I’ve been chosen by God and there’s nothing you can do about it!

Jerry Parries: I’ve been chosen by God and there’s nothing you can do about it! Find out how when we return on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
If you’ve suffered too long under a do more, try harder religion, Key Life is here to proclaim that Jesus sets the captives free. Steve invited Jerry Parries to teach us this week. Jerry is an author and the pastor of Christian Family Worship Center House of Grace.

Jerry Parries: Thank you Matthew. Hey Jeremy, I am back today. And it’s good to see you as always. I’m here sitting in the big chair because Steve Brown is out today and he’s giving me the privilege. Well, I’m actually not sitting in the big chair, you can’t sit in Steve Brown’s chair when you’re here, you’ve got to sit in the chair across the hall or something. You know, nobody could sit in that chair. Hey, if you tune in this week to Key Life and you was ready to hear Dr. Steve Brown. He’s allowed me to take the wheel this week. I am pastor Jerry Q. Parries, one of the voices of Key Life. And I am humbled and I greatly appreciate this opportunity to come to you and share this amazing message of grace. Well, if you tuned in with us on yesterday, I was sharing about what God has done for you so that you would glorify and praise him. I want to get back into that teaching. But before I do, I always like to make a confession over my life. And I want you to make the same confession over your life because if you do this every single day, these words will begin to take life in your life and you will begin to see the manifestations of God doing some incredible things. So, repeat this after me. The favor of God is over my life. God is a hundred percent pleased with me because of Jesus Christ. God is able to make all grace abound towards me. Wow. If you say that and believe it, you will start seeing great things happen for you, in your life. Well, let’s jump into the lesson. This is lesson two. And I started in Ephesians, the first chapter, the 14th verse. And starting at the very last verse that said.

He did this so that we would praise and glorify him.

And the question I asked on yesterday was, what did he do? On yesterday, I said to you, here’s one of the things that he did. He blessed us with every spiritual blessing that’s found in Ephesians one and three.

All praises to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm because we have been united with Christ.

The second thing he has done is found in verse 4.

Even before he made the world. Even before he made the world God loved us us and shows us in Christ.

Wow. That’s the second thing that he’s done for us, that he’s chosen you and I, even before he made the world. Think about that, that God had you on his mind prior to making the world. That means, that means this is so huge, that means that before you were born, or you were not born because of your mother and father, we were chosen by God before he made the world. That means that nothing you do surprises God and everything that you’re going through, God knows about it because he’s already chosen you before the foundation of the world. When you walk down and shook the preacher’s hand to join the church, you really didn’t join the church. God called you down the aisle and you obeyed God’s word because he chose you before the foundation of the world. And not only did he choose you, listen what it says.

Even before the world, even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ.

And listen what he chose us to be.

To be holy and without thought in his eyes.

That’s the third thing we can praise God about that he has made you perfect without fault in his eye. And that’s hard for some of us to believe because so many people criticize us and talk about us and say things about us, but I want you to know in the eyesight of God, you are perfect. You are holy. You are righteous in the eyesight of God, man, God made you perfect and holy and without fault in his eyes. Now, I want to jump for a few minutes to II Corinthians 5:21, it says.

For he who made, he made him, God made Jesus who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we may become the righteousness of God in him.

Can I explain that to you for a few minutes? God took all of your sins, placed them on Jesus. He took all of Jesus righteousness and placed it on you. So, you have imputed righteousness. When Jesus went to the cross, he took all of your wrongdoing, he took all of your sins, your past, your present and your future sins, and he paid the price. I like somebody, I was talking to somebody the other day and they were saying, well, you’ve got to pay for your sins. You did pay for them. Just Jesus paid for them on your behalf. Jesus paid for your sins and gave you his righteousness. So when the fourth chapter says.

He made us holy and without fault in his eyes.

That’s the reason we’re without fault in God’s eyes because he has placed Jesus’ righteousness upon each and every one of our lives. Look at Colossians 1:19.

For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.

He made peace with everything in the heavens and the earth by means of Christ Jesus’ blood on the cross. And listen to what verse 21 says in Colossians. This is Colossians 1: verse 21 in the New Living Translation.

This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and your actions, but yet now

Verse 22, this is the part I like to shout on. This is the part that I was saying he did this so that we would glorify and praise God.

yet now he has reconciled us to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought us into his own presence, and we are holy, blameless as we stand before him without a single fault.

Wow. My God, that’s great news. You and I do not have a single fault in the eyesight of God. Now, you’re going to have fault in front of people and your friends and your family and your husband and your wife, but you will not have any fault in the eyesight of God because of the blood of Jesus that has been placed on your life. Listen to what verse 23 says.

But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it.

If you believe this truth, your prayer life would be different, your worship would be different, the way you approach God in everything you do would be different because you would realize that you are holy, that you are righteous, that you are redeemed because of the blood of Jesus Christ. Let’s go back to Ephesians one and four.

Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ, in Christ.

If any man be in Christ, he’s a new creature.

Chose us in Christ. And what did he choose us to be?

He made us to be holy and without fault in his eyes.

And the Scripture says.

He did this so that we would praise and glory by him.

I hope this is helping you today, your guilt and your condemnation is so put in, you need to cast that out of your mind, out of your heart. Cast that out of the way that you think because you are holy, you are redeemed, you are forgiven because of the blood of Jesus Christ that has been poured over your life. When you see. When God sees you, he doesn’t see you. He sees the blood of Jesus that covers you, so you are holy. You’re not being holy, you are holy. Now, you’re working it out. You are walking through what you already are, but you are holy. You’re maturing in your holiness. You’re maturing in your righteousness, but you are righteous, you are holy. God has brought you into His presence and you are holy, blameless as you stand before him without a single fault. How does that feel? How does it feel today to know that God is a hundred percent pleased with you because of Jesus Christ? Hey, this is what I taught you today. I taught you that you are chosen by God. The other thing I taught you is that he has made you holy, without fault in his eyes. And on yesterday, I taught you that you have every spiritual blessing. If you walk in that and you believe that and you stand firmly on that, there is absolutely nothing the enemy would be able to bring your way because you know that you have been covered by the Lord. I hope that helped you today. I hope that made you smile. And as Dr. Steve Brown would say, you think about that. And ask yourself the question, am I everything God said? Amen.

Matthew Porter:
What good things has God done for us? Well, how about imputed righteousness? What a gift that is. And what a great reminder from our friend, Jerry Parries. More life, more truth, more encouragement from Jerry tomorrow. Do not miss that. Well, have you found this to be true? That we as Christians are often right on issues of salvation and theology, but we sometimes miss the less articulated truths of humility and love and forgiveness. Well, that premise was actually the basis of Steve’s book called Talk the Walk. Well, we took several passages directly from that book to create a special booklet that we would love to send to you for free. It’s the first time we’ve offered this booklet in more than a year, so claim your copy right now by calling us at 1-800-KEY-LIFE that’s 1-800-539-5433. You can also e-mail [email protected] to ask for that booklet. Or to mail your request, go to keylife.org/contact to find our mailing addresses for the U.S. and Canada. Just ask for the Talk the Walk booklet. One last thing, if you value the work of Key Life, would you consider supporting that work through your giving? You can charge a gift on your credit card or include a gift in your envelope. Or simply pick up your phone and text Key Life to 28950 to give safely and securely. That’s Key Life, one word, two words. It doesn’t matter. Just text that to 28950. Key Life is a member of ECFA in the States and CCCC in Canada. And we are a listener supported production of Key Life Network.