Chapter 4, verse 14, that ye henceforth be no more
children, unsettled, playing games, skipping rope,
jumping from that to something else, no more children, tossed
to and fro, carried about by every wind of doctrine, subject
to the slight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie and
wait to deceive. But speaking the truth in love
may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ. our Savior and our Lord desire to be like Him in all
things, grow up in Him, long-suffering, patient and kind and gentle,
charity, from whom the whole body fitly framed together and
compacted by that which every joint supplies likens the church, which is his
body, to the human body, which is so fitly framed and joined
together that the psalmist talked about what
a wonderful being we have. According to the effectual working
and the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto
the edifying of itself in love, that the body might be effectual
in agreement, have the same pursuits, the same objectives, and so forth,
living all for the glory of God, whether drink or eat or whatever
it is, for the glory of God, that the body might be strong
This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth,
or from now on, walk not as other Gentiles walk." Other Gentiles, he means those
who are without hope, without purpose, without objectives. who live to please themselves. Don't walk as they walk, vanity
of their mind. They, having the understanding
darkened, they have no light, they cannot see. All's well with them. No fear
of God before their eyes. Being alienated That means cut
off from the life of God. If a man doesn't have Christ,
he doesn't have the life of God. Our Lord said, I am the resurrection
and the life. He that believeth on me. Alienated from the life of God
through ignorance that is in them, total ignorance. because of the blindness of their
heart, hardness of their heart, who, being past feeling, have
given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with
greediness. But ye have not so learned Christ. If so be that ye have heard of
him, and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus."
The truth, huh? The truth. A popular idea among
religion today is that there's no absolutes. That's the idea
among most religionists, that there is no absolute truth. But there is an absolute truth. There is God and the workings
of God. There is the Christ of God. There
is eternity past and eternity to come. There is judgment. These
are absolute truths. He is the life and we are joined
to that life. We are the branch that is in
the vine. The vine. The life is in the
vine and we are branches. in the vine, and we're sustained
not apart from the vine, but are sustained by life in the
vine. Life, spiritual life, real life,
true life, is in Christ. And a man cannot have that true
life unless he comes to Him. He's got to come to Him to get
that life. And the sad part of it is, of
course it sounds very easy in a sense to us, but the
sad part of it is we have been made willing to
come. And if we've come and have life, it's because He made us
willing to come. set His affections upon us before
time ever was, sanctified us, I told you this
morning, sanctified us, God the Father set us apart, sanctified
us, preserved us in Jesus Christ,
and eventually the call came, we heard the gospel and believed
the gospel. Why? Because we had life. He
gave us life. We're joined to him. We're the
branch in the vine. That's what they call that vital
union. Vital union. Vital connection. Joined. We're flesh of his flesh and bone of
his bone. There's that oneness. Oneness. We're so vitally connected and
inseparable from Him. That's the reason why the Bible
speaks of us in the first chapter of the book of Ephesians, that
He hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places.
We're vitally joined with Him, whoever lives, as our mediator. Well, if so be that ye have heard
of him, lots of people have heard of him. Everybody's heard of
him, but not everybody comes to him. Not everybody's joined
to him. As a matter of fact, the Bible
is not written to everybody. The Bible's written to us. The Bible's written to his people.
It's not written to us. Tom, Dick, and Harry, who has
no care or concern about God. It's to us. As the truth is in Jesus that
ye put off concerning the former conversation of the old man,
that lifestyle of the old man. There's a change made. See, there
is a connection between salvation by grace, there's a connection
between God's sovereign grace and free salvation. There's a
connection with how man lives. Not much said about it, but there
is a connection. That union with Him begats. Like begets like. Holiness begets holiness. Put off that former conversation.
Man, woman, boy or girl, me or you, make a long, loud profession, carry Bibles, talk about the Bible, but if
there is no desire after the object of our affection,
we're still in our sins. We're still dead in trespasses
and we haven't got any life. Life seeks life. Life seeks Him. We alter our lifestyle, change
it one direction to another. Our friends change. We don't
have too much trouble there because they'll cut us off real quick. The old man, the old man, he's
still there, this old man. He's right there. He hadn't changed. He hadn't been regenerated. We
got a new man, came from above. The old man's still there and
we'll wrestle with him until the day we die. Put him off, he is corrupt according
to the deceitful lust. Be ye and be renewed in the spirit
of your mind, and that ye put on the new man which is after
God, which after God is created in
righteousness and true holiness. Wherefore put away lying, speak
every man truth with his neighbor. For we are members one of another.
Be ye angry, and sin not. And he explains that. He said,
Don't let the sun go down upon your wrath. Get angry and cuss
somebody out, or smart alecum. Do wrong. Don't let the sun go
down on that condition. Confess it to God, make it right
with the individual that caused you the trouble all right I'll
quit there chapter one I'll just read three or four verses there
as we consider some things first chapter written by the Apostle Paul. He didn't say that he was an
apostle because of his superior education or his talent or his
sufficiency. He said he was an apostle by
the will of God. The will of God. Apostle by the
will of God. Apostle of Jesus Christ. And
he said he was writing to the saints which at our Ephesus and
to the faithful in Christ Jesus. He said, Grace be unto you in
peace. Grace comes before peace. Have grace and have peace. It comes from God our Father. from our Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings. All of them. They're all ours. Some of them we don't know about.
Some of them are unseen, not recognized. Not because we can't
know them, but because we're ignorant. which some of us are not even
looking. We are not trying to dig this gold from the mine. We are not trying to uncover
the treasure that the Bible holds for those
that love Him. But anyhow, according as He hath
chosen us and Him before the foundation of the world, we should
be holy. without blame before him in love." Well, let me make this statement
then. A people not conscious of their past are adrift like
a bark, like a small boat on the windy sea. A people that's not conscious
of their past or drift without purpose or direction. Those who do not know exactly
where they came from or how they got to be where they are cannot
know why they are here or where they should be going. There is in this world today
in which we live, religious world, ideas propagated constantly about a salvation by sovereign grace, which is
not free, which is not sovereign, and which is not by grace at
all. It seems to be popular to talk
about the doctrines of grace and at the same time advocating
the ability of the unregenerate man to hear, to understand, to
receive, to accept, to believe, and to embrace the gospel of
our Lord Jesus Christ. without the necessity of a prior
implantation of life in the soul. And that's the truth. For a long
time, at least since the eighteenth century, the idea has been gaining
ground. I mean real quick, head over
heels. The idea that Christ died to
make salvation possible, not definite or certain, that idea
is prevalent among people that we know. We know them by their
first names. People who got caught up in this
religious error, this idea, that has so gained popularity, gained ground,
that almost every church in the United States of America believes,
practices, and preaches that Christ died to make salvation
possible, not to make salvation definite and certain. That's
what they believe. Many pulpits, many churches are
silent about the inseparable connection between grace and
good works. Many have the idea that salvation
can be present where good works do not appear. That cannot be. All sound doctrine is based upon
a sound doctrine of God, who God is. If the foundation is faulty,
then that which you build upon it will be faulty too. If you
don't start out right, You ain't going to end up right. If we misunderstand, multiplied
millions of people do. And if we understand, if we understand,
let's in our hearts whisper thanksgiving unto God that we have life. and that we can see and we can
understand to a measure. We don't know much, but we understand
a few things. If we misunderstand what God
is like, most people don't know what God is like. To most people,
God's an old man. He's been there a long time.
And he's got a long gray beard. And he has a cane. And he's in
a rocking chair. And he looks upon this world
with pity. And he wishes that he could change
men, but he knows that he can't violate their will. They misunderstand God. They think God's trying to do
something, but he can't do it. Misunderstand God. If you ain't
right about what God's like, you see, you're going to be wrong
in the end. If the foundation is no good,
the superstructure is just like it. Well, if we misunderstand what
God is like, we cannot understand what God's doing in providence
and in salvation. Do we believe that God's sovereign? We believe that God is almighty. Someone cautioned me not too
long ago, called me aside. And the best that I can make
out, this is what they tried to tell me. They said, we notice in your
preaching that you say some things That's dishonoring to God. And I was so astounded and shocked
that I never got really what he was trying to tell me. And
I've thought about that for a good while. The only thing that I
can think of that I said, or that I say constantly, as I refer
to God Almighty. Now, maybe he took that in another
sense. I don't know. I never intended
for that to border on disrespect or blasphemy, if that was his
charge, which I'm not sure. Because I was so shocked, I couldn't
listen to him. But one thing I know. God is
Almighty. I might have said, Good God Almighty. And if I said, Good God Almighty,
He is good and He is Almighty. Isn't that right? And I hope
and I pray that I didn't say it in a sense or in a way. that would cause someone to stumble
and think that I was making light of God Almighty. So if we misunderstand
what God is like, we can't understand what God is doing in providence
and in salvation. And without a biblical understanding
of God, we can't understand the gospel itself. For the Bible
says it's the gospel of God. Job, in chapter 22, this is what
old Job said. He said, Acquaint thyself with
him, and be at peace. All sound doctrine is based upon
a sound doctrine of God. Now, the kind of preaching and
teaching that benefits believers is what I'm interested in. That
will do them good and do me good. The kind of preaching and teaching
that benefits believers is the kind that acquaints them with
God Almighty. That will do them good. It will
do me good. Preaching that blesses God's
people is the kind that explains to them the eternality, the reality,
the certainty, the security, and the sufficiency of their
salvation by God. That's what does him good. It explains that salvation does
not depend upon fickle self or depend upon a changeable God
that loves one day and hates the next. Over here in the first chapter
of the book of Ephesians, is what I'm talking about, and I'll
call your attention to two or three things, and we'll quit.
I come down here to the fourth verse. I read those first three
verses. It talks about, in this whole book,
about a people who were blessed by God. Who are these people
that were blessed by God? Who are they? Well, first off,
they're the saints which are at Ephesus and to the faithful
that's in Christ Jesus. Where'd they come from? Well,
the fourth verse says, "...according as he hath chosen us in him before
the foundation of the world." That's the kind of preaching
that's going to bless the people of God. This is laying the right
foundation of what God's like and who God is. Is He sovereign? Is He free? Can he do as he pleases
with his own? Or must he take counsel with
fickle and changeable men in order to get their approval? According as he hath chosen us
in him, they are the people that he blesses. He chose in Christ. When did he do that? This is what God says. I care
very little about what Dr. So-and-so says. I heard a woman
preacher going home from church here this morning from the Clarksburg
Baptist Church, a woman preacher. That's how far off from sound
doctrine that churches have. Baptists have digressed farther
away than any other, the Baptist has, from the foundational belief
of the Bible. Preacher, woman preacher. I suffer
a woman not to teach nor usurp authority over a man, but let
her learn in silence. That's what God says. That's
what God says. Now what Dr. So-and-so says,
you've got a fine gift there. Your gift and your talent ought
to be useful in the ministry. You'd make a powerful youth leader. Oh, no. No, you wouldn't. No. If any man's got a talent or
a gift, before it can be productive to the glory of God, God's got
to strip him of it and take it from him. He'd get all the glory,
Pat. God won't have that. He chooses
the weak things, the base things, the things that are not in order
that he might be exalted. He might have all the glory.
Well, these people who were blessed, they were chosen by God and preserved
in Christ Jesus before the foundation of the world. And then he goes
on. And he said he predestinated
them. Verse 5, having predestinated
us. The us are those that were chosen
in Christ before the foundation of the world. Having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself. Been adopted. Adopted. by God, into his family. Why did he do that? Did he adopt
Pat McGinnis because Pat's a good singer? My soul, no. That wasn't the reason. Why? It was according to the
good pleasure of his will. That's why he adopted him. And
that's why I adopted you, and that's why I adopted me. Because
it was according to Him. Because He wanted to. Because
He willed to. What He wills comes to pass. He's not trying to do anything. He's doing things. You don't
understand God, what He's like. You can't understand what God's
doing in providence and in salvation. All these happenings
in this world from the beginning of time unto now is working according
to God's good pleasure. Earthquakes, airplane wrecks,
train wrecks, disease-ridden countries that
destroys thousands of babies. All this is according to the
mysterious providence of God. He's doing it for His people.
They're working for their good, for His glory. Chosen in Christ
before the foundation of the world, predestinated unto adoption,
And then he says they were redeemed. No, he says in verse 6, that
he had made them accepted in the Beloved. Made them accepted
in the Lord Jesus, not accepted in themselves. Oh, the idea of this so-called
popular Christianity, this Hollywood-type evangelism. great tent meetings
and open air stadiums and have the quartets and the singers
and all of that. It tends to promote free willism
and causes men to believe that they're accepted because they
decided that it was time for them to become Christians. Oh,
when we become Christians, certainly we decide. But our deciding is
the result of Him already having decided. It's the result of His
elective grace. It's the result of His elective
choice. Accepted and Beloved, verse 7
says, In whom we have redemption? In whom? In Christ. We have redemption
through His blood. We have the forgiveness of sins
according to the riches of His grace. Wherein He hath abounded
towards us in all wisdom and prudence. Talking about the misstrength,
verse 9, redeemed by His blood and have
the forgiveness of sins and eventually will have the mystery of His
will made known unto us. We'll come and hear it and we'll
believe it. Having made known unto us the
mystery of His will according to His good pleasure which He
hath purposed in Himself, the mystery of His will is that God
chose us in Christ before time ever was, chose us, adopted us,
predestinated us, made us accepted in the Beloved, have redemption
through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, having made known unto
us the mystery of His will according to the good purpose which it
purposed in Himself. That in the dispensation, the
fullness of time, in His time, He might gather together in one
all things that are in Christ, all those that are in Christ. God the Father put them in Christ. He set them apart, sanctified
them, and He put them in Christ, secured them in Christ, preserved
them in Christ. One day He says He might gather
together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven,
and which are on earth, even in him, 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." Obtained an inheritance. Obtained it. We didn't buy it. He didn't pay it to us. He gives
it to us. that we should be the praise
of his glory, who first trusted in Christ, in whom he also trusted. After you heard the word of the
truth, I'm preaching the truth to you. You heard the word of
it, the gospel of your salvation, in whom after that you believed
you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the
earnest down payment of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased
possession under the praise of His glory. Wherefore, I also, after I heard
of your faith in the Lord Jesus and love to all the saints, cease
not to give thanks for you, Well, let me quit by saying,
over here in this second chapter in verse 17, listen to what it
says here, "...came and preached peace unto
you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh." Preach
peace! Preach peace unto them. Now listen,
the same people who experienced the things of chapter 1, Now, in chapter 2, have had peace,
the priest untold. He said up there, Grace be unto
you, peace, peace. The priest over here, 17, came
and preached peace to you, peace. We are at war with God by nature, which we were far off to them
that were nigh. For through him we both have
access by one Spirit unto the Father. Now therefore ye are
no more strangers and foreigners. No, not any more. Have peace.
Fellow citizens, with the saints, household of God, built upon
the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself
being the chief cornerstone. Remember I told you, I said at
the beginning, a people. not conscious of their past or
adrift without purpose or without direction. No foundation. No foundation. They're adrift. You ask them, what do you attribute your salvation
to? I attribute it to my believing. That's not worth saying. Salvation's
in Christ. Don't trust your own faith. Well,
I know I'm saved because I believe. Then you're trusting what you
believe. See, you're trusting your own faith. Salvation's in a person. And
the person's Christ. You say, well, what's your definition
about being saved? I'm saved by the grace of God,
which was given me in Christ before the world ever was. And
in due time, the mystery of His will was unfolded concerning
Jesus Christ and God's eternal purpose in Him, that He came
to make atonement, to redeem, to pardon, to forgive, to adopt,
to bring about peace, reconciliation, He did it all. Christ is my salvation.