Ephesians chapter 4. And the title of the message
this morning is A Bold Declaration and a Worthy Walk. A Bold Declaration
and a Worthy Walk. The Apostle says in verse 1, I therefore the prisoner of the
Lord beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith
ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering
forbearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity
of the spirit in the bond of peace. First of all, a bold declaration. The Apostle here says, I therefore,
the prisoner of the Lord. Now we know this, that the Apostle
Paul, when he wrote this letter, was in prison. He was in prison
and he was chained He was chained to a Roman soldier. He was imprisoned by the Roman
government. But yet the Apostle doesn't say
a prisoner of Rome. He says he is a prisoner of the
Lord, or for the Lord. The Apostle was put into prison
not because he was a criminal. not because he had done anything
against the Roman law. He had not done anything to break
the law. It was not his intention to be
put in prison, and yet he was in jail. He was in prison because
he boldly professed faith in Jesus Christ. He boldly, without
compromise, preached the gospel of Christ. The Apostle Paul, could he not
have made concessions? Could he not have reasoned his
way into getting out of this mess? Could he not just have
tipped his hat to the Jews and to the Romans and got out? He
could have. But that went against everything,
everything that he preached and everything he believed. He was a bold witness. And consider the amount of time
that he was in prison. Consider that he was there unjustly. He was there being punished for
no breaking of no law and they kept him there for a very long
time without due process. And yet the apostle says, I am
not a prisoner of Rome. I am a prisoner for the gospel
of Jesus Christ. What a bold declaration. The
apostle declares in the book of Romans. If you go over to
the book of Romans, look at the first chapter and first verse. Paul says, he said, Paul, A servant,
a bond-slave of Jesus Christ. You remember, the bond-slave
was the one who was the willing slave. He was the one that was
a slave for a while, and when it was time for him to go free,
he denied his freedom. He said, I love my master, I
love my wife, I love my children, and he was bore through with
it all in his ear. And Paul says this about Jesus
Christ, I am a willing servant of Christ, called to be an apostle, separated
unto the gospel of God, which he promised afore by the prophets
and the holy scriptures concerning his son Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul says that he
is a bond slave for the Gospel, and look at verse 16. What does
he say about this Gospel? He says, For I am not ashamed
of the Gospel of Christ. For it is the power of God unto
salvation to everyone that believeth. To the Jew first, and also to
the Greek, for therein is the righteousness of God revealed
from faith to faith, as it is written, The just shall live
by faith. Believer in Christ, let us never,
never be ashamed of the gospel. Never be ashamed of this gospel. I'll tell you, if we're ever
ashamed of this gospel, we should be ashamed. Ashamed of ourselves. This gospel, this message is
the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believe it.
The gospel is of God's grace. The gospel of God declares salvation
is completely and utterly the work of God alone. I'm not ashamed
of that, are you? I tell you I'm not ashamed because
I'm a recipient of it. I'm not ashamed because God has
given it to me. And he's given it to me through
the faithful declaration of another man. God has blessed me to hear
the gospel. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the word of God. This is how God saves sinners.
I'm not ashamed to declare that. I'm not ashamed to declare that.
Anyone who doesn't declare that should be ashamed. The preaching
of the gospel is the means that God has chosen We should not
be ashamed regardless of what men say, regardless of how men
feel about preaching. We're not ashamed of this. This
is the power of God. This is how God saves sinners.
Let them laugh if they will. Let them mock if they will. This
is the power of God. How do you know? I've experienced
it. I know it's so. I know it's so. You that believe, you know it's
so. You know this is how God saved
you. And this is something that we're
not ashamed to declare that our salvation is completely by the
sovereign grace of our Almighty Omnipotent God. It was God that
chose us from eternity. I'm not bragging because there
was nothing in me that would cause God to choose me. Works
and free will religion, they're the ones bragging. We don't have
anything to boast in. God chose us out of His own free
mercy. We declare that without shame.
boldly that God decreed in His own sovereign mercy to elect
and predestinate some of Adam's fallen race. And had God not
done that, none of us would have been saved. Had God not chosen,
had God not elected, there would have been none saved. But we know that election is
unto salvation. We know that to be true. I'll
read it to you. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse
13, We are bound always to give thanks to God for you, brethren,
beloved of the Lord, because God hath chosen you from the
beginning to salvation. See, election is always to salvation. And it was by this eternal covenant
of grace that God the Father and God the Son struck hands,
as it were, in a covenant of mercy. The Father choosing the
people and giving them to the Son, and the Son delighting in
those people, loving them, embraced them, and agreed to be their
Savior, agreed to be their representative. In that covenant of grace, they
promised, Christ promised to redeem us to be our Savior and
King to all that the Father gave Him. If you look over in Ephesians
3 and verse 9, the Apostle says that his calling was to make
all men, to preach the gospel, to make all men see what is the
fellowship of the mystery. which was from the beginning
of the world hath God hid, had been hid in God, who created
all things by Jesus Christ to the intent that now under the
principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known
by the church the manifold wisdom of God according to the eternal
purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. This eternal purpose was a mystery. It was a mystery. What's a mystery? A mystery is something that's
hidden. Something not revealed. The eternal purpose of God was
hidden in God. But now it's been made clear. It's been made manifest. To who? His church. His church. His people. The eternal purpose
of God which was in Christ Jesus our Lord. In whom we have boldness
and access with confidence by faith of Him. This mystery has
been revealed. The Apostle preached this mystery.
It's been revealed to us by the Holy Spirit concerning this eternal
purpose. That all the salvation of God's
elect was purpose, planned, and accomplished in Jesus Christ. That's plainly revealed to us,
isn't it? That God who chose us also planned our salvation. anyone that's had plans. Anyone's plans this week come
full circle? Anyone plan something and it
happened exactly the way you thought it would? None of us
plan anything because if we do, we know it's not going to work
out just like we thought it would. But when God plans something,
God does not fail to accomplish His plan. And I'll tell you,
when people say that, it kind of drives me up a wall because
I know what they mean. They say, well, God has a plan
for your life. Well, duh. God's got a plan. God's had a
plan from eternity. And He will accomplish His plan. He doesn't need you to finish
out His plan. He'll accomplish His plan with
or without you, your consent. He does. The world hates God
and they accomplish His purpose. They accomplish His purpose.
said, The wrath of men will praise Thee, and the remainder of wrath
He shall restrain. I'll tell you, God had a plan
for salvation, and the plan was for His elect people that He
chose, and He planned it in Christ, and Christ completely and absolutely
executed that plan perfectly, without error, without mistake. There was no error in anything
Christ did or said. He did always please the Father. He said, which of you convinces
me of sin? No one. Our Lord Jesus Christ came to
this world as a representative man to represent all of the elect,
and He accomplished their righteousness. It was purposed of God. It was
already said by the prophets years, hundreds of years before
He came, that He would magnify the law, that He would make it
honorable, that He would fulfill all the prophecies concerning
the Messiah. And Jesus Christ is all the redemption
and all the atonement of the elect. The blood of Jesus Christ
is not a common thing. The book of Hebrews, the Apostle
said of those wicked men who are worthy of more punishment
than those Israelites who fell in the wilderness, he said, those
who count the blood of Christ an unholy thing. The word unholy
means common. A common thing. The blood of
Christ is not a common thing. It was not shed for all men without
exception. It was shed for the elect of
God. It was shed on purpose. And His
blood accomplished salvation for everyone that He died for.
He was a successful Savior. I'm not ashamed of a successful
Savior. They should be ashamed of an
unsuccessful Savior. I am glad to declare that the
gospel has accomplished what God purposed it to do. Believer
in Christ, separate yourselves from such men who would trod
underfoot the Son of God. You remember what the Lord said
when those apostles, He offended them, those Pharisees, the Lord
did by His Word. The Lord just spoke the truth
and they were offended. We speak the truth and men are
going to be offended. But when he spoke the truth and
those Pharisees were offended, the apostle said, Lord, you know,
you offended them. If we want to get this word out,
if we want to get this message out, we've got to have the Pharisees.
They're the religious rulers. We've got to have them. Why would
you offend them? He said, leave them alone. The
blind leading the blind, both will fall in the ditch. Leave
them alone. Separate yourselves from them.
Don't have any fellowship with those false religious workers
of iniquity. Let me ask you this. Would you
have, do you think you have any common fellowship with Muslims?
You who say you believe, you who profess, would you have any
common fellowship with Muslims? No. Why? Their God is not God. Their God is no God. Their God
is a God of hatred. Their God is a God of murder.
Their God is a God of works by which men earn his pleasure.
Their God is no God at all. Now, would you visit their mosques
and call it Christian love? Well, I'm going to go visit some
mosques today because I just want to love them. Well, that would be foolish.
Would you listen to their preachers and say, well, that's just another
way to God? Well, no, you wouldn't. Not if
you profess faith in Christ alone, you wouldn't. Would you indulge
in their ceremonies? Would you let your children go
and visit their plays? and programs. They got a Muslim
basketball program. Would you let your kids go and
and visit that? Well, no! You'd be foolish to. And yet people see no problem
with fellowshipping with this false free will religion whose
God is just the same as a Muslim God. He is no God at all. No God at all. They see no problem
with people who call God Jehovah, call Jesus Savior. Well, then
we can let them go with those people. Even though they preach a Savior
who is a failure, you would let your children go? You would fellowship
with them? You would find some communion,
some common ground by which you can associate with them? The
God of modern religion is loved by this world and hated by no
one because he is the God of this world. Because he is the
God of a man's imagination. He's not God. The God who loves
all men and hates no one is not the God of the Bible. We don't
have any fellowship with that kind of God. Our God says, For
Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. That's my God. And I'm not ashamed of my God.
My God is God. And their God is no God. The
Jesus who shed his blood in the desperate attempt to save all
men, make salvation possible, but actually redeemed none. I
have no fellowship with that Christ. No fellowship. My Savior actually redeemed. My Savior accomplished what God
sent Him to do. And the Holy Spirit, these people
who cry the Holy, who say they believe in the Holy Spirit, they
say He comes pleading with men. but has no authority over the
will or works of men, but must submit to them. That is no Holy
Spirit of the Scriptures. The wind bloweth where it listeth,
you can hear the sound thereof, and you can't tell whether it's
coming and whether it's going, so is everyone that is born of
the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God gives life
to whomsoever He will, to whomsoever He will. We believe without shame and
boldly profess as the Apostle salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord. There is hope for sinners because
God elected. There is hope for sinners because
Christ did accomplish salvation. There is hope for sinners because
the Holy Spirit saves whomsoever He will. There is hope. All the elect are justified before
God, redeemed by the blood, and they will be called by the Holy
Spirit. I like that in Acts where it
says, as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. You believe because you were
ordained to it. You believe because God chose
you, redeemed you, and called you from the dead to life. The
elect were not chosen because of anything they could do, not
because of any goodness in them, not because of any ability that
we had. Jesus said, No man can come unto
me except the Father which hath sent me draw him. We were not
chosen of God or redeemed by Christ because of our works or
our will, not even because of our faith. We have faith because God gave
it. I believe on Christ because God
gave me faith. And I tell you, if He would not
keep my faith, I would not, I wouldn't believe. He gives me faith every
day to believe. So then, who maketh thee to differ
from another? Why is it that you believe and
you are not with them? Was it anything in you? Were you special? Did God look
upon you and say, well, now that guy's got something that I just,
I need to have. You know, you've got such a talent.
This is what, this is the stuff people are putting out that,
you know, God needs you because you've got such a talent. No! God didn't choose me because
of talents. There's nothing in me. Who maketh
thee to differ from another? What hast thou, thou hast not
received? And if you've received it, why do you act like you don't? If salvation is completely of
grace, and I'm a prisoner of the Lord Jesus Christ, then notice
the exhortation here to us who do believe. Paul said, walk worthy
of the vocation wherewith you are called. you see the gospel of god's grace
that we are not ashamed of is a gospel that gives man no glory at all it gives us no room to boast
in anything we've ever done or ever will do not unto us not
unto us oh lord but unto thy name give glory. Believers, let
us praise God. Praise God. And how do we do
that? Except we walk worthy. We walk
worthy. Believers, this world, when you
preach the gospel, it will hate you. It will hate you. They'll hate this message, and
they'll hate you for it. Because when we declare this
message, we are telling the false free will works religion of this
world their God is no God. They're going to hate you. Now
we don't set out to be hated, do we? The apostle didn't set
out to go to jail. He didn't say, man, I'm going
to make these guys so mad they're going to throw me in jail. No!
He just declared the gospel and they threw him in jail. And so
when you declare this gospel, they will hate you. They will
hate you. But friends, let us be like the
apostle. No matter what men do to us,
let us declare plainly, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and
thou shalt be saved. And I know this, all that God
chose and redeemed, they will believe. Well, how is this message
to get out? Well, Paul said, Let us walk
worthy of the vocation wherewith we are called. This is an exhortation.
An exhortation to those who believe. If you are called from life to
death by the power and grace of God, then you are to walk
worthy. What does that mean? Does that
mean walk because you're worthy? No. That word worthy means appropriately. You walk appropriately. How is
it that we are to walk who deserve nothing but hell, but have been
given the grace and mercy of God to inherit heaven? How are
you supposed to walk? with all lowliness and meekness
of mind. That's what he said, with all
lowliness and meekness, long-suffering, and forbearing one another. Believer
in Christ, we are called with a holy calling, and we should
walk appropriately. Paul says in Romans chapter 12,
he said, I beseech you because of the mercies of God, that you
present your bodies a living sacrifice. Is there anything
worse than a living sacrifice? I mean, because if you had to
die, you only do that once. But the Apostle says that we
are to die daily. To walk worthy of this is to
count ourselves as we really are sheep for the slaughter. Sheep for the slaughter. We are
to consider the mercy and grace and meekness of God, and let
us esteem others better than ourselves. Is that not how we walk worthy?
To esteem others better than ourselves. Forgiving. Is that not an emblem
of God's grace? Is that not a grace? To forgive?
It is. We should forgive because we've
been forgiven. We should forgive. We should
be ready to forgive one another. This is how we walk worthy of
the gospel. Remember, the church is made
up of sinners saved by grace. Isn't that so? This church is
made up of sinners saved by grace. And I'll tell you from time to
time that ugly head of sin will pop up. And when it does, and
we are offended. What is the response of believers? Forgive. How? Freely. That's how. Freely. Well, I'm going to lose it. Whatever
it is. It's not worthy. It's not worthy. It's not worthy of your time
or your effort to try to keep it. Give it up. Quit. Surrender
it! Did not our Lord do much more
for us? Should we not walk after His
footsteps? Should we not walk in His example?
We who confess and believe on Jesus Christ? John said that we should even
be willing to lay down our lives for the brethren. Isn't that
why Paul was in prison? He said that many times. He said,
I'm in prison for your sake. I'm in prison for your sake.
Shouldn't we not willingly give up all things for the brethren? Endeavoring to keep the unity. That means making every effort.
Endeavoring, we don't use that word very often. It means to
make every effort. Every effort possible. to keep the unity of the fellowship
in the bond of peace. Why? So that the gospel we boldly
declare is not blasphemed. You know what? That's what they're
looking for. They're looking for some bad thing in this church
to blaspheme God's gospel. Ah! See? Look at JD. He just, man, that old miserable,
he just don't forgive and he don't... What are they doing? They're attacking you to get
to the gospel. Don't give the devil an occasion
to accuse us. That's what he's telling us. Don't give the false religion
of this world an occasion to blaspheme our God. Friends, this
message of the gospel is a precious gift. i was thinking this morning again
of what our brother told us that he can count on his hand five
churches in history that have went through three pastors preaching
the gospel and i am the third in this church it is a precious gift god has
given us and we should do everything we can to keep it We should do
everything we can to keep it. Not let one thing, not let one
spur get under our saddle. This is what it is to walk worthy,
to walk lowly, and esteem each other better than ourselves.
Doing everything we can to walk worthy, to keep the unity of
this gospel. Boldly declare it. Not to make
men mad, but I'll tell you, you will. And when they will, they'll
look for anything. Don't give them one thing to
look at. Don't give them one thing to look at. Love. Isn't
that how he tells us you're going to know my disciples? That you
have love one for another. That's how he's going to tell.
Not that you preach doctrine, but that you love one another.
That's how this world's going to know. And so we should do
that. May God give us grace to do that.
I pray the Lord blesses thee.