Ephesians chapter 1. My text will be found in verse
19. The title of the message this morning is, The Power of
Faith. The Power of Faith. Ephesians 1 and verse 19. Paul praying for the saints here
that they might know something. He said that you might know.
That He may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation and
knowledge of Him. And this is one of the things
that he desired that they might know. What is the exceeding greatness
of His power toward us who believe according to the working of His
mighty power. The power of faith. Now the purpose
of the message this morning is this. That faith in Christ is
according to the mighty power of God. You this morning, if
you believe in Christ, if you get, now I want you to get this
first, so if you get lost, you get messed up along the way,
you get distracted in something, I want you to understand this.
Faith is of God. Faith in Christ is of God. You hear people talking about
the power of faith. Isn't that right? They say, oh,
the power of faith. If you just believe, you can
have this, or you can have that. They're missing the whole point. The power of faith is God. The
reason you have faith at all is God. Now men believe the power
of faith rests in you. That's what men believe. That
faith is a product of your work, of your effort, of your will. You cannot deny this scripture.
What is the extent you might know? What is the exceeding greatness
of His power to usward? Who believe? Who believe according,
this is why you believe, according to the working of His mighty
power. You can't get around that. You
can't get around this. Faith is a result of the working
and mighty power of God. That's my purpose. But to get
there, I want to go back and show you how he gets to there.
The apostle, in verses 1 through 15, declares the whole counsel
of God. He declares the whole counsel
of God's salvation to us, to the church. That God, in sovereign
election, chose a people in Christ before the foundation of the
world. This cannot be denied. This cannot be denied. To deny
this is to deny the Word of God. Read it for yourself. Verse 3,
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ, listen, according, this is why and how he blesses
us in Christ, according, as he hath chosen us in Christ
before the foundation of the world. That God purposed this
election. And this is the purpose of those
elect. That we should be holy and without
blame before Him. That in love He predestinated
us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ. He predestinated us to be sons,
not by works, not by our merits, but by Jesus Christ. You get that? Is anybody lost? Can you really be lost in this?
I mean, this is not complicated. You follow it. God chose a people
and said I want them to be holy. I will that they be holy. And
this is how they'll be holy. By Jesus Christ. By Jesus Christ. To himself. And this is the reason. This
is the whole reason. According. Now you follow that
word according. We're going to follow that all
the way through this. According. This is the reason why. This
because of this, because of this, because of this. According. Because. This is the reason. To the good
pleasure of His will. Now why did He do this? Because
He wanted to. Because he wanted to. Why did
he choose the people? Why didn't he leave it up to
man? Because he wanted to. That should just shut every man
up, right there. I don't care what you think and what you feel
about this matter of election. It's so. God said, I will. I don't like it. I don't care. That doesn't bother me in the
least. That's going to bother you a heck of a lot when God
comes. But to me it's good news. To me it's good news. This elect then according to
His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, listen, He
hath made us accepted. Now why are you accepted? I'm
accepted because He made me accepted. Do I need another reason? in who? The Beloved. Now who's that? Christ. He chose us in Christ. He predestinated us in Christ
to be children and by Christ we should be made holy and accepted. Therefore, Jesus, in time, in
time, came, verse 7, in whom we have redemption. Through His blood, the forgiveness
of sins, listen, here's that word again, according, according,
maybe I'll do a message one day called According, I don't know,
because it's really a good title, don't you? According, this is
why, to the riches of His grace, Jesus Christ came into the world
according to the riches of His grace. He became a man according
to the riches of His grace. He obtained righteousness for
His people according to the riches of His grace. According to the
riches of His grace, He suffered and died willingly upon the cross. He was made sin. He bared the
sin of His elect on the tree according to the riches of His
grace. And you know what He did? He
hath wrought redemption. He bought redemption by His blood. He hath redeemed us. We have
redemption. You got that? It's not we're
going to get redemption. We have redemption. You know
I had redemption when He shed that blood 2,000 years ago. I
had redemption. The price was paid already. I
knew nothing about it until recently, until God saved me, I didn't
know anything about it. But that blood was already paid.
My sins were already atoned. I didn't even know it. Riches of His grace. He obtained this for us. This is according to His purpose. And this is verse 8, 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. Now this is the evidence of our
election. The evidence of our redemption
is the revealing of the mystery. revealing of the mystery, and
this is according to His will. His will. Christ should come and then reveal
this to us, that in the dispensation of the fullness of time He might
gather together in one all things in Christ, He's both in heaven
and on earth. You see, this is the purpose
of God's will right now in time. What is He doing? He's gathering
together. All who? The elect. He's gathering
them from the four corners of the earth. He is gathering them.
How do we know who they are? He reveals the mystery. The mystery
of the Gospel. You know the Gospel is a mystery?
It's a mystery. Now, it's not a mystery to us
who believe. To whom it's revealed, it's not
a mystery. We see clearly this Gospel. Those things that God
hid in eternity, we now see clearly and they're revealed to us. And this He did according to
the purpose of God, in whom we also have obtained
an inheritance being predestinated You see that? His elect have
an inheritance. And this inheritance was predestinated. It was ordained beforehand that
we should receive this inheritance. That inheritance God purposed,
that inheritance Christ obtained, is our inheritance. God ordained
our inheritance. according to the purpose of him
who worketh all things after the counsel of his will." Now
you get this, this is immutable, it's unchangeable. Nothing in time or eternity will
change this, the will of God. this is the will of god you remember
in it uh... as a chapter forty six he said
uh... i'm god there's none else declaring
the in from the beginning from ancient times the things that
were not yet My counsel shall stand, and I
will do what? All My pleasure." What is His
pleasure? I've chosen a people, I've ordained
they be holy, I sent My Son to redeem them, I will reveal the
mystery of the gospel to them, and they will all be gathered
in and receive the inheritance I predestinated for them, that
Christ obtained for them. They'll all be brought in. Why? It was My will. Why are you in? Why are you here? Why do you
believe? You listen. It was the will of God. Was there
any way you were going to miss this? You know, if I hadn't heard that
gospel that time, if I hadn't been in that church, you know,
nope, no chance. No way you were going to miss
this. I remember Brother J.D., he tells me this story often.
Him and Cook were sitting at the door on Wednesday night at
that church and it was dark outside and they were playing rock, paper,
scissors to see who was going to go in first. They were scared
to go in the church building. They didn't know who, what was
going to be on that door. And you know, he said, we thought
about leaving. I said, there's no chance of that. And right,
he came in according to the will of God. And he heard according
to the will of God. And he believed according to
the will of God. So it is with you. So it is with
me. This was already purposed of God. Paul declares the root cause
of everything here. In verse 12, that we should be
to the praise of His glory. You want to know why God does
what He does? Anybody ask that question? Why? Why? Put it down, here it is. For
His glory. for His glory. Man seems to find offense at
that. They like to hear, what is it
about me? I want to hear something good
about me. You know, God did that because of you. Nope. God did
that because of His own glory. You remember in Ezekiel when
he talked about the covenant of grace? He said, I do this
not for your sake. Why? We were not worthy of any
of it. I do this for my own namesake. So you want to know why God does
what He does? He does it for His glory. You can mark this down Whatever
God does for His glory is for your good. That we should be to the praise
of the glory of His grace. And see this, who first trusted
in Christ? It says this, that we should
be to the praise of the glory of His grace, who first trusted. in Christ. I've read commentators
talk about Paul being the first to trust. That's not true. Paul
was never the first to trust in Christ. He wasn't even the
first apostle that trusted in Christ. It's talking about God. You know who trusted Christ first?
God did. You know what he trusted Him
with? His glory. The glory of God rested in the
hand of Jesus Christ to do the work of God. The elect souls of His people
rested in the hand of Jesus Christ to do the work of God. And you know what Jesus said
when He finished that work? John 17, He said, The hour has
come. You know that hour that Christ
hung upon that cross was the center of all time. Everything moved to that one
hour. That one hour. The hour has come. Glorify thy
Son. Listen, that thy Son also may
glorify thee. hast thou given him power over
all flesh that he should give eternal life to as many as thou
hast given him. This is eternal life, that they
may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou
hast sent. I have glorified Thee on the earth." Listen, I have
finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do. How did He do
it? How did He glorify God? He finished the work God gave
Him to do. What work? To save His elect people according
to the praise of the glory of His grace. That's what He did. Now listen, in verse 13, "...in
whom you also trusted." in whom you also trusted." Now we begin to see who the elect
are, who the redeemed are. They are those who trust in Christ. This is the manifestation of
election and redemption, even faith in Jesus Christ. Faith in Jesus Christ. These are men and women and children
who believe on Christ alone for all their salvation. These are
saved by the grace of God through faith in Christ. But now how did they come to
trust Christ? How did you come to trust Christ? How is that? And we know God
willed it, God purposed it, but what was the means by which you
came to Christ? He tells us, you trusted in Christ
After you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. All of the elect then are saved
through this means of preaching the gospel. This is the will
of God. That they be gathered in and
trust Christ. But how? Through preaching the
gospel. This gospel I've just preached
to you. This is how they're brought in. They hear this message of
election and grace, and they see their need. They're made
to see their need, and they desire to come in. They desire to have
what the elect have, to know what the elect know. And this
is what God draws His elect into, is by the preaching of the gospel.
Hold your place here. Go to Romans chapter 10. Romans chapter 10, verse 13. Here we have the general call
of the gospel. It says, for whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. You got that?
Whosoever. You know who God elected? Whosoever. Whosoever shall call
upon the name of the Lord. That's who God elected. He elected
them not because they would call. He elected them to call. And this is the Gospel message.
He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. He that believeth
not shall be damned. That's a general... Everybody
hear that? Anybody miss it? Did anybody misunderstand me? Whosoever? You know, I don't know who the
elect are. I have no clue. I got an idea of some of you.
I'm comforted by this. I have an idea of some of you.
I don't know who the elect are, neither do you. This is why a
general call is necessary. I preach to everyone anyone wants
to hear. Somebody told me one time, he said, well you shouldn't
preach over here, you should... I'll preach to anybody who wants
to listen. I'll preach to the Pope if he'll
sit down and listen. I don't care. I'll preach to
anybody. Why? Because I don't know who
the elect are. I know this, whosoever will. Those are the elect. And they're not elect because
they will. They will because they're elect. That's what we're getting to.
The power of faith in just a minute. This is General Cole. How then
shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? You ain't
ever gonna call on Christ unless you believe Him. You won't ever
do it. Now, anybody and everybody's
gonna call on Christ if they can add something to it. But
if you believe Christ, you understand this, you have nothing to add.
You have nothing. Think of the worst and lowest
and meanest and horriblest sinner that you've ever... That's you. That's you. You have nothing
to offer. Now listen, you'll never come
to Christ unless you believe that. You'll never come. Unless you
have a need. How shall you call on Him if
you don't believe on Him? And listen, how are you going
to believe on Him if you have never heard? And how shall you hear without
a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent? Now
listen, there's a lot of preaching going on. Isn't there? I imagine, I think on the way
to this school, there are at least three churches on that
main road. That's on just one road. I'm
talking, that's not even including all the other places. There's
a lot of preaching going on. But you listen. If they're not
preaching what I just preached to you, they're not sent of God.
They got a message, but it ain't of God. I just declared to you
the Word of God. Have I not just followed the
Word through? Have I not just declared what is said in Holy
Scripture, rather than trying to give you my opinion about
it? It's just there! It's plain! It's simple! It's
right there! I'm not trying to preach to you
anything about my opinion of things. You don't care about
my opinion. A lot of preaching going on,
but a lot of them ain't meant sin. A lot of them have tried to use
this word. They don't know anything about it. If they're not preaching
the election of God, the redemption of Christ, and the calling of
the Holy Spirit and regeneration and faith in Christ, they are
not preaching the gospel. I don't care who they are. And
if they admit that privately and don't preach it publicly,
you listen! They are false prophets if they don't declare it. I declare
it because God sent me to declare it. I've got no other message.
I've got no other message. And how shall they preach except
they be sinned? As it is written, how beautiful
are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring
glad tidings of good things. Oh, but they have not all obeyed
the gospel. There are many of you, some of
you have not obeyed the gospel. You heard it, just like everybody
else did. You don't believe it. You won't bow. You won't submit. You fight, you kick, you spit. As Isaiah said, who hath believed,
I'll report. So then, faith cometh how? By hearing. And hearing by the
Word of God. You believed, listen, after you
heard the Word of Truth. This is the means by which God
calls His elect. The means of this preaching is
foolishness to lost souls. It's worthless and of no value
to the soul that has no need of Christ. Most attend some form
of religious worship today, not for the Gospel. They don't come
for the Gospel. Men don't come to church for
the Gospel. In modern religion, men don't come to church for
gospel. We know this because so-called
churches have no gospel being preached. The gospel I have just
declared to you is not being preached. Would to God it was. I'm not in competition with anybody.
Would to God every church on this road would preach the gospel
that I preached to you. They preach sermons on morality,
on government involvement, on marriage, riches, ethics. Impacting
the culture for Jesus Christ. You hear that, you run away.
You hear that, you run away from them. If anybody tells you about
impacting the culture for Jesus, you run. They're a liar and a
false prophet. God has never told us to impact
the culture. He's told us to preach the gospel.
Who impacts the culture is God. God saves sinners. We don't.
We preach the Gospel. That's what we're here to do. They come for church history.
They come to be taught how to live, how to do good, how to
exalt. They exalt the Reformers. You
know what? Every church call themselves Reformers. All I hear
them talk about is Reformers. Like they invented the Gospel.
They didn't invent the Gospel. They were sinners saved by grace.
And God gave them a large audience. That's all. They preach at church
fathers. They do a lot of singing. They do a lot of plays and programs. You know why? They ain't got
nothing to say. The preacher's got nothing to
say, so he fills the time with what? Plays and programs and
foolishness. Has nothing to say. They may mention Jesus' name
every once in a while, talk about His blood, hint at it, talk about
His resurrection, and use it as a springboard to telling you
to do something. But unto us, unto us who have
heard, the Gospel is not... This message is not a sidebar.
is the sum, the subject, and the theme of our worship. It is the centerpiece of worship
to preach the gospel that glorifies God and abases man, that exalts
Christ and puts man in the dust. Now that's the theme of every
message I've ever preached to you. If you don't believe it,
go back and listen to any one of them you want to. I take you
to task, and if I've done it, I would, oh my soul, if I did
anything but that, I would fear. We preach Christ in Him crucified,
Christ in Him raised from the dead. The center and theme of
our subject is Christ, Christ, Christ, Christ, Christ! That's
it. Christ is all. Paul said, he
sent me not to baptize, but to preach a gospel. Not with wisdom
of words! Somebody gave me a compliment
the other day. He said, you're the plainest preacher I've ever
heard. Good! I met a man one time preaching
a gospel, and I'm glad the man's out of the
ministry. This guy, you'd have to have a dictionary to sit and
listen to him. What did that do? That made the cross of Christ
of none effect. I couldn't understand. We come
to preach Christ, not with wisdom of words. Lest the cross of Christ
be made of none effect, for the preaching of the cross is to
them that perish foolishness. You listen. You like this? You
like this message? No, it's foolishness. You're
perishing. Perishing. You know why people have no interest
in this? Because they're perishing. Well
now, preacher, that's... Look, that's God's Word. I don't
care what people think about that. That's just so. And to
argue with it is to argue with God. So go argue with God. Don't
argue with me. Argue with God. You think this
is foolish? It's because you have no need
of it. You have no use of it. But unto us. I like that, but. But unto us. Unto us, which are
saved. It is the power of God. The power
of God. After we heard of Christ, His
great condescension, how He took on flesh, how He represented
us in obedience to the law of God, how He obtained righteousness
for us, how He by His blood made us righteous. He who knew no
sin was made sin for us, that we should be made the righteousness
of God in Him. This is the message I want to
hear. That's the message I love, is that substitution. That's
the message I want to hear. I want to hear that my Savior
substituted Himself in my place. He died in my stead. He rose
for my justification. The work of salvation is finished! This is the message the saved
want to hear. And I need to hear it over and over and over. And listen to this, verse 13,
"...in whom, after that you have believed, you were sealed." With
the Holy Spirit of promise, oh my goodness, sealed. Sealed. You know what it means when a
king took his wax on a piece of paper and he put his ring
into it? It was death to open it. Except for the one it was
intended for. Death. You see, I've been sealed. And it will not be opened except
in that great day when God comes and takes me home. Then the whole
will be made known to me. The whole of my righteousness,
the whole of my redemption will be made known in that day. Oh,
have you trusted in Christ? Have you believed on Christ?
Have you seen your spiritual poverty and need of Christ? That by no work of religion,
no outward ritual, no obedience of the law will you ever please
God? Do you know that? Then behold, I've shown you the
salvation of God. Therefore, you should flee to
Christ. Is that not just reasonable? That's just the most reasonable
thing for a sinner to do. Flee to Christ. To me, that's reasonable. That's
just so. I need Him now. I recognize I
need Him now more than I ever need Him before. And you know what? I've never
stopped coming to Christ either. When you come to Christ, have
you ever stopped coming? Have you ever stopped? You never
started. Have you ever stopped? We don't stop coming. We always
come into Christ now. Believing on Christ now. Suing
for Christ to have mercy on us and forgive us our sins now.
And all who come with no merit, no goodness, come with the sin
and guilt of their soul, come and surrender to Christ, to His
will and to His grace. You know what you'll find? You'll
find what I found. Perfect salvation. Perfect. Why? Because you didn't have
anything to do with it. Any salvation I'd have to do
with is not perfect. But this salvation is untouched
by me. It was done something outside of me. God purposed it
before the world began. Christ died for it before I was
born. The Spirit gave it to me without
even me looking for it. He gave it to me. Do you believe
on Christ now? Then I want you to understand
this. This faith that you have is of the power of God. Faith itself is simple. You know
that? Faith is simple. It has one object. Count to one, you got it. One. Christ. It has one object. Faith
is without work. You don't need to work to believe.
Matter of fact, in order to believe you have to stop working. Stop working! You remember in the Old Testament
when those Israelites were bitten by that serpent. What was the
command? Look and live. He didn't say cut off the heads
of all the snakes and then live. He didn't say treat the wound,
seek a doctor, find medicine, and live. No. Look and live. How easy is it to look? Let me
tell you something. For somebody who sees, it's very
easy. Right? If you can see, to look
is easy. Simple. Now then, tell a blind
man to look. You made something so simple
impossible. Why? He's blind. He can't look. He can't look because he's blind. This is how we are by nature. And except God give you sight,
you cannot do the most simple thing as look to Christ. You grope about in the dark trying
to find a remedy, trying to find peace. Isn't that what you're
looking for, happiness? Everybody's looking for happiness, aren't
they? Trying to find it. You just watch them. Watch them
groping around over here, trying to find happiness here. That
ain't it. Come over here. It ain't here. They keep looking,
and looking, and doing, and doing, and working, and working, and
they don't find it. Why? They can't see. And I could
tell them to look and live. Look to Christ and live. And
they just can't. They just can't. Not until God
give them sight. Faith is pictured in many ways.
It's pictured as a new creation, isn't it? Scripture says that
we are created in Christ Jesus onto good works. Created. Can you create anything? You remember that joke that people
say? It's kind of funny. They said, you know, God, we
can clone people. We can do what you do. And He
said, okay, go ahead. And they started grabbing some
dirt and this, and they said, no, no, get your own dirt. No, we can't create anything.
We can make stuff out of stuff already made. But we can't create
anything. Only God can create something.
Only God can create a new nature in a man. The power of faith
comes from God. It is the work of God. You remember
Jesus said that to those people who sought that bread in John
chapter 6. He said, this is the work of
God that you should believe on Him whom He has sent. This is creation. In John chapter
1 it says, as many as received Him. Isn't that sound simple?
As many as received Him. Oh, would you receive Christ?
Would you receive Christ? To them gave He the power. You got it? How'd they receive
it? Power. How'd you receive it? Power. What kind of power? omnipotent power. Without omnipotent
power, you'll never receive it. You'll never receive this message.
But as many as received him, them gave he the power, the right
to become the sons of God, which were born not of blood, not of
the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."
That should eliminate all free will works religion, period.
That should just wipe it off the face of the earth. People
are so drunk with it, drunk with the wine of that fornication.
bruising Cheryl's Facebook page and I've seen this this past
you know summer kids get out of school and everything and
they go to these vacation Bible schools and things like that
and I see these pictures of parents baptizing their little children
and get their child up there and they're baptized you know
what they say oh I'm so proud a little Johnny That person is ignorant and has
no idea how salvation comes. They have no idea how faith comes. They're proud of Johnny. They're
proud of him for making the decision. That's not how salvation comes
and that's not how faith comes. How does faith come? Look at
your text. And what is the exceeding greatness
of his power to us-ward who believe according? Here's why you believe. according to the working of his
mighty power." See, I'm proud of God. Paul said, I give thanks
to God for your faith and love. Doesn't that sound, can you not
see the difference? I'm so proud you decided to follow
Jesus. Hogwash. I'm proud of God for
giving me faith according to his And you see this, faith is a
resurrection from the dead. It's not only creation, it's
resurrection from the dead. And you, that's the very next
chapter, chapter 2, verse 1, you at the quicken who were dead.
See, faith is a resurrection. It comes by resurrection. And you
know this, if God chose me, Christ redeemed
me, The Spirit called me, and I was created a new creation
by the power of Almighty God, given new life by the Spirit
of God. You mark this down. My faith
will continue to the end. How? The same way it started,
by the Almighty power of God. See how sure my salvation is? And your salvation is? It's sure
because it's all done of God. It's all according to the will
of God. It's all for the glory of God. Therefore, stand fast. Paul says. Stand fast. In the liberty wherewith Christ
hath made us free. It's not a combination. Not part
work you, part work Christ. It's all work Christ. All of
God. He's made me free. And be not
entangled again with the yoke of bondage. You see, we don't
begin by faith and finish by law. We begin by faith, we walk
by faith, and we end by faith. And all the while, our faith
is not of our self. Now what he said, for by grace
you are saved through faith. Not of yourself. That faith is not of yourself. It, faith, is a gift of God. Not of works. Blessed any man
should boast. See, my faith is not at work.
It's not something that I've done. It's something God has
done in me according to the working of His mighty power. You know why I'm still here?
His mighty power. Isn't that what Peter said? He
said, who are kept. You know why I'm still here?
I'm kept. Kept by the power I don't want
to misquote it. Let me, I'll just read it to
you. I want you to hear it. 1 Peter chapter 1 and verse 5, who are kept, listen,
by the power of God, through faith, unto salvation
ready to be revealed at the last time. I know you struggle. I know you struggle. With your
faith, I know you struggle. I know your faith is at best
weak, isn't it? You don't dare stand on it. You
don't dare trust in your faith. It'll fall on you every time. In your trouble, look to the
One who gave it to you. And you have something to stand
on. You have something to hold on to in the worst trouble. That your faith is according
to the working of the mighty power of God. You know, it took
the same power to raise up Christ from the dead as it did to give
you faith. Isn't that something? Same power. All rest in it. Believer, it's all right. It's
all right. Say you to the righteous, it
shall be well with Him. Only Him. Only Him. Only the elect is well with.
Only the redeemed. Who are they? Those who are believers
in the Jesus Christ, not by their own will, but by the power of
God. May God bless you with it. Let's
stay and be dismissed in prayer.