Sovereign Grace At the Bottom of It All

Ephesians 1:3-5 September 11, 2022 Pastor Ricky Alcantar

Thesis Saving grace is sovereign grace—God not only offers salvation to spiritually dead sinners but sovereignly chooses and effectually calls them to himself, making this doctrine a foundation for profound humility, gratitude, and worship.

Series

Ephesians

Type

Expository

Tone

pastoraldidacticcelebratory

Method

grammatical-historicalcanonical

What's in this sermon

The shape of the argument

33 units across exposition, application, illustration, theological claim, and conclusion. The pastor's argument is built from these moving parts.

Pastoral correction · unit #26

"The pastor begins the positive application section by addressing humility and gratitude, using mathematical reductio (if salvation is X/Y split, there's pride; if 100% grace, no pride) and hymn quotation ("And Can It Be") to move the congregation toward wonder. The application is general rather than concrete—describing a heart posture rather than specific actions."

Doctrinal loci· 12 surfaced

Soteriology · 18 Theology Proper · 8 Providence / Sovereignty · 6 Doxology / Worship · 4 Pastoral Theology · 4 Anthropology · 3 Bibliology · 3 Hamartiology · 3 Christology · 2 Ecclesiology · 2 Ethics / Moral Theology · 1 Pneumatology · 1

Bible citations· 36

Illustrations· 5

personal story · unit #1 — The pastor uses his marriage story to illustrate the doctrine of election—just as he initially thought he chose his wife but later realized she chose him, Christians often think they chose God when in reality God chose them first. The humor and vulnerability make the abstract doctrine accessible.
analogy · unit #11 — The pastor uses the Trinity and Incarnation as parallel examples to argue that Christians already accept mystery in other central doctrines, so accepting mystery in divine sovereignty and human will should not be problematic. The illustration reduces resistance by showing the inconsistency of rejecting mystery here while accepting it elsewhere.
analogy · unit #12 — The pastor offers two illustrations—the wave-particle duality of light and Job's encounter with God—to argue that apparent contradictions can both be true when God's knowledge infinitely exceeds ours, and that the proper response to mystery is humility rather than rejection. Both illustrations defend the propriety of accepting mystery in divine sovereignty.
cultural reference · unit #18 — The pastor uses a cultural reference—an atheist's mocking tweet about Christianity—to illustrate the magnitude of God's electing love. The atheist intends the cosmic scale to mock the personal relationship claim, but the pastor embraces it as evidence of astonishing grace. The illustration serves both logos (argument from scale) and pathos (wonder).
personal story · unit #30 — The pastor returns to the opening marriage illustration before closing with Spurgeon's testimony of discovering sovereign grace in his own conversion. The Spurgeon quotation functions as both illustration (personal story) and authority (great preacher's testimony), showing that the doctrine is not speculative but discovered in personal experience. The illustration aims to leave the congregation with a sense of being loved.

Theological claims· 4

Ephesians 1:4 teaches the doctrine of God's sovereign grace—that God chose believers, not that believers chose God. unit #2
Saving grace is sovereign grace—the Bible teaches not only that salvation is by grace but that God sovereignly set His love on believers and drew them to Himself. unit #5
We must confess the mystery of divine sovereignty and human responsibility without adding to or subtracting from Scripture, trusting that God understands what we cannot. unit #10
Grace is entirely unmerited—not a 60/40 or 99/1 split but grace from first to last—and non-Christians should respond to the gospel offer knowing that election is the happy surprise awaiting them on the other side of faith. unit #19

Quotations· 8

"Well, son, you done good." — The pastor's grandfather (unit #1)

"I know that I was cut off from God, hostile toward him, doing evil deeds. I was enslaved to my sin. I was condemned as God's enemy. I was caught in the snare of the devil. I had Satan as my father and did Satan's will. I was dead in my sin, a son of disobedience, a child of wrath, living in the lusts of my flesh. And my understanding then was darkened. My heart was incurably sick. I was excluded from life with God." — Rick Gamache (unit #14)

"The gloriously unshakable foundation of our being in Christ is that God chose us to be in Christ. God is sovereign in the salvation of sinners." — Rick Mosch (unit #17)

"Christianity, belief that one God created a universe 13.79 billion years old, 93 billion light-years in diameter, consisting of over 200 billion galaxies, each containing an average of 200 billion stars, only to have a personal relationship with you." — An atheist Twitter account (unit #18)

"After giving a brief survey of these doctrines of sovereign grace, I asked for questions from the class. One lady in particular was quite troubled. She said this, 'This is the most awful thing I've ever heard. You make it sound as if God is intentionally turning away men who would be saved, receiving only the elect.' I answered her in this vein, 'You misunderstand the situation. You're visualizing that God is standing at the door of heaven and men are thronging to get in the door and God is saying to various ones, "Yes, you may come, but not you, or you, or you." The situation's hardly this. Rather, God stands at the door of heaven with his arms outstretched inviting all to come, yet all men without exception are running toward hell as hard as they can go, so God in election graciously reaches out and stops this one and that one and this one over here and that one over there and effectually draws them to himself by changing their hearts making them willing to come. Election keeps no one out of heaven who would otherwise have been there, but it keeps a multitude of sinners out of hell who otherwise would have been there.'" — Mark Webb (unit #21)

"Although attended with mystery, the doctrine of election should not produce speculation, introspection, apathy, or pride, but rather humility, gratitude, assurance, evangelistic passion, and eternal praise for the undeserved grace of God in Christ." — Cross of Grace Church Statement of Faith (unit #24)

"Long my imprisoned spirit lay, fast bound in sin and nature's night. Thine eyes diffused a quickening ray. I woke, the dungeon flamed with light. My chains fell off, my heart was free. I rose, went forth, and followed thee." — Charles Wesley (unit #26)

"When I was coming to Christ, I thought I was doing it all myself and thought I sought the Lord earnestly. I had no idea the Lord was seeking me. One weeknight when I was sitting in the house of God, I was not much thinking about the preacher's sermon, for I did not believe it. Then the thought struck me, 'How did you come to be a Christian?' I sought the Lord. 'But how did you come to seek the Lord?' Well, the truth flashed across my mind in a moment. I should not have sought him unless there had been some previous influence in my mind to make me seek him. I prayed, thought I. But I thought, I asked myself, 'How came I to pray?' I was induced to pray by reading the Scriptures. 'How came I to read the Scriptures?' I did read them, but what led me to do so? And then in a moment, I saw that God was at the bottom of it all and that He was the author of my faith. So the doctrine of grace opened up to me, and from that doctrine I have not departed to this day. And I desire to make this my constant confession: I ascribe my change wholly to God." — Charles Spurgeon (unit #30)

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0 · The pastor welcomes visitors and explains the church's hospitality approach before framing the sermon as a revisit to the previous week's Ephesians passage with a specific doctrinal focus

Totally okay. There's Bibles available on the back table. Our hope and prayer is that you would experience something of the— just a bit of the community that Edwin and Emily are describing as you visit here today. And, uh, you never know. I love our church. You never know what's going to be happening. You may have arrived today totally unaware that you're going to be handed a Hawaiian shaved ice, and that is part of our— just our desire to turn strangers into family through hospitality. So thanks for joining us. Today. Now, we're going to continue our series in the book of Ephesians, but we're going to pause and actually kind of work back over the passage we went through last week with a particular emphasis because it raises a particular question.

1 · The pastor uses his marriage story to illustrate the doctrine of election—just as he initially thought he chose his wife but later realized she chose him, Christians often think they chose God when in reality God chose them first

So Ephesians chapter 1, we're going to read verses 3 through 5. This is God's Word. 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 to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will. This is God's Word. And, Father, I pray you'd give us ears to hear and eyes to see today. Amen. Well, 14 years ago when I married Jen, my granddad, who was a Mississippi southerner, summed up the sentiments of our family when he looked at me and said, "Well, son, you done good." His summary judgment of Jen was good, good job, right? And over the years, I've— as I've encountered people, they get to know me, they get to know Jen, there's often some level of surprise that we are together, much less married for 14 years. At different points, people will have congratulated me and say something like, well, great choice, you know, great job, you did great. And, you know, early in my marriage, I might have received that, like, yeah, you know what, that was pretty good, you know, like I won this girl over 100%, you know, killed it, killed it, man, high five. My dad does this thing that's super weird that I love called when the rest of the family won't give him a high five, he'll give himself a self high five. Self-five, which is where he puts his hand up and goes like that. So no support from the family, doesn't need it, self-five, right? And so there are moments early in my marriage that I thought, yeah, you know what, I married Jen. Yep, self-five, deserve that. And then recently, as I was going through some pictures, some old pictures of us, I realized that my assessment that I had chosen well, that I'd won Jen over, that I picked Jen, that I chose her, was totally inaccurate because this is what I look like when I met her. So if you're thinking, what a Romeo, like, that's— you need some glasses. Please take it away. It's super distracting now. That's the reality. All right, so this is when I met Jen. She had— she was cool. She had a cool blue streak in her hair. She was great at her job in conferencing. She was a killer and probably a tad too aggressive indoor soccer player. And so she was essentially the opposite of me. And a few years into our marriage, I realized, yeah, you know what? I didn't pick her, she picked me, right? Like she was the one that was like, you know what? Yeah, I will be friends with you, weirdo. She's the one that, laughed at a number of my jokes. She let me— I remember there's this fateful long bus ride. We were on a bus together with a bunch of other people for, like, 6 hours, 7 hours, something like that. And she let me sit next to her and she talked to me for 6 hours. And I realized, looking back, if I rerolled the tape, I'm like, "Yeah, no, I didn't pick her. She picked me."

2 · The pastor makes the explicit theological claim that Ephesians 1:4 teaches God's sovereign choice rather than human choice, naming the doctrine being addressed and correcting the common misreading of the text

And in a similar way, I think when it comes to Ephesians chapter 1, we often arrive at Ephesians chapter 1 assuming that, yep, we chose him. Even as perhaps you read in verse 4, "He blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as we chose him." No, that's actually not what it says. And you arrive at a little bit like, "Wait a minute, I thought that verse was— it zigged when I thought it was going to zag. This is not what I expected." That is what in Scripture is called the doctrine of God's sovereign grace.

3 · The pastor directly addresses the congregation about the sermon's purpose and scope, clarifying that belief in sovereign grace is not required for salvation while expressing pastoral hope that understanding it will deepen their appreciation of God's grace

And today we're going to take a Sunday and lay out this doctrine because it is one of the distinct beliefs our church has that is dear to us. And I want to be super clear upfront, you do not have to believe everything I say about the doctrine of God's sovereign grace to be a Christian. Scripture calls you to repent of your sins, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved. However, I will say this. I hope you will. I hope you will because I hope that as we walk through this, it will leave you more in awe of God's grace in your life than when you walked in. And I hope it will have the intended effect that the text is meant to have on you as we walk out of here.

4 · The pastor sets up the sermon's framework by offering two interpretive questions for the congregation to carry throughout the message, particularly orienting new believers to the theological depth ahead

So, last thing I'll say before we jump in, if you're new to Christianity, new to the Bible, I'm gonna just warn you up front, we're kinda jumping into the deep end a little bit of the theological pool. If you were like, "I'm— I got floaties on," that's okay. You won't sink. But here's what I want to encourage you to think about as we walk through this. Ask two questions: How much help do we need from God? And how great is God's love for us? How much help do we need? How much does God love us? Those are the two questions I hope you carry with you as we walk through.

5 · The pastor states the sermon's controlling thesis—that saving grace is sovereign grace—and distinguishes between the commonly accepted doctrine of unmerited favor in salvation and the less commonly emphasized doctrine of God's sovereign initiative in election

So our headline, the one thing that I hope you get out of our time in the text today is this: saving grace is sovereign grace. Many Christians love and receive and treasure the doctrine of God's saving grace and God through unmerited favor sending his Son Jesus to us to die. In our place for our sins that we might be offered salvation. That saving grace is all over the Bible. It's the main storyline of the Bible. And so we rejoice in that. But what we're gonna see today is this, that the Bible also shows God's sovereign grace in setting his love on us in the first place and then drawing us to himself.

6 · The pastor introduces the sermon's three-part structure and establishes a hermeneutical framework for approaching the doctrine of sovereign grace—staying faithful to what Scripture says without addition or subtraction

So 3 sections today, glorious mystery, glorious clarity, glorious effect. The first section, glorious mystery. Now, the first thing I want you to understand about God's sovereign grace is that there is mystery involved as we look at this doctrine in Scripture. We have to be faithful to see what the Bible teaches and leave it there rather than try to add to it or take away from it. So David Helm is a Bible instructor that has been helpful in our leadership cohort as we're learning, walking through some hermeneutics principles, how to interpret the Bible principles. David Holm uses this illustration in the class. He talks about staying on the line. So imagine this is what the Bible teaches. You stay on the line, and the temptation's always there to go above the line and begin to add things that the Bible doesn't say, or to go below the line and begin to take away things that the Bible does say. And so what happens with Scriptures like this in particular is that some Christians will read it and then add things to it that you're like, "I don't know if the Bible is saying that." Or Christians will see it and be like, "Ew, that's kind of weird. I don't like that. We're just going to cross those parts out of the Bible," right? That's our temptation. That is our tendency. So we're going to look today and we're going to seek to stay on the line. What does the Bible say?

7 · The pastor establishes the first foundational claim—God's absolute sovereignty over all creation—by surveying Scripture from Genesis to Revelation and emphasizing God's ontological uniqueness

First, the Bible says that God is sovereign over all things. Now, this is all over the Bible from Genesis 1 all the way through the end of Revelation. Genesis 1, right? God, eternal, before the universe was made, spoke matter and light and reality and energy and time into existence. Before was was, God was, right? Before anything existed, God existed. God rules and reigns and he made all things in the universe. In Isaiah, God summarizes this and he says, "For I am God and there is no other." '"I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, 'My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish my purpose.'" And again in Psalm 33:11, "The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations." So this is super important right up front. You gotta understand there is a difference of being between us and God. In Greek mythology or Roman mythology, essentially, the gods were like humans, just more powerful. They had all the same quibbles and struggles and things. Not so the God of the Bible. The Bible— the God of the Bible, he says, "There is no other like me." There's no other being in which you could say, "Yeah, that's kind of like God." Even though human beings are made in the image of God, the difference of being in between them is infinite.

8 · The pastor establishes the second foundational claim—human beings have genuine will and moral responsibility—by surveying Scripture's universal gospel invitations and condemnations

Second, the Bible says that human beings do have a will and are responsible for their actions. So, Matthew 11, Jesus really does say, "Come to me all who are— who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Right? He does make that offer. Revelation ends with that same offer, "Let the one who desires take the water of life without price." Perhaps the best-known Bible verse of all time is John 3:16, that "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whoever believes in him." No matter who they are, no matter what they've done, no matter what their ethnicity is or their race is or their income bracket is, all whoever believes in him may have eternal life. That's the offer. And if you turn away from the Lord, well, you're responsible for turning away. Jesus says in John 5:40 to a group of stubborn, stiff-necked people, "You refuse to come to me that you may have life." He's saying, "You really are looking at me, seeing the life, turning away." Or John 3:18, we often don't read after John 16, but 3:18 says it starkly, "Whoever believes in him is not condemned," whoever it is, "but whoever does not believe is condemned." Right? There's that stark dividing line in eternity.

9 · The pastor synthesizes the two previous claims into the doctrine's tension—God is sovereign over all including human choices, yet humans remain responsible—and demonstrates this from Proverbs, Acts, Galatians, and Exodus

Now, third, put these two things together, and we would confess that the Bible says that God is sovereign over all, and there is no asterisk over all that says, "Well, except when it comes for human beings, obviously." That's not what the Bible says. God is sovereign over all, even the choices of human beings. You might bristle at that, especially Americans. We're like, "Hey, man, is there a dictator? We're going to take him down." The American instinct is, "Hey, England has a new king. You guys want to take him down? We'll help you." Right? Like, we just— we see a king, we rebel. That's kind of our DNA as Americans. And so the idea that, wait, somebody would tell us what to do or make us do anything, that is— that's— well, I don't know if I like that. And we fold our arms, we don't want to listen anymore. But remember, stay on the line. What does the Bible teach? That's the question. Not what I think, not what you think. What does the Bible think? Proverbs 16:9 says this: "The heart of a man plans his way." All the Americans say, "Amen." "The heart of a man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps." And so you're going, "Wait a minute, that can't both be true. You can't say that. You can't say the heart of a man plans and the Lord, you know, that doesn't work." Or Acts 13:48, perhaps one of the most stark passages in the Bible. It says, "When the Gentiles heard this, heard the word of the gospel, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord." And then this comment, "And as many as were appointed to eternal life believed." That's what it says. And you're like, "Well, let's check the Greek." I did. That's what it says. There's got to be a mistranslation. No, that's what it says. Paul, remember Paul the apostle writing this book of Ephesians, this letter to the church in Ephesus, says of his own experience in Galatians 1:15-16 that God had, he said this of himself, "God set me apart before I was born and who called me by his grace and was pleased to reveal his Son to me in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles. All right, remember Paul's testimony, okay? What was Paul's testimony? Was he just out there, a spiritual seeker? Like, "I wonder what is true. I'm out there kind of searching for the answers. Perhaps Jesus, I'll investigate him." No, right? He's holding everybody's coats while they stone a dude who's preaching Jesus. And then he takes on the task of persecuting Christians, beating them up, throwing them in jail, killing perhaps some of them. And he is on the road to Damascus to do more. His will is set against Jesus. And then what happens? Paul says in Galatians 1, "He called me by his grace," meaning Jesus shows up and stops him. Paul's will, going this way. Jesus' will, show up, stop him, reveal himself. This call is not like, "Hey, "If you get a chance, Paul, you know, I've got a free Bible for you by the side of the road." And Paul is like, "Oh, I would love— well, maybe I should investigate Jesus." You know, he's not doing that. When God calls, it's not, "Hey, over here." It is the summons of the King who jumps in front of you. And then it says, Paul says he was— and why did that happen? —by his grace. Who called me? By his grace. And was pleased to reveal his Son to me. Right? All of a sudden these—it's almost like, see that passage with Paul? He had scales on his eyes and he was blinded. Why? He was physically blind but spiritually could see for the first time. Why did that happen? By his grace, God set him apart and called him. That's what Paul says of himself. You see the tension here, though. In Exodus 14, there's this interesting section where I've seen both people who kind of have this view of the sovereignty of God go there, and I've seen both people who don't believe in God's kind of ultimate sovereignty over human will. And one group will say, "Well, listen, listen. It says God hardened Pharaoh's heart. So we see it right there." And then it also says a few verses later, "And then Pharaoh hardened his heart." And then it says, "So God hardened Pharaoh's heart." And then it says, "And then Pharaoh hardened his heart." And so both groups are like, "I don't know what to do with that," right? It'd be easier to just give me one set of verses. No, that is what the Bible says.

10 · The pastor makes a pastoral and theological claim about how to handle the mystery—we confess the tension without resolving it, trusting that God understands what we cannot

Now, this is where, brothers and sisters, we must stay on the line. We should not add to it. We shouldn't take away from it. And this is what we historically must confess as the backdrop to this whole doctrine, that God is God and we are not. And any mystery involved is not because God is confused and doesn't know what he's doing, or the universe doesn't work the way it was intended to, but rather that we just don't understand fully how it can.

11 · The pastor uses the Trinity and Incarnation as parallel examples to argue that Christians already accept mystery in other central doctrines, so accepting mystery in divine sovereignty and human will should not be problematic

And here's the reality. We believe in mystery in all kinds of other doctrines in the Christian church. We believe in the Trinity, right? God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, all one yet distinct persons. And we're like, sure, why not? You know, like, sure, if God truly is who he says he is in the Bible, it would make sense that his being would be unlike ours. Sure, we'll confess that. Or Jesus, right? Every Christmas everybody gets excited. Why? Because we confess Jesus is God in the flesh, fully God, fully man. Anybody understand that? No, right? And we're just like, "Ah, what a beautiful mystery, divine, you know, the Lord has come and yet he's fully God and fully man. Ah, beautiful, the Trinity. Ah, beautiful." Then when it comes to human will and divine will, we're like, "Wait a second. No." Look, we must confess what Scripture confesses, that he chose us in him before the foundation of the world. That's what it says.

12 · The pastor offers two illustrations—the wave-particle duality of light and Job's encounter with God—to argue that apparent contradictions can both be true when God's knowledge infinitely exceeds ours, and that the proper response to mystery is humility rather than rejection

Look, an illustration that's been helpful to me over the years is in the realm of physics. Now, when I, as a creative writing major, wade into the area of physics, I need Bobby Wilkins to sit in the front row because I'm going to say something totally wrong. But this is what I understand. For a number of decades ago, when scientists began arguing over the nature of light, there were two camps. One camp observed through a number of tests that light travels as a wave. They're like, look, we can see it. Here's all the tests. It travels as a wave. But another group of scientists said, no, no, no, no, it's a particle. It's like a little packet of stuff because we do all of these tests and obviously it's a particle. And both groups agreed it can't be both. So one of us is wrong. Do you know what happened in the end? They were both right and wrong. Light is a particle that travels as a wave, which if you've gone back to the very beginning, you're like, "Oh, yeah, that would make sense," right? But in the moment, nobody's thinking that. Everybody's like, "These are mutually exclusive. No way." But here's what I want to say. Isn't it possible that if God spoke matter, time, energy, everything into existence, that he existed before was was, he upholds all things by the word of his power, Don't you think that it's possible that he knows how this works better than us? And that what he reveals is what we should receive and believe, even if there is mystery. I think of, and I would just commend this to you, think of the end of the book of Job. In the end of Job, Job endures really unimaginable suffering and loss and is seeking answers as to why. And at the end, he begins to almost charge God. Like, "You, you, you didn't do this. You're not just, or you're not good, or you're not seeing, or you're not present." One of these has to be true. And God finally, at the end of the book of Job, appears to him. And the answer— instead of giving Job the answer of, "Okay, well, this is why exactly I did this, and this is how this works, and this is how everything happens," instead, God basically explains to him that he and and Job, there's an infinite gap between them. God comes to Job and says, "All right, I'll answer you." And then he says, "Stand up, dress for action like a man, and I will answer you," meaning, "You've been summoned to the court of the king. Stand up, put your best shirt on. I'm gonna talk for a second." And these are a series of questions he asked Job: "Where were you when I laid the foundation of the world?" Where were you when I carved out the depths of the oceans? Where were you on the millionth, millionth galaxy that was spun out into existence that no human telescope has ever even seen? And Job in the end says, "I'm going to put my hand over my mouth so I don't say anything else, because I don't understand fully what God has done here, but I do know this: that God is God and I'm not."

13 · The pastor quotes the church's statement of faith to summarize the theological position on divine sovereignty while addressing the most common objection (God as author of evil) and signaling the transition from mystery to clarity

So that's where we start with this doctrine. And I appreciate here our statement of faith, which we share in common with our gospel partners around the world in Sovereign Grace Churches. I summarize it this way: From all eternity, God sovereignly ordained all that exists and all that occurs in his creation in order to display the fullness of his glory. God's plans are efficacious, meaning they always come to pass, and they are universal, encompassing all the affairs of nature and history and individual lives. And these decrees are an exercise of his free, unchangeable, wise, and holy, meaning just, will. So God is sovereign over all things. No one can make God do anything. I think all Christians would agree with the psalmist saying, "The Lord reigns." But some, I think, may be tempted to add an asterisk over what he reigns. So we simply confess it, the Lord reigns. The statement of faith continues and clarifies the relationship between God and the nature of evil though, in section 10. Yet God in his foreordination is not the author of sin, nor do his decrees negate the will of his creatures who act with the power of willing choice in accord with their nature. His ordaining and governing all things is compatible with his creatures' moral accountability such that God never condemns a person unjustly. Therefore, all persons are responsible for their actions, which have real and eternal consequences. So do you see, it's not letting us off the hook. It's not like, great, well, I'm just— some people will object to the doctrine and think, well, so what? I'm just a robot. I must go here now. Oh, okay, I will marry this person, you know, like— and we're like, okay, but you're using a human analogy. You're saying, well, if I made a thing, it would only be like this. Not so with the Lord. Neither is he the author of evil, right? So we confess these things, we stay on the line, and there is mystery. But second, there is clarity. There is clarity, and in that clarity we find beautiful, life-giving grace from God.

14 · The pastor expounds humanity's pre-conversion state by walking through a spectrum of analogies (from drowning but able to swim, to dead at the bottom of the ocean) before landing on Ephesians 2:1 and Rick Gamache's biblical survey to establish total spiritual death

Now, one last piece of the puzzle as we approach this doctrine is this. What state are we in when we come to believe? So we kind of— we covered foundation of the world. God, you know, he chose us in him before the foundation of the world. Well, when the gospel arrives to us, what state are we in? And here's the analogy I would use. So is it as though, you know, there's a boat and God's the captain of the boat, he's driving out into deep water, and we in rebellion are like, no, I refuse to live in your kingdom. I refuse. I'm going to establish my own empire. And we run and we jump off the boat into a storm. What is our state? Is it that we're like, we get into the storm and realize, oh boy, this was not smart. That's the boat. You know, so we, is it that he just needs to keep the boat steady and we can swim back to it and just not, just not in anger drive away or sail away from us? Or is it that, man, we're really struggling and so God has to get into a lifeboat and row out to us and kind of almost help us into the boat. And so we kind of meet the Lord. Or is it that we're really struggling and the Lord casts a life preserver out almost right next to us and we're just, oh, we can just barely grab it and he pulls us back to the boat. Or is it that we are on, like slumped over in the water, pulled back into the rowboat and have to— the Lord does CPR 'cause our lungs are filled with fluid and we're just right on the knife's edge of dying. Or what does Ephesians 2:1 say? Paul summarizes his state and our state this way in Ephesians 2:1, "And," "You were dead." That's what he says. That's what the Bible says. "And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world." We were dead. That's the analogy. It's not, "Okay, we need, we really need somebody to hold the boat steady so we can swim back," or, "We need a kind of a, a ring tossed right next to us, or even we need CPR, we are not on the surface of the ocean at all. We are at the bottom of the ocean, our heart stopped. Rick Gamache, a pastor, summarizes kind of the weight of Scripture about our state this way with Scripture references. He says this: "I know that I was cut off from God, hostile toward him, doing evil deeds." Colossians 1:21. I was enslaved to my sin, Romans 6:17. I was condemned as God's enemy, Romans 5:10. I was caught in the snare of the devil, 2 Timothy 2:26. I had Satan as my father, John 8:44. Yes, that's in the Bible. And did Satan's will, Ephesians 2:2. I was dead in my sin, a son of disobedience, a child of wrath, living in the lusts of my flesh, Ephesians 2:1-3. And my understanding then was darkened. My heart was incurably sick. I was excluded from life with God, Ephesians 4:18-19, right? This is the analogy. When the gospel arrives to us, the gospel message arrives to us, we are not on the surface of the ocean desperately looking for a way out. We are dead at the bottom of it. And so then it would not matter were the Lord to get his megaphone out and call out to the surface of the water, "Come, all who are weary. Come, anyone who desires to take of the water of life," how many would respond? None. None. There's no one fighting for life at the surface of the ocean.

15 · The pastor signals a dramatic shift from the weight of spiritual death to the glory of divine rescue, preparing the congregation emotionally for the exposition of Ephesians 2:4-6

But this is what the Lord does. This is what the Lord does, brothers and sisters. How is it that we came to believe I want you to feel this, Ephesians 2:4. Feel the God of the universe diving down into the water after us.

16 · The pastor expounds Ephesians 2:4-6 with doxological intensity, emphasizing the infinite vertical distance of God's saving grace—from spiritual death at the ocean floor to resurrection and enthronement with Christ

Ephesians 2:4, "But God," meaning we were headed in one direction, our life was headed in one direction just like Paul's. We were going there, we were dead, we were walking in our sins, and yet God appears. "But God being rich in mercy," because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses and sins— Paul says it again— made us alive together with Christ. And by grace you have been saved. And raised us up and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Listen, listen, in Ephesians— yes, amen, amen. In Ephesians, the picture is not that we go from the surface of the ocean where we're struggling onto the boat and then raised up to the heights with Christ. Listen, is that grace? Absolutely. It would absolutely be grace that God turned the boat around and came back for us that we might swim back. The problem is that none do. And so the gap is not from here to here by grace, it is from the bottom of the ocean to the heights of heaven by grace.

17 · The pastor returns to Ephesians 1:3-5, 9, 11 to expound the doctrine of election with doxological intensity, emphasizing that God's choice was not based on foreseen goodness but solely on His sovereign purpose and will

Listen, read then Ephesians chapter 1 with this as the background. I want you to feel this. I want you to feel how this overflows from Paul as he blesses the Lord. Ephesians 1:3 says, "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." This, you could just feel Paul wondering. In love, he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ. Why? Because he saw a spark of goodness? No. According to the purpose of his will. Further in verse 9, talking about making known to us the mystery of his will, why? According to his purpose. Verse 11, "In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined," why? According to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will. Rick Mosch says this, "The gloriously unshakable foundation of our being in Christ is that God chose us to be in Christ. God is sovereign in the salvation of sinners. Feel the weight and wonder of that. Feel the love of that. Before the sun was formed, before any star was hung in the sky, before the earth existed, before the oceans were poured, God Almighty set his electing love on you. Oh, that is what the Scripture teaches, brothers and sisters.

18 · The pastor uses a cultural reference—an atheist's mocking tweet about Christianity—to illustrate the magnitude of God's electing love

I saw recently this last week, somebody reposted an atheist Twitter account, right? And so this atheist Twitter account is trying to burn Christians and kind of like highlight how ridiculous what Christians believe truly is. And so you got to read that in kind of a read this following quote in a snarky way. So the person puts up this: Christianity— you gotta feel that— Christianity, belief that one God created a universe 13.79 billion years old, 93 billion light-years in diameter, consisting of over 200 billion galaxies, each containing an average of 200 billion stars, "Only to have a personal relationship with you." Ha! You can feel it. And the Christian I saw responded, quote-tweeted it, and just responded with the word "yes." I mean, when you see God's sovereign nature and then see our will bent away from the Lord, and you see those two things come together in God setting his love on us, the only word that comes to mind is grace.

19 · The pastor makes a direct evangelistic appeal to non-Christians, using the door illustration to show that the front of salvation displays John 3:16 (whoever believes) while the back displays Ephesians 1:4 (chosen before the foundation of the world)

Through no merit of our own. Listen, when grace means God's unmerited favor, it doesn't mean mostly God's unmerited favor and a little bit of goodness from us, you know? It's not like a 60/40 split or an 80/20 split or even a 99/1 split. It is grace from first to last. And, listen, if you're here and you're not a Christian, I hope you're getting here. It may feel like you're walking into, like, a family discussion, like, "I don't know, am I supposed to be here for this?" And even wondering, like, "What does that mean? Does that mean I'm chosen or not chosen? Like, what is it? I don't understand what's happening." Listen, here's what you got to remember, and I've heard this illustration used by a number of folks. The door of salvation through the cross is like a doorway with on the top of it is written John 3:16. For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him would not perish but have everlasting life. Right? You see that written over the doorway of the cross. And if today you see that and you're like, I can't believe a God that made all this stuff loves us, and you're even saying might love me, that it seems unbelievable, and you feel that offer from Jesus, come, all who are thirsty, come take the water of life without price. If you feel it today, friend, Walk through the door. Walk through the door, because the happy surprise awaiting you that the other side of the door doesn't have the same Scripture as the first side of the door. The other side of the door, as you walk through the cross and find yourself in relationship with God, were you to turn around and look at the door behind you, would be written, "Chosen in him before the foundation of the world." And you're like, "I don't understand. How did the door change?" God is God, we are not. And so let me just encourage you, if you're feeling that today, friend, walk through the door. Come to him. Come to him.

20 · The pastor signals a shift to objection-handling, acknowledging he cannot address all objections but will focus on two significant ones

This can, though, raise two objections, and these are legitimate. And I wish I could deal with every objection, but a couple in particular I want to address.

21 · The pastor addresses the first objection—that election makes God unjust by turning away willing seekers—by quoting Mark Webb's story and illustration

First, some people might hear this and get the idea like, "Okay, well, you're saying— if what you're saying is true, It's like God's checking IDs at the door and people are like, I want to get to the club. I want to get in the club. And you're just like— and the bouncer's there looking at people's IDs going, nope, yep, nope, yep, yep, nope, nope. And you can tell I've been to the club a lot because that's— at least that's the way it is on CSI. So that's where I get most of my club information. I want you to hear this little story from Mark Webb on that issue. He writes this. After giving a brief survey of these doctrines of sovereign grace, I asked for questions from the class. Bold man to do that, ask for questions. One lady in particular was quite troubled. She said this, "This is the most awful thing I've ever heard. You make it sound as if God is intentionally turning away men who would be saved, receiving only the elect." I answered her in this vein, "You misunderstand the situation." You're visualizing that God is standing at the door of heaven and men are thronging to get in the door and God is saying to various ones, "Yes, you may come, but not you, or you, or you." The situation's hardly this. Rather, God stands at the door of heaven with his arms outstretched inviting all to come, yet all men without exception are running toward hell as hard as they can go, so God in election graciously— God in election graciously reaches out and stops this one and that one and this one over here and that one over there and effectually draws them to himself by changing their hearts making them willing to come. Election keeps no one out of heaven who would otherwise have been there, but it keeps a multitude of sinners out of hell who otherwise would have been there. So please, let's remember, God is just and He's right. And anyone whose heart he awakens is a pure act of grace.

22 · The pastor addresses the second objection—that election doesn't seem fair—by acknowledging the limits of our knowledge ("I don't know") and proposing a hermeneutical principle: let what is clear about God's character help us trust Him where things are less clear

But second objection, closely tied with that, is like, "Well, wait a minute. That doesn't seem fair." And usually the objection arises from folks who, like me, kind of look at the situation and go, "Well, I think I know how to do this better. Why doesn't he just choose everybody or elect everybody? Or what about people who've never heard the gospel? Or what about this one guy?" This one person asked me, like, a question about this doctrine at one point. They were like, well, what about this person if they're a tribesman, but they had this, but they didn't have this, and they had this, and then they, you know, what about that situation? And the answer is, I don't know, right? We're staying on the line. Some of these questions God has not given us the answer to. So here's what I would say helps. Where we do see God's character and justice clearly helps us to see and trust God's character and justice where we see it less clearly. Right? When you know somebody well, maybe a spouse well, and you know that they love you and are acting for your good, and they, you know, they do something that seems weird to you, obviously, usually our lean is like, I'm sure that they— there's a reasonable explanation for that. You know, you're like, hey, we were supposed to meet. I was supposed to meet with my wife for coffee and she's not here and it's been a half hour. And she shows up, oh, she was in an accident, or something else happened, or her phone ran out of juice, and this happened, right? I'm not thinking, oh, she's leaving me, you know? And so we take what is clear and use it to help us with what is less clear.

23 · The pastor grounds the previous principle in the cross, arguing that the cross is where God's justice and grace are most clearly revealed—His justice satisfied through Christ's death, His grace displayed in His willingness to bleed for sinners

And let me just, again, reinforce to you what is the clearest part of the Bible, and what do we see there? Where do we see the justice and grace of God meet? But in the cross. Is God not just? Oh, brother, sister, he is so just that he sent his Son to pay the penalty for sinners like you and me, that we might be saved and justice be satisfied. That is how committed he is to justice. So let's not, you and I, say, well, I don't know if you're committed to justice. Look to the cross. Look at how committed he is to justice and believe the promise that one day in the end, we will see that in all God's dealings and all that he restores and all that he does, that he will have been just toward all. But let's also in the cross see his grace and mercy. How could we doubt the mercy of God after seeing God himself bleed out for us? And so when we trust God's justice and grace on the cross of Christ, it helps us in places that we see it less clearly.

24 · The pastor uses the toddler illustration to reinforce the epistemic gap between God and humans, then transitions to the sermon's third section on the doctrine's intended effects

Listen, I have a toddler, and this is just our constant life. We go to the store, he's like, "I want to buy a truck." And this is the great thing about toddlers. They think at age 3 they understand the universe perfectly fine. And they're starting to put things together, and they're like, "Here's what I'm seeing, Mom." I'm seeing an aisle of truck toys and I'm seeing the magic card you have. And anytime you use the magic card, I get a truck. So let's get a truck every time, right? And you as a parent have to go like, no, no, no, son, you don't understand this. We're gonna buy enough trucks that we're not gonna pay the electric bill at some point. We're gonna have a whole house full of trucks and no electricity. Toddlers, do they get that? No, you can't explain your electric bill to a toddler. But on an infinitely greater gulf, there are areas in which the God of the universe and us, like, our knowledge of what he does and is, is just insufficient. So therefore, we trust him in mystery and cling to his clarity. All right, last section that is very important, and I don't want us to miss, is what effect this doctrine should have on us. Okay? So we need to remember why God tells us what he tells us in the Bible. It's not as though God's like, "You know what? I'm going to tell you some weird stuff. You'll think about it a long time, probably in the shower." That's not what he— why is God putting these things in the Bible? For a purpose. Now, first, I want to be clear about what the purpose is not. Our statement of faith ends this section on sovereignty with a very helpful kind of call, which I I appreciate it's a very pastoral call. So it says this: Although attended with mystery, the doctrine of election should not produce speculation, introspection, apathy, or pride, but rather humility, gratitude, assurance, evangelistic passion, and eternal praise for the undeserved grace of God in Christ.

25 · The pastor systematically addresses four negative effects the doctrine should NOT produce—speculation, introspection, apathy, and pride—providing brief pastoral correction for each

So I want to walk through just briefly what it should not produce. First, speculation. All right, there really are places in which God has not revealed the answer to a question to us. And when we go above the line and start constructing doctrines that have no kind of close tie to the biblical text, that's where we get into trouble. So, let's not allow this doctrine to promote endless speculation or, second, endless introspection. It's not as though we should be going like, "Wait a minute, wait a minute, am I really saved? Did God really choose me? Am I one of those people? How do I know?" Listen, here's how you know: repent and believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Walk through the door. Okay? Let's not allow this to turn us inward. Do what Scripture commands us. Third, should not allow us to drift into apathy. It's not as though we feel like, "Okay, great. Well, if he's going to save me anyway, we're going to have some fun." Right? "Before we get to heaven, we're going to live it up, because listen, if he chose me before the foundation of the world, pretty sure my ticket's good." So I'm going to do whatever I want, however I want, and I'll still get there. You know what the Bible says about that? Jesus himself would tell you no. Because if you continue to do that, it would prove out the fact that, yeah, God hasn't changed your heart and you haven't chosen to repent and believe in Christ. So be cautious. Let's not allow that to drift into apathy. Fourth, pride. Oh, this one is for me. This one is aimed at my heart. When in my teen years I began to understand more about these things and these doctrines, it can feel almost— give you a thrill, like, ooh. This is, like, deep and secret, you know? And you kind of show up at church and you're like, "I bet that guy doesn't know the deep things of the Lord the way I do," you know? I'm like 15. "Sir, have you even read Augustine? Do you know of his debates with Pelagius?" Right? And be like, "Bro, this guy loves his wife and family and you're a self-righteous jerk. So one of you is going to get commended, right?" We should not allow these doctrines to somehow be like, oh, and listen, let me just say, as Cross of Grace Church, with this, because this is one of our distinct beliefs, we should never be kind of arrogant or proud towards those— I mean, other churches maybe whose statements of faith don't affirm this and feel as though we're better than them. Like, ah, a less deep church over there, huh? Well, look at our statement of faith. It's 500 100,000 pages long. You know, like, we're not— I don't want us to do that.

26 · The pastor begins the positive application section by addressing humility and gratitude, using mathematical reductio (if salvation is X/Y split, there's pride; if 100% grace, no pride) and hymn quotation ("And Can It Be") to move the congregation toward wonder

Instead, what should the effect be? I'm just gonna hit this briefly. First, humility. If salvation is 60/40, there's some room for pride. If salvation is 90/10, there's some room for pride. If salvation is 99 and 1, there's still that one glimmer of pride. But if salvation is grace from first to last, What have we to boast in? What have we to look to the people even outside and say, "Oh, this is why we're better than you." No, none of that. Second, gratitude. We should be the most amazed and grateful people in the world. We should come in on Sundays and go like, "I can't believe, do you believe, can you believe this?" I mean, we, what was that song we sang? "And Can It Be?" It talks about, "Long my imprisoned spirit lay, fast bound in sin and nature's night." Thine eyes diffused a quickening ray. I woke, the dungeon flamed with light. I love this language. My chains fell off, my heart was free. I rose, went forth, and followed thee. When we sing that, we should be looking around like, can you believe this? This is unreal. That's what we should have as a heart posture.

27 · The pastor addresses assurance by expounding the golden chain of Romans 8:29-30, showing that election grounds believers' confidence in their final salvation

Third, assurance. Oh, Romans 8 uses it this way. It says that those God predestined, he also called. Called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. Listen, we should feel as though we're on this unbreakable chain. If we know I believed in Christ, I've been justified, that was preceded by God's Word, that will be followed by God's Word. God holds us by grace. This should assure us. Even if you feel unloved, even if you feel overlooked, even if you feel like nobody in this world even notices me or cares about me, let me point you to Romans 8. God cares about you. God knows your name. Those whom he predestined, he knew before the foundation of the world, he called, he justified, he will carry safely home.

28 · The pastor addresses evangelistic passion by expounding Acts 18:9-11, showing that election motivates rather than undermines evangelism—God's assurance that He has people in the city strengthens Paul's resolve to preach

Alright, last two, briefly. Evangelistic passion. Some might say, "Well, if this is true, then why share the gospel at all?" But Acts 18 says this: "The Lord said to Paul one night in a vision," after Paul had encountered opposition, "Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, for I am with you and no one will attack to harm you, for," or because, "I have many in this city who are my people." So what does God say? "Listen, I'm encouraging you to actually stay and be bold because I've got my people in this city and I want you to keep preaching." And so Paul stayed a year and 6 months teaching the word of God among them. This doctrine does not lead to Paul going, "Okay, cool. Well, I'll open the evangelistic meeting up, and if anybody comes in, great, and if nobody does, whatever. It's not on me." No, Paul is like— God's telling Paul, "Man, get out there. If this is true, get out there." And by the way, side note, if we didn't believe that God brought dead hearts to life, what we would be doing would be in vain. Do you have the power to bring somebody's dead heart to life? I don't. The only reason I would even share the gospel with somebody is that in my heart I know God can do what I cannot.

29 · The pastor concludes the application section with eternal praise, returning to Ephesians 1 and showing that election drove Paul to doxology

All right, last thing, eternal praise. This is where Ephesians leaves us. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with," what? "With every spiritual blessing." Why does this pour out of Paul in Ephesians chapter 1? Because his heart is so full of praise. He is still the guy who was stopped at the Damascus Road. And you ask him, "Hey, Paul, would you lead us in a prayer of thanksgiving?" He's like, "No problem. I was going this way. God stopped me. He called me. He revealed himself to me. He chose me before the foundation of the world. He called me when my will was this way, his will was opposite to save me. I'm going to praise him and praise him and praise him." until at the end of Romans 11, he says famously, "For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever." So, listen, I want to encourage you at the end here. On our church blog, there are a number of resources that can help you if this is a new doctrine. Listen, I hope you don't leave here going like, "Oh my gosh, I didn't realize this was a Reformed church, this bunch of Calvinists." Listen, this is what we do with anybody who has a theological system, we do this: "Well, does Calvin believe this? Because we believe this. Do Reformed people believe this? Because we believe this." We stay on the line and we allow that to overflow in praise.

30 · The pastor returns to the opening marriage illustration before closing with Spurgeon's testimony of discovering sovereign grace in his own conversion

I gotta show you last thing. These are the pictures of me and Jen. Wonder again how that happened. My glasses, I think I took from about an 80-year-old man, and I had an Abraham Lincoln beard. For some reason, I just thought Abraham Lincoln looked cool. What if I do that at age 20? And Jen was like, "I love you anyway." Brothers and sisters, I hope you feel at the end God loves you. Last thing, Spurgeon says this: "When I was coming to Christ, I thought I was doing it all myself and thought I sought the Lord earnestly. I had no idea the Lord was seeking me. One weeknight when I was sitting in the house of God, I was not much thinking about the preacher's sermon, for I did not believe it. Then the thought struck me, 'How did you come to be a Christian?' I sought the Lord. 'But how did you come to seek the Lord?' Well, the truth flashed across my mind in a moment. I should not have sought him unless there had been some previous influence in my mind to make me seek him. I prayed, thought I. But I thought, I asked myself, 'How came I to pray?' I was induced to pray by reading the Scriptures. 'How came I to read the Scriptures?' I did read them, but what led me to do so? And then in a moment, I saw that God was at the bottom of it all and that He was the author of my faith. So the doctrine of grace opened up to me, and from that doctrine I have not departed to this day. And I desire to make this my constant confession: I ascribe my change wholly to God."

31 · The pastor closes with a brief prayer synthesizing the sermon's intended effect—overwhelming thankfulness, humility, and gratitude for every spiritual blessing in Christ

Would you stand? Lord, we pray that what would be on the— our hearts as we end here is the effect of Ephesians 1, that we would be filled to the brim with thankfulness, overwhelmed, that every spiritual blessing has come to us in Christ. And I pray that as we rejoice at the end, you would seal these things in our hearts, that we might be the most humble and grateful people that we can possibly be. I pray that in Jesus' name. Amen.

32 · The sermon closes with corporate worship—likely a sung response to the sermon

To work your will. I had no righteousness of my own. I had no right to draw near your throne. Father, you love me still. And in love, before you laid the world's foundation, you predestined to adopt me as your own. You have raised me up high above my station. I'm a child of God by grace and grace alone. Yeah, by grace alone. You left, you left your home to seek out the lost. You knew the great and terrible cost, but Jesus your face was set. I worked my fingers down to the bone, but nothing I did could ever atone. Jesus, you paid my debt, so we celebrate. It's by your blood I have redemption and salvation. Lord, you died that I might reap what you have sown. And you rose, and you rose. The Spirit, you made me see. Thank you for that, Lord. I swore I knew the way on my own, a head full of rocks and heart made of stone. The Spirit, you moved in me, and at your touch, my sleeping spirit was awakened. On my darkened heart, the light of Christ has shone. We are called to call him Lord. Into a kingdom that cannot be shaken. Heaven's citizen by grace and grace alone. So I stand, so I stand in faith.

Where this fits

Recent preaching context

The three sermons immediately preceding this one in the preaching schedule.

Aug 21, 2022

When Real Christianity Turns a City Upside Down

Real Christianity is not religious practice, using Jesus, or coexisting with Jesus, but receiving salvation in Jesus alone, being empowered by the Spirit for Christ's purposes, and surrendering every area of life so that Jesus becomes our life and treasure.

Acts 19:8-20

Aug 28, 2022

Grace in the Mundane

Every mundane moment of the Christian life—from our conversion story to our daily identity to our ongoing sanctification—is saturated with God's radical, unmerited grace, which both saves us decisively and sustains us continuously.

Ephesians 1:1-2

Sep 4, 2022

Consider Me Underwhelmed

Overwhelmed with blessing in Christ, we should overflow in blessing to God.

Ephesians 1:3-14

September 11 · This sermon

Sovereign Grace At the Bottom of It All

Saving grace is sovereign grace—God not only offers salvation to spiritually dead sinners but sovereignly chooses and effectually calls them to himself, making this doctrine a foundation for profound humility, gratitude, and worship.

Ephesians 1:3-5

Take it further

Discuss · apply · pray

Small groups

6 discussion questions

In Ephesians 1:3-5, Paul says God 'chose us in him before the foundation of the world.' What does it mean that this choice happened before t…

Daily readings

5-day reading plan

This week we trace the stunning logic of sovereign grace: God's choice precedes ours, His love initiates ours, His Spirit awakens dead hearts—and this mystery is meant to humble us, not paralyze us.

Prayer

Sovereign Grace—Our Ground of Gratitude

Father, we come before you this morning recognizing the staggering truth that you have loved us before the foundation of the world. You saw…

Family table

Chosen Before You Were Born

This sermon introduced kids (and adults) to the doctrine of election—that God chose us before the foundation of the world. At the table, hel…

Couples

Chosen Before the Foundation of the World

What did you hear in this sermon about God's choice of you that stirred something in your heart—comfort, conviction, or a question you're st…

Memorize

Ephesians 1:4

This verse is the load-bearing biblical statement for the sermon's central thesis—that saving grace is sovereign grace, rooted in God's electing love set on us before time began. Memorizing this verse anchors the listener in the doctrine that secures humility, gratitude, and assurance: salvation originates not in our choice but in God's sovereign choice of us.

Small-group discussion

6 questions for your group this week

In Ephesians 1:3-5, Paul says God 'chose us in him before the foundation of the world.' What does it mean that this choice happened before time began, and how does that differ from the idea that God simply knew in advance who would choose Him?

Ephesians 1:4

→ How does this timing—before creation—shape your understanding of God's power and intentionality in salvation?
The sermon teaches that Ephesians 2:1 describes us as 'dead in our trespasses.' What does spiritual deadness mean, and why does that matter for understanding what saving grace actually has to do?

Ephesians 2:1

→ If we were truly dead—unable to hear, see, or respond to God—then who had to do the choosing and the calling?
Many people worry that if God sovereignly chose believers before the foundation of the world, then human choice and responsibility don't matter. What did the sermon say about this tension, and how would you explain it to someone who raised this concern?

Ephesians 1:4
According to the sermon, what are the four main effects—or four main ways we should respond—when we truly believe that our salvation is sovereign grace? Which one speaks most directly to where you are right now?

→ Where in your own life do you find it hardest to live out that response?
The sermon says that grace is 'entirely unmerited—not a 60/40 or 99/1 split but grace from first to last.' If that's true, what does it do to our sense of pride, self-reliance, or the feeling that we've somehow earned God's favor?

Romans 6:17

→ How might believing this more deeply change the way you pray, witness to others, or receive God's provision this week?
If you are sitting in this group and you have never trusted Christ, what does this sermon say to you about your own path to faith? What is the 'happy surprise' the sermon mentions?

Matthew 11:28

→ For those who are already believers: how would you invite someone in that position to respond to the gospel in light of what we've studied?

Draft · pending review

Daily readings · Monday–Friday

5-day reading plan

Monday Ephesians 2:1

Paul doesn't say we are sick or confused—he says we are dead in trespasses and sins. A corpse cannot choose life. This is why saving grace must be sovereign grace: only God can raise the dead. As you read this verse, let it settle into you that your salvation was never your achievement but God's rescue of you when you had no power to rescue yourself.

Tuesday Isaiah 46:9-10

Isaiah declares that God remembers the end from the beginning and makes all His purpose stand. This is the God who chose you before the foundation of the world—not on a whim, not based on foreseen faith, but according to His immutable counsel. Rest today in the truth that your election rests on the unchanging mind of God, not on the shifting sands of human decision.

Wednesday Galatians 1:15-16

Paul speaks of God's sovereign choice as the foundation—'God was pleased to reveal His Son to me'—which precedes and enables Paul's response. Election is not God's reaction to human choice; it is God's initiative that makes our response possible. Notice how Paul doesn't say 'I chose God' but 'God set His love on me and called me.' That reversal is everything.

Thursday John 3:16

Here is the paradox that should humble every believer: God loves the world so much that He gave His Son. This is not conditional love waiting for us to believe first; this is the uncaused love of God breaking into human history. The offer 'whoever believes' is real and free, yet it stands within the larger context of God's sovereign love that chose you before you knew to choose Him.

Friday Revelation 22:17

The Spirit and the Bride cry 'Come!' and whosoever will may come and take the water of life freely. This is the invitation we are called to extend: come as you are, without earning it, knowing that God's sovereign grace is already at work beneath your yes. As you close this week, ask yourself: Am I resting in the mystery of God's sovereign choice while freely calling others to respond? That is the posture this doctrine produces.

Draft · pending review

Pray together this week

Sovereign Grace—Our Ground of Gratitude

Father, we come before you this morning recognizing the staggering truth that you have loved us before the foundation of the world. You saw us in our spiritual death—broken, separated from you, enslaved to the prince of the power of the air (Ephesians 2:1-2)—and yet you set your electing love upon us. We adore you for your sovereignty, that you are not passive in the offer of salvation but active, choosing, calling, drawing us to yourself through the gospel of Christ.

We confess that we often live as though salvation were a 60/40 or 99/1 partnership between your grace and our effort, when the truth is it is grace from first to last. We confess the pride that creeps in when we forget that we did not choose you, but you chose us (John 15:16). We confess the anxiety that rises when we wonder whether we are truly chosen, forgetting that our assurance rests not in our grip on you but in your grip on us. Forgive us for the times we have preached a half-gospel, a partial grace, when you have given us the whole.

We thank you that in Christ, you have done what we could never do for ourselves. You have reconciled us to yourself. You have made us alive together with Christ. You have seated us in the heavenly places (Ephesians 2:4-6). We receive this sovereign grace as the happy surprise of salvation—not something we merited or engineered, but something you purposed and accomplished in love.

Grant us, Father, the humility to live as the recipients of grace we truly are. Give us gratitude that overflows into worship and praise. Give us the assurance that comes from resting in your electing love, not our own performance. And give us the passion to proclaim to those who are spiritually dead that you offer them the gospel freely—that they may find the joy of discovering themselves chosen and loved by you. We ask all this through Christ, in whom we are blessed with every spiritual blessing. Amen.

Draft · pending review

Sunday-evening family table

Chosen Before You Were Born

For the parent

This sermon introduced kids (and adults) to the doctrine of election—that God chose us before the foundation of the world. At the table, help your family sit with the wonder of that truth by inviting them to imagine what it means to be chosen by God, not as reward for anything they did, but as a gift. Listen for any sense of awe or gratitude that emerges.

If God chose you and loved you before you were even born—before the world was made—what does that tell you about how much God loves you? And how does that change the way you think about yourself?

works for ages 7+; younger children can answer with simpler words like 'God really loves me' while older kids explore the doctrine more deeply

Draft · pending review

Couples · three questions over coffee

Chosen Before the Foundation of the World

What did you hear in this sermon about God's choice of you that stirred something in your heart—comfort, conviction, or a question you're still sitting with?
How does knowing that God sovereignly chose you before the foundation of the world shape the way you see your marriage covenant—not as something you achieved, but as something you received together?
What is one way you can pray for your spouse this week in light of this doctrine—asking God to deepen their assurance, gratitude, or sense of being chosen and loved by Him?

Draft · pending review

Memory verse this week

Ephesians 1:4

He chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.

Why this verse: This verse is the load-bearing biblical statement for the sermon's central thesis—that saving grace is sovereign grace, rooted in God's electing love set on us before time began. Memorizing this verse anchors the listener in the doctrine that secures humility, gratitude, and assurance: salvation originates not in our choice but in God's sovereign choice of us.

Draft · pending review

Where this was preached

About the church

Cross of Grace Church

About us · What we believe

Plan a visit →

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# Cross of Grace Church

A church preaching expository sermons through the books of the Bible.

## Sermons
- [When Real Christianity Turns a City Upside Down (Acts 19:8-20, 2022-08-21)](/CoGElPaso/sermons/2022/08/when-real-christianity-turns-a-city-upside-down)
- [Grace in the Mundane (Ephesians 1:1-2, 2022-08-28)](/CoGElPaso/sermons/2022/08/grace-in-the-mundane)
- [Consider Me Underwhelmed (Ephesians 1:3-14, 2022-09-04)](/CoGElPaso/sermons/2022/09/consider-me-underwhelmed)
- [Sovereign Grace At the Bottom of It All (Ephesians 1:3-5, 2022-09-11)](/CoGElPaso/sermons/2022/09/sovereign-grace-at-the-bottom-of-it-all)

## About
- [About the church](/about)
- [Plan a visit](/visit)

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