Good morning. Everybody get in. Okay with the race? Find a parking spot. Ready to go? All right. Uh, we are in our book study of the book of Ephesians. Uh, so if you have your Bibles, go ahead and turn to the book of Ephesians. We started this a little while back. We covered the first two verses, and we called a time out and we said, we need to go back to the book of acts and let's get a better understanding of the work, not only in Ephesus, but through Ephesus, all into Asia Minor. It was a powerful work of ministry. And I think kind of having some background of that context will help us make sense of some things that Paul's saying. So we took three weeks and we did that. Well, now we're going to get back to the book of Ephesus, our book of Ephesians. Uh, and we're going to cover verses three through six. And it's always best if you have your Bibles open, we'll put verses on the screen, but, uh, read with your Bible open, got a pen, got a notebook, and we're going to tackle some fun stuff this morning. We got some hot button trigger words. Uh, so everybody's gonna leave happy and joyful. Um, but some words that come up in our text today are words like chosen and predestined. And it's like, oh, boy, here we go. You know, like, does God predestined people to salvation? And some people hear that like, well, that doesn't sound fair. And other people like you don't want fair. And it's just like there's this kind of hot debated thing. Well, this isn't our text. And I get there's all kinds of different people in this room. There's people that it's like, I've been waiting for you to get to this topic. I know these verses are coming. Let's go. And there's other people that's like, this melts my brain. I don't like talking about it. I don't like thinking about it. Let's go on. And there's other people that are like, maybe, uh, bothered by it. I don't want to go in here. This, this is not what I buy into. Um, now either. Where you at? We want to be like, well, what's the, what's the text saying? And it's in the Bible. So we're going to address it. But, but I want you to to hear me out. And if you're coming and you're overwhelmed by it, or maybe you're frustrated by it, or you have a resistance against this, I hope to provide some clarity and. And more than clarity, because the goal. I'll just lay my cards on the table. The goal is not ultimately your understanding, but your surrender. And the goal for Paul is not ultimately that we would comprehend something. But beyond understanding what he's talking about, that we would be stirred up in worship. And I hope that the truths that we look into would help us see the size of our God and the greatness of grace. And it would stir us up in greater worship. So. So here's the situation. You have a really complicated doctrine that gets addressed in our text, but a really clear main point and the clear main point helps us better understand the complicated doctrine. So we're going to take some time to try to better understand what Paul is saying. But we eventually want to get to why is he saying it? And the. What can be hard? But the why is clear, and I think the why helps us understand the what? Clear so far. All right, let's get after this. Ephesians one, verses three through six. Here we go. Stop! Okay. We didn't get very far. I almost forgot to do this last time. It's like trying to set the stage a little bit. Can before we get into this, can we all, like, collectively admit our limited understanding or at least come to the conclusion that God's ways are higher than our ways, that God might be smarter than us? And there's some things that he grasps that we can't quite grasp. Is that a fair. Like, we can agree with that. Let me illustrate it this way. Um, let's say we only see in 2D two dimensional, but God sees in three dimensions, right? And I'm up here and like we only see in two dimensions and I hold up a cone, right? And I'm like, what shape is this? You're like, it's a triangle, right? Clearly that's a triangle. But then I tip it over and I show you the bottom of the cone. I'm like, what shape is this? It's a circle. And you're like, a triangle is not a circle. And a circle is not a triangle. That is super clear. And I'm trying to convince you it's the same shape. And you're like, no, it's not. And I think that God is trying to communicate the mystery of his will and, and how he saves people. And we're kind of limited in our understanding of grasping, but yet he's still doing it. So why is he kind of pulling back the curtain and trying to explain not just that we're saved, but but how we got saved. And that's what we ultimately want to get to. So let's get into this. Verse three. Blessed be God. 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. Now it's clear that Paul is out to share. Good news is that not just packed with wonderful truth, that we've been adopted, that we've been chosen, that we've been given grace. Like there's so much like we've been blessed by God. But yet you want to ask, how exactly have we been blessed by God? And he says this statement, he says that we've been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. We ought to be blown away by that statement. We would be better off if we were more blown away by that statement, that we have been blessed with every blessing in the heavenly places and every means every. It's like there's. There's nothing God is holding back from his people. Like we get in. It's not till verse eight, but it's like he lavishes his grace upon us. He's not withholding anything from his people. He has such wonderful plans for his people. And when he says, we've been blessed with every spiritual blessing, don't see spiritual as like some second rate blessing. It's like the kid who really wants his parents to come to his sporting event, but they can't make it. And they're like, well, we're there in spirit. And you're like, well, that's not really what I hoped for. You know, it's like, like, oh, it's a spiritual blessing. No, that's not what Paul's after. In fact, it's the opposite. He wants to expand our perspective and how amazing God's blessings are. And spiritual blessings doesn't discount physical blessings. A part of our spiritual blessings are physical resurrection, a physical new heavens and a new earth like that's coming our way too. But he's saying, you got to get a bigger perspective of all that God has for you. There's so much more that God has for us than what's just currently tangible in front of us. You have every blessing. Every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places like think beyond just here and now in the heavenly places, all that God has planned to accomplish. Like you're going to get in on it and it's going to be amazing. Now, as we keep reading, Paul colors this in a bit more on how exactly he's blessed us. And if you read your Bible with the pen or you got one of those reading journals, you might want to make some connections here. So you got every spiritual blessing. All right. What what is that exactly? How does he put some meat on those bones? If you want to draw a line from spiritual blessing to stuff he points to as we keep reading, you can do that. So every spiritual blessing in him, in the heavenly places, even as he chose us, that's a part of his blessings before the foundations of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us as part of his blessing for adoption. That's part of his blessing through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace which he has blessed us in the beloved. Let us go beyond our verses. Because. Because we can, uh, in him we have redemption. That's part of his blessing towards us through the through his blood, the forgiveness that's part of our blessings that he gives us 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. That's part of his blessing. The way we use mystery is like, oh, it's this problem I gotta solve. I gotta figure it out. That's not the way the Bible uses mystery. The way the Bible uses mystery is there is something that unless it's revealed to you, you wouldn't know it. And this is being revealed to us. And that's the part of his blessings that he's revealed to us the purpose of his will. But it doesn't stop there as a plan, in the fullness of time to unite all things to him, things in heaven and things on earth. In him we have obtained an inheritance that's part of our blessing. There were fellow heirs with Christ, and so they. 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. That's part of our blessings. Who is a guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory. But God has been so incredibly kind to us. Amen. Like he's just over and over again reminding us of the goodness of God and what is getting emphasized here, right? It's how kind God has been to us, how good God has been to us all, the amazingness of his blessings. But what's behind that? Like behind that goodness and behind that kindness, behind that blessing is what? This isn't up on the screen, but you got it open in front of you. See it. Verse six, to the praise of his glorious grace which he has blessed us in the beloved, in the praise of his glorious what grace? Or let's go on beyond into verse seven. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace. Grace is getting emphasized. That's behind us. Radical goodness of God. This blessing that we have received, which tells us what. Which tells us what. Who is God choosing? As Paul is using it like he chose us and he. He predestined us. And he's kind of highlighting grace. So what does it tells us? Who does? Who is God chosen? Well, guilty people, he's chosen guilty people. People who need trespasses forgiven. That's what grace means. Like it's unmerited favor. And if grace is needed, then problems exist. And these people he's chosen, it's chosen because of grace. And I think it's fair that we can all admit we don't deserve to be chosen. We don't deserve to be adopted. We don't deserve to be redeemed. We don't deserve to be forgiven. We certainly don't deserve an inheritance to be a fellow heir with Christ. Are you kidding me? We don't deserve the Holy Spirit as a guarantee that our success will be seen in heaven like we don't deserve that, right? Well, maybe you think you do. You don't. He agrees. But yet we get this clarity of how good God has been to you. You know that goodness comes from grace. And notice the credit is repeatedly given to God. If you want to underline this, it's like God has blessed us. But then but then you see these other words that reinforce this in Christ, in him, before him, through Jesus Christ, in him according to his, you know, the sacrifice, like all of that is like attributed, like all this is happening for because of Christ, because of God's choosing. And it's his grace. There's no there's no condition to it. If there was a condition to it, it wouldn't be grace. Like that would kind of undermine the meaning of grace. It's undeserved. There's nothing you bring to that table that no one can boast. It's all of God's doing. So God has been radically good to us. And that goodness is of his choosing, like before the foundations of the world. Like he he made that choice. And it is an act of grace. None of us deserve it. And that grace comes through Christ. Amen. Alright. We're not even being controversial yet. Let's let's, let's get there. Let's go back to verse four. 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. Now you can't take the Bible seriously and say like, well, God doesn't choose and God doesn't predestined. Like those words get used. Right. So we're going to deal with the words like, what are the words mean? Why is he using them? What? What is this teaching and why does he say it? Because there's there's a what? And we're going to spend some time trying to unpack the what. But we got to get to the why. The why is important. I think the why helps us understand the what. So some people think that what this means is that God choose chose Christ, not individuals like he chose us in him. So the emphasis is on him. Like he didn't choose individuals, he chose Christ and then individuals choose Christ. I'm just saying, I don't think that's what he says. You got to do some word gymnastics to get to that point. It's clearly he chose us. He predestined us. He chose us in Christ as the way of salvation. But there's there seems to be this clear, like he's choosing people. But then you got to say like, okay, who exactly? Who, who is the US? Now, some people try and make the case that the US is the church, but not individuals, which is true. When Christ said, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. That is the work that he is doing. But in that understanding, God chooses the church and individuals are free to become a part of the US or the church in their own choosing. But it would be like saying God chose the Chicago Bears. That's an illustration. We know he would never do that, but he chose the Chicago like, this is my team. But he doesn't pick any players. So I picked a team. But players can kind of join the team on their own, which seems to open up the possibility that God could have a team with no players. And that kind of works against the certainty of God's success. That's talked about all throughout Scripture. This will happen. It's going to happen. This is how it ends, he wrote the end in the in the end of the book, like, this is how it's going to happen. So it kind of undermines that certainty. It reminds me a little bit of it's one of my favorite Bible stories. You can go read it sometime this afternoon. First Kings seventeen eighteen nineteen. It's Elijah and the prophets of Baal, and it's this big showdown between like the. The nation has been unfaithful and Baal worship is kind of prevailed. But Elijah is God's prophet is speaking against this. It's awesome story. People get their heads cut off. You should read it. But in this like he prevails and shows the reality of God against the the false worship of this false god, Baal. But he. But he's also like feels alone of all this kingdom, even after his victory. It's kind of against him. And he flees. And in kind of this honest confession of God, he's like, I alone am left like I'm the only one here still worshiping you. I'm alone in this. And God says, no, I have chosen or I have kept for myself seven thousand people who have not bowed a knee to Baal. He said, I've done that. I kept for myself that they don't worship here. They worship me and I, I am the I, I did that, you're not alone. I have a remnant that I have kept for myself. Like he doesn't just have a team. He's got players. He's like, no, there's there's seven thousand people on this roster right now, Isaiah or Elijah, you're not alone. And here, even in our context, what Paul's talking about, if you go back to the very first verse, Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God. Paul saying, as an individual, I got recruited onto this team because my will was anti-God. I was out to persecute followers of Christ until I met Jesus. And by his will, not mine, I became a follower of Jesus. I switched teams and that was his plan. He went out and recruited me, an individual. So this seems, it seems to us here is individual believers. And there's some other places. Uh, just go a few to point this out. This is in acts thirteen says in Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying it was necessary that the Word of God be spoken first to you since you thrust it aside and judged yourself unworthy of eternal life. Behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth. And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord. And as many as were what appointed to eternal life, what believed those who believed, believed because they were appointed like God is behind the details of his plan, bringing it together. Here's the book of revelation. This is this is awesome. It says, and the beast was given a mouth, uttering haughty and blasphemous words. And it was allowed. Who did that? Right. So God is in control. It was allowed to exercise authority for forty two months. It was limited authority. It opened its mouth. This is the beast to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling, that is, those who dwell in heaven. Also it was allowed because God still sovereignly in control to make war on the saints. He's making war on the saints because God allowed him to make war on the saints. That's part of his plan because he's sovereignly in control. And to conquer them. Wait, what? To conquer them? And authority was given it. The beast over every tribe and people and language and nation, and all who dwell on earth will worship it. Well, not all because he goes on to say, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the Book of Life, or in the book of the Lamb who was slain. So who are people worshiping the beast? Those not written in the book of the Lamb. And when was the book of the Lamb written before the foundations of the world. So individual names are written in this book and it's not. If you don't worship the beast, then you'll get your name written in the book. It's you don't worship the beast because your names are written in the book. And when was it written? Before the foundations of the world. Long before this happened. So God is choosing individuals. But on what basis? Some advocate that God chooses individuals, but does so based on his foreknowledge of what will happen. Like God and His wisdom looks in the future and knows what people will do and then ordain, which is kind of like if you go full Marvel multiverse, if God knows every possible thing that will happen in several different existences, and in this, you choose him and this you don't, and this you choose him and this you don't. He still ordains one. He still picks one. But if the thinking is God chooses individuals, but it's based on his foreknowledge of what will happen. If that's the case, then God's choosing of us is really based on our choosing of him, which kind of undermines the point of grace. It's undeserved. It's not based on what we do. It's not based on the decisions we make. It's based solely on God. And there's a reason that Paul gives a timing when it comes to this choosing. He says he chose us in him before the foundation of the world. In fact, like when our names were written in the Lamb's Book of Life, what he's saying is you were chosen before you existed. You were predestined before you have done anything. You weren't around when God was making this plan. It is all grace. But the reason I think a lot of people think that is to go to Romans eight says, and we know this is eight twenty eight and twenty nine, and we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose, for those whom he. What foreknew he also, what predestined. So there it is he foreknew, and he predestined. But this isn't saying that God saw what would happen, and then determined it, but rather he saw what will happen because he determined it. There's a certainty in it, like I foreknew it because I said it. I'm going to do it. That's how it's going to happen. In fact, the Bible uses know differently. Knowing is not just like intellectual knowledge. Like I have just the wisdom of it. Knowing involves more, uh, it's more intimate than that. Like Adam knew Eve, like it wasn't just like, oh, yeah, I met her. Like there was marriage kind of choosing and relational involvement in that. In fact, uh, let me give you a couple examples. Genesis eighteen the Lord said, shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? Seeing that Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him, For I have not chosen him. Now some of your translations might say I have known him. Yadah is the is the word, because it could be either one. I have known him, or I have chosen him. But it speaks of this intimate connection. In fact, the same word gets used. Uh, let me show you another one. This is Amos chapter three, verse two. You only have I yadah. Same word known of all the families of the earth. Now, he's not saying, I don't know any other families of the earth. You're the only one I know. He's God. He knows all of them. What he's saying is like, no, I know you in a special way. I know you in an intimate way. I know you in a selecting way. I know you in a choosing way. Like I have chosen you. I've known you. So then you go back to Romans eight and you're like, okay, so what is what is Paul saying? He says this, for those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of a son in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers, like his family is going to happen. It's going to be accomplished. And those whom he predestined, he also was called, and those whom he called, he also. What. And those whom he justified, he also glorified. So there's this progression like this is going to happen because this happened, because this happened, this is going to happen. Like God is saving his people. Now, if you're reading Romans straight through and you get to that verse, you might pause and be like, wait a second, put that back up there. We'll see this. It says, whom he predestined? He also called and whom he called, he also justified. Now, Paul, just a few chapters back, you said that we're justified by our faith. Romans five one, we're justified by faith. So which is it? Are you now contradicting yourself because you said you were justified by our faith? And now you're saying those who are called are justified? So are you justified by faith or are you justified by God's calling? Yes, he's building his case because God's calling is effective in bringing about faith. My sheep hear my voice, and they respond. And those he calls are justified because those he calls places their faith in Christ. Now, I think, I think people get frustrated because when you hear these truths unpacked in Scripture, you can tend to make understandable human logical jumps because it can be like, wait, wait a second. If that's true, and God has predestined and he's ordained it and he's in control and he's determined it, and he gives faith, then it's like, well, am I just a robot? Like, do what I do matter. Do I have any, you know, responsibility? And how can God be just and judging me or judging anybody if he's kind of preordained everything. Like it creates these tensions in here. Now, listen, there are forty one imperative commands in the book of Ephesians that we'll get to. Now. We haven't got to one of them yet. We get to the first one in chapter two, and that is just a command to remember. Like, remember how in a tough spot you were before Christ saved you, then we don't get to the other forty commands until chapter four. Then you get to a lot of them because you got to lay down some orthodoxy before you get to orthopraxy. But there are forty one imperative commands where we're commanded to take off the old self and put on the new self and flee sexual immorality. And and don't be angry and how to be a husband and how to be a wife and how to be a child, how to be a parent, how to be an employee, and how to live godly lives worthy of the gospel. Like all these commands that are given to us. So clearly, Paul is not advocating that our moral actions don't matter, that what you do and the choices you make make no difference. That's not what he's saying. Nor do we get any idea throughout Scripture anywhere, that God is unjust in his judgments. In fact, it's the opposite. He is the perfect judge. He is just in all his judgments. So this, this connection, or the idea that if God is absolutely sovereign over everything, then man can't be morally responsible for anything. That's a human reasoning. Conclusion. It's not a textual conclusion. Are you tracking with me on that? Like, I can understand how somebody can get there logically, but you can't get there textually. I don't mean like logically. That's another conversation. The Bible teaches that God is absolutely sovereign over everything. And the Bible teaches that humans need to repent and obey and follow. And you're like, I don't know how those connect. I don't either, but they're taught in Scripture. And what else is taught in Scripture is lean not on your own understanding, but in all your ways acknowledge him. And what's taught in Scripture is that God is absolutely sovereign. And human beings are responsible. Now, let me get nerdy for a little bit. And you're like, oh, just now you're getting nerdy. Um, there's three camps that are kind of represented here. You have determinism, which is just like you're just a robot and everything is written and it doesn't matter what you do. The other is libertarianism, not the political party, but theologically that you have absolutely free human will and you make your own destiny. me. And then in the middle, what I think the Bible teaches is compatibilism. And that is teaching that God is absolutely sovereign over everything and human beings are morally responsible. How that goes together, I don't know. It does go together and listen to me. You can be reading the Bible and you're going to come across passages of Scripture and you're going to be like, that's a triangle. I know what a triangle looks like. That's a triangle. And then you're going to come to other passages of scripture and it's like, that's a circle. I know what a circle is, and that's a circle. And in our human wisdom and understanding, we're going to tell you, like, I know that a circle is not a triangle, and a triangle is not a circle. And you cannot convince me that it is. But someday we might know what a cone looks like. Or when that happens, we might not even care. But what is being taught is that God, by his sovereign grace, predestines individuals for salvation. But why? My question is, why is Paul telling us this? He's just giving us something to fight about, something to frustrate our mind. Well, why do why do we get let in on this truth? Why do we need to know what's going on before the foundations of the world? Doesn't that seem beyond our pay grade? Why is he letting us in on this? Especially when I'm reminded of job, when he had some very understandable questions for God, and he asked God, and it didn't go well. This is what happens in job. This is job thirty eight, when the Lord answered job out of the whirlwind and said, who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? De for action like a man. It's not a good start to the conversation. Basically saying, who is this that that comes to my, you know, to that darkens counsel by words without knowledge. Like, who do you think you are? Who do you think you are to come to me with your questions that you're going to question me and my justice. You want you want to question me? Put on a helmet. That's my translation. All right. I will question you, and you make it known to me. I got questions for you, smarty pants. That's also in the Hebrew. Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements? Surely you know, or who stretched the line upon it? And what were its bases sunk? On what words basis sunk, and who laid its cornerstone. All this is about the foundations of the world. Jobs got a really understandable like I got some questions. Why my life just get completely flipped upside down? And God's answer is like, stay in your lane. You don't need to know. Like this is were you there before the foundations of the world? No. But then, Paul, we get to the Ephesians like, hey, let me tell you what was happening before the foundations of the world. Like, why do we get in on that? That's what I'm saying. Like, why are you telling us this? Why couldn't you just like, go on with, hey, preach the gospel, call people to repent. Those that repent, you know, come to faith in Christ, just, just leave it there. And then later, when we get in heaven, God can be like, hey guys, I had this planned all the time like you did. That's awesome. Like, why do you got to let us in now? Why do you pull back the curtain and just be like, hey, here's how it happened. Hey, before you even born, this is, this was my plan. Go back to verse three. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is a call to worship. Blessed be God. Now verses three through fourteen in Greek is one sentence I thought I was the king of run on sentence is one sentence, verse three through fourteen and in this continuous thought under this call of worship, to bless God is a phrase in the sentence that gets repeated, and that is to the praise of his glory, to the praise of his glorious grace, to the praise of his glory, to the praise of his glory. Because that's the point to worship. It's a call to worship. And he's not just giving us a call to worship, he's giving us fuel to worship, motivation to worship. So this is the clear why. Why is he lending us this to the praise of his glory, to the praise of his glorious grace? So if that's the why and that's the clear why, then what's the what the what is the view that best fits that why or that point and the view that gives the most glory to God. And that is that our salvation we got nothing to do with. It's all God. He did it before you existed. It's part of his plan and it's his grace, and it's through the praise of his glory. In fact, he says it's through the praise of his glorious grace, because the best and highlight of God's glory is God's grace in Jesus Christ. Like that magnifies God. Who is this God? Who is this God that made us? It's a God who put on flesh and came to die for us. How awesome is our God! That's the point. It's all culminating to his praise. And in knowing how we are saved is supposed to stir up praise for our Savior. You can think of it like this. God's work of salvation fuels our work of worship. God's work of salvation fuels our work of worship. And I'm not saying the tension goes away. Way. And this is why I don't remember I said this in the beginning of this service or last service, but some some of this is not just to help you understand it, but to help you surrender to it. Because I think still people have a problem with like, well, if God is in control and he's sovereign, then why didn't he just whatever, why didn't he do this? And why didn't he just do this? And I can think of a more efficient way to fix this world. And why didn't God do it? This is true. Then why doesn't God? And that's just putting us in God's shoes like we know better. That's where it's like, I don't know how to comprehend all this, but would you surrender to a God who's in control and admit that you're not? And would you do it? Why? Paul is explaining the character of God, who is somebody who lavishes grace upon people and treats us far better than we deserve and has a plan, and his plan is about his own glory. Because Paul's pulling back the curtain to let us in on this. How we've been saved to stir up our worship for our Savior. And God's work of salvation should fuel our work of worship. And worship is more than singing. It's not less than singing, but it's more than singing. It is a disposition for all of life. And this doctrine is one of the most humbling doctrines there is. We bring nothing to the table. Nothing. How much gratitude should we have? Like you rescued me and I was dead in my trespasses and sins. And you. You forgave me. You adopted me. You made me a fellow heir. You've given me your spirit. Are you kidding me? It's. It's the disposition for the Christian life. That's why Paul starts off with it. That's why he doesn't get to commands until really chapter four. Because he comes from worship. Like we're going to need this foundation to build obedience on how to be a good husband and how to be a good wife, and how to be a good parent, how to be a good employee, how to be a good, uh, child, how to flee from sexual immorality, how to forgive one another. All of it's built on worship. Understanding what God has done for us. I mean, we'll give a sneak peek. We won't get there for a while. But Ephesians five, he says, look carefully then how you walk or how you live, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of time because the days are evil. You gotta know your situation. Therefore, do not be foolish. Alright? I don't want to be foolish. How do I not be foolish? But understand what the will of the Lord is? He's just talking to us about the will of the Lord. He's laying it out. It's our salvation. It's our inheritance, it's our adoption. And you need to know your standing and status in Jesus Christ in order to not be foolish in this world, to not chase after the wrong things. It says, do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart. Why? Because obedience flows from worship, flows from gratitude, giving thanks always and for everything. To God the Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Submitting to one another, even how we treat one another is out of what reverence for Christ. It's worship. All of it is worship. It's all a response to what God has done for us. Obedience comes from worship and Paul is stoking the fire of our worship first before he gets into calling us to do anything. He's like, before I tell you to do something, I need to tell you what's been done. Because for you to be obedient to what I call you to do, it has to be built on what God has done. You need to know who you are, the inheritance you have, the grace that's been given to you in order to be a follower of Christ. It's built on that. Do you know what God has done for us? Do you know how radical his kindness is? Do you think any of us deserve that? If you're a if you're a believer, would you just be comforted by the truth that God loves you not because of anything you've done or any decision you've made. He made a decision to love you long before you existed. He's got you. He will never lose you or forsake you. He's adopted you into his family. He has forgiven your trespasses. He has given you His Holy Spirit, and you have an inheritance with him forever. Are you kidding me? And my prayer for myself. My prayer for this church. My prayer for my family is that we would be a group of people that are and stay blown away by the grace of God. That's the ground in which faithfulness flourishes. When we understand why me, why me, and not that other person? Why did. Why did you choose me? Why do I love you and not my coworker? It's because anything I've done. No. Why? Why am I adopted? Why do I have an inheritance? Why do I have forgiveness? And we have nothing but humility and gratitude. And if that's the case. And you feel that way, and I feel that way. It's going to be a pretty sweet church to be a part of. But we need to be people who are absolutely blown away by the grace of God. We're no better than anybody else. We didn't make any smarter decisions. It is by God's grace that he came to our rescue. So praise God to the glory of his grace. Amen. Let's pray. Father, when I lean on my own understanding, one of the conclusions that I can tend to make is, why in the world would you ever love me? But when I trust you and your word. I know that your love for me is not based on me, but it's based on your amazing grace, your amazing sovereign grace. I pray that we would find comfort in that. That we would be full of gratitude, devotion, humility, and praise for you, our Savior. I pray this in Jesus name. Amen.