Ephesians chapter one. Ephesians
chapter one. We'll read together here this
evening a few verses of this first chapter for our study,
and I think that if you don't know you will find out that all
the doctrines of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ are discussed
in this chapter. Not only are all the great doctrines
of the gospel discussed, but all the great precepts are laid
down for the guidance of the believers. Not only confined
to the first chapter, but throughout the book. And I think if we'd
understand the teaching or the theology of the Lord Jesus Christ,
we would be careful to spend some time reading the book of
Ephesians here. In verses 1 and 2, it says, Grace,
or Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God to
the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ
Jesus." Verse number 2, Grace be to you and peace from God
our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Now there is an
important truth in this second verse that I want to call your
attention to. That is this, that there must
be Grace first and peace comes afterwards. Notice what it says. Grace be to you and peace from
God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace comes first. Peace follows grace. Anybody that seeks heavenly blessings in the wrong order, tries to gain peace first, and
then grace makes a big mistake. Now, as I was thinking about
this, and noticed this particular verse, I got to looking in other
books here in the Bible to see the emphasis that's placed upon
proper order. Grace be to you, and peace. A man cannot have peace unless
he first has grace. You see, the scripture says,
there is no peace, saith my God to the wicked. We must experience
the grace of God before we can be blessed with the peace of
God. To seek the peace of God first, and then the grace of
God, is in the wrong order. Second chapter, I believe of
2 Timothy, is a verse that may be of some
help to us. 2 Timothy chapter 1 and verse
number 9. Look at that with me, if you
will. It says, who hath saved us," that's God
has saved us, and He's called us with a holy calling, not according
to our works. Now notice this, somebody got
saved here and the Lord done the saving. And those that He
saved, He called them with a holy calling, and it wasn't according
to their works. But He does tell us what it was
according to. according to their being good
or to their being bad. It wasn't according to their
works. But it was according to His own
purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the
world began. Now, that says that God hath
given some members of the human family His grace in Jesus Christ
before the world began. Now, I think that we can say
that all others are doomed. I think you can safely
say that. A man that has not the grace
of God is doomed for perdition. And if he has experienced the
grace of God, and it has led him to worship God and to search
the scriptures, he will come to this conclusion, that the
grace of God was given him not apart from Christ, but in Christ
before time ever was, before the world ever was. The grace
of God. What is the grace of God? the
grace of God, the favor of God. That's what it is. It's the favor
of God. All of us, I think here under
the sound of my voice, understand that we lost the favor of God
in the Garden of Eden in the fall. We lost God's favor. And we become the objects of
His anger. And God's angry with the wicked
every day. We lost his favor. But there
was some of the human race, some, certainly
the most part yet unborn, that had been promised the grace of
God and had been given, how I don't know, had been given the grace
of God in Christ even before the fall. And that grace of God
is the favor of God. And those that have the favor
of God, here in time, now, experience what he calls the calling of
God through the gospel of God. And they are made aware of their
terrible, terrible guilt and their rebellion and their sin
against God. They are made to know this. And
they grieve and mourn because of what they did to God and to
God's Son. God grants unto them the ability
to repent. He enables them to repent. Not just one time, but He enables
them to repent every day. The ability to repent, and to
repent, and to repent, and to repent, and to repent. There
is a continual repentance with him. Not only did he give him
the gift of repentance, but he gave him the gift of faith to
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, if God had not given
us these things, we could have been safe to say that we knew
nothing of the grace of God. The grace of God is the favor
of God, is God dealing with us when we didn't deserve to be
dealt with on that basis, the basis of love and mercy and grace. according to his own purpose
and grace, which was, you can deny it, people can deny the
doctrine of the grace of God if they want to, and they can
deny the doctrine of election and doctrine of God's sovereignty
if they want to, but you can't erase it out of the Bible, it's
on practically every page. According to his own purpose
and grace, If God hadn't given me grace in Christ Jesus before
the world ever was, I wouldn't be a preacher of the gospel now.
I wouldn't be a lover of the gospel now. I wouldn't adore
the Lord Jesus Christ. I would have no reason whatsoever
to exalt the name of God, or even attempt to exalt the name
of God, apart from the grace of God which was given me in
Christ before time ever was. So we've got to keep this thing
in order. He says here, Grace, BDU, that's
first. Grace is first. Over here in
verse 8 of the second chapter, look what he says. For by grace,
if it wasn't for the grace of God, you wouldn't be saved. That
is, if it wasn't for the favor of God singling you out. He singled
you out. He'd come where you was. You
remember that. You remember the time and the
place and the experience that you had when God came to you
and the Lord Jesus Christ and His gospel was poured into your
heart. But you remember at the time
when Christ became precious to you, and you remember that there
was others that had the same opportunity, but the Lord Jesus
Christ did not affect them that way. Why? Because you was experiencing
the favor of God. God came to you. He didn't come
to everybody. He came to those that was given
grace in Christ Jesus before. Listen, the Lord Jesus Christ,
He's not defeated. He's not defeated. He didn't
die on the cross as a defeated man. He shall, listen to me tonight,
he shall see the travail of his soul, and he shall be satisfied. He'll not be defeated. He'll
save everyone that was given grace in him before time ever
was. Grace is first. That's all they
are to us. He who has a peace which does
not own grace for its parent has a false peace. And there's
millions of them right now that say, well, don't worry about
me. I'm all right. I've made peace
with God. Well, God better make peace with
them in Christ Jesus. Man can't make peace with God.
But anyhow, I've heard people say, don't worry about me. I'm
all right. I'm all right. Everything's okay. I'm alright,
I'm not afraid, and all those things. And deny, and deny the
very doctrine of the grace of God. Grace comes first! A man that fights the grace of
God and denies it and says, well, no! Everybody! God must give everybody a chance! Well, he's not saved. He can't
be saved. A man can't be saved if he doesn't
know what the grace of God is. Can he? Salvation is not by giving
everybody a chance. Where do we get that? Where's
that at in the Bible? What chapter? What verse? What
book? It's not in the Bible. You say,
well, doesn't the Bible say John 3, 16, God so loved the world?
It does. But it limits it when it says that whosoever believes
in Him has eternal life. It's the whosoever believes in
Him. That's where it's at. That's where it's limited. Salvation is not by giving everybody
a chance, or salvation is not by giving everybody a choice,
or salvation is not by making a decision, or writing a letter,
salvation is by the grace of God. for by grace a spatial object
and favor of God Himself. That's how you're saved. Well,
if God didn't set His eye upon you, His finger upon you, and
His hand upon your heart, before time ever was, you'd never have
no interest in Christ. Now, you can believe that. That's
what the Bible teaches. You can believe it. You can believe it.
It's not in yourself or in myself apart from the grace of God and
the work of the Spirit to become a Christian. No, sir. Cannot be. Cannot be. All right,
I said those who have a peace which does not own grace for
its parent has a false peace. It's a peace where there is no
peace. If we first have grace in our
souls, then shall peace be like a river, and righteousness as
waves of the sea, if we first have grace in our souls. Turn right back to the book of
Galatians, chapter 1. Just turn right over there, and
we'll make a little study here this evening. Just turn right
over there to chapter 1, verse number 3. I want to show you
how important this is. He says, Grace be to you and
peace from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ. He
says the same thing to the Galatians as he does to the Ephesians.
All right, you just turn right over there then to the first
chapter of the book of 2 Corinthians. and the second verse. Got that? He said, Grace be to
you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Then you go right, keep on going to the first chapter of the book
of 1 Corinthians. See what he says there. Verse
number 3. Grace be unto you and peace from
God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. I was going to say, look over
in the book of Romans. I don't know whether he says that in
the book of Romans or not. All right, we looked in 1 Corinthians,
2 Corinthians, we looked in Galatians, we looked in Ephesians. All right,
now come back to Ephesians and keep flipping over to Philippians.
See if we can find anything there. Verse number 2, the first chapter
of the book of Philippians. He says, Grace be to you and
peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Keep flipping over to the book
of Colossians, see what he says there. Verse number 2, To the saints
and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colossae, Grace
be unto you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord
Jesus Christ. All right, keep going over to
1 Thessalonians. See what he says there. Verse
number 1, it says, "...unto the church of the Thessalonians,
which is in God the Father, and in the Lord Jesus Christ, grace
be to you, and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord
Jesus Christ." What about 2 Thessalonians? Verse number 2, 1 Thessalonians.
Grace unto you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord
Jesus Christ." Well, we'll stop there, but you can see the emphasis
of the order. It's grace first! No wonder the preachers in days
gone by preached. Not only did they say, We believe
in the grace of God, but they preach the grace of God. They
preach that God must show favor to men. And if He doesn't show
favor to men, they'll never be interested in Him. Before man
will ever have peace, he must have grace. And that grace comes
from God the Father. And that grace was given us in
Christ Jesus before the world ever was. Now that's the truth. It comes from the Lord Jesus
Christ. Then it says here in the first
chapter of the book of Ephesians, I'm over in the wrong book here
now, in that first chapter, Grace be to you and peace from
God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, we can
have absolutely nothing to do with an absolute God. It is God
in Christ whom we love. It is God in Christ whom we adore. It is God in Christ who is our
Savior. God, an absolute God, we cannot
approach. It is only in Christ You know,
I've said lots of times that because of our nature, because
of what we did in our rebellion against God, that God has determined
that he will not speak to any member of the human race or be
spoken to by any member of the human race apart from a blessed
sacrifice, a substitute, an intercessor, an advocate. We cannot come to
God, an absolute God, apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's
connected every time. Grace be to you and peace from
God our Father, from the Lord Jesus Christ. People who believe
that they're going to be saved without bowing to and making
an unconditional surrender to God in Christ, they've got a
big surprise awaiting them. Because if a man doesn't bow
here, he's going to bow there. Because every knee is going to
bow and every tongue is going to confess that Jesus Christ
is who God said He was. He's Lord over all. And men are
going to have to bow to Him, and they are going to have to
come to Him. Alright? In verses 3 and 4, He said, Blessed be
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. There you go again. In Christ.
According as He hath chosen us. Look at that. Just keep your
eye on it. According as He, that's God,
have chosen us in Him, that is, in Christ, before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
Him in love." Here in these two verses, he lays down the great
doctrine of predestinating love. I'll tell you this, and I believe
this is true. Now, you can argue with me if
you want to, and I don't think you will. I think you'll all
agree with me. There is little gospel preached where election
is denied. Very little gospel is preached
where this fourth verse is denied. And you can mark that down. You
can mark it down. I don't care how many of these
fellas say, well, I'm preaching the gospel. Or someone says,
well, I hear fellas sometimes that go someplace else And here's
an Armenian preacher that hates the very thought of the sovereignty
of God, that says that the God that these fellows preach, who
makes the choice, is not my God. I've heard him say that. He says,
that's not my God. And yet people go and hear him
and they say, well, at least he preaches the gospel. He can't
preach the gospel. Where the doctrine of election
is denied, the gospel cannot be preached. Now think about
it. Think about it. Can it be preached? Look at what
he says. According, according, as he hath
chosen in him before the foundation of the world. You can't preach
the gospel apart from the doctrine of election. That's all they
are to us. I mean, it may seem unpleasant, but that's it. You
say, well, you're writing a whole bunch of people off. I can't
help it. I can't help it. You're cutting
them off. I can't help that. It may rule
me out, too. I can't help that. But that's
what it says. And I think that very little
gospel is preached where the doctrine of election is denied.
All right. Verse 5, he said, having pre-estimated
us unto the adoption of children by Christ Jesus to himself according
to the good pleasure of his will." What's he saying here? Well,
I said that in the verses preceding this, Verses 3 and 4, he lays
down this great doctrine of predestinating love according as he has chosen
us in him. Now in verses 5 and 6 here, to
the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us
accepted in the Beloved, he talks about adoption, adoption, now
adoption follows predestination. We are chosen of God before time
ever was, and the result of that choice is that He puts us in
His family, according to the Word of God. Predestinating means predetermining. God predetermined. God predetermined
to do something. It just didn't all happen. It's not just an accident with
God that... Some people say that predestination
means that God looked down, and He's seen that you would believe
the gospel, and when He's seen you would believe it, then He
predestinated you. That's what they say. You'd be
surprised how many fellows that spent four years in college and
three years in seminary believe that fact. Dumb, ignorant. If that's so, God's taking credit
for something He didn't do. Is that right? He's taking credit
for something that He didn't do. If God looks down and sees that
I'll believe, and after He sees I'll believe, then He determines
I will believe. Oh no, that's not the way it
is. He's taking credit for something that He didn't do Himself. God
predetermines. He predetermines. Well, alright. He goes on, and
as I said now, adoption follows predestination. We are chosen
of God before time ever was. The result of that choice is
that we are adopted into the family of God. Now he says the
only reason, now look at this, the only reason for our adoption,
the only reason for our election, rest in the good pleasure of
His will. Listen. Latter part of the fifth verse.
According to the good pleasure of His will. Having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Christ Jesus to Himself. Why? Why? This is the reason This
is the reason, according to the good pleasure of His will, because
He wanted to do it. That's what He wants. You say,
well, you're saved. I'm saved by the grace of God.
Must have been something in you that delighted. No, no. Dead in trespasses and in sin,
shaking my fist at God every day, just like everybody else
who's outside of the Lord Jesus Christ did. Why did God do it? He did it because He wanted to
do it. He did it because of his good pleasure. He did it because
he said, I don't know. That's the only reason. According
to the good pleasure of his will. You see, there's nothing in you,
there's nothing in me, There's nothing in any single solitary
individual that was ever born of woman apart from the Lord
Jesus Christ to merit God's favor. Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
Well, that's a heavy blow on a lot of people, isn't it? It's
a heavy blow on religious people. It's a heavy blow on the Armenian
people. It's a heavy blow on these people
that are fighting against God. These people that plan hide-and-seek
with God, they're hiding, but God's not seeking. And they don't
know it yet. If they ever find that out, they're
going to put their boxing gloves on and start fighting with God.
They hate God's sovereignty. They hate God's electing trust. They hate that. They'd rather
that they could stand. I can come around somebody, these
Armenians. I can come around and I can talk
to you. I can take God's name in vain. And it wouldn't hurt
them near as much. as me saying that God has chosen
a people in Christ before time ever was, and the people that
He chose in Christ are the people that's going to be the recipient
of Christ here in time. They'd rather that you blaspheme
the name of God and talk like that. But this is what the Bible
says. Oh, my soul, I'm telling you,
I'm telling you that there's no merit in any of us to merit
the favor of God Oh, it's only the grace of God. Only the grace
of God. You've heard that expression
that this fella, he looked out and he seen this poor old beggar
and drunkard and he's dirty and just give up by society and he
just, the street was his home. And they looked at him in his
tattered clothes and his health was bad. Just a beggar. Looked at him and they said,
they said, there but for the grace of God goes me. That's
right. That's right. Every time you
see somebody who's a denier of the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ, you can say, there but for the grace of God goes me.
Why don't you get mad at these Armenians and these religious
people that chase their fists in the face of God? You'd do
the same thing, but for the grace of God. Why? Because there's no merit in you
that would cause God's favor to shine upon you, none whatsoever. Listen, what was there in me
that could merit esteem, or give the Creator delight? T'was even
so, Father, I ever must sing, because it seemed good in thy
sight. Notice here the channel through
which all God's mercies come. That's Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ
is the channel through which the grace of God flows. We're
chosen in Him, adopted by Him, and in Him, unto Himself, and
accepted in the Beloved. It says, "...to the praise of
the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the
beloved. There was an old fellow, an old
preacher, whose name was Harrington Evans, and he was about to die. As a matter of fact, he died
shortly after this. But some friends came to visit
him, and he said to these friends, he said, take this message back
to my church. And they said, Well, we'll sure
do it. What is it that you want us to
tell your church? He said, tell them this. Tell
them that I am accepted in the beloved. He said, tell them that
message. Listen. Could you or me? That's Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ
is the channel through which the grace of God flows. were
chosen in him, adopted by him, and in him unto himself, and
accepted in the Beloved." It says, "...to the praise of the
glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the
Beloved." There was an old fellow, an old preacher, whose name was
Harrington Evans, and he was about to die. As a matter of
fact, he died shortly after this. But some friends came to visit
him, and he said to these friends, he said, take this message back
to my church. And they said, well, we'll sure
do it. What is it that you want us to
tell your church? He said, tell them this. Tell
them that I am accepted in the beloved. He said, tell them that
message. Listen, could you or me here tonight, could we put
our hands upon our hearts and each of us say, I may not be
accepted by my fellow man. I may not even be acknowledged
by my fellow man. And certainly before God, I can
never be accepted in myself. but clothed in his righteousness,
standing in his person, standing in his flesh, standing in his
bones, I am accepted in the beloved." Can you say that? Oh, Harrington Evans could. And
then he goes on, and he says, "...in whom we have redemption
through the blood through his blood, the forgiveness of sins,
according to the riches of his grace, of his favor, wherein
he hath abounded toward us in all prudence, all wisdom and
prudence, having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according
to his good pleasure. which he hath purposed in himself,
that in the dispensation of the fulness 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." In him, in Christ. Well, here in these three verses,
seven to ten, The apostle tells us that the main purpose of God
is to exalt the Lord Jesus Christ and to glorify God. That is the
main purpose of God. Sometimes we forget God's real
design and purpose in sending us the gospel. You see, if we
regard salvation as the means of lifting up this fallen race
and putting it among the princes of this world, then we've made
a mistake. Because we need to remember that
the design of God, that the glory of God, is greater even than
man's salvation. The glory of God. That's greater. That's greater than your salvation
or mine. That's the object of the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the object of it. That's
the mainest. That's the chiefest. That's the
primary design and purpose of the gospel. Certainly it's to
save us, but first and foremost, it's to promote and exalt God
and God's Son. That's what it's for. You see,
God gave His Son not so much to save us as to honor himself. The gospel has for its chief
design, its chief aim, the glory of all the attributes of the
divine being of God, whether it be mercy, or justice, or holiness,
or gentleness, or tenderness, or whatever it is. The purpose
of the preaching of the gospel is not just to bring sinners
to repentance, but it's to glorify God. That's what Paul's saying
here. Well, verses 11 to 14, and I'll
quit. In whom also we have obtained
an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him
who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will,
that we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted
in Christ. in whom also, in whom ye also
trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel
of your salvation, in whom also, after that ye believed, ye were
sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. Which is the earnest,
or the down payment of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased
possession, unto the praise of his glory." Well, we might say,
according to these two or three verses here, that there is no
way of preaching the gospel doctrines truly, or rightly, apart from
our Master, the Lord Jesus Christ. In his own day, I guess, if someone
would have went to one of the followers of the Lord Jesus and
said, What do you believe? What do you believe? He wouldn't
have been long in telling them what he believed, because I believe
that this would be what he'd say. He'd have pointed to the
Lord Jesus Christ. He wouldn't have pointed to 50
doctrines. He wouldn't say, well, I believe in the Lord's Supper,
and I believe in baptism by immersion, and I believe in the local church,
and I believe in supporting missionaries, and I believe in predestination,
and I believe in election, and I believe in this, and I believe
in that. He wouldn't have pointed to 50 doctrines. He would have
pointed to the Lord Jesus Christ and said, I believe in Him. That's
what he'd have said. I believe in Him. Well, listen,
if you'd have asked him 50 times, what do you believe? I believe
he'd have said 50 times, I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what I believe in. He
would have said, He is in Himself, the great embodiment of my faith. Himself in His person. His person
carries within it all the great doctrines which I have received
from Him. He is the truth. He said, I am the way, the truth,
and the life. You can trace every mercy to
the Lord Jesus Christ And you can look upon every mercy as
being the purchase of His own precious blood. And if you'd
ask a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ in his day, what do you
believe? Who do you believe? They'd say,
I believe in Him. He's the embodiment of everything
that I believe. Every doctrine in the Bible finds
its anchor in Jesus Christ. Every doctrine in the Bible comes
right back to Christ, either comes to Christ or points to
Christ. One of the two. There's not anything
in the Bible that Jesus Christ is not the center of. And if
we'd understand the teaching and the theology of the Lord
Jesus, we'd study this book, we'd read it and rely on it and
believe it. And when we come out of it, you'll
do like I said, that fellow who was a follower of Jesus. You'll
say, well, maybe I don't understand all the doctrines, but I'll tell
you what I do understand. I understand the grace of God. I understand
if it wasn't for the grace of God, I wouldn't have believed
in the Savior. If it wasn't for the grace of God, wasn't for
this facial favor of God. I know a lot of folks say, well,
God's not fair. He's not fair. This doesn't have
anything to do with being fair. But God is fair. But it hasn't
got anything to do with that. God does what He wants to. The
same people, the same people who say that God's not fair in
this matter of salvation. Let me give you an illustration
here real quick. And there's a whole lot of people. I preach
what I've been preaching here. The average congregation, the
majority of them would walk out of there and say, well, that's
not the God that I believe in, or that's not the God my mother
told me about, that's not the God our preacher preaches, because
that God is prejudiced. He's prejudiced. He's a prejudiced
God! Listen, God does with His own
as it pleases Him. We didn't make ourselves. God
made us. God made us. We belong to Him. We belong to
Him. If it wasn't for God, we couldn't move or breathe. We
would have no existence. We owe our very existence to
God. He made us. We didn't come from a frog or
a possum. We come from God. He made us.
He owns us, lock, stock, and barrel. Is that right? If He
owns us, lock, stock, and barrel, He has a right to do with us
as it pleases Him. That's my house down at Berksville. I have a right to do with it
as it pleases me. Of course, I better talk to my wife about
it. Her name's on the deed. But you
see what I'm trying to say? I can burn it down if I want
to. That's mine. And anyone comes in and says
you ain't got a right to do with your own, that pleases you. He doesn't know what he's talking
about. He's denying me my holy rights. I got a right. That's
my property. Paid $50, $80 a month for it
for 20 long years. And it's mine. And you can't
tell me what to do with it. You can tell me but I won't have
to listen to you because it's mine. It's mine. Every one of
us belongs to God. We belong to God. And God has
the right to do with His own as it pleases Him. If it pleases
God to save some of these who are going to hell, they don't
want to be saved. If it pleases God to stop some
of them, say, I'm going to save some of them, that's God's business. And that's a good answer to those
that object to the grace of God and say, well, God, He's showing
partiality and failure. That's right. God. He is partial. He hated Esau. And he loved Jacob. You know what it says? Jacob
have I loved, Esau have I hated. Well, all right. Let's stand. We'll be dismissed.