Alright brethren, our text this
morning is Ephesians 1, verse 11. Now, verse 11 says that in
Christ we have obtained an inheritance. Now our focus this morning will
be the second half of verse 11 and verse 12 which tells us how
and why each believer is called by God's grace and receives this
inheritance. Verse 11 says, 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. The first thing the
Spirit of God tells us here is that believers have obtained
an inheritance in Christ because God predestinated us to obtain
it. Verse 11 says, being predestinated. The second thing the Spirit tells
us is that God predestinated us according to the purpose of
Him. He did it according to the purpose
of Him. And then thirdly, speaking of
Him, speaking of God, He says in verse 11, God worketh all
things after the counsel of His own will. And then fourthly,
the end cause for which He did all of this is that we should
be to the praise of His glory. I've titled this, God's Effectual
Grace, and here's what I want us to see. The counsel of God's
own will, by which he works all things in this earth, is the
same counsel by which he works grace in our heart. The same
counsel. That's great comfort to a believer.
Great comfort. First, the believers are born
of God and we obtain this inheritance in Christ because God predestinated
us to it. Verse 11 says being predestinated. Now back there in verse 5, the
Spirit of God said each believer is predestinated to sonship in
Christ. Verse 5 says, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according
to the good pleasure of his will. And now in our text in verse
11, the Spirit says in Christ we've been predestinated also
unto an inheritance. in whom also we have an inheritance
being predestinated. Predestination is God the Father
pre-appointing or foreordaining. The word means to limit in advance. It means to pre-determine. Pre refers to the time that it
was done, and it was done before the foundation of the world.
That's what verse 4 tells us. Destinated tells us the end that
God foreordained, which in verse 11 is an inheritance in Christ. Everlasting life, eternal glory,
in Christ Jesus. In Christ also we have obtained
an inheritance being predestinated. God does nothing as an afterthought. He doesn't do anything as an
afterthought. Whenever Adam sinned in the garden,
that didn't surprise God. Satan was the author of it, of
the sin. Man is responsible for his own
sin. But it all was right according
to what God determined before to be done. It was what He had
predestinated to be done. When the Jews didn't believe
on Christ and He sent His ambassadors to the Gentiles, that wasn't
an afterthought by God. That wasn't God going to plan
B. That was what was determined before. God already had determined
that before. He predestinated us to sonship
and He predestinated us to an inheritance in Christ Jesus.
And both of these are in and by and through the Son of God,
the Lord Jesus Christ. I love to know that God predetermined
and predestinated His children. I love to know it because it
secures the adoption of His children and it guarantees our eternal
inheritance with Christ, with God. I love that. When David
said, God had made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered,
ordered, in all things ensure." It means that the word ordered
refers to God predestinating all things beforehand. It refers
to God doing things in order. God's a God of order. He's a
God of order. So that's the first thing we
see here. God ordered this. He predetermined
this for His people. Secondly, it says God predestinated
us, verse 11, according to the purpose of Him. God predestinated
His children according to God's own purpose, to His purpose. God's purpose is in Himself. Look at verse 9. God has made
known unto us the mystery of his will according to his good
pleasure which he hath purposed in himself. Now look over to
Ephesians 3. Look at Ephesians 3 verse 11. Christ Jesus our Lord is God
Himself in whom God purposed all things. Look at Ephesians
3 verse 11. At the end there it says the
eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. You
see God purposed all things in Himself and He did it. It was
His eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our
Lord. Because Christ Jesus our Lord is God. He is God. Purposed
means he proposed or he intended it was a proposal. It was an
intention God purposed in himself in Christ Jesus what the Lord
would do what he would do beforehand and because God can't be frustrated
In anything He does, that means His purpose can't be frustrated.
What He purposed, He shall do. God purposed to create all things. He purposed that before He did
it. And therefore, He did it according to the purpose which
He purposed in Himself. You know, in Genesis where it
says, let us make man after our own image. That's God purposing
in Himself. before He ever did it. That's
Him purposing what He would do. And He purposed it, so you know
what the next verse says? He did it. He did it. Whatever
He purposed to do, He does it. We saw eight things that it pleased
God to do. That it was His purpose to do.
The first one was, it pleased God for Christ to have all preeminence. It pleased Him for all fullness
to dwell in Christ. God purposed it. God did it. It pleased God to make a people
for Himself, to elect a people for Himself. God purposed it.
God did it. It pleased God to bruise His
Son in place of that people to satisfy His own justice for His
people that He might be merciful to His people in a manner consistent
with His justice. God purposed it. God did it.
It pleased God for His good pleasure to prosper in the hand of His
Son. So He raised His Son from the
dead, gave Him power over all things, head over the church
in all things. And Christ purposed it. God purposed
it. God did it. And Christ shall
not fail. He's doing exactly what God gave Him to do, even
now from the throne in glory. It pleased God to save through
the foolishness of preaching. God purposed it. God shall do
it. God shall do it. It pleased God
to hide the mystery of His will from the wise and prudent and
reveal it unto babes whenever it pleases Him to do it. God
purposed it. God shall do it. It pleased God
that in the dispensation of the fullness of times that He might
gather together in one all things which are in heaven and in earth
in Christ Jesus. And He'll do it by Christ Jesus.
God purposed it. God shall do it. It pleased God
in the end to give His people an eternal inheritance. It pleased
God to give you the kingdom, Christ said. God purposed it.
God shall do it. He can't be frustrated. He made
us after His image. And we've lost His image in our
sin, so that concerning holiness and righteousness as we come
into this world, we don't have His image at all. His image has
got to be created within us. He's got to recreate us after
the image of Him. in spirit and in truth, in our
hearts by the Spirit of God. But as far as you and I doing
things, we still do things a lot like God does to a limited sense.
We get up every morning, we purpose what we're going to do, and we
go throughout the day trying to accomplish what we purposed
we would do. We have to say if the Lord's will will do this,
but we try to do what we purpose to do. That's what God does.
He purposed before and then He does it. When He intended to
predestinate His chosen children to experience sonship and to
obtain an inheritance, He did it. He purposed it, He did it.
Isaiah 46, 11, He says, I have purposed it, I will also do it. When I was in English in college
studying writing, One of the secular writers I liked was John
Steinbeck. He's a descriptive writer and
I like that kind of writing. He's best known for The Grapes
of Wrath. But he, later, in his later years,
He was having some trouble riding, so he took an old camper and
put it on a truck. He went across the country from
the east coast, across the northern states to the west coast, circled
around and came back to the east coast through the southern states.
And he wrote about everything he saw, the changes he saw. And
as he was coming through the south, he came across an old
tent meeting one night. So he pulled in, stopped, he
wanted to hear what the preacher was saying. And he wrote in his
book, he said, I listened to this preacher and he said, and
he preached a God who's what he called Sovereign. A God who
determined before him what he would do and then did it. A God
who determined who he would save and then came forth and saved
them. A God who is not frustrated, a God who can't be turned, a
God who does whatever he's pleased to do. And I read that and I
thought, I wonder if he heard Rolf Bonner. But anyway, there
was a lot of other grace preachers back that day too. But he said
this, he said, I'm not a religious man, I don't believe God. He
said, but when I was a boy, I went to church. And he said, and the
God I heard when I was in churches, when I was a boy, and the God
I heard that night in that tent meeting, don't even resemble
one another. And he said, I'm not a religious
man. He said, but if I was. He said,
the God I heard preaching that tent meeting that night, that's
the kind of God I'd want for a God. A God who's really God.
Now he's a natural man and spiritual things are foolishness to a natural
man. He can't receive them. But at least he had the sense
to know, I want a God who's really God. That's what I'm talking
to you about here today. This is a God who's really God. Here's the third thing. Speaking
of God, verse 11 says, He worketh all things after the counsel
of His own will. all things after the counsel
of his own will." That word worketh right there means powerfully
and effectually. That's what the word means. It's
a word that we get, I think we get our word energy from it.
Energos I think is what the word is. I can't remember exactly
now, but it's powerfully and effectually is what it means.
It literally means God worketh all things effectually. It means
whatever he works, he gets it done. He never is frustrated
in it. The word counsel refers to his wisdom and his strength
and his understanding and his judgment. Job said, with him
is wisdom and strength. He hath counsel and understanding. With him is wisdom and strength.
He has counsel and understanding. Proverbs 8.14 says, counsel is
mind and sound wisdom. I am understanding and I have
strength. We deliberate when we counsel.
We deliberate. We think about what's the best
way to do something and then we try to pick out what's the
best way to do it. God doesn't do it that way. Known
unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world. Listen,
God's counsel is not a way to do a thing. God's counsel is
the way. It's the way. And it's the way
in which he does all things. It's the way. It's the way to
do it. He's wonderful in counsel and excellent in working. God
certainly doesn't counsel with His creatures. Look over at Isaiah
chapter 40. He certainly does not take counsel
with His creatures, with you and me, who He's made. The counsel of God's with Himself
in Christ, just like His purpose is in Himself with Christ. Look
at Isaiah 40 and verse 13. Who hath directed the Spirit
of the Lord? or being his counselor hath taught
him. With whom took he counsel? And
who instructed him and taught him in the path of judgment,
and taught him knowledge, and showed to him the way of understanding? Look down at verse 17. All nations
before him are as nothing, and they are counted to him less
than nothing and vanity. Look at the end of verse 22,
or in the middle there. The inhabitants thereof are as
grasshoppers, So He certainly doesn't counsel with us. He certainly
doesn't counsel with us. Now go back to our text, Ephesians
1.11. When it says in verse 11, His
own will. He does work with all things
after the counsel of His own will. It simply means His own
desire, His own good pleasure. God's will is as sovereign as
God is. Whatever it is God's will to
do, that's what God does. Okay, so let's put this together
now. Let's put it all together and get the point in the context.
God has omnipotent power to effectually work, to effectually execute,
to effectually perform all things in providence, and He does. Verse 11 clearly says He does.
God worketh all things after the counsel of His own will. We talk about We talk about small
things and you get to thinking, well God, surely God doesn't
work even these little small insignificant things. He said
the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Did you lose any hair in the
shower this morning? Well, it was according to His
counsel. You mean that small of detail?
That small of detail. to things men attribute to luck."
Men talk about luck. Men talk about chance. One time
there was this man, he was out doing battle, and he drew back
his bow. And it says he drew his bow at
a venture. That means he just drew back
and let her fly. And that, it says, and he shot
at King Ahab. And it says, and he smoked the
king of Israel between the joints of the harness. He went right
in. That era, not only was King Ahab
so far off that there was no way this man could actually make
a skilled shot at him. But when he just drew back and
fired at King Ahab, not only did that arrow hit King Ahab,
it hit him right in the joints of his armor that he was wearing,
so that it went right in, right where it should, and killed him. Somebody would say, boy, that
was a lucky shot. That was a lucky shot. That was
not a lucky shot. God told beforehand that Ahab
wouldn't come off that battlefield. God foretold before we ever went
out there that Ahab was going to die that day. And when that
man drew back and shot that bow, God directed that arrow right
where it needed to go so that Ahab didn't come off that battlefield
that day. God works all things after the
counsel of his own will. There's no such thing as chance
and luck and all of those things. God does it. God does it. When
we say, well, I was just lucky. You know what we're doing? We're
glorifying luck. That's what we're doing. We're
glorifying just random things coming about and it happens.
We're glorifying nothing. But when we say, the Lord pitied,
we're glorifying the Lord. Glorify the Lord in these things.
Let's glorify the Lord in these things. To the kings of men. What about kings of men? Does
he turn kings of men? Nebuchadnezzar went forth to
do battle one time. And he comes along, and he's
going to do battle with one of two cities. He hasn't decided.
He's going to go to Rabath of the Ammonites, or he's going
to go to Jerusalem. He don't know which one yet.
He's going to go do battle with one of them. And he comes to
a fork in the road, and one led to one of those cities, and the
other fork led to the other city. And King Nebuchadnezzar didn't
know which one to take. So, you know what he did? He
called his diviners in. These were men that were regarded
as wise men. Now, here's how wise they were.
The Scripture says this is what he did. He used divination. He
made his arrows bright. That means he wrote Jerusalem
on one and Rabath on the other and put them in a quiver full
of arrows and shuffled them up. And he said, draw one of these.
And he drew one out. So that whichever name city came
on it, that's the one he'd go to. And then it says, and he
looked, he consulted with images. He consulted with images. He
had all these different little images he set up and looked at
his image. That's just to make him look
a little more wise, to make him look like he really got some
kind of power. And then it says, and he looked into the liver.
He killed a beast and he split him open and he took his liver
and he looked at his liver. And if there was something in
his liver that was not supposed to be there, his liver was healthy,
that would mean we're going to be prosperous today and we're
going to win the battle. If his liver was damaged or there
was a part of it missing or it had some sort of polyps or something
on it, that would mean, oh, we're going to be defeated today. This
plain old superstition was all it was. And so he did all of
this and it says at his right hand was the divination for Jerusalem. It came up, Jerusalem, go to
Jerusalem. So he went to Jerusalem and he
defeated Judah in Jerusalem. And 70 years before he ever did
that in the days of Hezekiah, God said he would. God said he
would. You see what I'm saying? If that beast had something on
his liver that was the sign they needed to make them go to Jerusalem,
God put it on that beast's liver. And God brought the beast right
to him. So when they killed the beast and looked into his liver,
there it'd be. And they'd say, let's go there. That's right. When he reached in that quiver
and pulled out an arrow, God directed his hand to pull out
the one that said Jerusalem. Because God was going to have
Jerusalem destroyed because he said he would. He said he would.
The lot is cast into the lap. The dice is rolled. The lot is
cast. But the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. What
about when it comes to man's will? Oh boy, now we're getting
to something that folks have trouble with. What about man's
will? He rules that too. James said, don't say today or
tomorrow we'll go into such and such a city and do this or that.
He said, what you ought to say is, if the Lord wills, we will. Our will is in subjection to
His will. Whatever He wills is what we're
going to do. Three times in the year, God commanded them to go
up to Jerusalem. All the men and worship Him appear
before Him in Jerusalem. And to leave their wives and
their land and everything behind. And God said, and I guarantee
you, nothing's going to happen to your land and nothing's going
to happen to your wives. And He said, here's why. He said,
no man's going to desire it. They're not going to desire your
land. Why? Because God puts the desire there.
And if it ain't there, God didn't put it there. God moved it somewhere
else so that they would not go in there and harm them. We saw
how God hardened Pharaoh's heart so that Pharaoh couldn't bow
to God so that God could declare His name to us and show us all
the things we've been studying about Pharaoh. And then he turned
around and it says, when his people needed provision, it said,
the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians.
And so they lent unto them such things as they required, and
they spoiled the Egyptians. Because the God put it in their
heart. The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord as the rivers
of water. He turneth it whithersoever he
will. God worketh effectually all things
after the counsel of his own will. Now, our text is telling
us the Spirit of God is declaring that by that same power by which
God works all things in heaven and earth after the counsel of
his own will, so too God brings to pass effectually every aspect
of our salvation after the counsel of his own will. Isn't that good
news? Doesn't that just comfort your
heart? Doesn't it comfort your heart? God effectually accomplished
our redemption through the blood of Christ. God affectionately
brings His gospel to His own. God affectionately regenerates
each one to newness of life. God affectionately reveals Christ
in the hearts of each one. God affectionately gives each
one faith and repentance. God affectionately makes known
the mystery of His will in the heart of each one. God shall
affectionately gather together in one every one of them in Christ
in the end. And God shall affectionately
give us our eternal inheritance in glory. Because each one each
and every one of his children has been predestinated according
to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel
of his own will. Whatsoever the Lord pleased,
that did he in heaven and in earth, in the seas, and all deep
places." We're talking about God. We're talking about God
here. This one we're talking about
is the true and living God. It's not of Him that willeth,
but of God that shows mercy. His will is going to be done.
His will is going to be done. I'd stop preaching today if I
wasn't sure that God is able to change the hearts of His people. I'd stop preaching today. What
would be the point of doing it? Because the natural man can't
receive the things of God, neither can he know them because they're
spiritually discerned. God has to give a new heart.
He has to create anew. He has to, in the day of His
power, He has to give a willingness to cast our care on Christ. So
if He didn't do that, I'd just quit preaching. I'd go do something
else. Here's the end cause, verse 12, that we should be to the
praise of His glory who first trusted in Christ. This is the
end of God predestinating us to reveal His glory in us so
that we know His glory, we see His glory in the face of Christ
Jesus. His glory in electing us in Christ.
His glory in redeeming us and justifying us and making atonement
for us in Christ. His glory in regenerating us
and drawing us into Christ. His glory in keeping us unto
Himself to that day. All of this glory we behold in
the face of Christ Jesus. For God who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness. The very God who in the beginning
purposed to make light and then said, I purposed it, I'll do
it. And He did it after the counsel of His own will. He spoke light
into existence in the beginning of creation. That same God, that
same way, God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness,
hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And the end
of God predestinating us to this eternal inheritance is so that
both now and forever we'll praise the glory of God. You see, Brother
Art read the last chapter of Zephaniah back in the back, and
I'd encourage any of you to read it. And he made some good comments
on it. And one of the things that stood out to me about it
was God said He did it all. God said, I'm going to do everything.
The only thing man did was sin. and rebelled against Him. And
God said, I will do everything. I will do everything. So we praise
His glory. When He does everything, He's
the only one that gets the praise. And that's why He does it this
way. We praise Him now in our conduct in this earth, and we
will praise Him forever when we come into His presence. Look
at verse 6. To the praise of the glory of His grace wherein
He hath made us accepted in the Beloved, And he did it this,
look at the word again in verse 12, that we should be to the
praise of His glory. That one day He might hold us
up and say, here's my workmanship, here's my workmanship, this is
what I've done, right here. I found them in the earth, just
an old, black, dirty piece of worthless coal. And I dug them
out. And I refined them. And I made
them new. And I made them this brilliant
piece of gold. And God did it all. He'll get
all the glory for doing the workmanship. Now sinner, God works everything
after the counsel of His own will. Everything. God's will
is infallible. It's perfect. It's righteous.
But as for man, this is what Scripture says about us. Oh Lord,
I know. that the way of man is not in
himself. It's not in man that walketh
to direct his steps. So here you got a man who can't
even direct his own steps. It's not in him to do it. And
here you got a God who is infallible and righteous and who does everything
he purposes and brings to pass. So what are we going to do then?
Surrender to God. Surrender to God, bow to Him.
The counsel of the Lord standeth forever, the thoughts of His
heart to all generations. I'm telling you things this morning
that are sure, more sure than the ground we stand on. This
earth's going to vanish away and melt with a fervent heat,
but the word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the word
whereby the gospel's preached unto you. I'm telling you things
that are eternal and certain and sure. So what should I do? Christ says this, I counsel thee. to buy of me gold tried in the
fire, that thou mayest be rich, and white raiment his righteousness,
that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness
do not appear, and anoint thy eyes with eye salve, this gospel
that thou mayest see." Well, he said, man can't do that. But
it's through this Gospel that God's going to make a man willing
to come to Christ, and Christ's going to put that robe on him,
and put that eyesalve on his eyes and make him see, and give
him that gold of his precious blood that washes him, that's
been tried in the fire, heated seven times, whereby he accomplished
our redemption. Christ is going to do it through
this Gospel. Oh, I pray He'll make you willing in the day of
His power. Look at Ephesians 3.21. This is what everybody in this
room is going to say. One of these days, everybody
sitting here is going to say this. Some are going to say it
in faith. Some are going to say it in judgment. But we're all
going to say it. Ephesians 3.21, Unto him be glory
in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without
end. Amen.