I have your Bibles this morning.
I'm going to turn to a very familiar piece of Scripture that blesses
our hearts so much. Turn to the book of Ephesians.
It's the book of Ephesians chapter 1. In this chapter here, Paul deals
with the means of salvation as they were purposed and agreed.
and prepared by Father in His internal counsel. We're going
to start reading here in the first verse, and we're going
to read the entire chapter. Let's pray for God's blessings
upon him. It says, Paul, an apostle of
Jesus Christ, by the will of God, to the saints which are
after us, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. Grace be to
you and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ, according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
him in love. having predestinated us unto
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to
the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of
his grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the Beloved. in whom we have redemption through
his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches
of his grace, wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom
and brilliance, having made known unto us the mystery of his will,
according to his good pleasure, which he hath purposed in himself. but in a dispensation of the
fullness of times, that he might gather together in one all things
in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth,
even in him, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance,
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,
and whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth,
the gospel of your salvation, and whom also, after that ye
believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise.
that in the earnest of our inheritance unto the redemption of the purchased
possession, unto the praise of his glory. Therefore I also,
after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto
all the saints, cease not to give thanks to you, making mention
of you in my prayers. that the God of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit
of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him, the eyes of
your understanding being enlightened, that you may know what is the
hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his
inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness
of his power to usward who believe, according to the working of his
mighty power. which he wrought in Christ, when
he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right
hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and
power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named,
not only in this world, but also in that which is to come, and
hath put all things under his feet, and gave to him to be the
head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness
of him, but fill of all, in all. And here in Ephesians chapter
one, in the first two verses, we have the greetings of Paul
to the church at Ephesus. He says, Paul, and an apostle
of Jesus Christ by the will of God. Paul was an apostle, and
an apostle was someone that had meted Christ personally, And
they had been cramed by Christ to teach the gospel. We all remember
that Paul was a very rebellious guy. He hated Jesus Christ. He
hated the Christians. He persecuted them. And that
shows the power of the sovereign power of God. You know, he is
absolute sovereign in salvation. He will save whom he will save.
He's absolutely sovereign in providence and also in creation. And it says right here that,
he was an apostle by the will of God to the saints, which are
affidavits, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. You know, I
don't think any of God's people really like to be called saints,
but we are all saints. And we are saints because we
have been, by the elect of God, we have been placed in Jesus
Christ, our Lord. We are sanctified by God the
Father, we're sanctified in Jesus Christ, we're sanctified by the
Spirit, we're sanctified by the Word of God, and we are sanctified
by the blood of Jesus Christ our Lord. And I thank God for
that. He says, peace be to you and
peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. You
know, there can be no grace without peace, you know. Grace is God
giving us something that we don't deserve. And what was the most
priceless gift that he gave us? The precious lamb of God. Jesus
Christ was God manifested in the flesh. And he died on that
old rugged cross for the people that his father had given him
before the foundation of the world. Paul, an apostle of Jesus
Christ, as I said before, he was one that had seen the Lord
and received his gospel directly from the Lord. Paul said that
the gospel which he preaches was taught to him, not by man,
but was taught to him directly from the Lord. And he said it
was by the will of God. And he says that he's writing
to the saints, to the believers. Everything in these holy scriptures
here, almost every bit of it, is to the believers that are
in Christ Jesus our Lord. And I said before, we are sanctified
by Christ Jesus. And they say, sure, that the
believers are faithful in Christ. Believers are faithful. You know,
we put our trust, we put our faith. We have no faith in the
flesh. We know that in the flesh dwelleth
no good thing. The Bible plainly says that the
heart is deceitful above all things, desperately wicked. But
our faith and our trust is in Christ Jesus. And that's something
that, you know, I personally, I have to pray every day, God,
give me more trust, give me more faith. I believe in you, oh Lord,
but help my unbelief. You know, in this flesh, sometimes
we'll get so caught up in it and everything that we forget
that God is absolute sovereign in providence. Everything that
we have in this world, everything that we are, it is by the power
of God, it is by His grace, and I thank Him for that. He says
right here, God our Father, we're able, do we realize what a privilege
it is to be able to call the Almighty God our Father? And the only reason that we can
do that is because the Bible says that there are three that
bear witness in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost,
and these three are one. And we are in Christ Jesus. Therefore,
we are in also, we are in the Father. And we're in His family. And we will be able to call Him
Father. And I thank God for that right
there. When He sees us, you know, there is everything, everything
that the sinner needs, everything in this world that the sinner
needs. is in Christ Jesus. And the Bible says that we're
dead to this world and our life is headed with Christ in God. And I thank Him for that. I thank
Him so much for that. It says here that, blessed be
the God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who have blessed
us in all spiritual blessings and heavenly places. There's
so many times in the Bible When God speaks, whenever his prophets
speak, when his apostles speak, they speak in past tense. In the minds of God, it's already
happened. We're in Christ Jesus and there's
nothing in this world that can take that away from us. And God
saved us in spite of ourselves. We look at ourselves and we see
who we are and we just think about what a miracle it is that
God, was able. You know, He didn't save us at
the expense of His justice, or at the expense of His mercy,
or at the expense of His holiness. Somebody had to die for our sins,
because we are sinful. And Christ Jesus, He died in
our place, and I thank Him for that. But it says here that It
says here, all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. I think it's
in First Colossians chapter 30, first chapter of No Corinthians. It says, but of him are you in
Christ Jesus, who of God has given us redemption, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. All spiritual blessings, eternal
life, all spiritual blessings are in Christ Jesus. And I thank
him for that. I thank him for that. They say
that there can be no peace in grace because grace, you know,
like I said before, grace comes, grace gives us something that
we don't deserve. And we know what we deserve.
You know, at the cross, we've seen who we were. And at the
cross, we've seen who Christ Jesus was. You know, by being
one of God, God's elect, we have peace with God, and we have not
only peace with God, but we have the peace of God. And Christ
Jesus, you know, He says that by His stripes that we are healed,
and we are concealed to Jesus Christ. At Ephesians 2, 8, just
on the next page over here, we're talking about grace. It says
here in verse 8, it says, for by grace are you saved through
faith, in fact, not of yourselves, but it is a gift of God, not
of works. which less than a man should
boast. And then it says here over back
in her text, her text is from 1st to the 14th verse in her
text, it says, according to he hath chosen us in him before
the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless
without blame before him in love. And that is by being in Christ
Jesus that we were able to do that. You know, the Lord Jesus
said himself, he said, peace I leave with me, my peace I give
unto you, not as a world giver, give I unto you. There's no peace
in this world. You know Job says a man born
a woman, his days are full of trouble. And if any of us have
been around for any length of time, we can relate to that right
there. But we have to know that greater is He that is in us than
he that is in the world. We have the Spirit of God living
in us, and I thank Him for that. But it says here in verse 3,
God the Father has given us all things into the hands of His
Son. Because we are in His Son, we
have all things. Everything that God has for the
sinner is in Christ. Jesus, our Lord. And God has
blessed us with all spiritual blessings. And that's something
that nobody can ever take away from us. And to me, one of the
greatest blessings that we have is that we can call God our Father,
and that we're in His family, and that in spite of ourselves,
that He has saved us. But it says here, if you will,
have your Bibles turned to Glossoms 1, chapter Galatians chapter one, verses
19. It's over just a few pages. Galatians one, verse 19. You know, we serve such a wonderful
Father. Christ Jesus, He is precious. You know, He is our representative. He is our substitute. He is our
surety. His perfect obedience is our
righteousness. His blood sacrifice is our atonement. His grace is our salvation. His
eternal love is our security. and His mercy is our everlasting
hope. I thank God for that. But it
says here, for it please the Father that in Him should all
the fullness dwell. You know, I think it's in the
book of Galatians that it says in Him dwells all the fullness
of our Godhead body, and we are in Him. I thank God for that. It says here in verse 19, it
says, for it please the Father that in Him dwelleth all fullness.
dwell, and have him made peace through the blood of his cross
by him to reconcile all things unto himself. By him, I say,
whether it be things in earth or things in heaven. And you
that were sometimes, and we were, alienated the enemies in your
mind by wicked works, yet now have he reconciled, in verse
22, in the body of his flesh through death to present you
holy and unblameable and unremovable unprovable in his sight, being
in Christ Jesus. We have all the righteousness
and we have all the holiness that is in him. It's hard for
us to comprehend this, but we do. And it says here in this
fourth verse, according as he has chosen us and him before
the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without
blame before him in love. According as he has chosen us,
you know, we desire him, but it's hurt because he desired
him. because He desired us. We left Him, but it's because
He first loved us. And He chose us in the counsels
of His own will before the foundation of the world, whom He would place
in Christ Jesus. In Christ, you know, we're married
to Christ. We are the bride of Christ, and
that's wonderful. And it says here, according to
this, he has chosen us in him. Election, you know, a lot of
people don't know what election is, but it's very simple. I was
reading the other day, and this preacher, he gave an example
of what election is, and he said that he was working out in his
garden, and his neighbor come over, and she said, you're a
preacher, ain't you? And he said, yes, I am. And she
said, you believe in election, don't you? You know, the religious
world, they hate election because it gives God all the credit.
But anyway, he said, yes, I do. And she asked him, she said,
well, what is election? You'd be surprised that people
out there don't really know what that means. But what is election?
And that preacher, he didn't really know what she said. He
said, what? She said, what is election? She said, well, he
said, are you saved? And some of you may have heard
this, and she said, yes, I'm saved. And he said, well, who
saved you? And she said, God saved me. And he looked at her and he said,
well, was it on purpose or was it by accident? And she said,
it was on purpose. He said, my dear, that's election. God does everything on purpose. There's no accidents with God.
In 2 Timothy 1.9, it says, speaking of God, who has saved us and
called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but
according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us
in Christ Jesus before the world began. And I thank him for that. Then he says here in the fifth
verse, having predestinated us into the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.
There's so many people that, I even had a preacher tell me
one time he didn't believe in predestination. And I think it's
listed four times in the Bible. And he said, I don't care, I
don't believe in it. And I don't understand that.
But I think one of the best definitions of, one of the best definitions
of predestination is found over here, if you will, turn to Romans
8. It's another chapter we're very
familiar with, Romans 8, and look at verse 29. The Bible says
here, When we're talking about predestination,
the Bible states here, from whom he did foreknow, he also did
predestinate to be what? To be conformed into the image
of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
them he also called. Election has to do with people
and then predestination has to what those people are going to
become. And the Bible tells us right here that heaven is going
to be populated with a people that are going to be just, it's
going to be just like Christ Jesus. He says, you have predestinated
us into the adoption of children. Who are children? That's the
sons of God. You know, when we look at ourselves
and we see who we are, We can't imagine what it's like to be
called a son of God. But if you have your Bibles,
if you will, turn over to, I think it's 1 John 3. 1 John 3. You know, the Bible is God's
heart, soul, and mind. It's His absolute Word. Everything
in it is absolute truth, you know. And we're talking about
the children. We're talking about the sons
of God. And He speaks to this as if it's already happened.
Look at verse 1 in chapter 3 of 1 John. It says, Beloved, what
manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should
be called sons of God? Therefore, the world knoweth
us not, because it knew him not. And listen to this. Beloved,
he's talking to his elect. Beloved, oh what spiritual blessings. Beloved, now are we the sons
of God, and it doeth not yet appear what we shall be. But
we know that when he shall appear, that we shall be like him, for
we shall see him as he is. Let's go back to our text. You
know, as I think about that right there, you know, I've had people,
I've had people to say, well, you know, if you're elected,
if you're predestinated, then you can live any way you want
to. You know, the children of God, it has truly been saved
by saving faith. Don't you wish you could be who
you wanted to be? Don't you wish you could be Who
would we be like? Wouldn't you love to be like
Christ Jesus? Wouldn't you love to have His
holiness, His righteousness? You know, we hate who we are
on the inside. We know who we are. You know,
this flesh tells us every day, you know, a good example of it,
you know, maybe sometimes we think, hey, we're doing pretty
good, you know, but we get out there in the car and somebody
cuts us off. I hear Henry say one time, do
you holler and say, hey, bless that man. We don't do that, do
we? No, we don't do that. That's
because a flash comes out on us, you know. But it says here,
in whom we have redemption through the blood, the forgiveness of
sins according to the riches of His grace. I titled this message,
Abundant Grace, because God, you know, considering who He
is and considering who we are, He done all of this for one reason.
He done it for His Son. He done it out of love. How God
could love someone like us? It's hard to understand, but
like I said, we're married to Christ, and there's going to
be billions of people in heaven, and we're all going to be like
Christ. We're going to love what He loves. We're going to enjoy
what He enjoys. We're going to love sitting at
His feet and hearing Him. And I can't imagine what it would
be like to literally be in the presence of Jesus Christ, our
Lord. And there's nothing that can
take that away from us, you know, because we're in the hands over,
like over in Romans chapter 8, you know, the last part of that
chapter there. It doesn't matter what it is,
there's nothing that can take us out of His hands. we are secure
in his hands. What did David say? He said,
the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. And I thank him for
that. I truly thank him for that. Say,
sure in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness
of sins, according to the riches of grace, where is he have abounded
toward us in all wisdom and prudence. All the wisdom of God, who can
know his wisdom? It says, have him made known
to us the mystery of his will, to his good pleasure which he
hath purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness
of times that he might gather together in one all things in
Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even
in him. You know Christ is a head and
we are the body. He is the head of all things
and I thank him for that. He says in whom we have obtained
an inheritance been predestinated according to the purpose of him
who work of all things after the counsel of his own will.
You know, we don't even have a clue. We don't even have a
clue as to what we're getting ready to face. But I'm remembered
of that verse where it says, I have not seen nor ear heard,
neither have entered into the heart of man the things that
our God has for us. And you know, the Bible says
that life is like a vapor. It's going to appear for a little
while, then it's gone, you know. And we're going to be in His
presence before we know it. And as God's people, as God's
people, it gives us something to look for. We live in a world
where sometimes it seems like it's upside down, but you know,
He's providence. He's sovereign in providence,
you know. Everything is going just exactly the way He wants
it to do. And we serve a mighty God, and
Christ Jesus is precious. We've come together this morning
because He's allowed it. And we're here to worship Him
and to praise Him and to thank Him for all of His spiritual
blessings that He has given us. And He's done it. He's done it
all out of love, and I thank Him for that. And it says in
the dispensation of the fullness of times that He might He gave
her together in one, all things in Christ, which both are in
heaven and which are in earth, even in him. He's going to be
ahead of all things. What he's talking about right
here is the unity of Christ. He's going to bring Gentiles.
And he's going to bring Jews together. And he talks about
the things in heaven. He's talking about the elect
angels. And it's all going to be a part
of his church, you know. And it's going to be wonderful.
It says, in whom we have entertained and heard has been predestinated
according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after
the counsel of his own will. You know, he's sovereign. He
doeth according to His will in the army of heaven, and among
the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay His hand, or
say, What doest thou? For He is God. Sometimes we have
a tendency to forget that. But it says that we should be
to the praise of His glory. What does it say? And we know that all things work
together to the good of them that love God, to them who have
a call according to His purpose. It's all about Him. It's not
about us. It's all about Him. It's about His glory, and it's
about His Son. And we thank Him for that. And it says, in whom
you have trusted after that you have heard the word of truth,
the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after that you would
believe that you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise.
You know, a lot of you may know about this when it talks about
the sealing of the promise. A good example that I heard was
back years ago we done a lot of canning, you know, and some
of you may have done that, you know, and you've got your pressure
cooker, you've got your water bath, you get your vegetables
and you put it in there, you know, and you cook them and everything,
and then after a certain time you'll let the pressure off.
and you'll take that jar and you'll set it out on the town,
you'll let it cool, you know? And whenever I was canning, the
prettiest sound I could hear was when them lids would start
popping because they were sealing. That means that they were preserved.
They weren't going to spoil. You know, we are not only, we're
not only preserved by the power of God, we persevere by the power
of God. You know, and it's all of Him.
And it says, which is the earnest of our inheritance and of redemption.
as a purchased possession, as a prize of His glory. We have
a down payment, as I said before, it says what? No, you're not,
that in your body is a Holy Spirit, you know, and that we are not
our own, but we belong to God, and He's gonna take care of us.
You know, that's one thing that we, His ways is so much higher
than our ways, and His thoughts is so much higher than our thoughts,
but you know, God does all things well. He does all things well,
all things. He's perfect in all his attributes,
in every one of them. And so regardless of what comes
our way, it helps us to know that he is in control, and it
helps us to know regardless of what the future brings. He's
the one that's in control, and we are in His hands, and we always
will be, and that's a blessing to us. There's a lot of things
in the Bible, you know, I heard a preacher say one time, you
know, there's a lot of things in the Bible that I don't understand,
but I accept every bit of it because it's the absolute Word
of God, and I know that it is truth, and it is truth. I'd like
to read one more verse right here. I sort of got off of my scripture,
but anyway, I'd like to read something here that should be
a blessing to all of us. Because I said the absolute truth
of God is Word of God is truth, but listen
to this, and this is a record that God has given to us. He
has given it to us, to his elect, okay? And that is this right
here, and that is that life is in the Son, and he that hath
the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son hath not life.
And he wants us to be comfortable in this world. And he says that
he writes these things right here. He says that he's written
these things so that you believe on the name of the Son of God,
you may know that you have eternal life. If you believe on the name
of the son of God, and that's our insurance, that's our assurance.
Assurance is not necessary for salvation, but assurance is believing
God's word. And we have to ask him every
day, God, help us to trust your word. Help us to trust in you. Help us to believe. Help us to
believe what you're saying, because this flesh, it's an enmity with
God. You know, it always wants to
do things that we don't want to. You know, Paul, the one that
wrote this scripture, turn over, if you will, turn over to Acts
7. Turn over to Acts 7, and we'll close. There's something I'd
like to read. You know, Paul wrote half of the books of the
New Testament. beginning in verse 15. He wrote
half the books in the New Testament. And he was trained by God himself,
by the Lord Jesus Christ himself, you know, and he was taught by
him. And yet in the flesh, look at the problem. He has the same
problem that we have. Look at chapter seven in the
book of Romans, beginning in verse 15. And this is Paul speaking. He said, for that which I do,
I allow not. For what I would, that I do I
not. But what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would
not, I consent not unto the law that it is good. But then it
is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. Now
I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing,
and we know that. For the will is present with
me, but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good
that I would, I do not, but the evil which I would not, that
I do. Now, if I do that, I would not.
It is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find
in the law that when I would do good, evil is present with
me, for I delight in the law of God after the injured man. But I see another law in my members,
worn against the law of my mind, and bring me into captivity to
the law of sin, which is in my members. Oh, wretched man, and
we can all relate to this. Oh, wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from this body and this death? Listen to this. I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord. So then with the mind. I myself
serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin. I often think about that verse
over in the book of Genesis, whenever Abraham and Isaac was
going up on the mountain, and one of them had the fire and
the other one had the wood, and Isaac looked up at his daddy
and he said, we had the fire and we had the wood, but where's
the lamb? And I love it where Abraham says,
God himself, and I emphasize the word himself, God himself
will provide the lamb. So he paid the price for us,
and I thank him for that. You're dismissed.