Well, our scripture reading for this morning, our focus in God's Word this morning comes from Paul's letter to the church in Ephesus, his letter known to us as Ephesians, Ephesians chapter 1, verses 1 through 14, Ephesians chapter 1, the first 14 verses. Friends, this is God's perfect Word. let us give careful attention to what God has to say to us this morning. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love, He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will, to the praise of His glorious grace, with which He has blessed us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of His will, according to His purpose, which He set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in Him, things in heaven and things on earth. 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, so that we who are 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 the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of His glory. Let us pray. Our Father, we have heard wonderful things out of Your Word. We praise You for revealing Christ as the fulfillment of the Old Testament. We ask that this morning that You would give us eyes to see and hearts to believe the promises and the truth of Your Word. Send Your Holy Spirit upon us so that we might understand and apply these words to our lives. For Your glory and the good of our neighbor. Amen. Well, this morning, brothers and sisters, we consider here these opening 14 verses of Paul's letter to the church in Ephesus. And these verses here are one of those classic Reformed or Calvinist passages that we as Reformed and Calvinist Christians like to point to when we speak about the doctrine of election. And in my own personal experience, when I was beginning to learn about the Reformed faith and to understand what Calvinism really meant, this passage, these verses, were very instrumental in me understanding that God did choose me before the foundation of the world. These passages are verses that we as Reformed Christians treasure because they speak so clearly to us. They speak so clearly to us about God's electing love. Now, while this passage does indeed speak about God's eternal choice of election, we must be careful to understand these verses in light of the whole context and not just pick and choose the passages that we like, the passages that support our position. We have to be careful to understand this whole passage. And hopefully that's what we will do this morning. Well, by way of introduction, what do we know about Ephesians? What do we know about this book? Well, Paul tells us some very particular things here in the first verse. It's written by the Apostle Paul. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God. And it's Paul sending this letter to the church in Ephesus. And he addresses them here in verse 1. to the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus. Well, what do we know about first century Ephesus, this city, this church in this city that Paul is writing to here? Well, Ephesus was an important port city, a city on the coast that had a lot of trade and commerce coming through it, an important port city on the west coast of Asia, that is what is modern-day Turkey to us. which boasted of having the Temple of Artemis, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. This great temple that people from all over the Roman Empire would come to visit is almost a tourist attraction as we would think of it. So people flocked to this city. They flocked to Ephesus to visit the Temple of Artemis to trade, to do commerce. Ephesus was known in its day as the greatest metropolis in the province of Asia Minor. So, Ephesus is a very important city in the ancient world. And notice how Paul greets these saints here in Ephesus in verse 2. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. He greets them with this standard apostolic greeting. grace to you, peace to you. He greets them in the name of God himself. Now, while verses 1 and 2 give us this very important background, this very important introduction to this letter and show us that this really is a letter, it's Paul writing a letter to this church. While these verses are important, our focus for this morning will be on verses 3 through 14. But why these 11 verses? Why focus on verses 3 through 14? Well, these verses make up a complete unit of thought. They're one idea. It's one central point that Paul is making here. And we know this because in the original language, from verses 3 through 14, is one long sentence. Imagine that. One sentence. These 11 verses is one sentence. Talk about a run-on. What we have to do in our English translations is to break this longer sentence down into shorter sentences. And even a paragraph break we see between verses 10 and 11. But the fact that these 11 verses in the original are one sentence, it tells us that this is one complete unit of thought for the Apostle Paul. And Paul's focus here in this long sentence, his focus here is what he states here at the very beginning in verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Notice how Paul begins here in verse 3. He begins with praise. He begins by offering God glory and honor with worship. Blessed be, praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is praising the Father. Worshiping Him. But why can Paul praise? Why can Paul worship the Father? Because He's blessed us. Who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Paul can praise God. Paul can worship the Father because He's blessed us. He's given us gifts. He's been a gracious and loving Heavenly Father. This then, brothers and sisters, is Paul's focal point throughout this passage, that the Father blesses His children. The Father blesses His people through His Son and by the power of His Holy Spirit. The Father blesses His people through His Son and by the power of the Spirit. And Paul tells us in these verses, in the remaining ten verses here, of three particular blessings that God bestows upon His people. Three particular blessings in these verses. Three gifts. Firstly, what we see is the gift of election. The gift of election that God bestows upon His people. But not only does God give the gift of election, but God also gives the gift of redemption. The gift of redemption in Jesus Christ, His Son. And finally, the final blessing, the final gift that God bestows upon His people that Paul mentions here is the gift of Catholicism. Now, not what we might think by Catholicism, not the Roman Catholic Church, but what we confess in our Apostles' Creed, what we confess, a universal church, a church, a body made up of people from every tongue, tribe, people, and nation. That's the gift that Paul speaks about, the last gift that Paul speaks about in these verses. So let's then begin here by focusing on that first gift, The first blessing that Paul mentions here. The blessing of election. The gift of election. Paul speaks about this in verses 4-6. Even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of His will, to the praise of His glorious grace with which He has blessed us in the Beloved. And throughout these passages, Paul uses this language of choose. The predestined God knew us. God set us apart before the foundation of the world to be His sons, to be His daughters. Our own canons of Dort define election in this way. Election is the unchangeable purpose of God, whereby He has, out of mere grace, chosen from the whole human race a certain number of persons to redemption in Christ. But not only does Paul use the language of choose, the language of predestined here to speak about God's choice of election, but Paul also uses this language of adoption. That God brought us into His family. God chose us. He adopted us. He brought us into the family of God. And therefore, we have the status of beloved sons and daughters. And Paul tells us about this election, this gift of election. He tells us, firstly, when this took place. He tells us when this election took place. He also tells us why this election took place. Why God chose us. And finally, Paul tells us the who. The one in whom election is accomplished. So he tells us the why, the when, and the who of election. Well, what's the when of election? When did election take place? At what time did God choose us? Paul's language is clear here, brothers and sisters. Paul's language is clear. God chose us before the foundation of the world. God chose us before He spoke creation into existence. The implication then, the conclusion then is if God chose us before we had done anything good or evil, before we could possibly do anything, the implication then is that election is based on God's free grace, On God's choice. Not in God seeing something good in us and choosing us because of it. Not in God foreseeing that we would do anything good. But He chose us before the foundation of the world. As one commentator tells us, to say that election took place before creation shows that God's choice was due to His own free decision and love, which was in no way dependent on us. God's choice was in no way dependent upon us. This is the win of election before the foundation of the world. But Paul also tells us the why, the reason we were chosen, to what end we were chosen to. The goal of election, Paul tells us, is so that sinners might be holy and blameless before the Father. In the end of verse 4, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. This, brothers and sisters, is the goal. This is the final goal that we are to reach as those who have been chosen in Jesus Christ. We must be careful to understand that this is not, in any way, The foundation or the reason why God chose you. Being holy and blameless, the Apostle Paul tells us, is the goal. It's to what we're to strive toward as those who've been chosen based on God's free grace. As Calvin says, holiness, blamelessness are the fruits of election. It's what we do as those who've been chosen. We follow and keep God's perfect law. That is the why, the reason why we were chosen. That we might strive for holiness and blamelessness. But not only does Paul tell us about the when, not only does he tell us about the why of election, but he also speaks to us about the who of election. And we have to be careful here because sometimes it seems that we as Reformed Christians tend to speak about election, tend to speak about God's choice, the Father's choice of election, apart from the person and work of Jesus Christ. We have to be careful of that danger of just simply speaking about election over here and forgetting about the work that Jesus Christ has done for us. For the Apostle Paul, what we see throughout these verses, is that we were chosen in Jesus Christ. There is no election, there's no choice apart from the person and work of Jesus. Our election counts for nothing, brothers and sisters, if we're not united, if we're not bound to our Savior, Jesus Christ. In verse 4, Paul tells us that the Father chose us in Him, in Christ. In verse 5, we are predestined through Jesus Christ. In verse 6, the Father blesses us. He chooses us in the Beloved. That is, if you see here in your ESV, that Beloved is capitalized. Because Paul is here referring to Jesus Christ. Jesus is the Beloved One of God. Remember what the Father proclaimed over the Son at His baptism. This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Jesus Christ is the beloved one of God. Our election, our being chosen by God, happens in the person and work of Jesus Christ. And so when we consider these three aspects of election, the when, the why, and the who, We see that Paul's point is that this election, this choice, is unconditional. That means God's choice isn't based on anything we did. It's not based on anything we thought. It's not based on anything we might do. It's not based on any work that we could possibly perform. The Father chose us before we could do anything. Holiness, blamelessness, is not the foundation or the basis of our election, but the fruit of our election. Being chosen in Jesus Christ. Being chosen in Christ demonstrates our need for a Savior, a Redeemer. That we are chosen because of Christ's work, not because of our own. And thus, our canons of George conclude, this election, this election, this choice, was not founded upon foreseen faith and the obedience of faith, holiness, or any other good quality or disposition in man as the prerequisite, the cause, or condition on which it depended. Our election, God's choice of you, brothers and sisters, was in no way dependent upon you or anything you did or could do. But it's merely based upon his choice, his love for you, that he offers to us in Jesus Christ, his son. And so that then is this first blessing that the Apostle Paul speaks to us about here. This first blessing, this first gift, this gift of election. But Paul goes on in verse 7 to mention the second gift, the second blessing, the blessing of redemption. And this redemption, as Paul speaks to us here in verses 7 through 10, this redemption is twofold. Firstly, Paul tells us that the people will be redeemed. That the people, God's people, will be redeemed. But secondly, Paul also tells us that creation, all creation, the heavens, the earth, all that God created will also be redeemed in Christ. So firstly then, that the people will be redeemed. Verses 7 through 8. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, According to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight. Here we see that God redeems a people for his name. And this language of redemption, we must be very careful with, brothers and sisters. In our day and age, we use the word, the language of redemption in a very different way than as the Apostle Paul in the first century understood redemption. We use redemption and we hear it in the news or in sports that if someone did something bad, if someone had done something evil or wrong, they have to do something good in order to redeem themselves. We hear this all the time on the news, that so-and-so did this thing to redeem themselves, to bring redemption. They had to win redemption for themselves. But this concept of redemption, this language of redemption in our society is far from what the Apostle Paul knew and understood by redemption. The concept of redemption here in the first century assumes a state of slavery, assumes a state of imprisonment. To be redeemed was if someone came and paid the price to release you from your slavery. If someone came to pay to release you from your imprisonment, to pay your bond, to pay that you would be freed from being a slave or from being a prisoner. And when someone paid that price, you were redeemed. That was your redemption. And the one who paid the price was then your Redeemer. How does Paul speak to us about this wonderful blessing of redemption? Well, he tells us that the means by which we are redeemed, the means by which we are brought out, by which we're bought and paid for, was through the blood of Jesus Christ. Look at what Paul says in verse 7. In Him we have redemption. How? Through His blood. Through the blood of Jesus Christ. That is the price that was paid to free us from the slavery of sin, to free us from our imprisonment to sin and to death. Jesus' blood was paid as the means by which we were freed from sin and death. And the result of this redemption is that we have our trespasses, our sins, our disobedience before God forgiven. And therefore this redemption, this buying out of slavery, is the forgiveness of our trespasses. why why have we been redeemed why has God through Jesus Christ spilt his bone blood to free us from our sin to free us from death why only because of God's grace only because of God's lavish grace. The end of verse 7. According to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight. This redemption, brothers and sisters, is not because we were so good, not because we've tried our hardest, not because we've done our best, but only because of God's perfect grace. God graciously lavished upon you the blessing of redemption by freeing you, by paying the price to free you from sin and death. That is God's redemption. God's redemption of His people. But not only are the people redeemed, not only are individual and God's people redeemed, but we also see that all creation is redeemed. Verses 8-10. I'm sorry, verses 9 through 10. Making known to us the mystery of His will, according to His purpose which He set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in Him, things in heaven and things on earth. This, brothers and sisters, is the climax, is the final end of God's perfect plan, that all things in heaven and on earth are united in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the focal point. Jesus Christ is the focal point of all creation. Christ is the one in whom God sums up the cosmos, sums up all of creation in this one man, our Lord and our Savior, Jesus Christ. After Adam's sin had ruptured God's creation and had brought disunity and disharmony, Jesus Christ restores that unity, restores that harmony, restores God's creation by uniting all things in Himself. And this blessing, this blessing of redemption for all of God's creation is something that we as God's people still long for. Something that we hope for. Something that we pray, come quickly, Lord Jesus. Bring this new heavens. Bring this new worth to us. But we have to remember, brothers and sisters, you have been redeemed. The price has been paid for you. All of your sins, past, present, and future, have been paid for in the blood of Jesus Christ. And therefore, you can have hope. You can have comfort that the curse of this world, even though our sins are forgiven, and that is such a wonderful blessing, And the greatest blessing any of us could ever receive, that God no longer counts our sin against us. But not only that, but that God through Jesus Christ is going to make all things new. That the curse that we suffer in this world, the sin, the pain, the heartache that we suffer because of the curse, will be done away with. All things in heaven and on earth will be united in Jesus Christ. this then is the second that second blessing that second gift that Paul mentions here the gift, the blessing of redemption but finally and not lastly but finally Paul mentions this last blessing this third and final blessing that God bestows upon his people the gift, the blessing of Catholicism this holy, this Catholic church, this universal people made up of people from every tongue, tribe, people, and nation as we hear in Revelation chapter 5. These blessings come upon God's universal Catholic people. And yet Paul tells us in verse 11 that these blessings firstly came to the Jews. Verses 11-12 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, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of His glory. Notice here that Paul uses this language of we. Paul is speaking here, it seems, to other Jews. Paul being a Jew himself. Paul here is speaking to the Jews among the churches in Ephesus. Speaking to them as we, as brothers and fellow Jews. And so the Jews, as Paul tells us, were the first to hope in Jesus Christ. And we see this clearly when we read the history in Acts. When we read that the Gospel began first in Jerusalem and then penetrated out through Judea, Samaria, and finally going to the end. of the earth. But the good news of Jesus Christ came firstly to the Jews. And this was according to God's perfect plan. But not only does God give this good news to the Jews, but He gives it to all peoples, to the Gentiles as well. Verse 13, 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. In verses 1 through 12, Paul is speaking to these Jews as we. But notice here in verse 13 that he speaks to them as you also, this change in tents. Paul now focuses here on the Gentiles among the church of Ephesus. Even though these Gentiles were not Jews, even though they were not part of God's chosen people, they too, they too hoped, trusted, trusted, believed in the good news of Jesus Christ. And when did they believe? When they heard the preached Word. The Gospel preached to them. That's when they believed. And when they believed, God sealed them. God sealed them with his very own Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity. That God brings these blessings, God brings these blessings through his Son and by the power of his Spirit. But what does this language of being sealed mean? This very important language here in verse 13, to be sealed. Well, to be sealed has the idea of ownership, the idea of possession. One commentator explains it this way. Cattle and even slaves were branded with a seal by their masters to indicate to whom they belonged. Owners thus guarded their property against theft. In this sense, the seal was a protecting sign or guarantee. If we take this idea then and apply it here to Paul and to our relationship with God, God has sealed you, brothers and sisters. God has placed His mark upon you and set you apart. He protects you. He owns you. He possesses you as His treasured possession. God has sealed you and marked you as His own, as His people. And therefore, we see that all people, Jews and Gentiles alike, will inherit this blessing, will receive these blessings from God. Verse 14. Who is, that is, the Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance. Notice the language here. Paul is now bringing together Jews and Gentiles alike. He had spoke to them as we, to you, and now as our. It's one people of God who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it. to the praise of His glory. Paul addresses the Jews and Gentiles here as one church, one body, one people of God. And that they've received the Holy Spirit as a guarantee, as a down payment. The Holy Spirit guarantees their relationship, their love that they will have with their Father, their Creator, and their Redeemer, Jesus Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit then is the deposit, the down payment that's offered so that the rest of the money, the rest will be paid. The Holy Spirit guarantees, guarantees you, brothers and sisters, that you will receive your inheritance. That you will receive these very blessings from God Himself. The blessings of election, the blessings of redemption, and the blessings of belonging to one Catholic universal people of God. Well, as we conclude this morning, what does all of this mean for us? What's the relevance does this have for us as God's people here today? Well, the blessings of election, these blessings of election, redemption, and a Catholic people, a universal people, Should lead you, brothers and sisters, should lead you to praise, to lead you to worship. You should respond just as Paul responded to the good news that he had heard in Jesus Christ. With praise and adoration. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly places. To the praise of His glorious grace. Election and redemption were done to the praise of His glory. We should praise Him. We should worship Him. We should fall down on our faces before Him in humility because He chose you. Because He sent His Son to redeem you. Because He has made you a part of His people. He has made you a part of His family. He's adopted you in Christ. And that's what we do here. Here on the Lord's Day. Here assembled as God's universal Catholic people. Here on Sunday mornings, we stop. We cease from our work. We cease from our toils. We turn our attention away from ourselves. Away from our cares and our worries and our frustrations. And on this, the Lord's Day, we stop from all those and we focus on God, our Father, and what He has done to save us. We stop and we fix our gaze on God the Father who chose us before the foundation of the world. We stop and fix our gaze upon the Son whom He sent to redeem us from all of our sins and to give us the blessing of new life. We stop here and come together as a united people. Throughout the week, we are very often separated and doing our own things, but here we come together, assembled to praise and to worship our God and our Redeemer. We worship Him. We offer Him our thanks. We offer Him praise and glory for His mighty works of election, redemption, and for offering us this blessing of the people of God. So, my brothers and sisters, praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, He who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Hallelujah. Amen. Let's pray. Our Father, we are humbled by this word that we've heard this morning. We are brought to our knees that we, such lowly and awful and disobedient sinners throughout this week, that You would bestow upon us Your grace and Your mercy. That You, the great King of all creation, would out of Your will, out of Your perfect will, Decide to set Your love and Your grace upon us. That You would choose us before the foundation of the world. That out of all the peoples of this world, that You would take us and make us part of Your family. That You would love us and adopt us as sons and daughters. And not only that, Father, but we're humbled by the fact that You would send Your Son, Your very own Son, the one whom you love above all things, you would send Him to suffer for us, to live a life of humiliation, to die a death of utter humiliation. And yet He rose. He rose in victory. He rose for our redemption. We're humbled and overwhelmed by the fact that you would be so gracious to send Him. to redeem us from our sin and misery. And also, Father, we are humbled and thankful that You sent Your Holy Spirit upon us, that we have heard it this morning, we have heard Your Holy Spirit here in Your Word, and that You bring us and unite us together as one people, united together in the blessings of election and in the blessing of redemption that we have in Jesus Christ. Father, help us now as those who've received this grace that we might go out into this world to live lives that bring glory and honor to Your name. We ask this all in the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior. It's in His name that we pray. Amen.