In preparation for yesterday’s message on Ephesians 1:4 (and the one or two that will follow it), I have not only done a fair bit of reading, but have also listened to a number of sermons that have benefited me. The ones I have linked below have been the greatest help to me. [Aside: I greatly appreciate Tom Pennington’s ministry — his sermons are always well-crafted and coherent; they always help me to understand the passage more clearly and at the same time minister to the need of my heart as well.]
- Tom Pennington, Ephesians Series:
- John Piper, “God Has Chosen Us in Him Before the Foundation of the Earth”
- John Piper, “God Predestined Us unto Sonship in Jesus Christ”
While the topic of divine election is often debated and questioned, once understood in its fulness, it becomes a source of great comfort and hope. In election, God is exalted as the sovereign God that He is. And because He is sovereign (and therefore, trustworthy), fears of the loss of salvation are removed.
My continuance and preservation in the faith is not dependent upon me, but dependent upon God who chose me to be His, knowing all the sins, wayward and perverse thoughts, self-glorifying motives, and ungodly desires I would ever have. He chose me knowing all that I would be; and because He chose me, my continuance is not dependent upon my rigtheous acitvity, but on Christ’s righteousness gloriously applied to me.
[But more on that next Sunday…]
Words of Grace 