I have thought about what message
to bring that would most impact your soul and most challenge
your life. What one passage would I bring
that would most ignite your heart and inflame you with passion
for the glory of God? What one text would most cause
you to love God? what would cause you to have
the highest view of God, what one passage would take your breath
away and put a sense of awe and wonder and amazement in your
heart. Many of you here have known the
Lord for some time and have walked with Christ for many years. And tonight, I want us to look
at a passage that I trust will reignite and re-inflame your
soul and your heart for God. Others of you have just recently
come to Christ. Many of you have come up to me
before and after these sessions and have told me, I just became
a Christian a year ago, or it was two years ago that I came
to Christ. What I would like to do for you
this evening is open up the lens. and give you the big picture
of Your so great salvation, and perhaps enable you by divine
revelation to see from an even loftier vantage point what it
is that God has done in your soul. Others of you here tonight
have not yet committed your life in repentance and faith to Jesus
Christ. And I want to set before you
the salvation of God's grace. And I want to urge you this night,
before this evening is over, for you to come to that decisive
point in your life where you surrender your life to Jesus
Christ, that you would no longer be waiting in the wings and procrastinating
and putting off making the most important decision and commitment
of your life. And my prayer for you is that
as we look this evening at the glorious grace of our God in
salvation, that the Lord would draw you to Himself, and tonight
would be the night that you would come into the kingdom of God. So no matter who you are or where
you are this evening, God has something very important to say
to your life. And so, I want to invite you
to take your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Ephesians. I want you to turn to Ephesians
chapter 1, and I want to pull back the veil for you. I want
the Scripture to give us more of a full picture of our salvation. In Ephesians chapter 1, I want
to begin reading in verse 3, and this evening as time permits,
and I'm not entirely certain how this will all work out during
our time, but I want us to see, beginning in verse 3, and I want
to extend through verse 14, this great salvation that has come
to us from God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy
Spirit. All three persons of the Godhead
are a Savior, and they all three critically play an important
role in our salvation. It would be an incomplete understanding
of grace if we did not see each of the three members of the Trinity
involved in our salvation. So, beginning in verse 3 of Ephesians
chapter 1, the Apostle Paul writes, 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 through Jesus Christ to Himself according to
the kind intention of His will. To the praise of the glory of
His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved, in Him
we have redemption through His blood. the forgiveness of our
trespasses, 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
kind intention, which He purposed in Him, with a view to an administration
suitable to the fullness of the times. That is, the summing up
of all things in Christ, things in heaven, and things on the
earth. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined
according to His purpose, who works all things after the counsel
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
promise, which is given as a pledge of our inheritance with a view
to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of
the glory of His grace. I want you to breathe these verses
and these truths into your soul tonight, because you will never
worship God the same again. You will never witness the same
again. You'll never live the same. You'll
never breathe the same. You'll never Facebook the same.
You'll never tweet the same. If you and I would only see this,
we would be audaciously bold in our witnessing. We would be
sacrificial in our service. We would be holy in our walk
in pursuing holiness. What we discover here is the
plan of salvation that involves the entirety of the Trinity. Each of the three persons of
the Godhead plays a vitally important role in our salvation. It can
be stated this way, that the Father planned it. That's in
verses 3 through 6. And the Son has purchased it.
That's verses 7 through 12. And the Spirit has presented
it and protects us and preserves this so great salvation. That's
the last two verses, verses 13 and 14. This is a complete overview
of our so great salvation. This is the big picture of what
God has done for us by His grace. And by way of introduction, as
we prepare to dig in these verses, into these verses, Now, several
observations. I want you to note that this
is… that this forms an opening doxology. He begins, "'Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.'" This is
all intended to cause our hearts to rise up and to bless the name
of God. B.B. Warfield once remarked that
these verses should never be merely read in church. They should
be sung. They should be a magnification
of the name of our God. You should also know that in
the original Greek, when Paul dictated this, that it forms
one sentence. It's divided up in our English
translations to make it more easily and accessible, more easily
to read. But in the original language,
it is one long sentence, and it speaks that this is one unit
of thought. This is to be understood in its
totality. And this also speaks to how well
taught the Ephesians were to receive a letter like this and
front-loaded on the front doorstep of this letter are these towering
truths of election and predestination and adoption and redemption and
our eternal security in Christ. It presupposes that really these
truths are but Christianity 101. These are not to be reserved
for a small group Bible study of highly committed believers
that would be meeting on a Wednesday night or a Saturday morning.
No, this is for Sunday morning for everyone to hear. This is
basic, core Christianity. To understand this is to understand
the very foundation of our salvation, and to be ignorant of these verses
is to be very ignorant. These verses should cause us
to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, and all of
our soul, and all of our mind, and all of our strength. So,
as we look at these verses, let me give you the big picture as
far as the three main headings, and this is a very easy passage
to outline. In verses 3 through 6, I want
us to see the saving grace of God the Father. And then in verses
7 through 12, the saving grace of God the Son. And then finally,
in verses 13 and 14, the saving grace of God the Holy Spirit. And what we see here is an overview
and a survey of the totality of our salvation. It begins in
eternity past, it concludes in eternity future, and we see the
broad brushstroke of our salvation that spans time and eternity. And let's begin in verse 3. I
want you to see the saving grace of God the Father, because everything
in salvation proceeds from God the Father. Our salvation originated
with God the Father. Notice how verse 3 begins, "'Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.'" When he
says blessed, he is saying, "'Praise be to God the Father.'" Glory
be to God the Father. Worship the Father. Adore the
Father. Give glory to the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ. He says, who has blessed us with
every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. God the Father is seen here as
the source and the giver of all of our spiritual blessings. There
are no spiritual blessings in our lives but that they have
proceeded from the hand and the heart and the mind of God the
Father. God the Father is the ultimate
source and giver of all grace and all blessings in our lives. Everything is flowing in this
passage from Him. It is the Father who, in verse
4, has chosen us. In verse 5, He predestined us. In verse 5, He adopted us. In
verse 6, He graced us. And it is God the Father who
has sent His Son into this world. The Son did not come independent
of the Father. The Son was commissioned by the
Father to come into this world. And in verse 7, we see that it
is the Father who stands behind the work of the Son as the Son
redeemed us and has forgiven us. In verse 9, it is the Father
who has enlightened us. In verse 11, it is the Father
who has bequeathed to us our inheritance. And then finally
in verses 13 and 14, it is the Father who has sent the Holy
Spirit into this world as the Spirit has sealed us and indwelt
us, but all of this is at the sovereign will and gracious act
of God the Father. God demonstrated His love toward
us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whosoever believes in Him might not perish, but have everlasting
life. All of these spiritual blessings
are proceeding from the Father from before the foundation of
the world. He is the architect. He is the
planner. He is the mastermind. He is the
great lover. He is the one who has purpose
and who has predestined all things. And at the end of verse 3, we
see that all that God does in His saving activity, the sphere
of every blessing that God bestows upon those who believe, it is
all in Christ. We see that at the end of verse
3. God never blesses independent of Christ. God the Father never
bestows His mercy and His saving grace outside of Christ. It is all in Christ. And this
little phrase, in Christ or in Him, is the little prepositional
phrase that runs through the entirety of this chapter. Let me draw this to your attention.
In verse 4, we are chosen in Him. In verse 5, we are predestined
through Him. Verse 6, we are graced in Him. Verse 7, redeemed in Him. Verse
7, forgiven in Him. Verse 9, all that God purposes
is in Him. In verses 10 and 11, our inheritance
is in Him. And in verse 13, we are sealed
in Him. All of God's saving activity
that is brought into our lives is accomplished in Christ. To have Christ is to have everything. In Him are hidden all the treasures
of wisdom and understanding. He who has the Son has life.
He who does not have the Son does not have life. All of God's
salvation that He brings to us is in Christ. So, verse 3 gives us an introduction
to the spiritual blessings that are being bestowed upon us by
the Father in Christ. Now, continue to notice in verse
4 what God the Father has done to purpose our salvation. In verse 4, he says, just as
He chose us. The He refers to God the Father,
and Us refers to all of the saints, all who will believe, all who
will find themselves before the throne of God above. Please note, who chose whom? This does not say that we chose
Christ, and when God looked down the proverbial tunnel of time
to see who would choose His Son, God then, in a reflexive manner,
God then chooses those who will choose His Son. That's not what
this is saying. And for anyone who thinks that
this is accomplished by God merely looking down the ages to see
who would believe in Him, and God then responds to that choice,
is grossly ignorant of two truths. Number one, you have a wrong
view of God, and number two, you have a wrong view of man.
You have a wrong view of God because God has never looked
down the tunnel of time and learned anything. God knows everything immediately,
eternally, perfectly, completely. God has never received a report
from anything that is going on on the earth. God's knowledge
is infinite. It is perfect. So, God has never
looked down the tunnel of time to see anything, and whatever
God does foreknow, it is only because He has already foreordained
it. Second, it is a very wrong knowledge
of man. If, for sake of argument, that
this is God merely looking down the centuries to 2011 to see
who would believe upon Christ, all God would see is that no
one would believe upon His Son. Man has a moral inability. Man has not the capacity of will
or choice to believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ. I'll never
forget the day that I was in seminary, and the professor asked
this question, what can a dead man do? I was waiting for someone
in class to give the answer, because Ephesians 2 verse 1 says
that you were dead in your trespasses and sins. So what can a dead
man do? And I remember one classmate
from the back row yelled out, stink. That's all that a dead man can
do. If all this is, is God peering down the tunnel of time to see
who would receive His Son, what God would see is an entire world
that is spiritually dead and unable to believe upon the Lord
Jesus Christ. What did Jesus say in John 6
verse 44? No one can come to Me except
for the Father who sent Me draw him. You understand the difference
between can and may? Can is a word of ability. May
is a word of permission. Jesus did not say, no one may
come to Me, It's far worse. Jesus said, no one can come to
Me, except for the Father who sent Him, sent Him draw us. And so man who is plagued by
moral inability, who is spiritually blind and spiritually deaf, whose
will is crippled by the fall, whose power of choice in spiritual
matters is paralyzed by sin, as He is held captive by the
devil to do His will, no, this says, just as He chose us. You see, this is the doctrine
of election. This is the doctrine of God's
sovereign choice from before time began by which God chose
those whom He would set His glorious salvation upon. This word chose, you see it in
verse 4, just as He chose us, is in a verb tense, what's called
the aorist tense, which means God chose all at one time in
eternity past. There was not a succession of
stages of choices, like draft picks in the NFL, first round
picks, second round picks, third round picks. But all at one time,
God chose those who would believe upon His Son. This is in what
is called the middle voice, which simply means this, that God chose
by Himself and for Himself. God did not choose us on the
basis of anything that is foreseen in our lives. There was nothing
inherently good in any one of us. We all, like sheep, have
gone astray. Each one of us has turned to
his own way. There is none good, no, not one. No, God chose us not because
of us, but in spite of us. For reasons known only to God,
God chose whom He would set His grace upon. And for reasons known
only to God, God did not choose everyone. And God could have
chosen none, and we would have all gone to hell, and God would
have been just and perfect in His holiness, for the wages of
sin is death, and we all deserve to die, do we not? In the day
that you eat of the fruit, you shall surely die. The wages of
sin is death. For the soul that sins, it shall
surely die." It is only by His mercy and by His grace that God
chose to bestow His saving favor upon any one of us. If God had
only chosen one to save, that would be amazing grace, astonishing
grace. But the fact is that God has
chosen a vast multitude of sinners, a number so great that when John
in the book of Revelation sees this vast throng around the throne
of God singing His praises, it is a vast number that John cannot
even begin to put his arms around how many myriads and myriads
of saints are in heaven and are there because God has chosen
them for Himself. This word chose is found in the
Septuagint, which is a Greek translation of the Old Testament.
It is used for David when he went down to the brook before
he fought Goliath, and David chose five smooth stones to put
in his slingshot for purposes of defeating that great giant. I can assure you there were more
than five stones in that riverbed that day. But David chose out
from among the many five that fit his purpose for reasons known
to David that he might go forth and accomplish his purpose as
he faced Goliath. This is the very word that Paul
writes that represents our God. that out of the vast humanity
of fallen, sinful men and women, God has chosen a people for Himself. God has chosen a bride for His
Son. This is taught throughout Scripture.
Jesus said in John 15, verse 16, you did not choose me, but
I chose you. And the Mississippi River is
not running south to north, it is running north to south. And
grace is flowing down, sovereign grace from God the Father by
His electing choice. Jesus said in John 15 verse 19,
I chose you out of this world. In Colossians 3 verse 12, we
are identified as those who have been chosen of God. 1 Thessalonians
1-4, knowing, brethren, His choice of you. 2 Thessalonians 2-13,
God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation. Some might say,
well, God's electing choice is only for service but not for
salvation. Well, not according to the Bible.
God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation. 2 Timothy 2-10,
refers to those who are chosen. Titus 1 verse 1, those chosen
of God. James 2 verse 5, did not God
choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith? First Peter
1 verse 1, those who are chosen according to the foreknowledge
of God the Father. Again and again and again, we
see this glorious truth that in eternity past, God made a
determinative, discriminating choice to set His love upon a
peculiar people. Notice this choice. It says,
in Him. He chose us in Him, meaning in
Christ. Now, the choice was not made
on the basis of of ourselves, it was made on the basis of Him
choosing us in Christ because of who He is as our Head, because
of Christ and what He would do for us. Notice when this occurred,
before the foundation of the world. Long before you and I
ever believed upon Jesus Christ, God had already marked out our
destiny. In fact, long before this world
was created, God chose before time began. God chose an eternity
past. God chose long ages ago. God chose those whom He would
save. Look across the page at verse
11. In verse 11, we read, in the last two words of verse 10,
In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined
according to His purpose, who works all things after the counsel
of His will." There are four key words in verse 11 that I
want you to underscore and to draw a circle around these words.
And these words are predestined, purpose, counsel, and will. And if we are to understand our
salvation in eternity past, as it was begun by God the Father,
we must understand these four words, and we need to put them
in the right order in which they logically and theologically unfolded
in the mind of God. So, I want you to come to eternity
past with me. Before the heavens were created,
before the angels flew around the throne of God, before there
was even a throne upon which God would sit, a time in eternity
passed where there was only God the Father, God the Son, and
God the Holy Spirit. The first word in verse 11 that
we need to understand is the word counsel. There was a divine
deliberation. God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit, they came together in counsel, and
they counseled together. And they considered every considerable
scenario and possibility. They could have created the sky
to be green and the grass to be blue. They could have created
ten thousand worlds. They could have created an earth
that is populated or one that is unpopulated. They came together
in divine deliberation, and there was this inner Trinitarian counsel. The second key word is the word
will. Out of God's counsel came His
will. His sovereign will, His eternal
will. This speaks of the counsel of
His will. That is to say there was a divine
decision that was made. As they deliberated, God the
Father made a sovereign choice of the one will by which He would
become the architect of all that would occur within time and eternity
future. It is a comprehensive will, for
you'll note two words in verse 11. Those two words are all things. According to His purpose, who
works – note this – all things after the counsel of His will. And as God made this sovereign
choice of His will in eternity past, included in this is those
are those whom He chose in verse 4 to be His own possession, whom
He would give to the Son to be His inheritance. And these all
things includes all of the means by which we would come to hear
the gospel and come to saving faith in Christ. All things includes
evangelism, preaching of the gospel. It includes prayer. It includes the affairs of providence. It includes when we would be
born in history, and who our parents would be, and where we
would grow up, what our gender would be, who would live next
door to us, who we would go to school with. The very hairs of
our head are numbered. Not a sparrow falls apart from
this will. The casting of the lot into the
lap, it's every turning up is from the Lord. Every molecule in this universe
was prescripted by God in this eternal, sovereign will. Out of God's counsel came His
will. And out of God's will, the third word is His purpose. That is the third word here.
According to His purpose. If His counsel is His deliberation,
and if His will is His decision, His purpose is His determination,
we could use the synonym resolved. God was resolved to execute His
plan in eternity past, and God is unwavering in the carrying
out of His sovereign will. There will be no plan B. There
will be no plan C. There will be no plan Z exponentially
to some higher number. God has only one eternal purpose
and plan, and He purposes to carry out the counsel of His
will. And then finally, the last word
in verse 11 is the word predestined. Out of God's counsel has come
His will, out of His will comes His purpose, and out of His purpose
comes predestination. The word predestined means the
destination is determined before the journey begins. The word
in the Greek language is a verb and then a prefix in front of
it. The verb is horazo, from which we derive the word horizon. Before you would begin a journey,
you could see on the horizon the destination. Pro horizzo,
or predestination, means that God has marked out on the horizon
of time the destination by which He is bringing all of human history
to its appointed end, and God has predetermined and prescripted
everything that would come to pass. It includes Lucifer and
the fall of Lucifer to become Satan. Him, the fall of a third
of the angels to become demon spirits. It includes the fall
of Adam and sin and all that would transpire in human history. They meant it for evil. God has
meant it for good. For God is causing all things
to work together for good to those who love Him and who are
called according to His purpose. Counsel, will, purpose, predestined. This is what God the Father did
in eternity past. Now, notice why. Come back to
chapter 1, and in verse 4, notice He chose us in Him. He marked us out for Himself. He drew a circle around our name
in eternity past, and He passed over other names and left them
to their just condemnation. that He would have mercy upon
whom He would have mercy, and He would have wrath upon whom
He would have wrath. Every one of us who are in Christ
tonight should be asking a very fundamental, important question,
and it is this, why me, Lord? I can understand why God would
pass over many. I can understand the whole human
race, because of the sin and rebellion of men's hearts, going
to hell. I can totally understand that.
What we cannot understand is that God would have mercy upon
whom He would have mercy. So then it does not depend upon
the man who wills or upon the man who runs. but upon God who
has mercy. So note the reason why in verse
4, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. God set
all of this into motion in eternity past when He sat down and counseled
with the Son and the Spirit, and He chose His sovereign will
and purposed and predestined. It was all that one day we would
stand before Him faultless and blameless. Notice at the end of verse 4,
in love, He predestined us. Eternal love, unconditional love,
inexpressible love, indescribable love, sovereign love, perfect
love in the heart of God led Him to set His heart upon those
whom He would save, and He predestined us to the adoption as sons. The word predestined means that
all whom He chose, He by Himself has sworn by Himself that He
will guarantee the end of the journey and that there will be
adopted sons in His family forever and ever. All this is done through
Jesus Christ to Himself according to the kind intention of His
will. Nothing harsh here, nothing that
would be offensive here, only kind intention and love. And by the way, that is what
the word foreknowledge means. It's whom God For-loved before
time began, God has brought to the fullness of salvation. Romans
8 verse 29 says, for those whom He foreknew, He predestined. In whom He predestined, He called.
In whom He called, He justified. In whom He justified, He glorified. That God's unbreakable chain
of salvation that began in eternity past, it continues throughout
all eternity future. There are no dropouts along the
way. There are none who are added along the way. Those whom He
began with in eternity past, when He counseled together and
chose whom He would save. These are the ones whom He will
bring all the way to glory. And the result, verse 6, to the praise of the glory of
His grace. If salvation is not all of God
and all of grace, then all glory cannot go to God. If salvation
begins with me, if it is initiated by me, if it is within myself
to be able to believe unaided by God, then I should pat myself
on the back and share some of the praise with God and take
some for myself. But if I understand that it is
all of God, that before time began, God chose me and set His
heart upon me and put into motion by His Son and by His Spirit
all that would be necessary to bring me to Himself and bring
me to glory, then all praise and all glory goes to God. We believe this because we are
jealous for the glory of God. This gives greater praise to
God. And that is why when we stand
before the throne in heaven and there is a crown placed upon
our head, as soon as we receive that crown, we will take it and
we will cast it back at His feet because we will understand in
that day all the more that He chose me, He predestined me,
He redeemed me, He drew me to Himself, He regenerated me, He
sealed me, He predetermined that I would come all the way to glory.
It is all of Him and none of me. My only contribution is the
sin that was laid upon the Lord Jesus Christ as He suffered and
bled and died. And so, beloved, this day, tonight,
as we give thought to God's Word. Let us rise up as a people and
give glory to God that He has had mercy and that He has had
favor on an infinite number of hell-bound sinners who have no
merit of their own by which to claim the forgiveness of God,
but that God by His sovereign will, has overridden our fallen
will, and has chosen a people who will be His eternal possession
forever and ever and ever. This truth is God-exalting, it
is pride-crushing, it is joy-producing, it is assurance-instilling, it
is faith-building, it is praise-igniting, it is soul-humbling, it is Christ-magnifying,
it is holiness-developing, it is life-changing, it is evangelism-inspiring,
it is missions-launching. It is the very truth of the Word
of God. Now I want you to note second,
not only the saving grace of God the Father, but I want you
to note the saving grace of God the Son. Beginning in verse 7,
we read of what God has done in Christ to bring about our
salvation. If God is the architect of this
salvation and the initiator of it and the predeterminer of it,
It is His Son, Jesus Christ, who is the accomplisher of this
great salvation. These verses stand in the very
middle of this doxology, because Christ Himself is at the very
center of the gospel. It is as though Christ here is
flanked by the Father and by the Spirit on His left and on
His right, and standing in the very center of this chapter,
of this doxology, just as in the very center of the gospel
itself is the Lord Jesus Christ. Please note how God the Son works
in perfect unity with God the Father. In verse 7, we read,
in Him. The Him refers to Jesus Christ. The antecedent is the Beloved
at the end of verse 6. In Christ, we. Who is the we? The we is the elect of God, those
who have been chosen by God, those who have been predestined
by the Father for eternal life. In Christ, we have redemption
through His blood. This word redemption speaks of
the fact that we have been emancipated from our past slavery to sin. The word redemption speaks of
the release of slaves or prisoners from a state of slavery or imprisonment
through the payment of a ransom price. Before our salvation,
we were slaves of sin. We were slaves of Satan. We were
slaves of this evil world system. Jesus said, everyone who commits
sin is the slave of sin, John 8, 34. Paul says that we were
the slaves of sin, Romans 6, 17. And Paul also writes that
we were held captive by Satan to do his will, 2 Timothy 2,
26. We could not save ourselves.
We were held by the chains of our own sin. We lived in the
dungeon of this evil, foul world system, and we were under the
cruel tyranny of the prince of darkness. But it was in the fullness
of time that God sent forth His Son, born of a virgin, under
the law that He might redeem those who are under the law,
the very law that you and I could not keep, the very law of God
that we have broken again and again and again, the very law
by which we are under a curse before God. Jesus Christ, born
of a virgin, lived a sinless and perfect life. And Jesus Christ
perfectly fulfilled and obeyed the law of God, which we have
broken again and again and again. Not only did that qualify Him
to go to a cross to die in our place, as He who is sinless could
die in the place of sinners. but it would be His perfect obedience
to the law of God that would be given to us by grace when
we believe upon Jesus Christ as though we have lived a sinless
and perfect life under the very law that we have broken again
and again and again. Jesus came into this world, and
He went to the cross. There He was lifted up to die.
He died in the place of those whom the Father had chosen and
the Father had predestined unto eternal life. The Son did not
come into this world to die for a totally different group of
sinners. Jesus said in John 10, verse
30, I and the Father are one. It speaks of one mind, one mission,
one purpose, one saving enterprise. In eternity past, when the Father
chose us, He gave us to His Son to be His bride, and we became
those who are the given ones, and the Son received us. And
when He came into this world, He came to save His people from
their sins. He came to shed His blood that
He might purchase the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
came that He would lay down His life, a ransom for many. He came
that He would lay down His life for the sheep. Jesus, having
come into this world, it is in Him we have redemption through
His blood. This is the purchase price, the
price that had to be paid to release us from the curse of
the law to set us free. If the Son shall set you free,
you shall be free indeed. And it is through His shed blood
on Calvary's cross on behalf of all those who would believe
in Him that there is power to release us from the curse of
the law and to give us a right standing before God. Please note
in the book of Ephesians the powerful effect of this substitutionary,
sin-bearing death of Jesus Christ upon the cross. Turn with me,
if you would, to chapter 2 and verse 13 and 14. In Ephesians
2, Paul elaborates more on the effect of the death of Christ
in securing our eternal redemption. In chapter 2 and verse 13 and
14, he speaks of the unifying death of Christ. For now in Christ
Jesus, you who formerly were far off, referring to Gentiles,
have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself
is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier
of the dividing wall. The backdrop of this is that
in the temple, there was a dividing law that divided Gentiles from
Jews. There was the court of the Gentiles,
and then there was a different court that the Jews were allowed
to enter. And Jesus, by His death, has
fulfilled the entire sacrificial system. And by His death, He
tore down the barrier between Jew and Gentile and has made
us one body in Christ. There are no divisions between
us and Christ. Christ transcends every difference
and every barrier that would separate us. We are welded together
by this death in Christ. Look at chapter 2 and verse 18. It says, for through Him, the
Him referring to Christ, we both have our access in one Spirit
to the Father. See, the mediating death of Christ,
it is that we have, we have access to the Father through the Son
by the Spirit. This is to say, Jesus is the
only way to the Father. Jesus is the only way to God.
Jesus said, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one
comes to the Father but through Me. Paul writes that there is
one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus,
who gave Himself a ransom for all, the testimony born at the
proper time. There is no access to God the
Father to be received in mercy and grace apart from this sin-bearing,
substitutionary death of Christ upon the cross. Look at chapter
3 and verse 8. Paul writes of the unfathomable
riches of Christ. These riches of His grace are
incomprehensible. They are inconceivable to us. They abound to the uttermost. They are able to save even the
chief of sinners from their sin. Look at chapter 3 and verse 18. It is a limitless death. that
we may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the
breadth and length and height and depth, verse 19, and to know
the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge. As Paul writes this,
height, depth, breadth, and length, he is speaking of different dimensions
of the death of Christ and His love for us at the cross. The
breadth of it is His death is so broad that all those who come
to Him will be received by His grace. The length of it is that
He will save unto the uttermost throughout all eternity future. He will lose none of His sheep.
The height and the depth of it is that He is able to reach down
to the depths of those who are in the very valley of sin and
lift them up to the heights of heaven by His saving death. In chapter 5, verse 2, note that
of this sacrificial death, he tells us that we should walk
in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up
for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. The backdrop of this is the entire
sacrificial system in the Old Testament. You can read specifically
in Leviticus chapters 1 through 3, how can sinful man approach
holy God? There is no way that sinful man
can approach holy God except by the means by which holy Father
in heaven has prescribed. The entire Old Testament sacrificial
system was to show that it is only through a sacrifice that
God requires that guilty, hell-bound sinners may approach a Holy Father
in heaven and find acceptance with Him. And every sacrifice
that was offered in the Old Testament, it prefigured. It was a type
and a prophecy of the coming death of Christ who would be
offered up as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the
world. And note chapter 5 and verse
25. I want you to see what a definite
death this is. Husbands, love your wives, just
as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her. The very death of Jesus Christ
was so specific and so intentional that He gave Himself to die for
the bride of Christ that those chosen ones who had been given
to Him by God the Father. When Jesus came into the world,
there were already those who were in hell. There would have been no purpose
for Jesus to have died for those who were already in hell. No,
as Jesus came, His intent was to save by His sacrificial death
all those who had been entrusted to Him by the Father from eternity
past, It was a very definite death. It was a very particular
death, a very specific death. Not one drop of His blood was
shed in vain. Upon the cross, Jesus accomplished
all that He came to do. Upon that cross, Jesus did not
merely make us savable, Jesus actually saved us. Upon the cross,
He did not merely make us potentially, hypothetically reconcilable to
the Father dependent upon us. No, He actually reconciled us
to God the Father through the shedding of His blood upon that
cross. It was a finished transaction
upon the cross. Jesus was not shortchanged at
Calvary. Jesus was not gypped in His death. Jesus received all that He purchased
in His substitutionary death upon the cross. This is a glorious
death, a triumphant death, a victorious death. Jesus did not die as a
victim upon that cross. None for whom He died will ever
perish. He will carry to glory all those
for whom He shed His blood. those whom the Father chose in
eternity past. He entrusted to the Son, and
the Son received them to be His own inheritance. And the Son
came into this world that He might redeem those whom the Father
chose and predestined. And note verse 26, Ephesians
5 verse 26, the ultimate purpose of this substitutionary death,
this redeeming death upon the cross, so that He, Christ, might
sanctify her, referring to the bride of Christ, having cleansed
her by the washing of water with the Word. The ultimate purpose
of Christ's death is to present us to Himself blameless. It is an airtight salvation.
There is no wiggle room in it. There is perfect unity of purpose
between the Father and the Son in accomplishing our eternal
salvation. There is no fracture in the Godhead. There is no division in the Trinity. There is not the Father saying,
well, I will choose these, and then the Son saying, no, I will
die for a whole different group. The Father and the Son work in
perfect saving enterprise together. This is the glory of Calvary's
cross. So come back to Ephesians 1,
if you would, and note in verse 7, in Him, in Christ, we, those
who have been chosen and predestined, have redemption, referring to
the purchase of our salvation. through His blood, by the silver
of His blood and the gold of His sacrificial death, the forgiveness
of our trespasses. The word forgiveness means the
cancellation of a debt. What a debt we owed to God. The
wages of sin is death. So much sin, so much debt incurred
to God. And Jesus, by His death upon
the cross, paid in full our sin debt." That's what it means when
he cried out, it is finished. Not only the fulfillment of the
sacrificial system, but paid in full has been stamped by Christ
and His shed blood upon the certificate of debt that each one of us has
occurred before a holy God in heaven. The forgiveness of our
trespasses, note this, according to the riches of His grace."
This does not say, out of the riches of His grace, but according
to the riches of His grace. What a difference there is in
that. If a billionaire was to give you something out of his
riches, it could be as little as a quarter or a dollar. But if He gave to you something
according to His riches, that would be a vast fortune that
is immeasurable, incalculable. This says that according to the
riches of His grace, no matter how great our sin, He has far
greater grace. Where sin does abound, grace
does much more abound. He has grace to forgive even
the chief of sinners. Notice verse 8, which he lavished
on us. He generously has poured out
of the treasure vault in heaven the fullness of His grace upon
sinners through Christ. Come down to verse 12. All of
this that Christ has done to the end that we who are the first
to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory. How can we ever come to the Lord's
table the same again? As we remember the death of Christ
upon Calvary's cross, how can we ever come to the Lord's table
again, and without being moved, and without being humbled, and
without our soul rising up to bless the name of the Lord? that
our names truly were engraven upon His hands, that our names
were written upon the ephod of His heart, that as He died upon
the cross, He died for the individually those who were chosen by the
Father from before time began. He did not die for an anonymous,
nameless group of people. But specifically, He died for
you and me who were chosen in Him from before the foundation
of the world. How can I ever live for myself
again, knowing that He so intentionally died for me? How can I ever leave
Christ my first love? How can I ever continue in the
very sin for which Jesus left heaven and came into this earth
to suffer and bleed and die for? Is any sacrifice that the Lord
would ever require of me too great in comparison to the enormity
of His magnanimous death on our behalf? C.T. Studd said, if Jesus
Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice is too great
for me to make for Him. The Father is the architect in
eternity past. who has prescripted and predetermined
all that would come to pass, and within that, the choice of
His elect. The Son has accomplished this
salvation. He has done it all on our behalf. In My hands no price I bring,
simply to Thy cross I cling. There is nothing for us to add.
There is nothing for us to give. He has paid it all. He has done
it all in His death upon the cross. All of our sins have been
washed away by His shed blood. And finally, I want you to see
the saving grace of God the Spirit. In verses 13 and 14, Paul now
speaks of the Holy Spirit, who is the great Applier of this
salvation, who has brought it home to our hearts. and who has
sealed us in Christ." Notice verse 13, in Him, referring to
in Christ. Everything is in Christ that
pertains to our salvation. In Him, you. The you refers to
those chosen by the Father, redeemed by the Son. You also, after listening
to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, having
also believed. Now, here are our two responsibilities. We must listen to the gospel. We must believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ. But question, why do some believe
and others do not believe? Why is it that you have believed
and others in your family have not believed? Why is it that
you have believed and others who our friends or classmates
have not believed? Is it because you're smarter?
Is it because you have a higher IQ? Is it that you were more
spiritual when you were lost? Is it that you are wiser? Do
you have greater insight? The answer to all of these is
no. The reason that you have believed
is because of the grace of our God in the saving work of the
Holy Spirit of God. Look in chapter 2 verse 1 just
for a moment. This describes all of us. This
is our past. Ephesians 2 verse 1, you are
dead in your trespasses and sins. This isn't referring just to
the unsaved world, Paul is addressing the church in Ephesus. He is addressing these who are
believers. You were dead in your trespasses
and in sins. One who is dead has no ability,
has no capacity to respond to the things of God. Now, let's
say someone is in a hospital room, and let's say they are
lying in a bed, and let's say the medicine, the only medicine
that can save them is put beside them on the table, and we come
into that hospital room, and we discover that they are dead. Being dead, they have no ability
to hear what we're saying. Being dead, they have no desire
or response in their heart. They are dead. We say to them,
we urge them, pick up the medicine, take it. But they are dead. They are incapable of response. That is what Paul says was our
condition before God raised us to believe, that we were dead. We were deaf. We could not hear. We could not feel. We could not
respond. We were all like dead fish just
floating downstream, going with the course of this world. Look
at verse 2. He describes more fully our state
and our condition. You formally walked according
to the course of this world. Of course we did. We were a part
of the whole evil world system. according to the prince of the
power of the air." That's Satan or the spirit that is now working
in the sons of disobedience. Among them, we too, referring
to we who have believed in Christ, all, without exception, all formerly
lived in the lust of our flesh, indulging the desires of the
flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath,
meaning children deserving wrath, children under condemnation.
even as the rest." But note verse 4. Here it is, how we came to
believe. Here it is, how we came to find
ourselves in grace. Verse 4, but God. Martin Lloyd-Jones
has said, praise God for the buts in the Bible. But God. being rich in mercy,
referring to God the Father, because of His great love with
which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions,
made us alive together with Christ, by grace you have been saved.
Verse 5 speaks of the new birth. It is a spiritual resurrection
of dead men and dead women that enables them to believe upon
the Lord Jesus Christ. God must raise us from the dead
if we are to receive the gospel of Christ. God did something
in us that was all of grace, that brought us to Himself. He
gave His life that we might embrace His Son. And notice verse 8, for by grace
you have been saved through faith. By grace alone, through faith
alone. Note the next phrase. And that
not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Here is the question,
to what does the word that refer? What is its antecedent? What
does it point back to? Does it point back to grace?
Does it point back to faith? The answer is yes. It points
back to both grace and faith. In fact, it points back to everything
from verse 4 all the way down to verse 8. God gave us not only
the saving grace that washes away our sin, He gave us believing
grace that has enabled us to believe upon His Son, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Jesus is the author and perfecter
of faith. It has been appointed unto us
not only to suffer, but to believe upon His Son, Jesus Christ. Saving
faith and repentance is the gift of God the Holy Spirit that He
gives to all those whom the Father has chosen and the Son has purchased
at Calvary's cross. The Spirit works in perfect unity
in one saving enterprise. Those whom the Father marked
out in eternity past to be His, those whom the Son redeemed at
the cross two thousand years ago, are the very ones whom He
has given faith to, to believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Were
it not for this work of the Spirit within us, none of us would ever
believe upon Jesus Christ. And so, God the Holy Spirit,
His saving grace, we have listened to the truth, we have believed,
and we have believed because we who are dead in trespasses
and sin have been raised by the Spirit of God, and we have been
given the gift of saving faith that we would receive His Son,
Jesus Christ. And then he says in verse 13
of chapter 1, you were sealed in Him. That means we were sealed
shut eternally in Christ. We can never fall out of Christ. We can never fall away from Christ. We are sealed shut in Christ. We are eternally secure in Him. Those whom He foreknew, He predestined. Those whom He predestined, He
called. Those whom He called, He justified. And those whom
He justified, He glorified. Glorified refers to all of those
foreknown ones in heaven conformed in the image of God's own Son. And it is so certain and sure,
it is spoken of already in the past tense. If you have believed
upon Jesus Christ, that is how certain and sure your eternal
destiny is in heaven. God the Holy Spirit has sealed
you and put His stamp and put His imprint upon you, and you
belong to Christ. Finally, he says, verse 14. who,
referring to the Holy Spirit, is given as a pledge of our inheritance. God has put His Holy Spirit within
us, and it is an indication of God's good intention to bring
us all the way to glory. Our body is the temple of the
Holy Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit has come to indwell
us, and it is the pledge, it is the earnest, it is the down
payment of the future inheritance that will be entirely ours one
day in glory. Not only is God reserving His
inheritance for us, but He is reserving us for our inheritance. And all this at the end of verse
14, to the praise of the glory of His grace. These truths should have an electrifying
effect upon our lives. Think of how this should revolutionize
our worship of God. This high theology alone produces
high doxology. The higher our view of God, the
higher our worship of God ought to be. Our worship of God can
rise no higher than our knowledge of God and our understanding
of who He is and what He has done on our behalf. This blows
the ceiling off of the top. This allows us to see that from
everlasting to everlasting, God has orchestrated our eternal
salvation. and how we should all rise up
forever and ever and bless and praise the name of our God for
what He has done for us. This should revolutionize our
walk, should it not? This should have such a life-changing
effect upon us? Can you think of anything in
this world that is more humbling than to know this? that God has
set all of this in motion, and that it is irresistible, and
that it is irrevocable, and He loves us so much He would not
take no for an answer, and He has pursued us, and He has sought
us, and He has bought us, and He has brought us to Himself.
How this should change the way we carry out our day-to-day affairs
of life. We should live with a sense of
destiny of every day of our lives. that this God who chose us in
eternity past, He goes before us in time. He clears the way. He is causing all things to work
together for our good. There are no accidents in our
life. There is no such thing as blind
fate. There is no such thing as good luck or bad luck. Those
are all pagan myths. There is a sovereign God in heaven
who is over all of the circumstances and affairs of our lives. He
has a master plan. He has a master blueprint. And
He is not amending or changing it one iota. Our very days are
numbered, how we should live in holiness and humility before
this awesome, sovereign God of glory. And finally, how this
should change our witness. We are to preach, we are to witness,
we are to testify, and it is God who goes before us. We do
not know who the elect of God are. We do not know who they
are who have been… have been marked out by God. We are to
preach the gospel to every living creature. We are to go into the
highways and byways and to shout from the housetops, Jesus saves,
Jesus saves. And we have the confidence and
the boldness in our God that God will bless the preaching
of the Word, that God will call out sinners unto Himself, and
God will overcome the resistance in the hearts of those whom He
has chosen in eternity past. It is this truth that launched
the modern missions movement. It is this truth that has ignited
the hearts of many an evangelist who understands that God will
draw to Himself those whom He has chosen. This is liberating. This is exhilarating. This is
empowering. This is glorious, that Christ
will have a bride. and that we play a part in the
proclamation of the gospel to the ends of the earth. Even the
souls of Tarsus are brought to their knees in a moment in the
day of His power. How this should change our witness
and be bold in our evangelism. And as I conclude, I want to
say this, as you find yourself here tonight, if you are here
without Christ, If God is making known to your heart that I'm
lost, that I'm separated from God, that I do not know God,
my sins have not been forgiven. If there is the conviction of
sin in your heart, and there is within you a stirring up,
I want you to know this, at the very heart of the gospel that
we set before you is the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We preach Christ and Him crucified. You need to know that Jesus Christ
left heaven on a mission of salvation. He has come to seek and to save
that which is lost. Jesus came not to be served,
but to serve and to give His life for ransom for many. Jesus,
who lived a sinless and perfect life, He came to die upon a cross. He came to die for sinners just
like you. Jesus went to that cross and
He laid down His life. No one took His life from Him.
He had authority to lay it down. He had authority to raise it
back up again. And upon that cross, as Jesus
hung suspended between heaven and earth, God took the sins
of all those who would believe upon Him and transferred them
to the Lord Jesus Christ. Him who knew no sin, God made
to be sin for us. that we might become the righteousness
of God in Him. He became a curse upon that cross
for us. He cried out, my God, my God,
why have you forsaken me? He suffered the torment of the
damned upon Calvary's cross as He died in our place, separated
from Holy Father so that those who believe upon Him might be
received by this loving Holy Father in heaven. He was taken
down from that cross. He was buried in a borrowed tomb.
And on the third day, God raised Him from the dead. He came walking
out of that tomb, a risen, living, victorious Savior. He has ascended
to the right hand of God the Father, where He is enthroned.
All authority has been given to Him in heaven and earth. And
whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
There is salvation in no other name. There is no other name
under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. I point
you to Christ. He is the only way of salvation. Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, today is the day of salvation. I would urge you this moment
in your heart to surrender your life to this Christ. He is offering
Himself to you. He will receive those who come
to Him. You may never have a moment like
this again in your life. You may never be in the midst
of Christian people like this. And for the Word of God to be
presented, and for the power of the Spirit to be present,
this is your time with God. If you have never believed upon
Christ, I urge you. to call upon His name, to cast
yourself upon His mercy. He will receive you. He's come
not for those who are well, but for those who are sick. Tell
Him how sick you are. Tell Him how sinful you are.
He has come for just such as you. He will not refuse you. He will receive you to Himself. It glorifies His Father in heaven
to receive all of those who come to Him by faith. You will have
a glad welcome by Him. He is the friend of sinners. He will receive you. He will
forgive you. He will wash your sins away.
He has been preparing a place in heaven just for you. And He
will lift you up, and He will set you in heavenly places. If
any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things passed
away. Behold, new things have come.
You will be a totally new person in Christ. The old rags of sin
will be stripped from you. He will take the perfect righteousness
of Christ, and He will robe you. And from the top of your head
to the bottom of your feet, You will have the perfect righteousness
of Christ covering all of your sins. He has removed your sins
as far as the east is from the west. He has taken your sins
through His death upon the cross. He has buried them in the sea
of His forgetfulness. He has taken your sins and placed
them behind His back. He has said, your sins I will
remember no more. This is what a loving, gracious,
kind Savior He is, and He has come into this world to seek
and to save just such a one as you. I would urge you tonight,
while you have opportunity, I would urge you this moment to receive
Christ as your Lord and Savior. We hold Him to you. You may say,
I don't know if I was chosen. I don't know if I was predestined.
You may know that you are chosen, and you may know that you are
predestined if you will believe upon His Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And if you will commit your life
to Him, His arms are open wide to you. The gates of paradise
tonight are swung wide open. You may come in. And if you will
commit your life to Him, He will carry you and take you all the
way to heaven, all the way to glory, and one day He will present
you faultless before the very throne of God, dressed in the
perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ. This is the so great
salvation that Paul writes of. God the Father, the Architect,
God the Son, the Accomplisher, God the Holy Spirit, the Applier. It began in eternity past before
the foundation of the world. It will be consummated in glory
throughout all eternity future. We stand tonight within time. Let us glory in our salvation. Let us worship our God in heaven. Let us give Him the glory. Let
us say, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And for those who have never believed upon Christ, may this
be the night that you come into His kingdom. May you believe
and may you enter into this full redemption that He has accomplished
for all who will come to Him. And He says, Him who comes unto
Me, I will in no wise cast out. Let us pray. Our Father, we can scarcely take
this all in. In many ways, it is incomprehensible,
it is inconceivable, and yet you have revealed it in your
Word. And what you have made known
to us in your Word, we are not to doubt, we are not to dismiss, we are to believe, we are to
embrace, and we are to cling to. I pray that you would give
us not a small understanding of this great salvation. I pray
that you would enlighten the eyes of our heart, that we might
know the greatness of what you have done for your chosen ones.
How we praise you that you have set your heart and eternity past
upon your elect. And were it not for this saving
grace, none of us would ever be saved. Our hearts are too
rebellious. Our wills are too paralyzed. Our eyes are too blind. Our ears
are too deaf. We thank you for what you have
done to bring us to yourself. We glory in this and we glory
in you. In Jesus name we pray, amen.