Alright, if you will, let's open
back up to Ephesians chapter 1 again. Ephesians chapter 1. For at least 25 years, I've read
this passage, these first 14 verses. I've read them aloud
to people. I've told other people to read
them. I've studied them. That's a long time, reading 14
short verses. I was thinking this morning it
rained. It's cool in our house and it feels like an Alaskan
winter when I woke up this morning. And Caramel is making chili today
and we're excited. That's the same recipe it always
has been. It's sitting up in a crock pot
and it's hot and fresh and delicious just as much today as it was
15, 20 years ago. I hope we see this passage fresh. I hope it's hot for us and it's
a good, as old brother Gabe used to say, this is the meat and
potatoes of the gospel. I hope it's a good, delicious, savory
roast to us. Todd, my message is saved, regenerated,
and assured. All three of those take place
in or the cause of Christ. We are in Christ nine times at
least in this passage. It says we are in Christ, of
Christ, and by Christ. That's the topic of this letter,
of this epistle. That's the topic of our Scriptures.
Christ is the message. But all glory, the glory of the
triune God, The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The glory
of God is paramount in all things. That will happen. The Lord will
be glorified. His name will be magnified. God
the Father purposed salvation for a people in His Son, the
Lord Jesus Christ. He elected a people. The Son
purchased those chosen people. He redeemed us. He paid for us
in His blood. And the Holy Spirit is sent to
tell us that, to convict us of our sin, to convict us of Christ's
righteousness, to tell our hearts that judgment is completed, it's
satisfied, and to assure us that Christ is all by giving us faith
in Him. Almighty God of creation, of
providence, of salvation, and of all glory, receives all the
praises for all in salvation, all in righteousness, all the
glory and praise and the sanctification of His people, for all of His
holiness, because of who He is, what He's accomplished. That's
why we sang that song, Holy, Holy, Holy. Sing with those angels. Since we are made vessels of
honor unto the praise of His glory, we have no room to boast. He's the God of salvation. Man's
nothing. And if He saved us, we have no
room to boast. The only place we can boast,
the only thing we can glory in is Christ our Savior and Him
crucified. Who He is and what He did for
His people. That's the only thing we can boast at all. Now, with
that understanding, with that in mind, let's look here in verse
1. When we read a letter, we like to look at who it's from,
who it's to, and what it's about, don't we? Who's it from? Ephesians
1.1, Paul. It's from Paul, an apostle. I'm trying my best not to preach
a whole message on these first two verses, Some old writer said, if anybody
deserved a Doctor of Divinity degree, it was Paul. And Paul
comes to us and says, this is from Paul, an Apostle. I changed something on the cover
of our bulletin this morning. It used to say, Pastor Kevin
Thacker, and that's fine, but I put Kevin Thacker comma Pastor.
You could address Paul as sinner. Hey, sinner. And he'd say, hello,
that's me. He said, oh wretched man that
I am, not that I used to be. But he didn't call himself Dr.
Paul, or he didn't refer to himself as Apostle Paul. He just refers
to himself as Paul. I heard a man call my pastor
Reverend one time. He was swiftly corrected. David
told us in Psalm 111, he said, he sent redemption unto his people. Who's that? That ain't us. The
Lord sent redemption unto His people. He hath commanded His
covenant forever. Holy and reverend is His name. That's the only time in Scripture
reverend is used. That's not attributed to a man. That's not attributed to an apostle. Paul. It says, Paul, an apostle
of Jesus Christ by the will of God. Many people think they're
apostles in these days. To be an apostle is that Christ
taught you, called you, and spoke to you directly. He came solely
to you by Himself without a preacher in between. He was the high priest
and He came to you only. That apostolic era is over. The
Lord uses the foolishness of preaching to speak to people.
I would run away from somebody that introduces themselves with
a title, especially if it's one that says, I talk to God all
by myself. It's a dangerous thing. Because
that's by the will of God. That's how Paul was called an
apostle. That's how we are called saints. That's how we are breathing
today. The Lord's will. And He says
that's who this letter is from. Just Paul. Paul an apostle. To the saints which are at Ephesus. It doesn't say to everybody at
Ephesus. To all the people in the greater
metropolitan region of Ephesus. It says to the saints in Ephesus. Those that are faithful in Christ.
Those that are full of faith. That the Lord willed to put faith
in their hearts. And that's what every believer
is. The cross does work in them. We're given faith to believe
God, to love our brethren. And we're saints. That's what each one of His children
are. They're sanctified. They're set apart. He said, this
is My portion. These are My people. That's who
this letter is to. His people. And He greets them. with such a sweet greeting, verse
two, grace be to you and peace. That's the order we receive that.
Grace is always first. If the Lord's gracious to us,
those that were made sanctified in him, we are set apart in Christ
by his will, we are made his, he gives, that's gracious. He
gives us grace to be called his and we have peace. That's the
only true peace we'll ever have is resting in Christ. Grace be
to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's the greetings and salutations. That's the greeting of this letter.
That's the introduction. If I open that letter up, I want
to read the rest of that letter. That's a good way to start a
letter, isn't it? It's from somebody I know. It's just like me. It's
to me in the Lord's Senate. and be grace and peace. Now he
reminds us here of our salvation. That's what we're going to look
at in these next several verses. How Christ was gracious to us,
how Christ gave us peace, He made us saints, and He makes
us faithful because we're given His faith. So I hope here for
a couple of verses we'll look at the Father's purpose in salvation. Then a couple of verses we'll
look at the Son purchased us. He paid for the salvation. And
the Holy Spirit announces it to us. Comes and tells us of
our salvation and we have assurance. We can know these things. We
can be settled in them. So first, let's look at where it all started. The purpose of the Father, verse
3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who
have blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ. When we say, it says there, blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that means
praise. Honor goes to the Father. Praise to the Father. Why do
we praise Him? He praised us. Why do we praise
Him? Why do we bless Him? He's the
Father of our Savior. Why do we praise Him? He's the
God of all. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us. All the saints, all the ones
that He willed to redeem. He blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ. I wish we could get
a hold of that. My car had a flat tire on the
way here this morning. I'd be so upset and I'd be so
worried about that temporal tire on a car. health and wellness that's preached
throughout this world day of. If you believe God, you won't
get sick. If you believe God, you'll have a Mercedes. Whatever
it is, nonsense. Lord's blessed us with spiritual
blessings. We have the finest suit in town
and not know God and that's just the suit they're going to bury
you in and hit a rock with you. But if we dress like a hobo, don't
have nothing to our name and have all spiritual blessings,
in Christ. What's that? We know Him. We
have salvation in Him. We have our righteousness in
Christ. And we're going to be with Him forever, being made
to His image. What can man do to me? That's
almost like I'm dead to this world, isn't it? The Lord will
keep us looking to those things. And it's dead to me. But all
these blessings and heavenly places, not in this world, but
in things to come, are in Christ. The Lord said, this is my son
in whom I'm well pleased. If he's going to bless us, if
he's going to be pleased with us, it's going to be in Christ. That's
who it's going to be in. Now, what are these blessings?
How can we see this in the Scriptures and in ourselves and in our experience? Look here in verse 4. Election. 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. God elected a people. The only way you'd be mad at
that is to think you have some reason that you ought to be voted
for. If we're shown what we are, man is dead in sin. Graveyard dead. We have nothing
in us that's a value of worth. We were watching a TV show of
people going into these people's homes that's collected stuff
for many, many years. And then they remove all that
stuff. And when they start peeling back 20, 30 years of stuff, they
start finding dead cats in there. Been there for years, you know.
And I thought, oh boy. You want a snack? No, I don't
want to eat that. I'm not watching that. And I thought, that's what
I am to my Lord, but worse. maggots, worms, is all I am. We read there in Romans recently,
Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated. How could God hate Esau? That ain't a question of somebody's
been convicted of sin. How could God love Jacob? What
a miracle. What a miracle. God chose a people. That means I have hope. And He chose us before the world
was formed, before I was born, before I could corrupt it. I
was chosen in Christ that we should be holy and without blame
before Him in love. In this act of love, this act
of choosing a people, who it was He picked, He made them in
Christ holy and without blame. Holy and without blame. There
is therefore now no condemnation. We have no blame to us. And we're
holy. Ain't going to have no blame
in the future. That's not something to bark at, is it? That's not
something to spit on. That's magnificent, majestic
grace. The Lord saved a people. What
is He going to do with that people? Look here in verse 5. having
predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
Himself according to the good pleasure of His will." He predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ. Predestination
is mentioned four times in the Scripture. Twice here, and twice
in Romans, and five in Count Peter. Let's look at it that
way. But election always has to do
with the people. Choosing a people. Who is saved? Predestination has to do with
what being saved is. It's being conformed to the image
of Christ. Being made like Christ. Being
made holy and being made unblameable. Having no guile in our mouth.
Being made like Him. Now what is it to be made like
Him? What's the cause of that? Well,
I chose God. I let Him do it. Absolutely not. Nowhere in the Scriptures, from
cover to cover, anywhere in there does it say that man picked,
man chose, man accepted, man did anything. It does speak of
our will. We'll see it in a second. But
this is the will of God. It was His good pleasure. He
was pleased to save a people. He was pleased in His Son to
make a whole host of people just like Him. an innumerable nation, just like
Christ. But that's not by our will. Man's
will is tied to our nature. Any will is tied to its nature.
Tied to evilness, isn't it? Our Master said in John 5, ye
will not come to me that ye might have life. We have a will of
naught. Not a will of yes, we have a
will of no. What we can't do and what we won't do. He said
in John 6, verse 44, No man can come to Me, except the Father
which has sent Me draw him. We won't do it and we can't do
it. It's not in our nature. We don't have a holy nature,
unless the Lord is pleased to give us one. He said in John
15, You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you and ordained
you, that you should go forth and bring forth fruit, and that
your fruit should remain. I didn't choose God, He chose
me. He gave me fruit. And He said, you're going to
go forth, show my fruit, and that fruit's going to remain
forever. Because He sustains it. Same
as the one that chose us. When God chose us in Christ,
He put us in Him before the world was made. And He gave us all
spiritual blessings in Him, in Christ. Because we had no blessings
of our own. We had no worth of our own. So
He put us in Him. That's when we say with Paul,
there in Romans 8, and we know that all things work together
for good to them that love God, to them who are called according
to His purpose, for whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate
to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be
the firstborn among many brethren, to be made like Christ. Christ
is still preeminent. He's the firstborn. He's the
mold that we're made out of. God elected a people to be conformed
to Christ's image. He elected them. He predestinated
them. Some people get mad at that.
Turn over to Acts 13. Acts chapter 13. Paul and Barnabas preaching there
in Antioch at the temple. Acts 13 verse 38, it says, Be it known unto you therefore,
men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you
the forgiveness of sins. You want your sins forgiven?
Christ is where sins are forgiven. And by Him all that believe are
justified from all things from which ye could not be justified
by the law of Moses. He's standing in the synagogue
preaching, Christ is all. If He's your all, you are justified
from all. Nothing has a bound to you. And
you couldn't do it yourself. Can't be justified by the law
of Moses. And those Gentiles told Paul, they said, can you
come back here next Sabbath day and preach that to us again?
I like that. Tell me more about that. What
time are you going to be here? We'll be early. He dressed up
and ready to go. Look here in verse 44, Acts 13,
44. And the next Sabbath day came
almost the whole city together to hear the word of God. But
when the Jews saw the multitude, they were filled with envy and
spake against those which were spoken of, which were spoken
by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming. They were standing up as hard
as they could, saying the opposite of whatever he said. And then
Paul and Barnabas waxed bold and said, it was necessary that
the word of God should first have been spoken to you, but
seeing you have put it away and judged yourselves unworthy of
everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. That's what
we looked at last Wednesday. That word came first. They heard
and they knew in Israel, and the Lord said, I'm going to make
you angry by choosing the foolish nation. in a different part of
the world. It won't be of your physical
nation. Verse 47, For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying,
I have sent thee to be a lot of the Gentiles, that thou shouldst
be for salvation unto the ends of the earth. He said, I've sent
you preaching. Salvation is of the Lord, and
it ain't in man, or where you was born, or who's your daddy
was. What's the response to that? Look in verse 48. And when the
Gentiles heard this, they were glad. and glorified the word
of the Lord. They glorified Christ. And as many as were ordained
to eternal life, they believed. They heard, and they believed,
and they rejoiced in God. God saved a people, and it's
not some physical nation on this earth. And those that He saved,
He's going to come to draw near Him, make His word effectual
in them, and He's going to keep them forever. That's something to rejoice in.
That's to glorify Him. All right, back to our text. Ephesians 1. What's the end state of all this?
Ephesians 1, verse 6. To the praise of the glory of
His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved. When are we accepted into Christ,
in the Beloved? He hath made us. That's already
done. That's happening right now, and
it's going to keep happening. That's when we're accepted, and
how long we're going to be accepted. Half. In Christ. And all that is to the praise
and the glory of His grace. Why'd He do this? Nothing in
us. It was grace. We were given something we didn't
deserve. But the Lord said there, and
moved Paul to write in chapter two, but God, who is rich in
mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us even when we were
dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace
are ye saved, and hath raised us up together and made us sit
in heavenly places in Christ, that in the ages to come he might
show the exceeding riches of his grace and kindness towards
us through Christ Jesus. We'll see at the end, this is
all foretaste. This is an earnest payment. He's
going to show his exceeding riches of grace and kindness towards
us through Christ when we go to glory. We can't wrap our heads around
that. As Paul said, the human jaw can't speak of these things.
This is only a glimmer. How's all this going to be accomplished?
The Lord chose a people, He's going to make them like Christ.
How's that going to happen? Learn our text, verse 7. Here's the
work of the Son. We saw the work of the Father.
He purposed it, and the Son purchased it. In whom we have redemption
through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches
of His grace. How are we bought? We're bought
with a price, and that price is the blood of God Himself. and says, well, I can do something
to pay back this debt. Well, the price of that, the
price of redemption is the blood of God. That's what it takes
to save somebody. The result of that is the forgiveness
of sins. How many sins are we forgiven? Up to the point of
salvation, and then you've got to figure it out on your own?
Up to the age of accountability? According to the riches of His
grace. I need that. I need that. Lord, make your mercies new every
day. Forgive me every day. Be gracious to me every day,
because I'm cursed. I was born under that law. Paul
told us in Galatians 3, for as many as are of the works of the
law are under the curse of it. That's where I was found, looking
to that law, looking to myself. For it is written, cursed is
everyone that continueth not in all things which are written
in the book of the law to do them. But that no man is justified
by the law in the sight of God, it is evident, for the just shall
live by faith. To have life, you must be given
faith in Christ. He has to give it to you. The Father purposed it. He said,
I'm going to choose a people. I'm going to make them just like
Christ. We were purchased by Christ's
blood. He came to this earth, took on our flesh. He went down
with all them dead animals and worms. Came just like us. Walked this
earth in perfection to God's holy law, honoring Him, trusting
Him. Never had an ill thought. His
conscience was pure the whole time. Even when everyone spit
in His face, when they pierced His hands, He had a true and
pure heart. No guile was in His mouth. And
He did all that and died for us. God turned His back on His
Son, on Himself. God provided Himself a lamb and
that lamb was slew. It was killed and it bled and
it died. And He rose again the third day.
for that people that the Father chose. How are we going to find out
about that? Are we going to sit down and study it until we get
it right? Are we going to throw dice and
hope we land on the right page? Look here in verse 8. Here is
the work of the Holy Spirit, God the Holy Spirit, wherein
He hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and in all prudence. in wisdom and in prudence, the
right way. He abounds towards us. He makes haste towards us. Like
that prodigal son's father, he ran. He made a hurry to run to
his son to kiss him. In the Lord's time. Today is
the day of our salvation. The Lord says, right now, save
Him. That's when I purposed it. The Holy Spirit leaps and bounds
to us. Like Philip running after that
eunuch. Wherein He hath abounded towards us in all wisdom and
prudence, having made known unto us the mystery of His will. A mystery comes to us, and it's
revealed. You can't say you've solved mysteries. Well, if you ain't got no truth
revealed, ain't no mystery to be solved. You just keep looking,
don't you? But if I know a mystery and you don't, I have to reveal
that to you. I have to explain it. The mystery of His will according
to His good pleasure which He hath purposed in Himself. Turn
over to Colossians chapter 1. Paul speaks of this mystery a
couple of times, but we'll look at it in Colossians chapter 1
verse 25. Colossians 1 25, Wherefore I
am made a minister according to the dispensation of God which
is given to me for you to fulfill the word of God. Even the mystery
which hath been hid from ages and from generations but now
is made manifest to his saints. Who's this mystery going to be
revealed to? Well it ain't ages and generations, it's only going
to be revealed to his saints. to whom God would make known
what is the riches of His glory of this mystery among the Gentiles."
The Lord's going to reveal it among the Gentiles and His people
anywhere in this world, under any nation. And what's that mystery?
Which is, "...crossed in you the hope of glory." Well, that
ain't that mysterious. Crossed is our glory? Oh, that's
mysterious. You that this has been revealed to, you're like,
oh yeah, that's right. I thought this was going to be
something complex. Christ saved His people. Explain that in one book, in
one letter to somebody. The Lord has to explain that
to the hearts of His people. Usually the Holy Spirit will
come to us and say, you know what, Christ is all. He's all and in
all. Salvation was purposed by the
Father in Christ. It was accomplished by Him through
Christ's blood. And He sends the Spirit to His
people that He bought to abound towards them and assure them
that His work is accomplished. All of this is in Christ. Every bit of it. Look up verse
16. For by Him were all things created that are in heaven, that
are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions
or principalities or powers. All things were created by Him
and for Him. Whatever was supposed to happen
this past Tuesday may not have happened yet. You don't know
what's going to happen. Guess what? Whoever got elected
to be president, that's for Christ. That's for you that are sanctified
in Him. That makes it easy to honor that
King. Lord, You put Him there. I've got to stop. For by Him
were all things created that are in heaven and that are in
earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions
or principalities or powers. All things were created by Him
and for Him. And He is before all things.
And by Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body,
the church, He's our head, who is the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead, that in all things He might have the preeminence.
For it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell. What little bit we know, what
sliver we understand of God's fullness, all of His majesty,
all of His glory, all of His power and might, everything He
deserves, it dwells fully in Christ. To know Him's life, isn't it?
To look to Him's life. Now back to our text. I'll hurry.
Ephesians 1 verse 9. That's the mystery. Christ. Verse 9, "...having made known
unto us the mystery of His will." according to his good pleasure
which he hath purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the
fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in
Christ, both which are in heaven and which are in earth in him."
The Lord is going to draw every one of his sheep. that the Father
purposed that He bought to Himself, 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." What an accomplishment! Now the Father said, here's my
people, go save them. Christ did, and the Holy Spirit
came to those people, revealed Christ to us, and all of that,
we are made vessels of praise to God's glory, to the one that
first trusted Christ. He said, this is my elect, this
is my son, and I'm gonna put all the people I chose in him. He's accomplished it. Now here's
our assurance. It's the work of the Holy Spirit.
Here's our assurance. Is this all for me? That's right. Twenty-five years ago I read
this. Yesterday I read it. Read it this morning. And I was
like, is this for me? Has this mystery been revealed to me?
Verse 13, "...in whom ye also trusted." God the Father trusted
Christ. Is that who you trust? Are you
saved? Who do you trust that tells you
that? Who do you look to? In whom ye
also trusted, after that ye heard, ye heard the word of truth, the
gospel of your salvation, in whom also after ye believed,
heard, ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. a great gift to have someone
tell you the truth about God, about Christ, and about man.
That's a great gift. It's a better one to be made
to hear it. Our Master said in Matthew 13,
that blessed are your eyes for they see and your ears for they
hear. For verily I say unto you that many prophets And righteous
men have desired to see those things which you see, and have
not seen them. And they desire to hear those
things which you hear. And they ain't heard them. This
ain't for everybody. This is for God's saints. We
saw that about how Israel had heard the other day, but not
effectually. They weren't made to effectually hear, because
the power of God hadn't come to them. He says in 1 Thessalonians
1, Knowing, brethren, beloved, your election of God, for our
gospel came not unto you by word only, we didn't just say these
things, and you said, okay, but also in power and in the Holy
Ghost and in much assurance. It don't matter what I know.
You hear the word preached and you say, I know that's truth. Do I believe it? Do I have enough
faith to get it right? I don't know, but that's truth.
I'm assured He's the truth. I'm assured salvation is by Him.
So we heard, in power, the Lord made us here, and we believed.
We saw that in Romans 10 before, that if thou shalt confess with
thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart
that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with
the mouth confession is made unto salvation. He makes us hear. He makes us believe. And then
we're sealed. Romans 8.14 says, For as many
as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For
ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but
ye have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba,
Father. That's what's put in us. That's
what's sealed in us, the Spirit of God. That's who He dwells
in, His sanctified people and His saints. Turn over to 1 John. I'll look at this real quick. I'll let you go. 1 John chapter 4. Verse John 4. We saw in verse
John 3, He said, And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth
in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth
in us by the Spirit which he hath given us. We know that Christ
lives in us. We know that we're His. We know
that His gospel's truth because the Spirit He gave us lives in
us. Now, 1 John 4, verse 13. Hereby
know we that we dwell in Him and He in us because He hath
given us of His Spirit. And we have seen and do testify
that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world."
How's a Jew going to be saved? God has to send Christ to save
them. How's a Gentile going to be saved? God has to send Christ
to save them. That's what we profess. We know
that, don't we? If you know that, that's because
the Spirit of God has come to you and dwells in you. Now back
at our text and we'll close. All of this, all of this hearty
meal that we've just been given from Paul to us. God the Father purposed salvation.
Christ bought our salvation. The Spirit tells us about it.
We're informed by them. And we know, we have assurance
in that. God of our salvation. Verse 14, Ephesians 1.14, which
is the earnest of our inheritance. You ever bought a house? You
put earnest money? That's just a little bit. You
put clay claim on it, and you let people know you're serious.
All of this blessing, it's just the earnest money. All the hope
and delight and joy we have right now, that's just a down payment
as to what's to come. Which is the earnest of our inheritance
until the redemption of the purchased possession. He's bought us. And until we're redeemed into
glory, to be like Him, to be with Him, to be without sin,
until that day comes, whether it's Him coming to us and into
this world at last sinners called to Christ, or in the day of our
death, We will receive our inheritance in Christ, and it's unto the
praise of His glory. That would be something, wouldn't
it? The Lord takes us out of this
world, brings us to glory, makes us fully like Christ. No sin in us. We can't imagine
that. And then truly we can praise
Him for His glory. We say, oh, Father, magnify Your
name. We'll do that in truth someday.
For those He's picked, He's set apart, He's bought. That's what
He's going to do for us. Get worshiping properly. What a day.
Alright, let's pray together.