written in the original language
in verse 5, seems to indicate that God's work
of predestining gives cause for his work of electing.
The idea is this, that God looked forward into
time, which was yet to become, And he determined
what the destiny of his redeemed people would
be. He marked it out with a boundary beforehand.
He said, this is going to be the destiny of my
redeemed. And based upon that, he then did his
work of choosing, of selecting a particular people
for that destiny. Is it not a marvelous thing
to you to realize that your ultimate destiny
was determined by God, not just before you were
saved or before you were born, but before Adam
and Eve were even created, before God spoke the
creation into existence, before the foundation
of the world, he predestined you to a certain
destiny. Now let's talk about that goal of God's
work of predestination. What did God have in
mind when he marked out this certain destiny?
His goal in mind is described in these words,
adoption as sons to himself. The word adoption
as sons means to place as a son within the family.
Vine, in his expository dictionary of New Testament
words, says it is the place and condition of
a son given to one to whom it does not naturally
belong. You and I are given adult status in God's
family by this work of adoption. We are given
the rights, the privileges, and the responsibilities
of full -grown adult sons within the family of
God. As far as our position is concerned in Jesus
Christ, God does not plan into it any babyhood.
There is no childhood when it comes to our position
in Jesus Christ. Now as to our condition, the
state in which we live, there is infancy, there's
growth, there's progress into childhood and then
maturity. But as far as our position in Jesus
Christ is concerned, our unchangeable position,
God does not plan into it any childhood. At the
moment that we are saved through our faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ, God, at that instant,
declares us to be adults in his family. He, at
that moment, adopts us in this sense. We are
not adopted into God's family in the modern sense
in which we use that word. We are born into God's
family through regeneration, so we don't need
to be adopted in the sense that we use the term
today. We are born again as the children of God.
We are his born ones. But this work, the biblical
work of adoption into God's family, means that
God gives his born ones standing as adults. You
say, so what? What does that mean to me? Well,
think about this, that babies cannot use their
inheritance. Whatever wealth may be in the family,
whatever privileges are there, whatever responsibilities
are entailed into birth in that family, these
are all reserved until later, when that child
comes of age. He cannot enjoy all of that while
he is under age, while he's a baby. You see,
you and I have been born into the royal family
of the universe. But we don't have a period of
time in our lives when we are unable to enjoy
the inheritance that God has given us. From the
very moment that we were saved, you and I can
enter into the fullness of all that God has provided
for us in Jesus Christ. All of that inheritance
is ours to draw upon now. Those spiritual blessings
that he's mentioned earlier may now, at this
moment in your life, even if you were saved at
8 .30 this morning, All of those spiritual blessings
are at your disposal to be used by you. You need
not wait until some later time. Likewise, the
responsibilities that are ours, and those would
entail all of the commands of the New Testament
to God's people, all of those responsibilities
are not for somewhere down the road when we get
old enough. But those commands are all for us
right now because we are adults in God's family.
We have been adopted. We have been placed as
sons into God's family. Now, there's a future
aspect to our adoption that is mentioned in Romans
chapter 8, and maybe it would be helpful to go
back to that passage and look there. Romans 8,
verses 22 and 23. You find the idea of adoption
also mentioned in Galatians chapter 4. In Romans
8, verses 22 and 23, it says, For we know that
the whole creation groans and suffers the pains
of childbirth together until now. In other words,
he pictures the creation around us as groaning,
as prevailing, as though in birth. It is suffering
under the load of sin that mankind has brought
into the world. And verse 23 says that not only
this, but also we ourselves having the firstfruits
of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within
ourselves. Some of us did that when we got out
of bed this morning. But we groan in other ways
than physical, too, don't we? We long for release
from the sin principle that is within us. The
flesh, which is the avenue of temptation and
sin. We groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly,
he says, for our adoption as sons. You see the
same phrase. And then he defines it here as the
redemption of our body. So in this context, in
Romans 8, he's pointing to a future aspect of
adoption when our bodies will be changed. from
the lowly condition in which they are now to
be like the body, the glorious body of the Lord
Jesus Christ. This, of course, will take place
at the rapture of the church. And he says at
that moment there will be no more cause for the
groaning which we emit now as sounds of our laboring,
of our suffering. But at that moment we will
be fully released from all that here causes us
to groan. and our adoption as sons will then
be complete. Warren Wiersbe has said, we already
have our adults standing before God, but the
world cannot see this. When Christ returns, this
private adoption will be made public for everyone
to see. Now the apostle says here that all of
this that he has mentioned has been done. so
that the church might be his own peculiar treasure,
his property. Notice, he predestined us to adoption
as sons to himself. In other words, he has done
this work of adoption. He has taken us out from
the nations. He has redeemed us. He has secured
us to himself so that we might be his own very
special treasure. My friend, if that doesn't
do something for you spiritually this morning,
then you better go back to bed and wake up again.
To realize that the holy, infinite God of the
universe has predestined you in Jesus Christ
to be an adult son in his family so that you
might be his own special, peculiar treasure.
I want to do something for all of us. It brings
us to the grace of God, as we'll see in a few
moments. That is the goal that God has in mind,
though, in this work of predestining. Now notice
the means by which he does this. He says it is
through Jesus Christ. In other words, apart from
the Lord Jesus Christ and his work at the cross,
such an action as this would be impossible. God
could never take a sinner like you, a sinner
like me, and make us adult sons in his family
to inherit all things. He could never make us
his peculiar, beloved treasure were it not for
the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ
is the agent through whom the adoption takes
place. It is because of his cleansing blood shed
at the cross. You and I are able to be accepted
by God, the Holy One. Have your sins been cleansed?
Has your past been expunged? Is the record clean?
It can be made clean only through the blood of
Jesus. And that is what is entailed in these
three simple words, through Jesus Christ. It
is through his bloody sacrifice at the cross.
that we are able to be adopted by God. Now, I
would like you fifthly to notice the motive that
is involved in this work of predestination. To
get this, we actually have to go back into verse
4 in our English translation to pick up two words,
the words in love. In love he predestined us.
Now, there are some translations, and in translations...
and include those two words with verse 4, but
it seems to be a good reason to include it into
verse 5 as we study the scripture. Predestination
has a definite motive behind it. It is the motive
of God's love. In love, he predestined that we
should be brought into his family as adult sons.
You see, love expresses the very nature of God.
It is his very heart. His being throbs with love.
God is love, and it is that love that caused
him before creation to determine that there would
be a group of people that would enjoy the destiny
of being his children. It was his love that caused
him, that motivated him to predetermine this.
Dr. Skevington Wood has said, any interpretation
of this mysterious doctrine that is of predestination,
that detracts from the love of God is rightly
suspect. Predestination is absolutely soaked
in the love of God. There is nothing mean about
it. Predestination was motivated by the heart
of God for our good, and thus he undertook through
Jesus Christ to provide that we might be brought
into his family. and enjoy the privileges and
responsibilities and rights of his children.
And that brings us, number six, to the basis
for predestination. He predestined us to adoption
as sons through Jesus Christ to himself according
to the kind intention of his will. The basis...
of our being adopted as children, as sons, the
basis of our predestination is the will of God.
He calls it here the kind intention of God's
will. God's will is sovereign. What God decrees
will happen, will happen. Now, within the sovereign
will of God, there is latitude for the moral
responsibility of man. You say that seems contradictory
to me. Well, it may, but it's not. Within the
sovereign purposes of God, which will be accomplished
completely, there is another aspect of God's
will. He's called by various names, but perhaps
the simplest name is the moral will of God. And
within that will of God, he allows man a great
deal of latitude. And for his decisions, man
is responsible. Now it is the will of God, in
the broader sense, the sovereign will of God,
that he makes this statement. It is the kind
intention of God's sovereign will that provides
the basis for the work that he's talked about
in this verse. Some see God's sovereign will
as cold and calculating, as even sterile perhaps.
But all of that is wrong. Rather, the will of
God, even his sovereign will, is to be characterized
by what he calls here kind purposes. I think
the New International Version puts it, his pleasure
and will. You see, God delights in saving sinners,
and he has willed to do so. That's why he calls
it here, the kind intention of his will. God
delights to save sinners. It brings him satisfaction,
because it represents the expression of his very
being. It pleases God to save. As Paul says in
1 Corinthians 1 .21, God was well pleased through
the foolishness of the message preached, that
is Christ crucified, to save those who believe.
God is well pleased to save people, those who
believe. It goes on to say that God has therefore
chosen the foolish things of the world, the weak
things, the base things, the despised, the things
that are zeros, that amount to nothing as far
as the world is concerned, so that no one could
boast before him. It is by his doing that we
are in Christ Jesus, so that it might be fulfilled
what it says in Jeremiah, let him who boasts.
boast in the Lord. What is the basis of our being
brought into God's family and made sons? Well,
the ground of it, the basis of it, is the sovereign
will of God, which can only be described as kind
in its intention. We are told that predestination
and adoption are according to God's will or God's
purposes. The reason that he's saved is because
he chooses to save. He saves some and not all
because that is his pleasure and determination
as well. You say, would you please explain that?
Well, I don't know that we can explain that to
our satisfaction. But God has not purposed to
save all of mankind. Indeed, Jesus said, few
there be that find the narrow gate that leads
to life. God has not purposed that all men will
be saved. Why, we do not know. That is one of
the mysteries that God has not revealed to us,
and he has the perfect good right not to tell
us whatever he wishes. God desires that all men
should be saved, but that is his moral will.
That is his heart. He does not delight in the
death of the wicked. But God only intervenes
and saves some because that is his sovereign
will to do it that way. And it is kindness that
he does it for any of us. It is kindness. Because
if he had not intervened on our behalf, then
we should forever be lost in sin and experience
the judgment that we truly deserve because of
our sinful and wicked rebellion against God.
God has predestined that there should be a people
who would enjoy the destiny of being sons. full
of grown children in his family. He chose a people
to enjoy that destiny. And all of that is according
to the kind intention of his sovereign will.
And then we come, finally, to the purpose of
it all, of all of the above actions. And that
is, in verse 6, to the praise... of the glory
of his grace, which is a way of saying to the
praise of his glorious grace, which he freely
bestowed on us in the beloved. Why has God done
all of this? Why has he acted kindly to save
some? It is so that he might manifest and that
we might adoringly recognize the excellent nature
of his undeserved favor, his grace. Grace now
becomes the focal point of what Paul has written
about. He speaks of it as being glorious. It
expresses the excellency of his person, his grace.
Grace which is freely, generously, and graciously
imparted to us. Favor is given to us with delight.
He holds back nothing. He gives to us graciously
his grace. That is the meaning then in that verse.
What it's telling us here is that God loves his
son, the beloved, so much that he wants a whole
heaven filled with people who are just like him.
And that, my friend, is the destiny that God
has appointed for you, to be just like God's
Son. Isn't it interesting how many times God
calls him his beloved when he speaks of him?
For example, at the baptism, this is my beloved
son. He didn't just say, this is my son, which
is accurate. But he described him as my beloved
son. God loves the son. The father loves the
son with a love that is more deep than any of
us can possibly know. On the Mount of Transfiguration,
the father spoke and said, this is my beloved
son. Listen to him. In Colossians chapter 1,
the Apostle Paul tells us that we have been transferred
out of the domain of Satan into the kingdom of
the Son of His love. The Father lavishes love
on His Son. We who are parents can understand
something of the emotion here. But of course
it falls far short of what God feels for his
son. But the father loves his son dearly. He
is beloved. And it says here that God has freely
bestowed his grace on us in the beloved. Some
translations put it this way, in which he has
made us fully accepted. In his beloved. The idea
is the same. That when God looks at you. And
he looks at me. He does not see us. With our
original roots. That go back to Adam. But he
sees us as we are now. Transplanted. In his son.
And listen. Just as fully as God the father.
Loves his son. And calls him my beloved. He feels
that same way toward you. Because you are in
the beloved. All of the emotion that the father
feels for his son, he feels for you. He loves
you that much. And that is why the Apostle Paul
calls it glorious grace. That God should love
us that much and put us in that kind of a position.
In Romans 8 .32 he says, He who did not spare
his own son, but delivered him up for us all,
how will he not also with him freely give us
all things? Why is it the Father loves the Son
so much? Well, there's the aspect from eternity
past that has simply been the relationship between
the Father and the Son and the Spirit. There
has been perfect love expressed among the members
of the triune Godhead. But there's another element
involved. The Son came into the world and was
perfectly obedient to the Father. Jesus said,
I do those things, I always do those things that
please him. That was Jesus' attitude. Is there
any wonder, then, that the Father loves the Son
so dearly? When you and I are in Jesus Christ,
it is that same willing obedience that God blesses.
Because we are taken from an attitude of rebellion
against God in our sin, so that when we are saved,
that attitude changes, and it's God who works
in us, both the willing and the doing of His
good pleasure. One of the marks of a genuine
child of God is this, that he delights to do
the will of God. And when he sins, he grieves.
He grieves and confesses it. That is a mark of
a genuine child of God. The genuine child of
God, the one who is in the Beloved, is one who
desires to perfectly obey his Father, just as
the Lord Jesus Christ did. What is your walk
like? If God has done this for you in Jesus Christ,
if the grace of God has been active in your life
and has brought you into a relationship with
the beloved, so that God looks upon you in Christ
and loves you as dearly as his own son, in light
of all of that, what is your walk like? That
is why the Apostle Paul later in this book is
going to say to us, walk according to the...
the calling that you have. See what you are,
who you are in Jesus Christ. And having understood
that, get your life in line. God wants a heaven
of people who are like the son that he loves.
God loves you, my friend, unconditionally. Nothing
can ever change that love for you. But you can
grieve the heart of God, and so can I. Grieve
not the Spirit of God, for by you are sealed
unto the day of redemption. Don't grieve him.
That father who longed for the return of his
prodigal never once lost love for his son. That
father's heart beat for the return of his son.
He longed for it. He looked for it. Until finally
that day he saw that prodigal coming, running
down the road. And the father went out and...
embraced his son, welcomed him home, restored
him fully to his inheritance. It may be that
you, like the prodigal, have been walking away
from God in a period in your life of disobedience.
I believe with all of my heart that your Heavenly
Father, who loves you unconditionally and dearly,
is today brokenhearted and longing for your return
to him, the walk of obedience. He has sovereignly
placed you in his Son. Are you willingly obedient
now to the Father? Does your daily life reveal
the kind of willing, sacrificial obedience which
the Lord Jesus Christ expressed in his life?
Oh, my friend, may it be so today. All of us
who have children have the experience of thanking
our children from time to time. That is never
a very pleasant experience. And when we spank
our children, never does it mean, I hope, that
we dislike our children or that we hate them.
Indeed, the very fact that we take a child aside
and discipline him is an expression of love because
we want the best for that child. It may be that
some of us are today being spanked by God. If
you're going through that kind of experience,
would you understand it is not because the Father
doesn't love you. It's because he so desperately
and dearly does love you that he's taking you
through that spanking experience so that you
might learn obedience as his child. For whom
the Lord loves, he takes him, even as a father
his son in whom he delights. Oh, do you see today
how he delights in you? Do you see how his heart
loves you? Are you responding to him? Do you
love him because he first loved you? Our Heavenly
Father, as we talk about these things, our hearts
are drawn to this truth with deep appreciation.
What can we ever say that would fully express
the gratitude that we feel inside? And yet you
know how often we all fall. And you know the
times that we stray. And I want to pray especially
for some of my brothers and sisters in the family
this morning who are in that condition. And their
walk has been away from you. Oh, Father, in your
love, draw them back to yourself that they might
love you and willingly obey you as your beloved
son did. To that end, I pray that you would work
by your Spirit in our lives. In Jesus' name,
amen.