(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Man, the title of my sermon this morning is, Salvation is a Done Deal. Salvation is a Done Deal. If people would understand this truth that I'm preaching on this morning, of just how much of a done deal our salvation already is, then the thought of being able to lose your salvation would just be absurd and unthinkable. Now there's so many scriptures in the Bible that teaches that we cannot lose our salvation, but this morning I'm really just going to focus in on Ephesians chapter 1 and just show you how much has already happened and what you already possess now that you are saved as a Christian. And with that in mind, it just becomes unthinkable that anyone can ever lose their salvation. And by the way, people who teach that you can lose your salvation, they're basically just teaching a works-based salvation and they're trying to dress it up and try to pretend that they're not teaching works-based salvation. But let me tell you something, if I have to live a certain way or practice a certain way in order to stay saved, then that would mean salvation is by works. Okay, either Jesus paid for our salvation or not. And if Jesus paid for our salvation, he didn't just make the down payment and then we have to make the payments every month. And as soon as we don't pay it, our salvation is going to get foreclosed upon. No, Jesus already has paid it all. We are already saved. It's done. We are totally redeemed and saved and that's what we're going to get into this morning. So let's just look at the beginning of verse number 1 here. We're going to focus on the first half of this chapter, but it says in Ephesians chapter 1 verse 1, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus, grace be to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. So the first thing we want to look at is, who is he writing to in this first chapter as he talks about all the blessings that we have through our salvation in Christ? Well, he's writing to the saints and to the faithful. Now, what does it mean when the Bible says saints? Let's flip over in our Bible to some other, keep your finger here. You can either just listen or turn to these, but we're going to look at Romans chapter 1, 1 Corinthians chapter 1, 2 Corinthians chapter 1. Let's look at some other scriptures that bring up saints so that we can figure out biblically who are the saints. Because, of course, the Roman Catholics come along and they have this kind of elite type of Christian who becomes a saint, and oftentimes they become a saint after they die, right? They've died and then, oh, well, looking back they were a saint or whatever. And the idea here is just this super small number of special Christians who performed miracles or did great things or whatever, and it's totally bogus. And then they pray to the saints, right? When, of course, the Bible says there's one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, they're praying to the saints instead of praying to the Father in the name of the Son, Jesus. And so the Bible teaches that all Christians are saints. Anyone who is saved, anyone who has believed on Jesus is a saint, according to the Bible. You don't have to do anything special in addition to become a saint. Look at Romans chapter 1, verse 7. It says, And so notice that he's writing to the saints in Rome. Wouldn't it be silly to think that the epistle to the Romans is just written to a few special, highly elite Christians? Or wouldn't you say it's written to all the saints in Rome, all the saved people in Rome, all the Christians in Rome? But let me show you one that's even more explicit. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter number 1. 1 Corinthians chapter number 1 says this in verse 2. Look, everybody in every place who calls upon the name of the Lord is also a saint, right? Because those that are in Corinth are called to be saints, but they're called to be saints along with everybody else, everywhere else, who calls upon the name of the Lord. Because it's calling upon the name of the Lord that makes us saints. We are sanctified in Christ Jesus. We are made saints, made holy in Christ Jesus. You don't have to turn to these for the sake of time, but 2 Corinthians 1, 1. So there's the church in Corinth, and then there's all the other saints that are scattered around the region, not just a few special people like Mother Teresa or John Paul II, or these people that are literally burning in hell right now, or these other made-up fictional stories of saints from the past, legends of Catholicism. No, it's just, hey, the Church of God at Philippi, the Church of God at Corinth, oh, and all the other saints in that area. You don't have to turn there, but Philippians chapter 1, verse 1, it says Paul and Timothy as the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus, which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons. So notice, the saints, they're not even just the bishops and deacons, which you would say are the officers of the church. Those would be the top guys in the church as far as leadership, and yet he says to all the saints with the bishops, including the bishops and the deacons. So the bishops and the deacons aren't the only ones that are saints. They're all saints, and that includes bishops and deacons, but the lay people, they're saints too. And again, it would be absurd to think that Philippians is only being written to this small handful of special people who the Roman Catholic Church has declared to be saints. That is a totally unbiblical doctrine where people get declared to be a saint. No, Jesus makes you a saint when you believe on him. You are a saint if you're saved. Colossians 1 to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ, which are at Colossae. Now, I want to focus on this other word, faithful, to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ, which are at Colossae. Now, the word faithful can mean two different things. Usually in the Bible, the word faithful means trustworthy, reliable, meaning that people can put their faith in you. But faithful can also have the meaning, and if you would turn in your Bible to Galatians chapter 3, faithful can also have the meaning of you are full of faith. You are exercising faith. So you can either be one in whom people are placing their faith, or you can be one who puts your faith in someone or something else. And so in Ephesians chapter 1 here, when it says, he's writing to the saints and to the faithful in Christ Jesus, he's talking about those who believe in Christ, the faithful in Christ, meaning they have faith in Christ. Look, if you would, at Galatians chapter 3. I'll show you that other use of the word that you're maybe not as familiar with. It says in Galatians 3, 6, even as Abraham believed God. So notice Abraham in this passage is the one who's exercising faith in God. He's not being reliable or trustworthy. He is rather believing God's promises. Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Know ye therefore that they which are of faith are the same or the children of Abraham. And the scripture foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith preached before the gospel unto Abraham saying, In these shall all nations be blessed, so that they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. Abraham who believed is the father of all those who believe spiritually. So go back to Ephesians chapter 1, just laying a little foundation there in those first few verses. We that are saved, we have believed in Christ, and we are now the children of God, the children of Abraham. We are the saints by virtue of our faith in Christ. Now let's look at, I'm going to give you nine different things this morning that have already happened. If you have believed on Christ, if you're saved, nine things that have already happened that just prove what a done deal salvation is. First of all, look at Ephesians chapter 1 verse 3. It says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us, notice the past tense, He hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Now this is a verse that's easy to just read over, because of the sort of flowery language here in the epistle. You might just kind of blow past that stuff to try to get to the nitty gritty of what Paul wants to say. But let's stop and dwell on that for a moment, that God has already blessed us with all spiritual blessings. Did He do that on this earth? No, He did that in heavenly places, specifically, right? He has already blessed us with all spiritual blessings. All spiritual blessings in heavenly places. Now, you say, I don't know if you're interpreting that right. Well, let's go to chapter 2, and I'm going to prove to you that I'm interpreting that right, because this is kind of startling, so I don't blame you for being a little skeptical. But look at Ephesians chapter 2 verse 5. It says, Even when we were dead in sins, He hath quickened us together with Christ. Right? Already done. He has quickened us together with Christ, by grace ye are saved, and hath raised us up together, and made us to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Now look, that's a little bit startling, because I don't remember God ever making me sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. God has already blessed us with all these spiritual blessings in heavenly places, and He has already made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Now look, obviously we physically, literally, have not yet gone to those heavenly places yet. We have not gone to heaven. And you'll see this term used throughout the book of Ephesians about heavenly places. It's talking about just what it sounds like. It's talking about heaven. Okay? But in God's mind, from God's perspective, we are already there. We're already there. Which is why, in the book of Revelation, the apostle John could look out and see a great multitude, which no man could number, of all kindreds, tongues, and people, and nations, and you and I are in that crowd. I've never seen the apostle John before, but the apostle John saw me almost 2,000 years ago on the Isle of Patmos, because he went and looked forward into the end times in the book of Revelation. He was caught up spiritually, and he saw in the end times, and he saw a great multitude that no man could number, and it was all of the saved, and we're in that number, and so, you know, I don't know if he saw me or not. I tried to get his attention. I don't know. I'm gonna try to get his attention, I should say. I'd be like, hey, remember me. But the point is that we have been, from God's perspective, you know, God's looking at us, we've been made to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. You know, we're already, as far as he's concerned, we're already there. It's a done deal. It's not questionable. Those that are saved right now, we're going to heaven, and it's a sure thing. But not only that, if you look at the verse we just read, we've already been resurrected with Christ spiritually, right? Because the Bible says there, even when we were dead in sins, he hath quickened us together with Christ. So, just as Jesus Christ was made alive, made alive, that's what quickened means, right? Made alive, brought to life. Just as Christ Jesus died and was buried, and then three days later, he was quickened, right? He came back to life. He said, I'm he that liveth and I was dead, but I'm alive forevermore, amen, and have the keys of hell and of death. Just as Jesus Christ was quickened, resurrected, we also, because we have believed on Christ, we've been quickened together with Christ, according to verse 5 there. We've been quickened together with Christ, meaning that we've already been resurrected. Now think about this. What is so significant about the resurrection of Christ, because we see other miracles throughout the Bible where a dead body comes back to life, right? Elisha raised a dead body back to life, or Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. What's special about the resurrection of Christ is that he is resurrected never to die again. He's resurrected immortal. That's what the resurrection of Christ is. It's not just a resuscitation. It's a resurrection from the dead unto life eternal. Jesus Christ dieth no more, the Bible says. Death hath no more dominion over him. Well, we have been quickened together with Christ. So are we going back in the grave? No, it's done. We were already dead. We've already been resurrected, and therefore we have eternal life. We will never die. The whole body will die, but I'm talking about the soul, the spirit. That is the part of us that has already been resurrected with Christ. Now our body hasn't yet been resurrected. That's still coming in the future. The bodily resurrection comes in the future. But our spirit has already been resurrected, and our spirit already has eternal life. Just as Christ dies no more, hey, we die no more spiritually. We are saved, and we are eternally saved. We have eternal life because, number one, we've already been resurrected with Christ spiritually. Number two, we've already been made to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. But let's keep going through this passage. It says in verse 4, According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will. So, number three, we've already been chosen and predestinated to the adoption of children. That is our destiny, right? It's already been predetermined that we will have that inheritance in heaven be adopted as sons of God when we get to heaven. It's been chosen and predestinated that we would be adopted as children. Already done, right? It says, He hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will. Now look, a lot of people will take this passage and a few others in the New Testament and try to teach a false doctrine called Calvinism. And what Calvinism is, it's this idea that God chooses which people go to heaven and which people go to hell on an individual basis. So that basically, you know, he chose this guy, but he didn't choose this guy. This guy can never be saved because God didn't pick that guy. But this guy will get saved because God picked him before the foundation of the world. And according to the Calvinists, this choice is based on nothing. Now, first of all, this is an illogical doctrine. Here's why it's illogical, because choosing based on nothing is illogical. Choice always implies a criteria, okay? If I close my eyes and reach into a bag of marbles and pull out a marble, I have not chosen a marble. That is not election. That is not selection. That is not choice. That is random, okay? Choice would be if I looked in the bag and chose and said, hey, well, let's use a better example, Mike and Ike's, okay? Let's say I looked into the box of Mike and Ike's and said, hey, I am going to choose the yellow Mike and Ike's, and I go in and I choose the yellow ones, versus just reaching in and grabbing a handful. That's not choosing. You did not choose. You just grabbed a bunch. Does everybody understand what I'm saying? Choice needs criteria. For example, a presidential election. Is that random? Okay, well, they say, well, it's not random. It's just according to the mystery of his will, and it's an unknown criteria that only he knows, only he understands or something. It's just a hidden criteria. He chooses according to some criteria, but yet their doctrine, TULIP, the U stands for unconditional election. So that sounds like there's no condition at all. It's totally unconditional. That sounds random. Here's another word for that, random. Let me tell you what we call unconditional election, random election, which is no election at all. I mean, unconditional election is an oxymoron, because the very word elect implies some kind of a criteria. I mean, think about it. When we choose a president, there are certain criteria that he has to meet. He has to be a certain age. He has to be born in the United States. Obama. He has to also be the person that people want to vote for and choose. Okay, so what's the condition for salvation? The condition is faith in Jesus Christ, believing in Jesus Christ. And look, nothing could be more obvious in the Bible when over and over again the Bible says that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life, right? All throughout the Bible. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Whosoever believeth in him, right? He that believeth on me has everlasting life, right? By grace are you saved through faith, the Bible says, and that not of yourselves, the salvation is not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, it's not of works lest any man should boast, it is by faith that you are saved. The criteria for being saved is faith. He that believeth on him is not condemned. He that believeth not is condemned already. Hmm, I wonder what the condition of our salvation is. So, just because we're chosen doesn't mean that there's no criteria. The criteria is faith in Jesus. And you say, well, no, because, pastor, he chose us before the world began, before we had ever exercised faith. Okay, that's why the Bible clearly states that we are elect according to the foreknowledge of God. God knows in advance who is going to place their faith in Jesus Christ. And he has chosen not individuals like, okay, I'm going to save Varen, but Anselm is going to hell. You know, that's not the kind of choice he makes. Because he freely offers Varen and Anselm salvation. Of course, they've already both made the right choice. But the point is, he already has died for all of our sins, he tasted death for every man, he offers it to both of them, and then they both have the opportunity to either place their faith in Christ and be saved or not. But God already knows what they're going to do before they do it. Whatever people are going to get saved this week out on soul winning, God already knew that they were going to get saved. But that doesn't mean that God, you know, just pulled out the phone book and just started just randomly picking people that are going to be saved and others that are going to be damned. He foreknew who would be saved and who wouldn't. 1 Peter chapter 1, verse 2, you don't have to turn there, but the Bible says, So we're elect according to the foreknowledge of God. That's what the selection is in accordance with, what he foreknows. He has chosen in advance that believers in general will be elect. And specifically in Ephesians 1, he has chosen in advance that Gentile believers are going to be the chosen people in the New Testament. Whereas in the Old Testament, the chosen people were the Jews, in the New Testament, all Christians are chosen people if they're saved. Now, it is not a coincidence that the three passages that Calvinists love to harp on the most and get their doctrine from the most, which are Romans chapter 9, Ephesians chapter 1, and 1 Peter chapter 1, those are the three passages that they really emphasize, okay? It's no coincidence that all three of these are right next to the three most major passages on the Gentiles being God's chosen people in the New Testament. Because think about it, if you wanted to really harp on the fact that saved Christian Gentiles are God's chosen people in the New Testament, where would you go in your Bible? You'd go, okay, Ephesians 2, let's go. Because Ephesians 2, the second half of the chapter, that's all it's about. Where else would you go? You'd be like, alright, let's go, Romans 9, Romans 11. Those would be your go-to passages for proving replacement theology, for proving that the Jews are no longer God's chosen people, but that it's Christians of all nationalities. You'd go to Ephesians 2, you'd go to Romans 9 and Romans 11, you'd go to 1 Peter chapter 2, where he literally says, you are a chosen generation, you are a holy nation, which in time past were not a people, but now are the people of God. I mean, look, when we made a t-shirt that said, we are the chosen people, what was the reference given? 1 Peter 2, 9 and 10, that's the little Bible verse at the bottom. Why? Because those are the big ones. Is it a coincidence that the big Calvinist passages are right by the big Gentiles are now the chosen people if they're saved passages? Let me tell you why. Because the Calvinists are misunderstanding these passages. The reason Paul is emphasizing that you're elect, that you're chosen, is he's writing to Gentiles, Peter is writing to Gentiles, and they're saying what? They're saying, look, you guys are now the elect. Isn't that great? Isn't it exciting that you guys are elect now? Isn't it great that you're chosen? He's not like, hey, isn't it great that your neighbor Bob is damned eternally and there's nothing he can do about it, but you got picked for salvation? Isn't that cool? That's not what he's saying. Does everybody see the difference? Yes, God chose to save those who believe on him. God chose that the Gentiles would be fellow heirs with the Jews that believe in Christ. He did not say, okay, he didn't go down to the hospital where the babies are born and just be like, heaven, hell, hell, hell, heaven, hell, hell, hell, hell, heaven, heaven, hell, hell, heaven, hell, hell. Unconditional election. It's garbage. It's a false doctrine. Now, some people will try to say, well, you know, when it says foreknowledge, it doesn't just mean foreknowledge, you know. It doesn't just mean, like, to know things in advance. When you hear foreknowledge, doesn't that just mean knowing something in advance? Like, what if I said, hey, the government had foreknowledge of the Pearl Harbor attack? Now, turn in your Bible because I want you to see this. Keep something in Ephesians 1 because we're going to be there the whole sermon, but go to Acts chapter 2 because I want to show you this because if I said they had foreknowledge of the Pearl Harbor attack, it means they knew about it in advance. Is that hard to understand? But these theologians come along and say, you know, well, when the Bible says foreknew, it actually... And I heard James White and other Calvinists use this stupid argument, almost a perverse argument, saying, well, it's like when Adam knew his wife Eve. I mean, is that the dumbest thing you've ever heard? You know, the Bible uses a euphemism, Adam knew his wife. It means that he slept with his wife. It means that he had relations with his wife. But the Bible doesn't want to just spell out, you know, those type of things sometimes. So it'll say, like, he lay with her or he knew her or something like that. Everybody understand? So then these bozo so-called academics or theologians come along and say, well, when the Bible says he foreknew them, it means he foreknew them. It's like, you're weird, man. Why are you making it weird? And then they'll say, depart from me, I never knew you. It's like, what the? That's not what the Bible is teaching. That's stupid. But let me just prove to you that that's false. Because we've got to let the Bible define the Bible. Just because the Bible uses the word know to talk about carnal knowledge of your wife, you know things that other people aren't supposed to know? Okay, here's the deal. When that doesn't mean every time the Bible says no, we just have to get all weird about it. You know, it's like, every time we see the word know, we're just going to make it weird. Isn't that a weird way to read the Bible? In fact, it's stupid. It's absurd. It's ludicrous. It's nonsensical. Okay, no. When the Bible says no in that context, it's pretty obvious, hey, Adam knew his wife and conceived and had a son. You can't take that definition of know and just start putting it everywhere. But when it comes to God's foreknowledge in particular, right? The Bible says we're elect according to the foreknowledge of God. That means He knows in advance who will believe on Him and who will not. That's it. It doesn't mean He chooses who will believe on Him and who won't. It means He knows who will believe on Him and He chooses those people. Does that make sense? Here's another verse, Romans 829. For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son. And by the way, this is why the Calvinist doctrine is often called predestination because they're misreading this verse when it says, whom He did foreknow, He did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son. What the Bible is saying is He foreknew, He knew in advance who would be saved, who would believe in Jesus, and then He said, okay, this group that will believe in me, I'm going to predestinate them to be conformed to the image of My Son. I'm going to give them adoption. I'm going to give them an inheritance. I'm going to give them all these spiritual blessings in heavenly places. Does that make sense? Look at Acts 2, 23, and let's see who's right about the foreknowledge of God. Look at Acts 2, 23. Him, talking about Jesus, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. You know what the Bible says? That God already knew in advance that the Jews were going to kill Jesus. He wasn't shocked when Jesus showed up and the Jews screamed, crucify Him. He already knew that. God delivered him up to that fate. God allowed that to happen because it was ultimately His will that Jesus would die on the cross for our sins and be the payment for our sins. And so He was delivered by the determinate counsel. Determinate counsel is Him, you know, determining, hey, this is how things are going to go down, and just the foreknowledge. He knows what's going to happen. The determinate counsel and the foreknowledge of God. Now, is this talking about knowing someone? Did He know the Romans and know the Jews or whatever weirdo thing that is? No, or is God's foreknowledge mean He knew in advance? Shouldn't that just be the obvious meaning of the text? Unless you have an agenda, unless you're just married to this weird, you know, fatalistic, Calvinistic predestination doctrine where we can't change anything and it's already all predetermined and God just picked me to go to heaven for no reason, I'm just special for no reason. No, my friend, that's nonsense, okay? Unless you're married to that doctrine going in, it's pretty obvious what foreknowledge means. It means that God knew in advance. I've got to hurry up for the sake of time. But number one, we said we already have this, as saved Christians, we've already been resurrected with Christ spiritually. How could we die again? How could we die spiritually when we've already been resurrected? Otherwise, our resurrection is a Lazarus-style resurrection. But no, we have a Jesus-style resurrection because the Bible says that we are quickened together with Christ. Number two, in addition to being resurrected with Christ, we've already been made to sit together in heavenly places. Number three, we've already been chosen and predestinated to the adoption of children and that's, of course, based on the foreknowledge of God. But number four, not only have we been predestinated to the adoption of children, we have already been adopted as children as well. Now, how can these things both be true? How can we be both already adopted and predestinated to the adoption of children? This, again, goes back to the same thing that I said earlier about how our spirit right now has been quickened. Our spirit has been resurrected, but someday our body will be resurrected. Well, it's the same thing when it comes to the adoption of children. I am already a son of God spiritually. When it comes to my spirit, when it comes to the inside, when it comes to my soul inside me, I am already a child of God. This is what the Bible says in 1 John 3. You don't have to turn there. Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God. Therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now! Get that. Beloved, now! Now are we the sons of God. Now are we the sons of God. And it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. So at this time, spiritually, we are the sons of God. But at the second coming of Christ, the Bible says he will change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able, even to subdue all things unto himself. So inside, spiritually, I am already a son of God, but physically, it is just the same old sinful flesh from before I was saved. Same vile body, same sinful flesh, same sinful tendencies in my DNA, and in my mind, and in my naturalistic behavior. It is all still there. But one day, actually, when Christ returns, or once I die, right, I'll shed this sinful body. And did you know that the resurrection of my physical body is called the adoption? The adoption. Why? Because that is when the body becomes a child of God, right? The spirit's already a child of God. The body becomes a child of God. Listen to this. It says in Romans 8, verse 23, Not only they, but we ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. So the redemption of our body is the adoption we're waiting for, but we're now the sons of God, spiritually. Then we'll even physically be the sons of God, because our body will be changed in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, to be fashioned like unto His glorious body. Now, don't make this weird, either, okay? Because the weird ruckmanites will say that, like, we're all going to look identical to Jesus in heaven. What kind of a weird thing is that? Like, we're all just walking around just as this army of Jesus clones. And, you know, I've even heard some of these weirdos teach that the women will even be a Jesus clone, and that all the women will become male. Is that the weirdest thing you've ever heard? You know, the ruck-tardation just never ceases to amaze. But here's the thing. What it means when it says our body is going to be fashioned like unto His glorious body is that we're going to be immortal like Him. We're not going to have the physical ailments that we have right now, right? We're going to have perfection, even physically. Okay? It's sort of like my kids. They look like me, don't they? But are they just a bunch of little clones of me? No. We're going to look like Jesus in the sense that we're going to have a glorified body, like Jesus has a glorified body. We're not going to be literal clones. That's absurd. So, we have the adoption, in one sense, spiritually. We also are predestinated to a future adoption, which is a spiritual redem... Excuse me, a physical redemption, a physical resurrection. And look, I know that some of the things in this sermon might be a little complicated. Don't tune out and just go home and watch cartoons or something. You need to focus on what the Word of God is saying this morning and understand these things and grasp these things. God has given us this chapter so that we can think about it, so we can meditate on it, so we can grasp it, so we can understand it and not judge, Oh, this is too complicated. Let me go back to social media where everything's explained in 30 seconds and I can just keep swiping every 30 seconds as I drool upon myself. No, my friend, this is not a complicated sermon. We're taking difficult truths and we're breaking them down. Number one, we've already been resurrected with Christ. Number two, we've already been made to sit together in heavenly places because God dwells outside of time and He could show John us already up there. Number three, we've already been chosen and predestinated to the adoption of children. Of course, we understand that's due to the foreknowledge of God. We're going to get to that later. Number four, we've already been adopted as children spiritually. We're already God's children spiritually. Now are we the sons of God? But number five, look at verse six. To the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved. We've already been accepted in the Beloved. We've already made it in. We were talking about before the service being accepted into a college or something. We've already got the acceptance letter from heaven. We're in! It's not a conditional acceptance. Because we've already met the condition. Because we've already believed on Jesus Christ. And we've been accepted. We're in! And you know, getting into heaven is a lot better than getting into whatever the school. That's a temporary thing. This is eternal! We are already accepted in the Beloved. Number six, we already have redemption through Christ's blood. Look at verse seven. In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace. Verse seven, we already have the forgiveness of sins. We don't have to wait to get our sins forgiven. We don't have to go talk to some guy in a dress behind a screen door to get our sins forgiven. No, we already have redemption and we already have the forgiveness of sins through His grace. Now, what does redemption mean? Well, I think the best illustration I could give you of redemption would be that of a slave or a POW. This is how this word is often used. So let me explain it to you from a slave perspective. Let's say someone is a slave, right? And I want to make that slave free. Then what I could do is I could just buy them from their master and then give them freedom. So I could just, let's say the slave market is selling slaves and they're selling a slave for a thousand bucks. I bring a thousand bucks and I say, I want to buy that slave right there. I put down my thousand bucks and then the slave's like, all right, I'm your slave now. It's like, all right, you're free now. I have just redeemed that guy. Right? And then let's say that guy that I redeemed, that slave that I redeemed, let's say he says, well, you know what, I don't want to be the only one who's redeemed because what about my sister? She's in slavery right now. And then let's say he goes and works and saves up the money. Then he can go redeem his sister by paying off the debt or buying her out of slavery. Does that make sense? That's what Christ has done for us. We are slaves in bondage to sin. We owe a debt that we cannot pay. Christ came along, paid it for us, and now he has set us free. We are redeemed. Another illustration would be that of a POW, a prisoner of war. Right? Let's say two armies are fighting and certain people are captured and they're prisoner of war. Sometimes what they'll do is a prisoner exchange. We got five of your guys. You got five of our guys. Let's trade prisoners. Right? Governments do this all the time, constantly. Right? All throughout the 20th century this was taking place in various wars. Think about things like World War II or something. Right? There are going to be exchanges of prisoners that happen. Okay? Well, here's the thing. What if one side has way more prisoners than the other side? Instead of a prisoner exchange, it might be something along the lines of, Hey, we're going to give you a million dollars and you're going to give us those 150 guys. Or we're going to give you 10 million dollars and you're going to give us those 500 guys back. And basically it's like an exchange but it's a redemption. We are redeeming them. We are purchasing their freedom. That's what Christ has done for us. He purchased our freedom with his blood as the currency. We have redemption through his blood because his blood is what pays for our redemption. We already have redemption through his blood. We already have forgiveness of sins through his grace. The Bible says in verse 8, Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to the good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him. What does he mean here when he says he's going to gather all things in one? Well, again, we don't want to understand these things out of context. Just like chosen and elect has to be put in context of the whole Jew versus Gentile issue that he's going to delve into in chapter 2, what else is he going to talk about in chapter 2? How he has broken down the middle wall of partition between Jew and Gentile and of those two, he has made one. That's the language that he uses throughout Ephesians. Of the two, he has made one. Chapter 1, 2, and chapter 3 of Ephesians, all three of these chapters are exploring these themes of the Gentiles being accepted in the Beloved, God's chosen people consisting of all believers, and God making one what used to be two. Jews, Gentiles, now it's just one. It's just the people of God, it's just Christians, regardless of ethnicity, regardless of background, or regardless of adherence to the law of Moses, or circumcision, uncircumcision, those type of things. And so, he will make one. Look at verse 11, number 8, we've already obtained an inheritance. The Bible says, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, meaning that we have our inheritance sitting up there in heaven, reserved in heaven for us, waiting in heaven for us. Jesus said, in My Father's house are many mansions. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go, I will come again and receive you unto Myself, that where I am, there ye may be also. How do we get there? Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh as a father but by Me. That's the famous passage in John 14. And so, we already have a home in heaven. In fact, from God's perspective, we're already seated up there in heavenly places. We already have an inheritance. We have a home in heaven already waiting for us. We've already obtained an inheritance. It's as good as ours. In whom also we've obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him, who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will, that we should be to the praise of His glory, who first trust in Christ. Do not miss this word first. Because, again, let's deal with the Calvinists for a minute. They abuse this passage. They misunderstand this passage. And they're missing that fun little word first because here's the thing about that word first is that you get all these blessings that we're talking about after you trust in Jesus Christ. You've got to believe in Jesus first. You trust in Jesus first. Get the order right. Because you have these bozo Calvinists come along and say, oh, regeneration precedes faith. And look, I'm not saying that all Calvinists believe that stupidity because they don't. I've heard Calvinists argue with each other about this. But this idea that regeneration precedes faith or that salvation precedes faith, isn't that what regeneration is? You know, being a new creature, being made new, being resurrected, being quickened together with Christ, they claim these radical Calvinists will claim, regeneration precedes faith. Regeneration comes before faith. Getting saved comes before faith. That's stupid. You're saved by faith. You believe on Jesus Christ. And that's how you get saved. You believe, then you're saved. What does the Bible say? Read it with me right there. It says, in whom we also have obtained an inheritance, verse 11, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will, that we should be the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ. First we trusted in Christ. Does everybody get it? Then we obtained an inheritance. As soon as you believe in Christ, now you've got a home waiting for you in heaven. But first you've got to believe in Christ. Now you could say, well, that's not chronological or temporal, first. It's more like conditional or causal. Okay, great. Because you trusted in Christ, you have these things. Either way, whether logically or chronologically, sorry, regeneration doesn't precede faith. Faith precedes regeneration. It's called first trusting in Christ, then you're quickened with Christ, then you've obtained an inheritance, then you have the spirit of adoption. So let's get the order straight. And as we keep reading, you're going to see that order reiterated. It says in the next verse, and here's the thing. God can predestinate before the foundation of the world due to his foreknowledge. But in our timeline, we're living in time. God dwells outside of time. In our timeline, first you believe in Christ, then you receive these blessings. Now, God's already got stuff ready for you because he knew in advance that you were going to believe in Christ. But from a causal perspective and from our chronology, first you trust in Christ. Nothing could be clearer. It says in verse number 13, And whom also ye trusted after, after that you heard the word of truth. Notice, again, we just finished saying you first trust in Christ, then you got the inheritance. Now we're getting another order here. You trusted in Jesus after you heard the word of truth. So first you hear the Bible, then you trust in Christ. Does everybody see that? The gospel of your salvation. In whom also, after ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. So again, unless you're coming to the text with a preconceived idea, and you know, these Calvinists love to use their big theological words, you know, they're doing eisegesis, right? Eisegesis means that they're reading into the text something that isn't there. They want to read into the text this idea that regeneration precedes faith, although the Bible does not teach that. The Bible gives us an order. So if we do eisegesis, then we will see here that it is first you trust in Christ, then you get the inheritance, first you hear the word of truth, then you believe in Christ, after you believe in Christ, then you are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. You're not sealed with the Holy Spirit until after you trust in Christ. Get the order right. So ironically, one of the Calvinists' favorite passages is sort of defeating their own argument. And again, I'm not saying that all Calvinists believe that nonsense of regeneration preceding faith because not all of them are that far gone. But number nine, the last point, is this. We've already been sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise. And this is a good one. Don't underestimate this one when it comes to the fact that we cannot lose our salvation. It says in verse 14, which is the earnest of our inheritance. So the Bible says after you believed at the end of verse 13, you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. After you believed, you were past tense sealed. And by the way, this is a great place to get a good definition on believe because what is believe being used interchangeably with? What word? Trusted, believed. Trusted, believed. What does it mean to believe on Christ? It means you're trusting Christ for your salvation. You're not trusting your good life. You're not trusting the fact that you got sin out of your life. You're not trusting the fact that you're keeping the commandments. You're trusting what Jesus did on the cross. Folks, believing in Jesus isn't simply believing that He existed. It's not simply believing intellectual facts about Christ. It is trusting Christ as your Savior. That's why a person can believe in Jesus where they just believe in the existence of Christ or the facts about Christ. And then if they turn around and say, Yeah, but I'm going to heaven because I'm a good person. I'm going to heaven because I keep the commandments. I'm going to heaven because I'm following the laws of God. Are they trusting Christ? No. And they're not going to heaven because you've got to believe in Christ, meaning trust in Christ, meaning you're going to heaven because of Him, not because of you. Am I going to heaven because of me? Because I have gone to the confessional booth and I have gone to church and I have repented of all my sins and I have cleaned up my life and I don't drink anymore and whatever. No. I'm going to heaven because I believed in Jesus, because I trusted Him. I trusted His death, His perfect life leading up to that, His burial, His resurrection. We trusted Christ. We believed in Christ. After that, as a consequence of that, we've been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance. Who's ever bought a house before and you know what earnest money is? Earnest money is money that you put down. When you make an offer on a house, you put a little earnest money down, and here's what that means. It means I'm serious. I'm not just going to back out willy-nilly. I'm putting down this money, and if I back out for no reason, it's because it means I lose my money. So you say, I'm offering you this much, and here's a thousand bucks to let you know I'm serious. Or here's ten thousand bucks to let you know I'm really serious. Right? Everybody knows what I'm talking about? It's sort of like, you know, you could also just think of it, if you want to think of it in simpler terms, you just think of it as a down payment. You know, Christ has already made the down payment on our full redemption, including a bodily resurrection, including a mansion in heaven, the whole package that we're going to get for all eternity. Christ is saying, hey, I'm going to just blow and smoke at you when I say you're seated in heavenly places with Christ. I'm not just blowing smoke at you when I say I go to prepare a place for you. I'm not just blowing smoke at you when I say that you've been quickened, and you've been redeemed, and you've been forgiven. In fact, let me just give you a little taste of what's coming. Here's the Holy Spirit indwelling you. I'm going to come live inside of you, and then you'll know that I'm serious. I'm serious. The Holy Ghost dwelling inside me lets me know, hey, I'm saved, and it's not like the Holy Ghost is just going to leave. He said, I'll never leave you nor forsake you. Okay? God's Holy Spirit is not just in me, but He has actually sealed me, right? We are sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. You know, what does that mean, sealed? You know, it means it's locked up tight. It's a done deal, right? He sealed the deal. You know, I said, hey, you know, I'm in the process of buying this car. Let me go down there and seal the deal. Let me tell you something. Our salvation is a sealed deal. It's a done deal. The Holy Spirit proves that. Now, there are verses in the Bible that say something like, now is our salvation nearer than when we believed, that kind of puts salvation or redemption in the future, like, hey, we're waiting for the spirit of adoption, the redemption of our body, because there are some aspects of salvation that are still future as far as, like, our body being saved, our body being redeemed, or, you know, right now we've been saved from the present. We've been saved from the power of sin. We've been saved from the penalty of sin. Someday we'll be saved from the presence of sin, where we will just not even have to be around sin at all. So we need to understand that anything about our salvation that's still coming in the future should not make us doubt it for one second, because we already have the earnest of the spirit. You know, what does earnest mean? If I pled with someone earnestly, it means I'm being serious. God is serious about this thing of salvation. We have the earnest. So we don't have to wonder, oh, man, are you going to save me when the time comes? Am I going to go to heaven when the time comes? I don't know. Well, yes, I do know, because I already have the earnest. I've already cast the check, and the check's good. The money's in the bank. I'm going to give you one last verse. Verily, verily, I say unto you, this is Jesus speaking. John 5.24. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me. Funny, those are the same conditions in Ephesians 1. In whom also ye trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth. Sounds like Paul's teaching the same gospel as Jesus. He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, there's your condition, right there, faith cometh by hearing, those two are connected, has now, present tense, half everlasting life. He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath, has. You know, Mike Tyson would say hath, we would say has, right? He hath everlasting life. Amen? And the reason I tell you that is because it helps you understand what hath means, because some people are like, oh, the King James is so hard to understand. Just talk like Mike Tyson, and you're going to say hath. He hath salvation. He hath everlasting life. He hath salvation through Jesus. So do you see how S's and T-H's can sometimes change over time? Yeah, oh wow, so hard to figure out. He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, has everlasting life. Not had in the past, not will get in the future, has everlasting life. If you have everlasting life, your life's never going to end. When your body dies, life goes on in heaven. He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation. Well, you know, unless, shut up, it's never. He shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life. And so here's a tenth little bonus point. We've already been passed from death to life. We've come full circle. The first point was we've been quickened with Christ. We've already been passed from death to life. How could we come to condemnation? How could we lose our salvation? How could we ever be dead again when we've been resurrected the way Jesus was resurrected? It's a done deal. It's been signed. It's been sealed. And it is going to be delivered. No question about it. I mean, you know, these people, well, I don't know. Well, okay. Well, what about like in 500 B.C., would you have been like, well, I don't know if the Messiah's really coming. I don't know if God's really going to save us. Christ is the lamb slain from the foundation of the world because if God says he's going to do something, he's going to do it. If he said in the Garden of Eden that he's going to send the Messiah, if he's going to send the Lord Jesus Christ to save us, it's going to happen. And it did happen. Well, if he says he's going to save us, he gave us the earnest of the Spirit, he's going to save us. Why? Because we heard and believed. No works involved. We heard and we believed. That's why I just have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for our salvation. Lord, we thank you for all of these wonderful blessings that we already have, Lord, and that we don't have to wonder about what you're going to do in the future because you've let us know that you're serious. You've already redeemed us, forgiven us, quickened us, saved us. Lord, thank you so much that salvation is easy and that it's simply through faith in Jesus and it's in his name we pray, amen.