Good to see everyone here this
morning again. We want to mention those that have
need of prayer, those that are not able to be with us today.
We pray for them, that God bring them again, and those that are
sick. I'm glad to see Rick. Lord, he did it again. He brought you again. It's been
very thankful. I know you've been sick for a
while, and the Lord has given you strength again. And we can say that for everyone
here. Okay. My cousin, Gene Thomas, he and
his wife Rhonda, please remember them in your prayers. He is suffering
from cancer at very late stages of cancer and doing many things
trying to help him. Ultimately, we know the Lord
is sovereign If God is sovereign, he'll do what he pleases. I always refer to that text in
the Ecclesiastes. Can you make straight what God
has made crooked? I think that appears crooked.
It appears wrong. It's not. It's just how I view
things. I view sometimes God's providence
as crooked. It's not, it's straight. Whatever
God determined from the beginning is going to take place. That's
a straight line. And only when it seems crooked
when it crosses me, when it crosses my designs and my schemes, it
appears crooked. But regardless, can you straighten
it? What can you do about it? God is God, and I'm not. And so we bow to the eternal
wisdom of God. One preacher said, if we had
all power, surely we would change everything. If we had all wisdom, we would
change nothing. He has both. And I'm thankful
that all things are in His hands and not mine. Aren't you? You
glad that it's not in my hands? I'm glad it's not in your hands.
But it is in His hands. And those who believe, I want
you to know this, because God tells me to tell you, He said,
Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith the Lord. Speak comfortably
to my people. Why? Because her warfare is done. She, my church, hath received
double at the hand of the Lord for all her sins. The Lord paid double the price
for our sins. That's comfortable, isn't it?
Regardless of what happens, what is that to us? The Lord has paid
double for our sins. I ask for your prayers for me
as I desire to preach this message to you. Last week I had PCD, post-conference depression. You excel to the heights when
you have conferences and they're just wonderful. I looked at the
videos of those things and I said, those preachers didn't preach
long enough. They should have preached more. I was so excited
every time that they preached the gospel to me. I was enjoying
sitting there. I don't get that. I don't get
to sit out there and listen. But I did, and I didn't seem
to want that to end. But when it does, the bottom
falls out and I'm left in my office empty. And the Lord has
to fill it again. I struggle with this. It is my
constant struggle. What do you want me to tell them? Not what do I want to tell them.
What do you want me to tell them? And the Lord settled my heart
on this text this morning, on Ephesians. Any other requests
need to be mentioned? Continue to pray for Carol. Have you heard anything from
Carol? Tia? Claire? Claire. Man, my mind
is not... See why I ask you to pray for
me? It's not functioning. It's just not clicking. Yes? Oh, that's good news. God has
been gracious to him and to the church there and to us, answering
prayers concerning him. So I'm thankful for that. Let's
go to him in prayer. Our most gracious Father, we
bow ourselves. We lay ourselves prostrate. at the feet of Christ, recognizing
once again no strength. There is no strength in us. There is no power in ourselves to give you the praise and the
glory that you are worthy of. I ask that you give us such strength
this morning in our spirits, in our minds, by the power of
the Holy Spirit that does reside in every believer. That you would open our minds
and our hearts and then by the power of the Spirit pour in the
Word. Refresh us. encourage us, strengthen
us. This is only done by looking
to Jesus Christ, looking to the person and the work of Christ
to your purpose and your power. We are absolutely dependent upon
you this morning. We cannot do it ourselves. I pray this morning if there
be any outside of Christ, any dead, in sins, that you in power would come
and quicken them to life and faith in Christ. These we mentioned being sick,
those who are suffering in this body, our friends, our We lay them before your feet
and we plead for healing and strength. We beg you that you would give
it to them according to your sovereign eternal will and purpose
and grace. I pray, Father, that you would
cause us to bow continually, trusting in Christ regardless
of providence. that you are working all things
after the counsel of your own will for the salvation of your
people. Cleanse us of our sins, and we
pray these things only in the name of our blessed Redeemer,
Jesus Christ, for his sake. Amen. Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians chapter 1. I've entitled
this message, The Eternal Covenant. The Eternal Covenant. If I ask you this morning, what
is the Eternal Covenant? This covenant is mentioned in
numerous places in the Old Testament. One that came to mind again this
morning was the words of David when he was about to leave this
world. He said, Thou hast made with
me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure. Eternal covenant. Whatever it
is, it's ordered in all things and it's sure. I know this, you
that know or believe, you know this, that this is interchangeable. The eternal covenant is interchangeable
with the gospel. That's what I mean. When I talk
about the eternal covenant, I'm talking about the gospel. The
gospel. This gospel, this covenant of
God, it is everlasting in its origin. You talk about an everlasting
covenant, you are talking about an eternal covenant. One that
had no beginning and has no ending. It was from eternity and it is
to eternity. It is an everlasting, eternal
covenant. Listen, that God made with Himself. Now, before there was anything
created, where were you? Were you there? No. When God
dwelt alone, now if you can fathom, just try to wrap your mind, I
know you can't, I can't, I say this all the time, I can't wrap
my mind around, there was a time, if I can call it that, time wasn't
even created, time wasn't even made, and there was a time where
God was alone, all by himself in the trinity of his person.
It was then, if I can say that, it was then that He made an eternal
covenant with Himself. Listen to this, for us, for us. Paul begins this gospel and he
says, Paul, an apostle by the will of God, he said, I didn't
do this on my own. This is not me. God willed that I be an apostle. He taught me. And this is to
the saints. Now listen, the only people who
know anything at all about this covenant, experimentally, are
the saints. Are those that believe. You that
believe. You know about this covenant
because God in eternity purposed that you should be beneficiaries
of this covenant. In 2 Timothy, the apostle writes
basically the same thing. In 2 Timothy 1, he says, Who
saved us and called us. Which one's first? What did He
do first? He saved us. And then what did
He do? He called us with a holy calling, a perfect calling, not
according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace.
which was given us in Christ Jesus, when? When was this grace
given us? In Christ Jesus, that's where,
but when? Before the world began. So I'm talking about an eternal
covenant that God made with Himself. Covenant is an agreement, a contract,
a pact, that God made with Himself in the holy trinities of His
person. Now, I'm going to use this passage here because this
is the most... I can go all over this Bible and show you this
covenant. I can go to Ezekiel, I can go to Jeremiah, I can go
to Hebrews, I can go to any place and I can show you this covenant.
But I believe this is the most succinct portion of Scripture
that gives us the work of the Father, the work of the Son,
and the work of the Holy Spirit in this covenant. And so I want you to see this
morning, each person of the Trinity has a work in this covenant.
Has an agreement that they made. Listen, with Himself. With Himself. This is not a covenant He made
with you, it's a covenant He made for you. You don't get to
agree on this. You don't get to accept this. This is something done before.
You don't have no say in this. None whatsoever. This is a covenant
God made with Himself for His own glory, and that's it. And I want to show you this.
Now the first part here is the work of the Father. Look what
He says in verse 3. He said, Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now everything from here to verse
6 is the work of the Father. Everything from three to six,
he is going to describe the work of the Father. Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. The part of the Father
here is that we should be blessed with all spiritual blessings.
You that believe. This is the purpose of God the
Father in this covenant. This is why he made the covenant.
that you, who are his children, should be blessed with how many
blessings? All of them. All of them. All spiritual blessings. But
where are these blessings found? You that believe, where are the
blessings found? They're found in Jesus Christ, aren't they?
Well, that's what God states. He said these blessings are in
Jesus Christ. Now then, you that believe, how
in the world should you receive these blessings? Do you earn
them? Can you merit them? How? How could God pronounce
upon me, who is a rebel by birth, a sinner by choice, pronounce
upon me eternal blessings in Jesus Christ? Well, I love the
scripture because it doesn't leave it to your opinions. According. There it is. This is how. This
is how God purposed to do it. According. as he hath chosen
us in Christ. That's where the blessings are
found. When did he do it? Before the foundation of the
world. The part of God the Father in
the eternal covenant is this, election. Election. The Father chose us
in Christ before. There was ever sin, or there
was ever anything. He chose a people to save. They are called in scripture,
the elect. The Father chose. On what grounds? Well, there was no grounds for
us to be chosen in anything. We had not done anything. Isn't
this what He tells us in Romans chapter 9? He tells us about
the two children in the womb of the same mother. And God said
this before, the children not yet being born, neither having
done good or evil that the purpose of God according to election
might stand. God's going to show you by this
example, that's what He said, this is the reason why He did
this, to show you something, to show you what election is.
He said, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. Now when did He love Jacob and
when did He hate Esau? Before they were born. This was
done in the eternal covenant of God. God chose a people. He chose a people that he would
save, not based on anything in them or anything they could or
would do. Now this is where men try to
rest the scripture, they don't like elections so they try to
bend it, and they try to twist it, and they do some gymnastics.
And they say, well, we believe God chose the people, but He
did it based on what they would do. Where do you see that? Where do you see that? Where
do you find it? You don't see that anywhere. You made that
up. They say, well, God looked down the portals of time and
saw you would choose Him, and therefore He chose you. So salvation
now is dependent upon you and not grace. Works and not grace. Anybody believes that, you believe
in salvation by works, that you're chosen based on something you
would do. Can you not see that that's works? Scripture says not being born,
neither having done good or evil. This election was an act of sovereign
grace. The Father chose these elect
out of immutable love. And notice what He purposed for
these elect. That. Now, He chose them for what?
What did He choose them to do? That. They should be holy and
without blame before Him. The purpose of the Father was
that all of the elect should be holy. Now, that's not how
they're born. That's not how they come into this world. Is
it? No. That's not how any of us
come in. We all come in the same. Whether you were Jacob or you're
Esau, you came in the same. Sinners. There's no difference
between Jacob and Esau by nature. They were both sinners. They
were both sons of Adam. So, we were by nature not holy. See, the Father, before we ever
sinned, purposed this, that we should be holy and without blame
before Him. Now this term, in love, if you
notice how I read that earlier, I said, He had purposed, according
as He had chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before Him. Then I paused, and
I said, in love. I think that it's, now, I know
this, that He did purpose that you should love Him. You that
are made holy by the grace of God, do you not love Him? Now
that's a valid point, and there's a lot of preachers that see that,
and I accept that truth. That's true. You that believe,
do love Him. But I believe that this is better
placed in verse 5. In love, showing the motivation
of God. Why would God choose and purpose
we should be holy? Listen. In love, having free
predestinated us. I've met some people who'd come
up and say, well, I don't believe in predestination. It's not even
in the Bible. These are preachers. I'm not
talking about just congregation members. These are actual men
who stand up and proclaim the Word. They say, well, predestination
is not in the Bible. And I show it to them and say, well, that's
not what it means. That's not what it means. It doesn't mean
predetermined beforehand. That's not exactly what it means.
They give me a twisted definition. Why? It's right there. In love
having predestinated us to what? The adoption of sons. Now listen
to the work of the Father. In love. The Father's love is
eternal. Do you understand that? Because
it's an attribute of God. Aren't all the attributes of
God eternal? When did God begin to love you?
Did he wait until you made a choice? He said, Oh, I don't really love
you. Oh, now you believe, now I love you. No. His love is immutable. His love
is unchangeable. If God loved you from eternity,
there is nothing that would ever alter that love. in love, having
predestinated us unto the adoption of children. I like this word,
adoption, here, because it has to do with full-grown sons. Now, as believers, we grow, don't
we? We're babes in Christ, we're
young in Christ, and then we mature in Christ. But this idea of adoption in
the Roman society was, if a man were to give up his son for adoption,
another man, a wealthier man, would come, and he would pay
an adoption price. And that child would take the
name and inherit all that his adopted father would have. Now,
if he was a young boy, he wouldn't inherit that until he reached
a certain age. But the Lord here determines,
even before our spiritual birth, to give us an inheritance as
full-grown sons. If a person believes this morning,
if a man is given by the grace of God to believe this morning,
he has no less privileges than someone who's been believing
their whole life. Why? He's an heir to it all, just
like I am. Joanne, you've been a believer
for a long time, and that's true. But these young babes in Christ
have just as much privilege as you do. They do! Why? Because this privilege is not
based on anything they do. It's something God purposed in
eternity, that they should be full-grown sons. And notice this, these three
words are the most vital words, and we're going to come back
to these words. Now, He's going to tell us how He's going to
do it. Again, the Scripture, you don't have to It answers
itself. How is God going to do this?
He chose us to be holy. We're not going to be born that
way. He chose us to be adopted sons, and yet by birth we are
children of wrath, haters of God. How shall we be His sons?
Listen to these words. By Jesus Christ. That's how He's
going to do it. That's how He's going to do it.
And we're going to speak on the work of the Son in just a minute.
By Jesus Christ. And then, listen, why he does
it. Now, why election? Now, friends, I am telling you
this is the most despised doctrine in all the world, religious world.
It's the most hated thing in the world to talk about election.
Why? Because it abases man to his
true position, nothing. Salvation is not based on your
choice. They get angry. They get mad.
Why? If salvation were based on your
choice, according to the Word of God, you never would choose
Him. Jesus said, No man can come unto Me, except the Father which
hath sent Me draw him. The Lord Jesus told those Pharisees,
He said, You will not come unto Me that you might have life.
Why? Paul's going to tell us in chapter
2, because you're dead. You're born dead. What could
a dead man choose? lay a corpse right here on the
floor and tell me, say, okay, down the road, there's a hospital,
and if you just go down there, they'll take care of you. If
you just, will it, if you just, if you just say, hey, pick me
up and carry me, I'll, I'll, there was a, in the Roman Catholic
tradition, there was this man, a saint, and they said he had
a miracle, he was beheaded, and they said he picked up his head,
And he ran over a mile. You know, I could believe that
if I could believe he took the first step. Problem is, man can't take the
first step. He's dead. Dead! This is why God did it. According
to the good pleasure of His will. To the praise of the glory of
His grace. Wherein He made us accepted in
the Beloved. Who made you accepted in the
Beloved? Did you have any part whatsoever
in this? Are you mentioned anywhere but,
you know, what He's done to you? What He's done for you? Look
at 1 Corinthians chapter 1. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse
30. Same thing. He says that no flesh should
glory in His presence. Now this is why He does it, so
that you don't have anything to glory in. You don't have anything
to brag about. But of Him, of God, are you in
Christ Jesus. Who of God is made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. You that believe,
you understand you need a Savior. Where'd that wisdom come from?
God made Him to be your wisdom. Isn't that wisdom? To me, it's
wisdom. To the world, it's foolishness. The cross of Jesus Christ is
absolute foolishness to the world. How can a man who died on a cross
2,000 years ago save me? To them, it's foolishness. To
me, it's wisdom. Why? God made Him to be wisdom. And righteousness, who's my righteousness?
You that believe. Who is all your righteousness?
Is Christ some of your righteousness? And you get to make up the rest?
No, God made Him to be all my righteousness. What about sanctification?
This is a big deal. Everybody wanted to sanctify
themselves. They said, well you need progressive
holiness. There's no such thing. How can somebody be progressively
holy? You're either holy or you're not. If you are progressively
holy, you are a sinner and not holy. You can't make yourself
holy. Now God does that in the new
birth. We'll get that in just a minute. That's the work of
the Spirit. He makes us holy in the new nature. And so Christ is all our wisdom,
all our righteousness, all our sanctification, and all our redemption. You see then that God purposed
that He should be all our salvation. He chose a people, He purposed
they'd be holy, He predestinated them to be sons and inherit everything,
and He determined to do it according to the good pleasure of His will
by Jesus Christ. Here's the work of the Son. That's
the covenant of the Father. His part work in this covenant
is sovereign election. That's his work. The work of
the Son. Again, we go back to our text
and we see that it is by Jesus Christ. The part of the Son,
the eternal covenant, being one with the Father and the Spirit,
The Son, in the eternal covenant, agreed to be Savior and surety
for the elect. This was the agreement of the
Son, to receive all that the Father gave Him. How many times
did He say that in the New Testament? He said, All that the Father
giveth Me shall come to Me. He said, I pray not for the world,
but for them which thou hast given me. He said, I am the good shepherd
and I know my sheep. Which what? The Father gave me.
The Father gave me. You see, in this covenant, the
Father put into the hands of the Son, all of His beloved children. In this verse 12 in your text,
look at that. I'm sorry. Yeah, verse 12, that
we should be to the praise of His glory who first trusted in
Christ. That's not talking about us.
That's talking about God, the Father, who first trusted Christ. Well, the Father did. He trusted
the salvation of all His elect into the hands of the Son. And
the Son agreed to be surety. That word means a guarantor.
You remember what happened in the book of Genesis when Joseph
sent those boys back and he said, look, you need to bring Benjamin
or you ain't getting no food. And Jacob said, He ain't taking
Benjamin. He's the only thing I got left. You're not taking
Benjamin. And Judah came up to him and
said, Dad, I'll be surety for the lad. If I don't bring him
again, let me bear the blame. You see, he took all responsibility.
If Benjamin don't come back, it's my fault. It's a picture
of Christ. He said this, Father, I will
save them and I am fully, totally responsible for their salvation. This is the agreement of the
Son, to be surety, that He would be all our wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification. The Father made Him to be that,
but this is what the Son agreed to, that He would be all our
wisdom, righteousness, sanctification. So in love, for all the elect, The Father
put them into union with His Son. Now you read these words,
in Jesus Christ, a lot. You read these words all the
time. He had chosen us in Christ Jesus before the world began.
All spiritual blessings are in Him. That's the same thing as
the Lord said, I am the vine and you are the branches. We
are in union with Him. When did this union begin? When
were you put into Christ? You were put into Christ from
the foundation of the world and the Son received you as His own. He received you. He was made
surety. I like this in Isaiah. Look at
Isaiah. Look at Isaiah 9. This bears exactly what I'm saying
to you. Isaiah chapter 9. Look at verse
6. For unto us a child is born,
that's speaking of his humanity. Unto us a son is given, that
speaks of his deity. This speaks of his responsibility. And the government shall be upon
his shoulders. What does that mean? He's the king. He's responsible
for the government of his church. He's talking about his people,
his children, God's elect. The government shall be upon
his shoulders. Will he fail? No. He shall be called. He shall
be called. Wonderful. You call a failure
wonderful? Is a failure wonderful? Counsel,
you go to anybody for counsel, that's a failure. The mighty
God. Mighty God fail. The everlasting Father, the Prince
of Peace. And over in Isaiah 42, He said,
Behold My servant, he shall not fail. See who trusted in Christ?
The Father did. With what? His people. He shall
not fail, nor be discouraged. And so the father, then knowing
the condition of all of his elect children, that they would be
born of Adam's race, completely depraved. Notice how we came
into the world. Nobody taught us to sin. Nobody
had to teach us to sin. Why? We were born sinners. We
were born dead in trespasses and sins. The Father knowing
this was our nature, that we would be represented by Adam.
You see that Adam was a type of the Lord Jesus Christ and
this, He represented us. Romans 5, chapter 5 and verse
12 says, Wherefore as by one man's sin entered in the world.
How did sin come in the world? The devil? No. The devil is the
author of sin. He's the father of lies. But
sin didn't come into the world by him. It came by Adam. Wherefore,
as by one man sin entered the world, and death by sin, what's
the result? Death passed upon all men. Why? For all have sinned. When
did you sin? When was your first sin? Your
first sin was in a representative man, Adam. When Adam sinned,
you sinned. That's the reason you're born
dead. If you were innocent at birth, how could God justly condemn
you to death? He couldn't. But because you
sinned in Adam, therefore God purposed in the
eternal covenant how the elect should be made holy is by another
representative, Jesus Christ. He is the eternal representative
of the eternal covenant. He is. That he should redeem, reconcile,
justify, and satisfy the holy justice
of God for our sins. The only way that mercy and truth
could ever meet together is in Him. You understand that? That the only place that mercy
and truth, what's the truth? The truth is you deserve, we
deserve hell. That's the truth. Justice demands your death. The soul that sinneth, it shall
surely die. It demands death. Well then how can God show mercy
to someone who's actually guilty? I think about this all the time.
You know, we forgive all the time without being just, right?
Take some guy, he's drunk, and he's stoned off his mind, he
runs into your car. Now he's broke multiple laws,
right? And you see this guy, but somebody
comes along and says, you know, he had a horrible upbringing.
Man, his parents beat him, and he's been abused, He's using
these things to cover that. And you start to feel compassion
for the guy. You start to feel sympathy and
you say, well, I guess I won't press charges. Wait a second,
how's that just? You can't be both, can you? You
can't be merciful and just. God says, I can. The only way
that happened is that God took our sin, and put it on His Son. Not just
some of our sin. All of our sin. And the Son willingly
took our sins in His own body on the tree, Peter said. How'd that happen? I have no
clue. Do you understand that? I don't understand how that actually
happened. The Scripture says 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse
21, that God made Him to be sin for us. And listen to these words,
who knew no sin. Now how can that be at the same
time? How can that be at the same time? When He was made sin,
He still knew no sin. He still did no sin. He still
thought no sin. Yet it was my sin that was made
His own. If you've got time, read Psalm
22 and Psalm 69. These two Psalms say this over
and over. He says, My sin. And we can read
that this is speaking prophetically of Christ in Psalm 22. He said,
My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? It's exactly what
the Lord Jesus Christ said on the cross. And then later on
He said, My sin. How could the Lord Jesus Christ
say that? Because in the eternal covenant, the Lord Jesus Christ
purposed to take our sins. Now look at verse 7, and look
what happened. In whom? In Christ. We have redemption through His
blood. It's not like we're going to
get it, It's not like His blood made it possible for us to be
redeemed. Paul says, you have it. You have
it. Now this was ordained in eternity,
but it actually happened when the Lord Jesus Christ died. He
actually redeemed us. This is the difference between
the Christ of this modern age, who only makes salvation possible
for everybody, but secures it for nobody. That's not the God of the Bible.
Listen to these words of Jesus Christ. Listen. Of all the Father
giveth me, I shall lose nothing. Now how many will he lose? How
many will he lose? If you believe like the world, he
died for everybody, he's losing a lot. He's going to lose a lot. Scripture tells me he didn't
die for everybody. He died for those the Father gave him. He
said that. He said, this is the will of the Father, which has
sent me, that of all He hath given me, all He hath given me,
I will lose nothing. Does that sound iffy or shaky
to you? It doesn't, because He's supremely
God. He cannot fail. He will not fail,
having redeemed us. It's done. What were His final
words before He gave up the ghost? It is finished. The eternal covenant was that
Christ should be the Redeemer of His people. And when Christ
came into this world, He actually redeemed His people. He did it.
I didn't know anything about it. When I was born in this world,
I didn't have any knowledge of it. I didn't have any desire
for it. I didn't want it. I didn't care for it. Matter
of fact, I was running in the opposite direction trying to
redeem myself. Trying to earn His favor. And yet before I even realized
it, He had already done it. He redeemed us and look at the
result. The forgiveness of sins. I told you, we went over this
Wednesday, the fourfold forgiveness of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's
immutable, it's unchangeable. When Christ forgives you of your
sins, that doesn't change. That's what John tells us, that
He cleanseth us from all our sins. Constantly, perpetually
cleansing us from all our sins. It's a just forgiveness. He died. The law demands you be forgiven. You realize he can't demand twice
payment? You understand that principle? That if Christ died
for all my sins, God can never charge me with them. Isn't that
a wonderful statement? I'll tell you, if you're in Christ,
it is. Our Lord Jesus died for the forgiveness of sins. Now
why would He do it? According to the riches of His grace. There's
nothing in us that would move Him to do this. Nothing. Nothing at all. Matter of fact,
everything in us should move Him in the opposite direction.
But how rich is His grace that He would die for you and me?
Do you deserve that? Can you look Christ in the eye
and say, I deserve what you did? You can't. We didn't deserve it. Wherein he hath abounded toward
us in all wisdom and prudence. I like this. Wisdom has to do
with knowledge. Prudence has to do with action.
Now that covenant was made in eternity, but now then that time
comes in, God moves all things in knowledge. He knows everything
that's going to happen because He determined everything that's
going to happen. But not only did He know it, not only did
He determine it, He actually in prudence manipulates it, moves
it. Before I knew Christ, I didn't
think God was moving me. I was moving myself. I was making
things happen. No? All the while God was moving
me in wisdom and activity. What? Having made known unto
us the mystery of His will. Now this was a mystery to me
until He made it known. I didn't know anything about
this. Listen to this, he keeps going
back to this, according to the good pleasure which he purposed
in himself. He keeps telling, it's not about
you. It's not about you, it's about
the glory of His grace. And we see that the Father purposed
to save a people and the Son did it. The Son obeyed the law,
the Son by His death, being responsible, honored the law of God, And he
swears that he'll lose none. He said, Lo, I come, in the volume
of the book it is written of me, to do thy will, O God. What will is that? To save his
people. I just told you the covenant,
the will of the covenant is to save his elect. And he says this,
I'm going to do your will. And he says, Sacrifice an offering
and burn offering, and I wouldest not, neither has pleasure therein
which were offered by the law. What is it saying? God don't
want your works. God don't want your works. Your works are useless. I like what Scott Richardson
said. He said, your righteousness, your righteousness is as worthless
as a warm bucket of spit. That's your best stuff. That's
how God views your best stuff. Can it be more vulgar than that?
I can be. The Scriptures are. In Isaiah chapter 61, I believe
it is, he said, Your righteousnesses are as menstrual calls. God said
that. That's offensive. Look, you're
going to have to fight God about it. That's what God sees. I look
at you and I probably see a better person than myself. That's how
God sees your righteousness. So are you going to take that
to him? No. Christ said, I came to do your
will because they can't. That he may fulfill the first,
that he may establish the second, by the which will we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Christ once for all. How many
times have you been sanctified? Scripture says you've been sanctified
once for all. Now, by the will of God in eternity,
and through the offering of Jesus Christ. That's what made you
holy. You that believe. You are holy in the presence
of God. Now I know you don't see that
in the mirror. You don't because you've got the flesh still. But
God sees it that way. But then how is God going to
bring His people? How is God going to bring His
people? Look at this next part here in your text. Look down and Verse 13, it says,
In whom you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth,
the gospel of your salvation, in whom also, after that you
believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which
is the down payment, the earnest, of our inheritance, until the
redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of His glory. Now, what's the work of the Holy
Spirit? The work of the Holy Spirit is this, to gather His
people. Now, I know God has an elect.
I know Christ died for them. And I know He was perfect. His
salvation was perfect. One thing I don't know, who they
are. Do you? I've told you this many times
because this is what religion, objection to religion, they say.
Well, if God has elect people and Christ only died for them,
then why preach? Spurgeon was asked that question
and he answered like this, he said, Sir, if you would kindly
point out the elect to me, I'll only preach to them. I don't
know who they are, so what do I do? Preach to everyone. But
who is going to come? Only those the Spirit calls. Only those the Spirit calls.
I just quoted that in 2 Timothy 1.9, who saved us and what? Called us. This is the work of
the Holy Spirit in the covenant. He says, every one the Father
chose and every one Christ died for, I will call them and I will
keep them. He said, in whom you also trusted. How is it that you believe and
others don't? When you get to heaven, will
you be singing, I decided to follow Jesus. Is that the theme
of heaven? I decided. Well, the Spirit gave
me an option. He gave me a choice, and I made
the choice. That's the reason why. If you believe at all, it's because
the Spirit quickens you from the dead. Salvation is not a choice. You
that believe, is it a choice to you? Is it a choice? I know this, when God revealed
my sin to me, coming to Christ was not an option. It was a necessity. I fled to Christ for my very
soul, my very life. Why? Because the Spirit gave
me life. Look at this, in chapter 2 and
verse 1, And you hath he quickened, who were what? Dead in trespasses
and sins. Like Lazarus. Remember Lazarus?
He was dead four days. When the Lord came to the tomb,
did He ask Lazarus permission? Or did He make a command? He said, Lazarus, come forth. Now what could Lazarus do But
come forth. Tell me, could he do anything
else? When you believed, when the Spirit commanded life to
come inside of you and give you faith, could you do anything
else? No. And you wouldn't. You wouldn't
want to do anything else. Remember when the disciples,
the Lord said, well, you go away also. You know what Peter said?
Where are we going to go? You that believe, is there any
other place to go? Is there any other place you
want to go? The greatest fear of my heart
is that I'm not in Him. That would be the greatest fear
I ever have, is that I would not believe Him. With all my
soul I believe Him. And I know this, I don't believe
Him enough. I'm so glad my salvation is not dependent on the measure
of my faith. My faith is like this. But my salvation is not
dependent on my faith. The Spirit gave me life. The
Spirit gave me faith. And who's going to keep me? Oh
man, there's so many dangers around me every day. I have this
constant warfare within myself. Who's going to keep me from falling
away? Well, the same One that gave me life. Listen to that,
He said, you are sealed by the Spirit of God. That has to do
with a king taking his insignia ring and putting it in the wax,
and sealing the letter, and nobody is to open it upon fear of death. God says, I dare you to take
them away from Me. And now what the Lord Jesus Christ
said, He said, No man can pluck them out of My hand. Why? This is according to an eternal
covenant that God made with Himself for us. Now, will you alter it?
Will you change it? Can you? Can you make it any
different? A lot of people don't like it.
Can you change it? Might as well just take this,
rip it out, throw it away if you don't like it. God the Father chose a people. Only those people are going to
be saved. Jesus Christ died for those people
and He was successful. The Spirit of God, as the wind
bloweth where it listeth, you can hear the sound but you can't
tell where it's coming and where it's going, so is everyone that
is born of the Spirit. He says, As many as received
Him, to them gave He the right to become the sons of God, which
were born, not of the flesh, nor of the will of man, nor of
the will of the flesh, nor blood, but of the will of God. Why were
you born again? By the will of God. According
to that eternal covenant, and there was no chance I was going
to miss it. God chose me. Christ redeemed me. The Spirit
calls me, and as Peter says, we are kept by the power of God.
kept. Who, says the hymn writer, who,
who shall in thy presence stand and match omnipotence, unfold
the grasp of thy right hand and pluck the sinner thence? Who?
Who's going to do that? No one. Why? Because our salvation
is an eternal one. It's the Word of God. Men argue
with it. Men hate it. Men despise it.
They don't love it. Regardless, it's still the Word
of God. And it's going to be here long after we're all gone.
This Word's going to stand for eternity. Why? It's to the praise
of the glory of His grace. That's why He does it. Now, the
question then is personal. Am I one of His elect. How can someone know if their
name is written in heaven from eternity? There is only one way. Faith. Faith in Christ, listen
to these words, alone. is the mark and the evidence
of our election. Faith is not a mere choice. It's an act of divine power and
will. I'll quote this just to give
you that illustration. He says in verse 18 of our text,
the eyes of your understanding be enlightened that you may know
what is the hope of his calling What is the riches of the glory
of His inheritance in the saints? And what is the exceeding greatness
of His power to us who believe according to the working of His
mighty power? By grace you are saved through
faith, and that faith not of yourself. It, faith, is a gift
of God and not of works. Why? Lest any man should boast.
If faith is any other way, you have a right to boast. But it's
not. You that believe. Do you trust Christ only? Is all your salvation by Christ? Or are you reserving something for
yourself? Now, if you reserve anything for yourself, you're
not. If you've got something, well,
Jesus died for me, but it's my will that actually did it. No,
no, you're not trusting Christ. You're trusting Christ and your
will. Well, Christ did everything and
I need to start trying to obey the law. No, you're not trusting
in Christ only. You're trusting in Christ and
your works. True faith believes only in Christ. And that's the evidence of one
of God's elect. That's the mark. What does this faith do? It produces love. That's what
it does. Since I have nothing to boast
in myself, there's nothing in me that did this. I've got nothing
to brag about. Nothing. I can't set myself above
you. I didn't do anything. It was
God. Do you believe? If you believe,
that's a miracle, friends. That's not a mere choice. It's a miracle. It's the power of God. How do
I know if my faith is real? Because it won't end. True faith
will never end. Right until death. That's the
only point in which faith is no longer needed. And who keeps
that? Who gave you faith? The Spirit
gave you faith. That's His work. You know what?
If you believe today, isn't that the work of the Spirit? Do you love? Do you have any
temperance, meekness, patience, any of those fruits? Where do
they come from? The Spirit. Conclusion. Salvations of the
Lord. Why? To the praise of the glory
of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved. Covenant, eternal covenant of
grace. This is the gospel. This is not a gospel, not a version
of the gospel. It's the gospel. It's the gospel. And God's people are glad for
it. We're glad for it. I'm glad for it. Let's stand
and be dismissed in prayer. Our gracious Father, dismiss
us with your own blessings. There's no strength in us, there's
no power in us to make this effectual to any heart. I pray that by your spirit you
would cause us all to bow before your omnipotent, omniscient,
and sovereign will. Give glory and praise to your
grace that chose a people that Christ died for, and the spirit
will call and gather them. I thank you, Father, for faith
that you have given us who believe. And pray, Father, you would continually
keep us by the power of your spirit, even as you promised.
I beg this in Jesus' name and for his sake.