Open your Bibles, if you would, to the book of Ephesians. We'll continue our study in this wonderful, actually remarkable letter that Paul wrote to the saints at Ephesus, who were, before Paul came and preached the gospel and before they were born again, they were pagan idol worshippers. And they were steeped in idolatry, they knew nothing else, and to them it was fine to do that, but little did they know that they were worshiping false gods, gods of man's imagination.

So open up Ephesians chapter 1, and we'll read verses 1 and 2. The name of the message is Faithful in Christ Jesus.

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. Grace be to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now last week we started our study on the book of Ephesians, brand new study, and in that message we looked at and centered on the transformative power of the gospel and how again they had went into the Paul and His companions had went into Ephesus, a city steeped in idolatry, and by the transforming power of God the Holy Spirit, people were born again through the preaching of the word, preaching of Christ and Him crucified as the only one true living God. And churches had started up in Ephesus all of a sudden by the grace and mercy of God.

And in that message, One thing that was very clear and very emphasized was that salvation is entirely by God's grace and by his will and by his power, not by human effort, not by human effort. We looked at how Paul again was sent in by God to the pagan city of Ephesus. to preach Christ. That was his mission, wasn't it, beloved, was to preach Christ. And God, the Holy Spirit, by his power, there'd been a radical spiritual rebirth in some of the Ephesians who were lost sheep, but now are safe sheep. And they've turned from idols to serve the living and true God. That in itself is a miracle, isn't it, brother? That's a miracle right there. That's a miracle right there.

And we looked at how the Holy Spirit alone affects regeneration. We can't make ourselves born again. You know, in John chapter 3, the Lord tells Nicodemus he must be born again. And in that passage, he gives a example of how the Holy Spirit is like the wind. Can man control the wind? Can we tell the wind which way to go? No, we can't. We can't tell the wind which way to go. We can't even see the wind, can we? But it's there, right? And so the Holy Spirit, he moves and saves. We can't control him, beloved. He moves and saves as his will and purpose is being accomplished and regenerates us.

Think of that. We were regenerated because it was the will and purpose of God for us to be saved. That's amazing, isn't it sister? That's amazing. God willed and purposed our salvation. That's amazing. Make me jump for joy. It's wonderful. It's absolutely wonderful. Oh my.

And the Holy Spirit turns hearts from darkness to light by his almighty power, right? He takes us from the darkness of this world and the darkness of our natural birth and makes us alive in Christ. It's absolutely incredible. I was talking to my daughter this week and we were talking about that. About how the Holy Spirit, when you're born again, now you see things in a totally different light in the scriptures. Now you see God in a totally different light. Now you see the Bible in a totally different light. It's absolutely amazing because we're brought from darkness to light. Now today again we'll look at how the book of Ephesians ultimately affirms that the gospel proclaimed faithfully accomplishes God's purpose. It will accomplish God's purpose. It will not return unto the Lord void and by God's power Every believer, every one of us here who are born again, you know what we are? We're living testaments to the power of God.

Now we're still a bunch of sinners, aren't we? We're reminded of that all the time, but we're saved sinners, aren't we? We're saved sinners. That's amazing. So we're living testaments, beloved, to the grace and mercy of God. Brother Charlie, did you ever think we'd be living testaments to the grace of God when we were dead in trespasses and sins? That's the last thing we were thinking about, wasn't it? Isn't that marvelous? And it's God who's done that. It's God who's done that.

Let's look at verse one again. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. So we see right away, Paul, and I notice this, what does Paul do right away? He's setting Christ before them, isn't he? Right away. And if you read his epistles, you notice that. He sets Christ right away. For the Corinthians, before he did any correction, The whole first chapter is all about Christ. So he sets Christ before his hearers. Sets Christ before those he writes to.

Look how many times, even in this verse, he mentions Christ. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. It's his main emphasis, isn't it? He's the one he proclaims. You see how the Lord's worthy of all our praise? He alone. And Paul, Paul is an apostle, look at this, through the power of God and by the will of God. Look at how he gives God all the glory. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, so apostle there is ambassador in the Greek. It's one who's set as an ambassador. So what do we send ambassadors from this country all over the world? And they speak of the greatness of this country. And vice versa, when people send ambassadors, they're to negotiate, but they also tell you the good things about what's going on in that country.

Well, Paul's got the greatest news this world has ever heard, hasn't he? Salvation through Christ alone, the Messiah. And so he tells us here, he's an ambassador. How? By the will of God. Look at that. He's an ambassador by God's sovereign almighty grace. And that's how he became an apostle, by the will of God and by the power of God. And he's got one message, doesn't he? It's not about the end times, is it? No. It's not about how to live a better Christian life, is it? It's about Christ and him crucified. That's what it's about. Because he's an ambassador of Christ. So he's going to tell the great things about the Lord Jesus Christ, isn't he? And in doing that, he's going to tell the great things God did for him.

Imagine that. He stopped me on the road to Hermes. I was going to slaughter Christians. And he arrested me. I was blind. But then I was told to go to this fella and he prayed for me. He prayed for me and the scales fell off my eyes. Not only could I now see Christ spiritually, but I could see again physically. And you know what? Paul poured his life out for Christ, didn't he? My oh my, because he's an ambassador by the will of God. He didn't seek this position, did he? You ask any preacher. We didn't seek the position of preaching. No. I was doing evangelism when the Lord called me. Last thing, I thought I was going to be a preacher. I was quite content just going to the gospel mission and preaching the gospel to folks and going out in the streets and talking to people on the streets and here I am now in Elmont, Michigan and I love you all. Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that wonderful? Look what the Lord's done. It's absolutely amazing.

Preachers, there's no more apostles, but we're still messengers, aren't we? We still proclaim about our king. We're ambassadors, but we're not, there's no more, somebody tells you they're an apostle, they're lying to your face. Because there's no more apostles, beloved. You know what we all are? We're a bunch of servants. Doulas, means bond servant. That's what we all are. Every believer is a bond servant. Willingly. Lord, I'm going to serve you the rest of my life. You're mine. You saved my soul. Mine.

So Paul here, he designates himself an ambassador of Christ. The Greek word again for apostle means one cent or ambassador. And he's honored to be You can tell that he's honored to be in this position. But have you noticed that when we go through the epistles, he never vaults himself over other believers? We're all the same. I've seen it, and you've seen it, where preachers vault themselves over. And everybody they're preaching to is sinning but them. Well, that's wrong. I'm a saved sinner preaching to other saved sinners and other people who are maybe lost, too, and telling, saying, Christ is the only hope for we sinners. I struggle just like you do, Brother Charlie. Right? Brian, we struggle in our minds and our hearts. We struggle all the time with sin, don't we? Isn't it glorious? We're a bunch of saved sinners. We're saints right now, and nothing can change that? Because do you notice Paul called them saints? We're going to look at what that word means. It's wonderful. Oh my.

So he's a sin apostle, and he's honored to be chosen by God as a representative of Christ. And that's true of every believer, isn't it? You know, we're all representatives of Christ. I may be a poor representative of Christ, but I'm still a representative of Christ by His will. Right? I'm thankful He saved me, and I'm going to proclaim Him to everyone who will listen, and even those who won't listen. And I'm praying God will open their ears, so they will listen. Because He's the only one who can, isn't He? And notice the glory he gives to God right away. He says, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God. So he's saying right away, this is by God's will. This is according to God's will and purpose. I didn't seek this. And he didn't, did he? He was on the road to take out Christians. He's not seeking Christ then, is he? No.

Think of where we were, Brian. We may have even been hearing the gospel, and we may have been even around the gospel, or before we went around the gospel, but God bought, look at me, God bought you to meet a girl who's going to a gospel preaching church. Yeah. I talked to Richard and Irene one time. Richard told me, he said, you know, he says, I met this pretty girl. I was riding my bike with my brothers, and I met this real pretty girl. And I ask her, where are you going? And Richard said, Irene said to him, well, I'm going to church, do you want to come? He says, well, he put that bike away and he went to church and the rest is history. And the Lord saved them and now they're both in glory, aren't they? And they love the gospel, let me tell you. They love the gospel, they love the Savior. My. Were they sinners just like us? Absolutely. But they were safe sinners, washed in the blood of Christ. Oh my. My. So he's honored.

And listen to what Paul writes to Timothy. He says that he is an apostle. He's a preacher, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust. Do you know the gospels committed to our trust here at this church? Isn't that amazing? And why are we here? For the furtherance of the gospel, right? To hear about our Savior more and more? To grow and to learn more about Him? And to see the gospel go forth into the world? It's wonderful. But we've been entrusted with that. That's why you guys know, you know, I won't let anyone in the pulpit who's not preaching the gospel. Brother Travis, he fills in, he does a wonderful job. And I know and trust that he's going to preach Christ. Right? And to the glory of God. But we gospel preachers, we won't let someone in our pulpit that's not preaching the gospel. No way. We've been entrusted with the gospel, beloved. My.

And let us rejoice as believers that God, the Holy Spirit, gave us ears to hear and eyes to see Christ. That's a miracle, isn't it? That's a miracle. My, it's absolutely incredible. So Paul knew the gospel was committed to his trust by the will of God and according to the purpose of God. We see that reference in verse one. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God. In this entire epistle, there's declarations, there's admonitions, there's promises, and he even speaks about gifts within the body. But this entire epistle is all about the will of God and not the will of man. It's all about what God does. We're going to see that right away in verse four. Chosen in him in Christ before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. That's God's work. That's God's will. It's beautiful.

And note, Paul's an apostle. And then note, it's by the will of God. And in the Greek, you know what that word, the word by the will of God means in the Greek? A determination, choice, purpose, and decree. You don't get much more God's will being worked out right there. Isn't it wonderful? And think of this, we're believers by the will of God, according to his purpose and his will. Is it any marvel, is it any wonder why we love him so much? Why our hearts sing when we hear the gospel? He's glorious. He's wondrous, our great God. And when this word is used, speaking of God's will, this Greek word, it signifies his gracious disposition towards something. Towards something. So believers have received God's grace and mercy through Christ. according to his will and purpose. It's used also to designate what God himself does of his own good pleasure. Let that one sink in. We are saved according to the good pleasure of God. My! Makes me want to shout. Because it pleased him to do so. We're going to see that later on in this epistle. Because it pleased God to do so, we're saved.

Now, D.J. Ward used to say, if God hadn't have chose some, heaven would have none. That's true, isn't it? Because there's none that seeketh after God. There's none righteous. There's none good. But God, in his will and purpose, because it pleased him to do so, saved some. And every born-again believer is part of that number. That's remarkable. That is remarkable, that God would save a rebel such as me. A sinner such as me. A sinner such as we. My. That'll make you smile, won't it, Brother Brian? Brother Brian's got a smile on his face. That'll make you smile, man.

And I was talking to Crystal this week, my daughter. Keep praying for all my Lord's showing her so much in the Scriptures. And we went to Colossians chapter 2. in that portion where it says, heaven forgiven you, and I said, write this little word down. A-L-L. All trespasses. I see that word trespasses, I said to her, it means sins. She goes, oh dad, I did some things that I thought could never be forgiven. All trespasses. All trespasses. And I said, Crystal, when were your sins and my sins, what were they at Calvary's cross? And she goes, they were all in the future. All trespasses. Heaven forgiving you, all trespasses. Isn't that wonderful, brother? All our sins. I said, even the ones you haven't committed yet. Oh, my. Even the ones you don't even know you commit, sweetie, I told her. All under the blood. Isn't that wonderful? That's true for every believer, eh? It's absolutely amazing.

I'll tell you what. And God does this all according to his good pleasure. He sent his own son. to die in our room and place, to shed his blood, and we're saved through the blood and righteousness of Christ. And we say, hallelujah, what a Savior is Jesus Christ my Lord. So all the born-again blood-washed saints of God which are in glory and on this earth, and who will be born again in the future, they're all saved according to the gracious good pleasure of God. by his will and according to his purpose in Christ Jesus. That's the key too, right? In Christ Jesus.

Let's read Ephesians 1 verse 1 again. Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God to the saints which are at Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. Now note, we see now who this letter is addressed to. They're called saints. There's a certain religion out there that calls their people saints according to their leader designating them as saints. We don't designate ourselves as saints, but Brian, you're a saint of God. Saint Brian. Saint Charlie. Saint Barb. Isn't that wonderful? This is what we are. We're saints. We're saints. Saints of God. I don't know if you call the lady saintess, I don't know, whatever. We'll call them just saint, right? Because they're called to be saints. So this letter is specifically addressed to a people. It's not addressed to all the city of Ephesus, is it? It's addressed to the born-again blood-washed people of God who are in Ephesus. And notice they're called saints. Now these folks were idol worshipers at one time, and now they're called saints.

But those who are here called saints, they've been saved by God's grace and according to his mercy. They were the ones for whom Christ is now their sanctification, for whom Christ came to the world and died on the cross and shed his blood for. We're saints, too. We tell our Catholic friends that. Watch what happens. I did that to my mom once, and she blew a gasket when I told her that I was a saint, and she was a Catholic. And I said, oh, I'm a saint of God. What? Don't ever say that. Yeah, I am. It's what scripture tells me. I'm not ashamed of that.

Now, do I feel like a saint? No, not at all. Because you know what a saint is? A saint is a holy one. God takes unholy sinners, and by his grace and mercy, he makes them holy. How can that be? Only in Christ. Only in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. Not by anything we do. We've got no power to do that, do we? I can't even make the little skin here on my pinky finger holy, because I'm such a sinner. But God can make a sinner holy, can he? And we're still sinners, but we're saved by the grace of God. Isn't that wonderful?

Listen to this in Corinthians. Paul writes to the Corinthians this. He says in 1 Corinthians 1.30-31, he says, but of him are ye in Christ Jesus. who of God has made unto us wisdom, so he's our wisdom, sanctification, or wisdom, righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption, that according as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

Sanctification means to be made holy. So we're sanctified not by anything we do, not by anything we say, but we're sanctified in Christ according to 1 Corinthians 1.30. He's all our sanctification. He's all our righteousness. He's all our wisdom. He's all our redemption. He's everything to the believer.

Why? That, according as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. The only one we have to glory in is the one who saved our souls. That's wondrous.

And who are these saints? Well, these saints have been saved and sanctified the blood of Christ according to the grace and mercy of God the Father. In eternal election they were chosen in Christ, they were born dead in trespasses and sins, but Christ they find out, they find out when they're born again that 2,000 years ago Christ paid all the price for our sins. He atoned for them. He purchased our souls. So much so that the scripture says, we're bought with a price. We're not our own. And what is that price? The precious blood of Christ. That's how we're redeemed.

So now we can sing, redeemed, redeemed, I'm redeemed. I'm saved from all my sins. It's wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. And the only way a sinner can be made holy is in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. Only through Him. He's the foundation. He's our Redeemer. He saved us from our sins. We can't be made holy outside of Christ. We are not holy. Outside of Christ, we're unholy. But praise God, He makes His people holy.

One day, see, we still sin, don't we, right now, Brian, but one day we'll never sin again. That holiness will become actual. We'll never sin again. That's what we long for, isn't it? That's what we desire, is to be with Christ, number one, and to never sin again. I can't really contemplate that, can you? But it's gonna be wonderful. It's gonna be wonderful.

Look at verse 1 again. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, to the faithful in Christ Jesus. Now, note the saints, they're made holy. Look at verse 4 in Ephesians. Look at this. according as he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be, what? Holy, and without blame before him in love.

See that Greek word for holy? You know where that Greek word's used in verse one? Saints. Same Greek word. Same Greek word. Translated saints, in verse one, translated holy in verse four. Same Greek word. That's wonderful, isn't it? That's amazing.

So Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the holy ones, which are at Ephesus. Oh my goodness. Oh, it's wonderful, beloved. It's wonderful. And again, the only way we can be, a sinner can be made holy is in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is wondrous. It's wondrous. What mercy we've received, what grace we've received in and through Christ. And note, the saints are made holy in Christ, it says, by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. So the only way we can be made holy is in Christ alone. He's our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. He's our holiness. He's our holiness.

And saints designates us as the ones who have received the gift of salvation through Christ in him alone, the gift of faith and repentance before God, my, through the blood of Christ. And notice here, after they heard the word of truth, they're now called to the faithful in Christ Jesus.

Now this sets a standard for all that follows in this epistle. How are they the faithful in Christ Jesus? By the will of God. By the will of God. And notice what this does not describe. It does not describe the saints as faithful to Christ Jesus, but faithful in Christ Jesus. Our faith's like this, isn't it? Up and down, up and down. But we're the faithful in Christ Jesus. In Him. Even though our faithfulness can go like this. God sees us in Christ, doesn't he? It's getting even better, isn't it? I love it.

Now, we desire to be faithful to Christ, don't we? Because we're born again. But even when we're not faithful, he abides faithful. Oh my. So what's the source and cause of our faithfulness? That we're in Christ. He's the cause. Remember he told us, Brian and Peter, Peter told us that he'll keep us and preserve us. It's him.

Why do some fall away and leave the gospel and others don't? Well, it's not because we have more faith in them. It's because we're born again. And I'm talking about people who walk right away from God and never want anything to do with Him anymore. It's because we're born again. We're born again. He won't let us go. He won't let us go.

And here bring us to a place where the gospel is preached only. He will. And you know what'll happen to the goats? They'll end up leaving. My, oh, my. You guys have seen probably multitudes of people who came to church through the years. Brian, you and Sister Barb have been here a long time. Probably seen multitudes of people come through that door. And you think, wow, man, they're pretty solid. And then they're gone. The next thing you hear, they're not following the Lord anymore, they're not listening to the gospel anymore. That's who I'm talking about. They're proving that they were never Christ. Because God's people will desire to still hear the gospel.

Jake and Liz out in Colorado, they don't have a church that they can come to, to fellowship in. So what do they do? They listen to messages all the time. They still desire the gospel. They want to hear it. You and Linda, when you guys were gone for a little bit, you were listening, no? To Frank, and to Gabe, and to all these other preachers. God kept you, Brother Brian. He brought you home again. When everything changed, right? Everything did change. And look what we have now.

By the power of God, I was talking to Zane about this this week, and Zane said, we need to guard this. It's precious and it's rare. We need to guard this. That's very wise. We do. Oh my, what we have is absolutely incredible, beloved. I've never experienced it before. It's amazing. It's truly amazing. The love that we have for one another, the genuine love and care, absolutely amazing. Just incredible. But it's all God's doing, isn't it? It's by the will of God. It's by the will of God. So the only reason we're called the faithful in Christ Jesus is because we're in Christ Jesus. He's paramount. He's essential to us. Paul summed it up. He's our all in all.

And let us remember that those who are called faithful in Christ were We're in Christ not only by electing grace, but we're openly manifesting him through converting grace, right, by the power of God the Holy Spirit. And so what are they called then? They're called what we're called in John chapter 15, branches. And Christ is the vine. And without the vine, we can do nothing. That means in the Greek, separate and apart from the vine, we can't do anything. Isn't that amazing?

Who gives us breath to breathe, Brother Brian? Even before we were saved and after, right? Isn't that amazing? He gives this world breath to breathe, these people, these animals, breath to breathe. That's benevolence, isn't it? My, oh my. Has the rain fallen on the just and on the unjust? My, our God is amazing. He's amazing.

And these faithful in Christ Jesus, that's the key, in Christ Jesus, not because of anything they've done, they're continuing in the faith because they are in Christ. He's the vine, we're the branches. So it's Christ who preserves us. It's Christ who keeps us from totally falling away. It's Christ who keeps us faithful to his gospel and to the grace of God. There's nothing in us that makes us faithful in Christ. But Christ makes us faithful and keeps us faithful. That's a wonder all by itself, isn't it? Glory be to God. Look how great our Savior is. Look how gracious our God is to us and merciful. My, my, oh my. The best news I ever heard in my life.

Brother Brian, can you close us in prayer?