Tonight, I'd ask that you first turn in the back of the Psalter hymnal to page 20, page 20, Lord's Day 13, as we give expression to what we believe concerning the two questions and answers found there. Page 20, Lord's Day 13, questions and answers 33 and 34. Question 33 asks, why is he called God's only begotten Son when we also are God's children? Because Christ alone is the eternal, natural Son of God. We, however, are adopted children of God, adopted by grace through Christ. Why do you call Him our Lord? Because not with gold or silver, but with His precious blood, He has set us free from sin and from the tyranny of the devil, and has bought us, body and soul, to be His very own. And if you would also turn to Ephesians chapter 1, as we read together the first 14 verses of Ephesians chapter 1. But first a few words, Ephesians 1-14, as I trust many of us know, is a beautiful and rich passage of Scripture regarding the believer's salvation. Paul here in this passage is laying out the facts including the believer's election to be saved, His redemption unto salvation, and we might say the confirmation by the Holy Spirit of the reality of that salvation that is real for you and me. And of course, with these 14 verses, there's so much that we could consider together, so much that we could study with regard to this one particular passage. You may recall that Pastor Donovan beautifully covered this in his series on Ephesians some time ago. But for our purposes tonight, we want to consider the teaching of Scripture here in light of the fact that all of this is true for you and me because of Jesus Christ and our confession of the truth that He is the only begotten Son of God, our Lord. In recent weeks, in our consideration of the Word of God as summarized by the Heidelberg Catechism, we've been reminded why it is that we confess, as we did earlier tonight, that we confess in the Apostles' Creed the names given to our Savior and what the truth of those names means for us and for our salvation. Jesus, we know, means Savior, one who saves. Christ means one who is anointed and ordained to do the saving. And now we come to only begotten Son of God, which points to His being qualified to be the Savior, And then also Lord, which means He is the one who accomplished salvation. Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, our Lord. Congregation, these names reveal the salvation of God's people from start to finish. And that is Paul's message in Ephesians chapter 1, 1 to 14. the salvation of God's people from start to finish through Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, our Lord. Hear now the Word of God. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus. Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love, He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ in accordance with His pleasure and will to the praise of His glorious grace which He has freely given us in the One He loves. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins in accordance with the riches of God's grace that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding and He made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Christ to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ. In Him we were also chosen having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will in order that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be for the praise of His glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, having believed you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession to the praise of His glory. Shall we bow together, asking God's blessing upon His Word? Father, indeed we come before You because we are needy and we are dependent upon You. We might be able to read Your Word, but only You can open it before our eyes, before our minds, before our hearts. And we pray for Your blessing upon the reading and the preaching of Your Word and upon us, O Lord. Make us receivers of Your Word. We pray, Father, that You would give us strength to work even as we worship, to pay attention, to hear, to listen, to be obedient. Father, again, we plead on Your faithfulness as we consider this morning, for indeed God is faithful. We thank You for Your faithfulness to us, O Lord. Hear our prayer for Jesus' sake, and in His name alone, Amen. Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, when I was young, when I was growing up, there was a song that we would often sing when we would gather together with my grandparents and my uncles and aunts and cousins on my mom's side. And we would sing this song, especially as we gathered together on special occasions. For example, for Grandpa and Grandma's 35th wedding anniversary or 40th or 45th, it seems like every one of those occasions was a prime time for this particular song. And that song begins with this chorus, I'm so glad I'm a part of the family of God. I've been washed in the fountain, cleansed by His blood. Joint heirs with Jesus as we travel this sod, for I'm part of the family, the family of God. Maybe you know that song, and then you also know the second stanza says, From the door of an orphanage to the house of the king. No longer an outcast, a new song I sing. From rags unto riches, from the weak to the strong, I'm not worthy to be here, but praise God, I belong. That's a song of praise and thanksgiving from the child of God. And that's the very same song that Paul is singing here in Ephesians 1, verses 1 through 14. He says, praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. You see, even before Paul explains why God deserves our praise, he calls for praise to God because Paul understood the magnitude. He understood the greatness of the believer's blessings in Christ. He understood very clearly that all believers have been chosen in Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, our Lord. And Paul clearly understood what that meant. He understood that that means, we might say, a radical life change, a radical spiritual life change from hopelessness to a living hope. From being lost to having been found. From homelessness to the very essence of what a home is to be about with a perfect, loving, heavenly Father who loves His children and cares for His children and provides for His children. You see, there is nothing homey about being lost in the clutches of sin. Because lost in sin, we are slaves in Satan's prison camp. There's nothing loving, nothing caring, About that. But we have been graciously chosen for salvation. And this is in Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, our Lord, who is the only one qualified to carry out God's plan of salvation. And the one who accomplished God's plan of salvation. Beloved, the company of the saved, including men, women, children, young and old, Red, yellow, black, and white. From every tribe, every tongue, every nation. Those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. The communion of the saints. The company of the saved is called something special. The children of God. Only a child, right, really understands the beauty of what it means to be a child. We are the children of God. Throughout the Old Testament, God referred to Israel as my son. Paul says in verse 5 that God predestined us to be adopted as His sons. Now, he's talking there about all believers, but God predestined, God determined, God decided that we would be brought into His family to become His sons. You and I didn't decide that. You and I didn't make the determination one day, oh, I think I'd like to be in God's family. I'll see what I can do about that. Paul says in Romans 8 that believers have received the Spirit of Sonship. And by Him we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children, heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ. We know beyond a shadow of a doubt because of the work of the Holy Spirit that we are God's children, that He is our Father. We are part of God's family. He has brought us into His family by means of the only one qualified to carry out God's plan of salvation. And that only one qualified is His only begotten Son, the second person of the Trinity. Again, Paul makes it clear that God chose us and He predestined us to be adopted as His sons. But that means that something else was true before, doesn't it? That means that we were not God's children before. We were not in God's family. We were outside before. And I trust that it's no surprise to any one of us that God's plan of salvation meant that saving was needed. In verse 4, Paul says, For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. Notice, Paul doesn't say that God chose us because we were already holy and blameless in His sight. Because in sin, we are unholy. Because of sin, we are to be completely blamed. In sin, we are in full possession of the wages of sin, which is death. In order to become God's possession, which Paul clearly says believers are in verse 14, we are His possession. In order to become His possession, we need it to be purchased. We need it to be bought, boys and girls. If you want a new bicycle, in order for that bicycle to become your possession, you've got to buy it. In our case, a ransom price needed to be paid so that we might be rescued from the power of sin. That's what redemption is all about. And God chose us to be purchased. All those who have been brought to faith have been chosen to be brought to faith and to be saved. Now, why? That's an honest question, right? why have we been chosen to be brought to faith to be saved? What's the basis? What's the foundation? Boys and girls, we make choices every day, don't we? We make choices about what to eat or what to wear. Maybe moms make the choice for some of us. But we make those choices, what to eat, what to wear, where to go, what to do, whom to play with. As adults, we make business choices and choices about where to live and what kind of car to drive and where to invest our money and who to hire to work for us and many other things. Young people make choices about college or about relationships or what courses to take. Many other things. But you see, our choices that we make each and every day are often made based on which choice benefits us the most. We are the ones in our focus of vision when it comes to our choices. What benefits us the most or what is the most worthwhile for me or what is appealing to me or what is for my good. See, boys and girls, if you are going to choose teams to play soccer at recess time and you're one of the captains of a team and you know that one classmate is a little better at playing soccer than another, then you will probably try to get the better player on your team. I'm not saying you should do it that way, but that's kind of how we operate, isn't it? Because, of course, that will be better for your team. That will give your team a greater hope of winning. But you see, we need to understand that God's choice of us, I think sometimes even as Reformed Christians, we still want to wonder about this a little bit. But God's choice of us, His election of us, was not based on anything like that. There is not one person other than Jesus Christ who was or is beneficial or worthwhile or for the good of God's cause. Again, He did not choose us because we were holy and blameless, but He chose us in spite of the fact that we were unholy and filled with blame. There is not one thing appealing about any one of us that God should desire to choose us and adopt us as His children. For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Now this might be hard for some to take. Well, how can you dare to tell me that? That there's not something a little bit worthwhile about me. How do you dare tell me that? But yet, beloved, this must be to our comfort because if it was left even a little bit up to us, we would never make it. we would not be worthwhile at all. But it's precisely because of God's glory that He chose to save anyone at all. Verses 5 and 6, In love He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ in accordance with His pleasure and will to the praise of His glorious grace which He has freely given us in the one He loves. Now again, this is beyond our understanding, isn't it? especially since this is not how we normally operate. But as one commentator says, he that is Paul fully realizes that when men are confronted with this manifestation of amazing grace, namely the nature of election, that it's not because of anything in us or about us, their only proper response is adoration, not explanation. Those who demand an explanation, I think, tend to give evidence that they don't truly believe in a sovereign God, in the Lord Jesus Christ alone. But those who humbly understand that I sought the Lord and afterward I knew He moved my soul to seek Him seeking me, they are filled with adoration. But we need to also remember, though, that God's elect and grace then, His choosing of you and I before the foundation of the world, before we were even born, before we even committed our first sin, His elect and grace doesn't cancel out His righteousness. It doesn't wipe out the demands of His law. Perfect righteousness had to be given to God. His law had to be perfectly obeyed. And again, in order to become children of God, God's justice against our sin had to be satisfied. And the penalty had to be paid. And there was only one qualified to do all of this for us. And that's why Paul says, For He, God the Father, chose us in Him before the creation of the world. In Him we have redemption through His blood. In Him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will. Well, who is Paul talking about? Very clearly, the Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of the Father. What does it mean that He is the only begotten Son of God? Very simply, on the one hand, it means that He is unique. He is one of a kind. There has never been, there is not, there never will be another one like Him because He is eternal and because He is God Himself. Paul says that we were chosen in Christ before the creation of the world. Now, boys and girls, you know that Jesus became a human at a point in time when He was conceived in Mary's womb by the Holy Spirit. And then, of course, we celebrate at Christmastime His birth. But He has always existed because He is God. Jesus Himself prayed in John 17, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began. And Paul says of Jesus in Philippians 2, who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. Beloved, it's in this one alone who is the only way to the Father that we were chosen. From the foundation of creation, the only begotten Son of God was the representative and the guarantee for all those chosen by God to be brought in time into His family. Our representative and the guarantee that we would be able to stand before God with our sins washed away because of Jesus. Only He was qualified to make the way so that we could be adopted by God. the only begotten Son of God took our place so that we might become like Him. Children of God. And as adopted children for Jesus' sake, we are provided for completely. All of our needs are met. We're given the best home with the most loving Father who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ and we enjoy the riches of God's grace that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding and we are given a guaranteed inheritance. An inheritance is something that if we don't outwardly say we look forward to, inwardly we kind of look forward to an inheritance, don't we? And as children of God, we are guaranteed an eternal inheritance which will provide for us forever and ever. And why can we be so confident about this? Because our Savior's qualifications would mean nothing for us if He didn't go to work on our behalf. But He has. He is also the one who accomplished God's plan of salvation. That's why Paul's heart is filled with overflowing joy so that he says again, Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. Every spiritual blessing in Christ. And again, this is talking about all that Paul says next. Election, redemption, and the confirmation of the Holy Spirit of this salvation. All of us, the entire package, is already ours because of Christ's finished work on our behalf. And that's why we call Him Lord. Notice again, question and answer 34. Why do you call Him our Lord? Because not with gold or silver, but with His precious blood, He has set us free from sin and from the tyranny of the devil and has bought us, body and soul, to be His very own. Lord means ruler, master, owner. And beloved, our Savior truly deserves this title because it's only in Him, by Him, and through Him that we have true life. And as Scripture says, we have it abundantly. It was the will of God the Father that Jesus Christ come to this earth and live the perfectly righteous life in our place and die that perfect death to pay for our sin and shame in order to rescue us from the grip of Satan and from the curse of sin. And because of that, as Paul says so beautifully, we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. You see, you can't be redeemed but not be forgiven. Forgiveness flows out of that redemption. It's a part of that redemption. In order to be accepted by God, in order to call Him Father, you must be right with Him. And that's what our Lord Jesus Christ has done for you and me. Our sin, which drives a wedge between and separates us from God, that sin is removed. It's forgiven. And Christ's perfect righteousness, which alone makes us pleasing in God's sight, that righteousness is freely given to you and to me. And the blessed consequence of all of this as we boldly confess in Lord's Day 1 is that we are not our own, but belong, body and soul, in life and in death, to our faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. We are God's possession. Now to some, that may sound demeaning, even inhumane, to be the possession of something or someone else. You make it sound like I'm a dog that belongs to its master. I'm a human being, you see. How can I be a possession? But you see, beloved, there is no greater comfort than to belong to God, to be His possession. Because God will not allow those who belong to Him to become lost, to become damaged, To become stolen? Jesus said, My sheep, listen to My voice. I know them and they follow Me. I give them eternal life and they shall never perish. No one can snatch them out of My hand. Not even the temptations of Satan as we talked about this morning can snatch God's people out of His hand. We are safe in the palm of God's hand. But not only that, Jesus continues to perfect His possession. Paul says in Ephesians 5, 25-27, Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the Word and to present her to Himself as a radiant church without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, and listen, but holy and blameless. He goes back to what he said in chapter 1. We were chosen to be holy and blameless, and that's what Jesus Christ does. And how do we know all of this is true? Because sometimes we don't feel so holy, do we? Sometimes we don't sense that in ourselves. Sometimes it seems like the cleansing process, like it's going mighty slow. So how can we know that all of this is true? Because of the Holy Spirit who testifies with our spirit. Not with our feelings, but with our spirit. That we are children of God. Again, Paul ends this portion, verses 13 and 14, and you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, having believed you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession to the praise of His glory. Beloved, the Holy Spirit of God sent by the ascended Lord to His church militant, to the church on this earth, is both a seal and the guaranteed deposit. Now, when something has a seal on it, like a box of cereal that has a seal of approval on it, that seal guarantees the genuineness of what's inside. The seal on a box of Wheaties, for example, guarantees that there are genuine Wheaties inside the box. The Holy Spirit who takes up residency in the hearts and lives of believers guarantees to us that we are genuine children of God. That we are genuinely His possession. But the same Holy Spirit is also a deposit, a down payment from Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, our Lord. A deposit guaranteeing the truth of Jesus Christ and the truth of our eternal security in life. He Himself is a guarantee that He will complete the work in us that He has begun. He won't stop until He makes us, each one of us as believers, He won't stop until He makes us fit for heaven. And beloved, when God deposited His Holy Spirit in the hearts of His children, in your heart and in my heart, He obligated Himself. He bound Himself to give us every last single blessing of salvation earned for us by Jesus Christ through His saving sacrifice. He obligated Himself to do that for you and me. You see, we don't have to wonder whether or not all of this is real. We don't have to wonder whether or not all of it will come true for me. If you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ alone for your salvation, that is evidence of the Holy Spirit living in you. And you can be comforted then that with body and soul, in life and in death, you belong to Him. But then notice too that there is a natural response from those who are marked with the promised Holy Spirit as God's possession. Paul concludes, to the praise of His glory. Indeed, in the context of what Paul is saying, he's talking about the fact that all that God has done for us through His only begotten Son, He has done for His glory, to demonstrate and show forth His glory, His mercy, His grace, His love. The beauty of His work so undeserved on our behalf. But you see, that is to be our desire and our goal as well as children of God, as servants of God, and that is to glorify Him. It is to be our desire to please our Lord and Master in all things, as we said this morning, to take every thought captive in captivity to obedience to Christ. Paul makes this very clear in other portions of Scripture. In 1 Corinthians 6, we read, You are not your own. You were bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your body. And in Romans 14.8, Paul says, If we live, we live to the Lord. And if we die, we die to the Lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. And he says in another place, Whether we eat or drink, whatever we do, do it all to the glory of God. Beloved, our salvation is the work of God from start to finish. Accomplished by His Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ, our Lord, from start to finish. And because of Him, those whom God has chosen and brings to faith in Him are no longer outcasts. We are no longer homeless wanderers in a wilderness of hopelessness, but we are citizens of a heavenly country. We have a home in the presence of our God. And that means, as we hear from time to time, and we know in our heads, that means that we are not at home here on this earth. No matter how comfortable this world might be for us, no matter how big our home is or how cushy our bank account is, it is not our home. You know that when you cross the border into another country, into a different country, you hear a different language, often. And you often observe different customs and habits. In the kingdom and in the family of God, a different king is served than the king the people of this world serves. Another language is spoken than the language the world speaks. And a different law is obeyed than the law of the world. Our king is the king of the ages who has conquered the prince of this dark world and will one day put all of His enemies away forever and ever. Our language, beloved, is the language of love and truth, speaking the truth in love and using our lives to honor our King. And our desire is to be obedient to our God who has given to us His law which has been fulfilled for us by our Savior so that we might live in thankful obedience to Him. You see, those who reject the Lord Jesus Christ one day they will try to claim Him. They will call out to Him, Lord, Lord! But He will say to them, Depart from Me, for I never knew you. But those who by God's grace give evidence through their faith of being chosen by God, including you and me as believers, He will say to us, Come, you who are blessed by My Father, take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. Beloved, do you understand what God's choice of you truly means? If you do, then may it be that every morning when you awake to a new day, you remember to whom you belong. And may it be that throughout the day as you go about your tasks and duties, that the world would be able to clearly see in you to whom you belong. And may it be at the close of each day, before you close your eyes and sleep, that you would give praise to the God and Father of your Lord Jesus Christ for making you know to whom you belong. And may you be able to say with joy and confidence, I'm so glad I'm a part of the family of God. I'm not worthy to be here, but praise God I belong, all because of Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, Our Lord. Amen. Shall we pray? Father, we must confess that in our arrogance and in our pride, we often like to think, well, there's something that I can do for God. There's something that I can do to benefit Him. We don't like to hear, Lord, that we are totally worthless in and of ourselves. But yet, Father, may it be that we would understand that and indeed appreciate the truth that in spite of us, you have chosen us to become your children. And Father, may we walk day by day in the strength of your Spirit as children of the Most High God, giving evidence of that. Not so that we might be noticed, but so that you might receive all the praise and the honor and the glory which is yours and you deserve forever and ever in Jesus' name, Amen.