Living Hope Leads to Obeying God’s Holy Word
Posted: February 12, 2023 Filed under: Adoption, Bible, Born again, Commands, Cross, God, Good Friday, Holiness, Inventions, Jesus, Love, Purified, Sermons, The Word of God Leave a commentI wanted to give you a heads up about something new this year. Remember how we observed Advent for the first-time last Christmas. We thought that it might be helpful to join other churches to observe Lent. Just like Advent is a time for preparation for Christmas, Lent is a time of preparation for Easter. Lent is often marked through a time of entering into the suffering of Christ by giving something up to remember His gift. Lent begins on February 22 and we will have more resources for you in the coming days to help us focus on Christ during Lent. Let’s pray that we would focus on Christ now!
Some inventions have unintended benefits. Some inventions have unintended benefits. Did you know that NASA’s quest to explore outer space has led to the some very helpful discoveries that we use every day? These heavenly inventions had earthy benefits. Here are some of them: “artificial limbs, scratch-resistant sunglasses, insulin-pumps, air purifiers (those came in handy during COVID), workout machines, portable computers, computer mouses, solar cells, water filtration, invisible braces, baby formula, camera phones, LEDs, athletic shoes, grooved pavement, memory foam, CAT scans, and LASIK eye surgery.”[1] Let’s go further back in history than space exploration to another invention. An invention that was intended to harm, but has become helpful in the greatest way. Did you know that the invention of one of the worst torture devices in human history has led to the discovery of how to heal the human heart? I’ll say that again, did you know that the invention used in the most horrific crime in history led to you being loved and you loving others? The Romans are known for romantic love and Valentine’s Day as will be celebrate on Tuesday, but their most famous contribution to the world was something that people all over hang around their necks every day – a cross. The Romans invented crucifixion.
One of the evilest instruments known to man has been used to save us and move from hate to holiness, from lust to love, and from impurity to purity. This morning we are going to not only understand the command to love one another, but the cause of loving one another. The Cross of Jesus Christ radically transformed loathing into loving one another. Please turn in your Bibles to 1 Peter 1:22-25 to find out more. We our continuing our series in 1 Peter and learning the living hope we have in Jesus Christ because He suffered, died and rose again from the dead. So far we have learned that though we live in an increasingly hostile world, we have a living hope as elect exiles and born again children of God. Because of Jesus, we have this living hope along with a lasting inheritance. We have salvation based on God’s multiplied grace and peace as predicted by the prophets in the Old Testament over two millennia. We have learned that God calls us to be holy as He is holy. Remember last week: Be holy as God is holy in your minds, your hearts and your conduct. As an action point yesterday, we challenged you to fast and pray. We asked you to be holy in your mind, ready for action, by seeking God for a plan with what you are going to read from His Word this year, what you are praying for, how you are going to serve and what you plan to give to TBC this year. Did you make your plan? It’s not too late. If you didn’t make a plan before God, maybe you need more motivation. Love motivates our obedience. And so today, we are going to see how this living hope which leads to holy living through the Holy Word of God purifies us to holy loving. We are going to see how our salvation has the intended benefit by God to build a community based on loving one another. Lest we think salvation is just about Jesus and me for all eternity, it’s about Jesus, you, me and all God’s people for all eternity. Let’s read 1 Peter 1:22-25. Read 1 Peter 1:22-25!
“Love one another earnestly from a pure heart!” “Love one another” is one of the most repeated verses in the New Testament as it occurs 13 times (John 13:34 twice; John 13:35; John 15:12, 15:17; Galatians 5:13 (calls it the royal law); 1 Thessalonians 4:9; 1 Peter 1:22 (from our passage this morning); 1 Peter 4:8; 1 John 3:11; 1 John 3:23; and 1 John 4:12). It is a command. “The Christ-filled life is the life of brotherly love.”[2] This is why we can summarize 1 Peter 1:22-25 this way and more importantly, learn why we should love one another: Love one another because you are purified and born again by the Word of God! Love one another because you are purified and born again by the Word of God! This love provides a living and lasting hope. We often seek a love that will be reciprocated. We love to be loved back! That is the disappointment of Valentine’s Day. We often hope our efforts to love will be met with an equal or greater love. But it usually isn’t. This is why we should not look for the greater love on Valentine’s Day. The greater love is found on Good Friday at that torture device the Romans invented. “You would think that those who walk in hope and holiness would also be able to walk in harmony, but this is not always true.”[3] It is because of the fact that not all parties are seeking the love of Christ to love each other. Their “love” is selfish rather than being found in their Saviour. It is fleshly! Flesh doesn’t last. But true love will last. This is we must love one another because we are purified and born again by the Word of God.
Let’s break that down. We talked about loving one another with a sincere brotherly love, earnestly from a pure heart. Will power alone will not make this happen. It starts with a purified soul. Love one another because you are purified and born again by the Word of God. Love one another because 1) you are purified. (v. 22) I admit I stumbled over the word “purified.” At first when I read purified, I thought it meant that we need to keep purifying our souls through obeying God’s Word. I was thinking Peter’s audience had already purified their souls through obedience. Which is true! However, not through behaviour first, but through belief. This is really important because one can read these verses and think that a Bible reading program and effort to obey each command will purify one’s soul. Understanding the verb tense of the word “purified,” which the ESV tries to convey “having purified” is really helpful. The word “purified” is in the perfect tense, which means that it is a past completed action, but has ongoing results until the present. Think if you are married. You got married and it is still affecting your life. Or you were baptized and that continues to remind you of your new status of being born again as God’s child. You have also been purified your souls because you obeyed the truth. The truth being the Word of God that has been preached to you (v. 25). “The truth is the whole gospel reality.”[4]This is why salvation is both an act of faith and an act of obedience. Recall both the invitation and the imperative of God in Acts 16:31, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved.” You must trust in Christ to the point of actually following Him. The order is important. It is faith and then obedience. To try to obey God without faith will not lead to salvation. But faith without obedience is dead. Recall 1 Peter 1:2 in describing elect exiles, “according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with His blood. Grace and peace be multiplied to you.” God the Father’s foreknowledge (aka forelove) of you and God the Spirit’s sanctification to make you holy leads to obedience to Christ and His commands. But when you do not obey, there is still blood-bought grace and peace in abundance for you. Isn’t that amazing? Our amazement should turn to action: Love one another because you are purified and born again by the Word of God. Love one another because you are purified!
Maybe you are stuck on what I just said that salvation requires you to believe the call and command of God? Am I teaching works righteousness? No! It helps to hink of the command as a delight and not just a directive. At Christmas, parents may call out, “Come, kids, it’s time to open up your gifts.” It is a directive, but it feels more like a delight. I think I can say with certainty, no child has said, “Mom and Dad, you are so mean asking me to obey your command to come and open my Christmas gift.” Sadly, God is calling people to come and receive His ultimate Christmas gift of His Son Jesus and many disobey in their disbelief and rejection. Is that you? Trust and obey, for there is no other way to be happy than in Jesus! As the great preacher Charles Spurgeon said, “Those who are strangers to Jesus are strangers to all lasting happiness.”[5]
Love one another because you are purified, but also because you are born again. Love one another because 2) you are born again. (v. 23) Isn’t this what verse 23 says, “Since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God.” Many of you know the pain of infertility. Infertility is on the rise and according to the government “roughly 1 in 6 or 16% of couples suffer from infertility.”[6] It’s painful and we want to acknowledge that pain. It is often a frustrating quest for “seed that is so perishable.” Human flesh will whither and waste away. Our physical bodies will not last, which is why we need to be born again through the living and abiding Word of God. May I encourage you with this thought if are born again? “Embracing Christ entails belonging to a new family – spiritual fathers, spiritual mothers, spiritual brothers, spiritual sisters and spiritual children.”[7] You will always have this family because you belong to God’s forever family. And you and I now share spiritual DNA. “Everything that springs from a seed shares its nature.”[8] Our new nature is that of our Heavenly Father. This is why in Peter’s other book in 2 Peter 1:4 he reminds his readers, “by which He has granted to us His precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature.” In the last three months, we have preached three times on being born again. To be born again is to experience spiritual rebirth. It changes our position – we are holy and because our position has changed, our practices change – we love one another. Being born again in the indicative then precedes the imperative to love our spiritual family. Our spiritual rebirth comes from anadoption orders by God the Father. Our adoption papers are the Word the of God. This why we are called to love another because you are purified and you are born again by the Word of God.
Love one another because you are purified and you are born again 3) by the Word of God. This is what read at the end of verse 23 “through the living and abiding Word of God.” The Word of God is living. It lives in you and with you. That is because the Word of God is not only a book, but a Brother! The Word of God are precepts, but also a person! That was so helpful to know because when I first read these verses – I thought I had to try purifying soul was done only by reading God’s Word. But that is only focusing on the message of Scripture. God’s Word is living and abiding. God’s Word is to be read, but more importantly, God’s Word will remain because Jesus is God’s Word (John 1:1, 14). God’s Word is not just the message, but also the Messiah. Verse 25 makes this clear, “This is the good news that was preached to you.” Charles Spurgeon declared, “The gospel is perfect in all its parts, and perfect as a whole: it is a crime to add to it, treason to alter it and felony to take from it.”[9] There is ongoing purification happening because Satan and the world is always trying to sully your soul. But the living hope is that the living Word of God personally washes and purifies your soul. The Word of God – the incarnate Word of God, Jesus Christ, washes and purifies your soul. Specifically, Christ’s love washes us and remember He is source of our love as well. Recall Ephesians 5:25-27, “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that He might present the church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.” We love because of this continual purification and obedience to the truth and Word of God. It is why we have taught in the past Wayne Cordeiro’s S.O.A.P. method of reading Scripture: Scripture – read a short Bible passage out loud or write it out. Observation – What do you notice about these verses, especially how it points to Christ? Application – what do I need to believe and obey from these verses? Prayer – Ask God to help to believe and obey. I have practiced this daily for the last 15 years and nothing has helped me grow more than a daily cleansing in God’s Word as I wash off the world’s lies.
In contrast to the flesh, God’s Word is forever faithful. We already learned in verses 10-11 that the prophets were carried along by the Holy Spirit when they prophesied. We call that inspiration. Inspiration is God’s written word through the Holy Spirit using the personality of the human authors. God wrote a book! It is the Bible. It is for you! And it is true! It is truth! Recall the prophecies that predicted “the sufferings of Christ and subsequent glories.” (1 Peter 1:11) Remember Moses recording the prophesy of Satan (the Serpent) being crushed underfoot in Genesis 3:15, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”(Pic of slide 55 from Good Soil Evangelism of the Serpent’s head being crushed) Or recall the patriarch Jacob prophesied in Genesis 49:15 that a ruler would come from the tribe of Judah (pic of slide 93 from Good Soil showing Genesis 49:15, but get rid of the words Offering of Isaac) Another prophet was Nathan who prophesied in 2 Samuel 7:16 that David’s house and throne would be established forever, “And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.” (Pic of slide 152 from Good Soil Evangelism showing David on the throne) Jesus is the forever King! David himself prophesied in Psalm 22 a number of prophecies that came true at the cross of His greatest son Jesus. Or think about the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 53 predicting the scourging Jesus experienced. (Pic of slide 159 from Good Soil Evangelism showing the prophet with Christ’s whipped back in the background.) God’s Word is true and evidenced by the fulfilled prophecies. It is without error and without fail in its original manuscripts. “Essential to a sincere belief in the inerrancy and infallibility of God’s Word is an assumption that calls His disciples to become a Bible-obeying people, and not merely intellectual stakeholders of theologically orthodox positions.”[10] (Jeff Christopherson) God’s Word is to be obeyed. It must be taken seriously. It has remained faithful because of the perseverance of Scripture. No book has been more loved and hated than the Bible. People have tried to destroy and ban all the Bibles – to wipe it from the earth – but it is still the most popular book of all time. People will hide God’s Word like it was a treasure or their last bit of food, which it both is! And the Word of God remains because behind the message is the Man and Messiah – Jesus Christ! You can’t kill someone who has already died. The Word of God died and rose again! He is living and abiding with us if we believe and obey the good news that has been preached to you! The heavenly invention of God’s plan has earthly and eternal daily benefits. Love one another because you are purified and born again by the Word of God.So let’s conclude our message with the perfect sign of trusting and obeying. Communion is a command! Jesus commanded His followers take the bread and cup and “Do this in remembrance of Me.” (Luke 22:19) We consider Communion as an ordinance. We must obey ordinances. Jesus is essentially commanding, “Come to the table!” The invitation is for all you have been purified in their souls and are born again through the Living Word of God – Jesus Christ. By taking action to come get the bread and cup at the various tables throughout the auditorium you are saying that you trust in Jesus alone for salvation and are obeying Him. Please come and get the bread and cup to show you trust and obey Christ. If there is anything you are not trusting and obeying Him in right now, you need to repent of this and obey His truth and then partake.
[1] https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2019/07/08/space-race-inventions-we-use-every-day-were-created-for-space-exploration/39580591/. Accessed February 7, 2023.
[2] William Barclay, The Daily Study Bible (Toronto: G.R. Welch Co. Ltd., 1976), 189.
[3] Warren Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary – Volume 2 (Wheaton: Victor Books, 1989), 399.
[4] R.C.H. Lenski, The Interpretation of the Epistles of St. Peter, St. John and St. John (Columbus: Wartburg Press, 1945), 71.
[5] Charles Spurgeon, Daily Treasure (Leyland: EP Books, 2021), 57.
[6] https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/fertility/fertility.html. Accessed February 7, 2023.
[7] Craig S. Keener, 1 Peter – A Commentary (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2021, 114.
[8] Keener, 117.
[9] Spurgeon, 60.
[10] Jeff Christopherson, Once You See (Cody, WY: 100 Movements Publishing, 2022), 437.
TOGETHER we find our purpose – God’s glory!
Posted: March 28, 2021 Filed under: Adoption, Children of God, Chosen, God, Inheritance, Jesus, Meaning, Predestination, Purpose, Redemption, Sermons, The Holy Spirit Leave a commentWhen University of Michigan Professor Vic Stretcher decided to teach a free online class on the topics of “Purpose & Meaning” during the pandemic 8 months ago, he didn’t expect to have 100,000 students from over 200 countries sign up for the class.[1] Can you imagine teaching 100,000 students? The great interest in the class shows the massive and global need to find purpose and meaning in our lives and maybe even more than ever as we are in this pandemic. Even asking the question as to your purpose undermines David Suzuki’s 85thbirthday message this week on the CBC’s The National, “You are an animal … and that’s a good thing!” That’s interesting because my dog Remy has never seems to be concerned about what his purpose in life is despite having all sorts of time to ponder such things as he lays there on our couch. Animals don’t think about their purpose. But we humans created in God’s image do. I’m appreciative of David Suzuki’s contribution to environmental conscientiousness, but humbly disagree – we are more than animals. This is demonstrated by lots of you wrestling with the question, “What is my purpose?”, especially when every day feels the same.
Today, we are going to find out the answer to that question, “What…is…your…purpose?” from Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians 1:7-14. This follows last week’s message where we learned that God has always had you on His mind and this is why He chose you, predestined you and adopted you. But even though you might be chosen, predestined and adopted, you might be struggling with finding your purpose. Sometimes those who are adopted struggle with their purpose. According to the Center for Treatment of Anxiety and Mood Disorders, those adopted may struggle in adulthood with the question, “Even though I have been given a new name and family, who am I?”[2] As spiritually adopted children of God, we may also be wrestling with that question and so let’s answer what is your purpose from Ephesians 1:7-14. Read Ephesians 1:7-14!
If I was going to summarize your purpose, I would say that your purpose is simply to glorify God. This is why one of the best-selling books in history with over 50 million copies sold is The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren. Warren begins the book by saying, “It’s not about you! The purpose of your life is far greater than your own personal fulfillment, your peace of mind and even your happiness. It’s far greater than your family, your career, or even your wildest dreams and ambitions. If you want to know why you were placed on this planet, you must begin with God. You were born by His purpose and for His purpose. You are not an accident. Even before the universe was created, God had you in mind.”[3] This is why the Westminster Catechism says, “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” Enjoying God! John Piper tweaks that a bit and says, “The chief end of man is to glorify God by enjoying Him forever.”[4] When we actually find our happiness and joy in God, glorifying Him easily follows. Think about how we do this on a human level when we find our joy in our favourite character, actor, and or sports figure. Think about your favourite human. When you are delighting in that person whether it be Patrick Mahomes or your favourite Youtuber or your spouse, you can’t help but praise them. Your joy overflows to praise!
This is why it is important to pursue your happiness in God. It’s Palm Sunday the crowds in Jerusalem found their joy in Jesus and could not help but worship Him. Are you finding your joy in Christ? If you do, you will find your purpose as well. Let’s declare war on depression and aimlessness by attempting to find our purpose and joy in Christ. For if we don’t as the Puritan Jeremy Taylor said, “God threatens terrible things if we will not be happy.” Your purpose to glorify God is found in Jesus Christ. Today’s message is rather simple. We are going to discover three joy-filled benefits of finding your purpose in glorifying Jesus Christ. In Christ, 1) You are redeemed! (v. 7) We see this clearly in verse 7, “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace.” What does redemption mean? It means to “buy back.” Maybe one of the common ways we redeem something in our culture is we redeem coupons. Who here loves coupons? I come from a long line of inflation fighters. The mix of being Scottish and Dutch made my dad known in his church as the coupon king. He would even share his coupons with others. Well, a coupon is a redemption document. You take your coupon or nowadays download your coupon onto your phone and when you get to the store or restaurant you give it to them, where they buy back what you gave them. It could even be a coupon book you invested in. So what did Christ use for our redemption? It wasn’t a piece of paper. It wasn’t a coupon. It was the most costly thing He had – His own blood. And lest you think Jesus could have gone down to the local Jerusalem blood bank and donated blood in order to pay our redemption, that wouldn’t have sufficed. We are redeemed through Christ’s blood as His shed blood represents His death. It was not His circumcision, Him sweating drops of blood in the Garden of Gethsemane or even the blood from His wounds on the Cross that saved us. It was the ultimate loss of blood that led to His death that saved us. As we know from Hebrews 9:22, “without the shedding of blood there can be no forgiveness of sin.” Therefore, our redemption was blood-bought and resulted in Christ’s death.
Why such a steep cost? The next line in verse 7 explains, “the forgiveness of our trespasses.” Here’s why the cost of our redemption was so steep! We needed redemption because we saw the “No trespassing” sign that was posted by God and intentionally disregarded it by breaking His rules. It was sort of like what happened in one of my favourite movies The Sandlot. The storyline of The Sandlot is one that many of us can relate to. In the movie, some young neighbour kids play baseball at their local sandlot. As what happens so much when you are throwing a ball in the neighbourhood, the ball goes over the fence. How many of you had to retrieve a ball, frisbee or puck in your neighbour’s yard by climbing over the fence? Did you know that by doing so you actually “transgressed” (lit. “crossed over”[5]) by intentionally and with full knowledge broke a rule. You trespassed and in some places in the world, trespassing can cost you your life. You may have seen signs with the silhouette of a gun and the words “No Trespassing”, especially posted on fences in the United States, the subtitle, “I shoot first and ask questions later.” In the movie The Sandlot, the challenge was that the ball went into an old junkyard guarded by the meanest, biggest, slobberiest dog who ate baseballs for breakfast. I won’t spoil it for you any further than to say that the boys exhausted all their money on baseballs, which kept getting lost over the fence until their new friend named Smalls came to the rescue with a new baseball he “borrowed” from his stepfather. The ball happened to be signed by Babe Ruth, but Smalls being new to baseball didn’t know who Babe Ruth was. So when this priceless ball went over the fence, it took all the boys resources and ingenuity to try to reclaim that ball. Here is the thing: you didn’t just break one of God’s rules. You and I went over the fence and got stuck on the other side full of dangers. We needed forgiveness, which “means ‘to carry away.’”[6] Think about that! We crossed over God’s fence and we need Him to carry us back over. He carried our sins away from us, but He also carried us over the fence back into safety and relationship with God. The cost of redemption was so high for Jesus because you are so valuable to Him. You are priceless to Him and He gave His everything to get you back. Do you understand now why the end of verse 7 declares, “according to the riches of His grace”? Christ spent everything on you and me to redeem and adopt us! He lavished His grace on us as verse 8 says. He didn’t hold back. He used all the wisdom, insight and ingenuity on you and His plan to redeem you. And because of that we have been now welcomed into God’s family and we know the mystery of His will (v. 9) and we are united to Him and all that He is uniting (v. 10). He is trying to and will eventually bring all things together. “Sin is tearing everything apart, but in Christ, God will gather everything together in the culmination of the ages.”[7] We could probably stop the sermon right now and just break out into songs of praise. However, one of the ways we can praise God is to not go over the fence of sin again. Our redemption should lead to staying within the bounds that God wants to protect us. He spent that much on you. Not to cage you like an animal because you are not an animal. He has a fence so that the animals and predators, particularly Satan, the lion who wants to devour you, can’t get in (c.f. John 10:1-18). Christ spent everything on you to redeem you.
Which explains and leads us to the next benefit of finding your purpose in glorifying Christ. 2) You are an inheritance of God (and have an inheritance from God)! (v. 11) This is what we find in verse 11, “In Him, we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will.” Now some of you might have a version of the Bible that reads differently than what I read. For example, “The King James Version reads, ‘In whom also we have obtained an inheritance,’ but ‘in whom also we were made an inheritance’ is also a possible translation. Both are true and one includes the other. In Christ we have a wonderful inheritance and in Christ we are an inheritance.”[8]Therefore, “Ephesians 1:11 could be rendered ‘we have been chosen as God’s portion.’”[9] This is actually repeated in verse 14 where it says, “who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it.” You may notice in the margins of some of your Bibles, it says, “until God redeems His possession.” “Paul is alluding to the church as God’s ‘inheritance’ and ‘possession.’ These words used to be applied exclusively to the one nation of Israel, but are now reapplied to an international people whose common factor is that they are all ‘in Christ.’”[10] Again we are an inheritance and yet we also have an inheritance. Some of you might feel like you didn’t get much an earthly inheritance. It was fought over and the lawyer’s fees at up all the money. God will give you a full inheritance and no lawyer’s fees will take it from you.
This is also best explained when we think of Christ Himself. “Under Roman law, an adopted son enjoyed the same status and privileges as a real son.”[11] That is true of us too. We get the same status before the Father as Jesus does. According to Romans 8:16-17 we can claim the right as children and heirs, “The Spirit Himself bears with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs – heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him.” That reminds me of some of the shared suffering my adopted sister and I experienced along with my mom as we cared for my dad in his final days. Suffering and loss precedes inheritance and gain. You are fellow sufferers and fellow heirs with Jesus because God’s love for you is no different than for His Son! Your suffering now has a future hope and inheritance. It’s incredible, but we can witness this parental love at our level. I know in talking to parents who have adopted children including my own parents, you love your adopted children just as much as if they were your own biological children. God is not like Cinderella’s stepmother who just favoured her daughters. God loves us just as much as He loves Christ. Again, those words “in Him” or “in Christ” are critical to understanding God’s love for us.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, the application for being an inheritance of God is that we need to, through the power of Holy Spirit, act like heirs. Not proud heirs, but humble heirs. Heirs that make God our Father look good, not spoiled heirs to the throne. Sure, such heirs to the throne may feel the weight of the crown and see their father or mother as both the blessing and curse. Think about it! A king or queen give life to their children, but only by dying will they give their children the crown. And this is also true of Jesus. He gave us life as Creator and King, and yet only through His death could we become heirs. Our purpose is to glorify God.
And yet as also receiving an inheritance and not just being an inheritance, it reminds us to not settle for lesser treasures here. Jesus told us this in the context of teaching on money in Matthew 6:19-20 but I think it has broader implications, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do no break in and steal.” Don’t take the small earthly settlement of money, sex, entertainment, and fame when you can inherit all God wants for you in heaven.
But you might say, what is the guarantee that I will get all the inheritance. Well, God’s Word should be good enough and Christ’s death and resurrection proof enough, but God in His grace give us one more benefit in finding your purpose in glorifying Christ. That third benefit is 3) You are sealed by the Holy Spirit! (v. 13) Look at verses 12-14! God is working everything according to His purpose as we read at the end of verse 11. O that helps us to know in the middle of a pandemic. Verses 12-14 say, “So that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of His glory. In Him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of His glory.” This is actually the order and process of salvation. You were chosen and predestined, but you still had a choice to hear the truth of the gospel and believe the truth to become adopted by God. It is like the little kid who is being adopted and the Judge says, “Do you want to go with these people to become your parents?” And the child says, “Yes!” They may not articulate it but behind that “Yes” is, “Why would I not? They chose me! They have lavished their love on me. They really cared about me!”
And so the judge makes a seal on the document and that child is adopted. The seal of our adoption is more personal. It is God Himself – the Holy Spirit. “A seal in that day meant ownership, authenticity, security and protection.”[12] The Holy Spirit provides our ownership by God, the authenticity or genuineness of our salvation, the security of our salvation and protection of our salvation.
The word “deposit” helps us a lot and it has the same implication of a costly engagement ring today. When a young man falls in love He wants to express that love by buying something costly and giving it to a young woman as a constant remind that love. I remember giving Lori a necklace with a silver key and told her that it was the key to my heart. Cheesy eh? But that led a greater gift. I remember slaving 60 hours/week in the Chicago summer heat wave of 1995 to get Lori and engagement ring. It was worth it. The Holy Spirit thinks you are worth it. It is the Holy Spirit that helps us to remain faithful to God, to live out the family values and to remind us of our future inheritance.
So your purpose is now known. You are to glorify Christ because you are redeemed, you are an inheritance and gain an inheritance and you are sealed by the Holy Spirit.
I conclude by telling the rest of the story of my sister’s adoption that I started last week. Remember how I told you that my Mom and Dad couldn’t have kids for the first 8.5 years of their marriage? Remember how I told you a preacher friend of my dad’s called asking if there was anybody in our church who would want to adopt a baby and my dad without asking my mom said, “Lelia and I would”? Adoption had been on their mind for a long time, way before Steph was ever born. Remember how I told you that we got Stephanie from the hospital and she grew up knowing that she was loved and also adopted? What I haven’t told is that my parents kept the door open for Stephanie to meet her biological parents if she ever wanted to. Well, at age 21 Steph wanted to and so my dad talked her to biological grandmother who then connected her to her birth mom living in Palm Springs, California. In due time, Steph even got to go visit her birth mom Heather and grandmother in British Columbia. They stayed in touch. A few years later, she also got to meet her biological father Rocky. Well, back in 2014 Steph was invited to a family reunion with Rocky’s family out near Grand Prairie, Alberta. Rocky also asked Steph if he could have a picture of her along with Heather who had since moved back to Alberta. Steph called Heather and Heather said she would be glad to meet with Rocky. They met at a Starbucks and cleared up a lot of misunderstanding. Rocky said, “I never stop loving you.” And so on Valentine’s Day in 2015, I officiated the wedding of sisters parents who are not my parents. But that is not the best part. As much as the adoption and her parents reuniting was great, what was even greater is that Steph’s parents had both come to faith in Christ. They experienced redemption. God redeemed both of Steph’s families – her birth family and her adopted family have been saved by Jesus. The religious and irreligious came to faith in Christ. But there was even something greater than redemption. Steph will get the same inheritance as I will. We are co-heirs. But there is something greater. Steph, her birth family and my family will receive the same inheritance as Jesus does from God. And even greater is that Steph, her birth family and my family are sealed by the Holy Spirit. And you too have been adopted and redeemed by God. You will receive an inheritance of God. And you know this because you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit. No wonder you purpose is found in what? Glorifying God! So let’s do that now and declare that we will worship God no mater what!
[1] Source: https://news.umich.edu/as-pandemic-still-rages-online-learners-hungry-to-find-purpose-meaning-in-life/. Accessed March 25, 2021.
[2] Source: https://centerforanxietydisorders.com/what-problems-do-adopted-adults-have/. Accessed March 25, 2021.
[3] Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002), 17.
[4] John Piper, Desiring God (Sisters: Multnomah Books, 1996), 15.
[5] Millard Erickson, Christian Theology (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1996), 571.
[6] Warren Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary (Wheaton: Victor Books, 1989), 12
[7] Wiersbe, 12.
[8] Wiersbe, 12.
[9] Andrew T. Lincoln, Ephesians – Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word Books, 1990), 36
[10] John R.W. Stott, The Message of Ephesians (Downer’s Grove: IVP Academic, 1984), 46-47.
[11] A Skevington Wood, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary – Ephesians (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1978), 24.
[12] Wiersbe, 13.
TOGETHER and Always on God’s Mind
Posted: March 21, 2021 Filed under: Adoption, Chosen, Election, God, God's Will, Jesus, Predestination, Salvation, Sermons, The Son of God Leave a commentYou and I are blessed by God. You might not feel it. You might not see it. In fact, you might be suffering, but you are still blessed by God (Matthew 5:45). This is especially true if you are a follower of Jesus Christ. Your blessings are foremost spiritual blessings. Pastor and Biblical Counsellor Ross Gilbert insightfully told me this, “We are still functionally hoping for an earthly prosperity gospel where we get health and wealth here.” But as Pastor Kyle Rhora said this week in our pastoral sermon evaluation meeting, “We should be looking for spiritual blessings as the priority.” You are not forgotten about, because you have always been on God’s mind. In fact, you have been more than on God’s mind; you have been chosen by God. Today we are going to recall your adoption story. It wasn’t a secret adoption, even though some of you might even be surprised that you were selected and adopted by God.
During this pandemic, foster and adoption rates of humans have decreased significantly due to the economic uncertainty, the unavailability of required training and home visits as well closed courtrooms.[1]However, pet adoptions during COVID have soared. Time Magazine’s Pet of the Year was the Rescue Animal.[2] Anybody get a rescue pet this past year?
Here is the Good News: God’s divine courtroom never closes! And it is open for rescue adoptions. But some of you here today or listening online, might wonder who needs rescuing? You and I need rescuing. The hard truth is that you and I were not just at risk. No, we were rebels. We were criminals before God. I can prove it! Have you ever lied? I have. I bet you have too. That makes us what? Liars! That is a crime against the God of truth (John 14:6). Have you ever hated somebody? According to Jesus, God’s standard is that “if you are angry with your brother you are liable to judgment (Matthew 5:22).” That makes us a murderer in our hearts. It is a crime against the God of love (1 John 4:8, 16). Have you ever lusted after somebody? According to Jesus, God’s standard is that “everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. (Matthew 5:28).” As my dad taught that makes us non-practicing adulterers whether you are lusting after women or men. So you and I are criminals. What happens to convicts once they released from captivity? Often they have a hard time finding a job because few employers will hire them. Ex-convicts are often rejected by friends and family. And then there is the temptation to go back to a criminal lifestyle. Recidivism rates in Canada are high at over 1/3 of ex-convicts reoffend.[3] It’s sad. But I told you I had Good News today. The Good News is that the Judge of the Universe is actually going to declare you not guilty by reason of association that payment has already been rendered. You and I are guilty. We have been liars, haters and lusters and probably guilty of other high crimes and misdemeanors. Yet we are not guilty due to association with our Defense Lawyer, Jesus Christ. As I told our students at our youth service this past Wednesday, Jesus is covering the cost of our penalty (1 John 2:1). Jesus is even on retainer when we reoffend. Most times one gets a massive legal bill from their defense attorney. Not Jesus! Jesus is the One who paid our fines at His cost. He paid with His own blood by dying on a Cross. And because Jesus rose from the dead, you have been released from the prison of sin you have been in and your penalty is paid in full. And instead of being cast out on the streets fending for yourself, God the Judge has adopted you! You become a part of the Judge’s family. Mind-blowing isn’t it? Let’s read Ephesians 1:3-14 to learn about your whole spiritual adoption story by God. We will read all of Ephesians 1:3-14, but focus only on verses 3-6 as I want to go slower through Ephesians 1, otherwise we will miss seeing the gems of one of the most majestic passages in Scripture. As Pastor Kyle Rhora explains, “Verses 3-10 is your introduction to God’s family and then verses 11-14 are what we inherit as part of God’s family.” Read Ephesians 1:3-14!
Your spiritual adoption story was a blessing. That is why three times in verse 3 we see the word “blessing,” from which we get the word “eulogy.” We think of a eulogy as something somebody says at a funeral when in reality, a eulogy is simply a declaration of a blessing. We eulogize at a funeral to declare how the deceased person blessed us. In verse 3, we see the primary subject of the blessing and then the beneficiaries of the blessing. Who is the primary subject of the blessing? What does the first line say in verse 3? “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.” God the Father is the subject of the blessing. This majestic passage has been used by the kingdom of darkness to cause the division and create theological camps. Today, I am not calling you to belong to a theological club. Maybe some of you have to repent of your position or club status? I am calling you to understand and believe what God says about how He adopted you. I believe the theological division could be closed if together we started with the understanding and focus being on blessing God. Your spiritual adoption story is actually not about you because God’s plan of redemption is about His glory. Theologian Wayne Grudem remind us, “There is something else that God deems more importantly than saving everyone. God deems His own glory more important than saving everyone. God’s glory is also furthered by the fact that some are not saved.”[4] HIs justice and lack of adopting everybody is glorifying to God. Hitler going to hell brings God glory. As John Piper has taught, “God is first for Himself otherwise He would be an idolator. God does not put ‘any gods before Himself’ including you and me.”[5] Your spiritual adoption story was and is a blessing … to God first and foremost. We could say spiritual adoption is about the Father, not us kids!
Some children are unexpected. Some children are a blessed surprise and sadly some children are not wanted. Not you! God has always wanted you. Maybe you felt loved by your earthly family? Your Heavenly Father loves you. Your adoption story, like many adoptions, began before you were born. In fact, your adoption story begins before even your parents were born. Your adoption story goes way back before the beginning of time and before the creation of the universe. You have always been on God’s mind. This is your first spiritual blessing: 1) You were chosen in Christ. (v. 4) This is exactly what verse 4 describes, “even as He (write ‘Father’ before the pronoun He) chose us in Him (write ‘Son’ before that pronoun Him) before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him (write ‘Father’ besides that pronoun Him). Writing those names will help you keep the pronouns all straight. Now that we have got that straight, the key point is that God chose you in Christ before the foundation of the world. And in the mind of God, you would be considered holy and blameless. But some of you immediately want to question that because I told you that we are liars, haters and lusters at the start of this message so how can we be holy and blameless? Furthermore, most of us don’t feel holy and blameless. Well, the words are extremely important and we also need to remember that holiness and blamelessness is not a feeling. The hinge or most important words in verse 3 is the first “In Him” or for clarity sake, “in Christ.” You are holy and blameless because when God sees you, He sees Christ. And in God’s mind’s eye, you are holy and blameless because of His Son. So not only were you chosen but you are considered holy and blameless. It is like being adopted by your grandparents who believe you could do no wrong! Grandparents just dote on us and love us no matter what. Of course, they know you do wrong just like God does, we are sinners but His love for you is overwhelming. He makes you holy (different) and no longer blames you.
Now, I need to address a question that seems to bother people. Why does God choose some and not others? Simply, because He can! He’s God! Theologian Millard Erickson declares, “There really is no answer to the question of how God decides who will receive His grace and who will be left in their sinful condition. He simply chooses as He pleases.”[6] Remember that our adoption as children of God is first about God and not us. He is subject of the blessing and He can choose who He wants. “God is the Creator and Lord of all things, and consequently He is free to do whatever He wills. He is not subject to or answerable to anyone and we humans are in no position to judge God for what He does (Matthew 20:13-15; Romans 9:20-21).”[7] Does the criminal get to tell the Judge what His judgment must be? No!
That is not harsh, but actually how life plays out as well. This week, our family sponsored a new child in Togo, West Africa. In January 2020, I had the privilege of actually visiting a Compassion Centre in Togo as you can see from these pictures (pics). As many of you know, our church supports Kwashie and Davi Amenudzie who are outstanding missionaries there in Togo and we have been trying to reach unengaged people groups with the gospel. I was so impressed with Compassion’s work that is so local church centred (www.compassion.ca). I learned so much there in Togo, we are trying to take some of their principles and apply them here at Temple as we build a community centre for Christ and try to connect the spiritually impoverished to Christ, the relationally impoverished to others, the socially impoverished to community services and the ministry impoverished to best practitioners and practices. As our family chose a child in Togo to sponsor, my prayer was that this child may be used by God to reach unengaged people groups such as the Bago, Basila, Tchamba, and Tamberma peoples. Now would any of you say that my family does not have the right to select a child from the pictures we were given? Would you say, “well that’s not fair that you choose one child over another?” Would you say well in order to be fair you must choose them all or not chose any?” No! It is an act of compassion and grace for us to chose a child to sponsor. This is exactly what God has the right to do as God. And aren’t you thankful that He chose you. We did not choose Him, but He chose us first (John 15:16). What was so amazing is the Compassion child we chose to sponsor had the first name of Grace. Did you know that Lori and I have always wanted a daughter named Grace? Grace has been on our mind for years. How much more have you always been on God’s mind. You were chosen in Christ and so our response should be to humbly prove it. Being chosen by God should not make your arrogant or a spiritual brat. As my wife has said, “Don’t think you are so special because God chose You; think God is special because He chose You.” I would encourage you to read over this week 2 Peter 1:3-10 because verse 10 says, “Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.” You were chosen in Christ so humbly prove it with your God-given faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection and love. And do it with a joyful smile.
You see, our spiritual adoption was officially sealed by the heavenly court long ago. This is your second spiritual blessing: 2) You were predestined by God. (v. 5) Let’s all say the word “predestination” together: PREDESTINATION! What does that word mean? “Predestination refers to God’s choice of individuals for eternal life or eternal death.”[8] You were always on God’s mind! This is why the first two words in the sentence at the end of verse 4, “In love, He (write ‘Father’) predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will.” (Write ‘Father’ before the word ‘will.’) Those words are so important “in love.” God was eager to adopt you because He loved you before you loved Him (1 John 4:19). I like what I read this week, “God’s love for you never had a beginning and will never have an end.”[9] As I unpack this often misunderstood and controversial truth, let’s remember again that predestination’s subject of blessing is first of all about God and you were predestined by God because He loves you. As one scholar says, “The sonship to which believers are predestined has God as its goal. Believers bless God the Father, because His choice of them is intended to bring them into a relationship with Himself.”[10]
Let me explain further predestination before I get to the third spiritual blessing of adoption. Predestination is where God chooses us to become a part of His forever family! As already stated before in verse 4, this was before the foundation of the world and universe. Therefore, predestination and election go together. Election is from all eternity. And the good part is that God does not change His mind. He is not finnicky voter. He doesn’t register as a Liberal, Conservative, NDP or Green Party nor as a Democrat or Republican. God is fully an independent. “God’s election of His family is from all eternity and is based out of His infinite mercy and grace! He has no reason or occasion to change His mind.”[11] This is really important because His choice isn’t based on your choice. “Some hold that predestination is based upon God’s foreknowledge of what humans will do.”[12] But this doesn’t make any sense because then God would then be just rubber-stamping our choice. God’s not our Yes Man! God’s foreknowledge is as described in Romans 8:29-30, “For those whom He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, in order that He might be the firstborn among many brothers.” That foreknowledge, which has the root of knowing somebody with intimate relational knowledge like how spouses know each other, could have the idea of forelove![13] Let’s make it personal: God preloved you! Romans 8:29 therefore matches up with the end of Ephesians 1:4 with the words “In love,” which form the foundation of predestination and adoption. And this is true of a group of people called His Church, but individuals make up the Church. One can’t punt and say God just elects anonymous groups of people. “To talk about God choosing a group with no people in it is not biblical election at all.”[14] God cares about people groups because He cares about groups of individual people.
Now there may be a nagging question some of you might have, does the fact that God predestine us to His family give us license to live anyway we want? No! The Reformer “John Calvin insisted that the doctrine of predestination did not lead to carelessness in living and to a cavalier attitude that we can continue in sin since our election is sure. Rather, knowledge of our election leads us to pursue a holy life.”[15] Why would we want to not live out the family values of our Heavenly Father? We get to know Him better through living out His commands (1 John 2:3)! Why go back to the things that hurt us? Why would we go back to our life as scavenging orphans eating the garbage of sinful choices? God is protecting us with His values and commands. This is why “the New Testament presents the doctrine of predestination as a comfort (Romans 8:28); as a reason to praise God (Eph. 1:5-6) and as a motivation to evangelism.”[16] Since we know that God does elect people to be saved and we can’t save people ourselves, then we are motivated to share the gospel with people. As Acts 13:48 declares about Paul’s and Barnabas’ preaching in Antioch, “As many as were ordained to eternal life believed.”
Unless you think you can personally save people from hell, it would be unfruitful to go and share the gospel. Unless we know that God has the elect out there and He will use us to proclaim His Good News, why waste our time? But to be clear, though God elects people, people still need to personally respond to His call. As Warren Wiersbe explains, “As far as God the Father is concerned, you were saved when He chose you in Christ in eternity past. But that alone did not save you. As far as God the Son is concerned, you were saved when He died for you on the cross. As far as God the Spirit is concerned, you were saved when you yielded to His conviction and received Christ as your Saviour. What began in eternity past was fulfilled in time present, and will continue for all eternity.”[17]
But what about those who don’t want to be chosen, predestined and adopted? You won’t be kidnapped by God becoming a spiritual Amber alert. You will be drawn to the Father and want to go with Him (John 6:44). I like Pastor Jason Elliotson’s answer, “If you want to be in God’s family, you will because God will put that desire in your heart to be a part of His family.” This is why it is God’s grace alone that initiates salvation. God is the initiator of salvation! And the arm of the Lord is not too short to save. I know some of you think that it is more difficult to save people who did not grow up in a Christian family or culture. However, whether you are grew up in a drug-infested family, a Hindu family in India, a Buddhist family in China, a Muslim country, or a church-going family, God’s power is the same needed to save each person. God doesn’t think up in heaven, “Oh, I’m not sure I have in it me to save that tribe in the middle of the jungle or that person in the upper levels of the North Korean government.” Jesus’ blood is spiritually O negative and can save anybody. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead will save a dictator and a dumpster diver. The truth is that “God sincerely offers salvation to all, but all of us are so settled in our sins that we will not respond unless assisted to do so.”[18] “Without God’s grace, we are unable to avoid sin. Humans are still free and have options, but those options are all sinful in nature. However, God’s grace restores complete freedom. This grace, while irresistible, does not work against but in concert with our wills.”[19] As my father used to say, “My mom made it impossible for him not to love her even though she never forced him to love her.” Her love was irresistible. God’s love and grace is irresistible. “Our salvation is totally due to God’s grace alone”[20] and can overcome any obstacle of location and stubbornness.
This is why verse 6 declares God literally “begraced”[21] us: “to the praise of His (write ‘Father’) glorious grace, with which He (write ‘Father’) has blessed us in the Beloved (write ‘Son’).” Think about it and this really helped me understand all these deep doctrines: “If the ultimate determining factor in whether we will be saved or not is our own decision to accept Christ, then we shall be more inclined to think that we deserve some credit for the fact that we are saved.”[22] But none of us can take credit! To be saved is to believe in Christ alone and by His grace alone for salvation. This makes election unconditional. “Unconditional election is unconditional because it is not conditioned upon anything that God sees in us that makes us worthy of His choosing us.”[23]You would dare say that you are more worthy to be chosen. I hope not! God gives grace to the humble, but opposes the proud. (James 4:6)
A young man was asked on a recent Tik Tok video, “Jeremiah, I have a question for you: why does a loving God send people to hell?” Jeremiah quickly replied, “God doesn’t send people to hell (as much as people send themselves there[24])! Actually, we were already on our way to hell and what God did was He gave us a way out. It’s like being on a ship that’s sinking and someone is like, ‘Hey, there’s a lifeboat.’ You can choose to get on the life boat, but if you reject the lifeboat, you automatically go down with the ship. It’s the same thing. Our sin was already taking us to hell and God gave us Jesus and said: ‘This is the lifeboat.’ But if you reject Jesus, the lifeboat, then you are going where you were already headed.”[25] Maybe you are just hoping for another lifeboat? Something that fits into with your life plan? Perhaps as rescue plan that allows you to pilot your own boat? You see, we humans are so stubborn and our stubbornness and lack of self-initiated choice to receive His offer is the only explanation why people don’t come to faith in Christ. I have preached to literally thousands of people offering them eternal life through Jesus Christ and yet many still reject God’s lifeboat. I hope you won’t today.
But there is only one lifeboat. Jesus rescued us. He is the lifeboat or to put it in our passage’s language, Jesus is the adoption agency. And His house visits are not to find out what was wrong about you. He already knows. He has come for you to find out what was right about Him! He can come to your house and family today. He wants to live and abide with you so you become like Him. He wants to teach you the Father’s family values. Remember from Romans 8:29 that our predestination is so that we become like Him. You were predestined by God and this should be our response. Ask Jesus to come and make you like Him. He is the Son teaching us what the Heavenly Father wants us to be like in word and deed. You were predestined by God to be like Jesus so learn from Him!
This is the third spiritual blessing: 3) You are adopted by the Heavenly Father. We already read this in verse 5. Back in Paul’s day, “A well-to-do but childless adult who wanted an heir would adopt a male, usually at an age other than in infancy and frequently a slave, to be his son. In Paul’s letter this is applied to the privileged new relationship believers have with God.”[26] And the amazing part is that “Under Roman law, an adopted son enjoyed the same status and privileges as a real son.”[27] That is true of us too. We get the same status before the Father as Jesus does. But that will be revealed more in verses 7-14 so read ahead and come back next week.
I want to conclude by telling you another story of an adoption that sheds light on the ultimate adoption story. My sister and only sibling had a birthday this week and I was reminded how we got her as a family. You see, my parents couldn’t have children for the first 8.5 years of their marriage. They longed for children and had in their mind to adopt. Then came their firstborn – a son – me. Nevertheless, they had more love to give to another child. One day a pastor friend called my father and said, “Do you know anybody in your church who would like to adopt a baby? There is a young 16 year old girl who would like to put a baby up for adoption.” Without hesitation, my dad said, “Sure, my wife and I will.” And so that is how I got my sister and that is how the world got an amazing mother, pastor’s wife and educational assistant who has taken care of so many with development disabilities. I’m sure that Steph would say that she was blessed by my parents adopting her, but I know my father and mother would say they were the ones ultimately blessed by Steph’s adoption. I know I sure was!
There is more to the story that I will tell, Lord willing, next week, but let’s end by eulogizing our great God. You might think, why eulogize God? We are not at His funeral. But remember eulogies are recalling how the deceased has given us a blessing. Well, today I want to remind you that the One who died did give us a blessing! An ultimate blessing. Jesus did die for our sins and the best part is He rose again so that God’s choice and predestination of you could be fully realized in His adoption of you. Let’s bless Him now. He’s the fountain of every blessing we have!
[1] Source: https://www.verywellfamily.com/covid-19-affects-foster-and-adoption-rates-5086425. Accessed March 18, 2021.
[2] Source: https://time.com/5912616/pet-of-the-year-2020-rescue-animals/. Accessed March 18, 2021.
[3] Source: https://www.mcscs.jus.gov.on.ca/english/Corrections/RatesRecidivism.html. Accessed March 19, 2021.
[4] Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994), 684.
[5] The best sermon I have heard on this subject is John Piper’s “Is God for Us or for Himself?” https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/is-god-for-us-or-for-himself. Accessed March 20, 2021
[6] Millard Erickson, Christian Theology (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1996), 911.
[7] Erickson, 915-916.
[8] Erickson, 908.
[9] John A. Allan, The Epistle to the Ephesians (London: S.C.M., 1959), 48.
[10] Andrew T. Lincoln, Ephesians – Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word Books, 1990), 25.
[11] Erickson, 917.
[12] Erickson, 912.
[13] Millard Erickson was the first to introduce me to the concept of “foreknowledge = forelove.” (Erickson, 926.)
[14] Grudem, 677.
[15] Erickson, 913.
[16] Grudem, 673-674.
[17] Warren Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary (Wheaton: Victor Books, 1989), 11.
[18] Erickson, 927.
[19] This is a summary of Augustine’s view of predestination! Erickson, 910.
[20] Grudem, 687.
[21] Wood, 24.
[22] Grudem, 678.
[23] Grudem, 679.
[24] This line I added to be theologically correct as God does still make the judgment to send people to hell (Matthew 25:41).
[25] Source: https://ifunny.co/video/jeremiah-i-have-a-question-why-would-a-good-god-BZ97I4MQ8. Accessed March 19, 2021.
[26] Lincoln, 25.
[27] A Skevington Wood, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary – Ephesians (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1978), 24.
Commissional 