If you will, turn with me to
the book of Ephesians chapter 1. Just hold your place there. We're
going to be looking at several verses of Ephesians chapter 1
on this subject according The Apostle Paul uses that word
a lot, not just in the book of Ephesians, but in every epistle
he wrote. He tells us over in 2 Timothy
1.9, he said, God has saved us and called us with a holy calling,
not according to our works, but according to his own purpose
and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus, before the world
began. Now we're living in a day of
great apostasy. Almost anything in our day will
pass for religion. Almost anything in our day will
pass for faith. and worship and familiarity with God is just
commonplace. I hear it on the news. I see
it in the movies. I hear it among the people where
I shop. Have a blessed day. And they
say that without a thought of what they're talking about. Familiarity with God is commonplace,
and people act and talk as though God could not hear them. They say things about God, use
his name in vain, and just say things as though God weren't
there. I remember I was working in Gettysburg,
Pennsylvania. stayed up there for almost a
year, worked on the dairy barns all over around Gettysburg. And I met this fella, he worked
with us, his name was John Orrick, called everybody Doc. And he
was the strongest man I've ever seen. I went over to his house
and he had this old building that was built out of rough sawn
oak. And the building was kinda, over to the side and he said,
I want you, he said, I'm gonna raise this building up, I want
you to stick this rock under there and I'm looking around
for a jack or something and this guy just bends down, gets a hold
of that building and raises it up and holds it there till I
put this rock underneath the building. He was just unbelievable
strength in this man. And I'll never forget, we got
this guy from New York, and I'm not picking on New York or Getty
Burger or anything else. He came down there to work, and
he was a real proud guy, and he came down there, and he was
just as out of place as a two-tight shoe. He just didn't fit in at
all. But he was trying. One day, my
brother and I, or it was me and John Orrick, we're up on the
roof, and these dairy barns have these big skylights. And we're
up there, and this guy comes, and he's going to talk to the
boss behind John Orrick's back. And whatever he said caught his
ear, and we both leaned over and looked down, and neither
one of them could see us. They were just down there talking.
And when it got a little too much, all of a sudden, John just
jumps down through the hole and lands right in front of him.
And he said, what'd you say, Doc? And that guy just melted. He just melted. We talk about
God as though he couldn't hear us. And he's just looking on. He's looking on. He's listening. Their thoughts of God have no
basis. I listened to the comments, it
has no basis whatsoever. No standard, no foundation. And then when things happened,
they had no God to look to, they had no understanding to try to
go into the Word of God and find some sort of resolve or some
answers for whatever problem it's going through, so they look
within. Now my friend, if you ever do
that, you're looking into a black hole. You're not going to find
anything in here about God. You're going to find it in here.
And you're going to find it in his son. The Lord said, you thought, and
that's where we get in trouble with, you thought I was altogether
such a one of yourself. But he said, I'm going to correct
you. I'm going to show you who I am. He's God. And when God saves sinners, He
saves them by an inward work of grace whereby He makes them
meet, the scripture says. He makes them meet to be partakers
of the inheritance of enlightened saints. Saints in light are enlightened
saints. Saints who have the revelation
of God in Christ. And to those who receive him,
the scripture said to them, here's why they received him. The world
wouldn't receive him, his own wouldn't receive him, but some
did. Why? Because he gave them power to
become the sons of God. Even to them that were born of
God. Of God. And when you read the word of
God, We run into words like for. You're reading down here in a
verse and then it'll go a couple verses and then it'll say for.
And you'll go a couple more and it says therefore, wherefore. And you just go down through
there. And Brother Mahan told me years ago, he said, when you
see a therefore, look to see what it's there for. He's building. The Scriptures build. They build. They have a starting place and
they build all the way through. They build. You don't just reach
in to a single verse of Scripture and snatch it out of context
and away you go with it, you know. It builds. It builds. It's teaching. It's telling us something. Something's being stated based
on something else. And those words indicate that.
They indicate that something's being taught. One block is laid
on another, and then another, and then another. And when the
Holy Ghost gave the Great Commission, he used two terms to describe
what they were to do. They're to go into all the world
and preach. What's that mean? That means
a bold, dogmatic declaration. That's what it means to preach.
But they were also to go into every nation and teach. And teach. Preaching is a declaration. Teaching
is giving instruction. It is to point someone to established
facts. Teaching is a process by which
we understand. And pastors are pastor-teachers. There are no pastors who are
not teachers. They're pastor-teachers. Here's what it says. talking about your pastor, must
be apt to teach. That's a must. If he can't teach,
he's got no business being a pastor. And to this end, the Holy Ghost
inspired the writers of scripture to set forth the testimony of
God concerning his son and the epistles by which the churches
are instructed. They're all written to this end.
All of these things are in harmony. They're in harmony. They're according
to the purpose of God. And in Paul's letter to the church
at Ephesus, he uses a single word seven times. Seven times. That word, according, according. And that's what I titled the
message this morning, according. So if you will, let's look at
what the Apostle Paul had to say about the salvation of our
souls and the reasons behind it and the basis of it and the
very source by which our souls find rest. This is what he's
doing here in Ephesians chapter 1, and he begins this epistle
where salvation has its beginning with the Father in old eternity. I like that term. Don came up
with that. Old eternity. I like that. And he said, blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with
all spiritual blessing in heavenly places, in Christ. One preacher said, observed well
that the same word is used in reference to our desire toward
God to bless him as it is in God's act toward us to bless
us. He uses the same word. We bless
him as he blesses us. That's the only way we can do
it. In this particular verse, the
apostle is all-inclusive as to the blessings, all spiritual
blessings, all of them, all spiritual blessings. Everything God intends
to do for his people was ordained to that end and for that purpose
before the foundation of the world. He didn't add to these
things as he went along, he purposed them from the beginning, ordained
them, set them in place. Well, were these things Paul's
opinion? That's what they tell me when
I tell them, that's your opinion. That's your opinion. Was that
just a speculation, a theory on his part? Or did he have a
solid reason behind it? Was it for everybody, every man,
every woman, every child, or just some? Was it based upon
chance and circumstance or something more stable? What's going on
here? What's he saying? Well, in Ephesians
1-4, he's talking about all these spiritual blessings. God blessed
us with these things. God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, He's blessed us with these things. And He's blessed
us in heavenly places in His Son, through His Son. And He
did it before the foundation of the world. But here's what
it says, according, verse 4, as He hath chosen us in Him before
the foundation of the world, that we should be holy. What's
that mean? That means in harmony with the
character of God. That's what it means. Holiness
has something to do with the wholeness of God. And when he
talks about being holy, you and I can't be holy. The only way
we can be holy is in Christ. That's why he chose us in Christ,
that we might be holy. Isn't that what he's saying here?
He chose us in him that we might be holy. And without blame. You can't
look yourself in the mirror and say, he's justified. Uh-uh. No, you just, you know,
apart from the grace of God, we're just guilty, guilty, guilty,
guilty, guilty. You can't get rid of it. It won't
go away. I don't care how much you give, how much you study,
how much you do. It's just guilty, guilty, guilty.
But in Christ, I'm justified. In Christ, I'm righteous. In
Christ, I am without blame. You know what scripture said?
Unreprovable. Not to you, but for God. God won't even reprove me. That's
how perfect I am in Christ. We should be holy and without
blame before him in love. I won't go through a big explanation
here, but I'm going to tell you what that means. That's not talking
about your love for Him. You'll love Him if He reveals
His love for you. But this is talking about being
before Him, being loved. That's what this is talking about.
Holy, without blame, before Him. Just like those little babies,
mama, and you love them. They're sitting there, you love
them. And whether that guy loves him or not, you do. You do. And even when it makes you mad,
you still love him. Still love him. That's God. He
chose us in Christ that we might always be before him being loved. Read Romans chapter 8, that last
portion there. See what that says. I don't care
what happens. Things present, things to come.
height, or depth, or any other creature shall be able to separate
us from the love of God, now listen, which is in Christ Jesus
the Lord. Salvation is according to the
sovereign, eternal, unchangeable election of God. I don't know
why, but every now and then people, I guess all the controversy and
they We just talk about election like we got to sneak it in somehow. Election! My soul, that's the
sweetest word I ever heard. God don't save somebody. The
whole world's condemned. The whole world died an atom.
Sin entered, death passed. There ain't no hope in humanity.
They're dead. I heard a guy talking the other
day and he was talking about God causing people to sin. God
don't have to cause you to sin. All God has to do is take his
hand off of you. That's all he's got to do. We bless him because he first
blessed us and it's according to the eternal unchangeable election
of God and those, now listen to me, those who choose their
God, choose their destinies, those who choose their God and
choose their destinies, choose them from among false deities. Listen to this, if God be God,
serve him. But if Baal be God, choose you
this day whom you'll serve. What's he talking about? He's
talking about all these false deities. It don't matter. It don't matter. Worship snakes, the Mayans did. Choose you this day whom you'll
serve. But God chooses who's gonna serve
him. Every spiritual blessing was
set in place and its object fixed before the world began and it's
according as he has chosen us in Christ before the world began. An election is a blessed doctrine
because it is to save and not condemn. Election's not talking
about condemnation. Election's talking about salvation.
Election doesn't set into place things that condemn, things that
destroy. Election sets in place things
that will save. Those vessels of wrath, they
just tolerated. God just tolerated them. But listen to this, those vessels
of mercy, they were aforeprepared unto glory. He set things in
place for them. All right, second. Ephesians
1.5, he says, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will. Predestination is not a cold
act of dividing men and women into groups to be condemned and
blessed. There's no one who will be cast
into the pit of hell who does not deserve to be cast into the
pit of hell. God doesn't pass men by because
he's mean, but because of their sin, because
of their unwilling rebellion and unbelief. Vessels of wrath
are fitted for destruction and thus endured until that great
day. Oh beloved, God's will, God's will is redemptive. Whenever you see him talking
about his will, it's a redemptive will. Everything's governed by
that, everything. He worketh all things after the
counsel of his own will, that redemptive will. It's set for
the salvation of his people and so he leaves nothing to chance.
And when the fullness of time was come, it said God sent forth
his son, made of a woman, made under the law to redeem them
that were under the law. Why? That we might receive the
adoption of sons. Why? Because we were predestinated
to it. That's why. And because you're
sons, God has sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts,
crying Abba Father. Predestination has nothing to
do with hell. He don't need to do anything
to natural man, just take his hand off of him. Scripture said
destruction and miseries are in our ways. Man will self-destruct
if God don't do something about it. If he don't intervene, you're
gone. You're gone. Man will just self-destruct. But to be blessed of the Father,
has to do with being saved. And to be saved, we must be predestinated. Predestinated. And then he says
this, this predestination is according to the good pleasure
of his will. Thirdly, verse 6, Ephesians chapter
1, verse 6. To the praise of the glory of
his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the blood, in
whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of
sins. It's our great head and representative. It's by him that we have acceptance
with God. There's no acceptance if we're
accepted in the blood. We have no probability, no, I
hate to use that word, chance, but I'll say it. You got no chance
of being accepted with God, pardon Christ. It's just not gonna happen. It won't happen. And it's by Him that we have
acceptance with God. God hears us. So do you ever
think, you think about who you are. Think about your total lack
of merit, pardon Christ. And you think about God. Eternal
God. The scope of His reign and His
wisdom and His glory. And He'll listen to this old
peanut preacher. He'll listen to me. He hears your cry. He let you come right in to His
chamber because of His Son. He hears us. He gives to us. All His gifts,
He gives them to us. Just gives them to us. He communicates
with us. And He blesses us over and over
because of and according to the riches of His grace. And that's
what this is. It's according to the riches
of His grace. Brother Mahan talked about an
artist one time over in England. He was walking down the streets
of London looking for something to paint and he just kept looking
and looking and looking and he didn't find anything. Finally,
he looked over here on the side of the road and there was an
old bum, a beggar. He was over there and had that
old felt hat. It was all tore up and everything, old shaggy
clothes. He said, man, that's it. I want
to paint him. I'm going to paint him. I want
to capture that on canvas. So he went over to the guy and
he told him that he'd like, for him to pose, he'd like to paint
him. And he said, I'm gonna pay you,
I'm gonna pay you. So he counted out so many pounds
of sterling, probably more money than that beggar had ever seen
in his lifetime, and gave it to him. He said, I'll meet you
down here in three days. He said, okay. So old beggar
got his money and he went down to the bathhouse. And he went
in there and he took him a nice long bath. Got all cleaned up. Went down, bought some new clothes,
got his hair cut. Come the day of the painting,
he came back and the artist was just looking everywhere for him
and a guy walks right up to him and the artist's still looking
and he said, hey, he said, it's me. He said, I'm here for the
painting. Oh, he said, You ruined it. You ruined it. You ruined it. He said, that's not my intention. Not my intention at all. And
it's the same way with God. God saves sinners. These old
self-righteous Pharisees came in there and they, whatever it
was they were clinging to for righteousness, whatever they'd
done, and He said, you go learn what this means. I'll have mercy. and not sacrifice. You go learn
that. God's purpose in saving sinners
is to manifest His grace. The glory of His grace. And He saves sinners that are
sinners. Sinner is not just a term for
argument. Sinner is what we are. Isn't
that what He says in Ephesians 2? He said, you hath equipped them
who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein you walked according
to the course of this world, according to the print of the
power of the air of the spirit that now worketh in the children
of disobedience. And he talks about all those
lustful desires that led us down the road. And he said, and we
were by nature children of wrath, even as others. When God saves
a sinner, it magnifies the grace of God. And I don't say that
to encourage you to sin. I say that to encourage you to
understand who you are and who He is and magnify His grace. We're sinners. Man at his best
state, altogether vanity. At his best state. God has purposed to save sinners
to magnify his grace and his redemption and our forgiveness
of sins is according to the riches of his grace. He'll clothe us,
he'll wash us, he'll conform us, he'll justify us. And apart
from him we can do nothing and had nothing. And then fourthly, verse nine. having made known unto us the
mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he
purposed in himself. The scripture said, he worketh
all things after the counsel of his own will. And God's will
is a mystery to this world. What's God doing? What is God
saying? We know that he's God, and as
God, he does all of his pleasure, but what's he doing? This one
says he's doing that. This one says he's doing that.
This one says he wills to do that. That one says he wills
to do this. What is God doing? What is God doing? Well, it's
a mystery to this world. And Brother John said something
last night that went home to me. There's a world out there
that you can't see. There's things going on out there
that's not visible to your eye. God's working out here. He's
just working and we don't even see it. I didn't see him. He
was just working. You know what our Lord said?
He said, the Father worketh, and I work. They didn't see either
one of them working. But they both worked. They both
worked. Old Prophet's servant, he went
out from the tent. And the enemy was encamped all
around. He looked up on that hill, man,
there was chariots all the way around. Here they are down there
in the tent. And this old king swore to kill
him. Gonna kill a prophet. Boy, that servant run back in
there and he said, master, master! He said, there's armies all around,
all around. How shall we fare? He said, Lord
open his eyes. Sent him back outside. He went
outside and all around that army was another army. All the way
around. Outnumbered them. All around. We don't see it. Do you know
that God created a whole race of creatures to minister to those
who shall be heirs of salvation? Did you know that's what angels
were? Angels were created. They're higher than us in their
abilities and things. He said the Lord was made a little
lower than the angels. That's where we're at. But he
created those angels and he said their ministers sent forth to
minister to those who shall be heirs of salvation. But you don't
see them, but they're there. He said, you be careful how you
talk to my elect because their, T-H-E-I-R, their angels do always
stand before your father. We don't even see it, do we?
Never seen it. But boy, what a comfort just
to know it, just to know it. God's eternal will is a redemptive
will, and this will is made known to his people. And it's made
known according to his good pleasure, which he's purposed in himself.
And what a comfort in these days of ignorance and darkness and
deception to know that, that God has appointed a steward,
a steward of time, a steward of will, a steward of promises,
He's appointed a steward to accomplish his sovereign will. He said,
I came not to do my own will. I came here to do the will of
my father, which sent me. And this is the father's will.
He gonna make it known to us. What is his will? That of all
which he hath given me, I should lose nothing. I'm gonna raise
it up again at the last day. And all of this according to
the good pleasure of his will, which he purposed from all eternity. And I don't have a clue who God
will save, but it's just a wonderful thought to me to know that he's
going to save somebody. He's not going to let us all
go to hell. He's going to save somebody. And to know that it's fixed in
God's mind and purpose to save a people and to understand that
all the means have been ordained and put into action. Oh beloved, this thing is so
much bigger than us. It's just, it's massive. It's
massive. Scripture said He chose a people
out of every kindred, people, nation, and tongue under heaven.
He sent His Son to accomplish their redemption and His Spirit
to make it known to them. And even in this place right
here today, He sent a few preachers to make this great mystery known. He's going to make it known. And He's going to do it according
to good pleasure. And then lastly, look with me
down at verses 18 and 19. Paul's talking about our conversion
here. And he said that the eyes of
your understanding being enlightened, that you may know what is the
hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory of his
inheritance in the saints. And what is the exceeding greatness
of his power to usward who believe according to the working of his
mighty power, which he brought in Christ when he raised him
from the dead and set him at his own right hand in heavenly
places? The multitude looked at him,
and they saw him, and he walked on water, he paid 5,000, he's
doing all these miracles, giving sight to the blind and all this
thing, and they said, what must we do to work the works of God? Do you know what he told them? This is the work of God, that
you believe on him whom God has sent. That's the work of God. God exercises as much power in
you and your regeneration as he did when he raised Christ
from that tomb. Ain't that what that verse is
saying? The same power. Same power. And it's just as
easy for him to save ten as it is one. Takes the same power. If there was only one sinner
that God intended to save, he wouldn't have changed a thing.
He'd have still had to do what he did, because that's the only
way you can save sinners. To save sinners is according,
according, according, according. You want to know how God saves
sinners? There it is. There it is. Read it. Next time
you read it, you see that therefore board just jump all over. What
in the world is he talking about? Back up and see what he's talking
about. Get the context of it. Find out where he's going with
it. All right. Thank you.