Thank you, Pastor. It's so good
to finally make it here, Sovereign Grace Baptist Church. I love your pastor. I've loved
him for a long time. He's preached for us before.
And it's good to meet you that I haven't met before, and it's
good to meet or see you that I do know. I was thinking about the message
that Marvin just preached. I don't remember who preached
that message. I heard it just a few days ago,
but he was talking about when you get right down to it, why
does anybody go to heaven? When it gets down to where the
rubber meets the road, why does anybody go there? He was upset
with the hyper-Calvinist. trusting in the system of theology,
upset with the Presbyterian because they had to be so smart to be
saved. And he talked about the thief went up to heaven. And
he got up to heaven and one of the angels came to him and said,
what are you doing here? And he said, well, I've come
here to heaven. I want to go to heaven. And he
started questioning some of his theology. And he said, I don't
even know a verse of scripture. And he said, well, let me go
get my superior. So he went and got Gabriel. And Gabriel came and began to
question him about his theology. And he said, I have no idea what
you're talking about. I don't know what you want me
to say. He said, what hope do you have of getting into heaven? And he said, that man on the
middle cross told me I could come here. That's the only way
anybody is going to get to heaven. Christ told me I could come here. He purchased me at a great cost
to Himself. I'm here at His command, at His
will. I love that, Marvin. Thank you.
I have a few verses I want you to read, very familiar verses,
I'm sure, to you. In Ephesians chapter 1, I have
no new message. I seldom, seldom go anywhere
and preach something I have never preached before. And I have preached
this before. I want to preach it to you. It
is helpful to me and I hope it will be helpful to you. In Ephesians
chapter 1, I want to begin reading in verse 1 and read down through
verse 14. And my title tonight is God's
Purpose in Salvation. God's purpose in salvation. And let me read my text to you
beginning in verse 1 of Ephesians 1. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ
by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, to the
faithful in Christ Jesus, grace be to you and peace from God
our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. 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. having
predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the
praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted
in the beloved, in whom we have redemption through his blood,
the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace. wherein
he hath abounded toward us in 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 fullness of time he may 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,
that we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted
in Christ. In whom you also trusted after
that you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation,
and whom also after that you believed, you were sealed with
that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance
until the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of
his glory." As I was reading this not long
ago, and maybe you noticed this as I was reading it, It becomes
evident in these verses of scripture that God has purposed three things
in salvation. One is to magnify his son, to
glorify his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. This is what salvation
is about. Father, glorify thy son. to glorify those attributes that's
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Secondly, God has intended to
humble flesh. He is going to strip flesh of
its proud boasting. And the third thing he intends
here in these verses is to give the saint a ground to live in
the assurance and hope of everlasting life. Now, when I say God's purpose
of salvation and what God has intended in salvation, I'm talking
about God's salvation. It's the salvation which God
has purposed. It's the salvation that's in
the Lord Jesus Christ. God's salvation. I know that salvation is possible.
I don't know how many sinners I've talked to that were so full
of doubt that they could ever be saved. And one of the first
things I tell them is, you need to realize this, that salvation
is possible. If salvation is not possible,
then let us all despair. But salvation is possible. But
it's more than that, isn't it? Salvation has been fixed. Salvation has been purposed by
God Himself. That's what we read here in these
passages. When you and I read passages
like the Apostle Paul has written to us, and when we think about
what salvation is, we have to lay aside our preconceived notions
about what it is. Your thoughts about salvation
and my thoughts about salvation by nature is always wrong. We have only one source of infallible
truth to go to to find out what salvation is, and that's the
word of God. The entrance of thy word gives
light. And Paul here, writing under
the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, reveals God's salvation to us. And I love the way he does it.
Very, very seldom, anywhere in Scripture, John 6 is another
place, do you find God's whole purpose contained in 11 or 12
verses? But Paul does it here. He presents
to us God's salvation and it's fourfold. You may have noticed
this as I was reading this. Look at it, how concise, how
quickly he explains salvation and it's fourfold nature. First of all, he goes all the
way back into eternity. Do you see that there in verse
four? according as he has chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world. Where in the world did salvation
have its rise? Where was it thought up, if you
and I might say such a thing? In the mind of the eternal God. We go back before the foundation
of the world, and there it's in the very heart of the triune
God himself. It's him that purposed it. It's
him that purposed who he would save in time. And then he writes
their names down in the Lamb's Book of Life. He has chosen them,
not to an office. not to some position in this
world, but he chose them to salvation. We're bound to give thanks to
God for you, for he hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation. Before there was ever any time,
before there was ever any creatures, it was in the mind of the eternal
God. He purposed salvation. That's
the first thing we see. And the second step is here in
verse 2, and that's redemption. In whom we have redemption. Redemption simply means ransomed. And it implies a fall, doesn't
it? It implies slavery. It implies bondage. It implies
that there's a price that had to be paid and was paid and was
accepted. We have redemption through His
blood. And that's the second step. And
then in verse 12, in verse 13, Paul tells us the third step.
that we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted
in Christ, and whom you also trusted after that you heard
the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and whom also
after that you believed, you were sealed with that Holy Spirit
of promise. And here's the third step. When
the Holy Spirit brings the gospel home to every elect soul's heart. He opens his mind. There he's
set, or there he hangs, or there he's in prison, or there he's
on his job, or there he's in a worship service. And he's doing
nothing to save himself. He doesn't even think about salvation. And the Holy Spirit takes this
blessed gospel, and he opens his mind, and he breaks his heart,
and he brings him to faith in the Son of God. Brings him to
trust with all of his heart, and he seals him with that Holy
Spirit of promise. That's the third step. And then
the last step, he tells us here in verse 14, which is the earnest,
the spirit of promise. He's the down payment of what
is coming. He's the earnest of our inheritance
until the redemption of the purchased possession. In other words, there's
coming a resurrection. A resurrection at the last day
when the Jesus Christ shall descend from heaven with a shout and
he will speak and the dead shall be raised. and he'll change his
people, give them a body likened to his glorious body. He has
purchased his people, he has purchased their souls, he has
purchased their body, lot, stock, and barrel, as we used to say.
They're his purchased possession, and what he's purchased he'll
have, and he glorifies them, and they shall forever be with
the Lord. But isn't this amazing, brothers
and sisters, that these four stages is revealed so quickly,
so precisely, and yet so plainly? You could read it in almost one
breath, couldn't you? Eleven verses, you can read it. Most of us are getting older.
Some of you, I look at you and it's such a blessing to see young
people, especially the little kids running around. Sometimes
I know your pastor won't allow it, but sometimes I just like
to let them come in here and hear them wiggle and scream while
I'm preaching. That just don't bother me. I
just love babies. I love kids. But wait till you
start getting older. I remember when I was a teenager,
I could memorize things and keep all of these thoughts in my mind.
I can't anymore. I can't hardly keep one straight
thought. over a few minutes. And it's not going to get any
better in this world. And there's other people just like me. There's
people that can hardly read. There's those thieves that were
the slaves in the New Testament. And they can come here and you
can come here with the Apostle Paul and he so concisely and
so plainly and so quickly lays out God's eternal salvation in
11 verses. And a fool, a man can be a fool
and he can read this and say, I see what he's saying. I can
get a hold of what he's saying. This is what God has done. And
you don't have to have a whole 585-page commentary to understand
it. Here it is, and it's so plain. Ain't it amazing? When man writes
something, he goes into all these details, and he just gives us
a headache trying to keep up with what he's saying. But your
God, when it comes to the eternal salvation of his elect people,
in 11 verses, he says, this is it. And did you see the free
will of man mentioned here one time? It's never considered,
is it? It's never considered. And why does God do this? He
does it for people just like me and just like you. That we can come here and read
these things and say, this is God's salvation. This is what
He purposed. This is what the Son purchased.
This is what the Holy Spirit enacted in our hearts and He'll
consummate it. It's all of the Lord. Salvation
is of the Lord. And listen, brothers and sisters,
if somebody conjures up a salvation apart from this, then it's just
of man and it's not of God. Nothing short of this will save
a sinner. This is God's salvation, not
man's. Not man's. And why does God do it? He does it for these three reasons,
and let me give them to you. One, He does it to magnify His
Son. That's God's purpose for all
eternity, and that's what He's doing now. magnified his son,
and who does it any better than the Apostle Paul as he's inspired
by the Holy Spirit. One phrase that he uses continually
in his epistles, and you'll notice it as you read, in Christ. It's what he says all the time.
in Christ. And he said it continually in
these verses that I read to you. He has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in Christ. He has chosen us in Christ. Verse 6, he has accepted us in
the beloved. And verse 7, in whom we have
redemption. And then verse 10, in the dispensation
of the foolish of times. He may gather together all things
in Christ, which are in heaven and which are on earth, even
in him, in whom we have a redemption, in whom we have obtained an inheritance.
He goes on and on and on, doesn't he? And he wants to emphasize
this point, that all that God has for a sinner, he's put it
in his son. And there's no sense, brothers
and sisters, of you and I looking any place else for God's favor,
for God's smile, and for God's blessing. Outside of His Son
is nothing but His frown. It's nothing but His frowning
face and His wrath and death and eternal misery. Do you want
to be blessed? Look away from yourself. Look
outside yourself. Look where God has put his blessings,
in Christ. Surely shall one say, in the Lord. In the Lord Jesus
Christ have I righteousness. And I think he's speaking for
all of us. One's going to say on behalf of all of us, in Christ
have I righteousness and strength. And in Him shall all the seed
of Israel be justified, and they shall glory. In Him. It's all in Him. Those Buddhists,
they won't be blessed with God's blessing. Those Hindus, they'll
seek to be blessed in vain. The worship of Allah, they'll
never have the blessings of God. Those Jews that hold to their
silly traditions, even to this day, they will not be blessed
with the blessings of God. These blessings are in one glorious
person, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. There's not very many
of those people left now in the jungles that have only the light
of nature to live by. But whoever they are and wherever
they are, they will not be blessed by these heavenly blessings.
Because these blessings do not come through the light of nature.
They come in Jesus Christ, the Lord. Now you believe that, don't
you? That's what God is purposed to
do, is glorify his son, Jesus. That's what salvation's about.
That's what creation's about. That's what providence is about.
the Lord Jesus Christ. And not only the glorious person
of Jesus Christ, but God has purposed to magnify those saving
attributes that he has put in and revealed in his son, Jesus
Christ our Lord. And Paul mentions three of them
here in his writings. Here in verse four, 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, in
love. Some people link that word in
love to God choosing us to salvation. And some link it to verse 5,
in love having predestinated us unto the adoption of children. But it doesn't really change
anything, does it? If you go back to election, what
do you find in election? Love. Love. That's why God put every name
down in the Lamb's Book of Life. He loved them. And He provided
for them. What did He do? Predestinated
them to be conformed to the image of His Son. I tell you, I want
to know something about the love of God in Christ, don't you?
I crave to be loved. I have to be loved. and to think
that the triune, eternal God loves me? That's more than my
poor mind can get a hold of. Love the love of God, the love
that would set itself upon a man and purpose to save him, and
write his name down in the book of life, and then redeem him
at the greatest cost imaginable. and then come and find him and
open his heart and give him his Holy Spirit and not leave him
alone until he has him in the Father's house. That's the love
of God that I want to know something about. Paul mentioned it here in the
second chapter. Look here in the second chapter
in verse four. But God is rich in mercy for
his great love wherewith he loved us. Wasn't enough to say He loved
us? Oh, it's His great love, that
everlasting love, the super bounding love. Love, and where is the
love of God? You won't find it anywhere else
but in Jesus Christ. It shouldn't be amazing to us
that the world is not surprised at all to think that God loves
them. Lost people talk about God loves me all the time, don't
they? They have no trouble with saying that. And yet a poor saint
is. He's always trying to convince
himself of it. Ain't that amazing? Those who
have no reason to believe it, they believe it. We have all
the reason in the world to believe it. We struggle with it. How
could He love me? But there it is. Are you in Christ?
You're in Christ because of the love of God. That's it. Paul mentions another one of
these graces that God has put in his son. Here in verse six,
to the praise of the glory of his grace when he has made us
accepted in the beloved. If a sinner can't save himself,
and he can't, all the angels together cannot save him if they
would. All humanity cannot save a sinner. And he don't merit salvation.
Then how in the world is he going to be saved? Just one way. Grace. Free, sovereign grace
can reach down where he is and save him. By grace, ye are saved. Grace will save you, brothers
and sisters. Grace will save you. I love grace. I love sovereign grace. That's
the only hope. That's why we can go to the sorriest
low-down disgust you can find. And there's hope for him because
of grace. Paul mentions another. He mentioned
it here in chapter 2 and verse 4. I just read it to you. Here's
another one. That's mercy. But God who is rich in mercy
for his great love wherewith he loved us. Rich in mercy. He's super abounded in mercy. I think probably of all the words
that just appeals to me is mercy. Because so often I am so miserable,
but our misery draws out great mercy. And the heart of God's
Son, though it's bigger than the universe, can't be measured,
deeper than hell, higher than heaven, and yet God has filled
it full of mercy. And the Lord Jesus said, I didn't
come to solicit some offering from you. I come to show mercy. I want mercy,
don't you? David said, I want it to follow
me all the days of my life. I went to farm, clean up my messes
that I made. Clean up all my sins that I've
committed. Oh, what a mess our life is.
What a mess our Christian life is. I often tell people my Christian
life has been like that road out of Baghdad when we first
went into Iraq and they were showing videos of where the people
fled and they had tanks were burning and all clothes and food
and animals were scattered everywhere. What a mess it was. And I thought
to myself, that's what my life looks like. It's a mess. or make mercy follow me all the
days of my life. I love to read about this mercy.
As the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his mercy. Go out tonight and see how high
heaven is above this earth. That's the way you measure mercy.
His mercy is above the heavens. His covenant mercy is promised
mercies, everlasting mercies. And I want mercy to meet me when
I'm on my deathbed. I want mercy to be my companion
when I stand at the judgment seat. Not by works of righteousness,
which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us. Mercy had saved me, or else,
or else. Oh, what an awful thing to contemplate,
or else. It's mercy or else I must die. Oh, thank God there's mercy,
brothers and sisters. There's mercy for the vilest
among us, and it's in God's Son. He's put it all there in his
heart, not for him to keep it for himself. He doesn't need
it to share with sinners just like us. This is what salvation is about,
is it not? God is going to glorify his son.
God is going to glorify those saving attributes that he put
in his son. Secondly, God's revealed his
salvation for this reason, and it's so concise and so plain,
and he does it to humble, proud flesh. And that's not an easy
task. Not an easy task at all. Every
man will proclaim his own goodness. All the ways of a man are right
in his own eyes. Only God knows how to humble
those who walk in pride. Have you ever heard anybody talk
about election this way? Oh, I believe in election. I
believe God made his choice. I believe that. I believe that
God looked down through time, and He saw that there were some
people more pliable than others. He saw that there were some people
more tender than others. He saw there were some people
that would do what others would not do. There were some that
would repent and believe where others wouldn't. So He backed
back up in eternity, and those that He saw were different, He
put their names down in the Lamb's Book of Life, and He chose them.
You talk about the height of pride. And you know how I deal
with those people? I say, okay, let's apply this
to you personally. Let's just don't make some theory
out of this. Let's apply this to you personally.
I want you to tell me just what you said, but I want you to apply
it to yourself. And I want you to say it like
this. God looked down through time and he saw that I was different. He saw that I would do something
that others wouldn't do. He saw that I was more tender,
that I would submit to him, that I would repent, that I would
believe. And therefore, he backed up in eternity and he says, I'm
going to choose Bruce because I know that he's different. You
talk about arrogance and you talk about pride. And I tell
you right now, brothers and sisters, no saved man will profess such
a thing. That man reveals to us that God
has not yet taught him himself. Let God show a man what he is.
And what's the first thing he says? Woe is me. Man, I'm in
trouble. I'm in desperate trouble. I can't
save myself. I'm guilty before God. And what
does he do? Have mercy upon me, a sinner. Pride. Those who walk in pride
is able to abase. But why don't we just go ahead
and apply this to the whole aspect of salvation, every aspect of
salvation. If God chose me because He saw
something in me that was different, that I was more tender, that
I was more willing, just apply that to redemption. You see the
Son of God hanging on the cross and His lips are trembling and
His eyes well up with tears and He's suffering, suffering in
His soul and suffering in His body. And somebody says, I'm
deserving of that. I'm so worthy that he should
do that for me. That's blasphemy, is it not?
What pride that would be. Anybody here tonight say, I deserve
that he died for me? Died he for me who caused his
pain? Well, sure he did. He should
have. God's going to humble that. God's
going to humble that. When He reveals Himself to a
sinner's heart, I'm telling you, He humbles him. And He brings
that sinner to rejoice in glory in Christ alone. And let's apply
it to this. Here we sit dead in our trespasses
and sins. And say, well, I was sitting
there by my friend. And the Lord saved me and didn't
save him, but the reason he saved me was because I was different
than my friend. I was more tender. I was more
accepting. I was ready to receive. When I was growing up in the
Free Will Baptist, my dad was in the Free Will Baptist Church,
and all I heard growing up was something like this, God owes
everybody a chance. Have you ever heard that? God owes you at least one call. Well, if you come the first time
He calls you, then He's just paid you what He owes you. And
salvation is not a gift at all. It's just a debt that He's paid.
See the error in that? The heresy in that? God must
humble us, or we'll try our best to rob glory from Him, and He'll
not have that. Don't touch His glory. The old hymn we sang up home,
I know not why God's wondrous grace to me He hath made known. Nor why unworthy Christ in love
redeemed me for his own. I don't know why, but I know
this much. It went for anything in me. And you say the same thing,
don't you? Paul said, not of ourselves.
Not anything he saw in us. Not of ourselves. Repentance
is not of ourselves. It's a gift. Faith is not of
ourselves. It's a gift. not by works lest
any man should boast. This is why doctors and scientists
and and ditch diggers and welders can all come together and sit
and love one another and fellowship with one another because they
glory in this one person and that's Jesus Christ the Lord.
I don't know who you are, most of you don't know what position
you hold in this world, how much money you make, how poor you
are, how well you are, how sick you are, but I know tonight as
you come here you're nothing and Christ is all and you're
so content to have it that way. that no flesh should glory in
his presence. And thirdly, God has revealed
his purpose in such a concise and simple way to give his saints
every trust in heart, a sure foundation of hope and assurance. If you're in Christ tonight,
go home and read these verses and say, here's God's salvation.
And believe it. Believe it. He don't have to
come down here and say it. He's already said it. This is
God speaking to you and me. Believe His Word. And you know something? He'll
fill you with assurance. I don't care what comes on you.
I don't hear what circumstances you may find yourself in. You
can look at this verses and say, it doesn't matter. My salvation
is fixed. God has fixed it. You know he
never said anything about what goes on between verses 13 and
verse 14. From the time he brings you to
trust Christ until the time that you're glorified and with Christ,
there's a lot goes on, is there not? From the time, Marvin, he
saved you until right now, there's a lot been going on in your life.
And a lot more probably is going to take place. And some things
are heartbreaking, heart-wrenching. But does it matter? Does that
change his purpose? Is he going to have to take a
whiteout and change it? No. It's fixed. We talk about D. Everybody's
talking about D, dear brother D. I think it was last Sunday
morning, Moose sent out a little note on Facebook, talking
about D, was time was getting close. And he said that he had
been wanting him to sing, Pass me not, O gentle Savior, hear
my humble cry, while on others thou art calling, do not pass
me by. And he said he was applying that
song to the Lord, calling him home. Lord, bring me home. Take me to the Father's house.
How can a man, a healthy man, be stricken down with such awful
disease that brings him down to 75 pounds or so, live in any
assurance of his salvation because he believed this Bible? Sure
it is. I don't know what waters the
Lord may bring you out into. They may be deep waters. I don't
know what fire He may put some of you through. But it will not
change His purpose. He's fixed that. He went back
before the world. He wrote your name down. He gave
His Son to redeem you by His blood. He sends His Holy Spirit
to call you and give you grace to trust Him. And no matter what
happens between there and the end of time, it won't make any
difference. Your salvation has been fixed. And that's why he puts it here
in such concise, simple terms that folks like us may read it
and say, how glorious. I'm saved. I'm saved. And I'm not only saved now, I'm
saved forever. I had a man to tell me, he said,
Bruce, you're giving people a license just to go out and live like
the devil. In my utter ignorance, I may imply something like that,
but that's not God's word. God never implies it. And I cannot
believe, brothers and sisters, if the Holy Spirit's come to
you and opened your heart and saved you for Christ's sake,
that you'd go out and live a life that would bring dishonor on
His name. I cannot believe that. I don't believe for a minute
that you would do that. I'm not saying you will not fall
and stumble, but you'll be like Peter. You'll go out with your
hands and your face and bear tears. Lord, forgive me. What have I done to your glorious
name? This is God's salvation. I want
an interest in that, don't you? I sure do. God bless you. Thank
you, Pastor.