INTRO: The words we have before us this morning in Ephesians 1:4 are, '...that we should be holy and without blame before Him...' Let me introduce these words by commenting on the words which come before and after. In verse 3 Paul says that the believer is to bless God because He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ. Then in verse 4 he says that God blessed us just as He chose us. The words just as give us a comparison. Wherein is the comparison? I believe that the comparison is one of purpose. God blessed us with every spiritual blessing 'in order that we should be holy and without blame before Him' and He chose us in eternity past with exactly the same purpose in mind. God's overriding purpose in salvation is to make us holy and without blame before Him.
So in verse 4 we go back into eternity past where God chose us and in the same verse we go to eternity future, where the believer stands before God, holy and without blemish. I have often said that God's primary purpose in salvation is not to save us from hell fire but to conform us to the image of Christ. God wants to make godly people out of us. The doctrine that covers this great work of God is the doctrine of sanctification.
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