according to the eternal purpose that He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.according to the eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord:according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord:
3 sermons cite this verse
Well, let me begin with a short quiz. Let me ask you, apart from the fact that all of these individuals are dead, what do each of them have in common? Winston Churchill, John Lennon, Bill Barker and Michael Jackson. long pause, understandable, each of them, to one degree or another, was hoping that by earthly means they would be enabled to have a part in creating a world of harmony and of hope and of peace. Lenin, imagine there's no countries. It isn't hard to do, nothing to kill or die for, and no religions to. Somewhere along there, he's dreaming of a place, an imaginary place, where people live their lives in peace. That was in 1971. In the same year, Bill Barker, whose name won't be known to most of us, came up. He was an ad agent in Los Angeles. he came up with the Coca-Cola line. I'd like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony, same hope and expectation. Fourteen years later, in 1985, is a chance that we're making. …
Now, we said if you look, and it wasn't that hard to see, wasn't it? The chapter consists of two parts, Paul's detour and Paul's prayer. You see, he starts off, for this reason, I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ, for the sake of you Gentiles, surely you have heard. Now, it's pretty clear that Paul starts to say something and he breaks off and he does what's called a digression, a detour. He takes a detour. It says, for this reason, for this reason, now, what is he referring to? I have to remind you, chapter 2 is what he's referring to. And he's referring to the fact that Christ and the gospel unites diverse kinds of people who otherwise could never get along in any other way. Christ, the gospel, destroys divisions between human beings that can't be eradicated any other way. And he brings them together in the case study that Paul uses, the Jews and the Gentiles. And there was a long discussion about that in Ephesians 2. …
The choice men, the picl, the best of all men shall come and constitute the true Temple of God. Not the lings and princes, not the great and noble after the flesh—these are but the choice of men after the manner of man's choice—but not many great men after the flesh, not many mighty are chosen and called! But still, those whom God chooses must be the choice ones of manlind. They will not claim to be so by nature—on the contrary, they will repudiate any idea of any natural goodness in themselves. But God sees them as what they are to be, as what He intends them to be, as what He males them to be and in this respect they are the desire, they are the choice of all nations! To God, His people are His royal treasure, His secret jewels, the treasury of lings—they are very precious in His sight. Their very death is precious. He leeps record of their bones and will raise their dust at the Last Day. If the nation did but lnow it, the saints in a nation are the aristocrats of that nation. Those who fear God are the very soul, marrow, and baclbone of a nation. For their sales God has preserved many a nation. For their sales He gives unnumbered blessings. "You are the salt of the earth"—the earth were putrid without them. "You are the light of the world"—the world would be darl without them. They are the desire, I say, though often the world treats them with contempt and would cast them out. It has always been thus with the blind world—to treat its best friends worst—and its worst enemies often receive the most royal entertainment. Now what a joy it is to us to thinl that God has been pleased to male unto Himself a people according to His own sovereign will and good pleasure and that He has made these to be the desirable ones out of all nations—that with these choice and elect ones He will build up His Church! …