You are not here by chance. You're here by choice. Dr. Tony Evans says that's why we're not just living. We're living out God's intentional design.
What God is saying is that you are not a mistake. God planned it this way. This is the alternative broadcast featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr. Tony Evans.
We don't always understand why things happen the way they do, but that doesn't mean they're random. Today, Dr. Evans takes us behind the scenes of history to reveal God's eternal plan and how each of us fits into it. Let's join him in Ephesians chapter 1 as he unpacks the blessings God designed for us before the world even began. Today in verses 4 through 14, Paul wants to let you know how this came about, that you have been privileged, I have been privileged, to be so well off spiritually. How did we get all of this voluminous expression of God's goodness made available to us on the level that you will come to discover is beyond your wildest dreams? He answers that in verses 4 through 14. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit collaborated and worked out a plan to provide mankind all the resources that we are coming to enjoy. The first thing he says in verse 4 relative to the Father, the Father that he has spoken of in verse 2 of our Lord Jesus Christ, just 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 to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to himself according to the kind intention of his will.
Why? To the praise of the glory of his grace, which he freely bestows on us in the beloved. Here we're introduced to the mystery of election, that God has selected you.
The Bible teaches clearly election. You are not here by mistake. You're not here by chance. You're here by choice. God chose you.
Now, the good news is that you don't have to be insecure anymore. God chose you. If you name the name of Jesus Christ, your greatest fears are insignificant because God chose you. What God is saying is that you are not a mistake.
God planned it this way. If you've been chosen by grace, the world should view you as different than they are, that you march out of step because you marched to a different drumbeat. You're different. To be holy meant to be set apart, special. You're not like everybody else. To be blameless means to be unblemished.
It was like the animal that was placed on the altar, no stains, not scarred by this world. So God chose you in order to sanctify you. He didn't choose you and me to make us like the rest of the crowd. And so you oughtn't to feel bad when you're not like the rest of the crowd.
You're not supposed to be. You were chosen to be distinct, separate, unique, unlike them. He not only uses that word, but notice the word in verse five, he predestined. That means to ordain or design in advance or beforehand.
Election deals with people. Predestination deals with purpose. He elects people. He predetermines purposes. And this is a great word because guess what he predetermined? He predetermined his plan. God has come up with a plan that is nothing short of spectacular, a plan for salvation, sanctification, and ultimately glorification, which all of the elect participate in.
And what is the plan? The plan is the plan of adoption, verse five. Adoption is what? As sons through Christ to himself.
This is a very picturesque word. The word adoption in Rome, when you were adopted, it simply meant that you are brought into the family with all the rights and privileges that went to those who were born into the family. In other words, you came into a family as an adult son.
What do I mean? As a full inheritor of all the rights and privilege of the sons by birth. Now, you weren't a natural born son, you were adopted son, but when they adopted you, you might as well have been a natural born son because all the rights and privileges of adult status. In other words, you don't have to wait. You were immediately an inheritor as an adult son.
Now, watch this. God predetermined that all who were going to be elected and who would be elected would also be adopted. So, when they came into the family of God, look at this now, they not only became sons of God, but they became sons and daughters of God with all of the rights and privileges of God's natural born son. Now, who's God's natural born son or better yet his only begotten one of a kind son?
It's Jesus Christ. So, follow this. When God adopted you, because we used to be children of the devil, but when he adopted us from the devil, took us into his family, he did not bring us in as less than his only begotten, he brought us in to be conformed to his only begotten.
So, look at this. All the rights and privileges that go to Jesus comes to us as adult sons. You and I were adopted and then lifted up to Jesus's level and that's why when it says in chapter one, he was seated in heaven on the right hand of the father, he comes in chapter two verse six and says and we were seated with him. That's why heaven is going to be glorious because everything the father does for Jesus, he'll do for us because we've come in as adult sons alongside of Jesus Christ.
We have not only been redeemed and saved, we have been placed in a lofty position as adopted sons and daughters of God. It's part of a plan and that's why this verse, all things work together for good to them that love God and are called according to his purposes, that's predestination, his purposes. You're part of a plan and when things go wrong, they go wrong for you in the plan.
When things are out of kilter, they're out of kilter in the plan and there are no mistakes in the plan. God hasn't forgotten you, skipped you and in your loneliest hour you are the most precious because your loneliness or the things that caused it are in the plan. Nothing sits outside of the plan that God has for his redeemed. You don't always understand it, you can't always figure it out, it's not always clear, but that's why you have to know the father.
That's why you have to know the father. All the rights and privileges that come with being adult sons belongs to us. In Romans chapter 8 verse 19 and verse 29 says that creation waits for the public revelation of the sons of God, that there is coming a day when there will be a public spectacle, when all of the earth will be run by the sons of God under the leadership of Jesus Christ and verse 29 of Romans 8 says and we are being conformed to his image. God the father is so much in love with God the son that he wanted to create a lot of sons and daughters who would look just like his son because he thinks his son is that special. So you and I are part of something huge. How huge is it?
So huge that it was fully arranged before the first person was born. So what we have is the selection of the father and if you are redeemed today, you ought to be the proudest person in the world, you were chosen. You were chosen. While God is not unfair to the rest, he touched you on your shoulder. And if you're saved today and know you're saved today, then there ought not to be pulling teeth for you to praise him.
Ought not to be begging you to praise him. You say, but everything's going wrong in my life, but you were chosen. Things are not right. They're not right by a chosen one.
And if you would ever see that you're chosen, this means you're part of this gigantuous plan. You would do what verse 6 says, to the praise of the glory of grace, which he freely bestowed on us, and I get this, in the beloved. In the beloved. Now that's deep, in Christ, because Christ is God's beloved.
Christ is his beloved. Actually, I could state it this way, only two people have been elected. The first Adam was elected, created, elected to fill the earth, remember? And he failed.
He sinned. Jesus Christ was elected as the last Adam. Whenever the Bible describes our election, it describes it in him. So we are only elected because we're in him. See, divine sovereignty and human responsibility cross each other at the cross.
That's where the two meet. They meet at the same time at the cross, because it's in him. I'm going to heaven because I'm with him. I'm going to live forever because I'm with him. I'm going to get all the rights and privileges that come with being a child of God because I'm with him.
If somebody tries to put me out of heaven after I'm there 100 billion years, I'm going to say, I'm with him. It is my link in the beloved with him. And that's why, listen to me, if you want the plan to hold together for you, you got to make sure you're close to him. See, if you're not him, that doesn't destroy the plan, but it destroys your appreciation and victory within the plan.
You can't destroy the plan, but you can destroy your joy going through the plan. Dr. Evans will return with the second part of our lesson in just a moment. First though, I wanted to let you know that the message you're hearing today is part of Tony's 16-part series on the book of Ephesians called, Ordinary Holy, Finding God in the Mundane. In this powerful collection, Tony explores how God often does his greatest spiritual work in the middle of our most ordinary moments, helping us see that even the routine rhythms of life can become sacred when surrendered to him. If you'd like to dig deeper into this series, to review today's message, or to share it with your small group or family, you can download the complete two-volume set instantly. And we'll also send it to you on CD or USB flash drive as our way of saying thanks for your generous support of Tony's work on the air and in communities around the globe. And as an added way of saying thanks and to help you grow even further, we'll also include his book, Kingdom Living, a practical encouraging guide to building a stronger walk with God and learning to live out your identity in Christ.
This special offer will only be available for a limited time, so get all the details today at tonyevans.org or call our resource team at 1-800-800-3222. I'll repeat that contact information after part two of today's message from Ephesians chapter 1. Secondly is the sacrifice of the Son. There is the selection of the Father, but then there is the sacrifice of the Son. In Him, Christ, we have redemption.
Oh, what a rich word. How were we redeemed? He tells us in verse 7, in Him we have been redeemed through His blood. Redemption came through the price paid by the work of Christ on the cross. Hebrews 9 15 says it clearly that redemption came through the blood, that the blood was necessary before God could treat the problem of sin.
That's true all through the Bible. God required the blood. Now, He doesn't require the blood because there's magical chemicals in the blood. He required the blood because that was the method used to take the life. In other words, the issue of the blood is the taking of the life.
So to require blood meant to take the life. And when you took the life, God accepted it in animals as temporary payment for sin, but only temporary, not long term. But when Jesus Christ died and shed His blood on the cross, which was required, Hebrews 9 22 says, God received that as payment in full for your sins and mine. Sin separates from God. Sin can give you eternal separation from God. Let me tell you the horror of the cross.
My God, my God. Why hast Thou forsaken me? Because you know what happened in that moment? What happened in that moment when there was a breach of fellowship between the Father and the Son, something that hadn't happened for zillions of years, there have never been a time when the Father and the Son were not in perfect harmony with one another, never. But on the cross, while your sins and my sins nailed them, there was a breach in the Trinity, something unknown.
Do you know what that's called? Hell. At the point that Jesus said, my God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me? What you had in that moment was all of eternity in hell packed in it.
And only eternity can fully explain that. Jesus paid for it with the price of his life, and it was not only that someone died, it was who that someone was, the eternal Son of God, who paid the sacrifice for sin, and therefore he is a worthy Savior. And so it was by the redemption of his blood, and what did that accomplish? It accomplished it accomplished atonement, or what he calls in verse 7, forgiveness of our transgressions.
Oh, what a rich word. Sin must be forgiven before the subject can be accepted. Forgiveness means pardon.
It means no longer crediting to one's account. It means set free from the penalty of that which you are guilty of. Psalm 103 verse 12 says that as far as the east is from the west, which is ad infinitum, so I have separated your sins from you. John 1 29, behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. That's a whole other discussion, the sin of the world. See, because I'd like to suggest to you that men don't go to hell because of Adam's sin. Men were transferred Adam's sin, but when Jesus Christ died, he covered that. And men go to hell because they choose sin, because they become their own Adams. That's why babies go to heaven. Babies go to heaven because they don't have personal sin. They just have Adam's sin. Jesus took care of Adam's sin. Since they have no personal sin, they are covered by the death of Christ. They still go to heaven by Christ. People who don't have the capacity to understand the gospel or to receive Jesus Christ because original sin was covered at the cross.
That's why we died for the whole world. But when you come into that age of accountability where you choose sin and choose to reject God, now you're Adam. So don't say, oh, Adam.
Say, oh, Joe. Because it's personal sin. Just as Adam needed his personal covering by the animals, you need your personal covering by Christ. He died for the sins of the world that he might provide forgiveness. This section ends with the same ending of the last section, to the praise and the glory of his grace. And then he says, in him, in Christ, you also, after listening to the message of the truth, he's going to tell you how you got saved, you heard the gospel, the gospel of your salvation, having also believed you trusted Christ, you were sealed in him with the Holy Spirit of promise. Sealing meant a completed transaction, even today, when you do a document and they stamp it, it means the transaction is completed, paid or whatever the seal is. It's a seal of authenticity, like signing a letter. It means it's authentic. The seal secures you and you're sealed with a person. The person is the third member of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit.
Well, what comes with the seal? Verse 14, watch this, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance with a view to the redemption of God's ownership to the praise of his glory. The Greek word pledge is arabon, and that meant a down payment or guarantee of future purchase.
What God has done is he's placed a little bit of heaven in you now by giving you the heavenly one, the Holy Spirit, as a first installment on a bigger purchase. It's like you ladies having an engagement ring. The engagement ring is not the whole thing, but that means that there's a big day coming. The engagement ring speaks of a bunch of other stuff that's going to last a lot longer than the engagement period. It's a pledge. I'm going to marry you.
You may be engaged for two months, six months, one year, two years maybe, but you're married for 30 and 40 and 50. The pledge, the down payment of the ring, talks about a lifetime that is to come. When God gave you the Holy Spirit, the down payment of your inheritance of eternal life, it was giving it to you in anticipation of eternity to come. Or to put it in everyday language, you ain't seen nothing yet. But what do I get to see right now during my engagement period? You get to see periodically the Holy Spirit, who you've been sealed with, bring you clips of heaven.
Listen to this, now. The Holy Spirit's job as your down payment is to give you clips from time to time. And it's a terrible thing to go through your Christian life with just a few clips. Listen, that's why God lets you have trials. He lets you have trials so He can show you a new clip.
Hello. Watch it, man. The Lord will allow this world to mess over you just to show you another clip. And when life is falling in and you fall on your face before God and you say, God, break through.
I need a breakthrough. And He comes with a clip out of nowhere. Guess what you just got?
Down payment. Because you know what's going to happen in heaven? Because you know what's going to happen in heaven? All clips, no commercials. Eternity. No night there will be one clip after another. I'm going to see you at the corner of Gold Street and Silver Boulevard and we're going to meet at that intersection and you're going to say, did you see that? Lord have mercy.
Did you see that? It's going to be staggering because there will be non-stop clips of heaven. You're closest to Christ and your walk in the Spirit determines the clips you get to see while you're waiting. And every now and then, He'll give you a little heaven.
Bam. And then you get upset because it's gone. You know why? Because this ain't heaven, that's why. This is not heaven.
But He'll give you clips now of coming attractions. The pledge of our inheritance is a person, the work of the Spirit. The Spirit is critical for your Christian life for the redemption of our own possession to the praise of His glory.
You're getting the point? Each time. To the praise of the glory of the Father, to the praise of the glory of the Son, praise of the glory of the Spirit, all combined to the praise of the glory of Christ because it's all centered in Jesus Christ since He's the Beloved. All of this is to the praise of His glory. Now, if the reason He's done all this is the praise of His glory, this is the praise of His glory. What should you be doing? Praising the glory of His grace.
That's what you should be doing. It should be a praise fest. Suppose somebody just praised you all the time. Just every time you, you just lavished, you know, that's lavished. You're so good, Lord. You're so beautiful.
Oh, you're so, you're so wonderful. You're so, why make your day if you just nonstop praise, wouldn't it? Guess what we're going to be doing in heaven.
Worthy is the Lamb that was slain before the foundation of the world. It's all praise, nonstop praise because we're going to praise Him. When we see them clips nonstop, we're going to just praise Him and praise Him and praise Him some more. What a plan. What a God. What a Savior. Dr. Tony Evans, unpacking the blessings God designed for us before the world began.
Well, today's message, The Plan of God, is part of Tony's 16-part audio series called Ordinary Holy, a deep dive into the book of Ephesians that shows how God meets us in the everyday. It's yours with our thanks, along with his book, Kingdom Living, when you support Tony's work on this station and beyond. Just visit tonyevans.org, where you'll find all the details right on the homepage, or call 1-800-800-3222 to make your request. Again, that's tonyevans.org or by phone at 1-800-800-3222. It's possible to be rich and still live like you're broke, especially if you don't know what you actually have. Next time, Dr. Evans explains how believers can tap into the spiritual power, wisdom, and hope they already have access to, whether they know it or not. I hope you'll join us.
