Sermon Tone Analysis

*PREDESTINATION: WHEN GOD CHOOSES YOU*

*Ephesians 1:4-6*

 

The book of Ephesians is broken into 2 parts.

The first 3 chapters give us the position of the believer.

In chapters 1 to 3 we are not asked to do anything.

Paul just states what is true about us.

Then in chapters 4 to 6 he discusses how we ought to act.

That is why chapter 4:1 begins with the word "*THEREFORE*."

Because of who we are, therefore this is how we are live.

Outline of Ephesians

Chapters 1-3                 Chapters 4-6

Doctrine…                   Duty

What You Believe…   Affects How You Behave

Privileges…                 Responsibility

Blessings…                  Conduct

 

So in 1:3-14, tells us that the Church is made up of 3 key ingredients.

Spiritually, it takes 3 ingredients to make a Church.

And you will find these 3 ingredients in Ephesians 1:4-14.

Do you know what the first ingredient is?

The *first *ingredient is predestination, found in verses 4-6.

What do you think the second ingredient is?

The *second *ingredient that makes up the church is redemption, found in verses 7-11.

The *third *ingredient making up the church is the Holy Spirit, found in verses 12-14.

Today we are going to look at the first ingredient predestination.

Predestination – where God chooses who is going to be saved.

Now we have a tendency to back away from the word election or predestination.

But not so with God.

The word election occurs 20 times and predestination occurs about 5 times in the Word of God.

The word is used only with reference to God’s plan or purpose.

Predestion is a very hard doctrine to understand.

And if you are having trouble understanding predestination and free will you are not alone.

Look at what he apostle Peter said about Paul’s writings.

*2 Peter 3:15-16** \\ 15 …our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, \\ 16   as also in all /his /letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as /they do /also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.

*

 

Sometimes someone will ask me, "Do you believe in free will?

Yes, I do.

And do you believe in predestination?"

Yes, I do.

Someone else will ask me, "How can you believe in both, their opposites?"

I believe in both, because the Word of God teaches both.

But I do not understand both.

The Bible teaches the absolute sovereignty of God in predestination, but it also teaches that man has the ability to make a choice.

Jesus said,

 

*John 6:37** \\  “…the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.

\\ \\ *

And again Jesus said, "Matthew 11:28

 

*Matthew 11:28** \\ “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.

*

 

A church was discussing predestination and free will.

The argument grew so heated that sides were drawn and the church broke up into two fierce factions.

But one church member not know if he belonged to the free will group or the predestioned group.

At last he made up his mind to join in with the predestination crowd.

When he tried to push his way in, they asked, “Who sent you here?”

“Nobody sent me,” he replied, “I came of my own free will.”

“Free will!” they fairly shouted at him.

“You can’t come in here of your own free will.

You belong with the other group.”

So he turned and went toward the free will group.

When he tried to join them, someone asked, “When did you decide to join us?”  “I didn’t decide, I was sent here,” he answered.

“Sent here!”

they were horrified.

“You can’t join us unless you choose to by your own free will.”

And so he was excluded from both groups.

Predestination and free will are a paradox.

And only God can resolve it.

Now if you could understand predestination and free will you would be smart as God.

And if you were as smart as God, then you would not need God.

The following illustration of God's sovernity and human responsibility: I liken them to two ropes going through two holes in the ceiling and over a pulley above.

If I wish to support myself by them, I must cling to them both.

If I cling only to one and not the other, I go down.

With childlike faith, I cling to both ropes; fully confident those in eternity I will see that both strands of truth are, after all, are one rope.

*Ephesians 1:4-6** \\ 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him.

In love    5 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,   6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.

* \\ \\

The doctrine of predestination is never presented in Scripture as something to be afraid of, but always as something for believers to rejoice in.

The reason that Paul the apostle says in verse 3,

 

*Ephesians 1:3 \\ Blessed /be /the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly /places /in Christ, *

 

There are seven elements in predestination.

*1ST -- There was a Sovereign Selection.

*

* *

Look at Ephesians 1:4

 

*Ephesians 1:4-6** \\ 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him…*

 

Notice in verse 4 the word “*CHOSEN*.”

– it means/ /to choose out for one’s self.

Somewhere in eternity past God chose to people to be in His kingdom.

Before there was time, before there was a solar system, starts, and galaxies God choose us to be in his kingdom.

Now let me ask you a question.

Did God choose us because we were so good?

Or did God choose us because we smelled good or looked so good?

Absolutely not.

The writer of this book, the book of Ephesians, Did God choose the apostle Paul because he was so good?

Not at all.

Look at 1 Timothy 1:13 and see how Paul described his past.

*1 Timothy 1:13** \\ even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor… Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief; \\ \\ *

Paul calls himself the very worst of all the sinners.

*1 Timothy 1:15** \\ It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost /of all./

*

So who did choose before there was time, galaxies and a planet earth?

Sinners, look very closely at 1 Timothy 1:15.

It says, “…*that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners…”*

 

If you were to ask me, “Do you believe that God is sovereign and he wrote down in the book of life all who would be saved, I would say yes, absolutely I believe that.”

And if someone else were to ask me, “Do you believe that we have a free will in choosing or rejecting Jesus Christ, I would say, “Yes.”

Mankind has a choice.

I believe that anyone who wants to come to can become a Christian.

But you would say, “Those are opposites.

Do you believe in opposites?