This has been on my mind during
the week and I wasn't really planning on preaching from it.
Then I began to think about it some more. I preached from it
years ago from this portion of scripture and I went in and did
a little work on it today. But it's a new message. It's
not the same old message that I preached years ago. I got that
from Henry one time. Somebody had said to him, after
he had preached a message, he said, I heard you preach that
before. And Henry said, no, you haven't. He said, yes, I've heard
you preach that before. And Henry said, no, you haven't.
And he said, this is the first time I've preached it. I might
have used some notes out of it before, but this is the first
time. I mean, every time is the first time. Every time. I've
learned this, there'll always be something new. If I preach
from this Sunday, there'll be something new stand out. And
I've learned this over the years in preaching. Now the title of
this message is this, Is My Salvation According to the Word of God? That's very important. Is the
salvation I claim to have, is it according to the Word of God?
Can I go to the Word of God and establish why I believe I'm saved,
why God has saved me? Can I do that? In this epistle we have one of
the most complete revelations of salvation. We have the work
of the Father, The Son and the Holy Spirit, we have the whole
Trinity here. You know, the whole Trinity is involved in our salvation. The Father chose us, the Son
redeemed us, and the Holy Spirit regenerates us, and we are sealed
with the Holy Spirit of promise. In you who believe, the Holy
Spirit, who is God, dwells in you right now. WE ARE SAID TO
BE THE TEMPLE OF GOD. WE ARE THE TEMPLE OF THE HOLY
SPIRIT. HE DWELLS IN US. Spurgeon wrote this concerning
this epistle. The epistle to the Ephesians
is a complete body of divinity. In the first chapter you have
the doctrines of the gospel In the next you have the experience
of the Christians, and before the epistle is finished, you
have the precepts of the Christian faith. Whosoever would see Christianity
in one treatise, let him read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest
the epistle to the Ephesians." This is such a rich epistle. I think it's the pinnacle of
Paul's prison epistles. Now here's the question. I want
us to look at tonight, IS MY SALVATION THAT I CLAIM TO HAVE
ACCORDING TO THE WORD OF GOD? The word ACCORDING here, I looked
it up, means this, BEING IN ACCORDANCE WITH OR IN AGREEMENT WITH. IS
MY SALVATION IN ACCORDANCE OR IN AGREEMENT WITH THE WORD OF
GOD? It also means this, HARMONIZING
OR ON THE AUTHORITY OF. is my salvation on the authority
of God's Word. Does it harmonize with the Word
of God? I remember when I first heard
Henry preach the gospel, and the Lord revealed the gospel
to me, and I believe He revealed it to me in power. And I remember distinctly saying,
what he's saying matches, harmonizes with what I've been reading.
It harmonizes. It's like a puzzle. It's like
a puzzle coming together. And now you see the picture. Is my salvation in agreement
with the Word of God? Is it based on the authority
of God's Word? That's a good question. It's
a question that needs to be answered. I know most people have some
kind of hope of being saved. When they die, I've never been
to a funeral. where the person didn't end up in heaven. And
I being someone, I had no confidence, no confidence. I know the person
didn't believe the gospel, but by the time that preacher got
done, this had been years ago, years ago, by the time he got
done, that person was in heaven. I think many believe that God,
who is love, will not cast him into hell, that his love will
override his wrath, or their good works will outweigh their
bad ones. Isaiah 28, 15, this belongs to
most people. Because you have said, we have
made a covenant with death, and with hell are we in agreement.
When the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall
not come to us. We've made lies our refuge, and
under falsehood have we hid ourselves. You know, a false hope to an
unbeliever, to someone who has false faith, false hope, it's
real to them. It's real to them. But it won't
save them. It won't save. Not at all. Because someone believes they
have accepted Jesus as their personal Savior, their salvation
is based on that, that won't save. That's not going to hold
up in the Day of Judgment. Others will say this, Lord, Lord,
have we not prophesied in thy name? Have we not preached in
thy name? He's telling us what people are going to say, so they're
going to say this, because He said they're going to say it. And in thy name have cast out
devils, and in thy name done many wonderful
works. And He's going to say, depart
from me, I never knew you, because salvation is not based on your
preaching and your casting out devils. and many wonderful works. It's based on His work, His blood,
His righteousness. My whole salvation is based on
the grace of God to me in Christ. And the Jew is going to stand
there and say, We are Abraham's seed. I'm Abraham's seed. Flesh
and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Flesh and spirit don't go together.
They don't inherit the kingdom of God. NOT THIS FLESH, THIS
CORRUPT FLESH! THERE CAN NEVER BE ANY MIXTURE
OF WORKS AND GRACE! 2 Timothy, and I'm going to use
a lot of scripture because I said it is our salvation according
to the Word of God. Now, it would be foolish of me not to use a
lot of scripture, wouldn't it? Because it's based on the Word
of God. I have over 1,500 words in this outline. Most of it Over
probably three quarters of it or more is all scripture. It's
all scripture. Because I want us to see if the
salvation I claim to have and you claim to have, is it according
to the word of God? 2 Timothy 1.9, Who has saved us,
the Lord Jesus Christ has saved us, and called us with a holy
calling, not according to our works, that's not why He called
us to salvation, that's not why He called us to faith, it's not
because we had anything going that was good, not according
to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which
was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. Can that
be any plainer? Can it be any more clear than
that? John 1.13 says, Which were born,
not of blood, nor of the will of
the flesh. God didn't save me because of
my will, He saved me because of His will. Is that right? I'm saved by the will of God.
It's not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth, but
of God that showeth mercy. That's what it says in Romans
9 16. This is the gospel. This is the truth. Now, first
of all, the salvation of God's people is found in verse 4 of chapter
1 of Ephesians, that it's according as he has chosen us in him before
the foundation of the world. It's very clear throughout the
Word of God that the Father chose to save a people or nobody be
saved, nobody, no one be saved. He chose all of them in Christ
before He created the world. God has an eternal purpose which
He purposed in Christ before the world before He created the
world. Calvary is not a rescue attempt
on humanity, it's according to the purpose of God. Salvation has never been put
into the hands of sinful men and women. The final decision is not left
up to REBELS. None of us would be saved if
we were. We're all born rebels, every last one of us. Every person
on this earth is a born rebel to God. And I thank God He didn't leave
it up to me. I remember so well my youthful
days when I wanted nothing to do with God Almighty in any way,
shape, or form. But He stopped me on my road
to Damascus, on my road to hell. He stopped me. He stopped some
of you. He stopped some of you. Didn't
He? Broke you. Brought you to faith
and repentance. You know, it's spoken of in Acts
that God granted repentance to the Gentiles. God granted it
to them. Because if He didn't, you wouldn't
and I wouldn't. None of us Gentiles would. Listen to these scriptures
here in 2 Thessalonians 2.13. Listen to this. WE ARE BOUND
TO GIVE THANKS ALWAYS TO GOD FOR YOU, BRETHREN AND BELOVED
OF THE LORD, BECAUSE GOD HAS FROM THE BEGINNING CHOSEN YOU
TO SALVATION THROUGH SANCTIFICATION OF THE SPIRIT AND BELIEF OF THE
TRUTH." God is the God of means and He uses means. Sanctification
of the Spirit and Belief of the Truth. Matthew 24, 31, AND HE SHALL
SEND HIS ANGELS WITH THE GREAT SOUND OF A TRUMPET, AND THEY
SHALL GATHER TOGETHER His elect from the four winds from one
end of heaven to the other. They're gonna gather His elect.
John 17 verses 9 and 10, I pray for them. The Lord Jesus Christ
says, I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast
given me. I intercede for them. You think He's going to intercede
for anyone? And God the Father not save them?
Would He do that? You know, when I think of my
salvation, that the Lord has saved me, I also think of the
Lord Jesus Christ interceding for me, personally me, calling
my name in heaven, calling my name before the throne of God,
calling my name, interceding for me. There's His hands. There's the
nail prints in His hands. The spear went through His side.
This is for John. This is for John, who nailed
Prince in his feet. This is for John. I suffered
for his sins. I prayed for him. Ask me for
the heathen, God said, and I'll give him to you. I'll give the
heathen to you. Well, here you are, you bunch
of heathens. You and I will be dancing around the fire if God
left us alone. We would. We'd have a stupid Buddha on
the shelf. We'd have some kind of idol we'd worship. We'd be
wearing a cross around our neck. We'd be hanging on to something
other than Jesus Christ. But He intercedes for you and
me individually. individually on his heart you
know when when the lord back in the old testament when the
high priest went into the holy of holies he went in there with
only a breastplate was what the names of the 12 tribes of israel
our names are on his heart our names are on his heart i pray for them i pray not for
the world i do not intercede for the world but for them which
i was given me for they are thine And all mine are thine, and thine
are mine, and I'm glorified in them. They're thine, you gave
them to me to bring home. He's responsible. The Lord Jesus
Christ was made responsible to bring this rebel home without
spot or blemish. I'm not going to enter into heaven
without spot or blemish because I straightened up. There's enough
sin in all of us before we get out of here. I'm telling you
the truth, BJ. If you understand what sin is,
you understand who God is, you understand there's enough sin
in our thoughts before we get out of here and it sends us to
hell. God can't bear one sin, but even those thoughts Christ
died for, you know, you can't keep your mind, you can't hardly
listen, you know, your mind's wandering. Christ died for that.
Isn't that something? Here you are trying to listen,
and work comes into play, or whatever comes into your mind,
and then you try to get back and listen again. That's sin,
isn't it? That's because of sin. That's
because the indwelling sin, I can't give my full attention to listening.
Christ died for that. He put that away too. The doctrine of election. Now
here's one of the reasons I think people hate it so much, the unbelieving
world hates it so much, is this. It magnifies the character of
God. Anything that magnifies God, man hates. I'm telling you,
he hates it. He may not come out and say it
to your face, but he'll say it by his actions. Why is he not
here? Why is this room not full? Because
most people around here hate God. That's why this room is
not full. That's hard to take, isn't it?
That's the kind of preaching they want to turn off. They want
this, God loves you, and all this mushy, mushy stuff. They
don't want the truth. They don't want the truth. If
you love God, Christ said, if God were your Father, you'd love
Me. That's right. And if you love
Christ, You're here. This is why you're here. You're
here because you love Christ. You want to hear of Him. But
the doctrine of election magnifies the character of God. It makes
known the fact that salvation is the free gift of God. Election
gives to God all the glory in salvation. Anything that gives
all the glory, the natural mind hates it. I want a little bit
of that glory. Give me a little bit of that
shine. No, it all goes to Him. And you know why? Because it
belongs to Him. You know, I've thought about
this, about worshiping God. He demands our worship. It's only right. That's why He
demands it. If it wasn't right, He wouldn't
demand it. It's only right to worship such perfection. You
see, for us to worship anything else is not right because it's
not perfect. There's no perfection in it.
That's why Jesus Christ is God because God said over in Hebrews
1, let all the angels of God worship Him. All worship belongs to Him. You
see, election gives to God all the glory and salvation. Christ
said to His disciples, you didn't choose me. I chose you. Think about that when you go
home tonight. Try to. Believe me, I live in this flesh
too. I know how tough it is sometimes to keep your mind on the sermon
you heard, the message you heard. But he said, you didn't choose
me. I chose you. I chose to save you. I chose
to redeem you. I chose to give you the kingdom. I chose to bring you into my
presence forever and ever and ever and have everlasting bliss. I chose you. Or you wouldn't
be here. And then the doctrine of election
reveals the sovereignty of God in salvation. I never considered
the sovereignty of God until I learned this truth. I never
considered God's sovereignty. I always saw him on the sideline
begging. I never considered this truth. God chose me first. Romans 9
18. Therefore hath he mercy on whom
he will have mercy, and whom he will he pardoneth. Is that
all right? You see salvation, you know when
somebody's saved when they bow to that and say, Lord, whatever
you do with me, you're just. That's what David said in Psalm
51. That's what he said. Turn over to Jeremiah
18. Jeremiah 18, listen to these
first six verses. The word which came to Jeremiah
from the Lord saying, Arise and go down to the potter's house,
and there I will cause thee to hear my words. Then I went down
to the potter's house, and behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.
And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of
the potter, so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good
to the potter to make it. Then the word of the Lord came
to me, saying, O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this
potter, saith the Lord. Behold, as the clay is in the
potter's hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel."
He's not in my hands. God has no hands but your hands.
He just said, you're in my hands. I'm the potter. He said, and
you're the clay. And I thank God. He made me one day to realize
that. He made me to realize I'm the clay. I'm not the potter. He is. And I learned something
of God's sovereignty. And Paul says the same thing
in Romans 9 21. Hath not the potter power over
the clay of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor and
another unto dishonor? Does he not have the right to
do that? That's what Paul is saying. Does God not have the
right to do that? You know, we live in a day like
God has no rights. It's as if He has no rights.
It's His. The earth is the Lord's, the fullness thereof, and they
who dwell therein. Yet He has no rights in it. Oh,
He has all the rights. And every day, one by one, people
die, thousands die on this world, and they find out, this is His. This is His. For the first time, when I heard
the gospel, I realized God didn't have to save me. That was an
eye-opener. It was scary. Scared me to death. I'm telling you, it scared me.
He, listen, I knew, I learned this, He has to damn me, He doesn't
have to save me. Wages of sin is death. I earned
it. I've earned it. And if he saves me, it's an act
of mercy, love, and grace. If he leaves me alone, it's an
act of justice. And he's right, whichever he
does. Is that right? He's right. If I reject the doctrine of election,
I reject the God of election. I REJECT THE GOD OF SALVATION,
AND THEREFORE MY SALVATION IS NOT ACCORDING TO THE WORD OF
GOD." I tell you what, a person who rejects the doctrine of election,
their salvation is not according to the Word of God, and they're
not saved. They are not saved. If they despise or reject it,
no, they're not saved. Because it's not according to
the Word of God. I just read you all these scriptures. I find the doctrine of election
to be a doctrine of praise. Listen to this in Psalm 65, verse
4. Blessed is the man whom thou choosest and causeth to approach
unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts. This is why, that
he may dwell in thy courts. We shall be satisfied with the
goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple. Blessed is the
man whom thou choosest and causest. to approach, come to me. Come
unto me all you that labor and heavy laden, I'll give you rest.
How many times, how many people have heard that? And then here
be one, there be one, and they'll come to him. They'll come to
him. That's because he calls you to
come. The hearing ear and the seeing eyes of the Lord. I find it to be a humbling doctrine.
Who am I but a dead dog?" said Mephibosheth. Who am I that God would choose
me? I tell you, we will spend eternity
and never get over that. Who am I that God would choose
me? Mephibosheth said, I'm a dead dog, a stinking dead dog. When a sinner is saved by grace,
And that sinner comes to realize this, that's when grace truly
becomes amazing. That's when it becomes amazing. Instead of making me a vessel
of wrath, he made me a trophy of his grace. That's amazing.
That's amazing. And he did all of this without
any personal merit of my own. Merit I don't have. Romans 9 11 for the children
being not yet born Neither having done any good or evil They can't
say well God chose him because he's been good. He's been a good
little boy the other one He's been rotten. No, he said before
they did any good or evil that the purpose of God according
to election might stand not of works, but of him that calleth
and Does it get any plainer? Secondly, all our spiritual blessings
were given to us in Christ before the world began. According as
God chose in Christ at that time, He gave us all that we need to
stand in His presence. It was given to us there in verse
3. We have in Christ all that we
need. 1 Corinthians 1 verse 30 and
31. But of Him are you in Christ
Jesus. That's how you wound up in Christ. THIS IS HOW GOD PUT YOU THERE.
OF HIM ARE YOU IN CHRIST JESUS, WHO OF GOD HAS MADE UNTO US WISDOM,
RIGHTEOUSNESS, SANCTIFICATION, AND REDEMPTION. THIS IS WHAT
HE'S MADE UNTO US, THIS IS WHAT HE IS TO US, NOT JUST WHAT HE
GIVES US, IT'S WHAT HE IS TO US. that according as it is written,
he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord." What did the Pharisees
glory in? What did Paul glory in? His heritage,
his law-keeping, his self-righteousness, and then God saved him, he gloried
in the Lord. That's what he gloried in. In
Christ, you're complete. Outside of Christ, no one's complete.
Thirdly, all this is according to the good pleasure of His will.
Verse five, having predestinated us into the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
we can only trace our salvation back to the good pleasure of
God's will. He said in Matthew 11, thou hast
hid these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them
unto babes. Even so, father, it seemed good
in thy sight. 1 Samuel 12 22 For the LORD will
not forsake his people for his great name's sake, because it
hath pleased the LORD to make you his people. Make you! This people have I formed for
myself. They shall show forth my glory,
not just the time we have here on earth, but forever and ever
and ever. Man, we ought to be excited to
die. We really ought to be. And maybe
we will be when that time comes. Fourthly, our redemption and
forgiveness of sins is according to the riches of His grace. You see where the whole fountain
is? He's the fountain. There's a
fountain filled with blood. He's the fountain of mercy, the
fountain of grace, the fountain of blood. He's the fountain of
all blessings. He is. Verse 7, In whom we have
redemption through His blood, we have been purchased and set
free through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. Think about your sins, something
you don't want to tell nobody about, you got sins you don't
want to tell nobody about. If not, you got yourself righteous,
you got the self-righteous part going, you got that working for
you. But listen to this, we have the
forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace, all
of them. We have the forgiveness of sins
even before we were born, you know that? There's a real sense
in which God was satisfied and forgiven us our sins for Christ's
sake. That's exactly why He is able to call you by His grace.
He's satisfied with you. He's satisfied. But when you
start to realize those things, that to me is when the gospel
really becomes alive. When you really begin to realize
that all this was done even before you were born and the fact that
He called me by His grace and revealed His Son in me is evidence
God is satisfied with me. BECAUSE OF HIS SON JESUS CHRIST,
AND IT'S ACCORDING TO THE RICHES OF HIS GRACE. WE HAVE THIS FULL
SALVATION, THIS PERFECT REDEMPTION, A FULL FORGIVENESS OF SIN BECAUSE
OF HIS RICH, RICH, RICH GRACE. HE'S RICH IN GRACE. YOU CAN'T
WEAR IT OUT. YOU CAN'T USE IT UP. Everything
about us you can wear out and use up, but not God's grace and
mercy. We went through a psalm here
not too long ago. His mercy endureth forever after every verse. If not, we'd wear it out. We
can't. It can't. It's impossible. It's
infinite because everything about God is infinite. His mercy is
infinite. His grace is infinite. His love is infinite. You can't
wear it out. When we consider that we were
enemies of God, like everybody else, walked according to the
course of this world, dead in trespasses and sin, and to think
that God would have mercy on me, that God would adopt me as
a son, that God would save me, that He would put away my sins
and He's gonna give me eternal glory, that's grace. That's grace. To give His Son
to die for me, that's rich, rich grace. In whom we have redemption
through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins. That's what Paul wrote
over in Colossians 1.14. He wrote the same things to them
as he did to the church at Ephesus. Because the message is the same.
It never changes. Now how do I know this? How do I know this? What I've
been saying, all this I've been saying. How do I know this? Verse
9, Have He made known unto us the mystery of His will? I know
it by revelation. I can never look down on anybody
that doesn't believe because the only reason I believe is
God revealed it to me. He revealed Himself to me. And
all thy children shall be taught of God. You're not teachable
until God saves you. You have nothing to put it in.
You don't put new wine into old bottles. He said they burst.
There's got to be a new nature. There's got to be a new birth.
And now you're teachable. And He made known unto us the
mystery of His will, according to the good pleasure which He
had purposed in Himself. Matthew 13, 16. But blessed are
your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. Matthew
11, 25. I already quoted this to you,
but I'll read it. At that time Jesus answered and
said, I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth. Because
thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast
revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, send good in
thy sight. Fifthly, I've got six of these, I'm about done.
The whole matter of salvation is according to his eternal purpose. It's not a spur of the moment.
thing with God. I'm trying to think of a term
that has slipped my mind. The way we do things spontaneously,
just on the spur of the moment, that's not God. That's not God. This is according to His eternal
purpose, which He purposed in Himself. The whole matter of
salvation is according to His eternal purpose. Look over in
chapter 3. Chapter three. Let me see what I want to read
here. Let me see. Well, just let me
go back to verse three. How that by revelation he made
known unto me the mystery, as I wrote it forth in few words,
whereby when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the
mystery of Christ, which in other ages was not made known unto
the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles
and prophets by the Spirit, that the Gentiles should be fellow
heirs and of the same body and partakers of his promise in Christ
by the gospel. Wherefore I was made a minister
according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me, by
the effectual working of His power. Unto me, who am less than
the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach
among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make
all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the
beginning of the world hath been hid in God, So he purposed it
and it was hid in him. Had been hid in God who created
all things by Jesus Christ to the intent that now into the
principalities and powers and 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. You see this eternal purpose
has Jesus Christ at the very heart of it. God's gonna glorify
His Son throughout eternity. God's gonna have a people, He's
gonna populate that new earth with a people like His Son. Then last of all, sixthly, our
salvation is according to the working of His mighty power. I don't believe the gospel because
somebody convinced me to. I believe the gospel because
by the power of God I was born again and He made Himself known
to me. Verse 19 and 20, And what is
the exceeding greatness of His power to us who believe, according
to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ,
that same power that He wrought in Christ when He raised Him
from the dead, that same power is used in raising dead sinners
to life. same power it's the you who are
saved you who believe you believe by the power of god it takes
the power of god to to enable us to believe nobody else can
enable us to believe somebody can convince us to believe some
doctrine But to believe God, to take God at His word, His
whole word, that takes power. The new birth, listen, now listen,
the new birth is not a decision. It's not that I made a decision
and I'm born again. God gives me a new birth. The new birth is by the power
of God. When He commands life, when He says live, guess what
happens? You live. You live. The same power it took
to raise Christ from the dead is the same power it takes to
raise us from the dead and give us life. We must be able to go to the
Word of God and establish our salvation accordingly. We must be able to do that. I
tell you what, don't ever take the salvation of your soul lightly.
Lightly. Don't take that lightly. I talked
to a man one time and he said, well, you sit in a study and
you read, I don't know anything about that. Are you serious? Your soul's at stake and you're
just going to blow it off like that? You're just going to take
what the preacher said and hang your soul upon it? Don't hang your soul upon what
I say. Take what I say and be like the brave Berean. Search
the scriptures, see if these things be so. And it's the reason
I used a lot of scripture tonight. My salvation and your salvation,
you believe, I know this. We know it's according to God's
word. We can go to God's word and establish it. All right.