There are times when I say this
with fear and reverence, but there are times when I especially
feel that I have the message for the hour. I say this with
fear, not presumption. There are just times that I truly
do feel that I'm supposed to preach this message right now
in this service. And I believe the Lord has given
me that feeling this morning. And the reason is because I tried
as hard as I could to go to a different text. And the reason I tried to do
that is because we're in this text all the time. All the time. And I just tried
sincerely to go to a different text, but the Spirit of the Lord,
I believe, would not let me do it. He just concreted my heart
to these words. And I just, I just had to be
here. For that reason, I want us to
slowly read down through this and just enjoy what our Lord
has written here, all right? Turn with me to Ephesians chapter
one. Ephesians chapter one. If we
want to know the mind and the will and the purpose and the
work of God, All of that is very plainly,
very simply laid out in Ephesians chapter one. And I wanna encourage you, you
know, I saw all your faces, you love Ephesians one. I said Ephesians
one, everybody's like, oh, right. You've heard this so many times,
I wanna encourage you, ask the Lord in your heart right now
to open this up to you. Ask Him to open this up to you.
Ask Him to open my eyes that I may see. And here's why I say
this. I want you to see. Now, I want me to see, but I have
you in my mind and in my heart individually, your name and your
face. And I'm telling each one of you,
I want you to see. And I want you to hear. I want you
to believe. I want you to understand. Ask
the Lord. Lord, salvation is of you and
today is the day. He said today is the day of salvation. Would you speak to my heart in
the way that broken children of God cry? I've heard your voice. Not out loud, but right in here.
Ask the Lord to open your eyes, open your ears, open your understanding,
open your heart. Lord, make me yours today. Make
me no longer a servant and child of the world. Let me be yours
today. Ask him that, ask him that. We
don't beg anybody to do anything, but I'm begging you, ask him
that, okay? May God do that for me. You pray
that for me. I'll pray that for you and you
pray that for me, okay? Ephesians 1, verse 1. It says,
Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ. What that means is, Paul is speaking
God's word. That's what it means. That's
why it says that. The prophets and the apostles,
They were moved by the Spirit of God to say God's actual words. God's actual words. This is not
Paul's opinion. This is not Paul's teaching.
This is God's teaching. These are God's very words. Hold your place right here in
Ephesians and turn with me to 2 Peter 1. 2 Peter 1. 2 Peter 1 verse 20 says, Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture
is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in
old time by the will of man, but holy men." And what that
means is separated men, set apart men, particular men for the job
and work and service of doing this. Holy men of God spake as
they were moved by the Holy Ghost. This is God's Word. This is God's Word. That's what
it means when it says Paul, an apostle. It means this is worthy
of all acceptation. You can take this to the bank.
This is God's Word. This is what I would love to
tell everybody. I'm not interested in anybody
believing me as a preacher. But I'm interested in everybody
believing God. And if you ever hear me not preaching
God's Word, stop listening to me and go find a man who will
preach God's Word to you. Because this is all that matters. This is God's Word. All right, now, go with me to
Ephesians 1. Back to Ephesians 1. Verse one, it says, Paul, an
apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God. That means he's
saying, this is what God wants me to say. He said, I was made to be an
apostle by the will of God. God did this. He made me to be
an apostle. I didn't make myself to be an
apostle. And he's saying everything that I'm about to tell you is
according to his will. God is saying this, all right?
Verse one, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of
God, to the saints, which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful
in Christ Jesus, those who have been filled with faith, faithful
in Christ Jesus. He said right here, I am writing
to a particular people. Do we see that? I'm writing to
a particular people. Turn with me to John 17. John 17 verse one, these words
spake Jesus and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, father,
the hour is come glorify thy son that thy son also may glorify
thee as thou has given him power over all flesh. That means the
whole world. That's what it means. All flesh. All right, verse two, as thou
has given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal
life to as many as thou hast given him. That's not the whole
world. That's a particular people. Verse
six, he said, I have manifested thy name unto the men, which
thou gavest me out of the world. Them specifically. Verse nine,
he said, I pray for them. Father, I'm praying right now
to you. I'm making intercession to you for them. I pray not for
the world, but for them, which thou hast given me for they are
thine. This word, the Bible, the scripture,
the promise of this word, The good news of this word is not
written to everybody. Salvation is not promised to
the entire world. Now, I'll tell you, I just said
that a moment ago in the Bible study. We just acknowledged that
and dealt with that, all right? Now, I'm saying here, salvation
is not promised to the entire world. I'm saying it again. Why
is it so important that we declare that to men and women? Why is it so important that we
continually bring that up? Why is it so important that the
Word of God continually brings that up? Why does the Word say
that over and over and over? Here's why. This is important. Here's why. It's because the
very credibility and authority and power of God depends on it. All right, now let me explain
what that means. If God loved a person, but the
person ended up going to hell, and I don't even like saying
that word, but if God loved a person, and that person was told that,
and the person could say, God loves me, but the person ended
up going to hell, what good would God's love be to that person
or to anybody else? What difference would it make
whether a person said, God loves me? What difference would it
make? If it could not save, if God
loved a person, but that love could not save, what difference
would it make whether God loved a person or not? If Christ shed his blood for
a person, if he came and died and gave his life and emptied
his body of all of his blood, shed His blood for a person,
but that person ended up going to hell anyway. If it could be said, if the person
could say, Christ died for me, but the person ended up going
to hell anyway, then what confidence could we have in the cross of
the Lord Jesus Christ? What confidence could we have?
What would his blood and his death mean in salvation? If he made a payment for a person's
sin, a particular person's sin, and the person went to hell anyway,
what good would that payment be? What would be the value and
the worth in the matter of that payment? If God wills for somebody
to be saved, if God wants somebody to be saved, but the person is
not saved and ends up going to hell, you know, and well, God
didn't want that to happen, but that's what happened. If that's
the case, and I say this so fearfully, but if that's the case, Christ
is a failure. And Christ is not a failure. And salvation is not up to chance. Every soul that God loved, God
saved. And every soul that Christ shed
his blood for, he saved. And every soul that the Spirit
calls is going to come running to the God who saved him. or
run into the God who saved her. That's why it is so important
that we be very, very clear in declaring and in understanding
who our Lord is speaking to in these promises. His very authority, His very
power, His very credibility depends on it. This is the very mind, and the
very will, and the very purpose, and the very work of God. This is what He came to do, this
is who He came to do it for, and this is exactly what He did.
Now go with me back to Ephesians 1. Ephesians 1 verse 1 says, Paul,
an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, to the saints
which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus,
grace be to you. Grace be to you. What does grace
mean? It means free gift. Free gift. Verse two says, grace be to you
and peace. What does peace mean? It means,
here's the definition of the word. It means truce. It means
unity. It means reconciliation. It means friendship. And it means
accord. One accord. Verse two says grace
and peace, grace be to you in peace from God, our father, and
from the Lord Jesus Christ. They, God, the father, God, the
son, God, the spirit. They are the ones who authored
grace and peace. You want to fall in love with
God, get ahold of that. They are the ones who authored.
grace and peace. They are the ones who executed
grace and peace. They are the ones who brought
grace and peace to us, not us to them. them to us. Salvation is of the Lord. Start
to finish, salvation is of God. It is of God. It's something
that He purposed in His mind and in His heart before He ever
made the world. It's something that He purposed
to a particular people before He ever made people. It's something that Christ secured
on the cross of Calvary, something Christ finished and forever settled
in heaven before any of us were ever even born. That means it's
of God. Salvation is God's doing. Verse
one says, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of
God, to the saints which are at Ephesus and to the faithful
in Christ Jesus, grace be to you. and peace from God our Father
and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse three says, blessed be
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. The only way that a sinner, and
whenever I say a sinner, what I mean is me, and I mean you,
The only way that a sinner can receive a blessing from God is
by being in Christ. That's the only way. In Christ. It is not going to be in his
or her good works. We just had a Bible study on
let's do good and not do bad. I encourage good works, but salvation
is not going to be in any good works. No good works. It is not going to be in a sinner's
church membership. You know, we all are here. We want to be here. We need to
be here. I identify with this assembly. This is where I go
to church. Salvation is not in that. It is not going to be in what
any sinner gives. Sometimes, you know, people give
to ease the conscience. Well, let me give something to
ease the conscience. It's not gonna be in what anybody
gives up. Well, I need to stop doing that.
It is only going to be in Christ. Now, what in the world does that
mean? What does that mean? What is
it to be in Christ? It's to be chosen in Him. It's to be predestinated in him. It's to be adopted in him. It's to be accepted in him. It's to be redeemed in him and
it's to be forgiven in him. All right, let's just read down
through this together. Verse 1 says, Paul, an apostle
of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, to the saints which are
at Ephesus 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." Now, who chose
who? Who did the choosing? Turn with
me over to John 15. John 15 verse 16, this is our
Lord speaking. He said, you have not chosen
me, but I have chosen you. He did all the choosing in salvation. There was only one choice made
in our salvation, and it was the Lord God's. It was His choice. He did the choosing. And when
did our text say He did the choosing? We read it there in Ephesians
1. When did it say He did the choosing? Turn with me over to
Romans 9. Romans 9 verse 11, it says, for
the children being not yet born, neither having done any good
or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might
stand, not of works, but of him that calleth, it was said unto
her, the elder shall serve the younger, as it is written, Jacob
have I loved, but Esau have I hated. It was before anybody was born.
Before anybody was born. It was before anything had been
done. Now, why did God do it that way?
Why did He do it then? You ever asked that question?
Why did He do it that way? Why did He choose to do it then?
Well, go back to our text and we'll find out. Ephesians 1 verse
4 says, 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. We were chosen to be purified,
chosen to be washed, chosen to be guiltless, holy and without
blame. Verse five says, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself. He predestinated us. Think about that word. He predestinated
us. He predetermined our destination. He predetermined everything about
us, what we would be, where we would be, how we would be, predestinated. Years ago, I love this story. Years ago, brother Henry Mahan
had a TV broadcast and he preached the gospel on it every week.
And because of that, every now and then he would be recognized. And one day he was playing golf
with another man and they, they were hot, they were thirsty and
they saw a gas station across the street. So they said, let's
run over there real quick and get us something to drink. So
they did. And when he put his drink on the counter, he noticed
that the man at the register had a brand new Bible sitting
on the counter. And Brother Henry said, that's a nice Bible you
have there. And the man looked at him and he said, thank you.
He said, I know who you are. You're the preacher on TV, aren't
you? And Brother Henry said, yes, I am. He said, you believe
in predestination, don't you? And Brother Henry said, well,
I don't know. What does the Bible say about it? He said, I don't know. He said,
well, let me see your Bible. Let's see if we can find out.
So he turned to Ephesians one verse five. It says, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself. Okay. Then he turned over to
Romans eight, where it says, whom He did foreknow, He also
did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son." He
said, oh, okay, so predestination is what makes us to be just like
Christ. He said, you want to be just
like Christ, don't you? And the man said, oh yeah, I
sure do. He said, well, then you believe in predestination
too. whom He did foreknow, He also
did predestinate to be just like Jesus Christ, holy and without
blame. Holy and without blame. Verse five says, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself. Now, our question we asked a
minute ago, why did He do it that way? Why did He choose and
predestinate before the foundation of the world? The end of verse
5 says, because it was according to the good pleasure of His will. That's the reason why. This is
God. Who are we to reply against God?
Shall the thing formed say to Him that formed it? Why did you
do that? This is God. Whatever God wants
to do, that's what God Almighty does. And if it is according
to the good pleasure of His will, that's what happens. Isaiah 43
says nobody can stop Him. And it says He doesn't have to
get permission from anybody. King Nebuchadnezzar said in Daniel
chapter four, he does according to his will in the armies of
heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth and none can stay
his hand or say unto him, what doest thou? God. Everything that he did for undeserving
sinners like us, he didn't do it because we earned it. He didn't
do it because we deserved it. He didn't do it because he owed
it to us in any way, shape or form. It was just according to
the good pleasure of his will. And that's why verse six says
it's to the praise of the glory of his grace. It was all his
free gift. Therefore he gets all the glory
for it. Verse 6 says, to the praise of the glory of His grace
wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved. When Christ bore
our sin in His body on the tree. Think about that statement. When
Christ bore our sin in His body on the tree, He removed our sin
from us. And the moment our sin and our
sins were gone, God the Father said, welcome in, holy without
blame, sinless, welcome in. Verse six says, to the praise
of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the
Beloved. That's Christ, in Christ. Verse seven, this is our last
verse. In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness
of sins, according to the riches of His grace. Do you know why God's chosen
sinners are forgiven? It's not because of anything
we do. It's because of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. That
is the whole reason. That is the whole reason. What
can wash away my sins? What can make me whole again? What can redeem me and what can
cause God to forgive me? Nothing but the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, precious is the flow that
made me white as snow. No other fount I know Nothing
but the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. That right there, honestly,
that right there is one of the clearest declarations in the
scripture. That has to be. One of the clearest
declarations in the scripture of the mind and the will and
the purpose and the work of God in the Lord Jesus Christ, our
Savior. It has to be. That's a clear
declaration of the work of the Father, the work of the Son,
and the work of the Spirit. And I'm gonna tell you this.
I'm gonna leave you with this. If God has given us eyes to see
this, it would shock you. How many people read that and
say, I don't believe that. It would shock you. If God has
given us eyes to see this, and a mind to understand this, and
a heart to believe this, and a hope to honestly cling to this. If God has given us that, then
we are among the sinners who have been blessed in Christ. We are. We're one of the ones
who have been chosen in Him. and predestinated in Him, and
adopted in Him, and accepted in Him, and redeemed in Him,
and forgiven in Him, because God reveals this to all of His
people. He does. He does it through preaching. By His Spirit, He opens up the
Word. He brings His people to see this. Every single one of
His people, after seeing this, respond by saying, it's all to
the praise of the glory of His grace. All of it. Thank God for
what He's done for us. Thank God. All right.