Well, it's good to be back with
you and good to see all of you. I want to read and make a few
comments from Ephesians chapter 1. If you would, go to Ephesians
chapter 1. It's a joy to see these brethren,
to be back with them, these men whom I esteem so highly for the
gospel's sake. And I look forward to hearing
Brother Tim preach here in a few moments. And I'll have these
two up at Almonte, end of July. So if you'd like to venture north
of the Mason-Dixon line a good ways and come up in our territory,
we would be most delighted to have you. Ephesians chapter 1. The inspired writer introduces
himself. He doesn't say, Dr. Paul or Reverend
Paul or Father Paul, just Paul. And he said, he's an apostle
of Jesus Christ. He's a messenger, a messenger
of the messenger. He's an apostle of the apostle
and high priest of our profession. even the Lord Jesus. He is the
messenger of the Son of God, the messenger of the Lord Jesus. And I realize we are not apostles,
we have no apostolic standing or office before you this evening,
but we are messengers of Jesus Christ. This is our message. We have one message that we set
before you. That's the Son of God, Jesus
Christ, and Him crucified. We don't come before you with
anything new, anything novel, anything different. We come before
you to speak of someone, and the glory of that someone, and
the work of that someone. To say it as did the writer of
this inspired epistle, we are determined not to know anything
among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. He says, Paul,
an apostle of Jesus Christ, Jesus the Savior, thou shalt call His
name Jesus, for He shall save His people. from their sins. He shall. It's what the messenger
of God said to Mary and then to Joseph. His name is Jesus. He's not going to try to save
somebody. He shall save His people from their sins. He has a people
given to Him in covenant grace, in everlasting love. For those
people He came into the world For those people, He came on
a mission of mercy, a wonderful errand that He came to perform,
the work of redemption, the work of reconciliation. He came to
save His people from their sins. He is a messenger of Jesus Christ,
Christ the sent One, Christ the One, the Father, purpose to sin
before the world began, that One promised in the Old Testament,
that One ordained to come into this world before the world was
ever formed, He's the sent One. To this One give all the prophets
witness, all of the Old Testament, They all announced, every prophet,
every preacher, they all said, He's coming. And Malachi said
it right at the end of the Old Testament, He is coming, the
Lord is coming. Now this is the Apostle speaking
now saying, I'm sent by this One who is Jesus, the sent One,
the Messiah. Now, notice his credentials. It's by the will of God. It's
by the will of God. He didn't volunteer to be a minister
of the gospel. In fact, with every fiber of
his being, he was opposed to this gospel. He made it his mission
in life to stamp out the name of Jesus of Nazareth. hail away into prison anybody
who believed in this way, this way of grace, this way of salvation
by a Redeemer, by a substitute, by the sacrifice, Saul of Tarsus. He was bent on eliminating and
erasing the name of Jesus of Nazareth forever and to get rid
of all of his followers. But the Lord had a destination
for this man that he had no knowledge of. He ordained him to be a preacher
of the gospel. He ordained him to see that just
one, that just one. He was arrested by effectual
grace. Oh, to grace, how great a debtor! Grace laid hold on us. Grace
came after us. Grace sought us. Grace found
us. Grace brought us into the fold.
This is by the will of God. He is a messenger sent from God. Oh, to hear a man sent from God
with God's Word. There was a man sent from God
whose name was John. That's the only man we want to
listen to who is a man sent from God. Well, how do you know whether
a man is sent from God or not? His message. Listen to his message. Is he exalting the name of God?
Is he abasing you and me? Is He lifting up the Lord Jesus
and His work upon Calvary's cross? Is His message Jesus Christ and
Him crucified? Does He seek the glory of God
in all things? Does He preach salvation by grace? Salvation by God's eternal purpose? Salvation by the Savior's redeeming
blood? Does He preach the effectual
grace of the Spirit of God? Does he preach that salvation
is of the Lord? He is sent of God then. Notice
to whom this is addressed. It's to the saints. It's not
to everybody. This is not a letter to everybody.
This is a letter addressed to some specific folks. The Scripture
doesn't deal in generalities. This is not a book to everybody. This is written to the saints.
Folks who were separated unto God before the world began. Folks that are made righteous
through the obedience unto death of the Lord Jesus. People who've
been set apart by the Spirit of God. Separated. We're saints. We're not going
to be saints. We are saints. We are sanctified
right now. And sanctification, just like
every facet of salvation, is of the Lord and of Him only. This is written to the saints.
Now, first of all, it's written to the saints which are at Ephesus. But not only to them, it's to
the faithful in Christ Jesus, to everybody who believes Him.
Do you believe Him? Do you rest in Him? Do you look
to Him? Do you embrace Him? Is He all your hope? Has He been
made of God to be to you wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption? so that he that glorieth will
let him glory in the Lord." You say, yes, He's my all. I love
Him. I believe Him. I trust Him. He's
everything to me. I look to Him only. Well, then this is written to
you. It's to the faithful in Christ Jesus. It's to those who
believe Him, right? It's to those who trust Him.
That is, who trust Him as He's revealed Himself in the book.
It's not trusting any old Jesus now. A lot of Jesus is being
preached throughout the world. This is Christ Jesus, the Lord
of glory. The One who has been exalted
upon the basis of His obedience unto death. because he was the
successful sacrifice, because he laid down his life, paid the
ransom for his people, did the job that the Father gave him
to do. The Father has exalted him, even
to his own right hand. He's Christ Jesus. He's the Lord
of glory. That's the one we believe. This
is not the one that you have to open your heart's door to
Him. No, that's another Jesus. This is not the Jesus who needs
your permission before He can act. No, that's a false Jesus. This one, He said, all power
is given unto Me in heaven and in earth. Now you go preach the
gospel, disciples. I'll save My people. He's got
all power to give eternal life to as many as the Father hath
given Him. Is this the one you trust? Not
a hell insurance policy, not Jesus who wants to, who's trying
to, who desires to, but this One who is Himself the Sovereign
Christ. Is this the one you trust? submissive to Him, bowing in
His throne, knowing that it's by the scepter
of His grace and His mercy that you will be saved. Your life
is in His hands. He can save you if He will. And
if He damns you or me, we'll be getting what we deserve. This
is the one who is worthy to be worshipped." Well, watch what he says. To
you who believe now, grace be to you. This is not general grace. This is not what people call
common grace. This is God's grace. Grace be to you. And because
of God's grace, there is peace. You see, peace is upon the basis
of grace, right? It's not God just shows peace
to everybody. He's at peace with everybody.
He's at peace with His people upon the basis of His grace. His love and compassion to His
people. Grace be to you and peace." Who
is it from? From God our Father. And from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now watch what he says next. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be God. Psalm 145.10
says, "'All thy works shall praise thee, O God. Thy saints shall
bless thee.'" Utilize, be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Oh, to worship God. To be still before Him and know
that He is God. be reverent to bow before Him. Blessed be
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." He's ours. That's sweet. He's ours. He's
our Lord Jesus Christ. Well, what has God done? Well,
look at it. "...who had blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places..." And you know this
is the key throughout this passage. In Christ. In whom. It's all in Him. It's all in
Him. And outside of Him, God has nothing
for any sinner outside the Lord Jesus Christ. who have blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ."
You know, we'll say to one another, may the Lord bless you. Let me
tell you, we have been blessed. Every blessing that God can bestow
upon sinners is ours in Jesus Christ. Oh my friends, God has
put all of His eggs in one basket If He's given to you Jesus Christ,
He's given to you all of His blessings. This is the gift of
all gifts. Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable
gift. Now watch what he says, "...according
as He had chosen us, In Him. When? Before the foundation of
the world. This is a sovereign choice. It's a free choice. It's a choice
of a people unto salvation. God in great love gave us to
His Son. We're the Father's gift to His
Son. A gift which the Son of God received
lovingly as our surety. as our Savior way back in old
eternity. Why? That we should be holy. That we should be holy? Folks like us? Sinful? Wretched? Ungodly? That we should be holy? Watch
it. And without blame before Him? Without blame before God who
sees all things? Who sees all things, get this,
as they are? As they really are? You mean,
is it really so that we're in God's sight without blame? Absolutely. Things are as God sees them,
right? That's the way things really
are. We are really holy, we are really righteous, we are really
without blame before God in Him, in Christ Jesus. In Christ Jesus. See, in and of ourselves, we
are still sinners. And we never rise above that. But in Christ Jesus. Oh my! It's almost so wonderful that
it's too good to be true, but it isn't too good to be true.
It is true. It's good news, isn't it? It's good news. Because you
see, God has made Him to be sin for us, that one who knew no
sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Well, look at this, verse 5,
having predestinated us, under the adoption of children by Jesus
Christ unto Himself according to the good pleasure of His will."
Why? To the praise of the glory of His grace. Grace is glorified
in it. To the praise of God's grace,
wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved, in whom we have redemption. We have it. through His blood, through His substitutionary justice-satisfying
sacrifice. You know what the result of redemption
through His blood must be? The forgiveness of sins. where the acceptable sacrifice
has been offered, there must therefore follow the forgiveness
of the sins of all for whom the sacrifice was offered." And it's all according to the
riches of His grace. Oh, bless the name of God. May
He enable us to worship Him tonight for the glory of His name. for
the good of our poor souls. Hey, speak to us. Let's pray. Our Father, we ask that You would
bless Your Word. We read that a man can receive
nothing except it be given him from above. O God, give us an
understanding of Your Gospel, of how God can be just and holy
and righteous and show mercy and grace and save folks like
us? The answer is through that wonderful,
glorious person and the successful work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Teach us of Him. May we see the loveliness, the
beauties, even the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. O God, may we know what it means
to worship that One who is altogether lovely, who is to our souls the fairest
of ten thousand, that One who is the sun of your bosom, the
gift of your love, that one who is the propitiation for our sins. He is himself the satisfaction
of divine justice. Oh, let us see the beauties and
the glories of Christ Jesus. And let us rejoice again this
evening in your free and sovereign grace. Magnify your name before us. Bless this One who is to preach
the Gospel to us. And may He have the liberty of
the Spirit of God in thought and in His words. And oh, may
the same Spirit enable us to hear, to believe, and to rejoice
in the Gospel of free grace. Bless us through Christ Jesus,
us needy sinners, who, according to Your abundant grace, stand
blameless through the merits of Your dear Son, in whose name
we ask these things. Amen.