Father, we come before Thy throne
with thanksgiving. Oh, we come before Thy throne
seeking to see You today, Lord Jesus, in the message and in
the singing and all that's said and done, that You would be glorified
and that You would be magnified. We come before Thee after a week
being in the world and being bombarded by different things
and we just seek to your favor and we seek to your presence. And this is an oasis for us to
come and worship and praise thy mighty name. And we love You
because You first loved us. You drew us and You knew us in
eternity and You've loved us with an everlasting love. So
we seek to glorify Thee and praise You for all that You've done
in our lives. And we pray that You would use the messages, if
it's Your will, to draw sinners to Thee, Lord. We pray that if
it's Your will, that You'd save Your sheep who don't know You
yet, who haven't heard Thy voice. And we pray that You would draw
them in Your mercy and Your goodness and Your grace. And we lift it
all up to You today in our time together, in Jesus' name, Amen. Ephesians 1 is where we'll be. Boy, I'm sweating like crazy
already. Ephesians 1. Last week we looked at verse
1. This week we'll look at verses 2 and 3. 2 and 3. Ephesians 1, verses 2 and 3.
If you guys don't mind, I'm going to take this coat off. Okay, Ephesians 1, verses 2 and
3. Grace be to you and peace from
God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Again, grace
be to you. So this is written to the Ephesians.
So this is written to believers. And remember before, I've said
a lot of things could be cleared up if people would just look
at who letters were written to. A lot of error could be cleaned
up and cleared up. Grace be to you, so this is written
to the Ephesians, to the saints at Ephesus. Grace be to you and
peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath, and
notice the language there, who hath, who hath, it's definitive,
who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ. So last week we looked at verse
1, We looked at that it was the will of God in Paul's calling.
And in His life, and it's true of every saint of God in Christ,
that we are saved by the will of God. It's God's will for Him
to save His sheep and He does it. It's God's will for Him to
call His sheep and He does it. He does it. So let's look at
verse 2 again. Grace be to you and peace from
God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Now this is a greeting
which Paul uses in a lot of his letters. He prays that the saints
would be enriched with grace and peace. Grace and peace from
our Father. From God our Father. And notice
the order. I mentioned this when we did
the introduction. But notice the order. Grace always precedes
peace. Grace always precedes peace.
You will have no peace without grace. Without grace. And think of this, too, how boundless
the grace of God in Christ is to us, beloved. And what peace
we have. What peace we have in and through
Christ and Him alone. Outside of Christ we have no
peace with God. None at all. None at all. And think of this, too. We didn't
even know we didn't have peace with God. You see how it's a
refuge of lies? Before you're saved, you think
that you're doing, or you think that, but we had no peace. We were saying, peace, peace,
and we had no peace. That's why you hear, no one goes
to hell, according to religious people. No one goes to hell. But you only have peace if you
have the grace of God and Christ. And that's the order. Grace must
always precede peace. And Paul, think of this too. What a simple way of greeting
the saints, right? Grace and peace. It's a very
simple way of greeting the saints. And Paul, Paul was much learned
in the Scriptures, but he always brings it to the simple greeting
of grace and peace. Grace and peace. And you see
that continuously through all his letters. Grace and peace.
So may we never vault ourselves high enough to remember these
precious truths that are before us. We have, the believer in
Christ has grace and peace in Christ. Peace with God the Father. Peace with Him. And we'll look
at that in our main message today, too, about propitiation and what
that means. We have peace, though, with God. And let us note also that the
Holy Spirit's not mentioned in this text, but He is included,
right? It says, Grace be to you and peace from God our Father
and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, although the Holy Spirit's
not directly named here, He's included because think on this.
There can be no work on the soul but by His presence and power,
right? There can be no work on the soul but by His presence
and power. He must regenerate us. We must be born again by
the Holy Spirit of God. And when grace is given, He implants
it. He implants it. When peace exists,
He creates it. He creates it in us. So all spiritual
blessings, therefore, grace and peace are the effects of His
working. So the whole Trinity is again in action. The whole
Trinity again. And we know that as we go through
this first chapter. We're going to see how the whole
The whole Trinity is in action in the salvation of a sinner.
We who are dead in trespasses and sins, and if you look over
at verse 1 of chapter 2, it says, and you hath he quickened who
were dead in trespasses and sins. That's the Holy Spirit regenerating
a dead sinner. And if anyone ever comes to you,
and I've mentioned this many times, dead in the Greek there
means dead. Graveyard dead. Dead. You can't do anything.
A corpse can't do anything. That was our situation. That
was our place. That was our standing when we
come into this world. Dead. Graveyard dead, spiritually. Physically alive, but spiritually
dead. And I remember those days. I
remember thinking that I was okay. Thinking that, you know,
peace, peace. Oh yeah, I'm going to go to heaven. When I had no hope in Christ.
It was all about me. was all about me being better
than someone else, or not as bad as someone else. It's a refuge
of lies. Because when God reveals to us
what we are, we see ourselves as sinners in desperate need
of Christ. So the existence of spiritual
life in us proves the work of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is
sent from Jesus and from the Father through Christ. And we
see that every spiritual gift of love and power, the work of
the Trinity, they cooperate in the salvation of a sinner. They're
all in action. And we will see that as we go
further down through this chapter. We'll see that. The whole Trinity
is in action. Now let's look back to our text
here again. Grace be to you and peace from God our Father and
from the Lord Jesus Christ. The Greek word for grace there
is defined as this, good will, loving kindness, favor. It also
goes on to be defined as this, of the merciful kindness of which
God, exerting His holy influence upon souls, turns them to Christ,
keeps, strengthens, increases them in the Christian faith.
Knowledge, affection, enkindles them to the exercise of the Christian
virtues. So grace, and think of this too,
grace acts from itself to itself. From itself, and it's only by
the power of God. We are given grace by God the
Father. And we are saved by the grace
of God in Christ. And then we magnify and glorify
the God who gave that grace. It goes right back to Him. Right
back to Him. Grace cannot be controlled by
human power. Although a lot of folks in the
religious world think it can be, but it cannot be controlled
by human power. Grace cannot be controlled by
human merit. It will actually not operate
where there's any merit. Grace operates where there's
no merit. No merit. And that's where the Lord brings
a sinner as He's bringing him to Christ, to show him that he
has no power, no merit before God. In our unworthiness, and also
grace doesn't work where there's any worthiness. Because we're
all unworthy. All of us. Anyone supposing any
merit or anything we do to gain grace alters grace to where it's
no longer grace. You mix anything in with grace
and it's no longer grace. God saves whom He will according
to His good pleasure. And what a word, grace. Grace. It's an infinite term when we
think of God. When we think of God who is eternal,
it's an infinite term. Because He's eternal. Therefore,
His grace is eternal. And He's the giver of this wonderful
grace spoken of in this verse. God is the giver. When we think of the word grace,
we who believe think about the source. God the Father. And the streams, it goes through
Christ, doesn't it? It flows through Christ. It finds
its origin in the Father in eternity, and it streams forth by God's
free grace through Christ to bless undeserving sinners like
you and I. What a magnificent word. Grace. And it's God who is the giver.
Our faith in Christ is strengthened when we ponder God's grace given
to us in Christ. Think of that. Think that God,
you who believe, that God who dwells in eternity gave you grace
and faith and repentance to believe on Christ when we had no power
to do that. What mercy. What grace. What mercy and what grace. We
can't even fathom it. But we're strengthened when we
think about it. We're strengthened in Christ
when we think about it. When we ponder the eternal love
of God towards His elect in Christ and the grace given to us, it
lifts us up, doesn't it? It builds us up in Christ. Think of this too. Everything
we need is supplied in the everlasting covenant in Christ Jesus our
Lord. Everything. There's nothing lacking. Everything a sinner needs is
in Christ and in Him alone. This is why we say cast aside
everything else you're doing. Because there's only hope in
Christ. Now it says, in peace. Peace. Grace to you in peace. And remember that grace and peace
is from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. And we live
in a world where there is no peace. There really isn't. Now
we live in a country here where we're at peace, but we still
have things going on all the time. All the time. There's wars
all over the place. Rumors of wars. But the peace
here spoken of comes from God. And it's a peace that passes
all understanding. It's not like the peace in the
world. The peace in the world is unsettled. You have peace
for a while and then boom, it starts again. This is the peace
that passes all understanding. It doesn't change. And I know,
I know we live in a world, and I know we go through things,
and I know we're up and down like this. But this is a precious
truth, beloved, for God's people. This peace does not change. We're
the ones who go through things, right? But this peace just is
steady. It never changes. And it's a
rock. It's a rock. It's a foundation. And everyone wants peace in the
world, But because we're sinners, it's an elusive thing, isn't
it? But oh, the calm repose, the peace here spoken of, it's
a calm repose. The old timers used to use the
word repose. And that's what you're doing
right now. You're reposing in a chair. You're reposing in a
pew. What a beautiful word. Repose
just means to be at rest. And this is what we are to do
in Christ. But it's hard for us to do. But see, the believer's peace
never changes. Because it's in God. It's from
God and in Christ. It's from God and in Christ.
And think of the repose of the rest when we realize that we're
reconciled with God. We who are sinners are reconciled
with God. We who believe. That's the key,
you have to believe, you must believe. God makes us willing,
doesn't he? He's in action in the whole salvation
of the sinner, but all we praise his mighty name. We do come,
we run to him though, don't we? We flee to him. But when you
realize that all your sins are forgiven, that there's not one
left out, past, present, and future, and again, it doesn't
give us a license to go crazy, no. But when you realize, when
you really realize and really ponder that, it gives us such
peace. Such peace. Isn't it going to be amazing
when we get home to be with the Lord and we're freed from the
presence of sin? My goodness. Oh, my goodness. Therefore, being justified by
faith, listen to this, we have peace, Romans 5, 1. Therefore,
being justified by faith, we have peace. Paul tells us here,
grace and peace, right? We have peace. The believer possesses
peace with God. How? Through our Lord Jesus Christ. See, that's the key. It's only
through Christ. Nowhere else. We have it. by
whom also we have access by faith into this grace. Our text says
grace and peace. We have access into the grace
of God wherein we stand and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. It brings us joy and peace to
know that we are reconciled with God. Think of this too. If one
is under wrath and terror, there's no peace, is there? And what happens to us is the
Lord's drawn us to it. Oh, we see His law, we see His
justice, and we tremble. And then when He saves the sinner,
what peace we have. What peace we have. Christ did
it all. The terror is gone. Now we still are in awe of the
Lord. But it's a reverent awe. It's a reverent fear. It's not
a terrifying fear. But when God has drawn a sinner
to Himself, He'll show them that they're guilty before God's law,
and it gives the sinner no peace at all. But oh, when we look
to Christ, what peace, what peace we have in Christ. When you're
going through something, temptation or sin, just look to Christ. Look to Him. Flee to Him. He's
our only hope. Think of this too. When we're
by faith, resting and trusting in Christ, Scripture declares,
your sins are forgiven. Forgiven. Go in peace. Oh my. Forgiven. But I'm a sinner. But you're
trusting Christ. Oh, if we could just live in
that reality all the time, eh? This is why every week we come
and hear the Gospel. We need to hear it, don't we?
We need to be reminded constantly of what we have in Christ. Outward
distress to the believer is as the raging billows to Noah in
the ark. Think of Noah. He was in that
ark, right? And outside was raging. Raging! The rain beating down, probably
wind whipping things around. Just raging. He could hear it,
but nothing happened to him. He's in the ark of safety, beloved.
He's in Christ. That's where the believing is.
What peace. What peace. Everything can be
raging around us. We're in Christ. Such as Noah
was in the ark. Oh. No wonder Paul said, well,
he was in the dungeon. And this peace would give Paul
the grace and peace would give Paul the ability to say, well,
he was in the dungeon. Rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice
in the Lord. And again, I say rejoice. Stephen was unmoved beneath the
crushing stones. Trust in Christ. Trust in Christ. And the world does not know this
blessing. It has no clue. No idea. We didn't before the Lord saved
us. Isaiah 57, 21 says this, There
is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked. No peace. No peace
to the wicked. But we're not of this world.
This world is not our home. Our abode is in heaven. That
is where we will be forever with Christ when we die. There's a
counterfeit peace out there. There is a counterfeit peace
out there. The counterfeit peace puts salvation in the hands of
man. Part man and part Jesus. Say Jesus has done all He can
do, now the rest is up to you. That's counterfeit peace, because
I get no peace from anything I do. Is it so with you? But what peace we have in Christ,
what peace we have in Him, what He's done, He did it all. We'll look at that this morning.
We're complete in Him. Absolutely complete. Nothing
to be added. In Christ. But the peace spoken of in our
text only comes from faith in Christ. Only comes from looking
to Him and Him alone. No Christ, no peace. And our faith looks to Him. It
doesn't look anywhere else. When we had false faith, we looked
to Christ, but we also looked to ourselves. But true faith,
true faith has one object and one desire, and that's Christ. Nowhere else do we look. Let's
look at verse 3. We'll finish off our study looking
at verse 3 and turn, if you would, to Psalm. Put your finger in
Psalm 34. And we'll look at Ephesians 1,
though, as our text here. Or verse 3, I mean. Sorry. Verse
3. Look at this magnificent verse.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. So
He says, grace and peace to us. And look at this. Blessed be
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath... Again,
there's those words again. They're definitive, aren't they?
Who hath? He has. This is something He's done.
Blessed us with all spiritual blessings. Where? In heavenly
places, in Christ. That excludes everything else.
In Christ excludes everything else. The church, Mary, Mohammed,
Buddha, and all those false gods, right? Nowhere else. Nowhere else. It just says, in
Christ. All spiritual blessings. And
this is talking to believers. Paul's full of thanksgiving,
and what does he do? He points the Ephesian believers to the
one who we are to adore. To the great God and King. The
Lord Jesus Christ, in whom are all the spiritual blessings for
the believer. Look at Psalm 34, verses 1-4. I will bless the Lord, verse
1. I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually
be in my mouth. Now, think of this. Did you praise
God before you were saved? I didn't. Now we do. Now we do, don't we? My soul
shall make her boast in the Lord. There was one time we boasted
in ourselves and our doings. Now we boast in Christ and what
He's done. My soul. My soul that's eternal
makes its boast in Christ. One who's redeemed, my soul.
This body's going to go in the ground, but my soul is eternal. And it boasts in Christ. The humble shall hear thereof
and be glad. God's people are bought low.
Stripping grace, Brother Donnie says. Stripping grace, right? Strips us down to nothing. Shows
us our desperate need for Christ and then builds us back up in
Christ. And we rejoice. We're glad. Think of the first
time you heard the Gospel. how it tore you down, and you
heard the shepherd's voice, and you were filled with gladness.
Filled with gladness. Oh, and what do we say with other
believers? Oh, magnify the Lord with me. Let us exalt His name together.
Let's give Him praise and glory, all the glory, all the honor,
all the praise. We don't want any of it. He gets it all, right?
All of it. I sought the Lord and He heard
me. and delivered me from all my fears." So let's look at two points in
our verse quickly in verse 3. Oh, our hearts are filled with
adoration for the Lord when He saves us. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in the heavenly places in Christ. Now to whom are these
blessings from and to? Well, they come from God the
Father, of our Lord Jesus Christ who had blessed us. The blessings
come from God the Father, and this is the chosen title by which
God would be known and loved by His people. This speaks of
our covenant relationship in Christ. Our God is announced
as the God of our Lord Jesus Christ. Brother Mahan says this,
God is the God of Christ as Christ is man. and mediator, and God
is the Father of Christ, as Christ is God by an eternal and unspeakable
generation. And then Psalm 2, verse 7 says
this, I will declare the decree the Lord has set unto me, Thou
art my Son, this day have I begotten Thee. So we give God the Father all
praise and thanksgiving for His greatness and His goodness to
His people in Christ. Now who are the ones spoken of
here? Who have blessed us as God's people. And we'll see that
next week in verse 4. The elect of God. The elect of
God. Look at the language. Who hath
blessed us. It's not a maybe. He has, beloved. He has blessed
us in Christ. The ones who were purchased by
Christ on Calvary's tree and whose sins have been paid in
full by the Lord Jesus Christ. Now look at the latter part here.
All spiritual blessings in Christ. These spiritual blessings are
more than common or temporal blessings. They are special blessings. Mercy. Mercy from God. Grace through the eternal covenant.
All things pertaining to justification. The fact that we are justified
by God. Justified by Christ. That we are clothed in His righteousness. Not everyone is. Only the elect
of God are. That we have peace. Only the
elect of God have peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. That we have pardon. There's people who are dead in
their trespasses and sins still right now and will die and perish
that way. But God, by His grace, has saved us. And think of this,
you know, whenever we think of election and people say, well,
it's not fair. I always look back, and it was
Brother Henry who said this, and it just really, really spoke
to my heart. He said, you know, the story
about a young boy who would come in after his dad had preached
on Jacob if I loved and Esau if I hated. And I think, if you've
heard this before from me, Just give me grace, because it's worth
repeating. And the young boy said, how can... He said, Dad,
you preached on the verse that God loved Jacob but hated Esau.
He said, I just can't understand how God could hate Esau. And
the old preacher looked at his son and said, son, the wonder
of it is, how could God love Jacob? Think of that as us as
believers. What an amazing, amazing. What
salvation we have in Christ. And everything is wrapped up
in Him. All our pardon is wrapped up in Him. All our adoption is
wrapped up in Him. Our sanctification is wrapped
up in Him. Eternal life is in Christ. And
these are things that we have in Christ that others do not
have. And the only reason we have it is the grace of God in
Christ. Grace and peace. That's the only
reason that we have this. That God has given us His grace
to believe on Christ. And God purposed this. Think of that. God purposed this
before we were even born, before in eternity. He purposed this
for every one of His sheep. He decreed it. It humbles us. It humbles us. But we are given all spiritual
blessings in Christ when? In eternity. in eternity, beloved. Oh, and
we can enter into heaven's realm and heaven's joy only because
of Christ and only because of what He's done. He gave to His people in Christ
all things contained in the everlasting covenant of grace. We have all
spiritual blessings in Christ. You take Christ away, we have
nothing. We're dead in trespasses and sins. But in Christ, beloved,
we have all spiritual blessings, all of them. And to make you
rejoice that He saved your soul, that He didn't leave you where
you were. What a mighty God. Pass me not, O gentle Savior. Hear my humble cry. In this again,
the elect are only blessed in Christ. Only in Christ. All salvation is in Him. Everything
relating to salvation is in Him. It's all in Him. Again, without
Christ, we have nothing but misery and the curse. But in Him, we
possess all spiritual blessings. All of them. So that's why we
always say, we'll give Him all the glory. and all the honor
and all the praise. He's worthy. He's worthy.