He takes me by the hand and leads
me through the promised land. What a day, glorious day, that
will be. Everybody. What a day, that will
be, made by Jesus Christ. What a day! Glorious day! To me, these are special times. You and I are with each other
forever. Here for a little while, but there forever. And I'm so
thankful that the Lord made where Paul could be here with us. I believe you're going to bless
us again this morning. So Paul, you're coming. Let me thank you again for having
us. Thank you for everything you've
already done for us. On behalf of Mindy and myself,
thank you so much, John and Vicki especially. Vicki just fed us
a feast yesterday. Thank you, Vicki. And I want
to thank you ladies ahead of time. I know you've got food
prepared down there, and I thank you for that. It's an honor,
an undeserved honor, to preach the gospel, for a sinner to preach
the gospel. It's quite an undeserved, unworthy
honor, isn't it? And for you to ask me to come
preach here, it's an honor, and I appreciate it. But a double
honor, you asked me to preach twice. And the triple honor is
I'm the only one preaching. I wish you were preaching with
me. I love this man. I love to hear him preach. Turn
with me to Ephesians 1. Ephesians chapter 1. Very, very
familiar portion of scripture. Let's read the first six verses
of Ephesians 1. Ephesians 1. Paul, an apostle, of Jesus Christ,
by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, or wherever
the church is, to the faithful in Christ Jesus, grace 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 and heavenly places
or things in Christ, according as he had chosen us in Christ
before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy
and without blame before him in love, having predestinated
us under 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 blood. The title, the subject of this
message is very simply grace. Grace. Grace describes the gospel. Grace, the gospel is one word,
grace, for by grace are you saved. Salvation is in one word, grace. Grace. Grace means a gift. Undeserved,
unmerited favor. A gift bestowed, not a gift offered,
but a gift conferred or bestowed upon. undeserved, unmerited sinners. Grace is not an offer of God.
Grace is an act of God. Grace is the act of God, the
act of Christ, the Spirit of God. Grace is the work of Christ
for us, the work of the Holy Spirit in us. Grace, grace. And it's all, verse six says,
to the praise of the glory of His grace. And in chapter 2,
verse 7, it says, in the ages to come, he's going to show us
the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness toward us through
Christ Jesus. These people sang that song,
the one who saved us by his grace. That is salvation. It's by the
grace of God. Sovereign grace. There is no
other kind. As I said, grace is not an offer.
It's an act of God. and a sovereign one at that.
If you don't deserve something and someone gives it to you,
it's their sovereign right, isn't it? Sovereign right. When you
are asked by people what you believe, what your preacher preaches,
you almost always say this, don't you? We believe and preach the
sovereign grace of God, the sovereign electing mercy, love, and grace
of our God in Christ Jesus, that we didn't have anything to do
with. It was all according to the good pleasure of His will,
a gift bestowed upon His people. Grace, sovereign grace, sovereign
grace, a gift of life, the gift of life. Brother Doug, I appreciate
you praying for me. You said, Lord, give him words
of life. Here's a word of life, grace.
We live, we're born of God. It's a gift. A life is not offered,
it's given. It's given. Grace, grace. The
gift of life, the gift of repentance, the gift of faith, the gift of
peace. We don't make peace with God,
Jesus Christ made. Peace with God. It's the gift
of pardon. You don't deserve pardon. And
it's the free, the right, the sovereign right of the one who
gives it. We have full, free, sovereign, eternal pardon from
our Lord through Jesus Christ for all our sin. Salvation. Eternal
life. It's the gift. It's a gift. This
is what John wrote in 1 John 5. This is the record. This is
the written Word, the record, the covenant of God, written
by God in His Word, that God hath given to us eternal life. God's people. He hath given to
us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. All right, Ephesians
1 begins this way, and this is a description of God's grace
all the way through these verses. It begins this way, Paul, an
apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, by the will of God,
This gospel is by the will of God. Salvation is by the will
of God, not the will of man. Look how many times it says that.
Look at verse five. It says, the last line, it's
according to the good pleasure of His will. Verse nine, He made known unto
us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He
purposed in Himself. Verse 11, He worketh all things
after the counsel of His will. His own will. James said this,
he hath begotten us by his will. Of his own will begat he us with
the word of truth. The gospel started with the will,
the purpose of God Almighty. And God's purpose cannot and
will not be thwarted or stopped. God says, I have purposed it,
I'll bring it to pass. I've spoken it, I'll do it. It's
all by the will of God, the sovereign will of God to show mercy. This
is his glory, to the praise of the glory of his grace. Moses
said, show me your glory in Exodus 33. What did God say? I will,
I will show mercy. I will be gracious to whom I
will be gracious. It all begins with his will then.
It's all according to His will, His purpose in Christ Jesus.
All right, verse one says it's to the saints. This grace of
God is to the saint, by the will of God to the saints. Who are
saints? Well, they're not made saints by someone in Rome with
a fish hat on his head. They're made saints by God in
heaven. This sainthood comes from God
in heaven, called to be saints. called to be saints, sanctified
ones, sanctified, set apart by God, by His love, by His sovereign
electing grace. In Christ, Christ is the elect,
they're chosen in Christ. Sanctified, set apart, set apart
by the Spirit of God, through the gospel of God, given ears
to hear, given a heart to receive, given life by the Spirit of God,
regenerated by the Spirit of God. to the saints, verse one,
and the faithful in Christ Jesus. You may not think you're faithful,
but if I ask you, what is your hope of eternal life? If I ask
you, what is all your hope of eternal life? You hope to get
to glory someday. You hope to be in heaven someday.
You hope that God will receive you. Can you tell me what your
hope is? Can you tell it to me in one
word? Christ, that means you're full of faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ. This is to the faithful, those
full of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It also means truth,
truth. Oh, as Paul said, God forbid
that I should glory in anything, anyone, anything, save in the
cross of my Lord Jesus Christ. We will not boast of, we will
not glory in anything but Jesus Christ and Him crucified, right?
That's what it means to be true to Him. That's what it means
to be faithful, true to His glory, true to His honor. We dare not
share His glory. We dare not. We're faithful in
giving Him all the honor and glory. We're not saved by our
faithfulness, you know that. We're saved by His. But God has
made His people faithful. That's what He called them, didn't
He? That's what he called it. You have a faithful pastor. What's
he gonna do every time he stands up? This is how you know that
God sent him. This is how you know he's God's
man. And he is faithful to do one
thing. Preach Christ. Lift up the Lord Jesus Christ.
To the faithful in Christ Jesus. In Christ Jesus. How many times
you preach this, John? In Christ Jesus. This is salvation
in two words, in Christ Jesus. Salvation is to be found in Christ
Jesus. That's what Paul said, oh, that
I might win Christ and be found in him, in him. Like those animals on that ark.
Salvation was to be found in that ark. Well, how did those
animals get in that ark? Of their free will? Huh? Did Noah offer a lion a chance
to be saved? None of those animals would have
gone on that ark had not Noah went out and called them. Had not God made them willing
in the day of his power, right? That's why anybody's in Christ
Jesus. in Christ. It's all the way down
through here. There's redemptions in Christ,
forgiveness is in Him, acceptance is in Him. It's in Christ. Salvation
should be found in Christ. How do you get in Christ? You
don't put yourself in Christ. When my daughter was about four
years old, she was coming home from church one day, and she'd
been hearing this so much, in Christ, in Christ. She asked
her mother, Mom, Mama, she said, How do you get in Christ? I wish
more people would ask that, don't you? We all know, don't we? 1 Corinthians 1.30 says then,
of God are you in Christ, who of God is made unto all things,
wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption. It is God that puts
you in Christ. Here's a good illustration. When
you were born, before you were born, you were in your mother's
womb, weren't you? Who put you there? Did you put
yourself there? Did you decide to be there? Did
you accept her as your personal mother? It's absurd. It's laughable. Everybody laughs
at that. Well, this is salvation. You're born of God. God the Father,
incorruptible seed by the Spirit of God through the preaching
of what I'm doing right now. The world calls foolishness.
It's not foolishness to us, is it? It's the wisdom of God and
the power of God. This is how He beget us, with
the Word of truth, the gospel of our salvation. Through the
preaching of the gospel, the Word of God is planted in the
heart and life began, all right? And you're put in Christ. From
that moment, you're put in Christ. As He is, so are you. Okay? You're accepted in the Beloved.
You're loved by God in Christ. All the blessings of God are
in Christ. Like that child in the mother's womb, wherever she
goes, He goes, that child goes. Whoever loves her has to love
the child. You can't say to the woman, you
can come in here, but your baby can't. No, that baby's in Christ. We're accepted in Him. We're
loved in Him. Salvation is all by Christ and
for Christ's sake. His well-beloved Son. He put
a people in Christ for safekeeping. And we're still in Christ. We're
still in Christ. Always will be. By grace, so
you said, to the faithful in Christ. Verse two, it's real
easy to get stuck on each verse. I wanna go down through here. Grace to you, grace to you, to
the saints, to the sanctified ones, to those put in Jesus Christ,
grace to you. See, this is sovereign grace,
effectual grace, saving grace, eternal grace to God's people.
God doesn't offer grace to everybody. No, sir, he confers it, he gives
it to his people. And it's in Christ, all the blessings. And peace from God, our Father. I've already said, and you know
this, you know it well, the world doesn't know it. that God, Christ
made peace for us by the blood of his cross. We don't make peace
with God. He doesn't offer a terms of peace
and we accept it. No, sir. Christ offered himself
without spot, without blemish to God as a burnt offering for
our sin and God accepted the payment, accepted the substitute,
accepted the sacrifice. That's why, that's why. Nothing
in it, but all in Christ. Peace, peace from God our Father. And more of that in a moment.
God is not the father of everyone, but he's the father of his people
through Jesus Christ. And from the Lord Jesus Christ,
verse three, blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessing in heavenly
places or things in Jesus Christ. Heavenly spiritual blessing.
And he doesn't mention in these verses one material thing. Not one earthly thing is mentioned
in these blessings here. They're spiritual blessings,
and they're all in Christ. The riches of His grace, it's
called. The glory of His grace. Spiritual
blessing in heavenly things or places. In chapter 2, it says
in verse 6, He raised His people up from the dead and made them
to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Right now, you're
sitting in one of these heavenly places, aren't you? This is a
heavenly place. This is a foretaste of glory
divine, isn't it? To sit here. And God is the one
who gathers his people like sheep into a fold like this and makes
them sit together and do what? Makes them lie down in green
pasture and sit at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ and feed
on him. What a heavenly place this is.
David said, I'd rather be a doorkeeper in the house of God than dwell
in the tents of wicked. He said, thy loving kindness
is better than life. Do you esteem this? Job said,
this is more than my necessary food. In fact, Christ is our
food. We feed on him. Is there anything
you'd rather do than that? It's Saturday morning. What are
you doing here? God gathered you here. The feast
on the Lord Jesus Christ. He must be one of His elect.
He must be chosen by Him. And this is the first thing He
says in verse 4. Here it is, electing Greg. According as He
hath chosen us. Who chose who? He chose us in
Christ. See that? Christ is the elect,
Isaiah 42. Behold My servant, Mine elect,
in whom I delight. The well-beloved, only begotten
Son of God, elect of God, and precious to him, sent to this
earth as a man, as a substitute, as a covenant head, and all of
his people are chosen in him." Chosen by God. He didn't choose
him, he chose us, right? It's a good question to ask anybody
that wants to argue with you about grace, about election.
Ask them that. according to the scripture. Ask
him three questions and tell him to answer you according to
the scripture. Did you choose God or did he choose you? Now
this is to people who claim to be Christian. Did you choose
God or did he choose you? What's the scripture say? According
as he hath chosen us. Okay, when did he choose you? After you believed? No, before
the foundation of the world. In Romans 9, it says, the children
may not yet born, either having done any good or evil, that the
purpose of God according to election might stand. It was said unto
her, the elder shall serve the younger. Jacob have I loved,
and Esau have I hated. God chose Jacob before he was
born, before he done any good or evil. Is that right? That's
what Scripture said. All right, here's the next question.
Why? Why would he choose you? Why would he choose anybody?
Well, verse six says, five says, it's to the good pleasure of
his will. Why? Because he did. Do you have sovereign,
people love their sovereign right to choose what they will, don't
they? And they get mad at you if you
say, well, you can't do that. Well, they deny God his free
will. Man doesn't have a free will.
He doesn't have free will. God alone has free will. He does the choosing. He doesn't
choose them. Look at verse 4. It says, according
as He has chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the
world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him
in love. Oh my, to be holy and without
blame, man is born a sinner. He comes forth from the womb
speaking lies. He's unholy. If left to himself,
he will get progressively worse. Man doesn't progressively sanctify
himself. He progressively gets worse.
That's what happened right before the flood. God saw the whole
earth and corrupted his way. Full of violence. He said, I've
had enough. It's just getting worse and worse.
You know it's so. You know it's so. If left to
ourselves. Brother John said, at the table the other night
and said, we're all by nature devils, and God has to make a
new creature, put a new creature in. Well, God did this. He chose
a people to be holy and without blame before God in love. How? How can we be holy? How
can we be without blame? unto him that's able to present
us faultless before the presence of his glory, only in Christ. I said, I quoted it, of God are
you in Christ who has made unto us wisdom, righteousness, holiness. He is our holiness, isn't he?
He is our righteousness. He is our comfort. He is our
holiness. Our God says in the revelation
of some people, he that is filthy, let him be filthy still. But of God's people, Christ said
this to his disciples. He said, you're clean. And not
one of them thought they were. How, Lord? He said, through the
word I've spoken unto you. You're clean because I said so. Because I've justified. Like
the publican in the temple. He was justified. Who shall lay anything in the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justified. but
they're made holy by the sacrifice of Christ. Who is he that condemneth? Christ
died. Christ died. He made the pavement
and he covered us in his righteousness. Look at verse five. And he did
this in love, verse four, in love, in love to his people and
to make us love him. And verse five says, having predestinated
us, on the adoption of children, predestinating grace. What do
you think about that? What do you think about that?
Predestination. I already said election. What
do you think about that? Some people hate the sound of it.
I had a man I worked with on a railroad, and I started talking
to him about the gospel, and I brought up predestination.
And he said, he just started turning blue in the face. He
said, I believe anything but that. And he did. You can believe in anything.
But predestination... But brothers and sisters, isn't
it wonderful that God has predetermined our destiny? Don't you like that?
That He hasn't left us to ourselves. He's purposed all things in Christ
Jesus concerning us. That everything He does concerning
us is good and working according to this purpose. Nothing bad,
no evil shall befall us. It's all good, predestined, predetermined,
even down to the hairs on your head. Everything about you, you,
your family, your life, every single thing in your life is
in God's hand, predetermined to bring you to himself through
Christ. Don't you love that? Predestined
to be conformed to his image. All of God's people wanna, Awake
with his likeness. Well, God's predestined it, and
it's gonna happen. It's gonna happen. God determined
before we were born what every one of his children are gonna
look like. They're gonna look like right. Predestined. Predestination. And it says here
in verse five, he predestinated us unto the adoption of children. Adoption. Anyone in here adopted? Does a child choose its adoptive
parents? That doesn't happen. That doesn't
happen. You don't line the parents up
and have the children come out and choose their parents. It
used to be, years ago, they'd go down to an adoption agency.
Seriously, this is what happened years ago. Now you have to go
through a lot of red tape and a lot of bureaucracy. But years
ago, you'd go to an orphanage and it'd be full of children,
full of unwanted or their parents have died or whatever. And someone
who in love, in mercy, in grace, in goodness and kindness would
say, I want that one. I'll take that one home with
me. It's going to be my child. That's adoption in it. That's
election in it. That's mercy in it. It's sovereign,
isn't it? Years ago, a man and his wife,
a man named Leo and his wife named Sally, met with a young
woman who was with child that she didn't want or couldn't have
or whatever. And they met with her and they
made an agreement concerning this child. And then that was
in 1955. And in January of 1956, a baby
boy was born. And Leo and Sally named that
boy David, David Edmundson. And they took that boy home and
loved that child, and he loved them for choosing them. Oh, he
loved them, still loves them so dearly. And now that man is
a preacher of the gospel in the sovereign province and mercy
of God. Adopting grace by Jesus Christ. All of God's people have not
only been born of God, but they're adopted by God, chosen by him. From a mess of, you see your
calling brethren. You see who chose you? God didn't
choose many wise men. That's the flesh, not many mighty,
not many noble. I'll take that one. That rotten
one, that no good one, that black sheep, that's the one I'll take.
And we'll make him white. Adopting grace. Sixth says, to the praise of
the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the
beloved. Accepting grace, accepting the
grace. There's nothing acceptable about
us. God doesn't accept us because
we're acceptable. Everything about us is unacceptable,
sinful. We're accepted in the beloved,
we're accepted for Christ's sake. Everyone that comes to God through
Christ, asking to be accepted by God is accepted for Christ's
sake. Years ago, this happened, I'll
never forget it. As you know, my brother was killed
in Vietnam. The Lord took my brother in 1969, the Vietnam
War. Years later, someone knocked
on our front door. And my mother, I think, answered,
my other brother. Somebody answered the door, and
there's a haggard-looking, a poor-looking, a tattered beggar-looking fellow
standing there, a young man. And he said, is Reverend Mahan
home? I'd like to speak to him. I said,
yeah, okay. I think I answered him. Yeah,
I'll go get him. And I went and got my dad, and he came to the
door. And he said to my dad, he said, I really need some help. I'm down and out, and I have
no food, have no place to stay. And he said, could you help me?
And he said, I knew your son, Robbie. I was with him, your
son Robbie. I knew him. I saw my dad's whole
countenance change. He smiled. He brought that young
man in our house, sat him down at the table, and my mom and
my dad treated him like their son, fed him, provided for him. We're accepted in the beloved.
and all who come to God by Christ, no matter how ragged he will
accept you, accept it in the blood for Christ's sake. And
it's all to the praise of the glory of his grace. You see that?
He didn't have to, he didn't have to, but he did. Verse seven,
in whom we have redemption through his blood, redeeming grace. We don't have any redeeming quality.
Do we? No redeeming qualities. In fact,
we've sold ourselves to sin. The story of Hosea, the Lord
said, is the story of God's love for His people. He told Hosea,
He said, you go down and love a woman of whoredom. She sold
herself to sin. She's given her body and herself
to sin, to pleasure. And she thinks all those that
gave her everything she had was her lovers, people of the world,
not knowing I did all this for her. God said, I did all for. Hosea, who's a picture of Christ,
go down and love this woman who sold herself to sin. as the love of God for his people.
And so Hosea did, and Christ did, came down in a fullness
of time. What did he do? What did Hosea
do? Hosea said, I'll bring her in the wilderness, I will allure
her, I'm gonna speak peaceably to her. But he had to do more
than that. Hosea said, I bought her, I bought
her with a price to myself, paid the price for her. She was on
the auction block of sin. And I paid the price for her.
And he said, I took her to myself. And I said, you're not gonna
be for anybody else from now on. You're for me. That's what
our Lord did. Redeeming grace. Redeemed with
the precious blood of the lamb. Through his blood. Forgiving
grace, verse seven. The forgiveness of sin. Forgiving
grace. And forgiving means forgotten.
It's not truly forgiven if it's not forgotten. He has forgotten
our sins. Why? Because they're no more.
They're gone. They're under the blood. Forgiving
us for Christ's sake, but put them away by his blood so that
it can't be seen. He said, the sins and iniquity
of his people shall not be found. Forgive and not be brought up.
Oh my, forgiving grace. Verse seven, according to the
riches of his grace. See that? Verse eight, wherein
he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudent, abounding
grace, where sin did abound, grace did much more abound. In
all wisdom and prudent, making Christ our covenant head, our
substitute. Oh, what wisdom of God. Not leaving
salvation up to chance or up to man's will, but all up to
Christ. And he finished it. He did the
work. He is our wisdom. He is the prudent
one. Verse nine, he made known unto
us the mystery of his will. This is revealing great. The
mystery of his will, what is it? People talk about the will
of God. Here it is, here's the will of
God. This is the will of God, the purpose in Christ before
the world began in everything. Verse nine, according to the
good pleasure of his will, verse 10, that in the dispensation
of the fullness of time, he might gather together in one all things
in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth,
even in him. I almost preached on Colossians
3.11, Christ is all, everything. Everything, creation, providence,
salvation, everything was for Christ's sake, for His glory.
He made this universe, He made this world, He made people and
put them in it all for the glory of His Son. Everything redounds
to the glory of His Son. And God made a people predestined
to be conformed to the image of Christ, for the glory of his
son. And someday they're all going
to be gathered together in heaven to sing the praises and the glory
of God's only begotten well-beloved son. That's what God says of
every creature. Give him the glory. This is my
son. This is why I did all this. Give my son the glory. And all
things do. And that's what God's people
were predestined to be and do. Give glory to his son, to the
praise of the glory of his grace. He's revealed to us that Christ
is all. All the will of God, all the
salvation of God, all the adoring love of God is in Christ Jesus. Now look at verse 11, and I'm
gonna quit. In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, Inheriting
grace. Having predestinated us according
to the purpose of Him. Gathering grace. Inheriting grace. Read on. Let me just read down
through verse 14. It's all one thought. Verse 12, that we should be to
the praise of His glory who first trusted in Christ, whom you trusted
after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation,
in whom also, after that you believed, you were sealed with
that Holy Spirit of promise, sealing grace. which is the earnest
of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchase of
possession. And it's all under the praise of his glory." Sealing
grace, sealing grace, kept by the power of God. When those
animals were put, and Noah and his family were put in that ark,
they were put in that ark. And the scripture says there
was pitch all in the ark, inside the ark and outside the ark.
Well, it says, God shut him in. God shut Noah and his family
and all those animals in that ark, shut the door. Well, you
know, you've got to seal the door, don't you? It'll spring
a leak, won't it? Who sealed the outside of that
door, Doug? I really believe the people all
over that area at that time were watching some fellow with a bucket
of pitch, spread that pitch all over the entrance of that door. Who's that? Our Lord made many
appearances. His delights were with the sons
of men, rejoicing in the habitable parts of the earth. Who's that
putting that pitch all over that door, sealing that door up? That's the one in whom we're
pitched, the Lord Jesus Christ. And he sealed them in there.
The wrath, the rain, the judgment of God can't get in, and they
can't get out. They don't want out. They're
sealed. and we're kept by the power of
God. The gospel is the power of God.
You keep coming, don't you? You have to. You have to. This
is what keeps you. God, you must, because His Spirit,
you're led by His Spirit, and His Spirit won't let you go. You keep coming. You'll see. So in chapter 2, as I already
quoted it, verses 7 and 8 said that in the ages to come, He's
going to show us the exceeding riches of His grace, electing
grace, predestinating grace, accepting grace, redeeming grace,
forgiving grace, superabounding grace, revealing grace, inheriting
grace, sealing grace. In the ages to come, the exceeding
riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus,
for, by grace, are you saved through faith. And that's not
of yourself, that's by grace. Salvation's by grace. And it's
all to the praise of the glory of His grace. May the Lord bless
His word and give glory to that, amen. And I thought of that scripture. It says, his spirit bears witness
that we are sons of, it was our spirit that we are the sons of
God. And as I sat there and I was thoroughly enjoying that, I thought
of that scripture. His spirit is bearing witness
to my spirit. And I'm a child of God because
I love that message. Go ahead and pray after the sermon.
Go ahead and pray and ask the Lord to bless the food. And we'll
go downstairs and have lunch. Goodbye.