I trust and pray that this sermonic series through Ephesians will both encourage and equip you in the days ahead.
We Praise The Father Who Has Selected Us
In Ephesians 1:3-4, we read, “
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ“-now watch verse 4-“
According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love” (Ephesians 1:3-4).
When did God choose us? The Bible says that God did it “before the foundation of the world” (Ephesians 1:4.) Before God scooped out the seas, before God piled up the mountains, and before God flung out the sun, moon, and stars-before God did all of that-God had us in his heart and in his mind. The Bible says that, “you were selected by the Father before you were ever even born” (Ephesians 1:4).
When the Bible says, “We’re chosen in Him” (Ephesians 1:4). This is not the choice of one sinner above another sinner. God is not saying, “This man is predestined for Hell and this man is predestined for Heaven.” Anybody who wants to be saved can be saved. Do you understand this? Anybody who wants to be saved can be saved.
There are at least four major reasons why anybody who wants to be saved can be saved. First, Jesus died for everybody. 1 John 2:2 says, “And he is the propitiation“-that means the satisfaction, the atonement, the payment, the expiation, “for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.“
When Jesus died, He died for the sins of the world. When John the Baptist saw Jesus coming, he said “…Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29) so that’s reason number one that everybody can be saved.
Second, God wants everyone to be saved. In 1 Timothy 2:3-4, we read, “For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.“
In 2 Peter 3:9: we read, “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).
Third, the Holy Spirit convicts all people. In John chapter 16:8, regarding the Holy Spirit and it says this: “And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment” (John 16:8). The Holy Spirit convicts everybody and the scripture says that, “Christ is the life that lights every man that comes into the world.“
Fourth, let me give you the last invitation in the Bible. In Revelation 22:17, we read, “And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come.“-somebody tells you, you can tell anybody else, amen-“And let him that is athirst come“-Hey, do you want God? He wants you, let Him that is athirst come. And, then he wraps it up, the last invitation in the Bible-“And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.“
I want you to see that we were chosen-selected of God-not that He predestined somebody to be lost and somebody to be saved, but I want to tell you we were in the heart and mind and bosom of God before the foundation of the world. It is His choice of us that enables us to make our choice of Him.
Now, why did he choose us? Well, look at it. It just gets better. In Ephesians 1:5: “Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself…” It gets even better, not only are we chosen, we are predestinated.
Now, predestination again deals with God’s children, those who are predestined or those who are chosen are predestined to be his children to be adopted into his family. I want to ask you a question. Don’t answer it out loud, but think about it. Are we born into the family of God or adopted into the family of God?
The answer is yes and yes. There are many other verses that speak of us being born of the spirit and of water and being born of The Word of God. Now, are we born into the family of God or adopted into the family of God? The answer is yes, yes. You see, we are sons by a two-fold process.
Now, we are born into the family of God when we repent of our sin and receive Jesus Christ as our personal Savior. A miracle takes place on the inside and we are born again. Therefore, we share His nature and we’re next of kin to the deity and next of kin to the Trinity. We share the very nature of God and that the God who chose us “predestinated us to the adoption of sons” (Ephesians 1:5).
It is thrilling when we think of what the Father has done for us and this is the reason that Paul says in verse six: “To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.“
We are “...accepted in the beloved” (Ephesians 1:6). We are in Christ. Do you know how much acceptance we have before God? We have the same acceptance before God that Jesus Christ has before his Father!
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