December 12, 2025 • 50 mins
Ephesians 1:3–14 is one of the most concentrated, exalted, and weighty descriptions of God’s purpose in the universe from eternity to eternity. It’s the kind of writing that stretches the mind to the limits of comprehension. It takes us back before the creation of the universe into the personal consciousness of absolute reality, God himself, and beckons us to understand the unfathomable good pleasure, will, purpose, counsel, and plan of God, as they were formulated in the infinite mind of God. We are invited to enter that mind and understand. It takes us forward to an everlasting inheritance. And it takes us to the center of the whole creation, where the most-loved Son of God shed his blood for the redemption of a people predestined to be the happy, praising family of God forever.
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Speaker 1 (00:19):
Welcome to Biblical Talks.
Sermon of the Week.
Beloved, why did God choose you?
In Ephesians 1, verse 4, paulsays, even as he chose us and
him before the foundation of theworld, that we should be holy
and blameless before him.
(00:40):
Now, for the Christian, this isnot optional.
It is the purpose of ourelection.
God chose us to be holy andblameless before him.
Here's John Piper preaching onwhy did God choose us, the goal
(01:02):
and ground of his election?
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who has blessed us inChrist with Every spiritual
blessing in the heavenly places,even as he chose us in him
Before the foundation of theworld, that we should be holy
and blameless before him, evenas he chose us in him before the
foundation of the world, thatwe should be holy and blameless
(01:27):
before him In love, hepredestined us for adoption to
himself as sons through JesusChrist, according to the purpose
of his will, to the praise ofthe glory of his grace, to the
praise of the glory of his gracewith which he has blessed us in
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the beloved.
In him we have redemptionthrough his blood, the
forgiveness of our trespasses,according to the riches of his
grace, which he lavished upon usin all wisdom and insight,
making known to us the mysteryof his will.
According to the good pleasureor the purpose with which he set
(02:10):
forth in Christ as a plan forthe fullness of time to unite
all things in him, things inheaven and things on the earth.
In him we have obtained aninheritance having been
predestined in him.
We have obtained an inheritancehaving been predestined
according to the purpose of him,who works all things according
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to the counsel of his will, sothat we who were the first to
hope in Christ might be to thepraise of his glory In him.
You also, when you heard theword of truth, the gospel of
your salvation, and believed inhim, were sealed with the
(02:51):
promised Holy Spirit, who is theguarantee of our inheritance
until we acquire possession ofit, to the praise of his glory.
Now, before I pray again, let mesay something from chapter one,
encouraging and guiding to theway I want to pray for, you and
(03:17):
me.
Ephesians 1, 3 to 14,.
What we just read is the mostconcentrated, exalted, weighty
description of God's purpose inthe universe in the Bible, from
eternity to eternity.
It's the kind of writing thatstretches the mind to the
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breaking point.
To the breaking point.
It takes us back beforecreation, the creation of
everything, into the mind of God, absolute reality, and it
beckons us, wonder of wonders.
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It beckons us to understand theunfathomable good, pleasure and
will and purpose and counseland plan of God.
This is the sort of thing thatif I were to do it and not Paul,
you would count it totallypresumptuous.
It totally presumptuous, but hedid it.
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And he beckons us into theeternal mind of God and then he
takes us forward to theeverlasting inheritance.
And then he takes us to thecenter, the most beloved son,
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blood shed for redemption.
That we might be thepredestined, happy, praising
children of God forever and ever.
God, forever and ever.
The realities in those verses 3to 14, are 10,000 times more
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important, more significant,more amazing, more relevant than
anything that happens inWashington DC or in the Vatican
or on the news scroll that youlook at every day.
They are, compared to thisnothing.
These are glorious realitiesbeyond human description.
(05:43):
And when he's done with thoseverses, at verse 14, what does
he do?
He prays.
Now, this is not my assignedtext, but it's not anybody
else's either.
Verses 15 to 23 is a prayer.
(06:10):
The rest of the chapter is aprayer.
What is he asking God to do?
He's going to pray a secondtime.
Chapter 3, verses 14 to 20,which may be the most beautiful
prayer in the Bible.
So, in chapter 1, this massivetheology, followed by a prayer.
(06:35):
Chapter 2, this massivetheology, followed by a prayer.
That's important, right,pastors, people, this is
important Theology, prayer,theology, a prayer that's
important, right, pastors,people, this is important
Theology, prayer, theology,prayer, doctrine, prayer,
doctrine, prayer.
That's life for a pastor, that'slife for a Christian.
That's why I'm pointing it out.
(06:58):
What does he pray?
What does he pray?
What does he pray?
He doesn't ask God to help youdo anything.
Doing comes later.
That's chapter 4, 5, and 6.
Do you know?
There's 41 imperatives inEphesians?
40 of them are in chapters 4, 5, and 6.
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That's significant.
He's not asking God to make usdo anything.
These prayers are upstream, wayupstream from doing, from
behaving Verse 16.
Verse 16, I do not cease to givethanks for you, remembering you
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in my prayers that the God ofour Lord, jesus Christ, the
Father of glory, may give you.
This is what I'm praying foryou.
Paul's praying for you may giveyou a spirit, the spirit of
wisdom and of revelation in theknowledge of God.
Now, he just gave us atruckload of knowledge of God in
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verses 3 to 14 of chapter 1.
And now he's praying oh God,grant that these Ephesians grant
that these folks at TGC wouldbe able to grasp and receive and
treasure and be formed by theknowledge that I've just given
them in these verses, thesemind-boggling knowledge that I
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have poured out in verses 3 to14.
Oh God, grant that the HolySpirit would shape their spirit
so that it fits, because if youhave a round hole in your heart
and the truth of Ephesians is asquare peg and you try to fit it
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, it will hurt and you might getangry.
So he's pleading for us Make itfit, give them a spirit of
revelation.
Verse 18, having the eyes ofyour hearts enlightened.
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This is amazing.
So there's about 7,000 of you,I'm told.
Did you know that every personin this room has eyes in your
head and eyes in your heart?
That's what it says.
I'm praying about the eyes ofyour heart.
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What it says, I'm praying aboutthe eyes of your heart.
You can read with these eyes.
You have eyes that are darkenedso that you can't understand
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anything in chapter 1.
Or you have eyes that arelightened by the Spirit, so that
chapter 1 makes you just leapwith amazement at the grace of
God.
That's a gift.
That's why you pray, that's whywe pray.
The only thing that matters atthis conference is what you
can't do.
I can't do.
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So we pray.
And then he gets specific.
He wants three things to happenthrough the eyes of the heart.
Verse 18,.
In the middle of the verse thatyou may know what is the hope
to which he called you?
To the riches of the glory ofhis inheritance in the Saints.
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3.
What is the immeasurablegreatness of his power toward us
when he raised you from thedead, like he raised Jesus.
Most Christians don't know thepower that saved them.
They have to be taught, andthen they have to be prayed over
, and then a miracle has tohappen so that, oh, I get it by
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grace.
I was saved by grace.
I didn't do this.
You were born thinking you did,and you must be reborn to find
out you didn't.
The roots of this hopefulness,this riches, this power are all
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back in verses 3 to 14 ofchapter 1.
And we need to pray now thatGod would cut away the blinding
cataracts of the heart.
Father Paul has taught us nowwhat to do when we have some
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theology to deal with.
He prayed, that is, he askedyou to do what humans can't do.
I can preach.
I cannot open the eyes of theheart, but you can.
And there are blind people inthis room who cannot see the
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wonder of what we're about tolook at, unless you take this
laser of yours and cut away theblindness of the eyes of the
heart.
So that's what we're asking forCome, open our eyes, give us
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light.
I ask this in Jesus' name, amen.
What's the main point of verses3 through 14 of chapter 1?
That is what is the point.
Everything else is supporting.
That's what I mean by mainpoint.
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What's the point?
Everything is clarifying,everything is defending,
everything is guaranteeing.
And that point is not hard toknow.
It's not hard to see becausepaul states it three times.
And not only does he state itthree times, he states it in a
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way as to say it's the mainpoint, that there's a
grammatical construction,construction.
I'll read let's just look atthem.
You'll see the beginning ofverse 6, I do hope you have your
Bibles or your phone Bible open, because we're going to look at
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very specific words, becausewe're talking about mega issues
that are sometimes confuted,that are sometimes confuted.
Verse 6, at the beginning untoor to the praise of the glory.
Now notice it is in ESVglorious grace.
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But that's fine, but I like theliteral unto, the praise of the
glory of his grace.
Unto means that's the point.
That's where we're going.
That's where the universe isgoing.
Election is going there,predestination is going there,
adoption is going there,redemption is going there.
That's where we're going.
We're going to praise foreverglory of grace.
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Okay, so that's clear,especially because of verse 12.
The end of verse 12.
Unto or to the praise of hisglory.
Again, verse 14.
At the end, to the praise ofhis glory.
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This is not hard, right?
Thank you, paul.
These verses are to tell us thatthe universe exists, election
exists, predestination exists,adoption exists, redemption
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exists, inheritance exists,sealing exists, so that there
will be a people praising gloryof grace forever.
That's where it's going, andI'll tell you when I'm 22
something like me, 50, do themath quick seven, no, 70, I
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don't know.
I'm 79, 22 years old.
When that hit home, everythingchanged.
I hope that happens or hashappened for you.
Everything in this paragraphserves to show that the glory of
God is worthy of your praise.
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That's what this paragraph isfor.
Let's look at two of them.
I wish we had time for three.
We don't, so we look at two ofthose three instances.
So I'm starting to read versefour.
He chose us.
I know I'm jumping in themiddle of the sentence.
If you start anywhere in thefirst 14 verses, you're starting
(16:32):
in the middle of a sentence,because it's all one sentence.
He chose us in him, before thefoundation of the world, that we
should be holy and blamelessbefore him in love.
He predestined us for adoptionto himself as sons, through
(16:58):
Jesus Christ, according to thegood pleasure purpose of his
will, to the praise of the gloryof his grace with which he has
blessed us in the beloved, inthe beloved.
(17:19):
Why does Paul trace yourelection, your choice, your
predestination, your adoption?
Why does he trace it backbefore creation?
You don't even need to go there, paul.
(17:41):
It just gets controversial whenyou do that.
Why do you do that?
He did it to establish, clarifythe nature of grace.
What is grace?
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Why is it so glorious in Paul'smind?
And he wants to clarify that thegrace of your being chosen,
your holiness, yourpredestination, your adoption,
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that grace, your predestination,your adoption, that grace is
free and unconditional becauseit happened and was made yours
before you existed.
That's the point.
You didn't exist, you didn'tcontribute to this before you
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existed.
He predestined you Christian.
He assigned, he assigned yourdestiny to be his child.
And the point of stressing thatyou didn't exist is to say his
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grace was free, unconditional.
You didn't do it or contributeto it.
You didn't do it or contributeto it.
You didn't exist.
Now he wants to make thatclearer.
It's not just that it happenedbefore you existed.
He wants to make it clearer.
So at the end of verse five, headds two amazing words.
He takes us.
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This is just mind-boggling tome that he would dare to do this
.
He takes us, shall we saybeneath I don't want to say
before, because I know time andGod.
He takes us beneath election,he takes us beneath
predestination, as if you couldgo there.
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And he speaks of their, shallwe call them roots, the roots of
choice, the roots ofpredestination?
What moved him to choose youbefore you existed?
What's the root?
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How do you get to the bottom ofthis?
See that little phraseaccording to the purpose of his
will.
According to the the anothertranslation, perhaps a little
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more literal, you know, key andgood pleasure stressing freedom
according to the good pleasureof his will.
So where does his choice comefrom?
That's what Paul's getting at,isn't it?
He's, he's going beneathpredestination, beneath choice,
and says it accords with thisway down here, that choice
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accords with this.
What Will he willed, and thenhe chose.
It's like Romans 9, 15.
I will have mercy on whom Ihave mercy.
I will have compassion on whomI have compassion.
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So then, it depends not onhuman willing or running, but on
God, who has mercy.
So he could have just said that, namely predestination, choice,
will, bottom line will of God.
He doesn't stop.
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He doesn't stop.
He goes another level down,down to purpose or good pleasure
.
This is just almost unfathomableto me that he would talk this
way.
He would invite us in to themind of the eternal God, before
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there's any universe at all, anyuniverse at all.
And God is thinking, planning,willing, with a good pleasure.
It's mind-boggling.
So I predestine, I choose, Iwill, I have a good pleasure.
What's the point?
(22:34):
What's he trying to say?
Why is he doing this?
His point is that it is free,it comes from nowhere, but God,
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your choice comes from nowhere,but God, before you existed and
deeper than choice, deeper thanwill, all the way down to
whatever this is called God'sgood pleasure.
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Why was he talking this way?
He was talking this way to keepyou from believing that you
were chosen on the basis of yourforeknown faith, which is what
a few hundred of you werethinking that I overlooked.
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Millions upon millions ofpeople have been taught that
Christians were not chosen onthe basis of God's good pleasure
or God's will or God'sunconditional free grace, but on
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the basis of their foreknownultimate human
self-determination.
At the point of theirconversion, the point of their
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conversion, they becamebelievers and they were taught.
At that moment, when you becamea believer, you were decisive,
not God.
Now I'm going to ask you whenyou look back on your conversion
to Christ and I know thathundreds of you like me can't
remember that because you were achild, but that doesn't matter
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what matters is that you know ithappened because you're alive.
Right, you don't prove you'realive by showing your birth
certificate.
You prove you're alive bybreathing, and you prove you're
a Christian by breathing Christ.
So you know you're alive andyou know you were born again
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sometime.
And so I want to ask you, asyou look back on that when you
moved from death to life, whenyou moved from outside Christ to
in Christ, where there's nocondemnation, when you moved
from unsaved to saved, was yourdecisive self-determination the
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key?
Was it decisive at that moment,or was the grace of God
decisive?
That's the question that dividestheologies.
Sometimes it's called free will, because that gets a lot of
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traction in America.
Did my free will or myself-determination become at
that moment when I crossed fromdeath to life from unbelief to
belief.
Was I decisive or was Goddecisive?
And if you were to say thatthat that's what you believe to
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me right now, what I wouldrespond is this I would say Paul
is laboring in the words thathe has chosen to keep you from
believing that.
That's what he's trying to do.
He's trying to help you notbelieve that.
1 Corinthians, 1.30, from Godare you in Christ Jesus.
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You didn't graft yourself intoChrist.
God grafted you into Christ.
Ephesians 2, that we'll hearmore about this evening.
God made me alive by grace.
You've been saved.
God gave me faith.
Acts 13, 48,.
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As many as were ordained toeternal life believed, not the
other way around.
I love Reformed theology.
I love sovereign grace becauseI'm saved.
If God were not triumphantlyfree and unconditionally
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sovereign in giving me life, Iwould be in total rebellion
against God Now, and you wouldtoo.
What makes us sing?
What makes us sing?
I mean, who has conferenceslike this except people who sing
(28:32):
?
I'm saved by sovereign grace.
I didn't do this.
I was plucked out of thathorrible, rebellious humanity,
for nothing in me that makes yousing.
If you thought you weredecisive, we're going to go to
have a conference to sing aboutthat?
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They don't happen.
They don't happen.
You don't celebrate humanself-determination at a
conference.
You really don't Just lookaround, you've got to hide it.
Seriously, he's not doneclarifying this.
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He knows that there's someother objections.
Let's go down to verses 11 and12 now.
So here we get that otherphrase to the praise of the
glory of God, verse 12, to thepraise of the glory of God.
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He doesn't say the praise ofthe glory of the grace of God,
like he did in verse 6.
He shortens it.
And so I love to think of mybeing created for the praise of
the glory of God.
That's my destiny, it's yourdestiny if you're Christian.
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And he knows, and you know, andI know, the capstone of that
glory is the glory of grace.
So let's read this verse 11.
In him we have obtained aninheritance, having been
predestined.
So now we're back beforecreation again, having been
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predestined according to thepurpose of him, who works all
things according to the counselof his will, so that we who were
the first to hope in Christmight be to the praise of his
glory.
So what is it that leads to thepraise of his glory here?
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What leads to the praise of hisglory here what leads to the
praise of his glory?
He roots it.
He roots it, verse 11, he rootsthe certainty of my future
inheritance in the fact that wewere predestined for it.
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Right In him we have obtainedan inheritance, having been
predestined.
That's the root of it, that'sthe confidence of it.
So again now he's taken us backbefore creation, to the mind of
God.
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Because of the predestination,your inheritance is sure.
It's the ground of your hope.
But now, just like in verse 5,he does more.
He does it in a very similarway, with a couple of more
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amazing words.
He says in verse 11, we'repredestined according to that
same phrase the purpose of him.
You can stop there.
According to the purpose of him, there's a plan, there's a
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purpose, there's a design, andthat design causes him to
destine his people for adoption.
Then, to make it crystal clear,he doesn't stop with purpose,
but he says according, it's apurpose.
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Let's read it carefully, thelast half of the verse the
purpose of him who works allthings according to the counsel
of his will.
So, just like in verse 5, hesaid good pleasure of his will.
So now, here in verse 11, it'sthe council, a different word, a
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council of his will.
Now, what in the world thatamazing God's got a will before
the universe exists and acounsel of his will?
Oh, paul, you would break ourbrains.
(33:33):
Both phrases, according to thepurpose and the counsel of his
will, are shouting.
Your election, yourpredestination, your adoption,
your inheritance are owingentirely to God, freely,
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gloriously.
God, his purpose, his will, hisgood pleasure, his counsel and
will, his good pleasure, hiscounsel, and not anything in you
.
What you and I brought to thiswas deadness.
That's why chapter 2 is soclarifying about the meaning of
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chapter 1.
You brought your deadness, youbrought your rebellion, you
brought your sin.
That's what you bring to this,which is why grace is grace and
so so precious, so well.
Should we even believe, receive, trust, treasure, pray, obey.
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Paul would answer.
He does answer.
Indeed, you will believe andyou must believe.
And when you have believed,tell me Christian, when you have
believed and you make it to theend, like he will hold me fast,
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he will hold me fast.
When you make it to the end andyou turn around and you look at
that moment when you came aliveand that preservation, you are
going to say grace, grace, grace.
I mean, do you remember 1Corinthians, 15, 10?
(35:41):
Here's what Paul says.
I worked harder than any of them.
Nevertheless, it was not I, butthe grace of God that was with
me.
That's the way Christians talk.
Of course we work.
I'm an old man.
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All I've done is work.
I love to work and I love togive glory to God for my work.
That's what we do.
Every breath we take, everysight of the eyes, hearing with
the ears, food in your mouth,faith in your heart.
(36:24):
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
That's why we have conferences,that's why we sing, that's why
we raise kids, that's why we dochurch, that's why we evangelize
the world.
And what a power we have.
I mean, it is glorious, isn'tit?
When the rich young man walksaway and the disciples throw up
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their hands.
Who then can be saved?
Jesus doesn't bat an eye andsays with man it is impossible,
but with God, nothing isimpossible.
That's why anybody in here issaved.
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So we've seen, in verses 4 and 6, god chose us and predestined
us for adoption unconditionally,unto the praise of the glory of
his grace, not unto the praiseof the glory of your free will,
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which does not exist.
You were dead, free-willed, asa slave.
Then, in verse 11 and 12, sothat we may be confident that
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this predestination is going toget us home.
He says he predestinedaccording to a plan and this
plan is going to hold because heworks all things according to
the counsel of his will.
So he plans all thingsaccording to the counsel of his
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will.
So he plans all thingsaccording to the counsel of his
will.
And then he works all thingsaccording to the counsel of his
will, including my faith.
He plans all things.
He works all things accordingto the counsel of his will and
the praise of the glory of hisgrace.
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And then, between verses 6 and11, he lifts up Jesus Christ,
crucified and risen.
It's amazing how he does thisrisen.
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It's amazing how he does this.
Everything that he's been aimingat in choosing, in predestining
, in obtaining an inheritancefor us, is accomplished through
Jesus Christ, son of the Son ofGod, the beloved verse 7.
In him, in Christ, we haveredemption through his blood,
the forgiveness of ourtrespasses according to the
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riches of his grace.
You're kind of like whoatrespasses blood forgiveness.
Where did that come from?
That wasn't in verses 4 to 6,or was it it was.
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He did not choose holy peopleto be holy, he chose wicked
people to be holy.
He set his favor on wickedpeople and predestined them to
be his children.
This is just off the charts,amazing.
God looked out upon a sea ofrebels and he said I'll have a
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family here.
And it cost him his son's lifeto do it justly, to do it
beautifully.
And so he put him forth.
The blood of the beloved.
Did you know I'm sure many ofyou know that the blood of the
beloved.
Did you know?
I'm sure many of you know thatthe book of life which exists
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before the foundation of theworld, according to Revelation
13 8, the book of life in whichare written all of the chosen,
has has a name.
The book has a name.
This is Revelation 13, 8.
The book of the life of thelamb who was slain.
(41:05):
That's the name of the book.
It's on the cover.
Your name is in there.
My name is in there if you're aChristian.
The lamb was slaughtered in themind of God before the universe
was created.
The book of the life of thelamb who was slain.
(41:25):
So he not only conceived andplanned and chose and
predestined according to thecounsel of his will.
It all folded into Christ whowould have his bride.
It's all to unite.
(41:47):
That verse 10, is just sobeyond me and my capacities to
know what he means by to uniteor to sum up all things in
Christ.
So we were chosen in him verse4.
Predestined through him verse 5.
(42:08):
Redeemed in him verse 7.
Inheriting an inheritancesecured by him verse 11,.
Sealed in him verse 13,.
So we hope in him, which meansthat when you state that the
(42:38):
ultimate point of verses 3 to 14is to the praise of the glory
of his grace, you really mean tothe praise of the glory of
Jesus Christ, the embodiment andthe price of the grace of God.
We beheld his glory, glory asof the only Son from the Father,
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full of grace and truth.
One more clarification for ourclosing application.
I haven't said anything aboutthe word praise.
Unto the praise of the glory ofthe grace, the free and
(43:29):
unconditional lavish grace ofGod, we exist and will always
exist.
To the praise, what?
What is praise?
It is not mere words.
Do you remember how Jesus saidthis?
(44:14):
People honors me with theirlips, but their heart is far
from so.
I asked chat GPT.
I typed in please compose a30-second prayer to God in the
spirit and theology of DonCarson, in praise to the glory
of God's grace.
(44:35):
Click Three seconds later.
This is what I was given.
Gracious Father, we bow beforeyou, the sovereign Lord of
history and redemption.
Before you, the sovereign Lordof history and redemption, from
(44:57):
eternity past, you purposed tolavish grace upon undeserving
sinners through the blood ofyour beloved Son.
We praise you for the glory ofyour mercy, unearned, unmeasured
, made manifest in Christ,crucified and risen.
May our lives, redeemed andsanctified by your spirit, be
(45:20):
vessels of praise to the richesof your grace.
To you be glory forever andever.
Amen.
That's a machine, I'm asking.
Is that praise?
Amen.
That's a machine, as I'm asking.
(45:42):
Is that praise?
No, this people, these machines, honor me with their lips and
their bites, and their heart isfar from me.
So let's clarify the purpose ofthe universe quick, I'm done.
I got 19 seconds.
Let's clarify why were you madewords?
(46:08):
Computers do words better thanyou, seriously, better than me.
Computers do words better thanyou, seriously, better than me.
Computers do words.
They don't feel anything.
Therefore, the universe iscreated to have people who feel
this is amazing.
Think of it.
(46:29):
The universe exists to havepeople in God's image who feel
the worth of grace, who feel theglory of grace, who feel the
beauty of grace, who feel thewonder of grace, and then
everything in their life takeson a totally non-AI meaning of
(46:49):
action and praise to God.
So, in closing, if this is notyour portion, that is, if your
heart does not sing, it does notfeel the beauty of the freedom
of the grace of God in saving,you give yourself no rest until
(47:14):
that is your portion.
You were made to praise, thatis, you were made to feel the
preciousness of grace and tospeak it and to show it.
So, father, I cannot makeanybody feel an authentic
(47:43):
spirit-given affection for theglory of your grace, but you can
, and I pray that as we movethrough Ephesians now,
everything will flow from thisheart embrace of the glory of
(48:04):
grace.
Speaker 3 (48:07):
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(49:12):
Thank you for listening toBiblical Talks.
Welcome to Biblical Talks.
Sermon of the Week.
Beloved, why did God choose you?
In Ephesians 1, verse 4, paulsays, even as he chose us and
him before the foundation of theworld, that we should be holy
and blameless before him.
(00:40):
Now, for the Christian, this isnot optional.
It is the purpose of ourelection.
God chose us to be holy andblameless before him.
Here's John Piper preaching onwhy did God choose us, the goal
(01:02):
and ground of his election?
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who has blessed us inChrist with Every spiritual
blessing in the heavenly places,even as he chose us in him
Before the foundation of theworld, that we should be holy
and blameless before him, evenas he chose us in him before the
foundation of the world, thatwe should be holy and blameless
(01:27):
before him In love, hepredestined us for adoption to
himself as sons through JesusChrist, according to the purpose
of his will, to the praise ofthe glory of his grace, to the
praise of the glory of his gracewith which he has blessed us in
(01:48):
the beloved.
In him we have redemptionthrough his blood, the
forgiveness of our trespasses,according to the riches of his
grace, which he lavished upon usin all wisdom and insight,
making known to us the mysteryof his will.
According to the good pleasureor the purpose with which he set
(02:10):
forth in Christ as a plan forthe fullness of time to unite
all things in him, things inheaven and things on the earth.
In him we have obtained aninheritance having been
predestined in him.
We have obtained an inheritancehaving been predestined
according to the purpose of him,who works all things according
(02:31):
to the counsel of his will, sothat we who were the first to
hope in Christ might be to thepraise of his glory In him.
You also, when you heard theword of truth, the gospel of
your salvation, and believed inhim, were sealed with the
(02:51):
promised Holy Spirit, who is theguarantee of our inheritance
until we acquire possession ofit, to the praise of his glory.
Now, before I pray again, let mesay something from chapter one,
encouraging and guiding to theway I want to pray for, you and
(03:17):
me.
Ephesians 1, 3 to 14,.
What we just read is the mostconcentrated, exalted, weighty
description of God's purpose inthe universe in the Bible, from
eternity to eternity.
It's the kind of writing thatstretches the mind to the
(03:40):
breaking point.
To the breaking point.
It takes us back beforecreation, the creation of
everything, into the mind of God, absolute reality, and it
beckons us, wonder of wonders.
(04:02):
It beckons us to understand theunfathomable good, pleasure and
will and purpose and counseland plan of God.
This is the sort of thing thatif I were to do it and not Paul,
you would count it totallypresumptuous.
It totally presumptuous, but hedid it.
(04:24):
And he beckons us into theeternal mind of God and then he
takes us forward to theeverlasting inheritance.
And then he takes us to thecenter, the most beloved son,
(04:45):
blood shed for redemption.
That we might be thepredestined, happy, praising
children of God forever and ever.
God, forever and ever.
The realities in those verses 3to 14, are 10,000 times more
(05:13):
important, more significant,more amazing, more relevant than
anything that happens inWashington DC or in the Vatican
or on the news scroll that youlook at every day.
They are, compared to thisnothing.
These are glorious realitiesbeyond human description.
(05:43):
And when he's done with thoseverses, at verse 14, what does
he do?
He prays.
Now, this is not my assignedtext, but it's not anybody
else's either.
Verses 15 to 23 is a prayer.
(06:10):
The rest of the chapter is aprayer.
What is he asking God to do?
He's going to pray a secondtime.
Chapter 3, verses 14 to 20,which may be the most beautiful
prayer in the Bible.
So, in chapter 1, this massivetheology, followed by a prayer.
(06:35):
Chapter 2, this massivetheology, followed by a prayer.
That's important, right,pastors, people, this is
important Theology, prayer,theology, a prayer that's
important, right, pastors,people, this is important
Theology, prayer, theology,prayer, doctrine, prayer,
doctrine, prayer.
That's life for a pastor, that'slife for a Christian.
That's why I'm pointing it out.
(06:58):
What does he pray?
What does he pray?
What does he pray?
He doesn't ask God to help youdo anything.
Doing comes later.
That's chapter 4, 5, and 6.
Do you know?
There's 41 imperatives inEphesians?
40 of them are in chapters 4, 5, and 6.
(07:22):
That's significant.
He's not asking God to make usdo anything.
These prayers are upstream, wayupstream from doing, from
behaving Verse 16.
Verse 16, I do not cease to givethanks for you, remembering you
(07:48):
in my prayers that the God ofour Lord, jesus Christ, the
Father of glory, may give you.
This is what I'm praying foryou.
Paul's praying for you may giveyou a spirit, the spirit of
wisdom and of revelation in theknowledge of God.
Now, he just gave us atruckload of knowledge of God in
(08:12):
verses 3 to 14 of chapter 1.
And now he's praying oh God,grant that these Ephesians grant
that these folks at TGC wouldbe able to grasp and receive and
treasure and be formed by theknowledge that I've just given
them in these verses, thesemind-boggling knowledge that I
(08:35):
have poured out in verses 3 to14.
Oh God, grant that the HolySpirit would shape their spirit
so that it fits, because if youhave a round hole in your heart
and the truth of Ephesians is asquare peg and you try to fit it
(08:57):
, it will hurt and you might getangry.
So he's pleading for us Make itfit, give them a spirit of
revelation.
Verse 18, having the eyes ofyour hearts enlightened.
(09:20):
This is amazing.
So there's about 7,000 of you,I'm told.
Did you know that every personin this room has eyes in your
head and eyes in your heart?
That's what it says.
I'm praying about the eyes ofyour heart.
(09:43):
What it says, I'm praying aboutthe eyes of your heart.
You can read with these eyes.
You have eyes that are darkenedso that you can't understand
(10:05):
anything in chapter 1.
Or you have eyes that arelightened by the Spirit, so that
chapter 1 makes you just leapwith amazement at the grace of
God.
That's a gift.
That's why you pray, that's whywe pray.
The only thing that matters atthis conference is what you
can't do.
I can't do.
(10:27):
So we pray.
And then he gets specific.
He wants three things to happenthrough the eyes of the heart.
Verse 18,.
In the middle of the verse thatyou may know what is the hope
to which he called you?
To the riches of the glory ofhis inheritance in the Saints.
(10:52):
3.
What is the immeasurablegreatness of his power toward us
when he raised you from thedead, like he raised Jesus.
Most Christians don't know thepower that saved them.
They have to be taught, andthen they have to be prayed over
, and then a miracle has tohappen so that, oh, I get it by
(11:15):
grace.
I was saved by grace.
I didn't do this.
You were born thinking you did,and you must be reborn to find
out you didn't.
The roots of this hopefulness,this riches, this power are all
(11:37):
back in verses 3 to 14 ofchapter 1.
And we need to pray now thatGod would cut away the blinding
cataracts of the heart.
Father Paul has taught us nowwhat to do when we have some
(12:01):
theology to deal with.
He prayed, that is, he askedyou to do what humans can't do.
I can preach.
I cannot open the eyes of theheart, but you can.
And there are blind people inthis room who cannot see the
(12:26):
wonder of what we're about tolook at, unless you take this
laser of yours and cut away theblindness of the eyes of the
heart.
So that's what we're asking forCome, open our eyes, give us
(12:46):
light.
I ask this in Jesus' name, amen.
What's the main point of verses3 through 14 of chapter 1?
That is what is the point.
Everything else is supporting.
That's what I mean by mainpoint.
(13:08):
What's the point?
Everything is clarifying,everything is defending,
everything is guaranteeing.
And that point is not hard toknow.
It's not hard to see becausepaul states it three times.
And not only does he state itthree times, he states it in a
(13:29):
way as to say it's the mainpoint, that there's a
grammatical construction,construction.
I'll read let's just look atthem.
You'll see the beginning ofverse 6, I do hope you have your
Bibles or your phone Bible open, because we're going to look at
(13:51):
very specific words, becausewe're talking about mega issues
that are sometimes confuted,that are sometimes confuted.
Verse 6, at the beginning untoor to the praise of the glory.
Now notice it is in ESVglorious grace.
(14:16):
But that's fine, but I like theliteral unto, the praise of the
glory of his grace.
Unto means that's the point.
That's where we're going.
That's where the universe isgoing.
Election is going there,predestination is going there,
adoption is going there,redemption is going there.
That's where we're going.
We're going to praise foreverglory of grace.
(14:40):
Okay, so that's clear,especially because of verse 12.
The end of verse 12.
Unto or to the praise of hisglory.
Again, verse 14.
At the end, to the praise ofhis glory.
(15:02):
This is not hard, right?
Thank you, paul.
These verses are to tell us thatthe universe exists, election
exists, predestination exists,adoption exists, redemption
(15:24):
exists, inheritance exists,sealing exists, so that there
will be a people praising gloryof grace forever.
That's where it's going, andI'll tell you when I'm 22
something like me, 50, do themath quick seven, no, 70, I
(15:49):
don't know.
I'm 79, 22 years old.
When that hit home, everythingchanged.
I hope that happens or hashappened for you.
Everything in this paragraphserves to show that the glory of
God is worthy of your praise.
(16:10):
That's what this paragraph isfor.
Let's look at two of them.
I wish we had time for three.
We don't, so we look at two ofthose three instances.
So I'm starting to read versefour.
He chose us.
I know I'm jumping in themiddle of the sentence.
If you start anywhere in thefirst 14 verses, you're starting
(16:32):
in the middle of a sentence,because it's all one sentence.
He chose us in him, before thefoundation of the world, that we
should be holy and blamelessbefore him in love.
He predestined us for adoptionto himself as sons, through
(16:58):
Jesus Christ, according to thegood pleasure purpose of his
will, to the praise of the gloryof his grace with which he has
blessed us in the beloved, inthe beloved.
(17:19):
Why does Paul trace yourelection, your choice, your
predestination, your adoption?
Why does he trace it backbefore creation?
You don't even need to go there, paul.
(17:41):
It just gets controversial whenyou do that.
Why do you do that?
He did it to establish, clarifythe nature of grace.
What is grace?
(18:02):
Why is it so glorious in Paul'smind?
And he wants to clarify that thegrace of your being chosen,
your holiness, yourpredestination, your adoption,
(18:32):
that grace, your predestination,your adoption, that grace is
free and unconditional becauseit happened and was made yours
before you existed.
That's the point.
You didn't exist, you didn'tcontribute to this before you
(18:52):
existed.
He predestined you Christian.
He assigned, he assigned yourdestiny to be his child.
And the point of stressing thatyou didn't exist is to say his
(19:18):
grace was free, unconditional.
You didn't do it or contributeto it.
You didn't do it or contributeto it.
You didn't exist.
Now he wants to make thatclearer.
It's not just that it happenedbefore you existed.
He wants to make it clearer.
So at the end of verse five, headds two amazing words.
He takes us.
(19:41):
This is just mind-boggling tome that he would dare to do this
.
He takes us, shall we saybeneath I don't want to say
before, because I know time andGod.
He takes us beneath election,he takes us beneath
predestination, as if you couldgo there.
(20:03):
And he speaks of their, shallwe call them roots, the roots of
choice, the roots ofpredestination?
What moved him to choose youbefore you existed?
What's the root?
(20:24):
How do you get to the bottom ofthis?
See that little phraseaccording to the purpose of his
will.
According to the the anothertranslation, perhaps a little
(20:45):
more literal, you know, key andgood pleasure stressing freedom
according to the good pleasureof his will.
So where does his choice comefrom?
That's what Paul's getting at,isn't it?
He's, he's going beneathpredestination, beneath choice,
and says it accords with thisway down here, that choice
(21:07):
accords with this.
What Will he willed, and thenhe chose.
It's like Romans 9, 15.
I will have mercy on whom Ihave mercy.
I will have compassion on whomI have compassion.
(21:28):
So then, it depends not onhuman willing or running, but on
God, who has mercy.
So he could have just said that, namely predestination, choice,
will, bottom line will of God.
He doesn't stop.
(21:49):
He doesn't stop.
He goes another level down,down to purpose or good pleasure
.
This is just almost unfathomableto me that he would talk this
way.
He would invite us in to themind of the eternal God, before
(22:13):
there's any universe at all, anyuniverse at all.
And God is thinking, planning,willing, with a good pleasure.
It's mind-boggling.
So I predestine, I choose, Iwill, I have a good pleasure.
What's the point?
(22:34):
What's he trying to say?
Why is he doing this?
His point is that it is free,it comes from nowhere, but God,
(22:58):
your choice comes from nowhere,but God, before you existed and
deeper than choice, deeper thanwill, all the way down to
whatever this is called God'sgood pleasure.
(23:19):
Why was he talking this way?
He was talking this way to keepyou from believing that you
were chosen on the basis of yourforeknown faith, which is what
a few hundred of you werethinking that I overlooked.
(23:41):
Millions upon millions ofpeople have been taught that
Christians were not chosen onthe basis of God's good pleasure
or God's will or God'sunconditional free grace, but on
(24:30):
the basis of their foreknownultimate human
self-determination.
At the point of theirconversion, the point of their
(24:51):
conversion, they becamebelievers and they were taught.
At that moment, when you becamea believer, you were decisive,
not God.
Now I'm going to ask you whenyou look back on your conversion
to Christ and I know thathundreds of you like me can't
remember that because you were achild, but that doesn't matter
(25:15):
what matters is that you know ithappened because you're alive.
Right, you don't prove you'realive by showing your birth
certificate.
You prove you're alive bybreathing, and you prove you're
a Christian by breathing Christ.
So you know you're alive andyou know you were born again
(25:36):
sometime.
And so I want to ask you, asyou look back on that when you
moved from death to life, whenyou moved from outside Christ to
in Christ, where there's nocondemnation, when you moved
from unsaved to saved, was yourdecisive self-determination the
(26:07):
key?
Was it decisive at that moment,or was the grace of God
decisive?
That's the question that dividestheologies.
Sometimes it's called free will, because that gets a lot of
(26:29):
traction in America.
Did my free will or myself-determination become at
that moment when I crossed fromdeath to life from unbelief to
belief.
Was I decisive or was Goddecisive?
And if you were to say thatthat that's what you believe to
(26:51):
me right now, what I wouldrespond is this I would say Paul
is laboring in the words thathe has chosen to keep you from
believing that.
That's what he's trying to do.
He's trying to help you notbelieve that.
1 Corinthians, 1.30, from Godare you in Christ Jesus.
(27:16):
You didn't graft yourself intoChrist.
God grafted you into Christ.
Ephesians 2, that we'll hearmore about this evening.
God made me alive by grace.
You've been saved.
God gave me faith.
Acts 13, 48,.
(27:40):
As many as were ordained toeternal life believed, not the
other way around.
I love Reformed theology.
I love sovereign grace becauseI'm saved.
If God were not triumphantlyfree and unconditionally
(28:09):
sovereign in giving me life, Iwould be in total rebellion
against God Now, and you wouldtoo.
What makes us sing?
What makes us sing?
I mean, who has conferenceslike this except people who sing
(28:32):
?
I'm saved by sovereign grace.
I didn't do this.
I was plucked out of thathorrible, rebellious humanity,
for nothing in me that makes yousing.
If you thought you weredecisive, we're going to go to
have a conference to sing aboutthat?
(28:54):
They don't happen.
They don't happen.
You don't celebrate humanself-determination at a
conference.
You really don't Just lookaround, you've got to hide it.
Seriously, he's not doneclarifying this.
(29:22):
He knows that there's someother objections.
Let's go down to verses 11 and12 now.
So here we get that otherphrase to the praise of the
glory of God, verse 12, to thepraise of the glory of God.
(29:45):
He doesn't say the praise ofthe glory of the grace of God,
like he did in verse 6.
He shortens it.
And so I love to think of mybeing created for the praise of
the glory of God.
That's my destiny, it's yourdestiny if you're Christian.
(30:10):
And he knows, and you know, andI know, the capstone of that
glory is the glory of grace.
So let's read this verse 11.
In him we have obtained aninheritance, having been
predestined.
So now we're back beforecreation again, having been
(30:32):
predestined according to thepurpose of him, who works all
things according to the counselof his will, so that we who were
the first to hope in Christmight be to the praise of his
glory.
So what is it that leads to thepraise of his glory here?
(31:01):
What leads to the praise of hisglory here what leads to the
praise of his glory?
He roots it.
He roots it, verse 11, he rootsthe certainty of my future
inheritance in the fact that wewere predestined for it.
(31:22):
Right In him we have obtainedan inheritance, having been
predestined.
That's the root of it, that'sthe confidence of it.
So again now he's taken us backbefore creation, to the mind of
God.
(31:42):
Because of the predestination,your inheritance is sure.
It's the ground of your hope.
But now, just like in verse 5,he does more.
He does it in a very similarway, with a couple of more
(32:04):
amazing words.
He says in verse 11, we'repredestined according to that
same phrase the purpose of him.
You can stop there.
According to the purpose of him, there's a plan, there's a
(32:25):
purpose, there's a design, andthat design causes him to
destine his people for adoption.
Then, to make it crystal clear,he doesn't stop with purpose,
but he says according, it's apurpose.
(32:47):
Let's read it carefully, thelast half of the verse the
purpose of him who works allthings according to the counsel
of his will.
So, just like in verse 5, hesaid good pleasure of his will.
So now, here in verse 11, it'sthe council, a different word, a
(33:12):
council of his will.
Now, what in the world thatamazing God's got a will before
the universe exists and acounsel of his will?
Oh, paul, you would break ourbrains.
(33:33):
Both phrases, according to thepurpose and the counsel of his
will, are shouting.
Your election, yourpredestination, your adoption,
your inheritance are owingentirely to God, freely,
(33:57):
gloriously.
God, his purpose, his will, hisgood pleasure, his counsel and
will, his good pleasure, hiscounsel, and not anything in you
.
What you and I brought to thiswas deadness.
That's why chapter 2 is soclarifying about the meaning of
(34:18):
chapter 1.
You brought your deadness, youbrought your rebellion, you
brought your sin.
That's what you bring to this,which is why grace is grace and
so so precious, so well.
Should we even believe, receive, trust, treasure, pray, obey.
(34:53):
Paul would answer.
He does answer.
Indeed, you will believe andyou must believe.
And when you have believed,tell me Christian, when you have
believed and you make it to theend, like he will hold me fast,
(35:18):
he will hold me fast.
When you make it to the end andyou turn around and you look at
that moment when you came aliveand that preservation, you are
going to say grace, grace, grace.
I mean, do you remember 1Corinthians, 15, 10?
(35:41):
Here's what Paul says.
I worked harder than any of them.
Nevertheless, it was not I, butthe grace of God that was with
me.
That's the way Christians talk.
Of course we work.
I'm an old man.
(36:03):
All I've done is work.
I love to work and I love togive glory to God for my work.
That's what we do.
Every breath we take, everysight of the eyes, hearing with
the ears, food in your mouth,faith in your heart.
(36:24):
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
That's why we have conferences,that's why we sing, that's why
we raise kids, that's why we dochurch, that's why we evangelize
the world.
And what a power we have.
I mean, it is glorious, isn'tit?
When the rich young man walksaway and the disciples throw up
(36:52):
their hands.
Who then can be saved?
Jesus doesn't bat an eye andsays with man it is impossible,
but with God, nothing isimpossible.
That's why anybody in here issaved.
(37:15):
So we've seen, in verses 4 and 6, god chose us and predestined
us for adoption unconditionally,unto the praise of the glory of
his grace, not unto the praiseof the glory of your free will,
(37:35):
which does not exist.
You were dead, free-willed, asa slave.
Then, in verse 11 and 12, sothat we may be confident that
(38:01):
this predestination is going toget us home.
He says he predestinedaccording to a plan and this
plan is going to hold because heworks all things according to
the counsel of his will.
So he plans all thingsaccording to the counsel of his
(38:25):
will.
So he plans all thingsaccording to the counsel of his
will.
And then he works all thingsaccording to the counsel of his
will, including my faith.
He plans all things.
He works all things accordingto the counsel of his will and
the praise of the glory of hisgrace.
(38:46):
And then, between verses 6 and11, he lifts up Jesus Christ,
crucified and risen.
It's amazing how he does thisrisen.
(39:08):
It's amazing how he does this.
Everything that he's been aimingat in choosing, in predestining
, in obtaining an inheritancefor us, is accomplished through
Jesus Christ, son of the Son ofGod, the beloved verse 7.
In him, in Christ, we haveredemption through his blood,
the forgiveness of ourtrespasses according to the
(39:29):
riches of his grace.
You're kind of like whoatrespasses blood forgiveness.
Where did that come from?
That wasn't in verses 4 to 6,or was it it was.
(39:50):
He did not choose holy peopleto be holy, he chose wicked
people to be holy.
He set his favor on wickedpeople and predestined them to
be his children.
This is just off the charts,amazing.
God looked out upon a sea ofrebels and he said I'll have a
(40:14):
family here.
And it cost him his son's lifeto do it justly, to do it
beautifully.
And so he put him forth.
The blood of the beloved.
Did you know I'm sure many ofyou know that the blood of the
beloved.
Did you know?
I'm sure many of you know thatthe book of life which exists
(40:39):
before the foundation of theworld, according to Revelation
13 8, the book of life in whichare written all of the chosen,
has has a name.
The book has a name.
This is Revelation 13, 8.
The book of the life of thelamb who was slain.
(41:05):
That's the name of the book.
It's on the cover.
Your name is in there.
My name is in there if you're aChristian.
The lamb was slaughtered in themind of God before the universe
was created.
The book of the life of thelamb who was slain.
(41:25):
So he not only conceived andplanned and chose and
predestined according to thecounsel of his will.
It all folded into Christ whowould have his bride.
It's all to unite.
(41:47):
That verse 10, is just sobeyond me and my capacities to
know what he means by to uniteor to sum up all things in
Christ.
So we were chosen in him verse4.
Predestined through him verse 5.
(42:08):
Redeemed in him verse 7.
Inheriting an inheritancesecured by him verse 11,.
Sealed in him verse 13,.
So we hope in him, which meansthat when you state that the
(42:38):
ultimate point of verses 3 to 14is to the praise of the glory
of his grace, you really mean tothe praise of the glory of
Jesus Christ, the embodiment andthe price of the grace of God.
We beheld his glory, glory asof the only Son from the Father,
(43:06):
full of grace and truth.
One more clarification for ourclosing application.
I haven't said anything aboutthe word praise.
Unto the praise of the glory ofthe grace, the free and
(43:29):
unconditional lavish grace ofGod, we exist and will always
exist.
To the praise, what?
What is praise?
It is not mere words.
Do you remember how Jesus saidthis?
(44:14):
People honors me with theirlips, but their heart is far
from so.
I asked chat GPT.
I typed in please compose a30-second prayer to God in the
spirit and theology of DonCarson, in praise to the glory
of God's grace.
(44:35):
Click Three seconds later.
This is what I was given.
Gracious Father, we bow beforeyou, the sovereign Lord of
history and redemption.
Before you, the sovereign Lordof history and redemption, from
(44:57):
eternity past, you purposed tolavish grace upon undeserving
sinners through the blood ofyour beloved Son.
We praise you for the glory ofyour mercy, unearned, unmeasured
, made manifest in Christ,crucified and risen.
May our lives, redeemed andsanctified by your spirit, be
(45:20):
vessels of praise to the richesof your grace.
To you be glory forever andever.
Amen.
That's a machine, I'm asking.
Is that praise?
Amen.
That's a machine, as I'm asking.
(45:42):
Is that praise?
No, this people, these machines, honor me with their lips and
their bites, and their heart isfar from me.
So let's clarify the purpose ofthe universe quick, I'm done.
I got 19 seconds.
Let's clarify why were you madewords?
(46:08):
Computers do words better thanyou, seriously, better than me.
Computers do words better thanyou, seriously, better than me.
Computers do words.
They don't feel anything.
Therefore, the universe iscreated to have people who feel
this is amazing.
Think of it.
(46:29):
The universe exists to havepeople in God's image who feel
the worth of grace, who feel theglory of grace, who feel the
beauty of grace, who feel thewonder of grace, and then
everything in their life takeson a totally non-AI meaning of
(46:49):
action and praise to God.
So, in closing, if this is notyour portion, that is, if your
heart does not sing, it does notfeel the beauty of the freedom
of the grace of God in saving,you give yourself no rest until
(47:14):
that is your portion.
You were made to praise, thatis, you were made to feel the
preciousness of grace and tospeak it and to show it.
So, father, I cannot makeanybody feel an authentic
(47:43):
spirit-given affection for theglory of your grace, but you can
, and I pray that as we movethrough Ephesians now,
everything will flow from thisheart embrace of the glory of
(48:04):
grace.
Speaker 3 (48:07):
Hello, my name is Michelle Tolliver and Biblical
Talks book offer for the monthof December is Mere Christianity
by CS Lewis.
Our moral consciousness andmoral judgments are proof to the
human race that a moral beingexists God.
Mere Christianity explores thecore beliefs of Christianity by
providing an unequaledopportunity for believers and
(48:29):
non-believers alike to hear apowerful, rational case for the
Christian faith.
A brilliant collection, mereChristianity, remains strikingly
fresh for the modern reader andat the same time confirms CS
Lewis's reputation as one of theleading writers and thinkers of
our age.
The book brings togetherLewis's legendary broadcast talk
during World War II legendarybroadcast talk during World War
(48:51):
II.
Lewis discusses that everyoneis curious about right and wrong
, the human nature, morality,marriage, sins, forgiveness,
faith, hope, generosity andkindness.
For any amount of donation toBiblical Talks, we will send you
the book.
Please go to biblicaltalkscomand click the Donate here tab.
(49:12):
Thank you for listening toBiblical Talks.
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