I spent the first 20 years of my Christian walk believing that God held me responsible to get and stay saved. I had literally been told that Jesus did all he could do for me and the rest was now up to me. And for me, there was no good news in that. It was a miserable experience of a synergistic false gospel within a popular Pentecostal denomination. You might imagine then how relieved I was when I learned the truth that my salvation is of the Lord from start to finish. On that day, the mental and spiritual clouds parted and I suddenly felt genuine hope in Jesus Christ. I had always wanted to be a Christian, but self-reliance offers no assurance or comfort in relation to salvation. So when I learned that Christ had not come to make my salvation merely possible, but to accomplish salvation on my behalf, the light of gospel truth set me free. After 20 years of spiritual depression, I now possessed good news. Consequently, I count that day in the spring of 1996 as my conversion date. Now, what I just shared with you is what we call a conversion testimony. And it was sincere and true. And what I want to tell you now is that my testimony is part of a much greater testimony. That is, the testimony of my salvation from God's perspective. And if you are in Christ, what I'm about to tell you is God's testimony of you also. So let's open our Bibles to Paul's letter to the Ephesians, chapter one, and we're gonna look at verses three through 14. Ephesians chapter one, verses three through 14. Quote, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us to adoption as sons and daughters through Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace which he favored us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our wrongdoings, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us, in all wisdom and insight. He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He set forth in Him, regarding His plan of the fullness of the times, to bring all things together in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In him we also have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things in accordance with the plan of his will. To the end, that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of his glory. in him you also after listening to the message of truth the gospel of your salvation having also believed you were sealed in him with the holy spirit of the promise who is a first installment of our inheritance in regard to the redemption of god's own possession to the praise of his glory end quote What I want you to note is that verses 3 through 12 of what we just read proclaim the prior works of God from eternity for which verses 13 and 14 are the result. Let me read those last two verses one more time. In him you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, having also believed you were sealed in him with the Holy Spirit of the promise, who is a first installment of our inheritance in regard to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of his glory." So everything that led up from verses 3 to 12 is what God had done. both in eternity past and in time and history in Christ, so that you will come to the point, which he also brought about, of listening, believing, and being sealed in by the Spirit. Now, the fact that we contribute nothing to our salvation does not mean that we do nothing, therefore. Verses 13 and 14 say plainly that we listened and we believed. But what is critical is that you understand that even the ability to listen and believe is a result of a prior work of God. Listening and believing, listening and believing does not originate within ourselves. Ephesians chapter 2, 1 through 10 makes this clear. What's more, having listened and believed, we were, quote, sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who was given as a pledge of our inheritance unto the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of His glory, end quote. So we were chosen, predestined, redeemed, sealed by the Spirit in Christ, with final glorification yet to come. So what I want for you is to see that the testimony of your salvation is really not yours at all. Rather, it is the testimony of what God did before the foundation of the world in which he then brought about in time and space so that you listened and believed the word of truth and were sealed by the promised Holy Spirit. Our personal identity as followers of Christ, therefore, originates not at the moment of our conversion, but in the mind of the Triune God in eternity past. Your true identity is not determined by family history, ethnicity, gender, economic or social standing, nor by issues of trauma, codependence, and addiction. but your personal identity is defined by how God defined you from before the foundation of the world. And how did God define you? Well, we learned just now that he defines you as his adopted sons, a reference to legal status as heirs, not to gender. as his adopted sons through Christ, holy and blameless before him, quote, to the praise of the glory of his grace, which he graciously bestowed on us in the beloved, end quote. In other words, to be God's adopted sons means we share in the image of his divine son, giving them not just Christ's riches and blessings, but also his very nature. You can find that, by the way, affirmed in the notes of the MacArthur Study Bible at Ephesians 1-5. So let me read that last part again. To be God's adopted sons, means that we share in the image of the divine son giving them not just Christ's riches and blessings but also his very nature. Well that which I've just shared with you is pastoral meaning this teaching is meant to edify and comfort you in the assurance he who has begun a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus Philippians 1 6 therefore beloved as it is written let the one who boasts boast in the Lord end quote first Corinthians 131 amen