I want to begin this morning in Romans chapter 8. If you'd turn there with me, we'll look at verse 1 and then move on to 2nd passage in Ephesians chapter 1. But the title of my message this morning is, According to What? It's in the form of a question.

According to what? That word according is one of the most overlooked words in the Bible. The word according controls the weight of nearly every promise in the Scripture. When someone asks, according to what? They're wanting to know on what basis or by what authority and standard was the conclusion given. It's calling for evidence. Someone says, that restaurant, so-and-so restaurant is the best in town.

And you say, according to what? What are you basing your evidence on? Reviews? Taste? Price? Personal opinion? According to what? It's clarifying the standard used. When someone states something confidently, this is the response often asked as to why that is. Someone says, you're not allowed to park there. You might say, according to who? Or according to what? Is it a city ordinance? A state ordinance? A federal ordinance? Or just because you don't want me to? You need to clarify to me why I can't or can do something.

It's according. According. It's a word for decision making. It's a word used for evaluation. Now, I said all that to say this. The question, according to what or according to who, forces clarity. It strips away vague claims. It demands a source, a standard or authority in scriptural matters. It tells us the standard that God uses. It tells us the measure that God applies. It answers the question, on what basis does God act? Everything that God does is according to something. God never acts randomly. God never blesses vaguely. And God never saves loosely.

Look at verse 1 here, Romans 8. You know the verse well. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. Clarifying, he says, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. Now Paul does not say no condemnation because you are sincere. No condemnation because you're trying real hard. He doesn't say no condemnation since your intentions are good.

I've lived all my life. I hope with good intentions. My mom used to say to me, good intentions pave the road to hell. They do. Everybody's got good intentions with the intentions of not doing good. Paul says that our condemnation has something to do with how we walk. Did you notice that? Now, I want to clarify right up front that this is not talking about salvation by works, according to works.

A sheep doesn't try to act like a sheep. It follows the shepherd because it is a sheep. It follows the shepherd because it is a sheep. Slaves obey out of fear. Sons obey out of belonging. Big difference. Big, big difference. I didn't obey my father because I was afraid he was going to beat me. I bade my father, because I didn't want to disappoint him. I loved him too much. I didn't want him to be disappointed in me. And I know many of you who feel the same way. Now, if we see God as a taskmaster, our direction will be to perform. But if we know God as a father, our direction will be out of trust. No, this is not salvation by the works of man. This is salvation that works by the grace of God. Those who are in Christ walk according to the Spirit, not the flesh.

That's what Paul says here. The walk does not earn the standing. The standing determines the walk. A thermostat doesn't create heat. It reveals it. See, right now it says 72. degrees. That's what it's set on. The thermostat is not making it 72 degrees in here. The heater that this controls does. The thermostat's just revealing what the temperature is.

Our walk is according to our union with Christ. We walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Why? Because our identity has changed. Because the Spirit of God is the source of life. To be carnally minded, Paul said, that word means fleshly. To be fleshly minded is death. But to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

I haven't always been that way. There was a time when my conversation was in this world. I walked according to the lust of my flesh. And still do way too often. I've been born again. I've been made a new creation. And now, my desire is to be obedient to my Father who loved me and gave Himself for me.

Look at verse 8 here in Romans 8. So then, they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh. That's talking to believers. But in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. That's the changing factor. The Gospel doesn't remove accountability, but it sure changes the standard of it. God's discipline is according to mercy, not sin. In Psalm 103, verse 10, it says that God hath not dealt with us after our sins.

Boy, I'm thankful for that. People say dumb things like, I just want what I deserve. I don't want what I deserve. I want mercy. I deserve death and condemnation because of who and what I am by nature. I don't want that. I want mercy. I want grace. I want God's love and compassion. God had not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according, there's that word, to our iniquities.

According to what then? Well, the very next verse in Psalm 103 tells us, for as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward them that fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us.

Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him, for He knoweth our frame. He remembereth that we are dust. What a compassionate God we have. What a loving Father. God knows our sins fully, but He refuses to treat us according to them. Isn't that good news? That's gospel news. This does not deny discipline, it defines it. God disciplines those that He loves. God chastens those that He loves. Parents do their children. If they love them, they'll discipline them.

Why? Because you spare the rod, you spoil the child, right? We're trying to teach them not to bring hurt upon themselves. Honey, you can't do that and you'll get hurt. If your parent says, won't you go out and play in the highway? That's not a good sign. Corrective, not destructive. God's discipline with His people is fatherly, not judicial. It's restorative, not punitive. It's called chastening, discipline. God chastens. God disciplines. Who? Those that He loves. If God dealt with us according to our sins, none of us would receive mercy. None of us would. But the judgment of God was exhausted on Christ on the cross. The Scripture says that God is angry with the wicked every day. But he's no longer angry with his children. Why? Because he's made them children. And he loves them and he disciplines them.

And dear believer, when God corrects you, it's never payback. It's never payback. It's love refusing to let you destroy yourself. Salvation is according. to purpose, not performance. Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 1, verse 9, in speaking of God, he said, who had saved us and called us with a holy calling, now listen, not according to our words. but according to His own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. According, that's the basis, that's the authority, that's the power upon which God does these things. Salvation is not according to our works. Thank God. Thank God. So no boasting, no bragging, No glorifying in ourselves. Well, how then are we saved? According to His purpose. According to His own grace.

Before we failed, before we sinned, before we existed, grace already was assigned to the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's how and why we're saved by grace. because God had already ascribed all grace for us to Christ our substitute and sacrifice, who died in our room instead in order to give it to us justly.

Isn't that a wonderful, wonderful gospel? The Father did so before the foundation of the world, before we were born, before we did any good or evil. So that right there shows us that we don't have anything to brag about. God did this for us before we were ever born.

And He said that the purpose of God according to election might stand. Not of works, but of Him that calleth. Well, I'm just getting happier by the minute. Because my salvation doesn't depend on me. It depends on the One who loved me and gave Himself for me. He never fails. He never fails.

And this is how all our need as helpless sinners is supplied. Paul said in Philippians chapter four, verse 19, but my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. How is God going to supply all my need? By Christ's riches. What Christ did for me.

Listen, God is not affected by the economy or the stock market. He's not. God is not affected according to inflation. God supplying is not according to your job. God supplying is not according to your savings account. God supplies according to His riches and glory. Our God owns the cattle on a thousand hills. He's never wanted for anything. He doesn't need anything from us.

What are we going to give to God? It's kind of like, you know, at Christmas time, you've got a wealthy friend or something, and you're like, they're the hardest people to buy. What do you give to somebody that has everything? That's a good question. How do you give to God who has everything? It's about what God gives to us, not about what we're doing for God. I attended churches for years that just always, always, this is what we're doing for God. This is what we're doing for God. Nobody ever told me what God did for me.

That's the issue. I'm the needy one. I'm the helpless one. I'm the sinner. What's God doing for sinners? That's the message. This is a faithful, sane, and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save who? Good people. Those that are trying real hard. Those that have good intentions. Sinners. I'm only a sinner saved by grace. And He loves even me. Now, I want you to turn with me to Ephesians chapter 1. I'm not going to keep you real long, but turn there with me. I want you to see this.

This word, according, is used at least six times in just a few verses here. And it sheds so much, so, so much light onto why God does what He does. Ephesians chapter 1. Remember, according is a word that gives basis and evidence as to why something is said to be true. And this is especially true when the basis, the standard, and the source is God. God and His word is the final source and authority on the believer's salvation.

It's not what the priest thinks. It's not what the preacher thinks. It's not what this denomination says, and it's not what that denomination says. It's what God says. And God says it to us right here in this book. I had a man tell me not long ago that God spoke to him. I said, in the Bible? He said, oh, no. I said, in an audible voice? He said, yeah, in a small, still voice, God spoke to me. I heard the voice of God. And I bit my tongue because I wanted to call him a liar.

Because Hebrews 11.1 tells us... Let me look at that. I don't believe it is 11, but it's worth looking at. Somebody help me out. God in diverse times past spoke to us by the prophets, but in these last days has spoken to us how? By His Son. Jesus Christ is the Word of God, and the Word of God is Jesus Christ. You don't have to look there. Easy for me to get sidetracked.

Ephesians 1. Look at verse 4. According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. Look at verse 3. You should have read it first. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as He's chosen us in Him. When?

Before the foundation of the world. Why? that we should be holy and without blame before Him alone. Salvation is according to God's sovereign choice. Before the world ever existed, God chose His people in Christ. That's how we know it didn't have anything to do with human merit. It's according to the authority of His divine power and grace. God has chosen us in Him, it says.

Our relationship with God is only possible through Christ. I love to think about our union with Christ, I do. Because when God looks at me, the sinner that I am, the sinner I still am by nature, that old man that lives within me that causes me to do the things that I wouldn't do and not to do the things that I would do, That struggle that goes on within me day in and day out, minute by minute of every day. But when God looks at me, He sees His beloved Son.

And everything with God and I is more than alright. More than alright. I love to think about that. Love is the basis. His choice of us is according to His love for Christ and His love for us in Him. Think that you're so special that God loves you because of something in and of yourself.

It's all because of the Lord Jesus Christ. No love, no forgiveness, no grace, no mercy, no righteousness, no nothing for us outside of the Lord Jesus. But there's an abundance of all those things for us in our Lord and Savior. And it's all according to what?

God's choosing. God did it. Election is simply God predetermining to save His people. The believer's salvation didn't start when they believed. It started in the heart and purpose of God before we were ever born. The gospel of salvation is not reacting to human faith, but it's acting in sovereign grace. Faith is the result, not the cause. Why do we have faith? Because God saved us. God gave it to us. Verse 5. Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will. Why does God save wretches like us? Because He willed to. Because He wanted to. That's why. Why do you do that, Daddy? Because I wanted to. Right?

Salvation is not just simply a legal action. The aim is adoption. And yes, it's got to be done legally. It has to be done justly. That's why Christ died. The Gospel is not just the forgiveness of sins. The Gospel is not just an escape from judgment. Both are true and both are real. But how is it accomplished? By Jesus Christ. That's the issue.

The destination of salvation is God to Himself, it says. God not only saves us for our benefit, but for communion with Him. In and with Him. The gospel restores everything that we lost. And that was fellowship with God. And again, why does God do all this? He says, according to the good pleasure of His will. Again, because He wanted to. God does what He wants to. It pleased God to make those in Christ His people.

Yes, justification removes guilt, but adoption gives belonging, it gives sonship. You know very well, I was adopted, and everything that my mom and dad had was left to me. That's the way it works. The believer's not merely acquitted, the believer is wanted and desired by God. Now you think about that for a minute. We're not just merely acquitted of our sins, we're not just found not guilty, we're wanted and desired by God. She's mine, he said. He's mine. That's my son, that's my daughter.

For the Lord will not forsake His people for His great namesake, because it hath pleased the Lord to make you His people. Why am I saved? I can only give you one answer. It pleased the Lord to save me. That's good enough. That's a reason enough. Verse 6, to the praise of the glory of His grace wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved. It was all for His glory. To the glory of His grace.

He hath made us accepted. We were not acceptable. Somebody ever done a job for you and said, OK, I'm done. Pay me. And you look at them and you go, that's not acceptable. That doesn't meet the standard. We don't ever meet the standard. We're made acceptable. God made us acceptable in Christ. It's the only way we can be. How are we made acceptable? It says right here, in the Beloved. Who's that talking about? That's the only Beloved, the one that God loves, the Lord Jesus Christ. Our acceptance is only in Him. And that's what the Scriptures declare over and over and over. Look at verse 7.

In whom? Talking about the same person. In whom we have redemption? Through what? His blood. The forgiveness of sins. According. According to what? The riches of His grace. That's why God saves sinners. By the riches of His grace. According to the riches of His grace. Why are we made acceptable? There it is. His grace is the basis. His grace is the reason. His grace is the authority. Well, because I gave Jesus my heart.

No, sir, you did not. And let me just throw this in. I've told you this before. He doesn't want your wretched heart. It's wretched, it's deceitful above all things, it's desperately wicked. He's going to give you a new heart. That's the only way you're going to be saved.

In whom we have redemption. In whom, in Christ, we have what? Redemption, not self-improvement. How can you improve on perfection? If I have Christ, I am perfect in the eyes of God. Not because of anything I did, but because of what He did for me. How are you going to improve upon that? Well, I need to improve a little bit. No, you need to improve a whole lot. But in Christ, you're perfect.

No improvement there. Redemption means release by payment. That's what the word means. We've been bought with a price. We need much more than just guidance. We need much more than motivation. Well, I need to be motivated. We were enslaved to sin. We were under judgment and condemnation. In Christ, the price has been paid. Guilt is not managed, friends. It's removed. Condemnation is not reduced. It's ended. It's over. There is therefore now no condemnation. We just read it.

Look at verse 8 here, wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence. Grace is abounded toward us. It's not limited, it's boundless. God lavishes His grace freely on those in Christ. God is overflowing in wisdom. He excels greatly in wisdom. God's grace is not random, it's full of wisdom and prudence. It's full of purpose. This isn't just a blind handout. God gives abundantly. God gives wisely. God gives thoughtfully. God's grace is overflowing.

But it's never careless. And God knows what He's doing. You believe that? Just look around you. God knows what He's doing. When you say, well, this world's in a mess, that's man's fault. Man brought that on. God allowed it. But that's not God's doing. God gives insight. He brings conviction. He provides His people's need. He protects them from harm. He equips them for His purpose. He causes them to grow in grace and knowledge, and it's intentional, and it's wise, and it's perfectly applied. He knows what He's doing. God is equipping us to walk in the blessings and the purpose that He has for us. In verse 9, having made known unto us the mystery of His will according, according to what? Our goodness? Our righteousness? Our good works? According to His good pleasure, which He hath purposed in Himself.

Well, now I think you can take this salvation by grace too far. No, you can't. No, you can't. It's all through this chapter. The whole Scripture, really. Do you see the pattern and the means of the believer's salvation? Now, it's a mystery to many. Multitudes never see it. Why? Why do you see it? Why do you see it when no one else does?

According to His good pleasure, which He purposed where? In Himself. God did it. God did it on purpose. God did it for His own glory. God did it because it pleased Him to do so. What is the mystery? Sinners are reconciled. His people are redeemed. He himself is glorified. What drives this revelation? What causes God to reveal this mystery? His good pleasure. Men and women in general, especially in modern day religion, just don't understand their deadness.

They still hold on to their so-called free will. Oh no, he's going to go off on that again. No I'm not. He doesn't exist. You don't have a free will. I've used the illustration before. You can take a little two-gallon aquarium, or gallon, or fishbowl for that matter, and you can put a goldfish in it, and that goldfish, he can swim all over, wherever he wants to, in that little fishbowl. He can swim to the top, and he can swim to the bottom, and he can swim to the left, he can swim to the right, but he can't jump out of that bowl and jump in a car and go down to Kroger's and buy groceries. His will is in bondage to his environment, to his sin, so to say. That's what our free will, it's not free because it's in bondage to our sin, our nature. What a mystery. When has a dead person ever willed to do anything? Huh? Do they have the mental faculty to choose? Do they have the mental faculty to act? Do they have the ability to make decisions?

I'm not messing with my dad. The personal will dies with the person. One who's dead has no will. Where did the purpose of salvation originate? He purposed it in himself. Men didn't negotiate it. A lot of men preach that way. Well, you know, Me and Jesus, we got a good thing going and we worked this out. We worked this out. No, you did not. It didn't come by man's obedience. It wasn't a backup plan by God. It's all according to God's will and purpose in Himself. The Gospel's not advice on how to find God.

A lot of men preach it that way. It's God making Himself known in Christ. And the reason why I found in verse 10, look at it, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him.

Now the fullness of time is not a random moment. It's God's intended completion. Nothing is ever early or late with God. We're bound by time, but God's not. God is always right on time. Always right on time. The fullness of time. This is the administration of everything under Christ. God in Christ is going to gather in one all things. And where is He going to do it? In Christ. So the fullness of time is when God sums up and unites and brings everything. Heaven and earth under the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Redemption is completed. Christ openly reigning, creation restored, all sin dealt with. There's going to come a time when all sin is dealt with, either in mercy or in judgment, but it's going to be dealt with. There's going to be a new heaven and earth wherein dwelleth no sin.

This is not just an add-on. Christ is not just an add-on. That's what modern day religion has made him. All these things find their completion in Christ. Paul adds here, even in him, the gospel is not God helping us achieve our goals. The gospel is not God endorsing our achievements. The gospel is not God giving us what we want. The gospel is God reuniting everything that sin divided and lost.

It's God restoring everything that we lost. Everything's gonna be revealed to be under the gracious and sovereign rule of the Lord Jesus Christ. And this, my friends, is the beauty of the gospel that we as His people have and love. Everything we have to look forward to in this life to come is, look at it, verse 11. In Christ, in whom we've obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will.

How many times is it said that? And yet we still can't get it through our thick skulls? Predestination. Oh, that's a dirty word to so many people. Oh, no. You believe in predestination. It's not a dirty word. And it's not complicated. It simply means you can look it up in a concordance. It simply means determined before.

Do you determine where you're going to go on vacation before you go? Well, you better. You may not have a room when you get there. You determine before where you're going. You make the plans. You purpose where you're going to go. You make the arrangements.

That's what God did. He determined before. predestinated according to the purpose of Him that works all things after His own will and purpose. And that's not a term to argue about. I'm glad God predetermined. I'd have never been saved if He hadn't determined to save me.

It's the truth to rejoice in. It's comfort, it's not controversy. It's an anchor to assurance. And it's the believer's hope. If God willed an eternity to save some, and He did, then some are going to be saved. Salvation rests on God's will. Not our consistency. I'm sure thankful for that.

We're inconsistent as water. You remember Jacob described his son Reuben. He said, you're unstable as water. Water in Scripture represents instability. And what does water do? You pour it out on the ground and it finds the lowest gravity, leads it to the lowest spot. That's us. That's us. Inconsistent with water. constantly moving, never firm. It represents doubt and danger, the shifting nature of the world apart from Christ. Outside of Christ, we're like the tossing sea which cannot rest, whose waves cast up mire and mud, Isaiah 57,

20. But in Christ, we are no longer children tossed to and fro by the waves carried about by every wind of doctrine. Ephesians 4.4. God is anything and everything but unstable. Our inheritance is sure.

Why? Because it's the purpose of God. We're right back to that again. According. Determined from the foundation of the world. God, dear friends, is sovereign over all things. I love that. Including salvation. Especially salvation. I overheard a pastor at one of the largest churches in Madisonville say, God is sovereign over everything. And I thought, what? Somebody actually believes that?

He said, accept salvation. He said he leaves that up to man. Let me tell you something. If he does, I'll never be saved. Never. I'll never be saved. My will, my nature, is to not have Christ to rule over me. Unless God intervenes and makes me willing, in the day of His power, I'll never be saved. How about you? And why does God intervene and save sinners?

Look at it and I'll finish up. Verse 12, that we should be to the praise of His glory who first trusted in Christ. In whom ye also trusted after that you heard the Word of Truth, the Gospel of your salvation. In whom also, after that you believed, you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise which is the earnest, the down payment of our inheritance unto the redemption of the purchased possession. That's what we are.

We're purchased possessions of God. unto the praise of His glory. He gets all the glory. We don't get any glory. Why should we get any glory? We didn't do anything. We're just the recipients of His mercy and grace. God saves sinners through the praise of His glory. Christ is trusted through the preaching of the Gospel. God enables us to believe. God seals us with the Holy Spirit of promise. The possession is purchased by Christ through the praise of His glory. And again, How is this accomplished? What's the basis? What's the rule? What's the reason for our salvation? According to what? No, according to who?

Look down at verse 18. The eyes of your understanding being enlightened that you may know what is the hope of your calling. and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe according to the working of His mighty power. There you have it.

It's accomplished only according to the authority of God's power as God Almighty. Salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord. Salvations of the Lord. Verse 20, which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places far above all principality and power and might and dominion in every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come, and hath put all things under His feet and gave Him to be the head of all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him that dwelleth all in all. So we are, dear friends, saved according to what? According to Christ who feels.