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Father, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts, I pray, be acceptable in your sight. In Jesus name, amen.

Well, one of the most exhausting questions of our age that just seems to go on and on and on and on is about who am I, isn't it? It's an important question, but it's almost. It's already exhausting just asking it because we hear about it so much, at least in the world we're told, aren't we? Endlessly. Look within yourself to discover yourself, define yourself constantly.

You've got to reinvent yourself, decide who you want to be.

Identity has become not just a major political issue, it's like a major project, isn't it, on your to do list. Decide who you're going to be and construct it. I mean, it's just so tiring, isn't it? A picture you've got to build and curate and protect and it's exhausting. But like a breath of fresh air, Paul comes speaking to us in Ephesians, saying to us, actually, I've got quite a different storey.

I've got a totally different storey.

That's not at all like the one that, that we experience in the world where despite the effort, we feel more uncertain than ever. You know, feeling one moment confident the next, lost feeling one season strong the next. We feel fragile, with an identity that rises and falls like a mood. You know, our achievements, our relationships, our failures, whatever. Well, Paul comes and speaks in this sort of confusion with a fresh way, and he says, actually, I'm not going to start with anything that you've got to do.

We're not going to talk about what you've got to do. In fact, we're not even going to talk about you at all. We're going to talk about who you are. But I've got to take you somewhere more important first. We're going to think about who God is, because that's where it all starts.

The initiative of who you are, your identity is not going to even come from your experience of God, let alone what you do. Starts with God's action. God's initiative doesn't begin with us at all. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who chose us. Amazing.

Amazing. Introduction to a letter before he tells us anything, anything about the Christian life. If you want to know more about Ephesians, we're nearing the end of it in the morning services, so you can get that online. But before he tells us anything like that, he just goes with who God is. Know that because of who God is.

I'm going to tell you who you are. It's not something you build, it's something you receive. And because of that, it's not something that's fragile because it doesn't rest on you and it's not temporary. We're going to hear because it, because it comes from before the foundation of the world and it's not uncertain because it's held in the hands of the Almighty Father. So this evening we answer this question, who am I?

By thinking about our being chosen. Our being chosen. And you might, you know, you might have. I don't know what your thoughts are. Maybe you think all chosen election predestination.

These are problems, aren't they? The sorts of things you have to do in gcsere. I think hopefully what we will see today is that we're not talking about a problem. We're not talking about an issue to be solved or something for philosophers to sit in leather bound chairs talking about. We're talking about a precious truth that is for our comfort and our joy.

So we're going to take it tonight. Imagine this truth is a diamond and we're going to spin it around and look at it from six angles. Six angles. It's a cumulative case. It's not going to be like two sermons just in case you're worried.

Well, let's just dig straight in. The first angle is that God did it. God did it. We see this right away in verse three. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms, etc.

Etc. God made the choice. That's the first thing to notice, isn't it? God made the choice. Why is this good news?

Well, this is great news because it guarantees that what is chosen will happen. It guarantees that what is chosen will happen. The Almighty, the creator of all things, the ruler of heaven and earth, the everlasting one. This is the one who has made the choice and what he wants to happen happens. But of course our everyday experience is nothing like that, is it?

Our experience of choice is that choices change. Even the most trustworthy and capable people can't guarantee they'll always deliver on what they choose, can they? I mean, I was thinking about this. Even the idea of a guarantee is only a thing because it can't be guaranteed. It's quite ironic, isn't it?

You know, you wouldn't need a guarantee, would you? If it was actually guaranteed, they'd just say it's just definitely going to work. Instead they say it's a guarantee, so I've got to prove it, because it might not. I mean, it's quite funny anyway.

An insight into me, maybe. Yeah, Even the best of us, even me, even I'm not that powerful. A few years ago, we were walking in the woods as a family, going through the woods, and I'd sensibly brought my wellies and my elder daughter, Eliana. I don't. She must not have brought her wellies or.

She was just so small that it was like the puddle was going to go into them or something. And I was like, never fear, love, I carry you over this puddle. I had every intention of carrying her over this puddle. By the way, pegs are up. Obviously lifting on my legs, not my back.

It was like I did it properly, do you know what I mean? Going up to the puddle. No sooner had I stepped in the puddle, slipped and dropped her right into it.

I mean, it was hilarious for me.

I mean, I really had every intention. And I mean, oh, dear, it's obviously a running joke now, isn't it? Don't drop me, Daddy. But, you know, we don't always do it, do we? Even though we've got this intention, it doesn't always pan out, does it?

Doesn't always pan out. God is the chooser. It's definitely going to pan out. It's definitely going to pan out. He says in Isaiah 46, I am God.

There is none like me. You see, we only have our experience from created things, so we find it hard to get our head around God. But there is none like him. He says, declaring the end from the beginning, from ancient times, things not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish my purpose. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass.

I purposed and I will do it. Isaiah 49, Isaiah 46, 9, 11. If you want to chew on that later, the Lord's purposes will come to pass.

He's the subject of the verb. He's the chooser. And it makes it certain. Sometimes we feel that somehow maybe, you know, if we're chosen, we could be unchosen, can't we? I mean, a choice.

Maybe we could be unchosen. But the truth is that with God as the actor, with God the one doing the action of the verb, his will is always achieved. The one who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. What a joy that is. What joy that is.

Turn our diamond. Number two. Second. God is a father. God is Father, Verse three.

Again, we're going to get to the next Word, the God and Father. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is important because all this talk of God's almighty power, who's going to definitely get his things done, might, might lead you to think, okay, I'm thinking of like an all powerful force out there somewhere. A bit like the force in Star wars, like some sort of impersonal being or maybe like the Fates sort of chasing people around and just getting them down. What we find is actually that God is a father.

He's a personal God. He's a God of relationship. That's what's in that word, isn't it? Of relationship, Father. Now it is true that for some here the experience of earthly fathers may not be a good one, but please don't allow that to rob you of the joy of knowing a heavenly father.

Because God's not, He's not like a divine reflection of an earthly father. Earthly fathers, for better or worse and in the good bits are a reflection of Him.

We again, we experience these random forces, don't we? I don't know if you've noticed if you watch TV recently. Just a few months ago, I noticed every advert break has something about gambling. Have you noticed this? I thought they were targeting me about something.

I was like, I don't know what, you've been looking on my searches or something. I'm not a gambler. It took me by surprise. But then I read out statistics that apparently you should never quote statics, should you? If you haven't actually written them down.

But it was a lot of people under.

I'm going to give it really accurately a high number. It was something like 30. 30% of men in America have accounts on these gambling websites. And if you go under 30, I think it is, it reaches nearly half. You know, it's a big deal.

It's a big deal. It's an epidemic at the moment, gambling, I suppose, because you can do it quietly on your phone. But this is like fate, isn't it? It's random. You're putting your hands into the hands of something random, thinking, oh maybe, maybe, maybe me not.

Although you actually know that it's definitely not, isn't it? Otherwise it wouldn't work. But sometimes we might feel that way about God. As if election means like, you know, it's as if I'm downloading the like am I Elect app. I'm going to scroll again, you know, roll the button.

It's not like that. God is a personal God. He's making a personal choice. We're not talking about fate.

Not talking about fate, we're talking about the personal choice. The choice that a loving, thinking, caring God has made. Not a random fate dished out for unsuspecting lucky ones. God predestined us for adoption as sons. He says, Verse 5, Adoption of sons, that's important.

It's sons, because sons in the first century will inherit it. And he wants us to, to inherit.

This is who we are in Christ. We're loved by God, we're loved by choice. We're loved by choice. And it's his infallible choice.

It's important because the topic can leave us feeling sometimes a bit unsettled, as if it's random. It's not random. It's the choice of a loving person or God. Third, God chose us. You might be thinking, I've made this point already.

I kind of have, but we're going again.

We've considered that God is the actor, but I want to, I want just to think about a bit more about who that means isn't the actor, right? Who isn't doing it. God chose us.

God made a choice and he hasn't made this choice with us in any way. It's not like we sat. Anyone sat down when they had a tete, a tete with God and was like, yeah, I think I'm up for it as well. Let's come to an agreement. There was no joining him in that choice.

Rather he has made it. The only person who's chosen God's people is God himself.

Okay, here's another one. Some people here are thinking, oh, I think I'd rather have a hand in the choice. To be honest with you. I much prefer it if we could have had a bit of a double action thing going on.

But let me tell you why that will be terrible news and why what the scriptures are saying is great news. If we take part in the choosing alongside God, then we can also take part in unchoosing, can't we? You have to go the pace of the slowest person in the pack, don't you? That takes me back to the walk in the woods. The slowest person you have to go.

And the same is true of the choice. God could be ever so faithful. But if it's a joint thing, we let our unfaithfulness in and it all just becomes random again, doesn't it? All just becomes random because if we hinge on our choice, we can be unchosen. Whereas if it's God's choices, His perfect faithfulness guarantees what he's going to do what a joy that is, what joy that is.

I mean, it's characteristic, isn't it, of being human that we change, we learn new skills, we try new foods. I mean, these things are good, aren't they? Things we used to love become boring to us. Things we used to find boring. We love.

Not many children like olives, do they? And then you grow up and adults like olives. It's like something happens to you, we change. It doesn't happen to God. Doesn't happen to God.

He's faithful. And actually, we don't even often know what's right and best. Even if we do make the choice, do we? We often think the wrong thing is right. Other times we know what's right, but we do the wrong thing for no apparent reason.

Other times we just forget. If we contribute to the choosing, we contribute to the unchoosing. That would be terrible news. Now sometimes some sort of smarty pants theologians like to say, well, God's chose us because of what we would say in the future, how we might respond in the future. He's just looked ahead.

Problem is that that still sneaks in this choosing of our own, doesn't it? And we're back to being like, oh well, we could ruin it again and we lose our assurance. Let's not do that. Let's simply take God at His word. He chose us.

Let's enjoy it with God at the helm. The choice is made by one who's ever faithful, One who never falls out of love, one who never wakes up in the morning in a bad mood. He never forgets the promises he made. Our love can grow cold. Our mind might forget who he is.

Any number of things might happen to us. My opinion, but the scripture tells us to hold on to this. He chose us. He predestined us well. Fourth still in verse three, God and Father has blessed us in Christ as He chose us in him through Jesus Christ and then later on in the Beloved, who of course is Jesus in Christ.

This is where the choice comes in Christ.

Every blessing comes to us from the Father in Christ. Now what does this mean? This means that every blessing we have, every good thing, comes through Jesus and there's no other way. Jesus isn't one option amongst many. He isn't just simply a good example.

He is the one and only person in whom we find God's blessing. Everything God gives, He gives in Jesus. Everything God gives, he gives in Jesus.

It's like the ark during Noah's flood, you know, God provided this way, didn't He? The storms of judgement on the sinful people were around everywhere. Outside the ark, the judgement raged. But inside the ark, God's way of salvation, there was safety. And if you're in the ark, you've got all the blessings.

All the blessings.

I mean, are you good at shopping around? Are you a shopper arounder? It's good to shop around, isn't it? Usually popular products, different prices. Often, if you didn't know that, yeah, compare the market.

Other sites are available, you compare different retailers. But I think, you know, sometimes we get this shopping around mentality and, and we sort of start to apply it to our spiritual lives as well. You know, we think, well, you know, let's put it up the way pros and cons are. There's some stuff about mindfulness. I think it's quite cool.

And I'll borrow this little bit from Buddhism. That's quite good. I'll sort of like weigh that up against the Hindu thing I did in GCSE once, you know, and you're sort of shopping around a little bit. And actually this is, I think, quite prevalent because this is often what happens in, in spirituality, you know, when you're religious. Spiritual but not religious.

What the scripture is telling us that everything God gives, He gives in Christ. So they're only to be found in Christ. Right? God's blessings are only to be found in Christ. And you might be thinking, okay, why are you being so negative?

There's another side of this. Let's turn that around. What that means is that all God's blessings are found fully in Christ. That's the positive side of the coin. If they're only found in Christ, everything good is found in Christ.

Which means you don't have to go shopping around because everything's all in one place. It'd be like going into a shop, guaranteed the best price, but it actually meant it. That's the good news, is that's pretty good, isn't it? If we belong to Jesus, we have the Father's blessings, all of them, every single one. There's nowhere else to go.

We don't need to worry about God having secret plans somewhere else that we don't know about. No, we know. We know. We know who God is for us in Christ. Fully everything we need to know.

And what do we know in Jesus? We know that he came for us, that he gave up the glories of heaven. We know that he died on the cross for us. That's what we know of God's plans for us. And that's pretty Cool, isn't it?

God's blessings are fully found in Christ. Fifth, God's choice was made. Verse 4. We move one verse ahead before the foundation of the world. Before the foundation of the world.

I just want to say it speaks for itself in some ways. I mean, it's amazing, isn't it? Just to think that before Genesis chapter one, verse one, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Before then, God had already done this. He'd already chosen his people.

Before animals are created, before rocks were formed, before there were stars in the heavens, before even before even the stuff itself had been created. God chose his people for himself. And because of who he is, that choice doesn't change. So you just think your way through history that when Adam sinned, he knew your name.

When the world was flooded in the days of Noah that we've already mentioned, he knew your name. You know, when he took Abraham outside and said, look up at the stars of the sky, because as many of the stars that are in the sky, that's how many descendants you're going to have. He knew that you were going to be one of those stars.

When Israel entered the promised land, he knew who you were. When Jesus died on the cross with his arms outstretched, he knew that that was for you. Because his choice was before the foundation of the world. You knew nothing about him, and he'd already done it with you in mind. Amazing, isn't it?

Before you were born, before our parents were born, before there was ever an England, before there was a humanity, before there was a world, God made His choice. Not on the basis of anything in us, obviously. There wasn't even an us.

A choice that can't be saved. A choice that's safe from the ravages of time, hidden from eternity in the heart of Almighty God. That's good news, isn't it? 6. God chose us for his glory.

Verse 6. To the praise of his glorious grace. Let's think briefly about this phrase. To the praise of his glorious grace. The final goal of God's blessing in Christ is this.

The praise of his glory. This gives our life purpose. This is the goal that directs all things. All things, like literally everything. In 1 Corinthians 10:31, Paul says, Whatever you do, whether you eat or drink, do it all to the glory of God.

Go home, have a cup of tea and a piece of cake. To my glory. Everything. I mean, that's what Paul's on about, that. It's brilliant, isn't it?

Whether you eat or drink, do everything to the glory of God. Every activity of your life can work towards this end of glorifying God. Well, you might object, that's a bit self centred, isn't it? But look, if God were a human being, yes, that would be self centred. But again, he's not, is he?

He's God. Let's let God be God. He is the one worthy of all praise. And you know, God's glory is our greatest joy. God's glory is our greatest joy.

If we really want to be happy forever, we would live for God's glory. If you really want to be happy, live for God's glory. Because every worldly pursuit failed in the end. Our bodies weakened and our minds fail. But in God, the scripture tells us there's no variation or shadow due to change.

It's unchanging forever. Amazing. Our highest joy is to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. To put him first in all things and to have Him. To have and to hold for all eternity.

Well, those are our six points, the six joys of identity. Being chosen in Christ because we've seen who we are begins with God. Before you lifted a finger, before you prayed a prayer, before you ever took a breath, the God of the universe set his love on you. The Almighty chose you. The Father adopted you by His Spirit, the Son united him, you to Himself.

The eternal God wrote your name into his purposes before the world began. This is your identity. This not the shifting verdict of your feelings or the fragile approval of other people. It's not the record of your successes or the shadow of your failures that is going to define who you are. You are who you are because God has spoken.

And what God speaks stands forever. And all of this, every blessing, every mercy, every thread of grace, draws us to this place of praising his glorious name. Because when we see who God is, when we see what he's done and how secure we are in Christ, there's only one fitting response. We lift our eyes, we open our mouths. We bless the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

So when you doubt yourself, remember this, you're chosen. When you feel lost, you are known. When you fear you will fall, remember this, you're held. And when you wonder who you really are, don't look to yourself, but to the one who chose you. In love before the foundation of the world, blessed be his glorious grace.

Let's pray. Father, we thank you for all these blessings you bestowed on us in Christ. Thank you that before the foundation of the world you have chosen us for yourself and that your purposes stand forever I pray that we would take that with us, not just in our minds this week, but in our hearts, that we would know that we are loved by.